The Secret Brokers (27 page)

Gwen laughed into the recesses of his neck as he pushed her back on to the white bedspread.

Dallas sat up slightly and took in the full-sized bed. “Do you think we will both fit on this thing?” he whispered.

Gwen hastily pulled his body back to hers. “We’ll fit,” she assured him.

Dallas ran his hands over the swell of her breasts and along the smooth curves of her waist and hips. Her creamy skin was like velvet to the touch and smelled of sweet honeysuckle soap. He kissed her breasts as he gently pulled her white cotton panties down to her knees.

“The more I’m with you, the more I want you,” Dallas murmured into her skin.

As Dallas pulled his shirt over his head, a crushing pain from his shoulder made him fall across the bed. “Damn it,” he cursed, grabbing at his shoulder.

“You’re still too sore,” Gwen admitted as she sat up on her elbows and looked over at him.

Dallas rolled back over to her side and almost fell off the edge of the bed. “I’m going to make this work,” he avowed, reaching for her.

Gwen laughed at his bravado and pushed him down on the bed. She climbed on top of him and straddled her legs over his hips. As she kissed his face, her blond hair fell down along his bruised right cheek. “Now I get to show you the second best thing I’m good at,” she told him.

“I wouldn’t exactly say the second best thing,” he said, holding back her jasmine-scented hair with his hands. “I’ve been quite impressed with your performance so far.”

Gwen kissed his chest and worked her way down to the
taut
muscles in his abdomen. Anxious to feel his naked body next to hers, she pushed his pajama bottoms over his firm buttocks and down his legs. Gwen flung the pajamas from the bed and then gently lifted his T-shirt from over his shoulders.

Dallas kissed her neck, and his mouth traveled down to her small, pink nipples.

Gwen tossed her head back and ran her hands through his dark hair as he bit down hard on her right nipple. She gasped in pleasure as his right hand reached between her legs and began stroking her flesh.

“I can’t wait. I want you inside of me,” she whispered.

Undone by her words, her smell, and her touch, he lost all control. Dallas grabbed her hips and lifted her over his erection. Gwen lowered her body onto him, taking him deep inside of her with one forceful thrust. Dallas gripped his hands around her hips, urging her on. Gwen reached her hands around his shoulders, raised her hips, and then came down on him again. She arched her back and dug her fingernails into his flesh as he entered her again and again.

“Yes,” she moaned in a throaty voice.

Dallas bit into her shoulder as he felt his climax building inside of him. Overcome with need, he forced her hips to move faster against him, until Gwen cried out.

Her body bucked on top of him when her orgasm catapulted through her. Dallas groaned into her chest as his body tensed. He slammed his hips into her with one last deep penetration before he felt his body explode with the final release.

Dallas was lying beneath her still body with his arm draped over her back, listening to her rapid breathing. A light film of perspiration covered his brow and as Dallas reached up to wipe his hand across his forehead, Gwen stirred.

She sat up and tenderly kissed his lips. “Now that was worth the wait.”

Gwen rolled over to her side and hung on to Dallas to make sure she did not fall off the bed. He gathered her up in his arms.

Dallas softly laughed into her hair. “It will be a miracle if the two of us don’t break our necks on this thing.”

“We’ll just have to sleep very close together,
”
Gwen insisted as she cuddled up against him. “When I first met you I thought you were this arrogant asshole who was going to run around my house waving a gun and never stop telling me what to do. I’m glad to see I was wrong about the arrogant part.”

“I was told by Lance, and a few others, that you were distant and only liked your horses. But now that I have gotten to know you a little better, I think it is just the way you are. You’re suspicious of the intentions of others.”

“Just like you.” She sat up next to him. “You have to admit you’re not the most trusting person, Dallas.”

He nodded. “No, I’m not.”

“And do you trust me now?”

“No, I do not.”

Gwen sighed as she rested her head against his chest. “One day, I’ll make you eat those words.”

He began stroking her hair. “I’ll look forward to seeing you try.” Dallas sighed against her. “One day, I hope we can both begin trusting again.”

Early the next morning as the sun crept into the bedroom, Dallas rose from the wrought iron princess bed
,
trying his best not to wake Gwen. She was curled up in the white sheets, sleeping soundly while he stood over her. Her bedroom reminded him of a little girl’s sanctuary. There were horse show ribbons decorating the pale pink walls, as well as silver trophies set up along the oak dresser and atop the two matching oak bookcases. On the bookshelves, Dallas glimpsed copies of classic Jane Austin novels next to those of Stephen King. There were even assorted ticket stubs from various rock concerts preserved beneath a glass countertop on her white desk. Inserted into the edges of the vanity mirror in back of the desk were a few pictures of two men in desert fatigues. They both had Gwen’s fair coloring, and their father’s muscular physique. Dallas smiled as he took in the room and glanced back once more to Gwen. He noticed the time on his stainless steel watch and walked across her room, picking up his clothes as he went. When he got to the door, he tried to open it as quietly as possible, and then ducked into the hall.

Once safely back in his bedroom, he quickly threw what clothes he had unpacked back into his suitcase and headed for the shower. As he waited for the water to warm outside of the shower stall, he remembered back to the way Gwen had stood naked beside him and massaged away his discomfort. Frustrated by his emotions, he turned the tap to “cold” and jumped into the shower. As he shivered beneath the water, he figured he needed this. He needed to feel something, no matter how painful, before he returned to his life in New York. Once he stepped back into Simon La Roy’s world, he would become numb again. Dallas August would regress into the cool and distant professional he had been before Nicci, before New Orleans, and before Gwen.

***

Half an hour later he was downstairs, placing his suitcase and overnight bag by the front door
,
when he spotted Gwen’s brown leather handbag on the table next to him. He opened the purse and began going through it. After unzipping all the small compartments and practically turning the purse inside out, he found no sign of the safe deposit box key. He ran his hand over the back of his neck and anxiously checked his watch. Dallas only had fifteen more minutes
to find that key
before Lance arrived. He was about to head back up the stairs and question Gwen, when he stopped on the steps. Carl Bordonaro had asked him to simply find out what information Gwen had on Earl Yeager. He had done that. As far as Dallas was concerned, she knew nothing. She had made no attempt to find the dead man’s family or trace the location of the safe deposit box key, and probably never would. The key could stay hidden in her purse and no one would ever know what secrets the dying man had locked away. It was better this way. Gwen would be protected and Dallas could deliver exactly what Carl Bordonaro had requested.

When he turned back down the stairs, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafted up to him. With his dilemma over the safe deposit box key resolved, Dallas decided to head to the kitchen and have a quick cup of coffee before Lance arrived.

When he walked into the room, he saw Ed, seated at the kitchen table with his coffee mug in his hand. He nodded to Dallas. “You heading out?” he asked.

“In a few minutes,” Dallas confirmed.
“Thought I would steal a cup of coffee before Lance Beauvoir shows up.”

Ed grinned. “Lance Beauvoir, now there’s a hell of a character.”

Dallas walked across the kitchen to the coffee maker. He picked up one of the two mugs standing beside it. “Yes, Lance is something,” he concurred.

“You almost married his niece, Nicci, didn’t you?” Ed questioned behind him.

Dallas paused and then picked up the coffeepot from the heating plate. “How did you know?” He poured the coffee into his mug.

“After that first day you came here I recognized you. I saw you last year at Val’s housewarming party
, the
one where you and Sammy Fallon’s idiot son got into that brawl.”

Dallas picked up his coffee mug and turned to him. He said nothing as he kept his eyes on Ed.

“Val is an old friend,” Ed went on. “I go to all of her parties. I, ah, gave her a call after you came by for brunch that day. She told me a good bit about you. She likes you, and Val Easterling doesn’t like very many people.”

Dallas raised his coffee mug to his lips. “I like Val. She’s been a good friend.”

“And my daughter?” Ed stood from the table. “For what it’s worth, I understand you haven’t been given a lot of choices here. But I just wanted to say thanks. I know you’re leaving and it’s over, but at least my Gwenie had some happiness with you.” He walked up to Dallas and pulled something out of his pocket.
“I
believe this is what you were looking for,” Ed stated
,
and handed Dallas a small gold key.

Dallas put his mug down on the counter and took the key.

Ed nodded to the key. “I explained everything to Gwenie last night after you went to bed. I made a fire in the living room, sat her down, and told her why you were really here. After that, she gave me the key and told me to give it to you before you left this morning.”

Dallas held the key in his closed fist and silently berated himself for being such a lousy human being.

“Tell Gwen…
.
” Dallas began
,
but struggled to find the words.

“I’ll tell her something. Not to worry,” Ed assured him.

A car horn sounded from the street. “Sounds like Lance has arrived.” Ed held out his hand to Dallas. “Thanks for taking care of Gwenie for me. Now you try and take care of yourself.” He turned and went back to his seat at the table.

Dallas left Ed in the kitchen and once again heard Lance’s impatient car horn as he made his way to the front door. He picked up his suitcase, slung his overnight bag over his right shoulder, and quietly slipped out the front door.

When he approached the blue Jaguar waiting by the curb, Lance Beauvoir stepped from the driver’s side door.

“What are you, deaf?’ Lance asked as he went around to the back of the car and opened the trunk for Dallas.

“I was saying good-bye,” Dallas explained.

Lance cringed. “Ooww!” he exclaimed as he watched Dallas toss his black suitcase and overnight bag into the trunk. “I never figured you one for good-byes,” Lance mused.

Dallas unzipped his suitcase and removed the Sig Sauer P226 from inside. He handed the gun to Lance. “The good-byes were for Ed.”

Lance snickered as he took the gun and tossed it back into the trunk. “Somehow I don’t see you and Ed Pioth hugging it out.” He pointed to the bandage on Dallas’s left index finger. “The guy who did that to your finger, did he do that to your face, as well?”

Dallas ignored him and glanced back to his red Mercedes parked behind Lance’s Jaguar. “I thought we were going to return that.”

Lance shook his head. “It’s leased for another week. I can return it later.” He eyed the car. “The case I gave you with the
backup
Sig, is it still in the trunk?”

Dallas nodded and reached into the pocket of his gray slacks. He pulled out the gold key Ed had given him and tossed it to Lance. “I believe that is what Carl is waiting for.”

Lance looked down at the key in his hand. “Carl will be very pleased.” He placed the key in his front trouser pocket.

Dallas shut the trunk and went around to the front passenger door. “I’m glad someone will be.”

Lance went around to the driver’s side door. “Do I detect a hint of regret in your voice?”

Dallas just glared at Lance over the roof of the Jaguar.

“Hey I’m not saying anything happened between you two, but if it did, I can certainly understand. I’m just glad you took my advice.”

“What advice?”

Lance gave Dallas a mischievous grin. “You got to know the woman.” Lance opened his car door. “Did I happen to mention I’m envious as hell?”

Dallas glanced up to the second story window of Ed’s uptown home. He could swear for a moment that he saw someone standing in the window gazing down at him. He decided it best not to look back to see if he was right.

Dallas got into the car and shut the door behind him. He pulled the seat belt around his shoulder as he thought of Gwen. He remembered the way she smelled, her silky hair, and the feel of her soft skin.

“Jesus, do you have it bad,” Lance remarked from the driver’s seat next to him. “I haven’t see you that enamored with someone since Nicci.”