Primal Elements (14 page)

With her clothing back in place, Jenna slid back onto her seat and looked at him. He finished with his own buttons, and moved to the seat beside her.

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“You drove me nuts.” He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I would bitch to Matt about you on a daily basis. But even after the project was shut down, I couldn’t get you out of my head. For the longest time, I wondered what you were doing.”

Her eyes widened. “Really? How far away from that stupid machine are we anyway?”

Jenna looked out the window as if to gauge the distance. Ben chuckled and caressed her cheek, gently turning her face around. Only inches away now, he watched her suck her bottom lip into her mouth.

“Far enough.”

He pulled her close, their lips brushing for a moment before he captured them in a kiss. Unlike before, Ben felt something change between them. He was lonely, but when he kissed her, was with her, that loneliness disappeared. When Jenna touched his cheek in response, he was almost crushed by the tenderness. His heart began to pound and his skin tingled under her touch.

When she pulled back, he could feel her tremble.

“I don’t think we’re moving anymore,” she said in a breathy whisper.

It almost hurt to turn away from her and look out the window.

“We’re at the dig.” Ben ran a thumb over her bottom lip before releasing her from his embrace. “Go check what you need to and come back. Matt will drive you home.

Tonight we’ll figure out how we can stop Rick and put an end to this.”

Jenna nodded and made her way over to the door. She opened it, but before she got out, she hesitated and looked back at him.

“And what about after that?”

The uncertainty in her voice matched the confusion of his heart. He didn’t know if he could let go of everything he’d believed in, everything he’d done to protect himself for years. Ben looked at her and shook his head. He didn’t know what else to do.

“We’ll worry about that…after.”

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Jenna sat on the oversized couch, squished in between Matt and Roger and wished she could find a way to escape. Ben was busy playing host and she couldn’t get over the change in him. She knew women would throw themselves at him and now she understood why. He was completely at ease in his environment, the social frontlines.

“When is this protector guy showing up? I need to get my ass back to the site,”

Roger grumbled before sucking an ice cube into his mouth.

“Any time now,” Ben said and handed Roger a fresh drink.

“I would have felt better picking him up. I hate that he has this address,” Matt shook his head.

For whatever reason, Ben didn’t want Matt out and around, preferring to keep him close. Jenna could only assume that meant he was worried about something and wanted Matt in case there was a problem.

“We’re hardly ever here, Matt. Even if he sends a SWAT team, we’ll be fine.”

As if on cue, there was a loud knock at the door. Ben started to make his way to it, but Matt was up in a flash and beat him.

“Let me,” Matt said and pointed at Ben. “Humor me.”

Throwing his hands up in defeat, Ben made his way back towards the bar, winking at Jenna as he went. She managed to squash the giggle that threatened to rear its ugly head.

Things had changed between them since their earlier ride in the limo. They’d come to some sort of truce, if not an understanding. Her lips tingled at the memory of their last kiss, the rush of warmth that spread through her body, culminating somewhere near her heart. It hadn’t been lust that had driven him to kiss her that time. It wasn’t lust that had squeezed her heart when she felt his loneliness through his touch.

Jenna couldn’t help but wonder how badly she’d misjudged him all those years ago. He’d only been trying to do his job, one she really didn’t appreciate at the time.

Ben needed to be in control of his projects, not only because of who he was, but because he cared about what he did. The realization opened her eyes to another side of him, of
them
.

She was falling in love with him.

“You must be Kyle,” Matt said as he opened the door.

Jenna couldn’t believe the man who walked through the door was the same slimeball who’d leered at her and her friends at Perfect Match. Gone was the greasy mustache, replace with a smooth-shaven face. His stringy brown hair had been washed and cut short so it accentuated his strong jaw and rich brown eyes.

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The man was gorgeous!

“Sure am. You must be the muscle. Wanna frisk me?” Kyle said in a laughing tone.

One that Matt didn’t appreciate.

“As a matter of fact, spread them.”

“You’ve got to be…hey!”

Matt threw Kyle against the wall and began to pat him down. Jenna shot Ben a look, but he merely shrugged. And Roger looked as if he were watching an episode of
Mars’ Most Wanted
.

“My ID is in my back pocket. You can run the ID number in the system if you don’t believe me.”

Matt snatched the black ID case out of the pocket and walked away. “I intend to.”

“I would apologize for Matt’s behavior,” Ben said in a voice loud enough to get everyone’s attention. “But I don’t really trust you myself. Drink?”

Jenna immediately felt sorry for Kyle and walked over to where he stood.

“Hi, Kyle. You’ll have to forgive their manners, they’ve been living under a rock for years. You cut your hair?”

The strain on Kyle’s face instantly melted and he let Jenna lead him over to the bar.

“Since I had to break cover thanks to your arrival at Perfect Match, I thought it was about time I cleaned myself up. I burned that shirt I was wearing too. Ick.”

Jenna chuckled. “It was pretty gross. Were your superiors upset about your leaving Rick?”

“They weren’t very happy that I threw two years of investigation out the window.

But after I filled them in on what you told me, they backed my decision.”

“I’m sorry if we ruined things for you,” she frowned. She hadn’t considered how things would be handled by the authorities. Not that she suspected they were in any legal trouble, but one never knew when it came to the Martian authorities.

“Hey, I’m glad to be out of there. Rick is a psycho. I’d kill for a Scotch if you have one.”

Ben poured a glass and handed him the drink. Kyle took an appreciative sniff of the contents and let loose a small moan of pleasure before taking a deep sip.

“Shit, that’s good.”

Ben smiled and she could tell it gave him pleasure to be able to share these things with people. For not the first time, she wondered what his life had been like as a child.

Growing up with everything except other people to share the experience with.

They made brief introductions and finally sat around the large stone table near the window. Jenna had been amazed by the view when she’d first arrived. Ben’s condo overlooked most of Serenity proper. The capital city was buzzing this time of night and Jenna could see the steady movement of lights as people moved below. Why Ben didn’t spend more time here was beyond her.

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“Can we get this thing going? I have tests to run back at the site,” Roger said and immediately tapped his fingers on the table’s edge.

“Gareth’s there. Everything is fine,” she said quietly to him.

“Exactly! He’ll have things so screwed up by the time I get back I’ll have to spend hours undoing it.”

“Then we better get started,” Ben interjected. “Let’s start with what we know.”

For the next hour, they waded through everything they knew about Rick Jennings’

organization. Kyle proved to be very helpful, filling them in on details of his organization for the past two years.

“I was originally brought into the organization to see how far he’d managed to work his way into the government. He has several of the municipal councilors on his payroll, the odd building and health inspector, but nothing too deep.” Kyle wrote out a list of names and slid the datapad over to Ben, who quickly read it over.

“This doesn’t surprise me. Rick’s about how much he can get away with, how much money he can make. Power is only a nice side effect.” Ben tossed the datapad aside and scratched his fingers through his hair. “But this doesn’t tell us what he plans to do with the device.”

Jenna’s head was sore from all this. Nothing made sense. “Okay, so he has a device that can pull different components together to make a perfect combination. We’ve seen this work on basic elements and on people with the Perfect Match program. What would Rick get from being able to do this?”

“Money,” Matt offered.

“How?” she asked.

“Well, if the two people he brings together are married, there could be blackmail involved. He could use it as a bomb, threaten to set things off if he’s not paid. Gods know he has enough influence with the government they would convince the others to pay up.”

“This is ridiculous!” Roger stood, his chair falling to the floor with his sudden motion. “None of you have foggiest idea of what you’re talking about. I’m out of here.”

“Roger!” Jenna barely beat him to the door, blocking his escape. “Where are you going?”

“Back to the site. You don’t need me here for anything.”

Jenna couldn’t believe the anger she heard in his voice. For the first time in the five years she’d known him, Jenna couldn’t tell what was wrong.

“We need you. I don’t know all the research data as well as you. Please stay.”

For a moment she thought her plea worked. But Roger looked over her shoulder at the collection of men sitting at the table staring at them. He sneered as he jerked the door open. “You don’t need me. Doubt you ever did, Jen.”

Jenna stood looking after him for what felt like forever until Ben came up behind her.

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“He’ll be fine,” he said. Jenna welcomed the warmth of his touch on her arm and didn’t fight it when he tugged her back against him.

“I’m not so sure.”

“Well, I think our next plan of attack is for me to find out where our friend Rick is holed up for the moment. Once I do, we can bring a team in and haul his ass into the station. One where I can trust he’s not going to make a quick escape,” Kyle spoke up from behind them.

Jenna and Ben made their way back to the table. Despite Ben’s words, she knew something was very wrong with Roger. When she saw him tomorrow, she’d have to talk to him.

“What evidence are you going to bring him in on? We haven’t got anything that directly links him to anything illegal,” Matt shook his head. “He’s not stupid enough to incriminate himself.”

“Then we need proof.”

“We don’t need to arrest him, we just need to get the device away from him. You can leave him for another day,” Ben interjected.

The three men turned and looked at Jenna. She shrugged. “I’m probably the best one to get the device from him if that’s all we’re after.”

“No,” Ben said with quiet resolve.

“He’ll talk to me. He knows I’m important to you and will wonder why I’ve come to him.”

Ben ignored her and looked at the other two. “Get evidence on Rick if that’s the angle you want to take. I don’t care how, just find a way to get him away from the device so we can get it somewhere safe.”

Kyle shot Matt a questioning look before the two of them stood.

“We’re on it,” Matt said and shot Jenna a small sympathetic smile. “Night.”

“Been fun, thanks for the booze.” Kyle saluted Ben with two fingers and fell into step behind Matt.

Jenna suddenly found herself alone with a very annoyed millionaire. Ben stalked over to the door and flicked the security lock in place. The finality of the lock sliding into place sent a chill through her. But not as much as the fierce look on Ben’s face when he turned around.

“Are you insane?” Ben’s voice filled the room. He stood by the door, hands on his hips, eyes fixed on her face. “To even suggest going after Rick…not another word of that.”

“He’ll smell Matt coming a mile away and Kyle’s cover is gone. I doubt we could get Roger to speak civilly to the man, let alone try and find out what he’s up to. And you said yourself we can’t trust the authorities. That leaves me.”

Jenna wanted to melt away as Ben moved towards her, but she didn’t. If she couldn’t stand up to him, she had no right suggesting she meet with Rick. There was no 108

doubting Ben’s anger. When he got close enough to touch her, he grabbed her hand and brought it to his cheek.

“Rick did this. Not one of his men or someone he hired to take me out. Rick. He was toying with me, wanting to see if I’d break under the pain. He wanted to hurt me, not because he needed to, but because he’s a sadistic fuck. He wouldn’t hesitate to slice you to ribbons to torture me.”

“Ben—”

“Not another word.”

His eyes were closed for a second, but when he opened them, Jenna sucked in a breath. Tears had welled up, not quite to the point of spilling over, but there nonetheless.

“Promise me you won’t go there alone. I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to you.” His voice was barely a whisper, threatened to be swallowed up in the large room.

It felt like someone just ripped out her heart and shoved it back in upside down.

This was the indestructible Ben Hawthorn? The fearless leader who’d challenged most of the Mars government at one time or another? Her finger found the ridge Rick’s knife had made as it had sliced its way through Ben’s cheek. The skin had long healed, leaving smooth, pale scar tissue. Rick could have killed Ben, let the knife slip to his throat to cut it.

“I promise. I won’t go near him.”

Jenna went up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss on his lips. Ben didn’t move, his body tensing under her touch. Her mind screamed at her, she was going to lose him just as she managed to break through. Her hands slid up his arms as she began to kiss his closed mouth again, trying desperately to coax him back to her.

Ben parted his lips and moaned. Jenna felt his arms come around her waist and back, pulling her tight against his chest. Her heart began to race as Ben opened his mouth to her, their kiss deepening. There was something different, earnest intensity building between them. Jenna felt her entire awareness focusing in tightly on where their bodies touched. The pressure of his hands under her shirt and against her skin.

The way his tongue searched her mouth, tasting her. Her body began to mold against his, the juncture between her legs growing damp from wanting.

Jenna barely felt it when Ben lifted her into his arms and began to carry her out of the room. When he placed her on the king-size bed, Jenna’s body reacted to the intimate gesture. Her nipples tightened into painful buds that ached for his touch. Chills of desire started at her neck and zinged down her back and through her body, stopping at her clit.

“Ben, I need you to touch me now before I explode.”

He yanked his shirt over his head and threw it to the floor. Instead of removing the rest of his clothes, he lay down beside her and began to tug her buttons free. Jenna sucked in a breath as the cool air caressed her now-exposed skin. But the heat from 109