Undercover Obsession (10 page)

“You couldn’t be a little more subtle? It’s
obvious she doesn’t remember what happened last night.” Brody
glared at his friend before turning his attention back to Piper who
was now watching both of them in confused irritation. “What’s the
last thing you remember?”

Getting more confused by the minute, Piper
frowned as she thought back, but, other than the barely there
images of her erotic dream, the last thing she could recall with
any clarity was having a beer with Haley yesterday. “I had dinner
with my friend, Haley, last night. We ate at the diner and then
went to Crack’s place for a beer. It was dark by the time I was
ready to head back here, so he offered to give me a ride. But…. I
don’t remember getting back home. Why? What’s happened?”

“Piper,” Brody said gently, hating to add to
her confusion and the growing trepidation he saw on her face, “that
was three days ago. Today is Friday.”

This time Piper did sit, practically falling
onto one of the stools at the counter. “How can that be?” she
whispered in confusion as the thought of those missing days upset
her more than seeing Brody again did. She didn’t stay seated long
as another thought occurred to her. “I have to call Haley, she’s
going to be frantic. I was supposed to have some designs to her on
Wednesday.”

“Sit back down,” Brody snapped, then realized
quickly that wasn’t the way to handle her. The Piper he knew all
those years ago would have obeyed him immediately and then looked
at him out of adoring eyes. The changes in her, he was discovering,
weren’t all physical and she glared at him with a look that said
plain and clear, ‘fuck off’.

“I don’t know what you’re doing here, either
of you,” she added with a scathing glance towards Ian’s slouching
figure and smirking face, “but I need to get hold of Haley
now.”

“She’s the one who reported you missing to
Sheriff Norton, who called us. When we arrived yesterday afternoon,
you were here, in your bed, relatively safe. We let them know, so
now the only question remains is where were you for two and a half
days.”

Relieved that Haley wasn’t worrying herself
sick over her disappearance, Piper sat back down, but not because
Brody ordered her to. Frankly, she was shaking so hard from the
inside out she didn’t want to risk falling in a heap at his feet.
She might be tempted to stay there, especially if she was face
level, or rather mouth level with his crotch. Unbelievable, she
thought as she simply shut her eyes against the image of her going
down on him right here in her kitchen, and when she factored in
Ian’s presence, it was even more disconcerting to discover her
simmering arousal ratcheting up. There had to be something
seriously wrong with her to want him so much, after all this time,
after learning of his betrayal of Charles and after she had forged
a whole new life for herself far away from what happened in
Atlantic City. But her response couldn’t be denied, it pulsed
strongly between her legs, the lingering ache and soreness only
fueling the fire stewing.

“Why would Gary call you?” she finally asked
after she managed to delegate her lust to the back burner, at least
for now. Looking him square in the eye, she questioned coolly, “How
is he aware of our connection? Because I sure as hell didn’t tell
him.”

Brody looked at Ian who simply shrugged. If
he knew him, and he did, Ian would tell him to come clean now, and
Brody would have to agree. Piper needed answers, and so did they.
“We, the FBI, asked him to keep an eye on you, at first to make
sure your identity was still a secret from the man who had hired
the assassin that night and second to let us know if Charles showed
up. I’m sure you know he hasn’t been seen since that night.”

“Charles is dead,” Piper returned flatly
before shutting off any thoughts of the man she had thought of, and
loved, as a father.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Ian said, making sure she
got the whole picture. Brody had a soft spot for the woman, always
had. He had thought he had gotten over it, but Brody’s reaction to
her disappearance and since said otherwise. Poor sap, Ian thought
cynically. “Without a body, there’s no proof.”

“I don’t need a body. There’s no way Charles
would go this long without getting in touch with me, without at
least finding a way to let me know he was still alive. I know what
you, the FBI think, that he was working for some drug lord, but
you’re wrong, you couldn’t be more wrong. Now, I don’t want to talk
about him, or what you think he did or didn’t do. I want you gone.”
Her demand would have been more convincing if it hadn’t come out in
a desperate plea, because the truth was, those lost days had her
scared, and them being here was the only thing keeping her from
freaking out.

Brody heard the underlying panic in her
voice, saw it on her face, and had to admire her bravado despite
it. Didn’t mean he was going to leave, he thought, just that he
admired her gumption in the face of adversity, something she had
been lacking when dealing with Charles.

“Have you considered that your disappearance
might have been a ruse to draw him out, get him to show his face
again, so his enemy can take him out for sure?” he asked her.

“Then he wasted his time, didn’t he, because
the only one to ride to my rescue was you, and, as you can see, I
don’t need rescuing. Like I said, Charles is dead.” Piper hopped
off the stool and strode over to the refrigerator, jerking it open.
Shoving aside misplaced lust, worry, fear and uncertainty, she was
going to pick up where she left off a few days ago as if nothing
happened. “I feel like I haven’t eaten in days, hell, maybe I
haven’t,” she mumbled as she started to pull out eggs, vegetables
and cheese.

Setting her ingredients on the counter next
to where Brody was still standing, she looked up into grey eyes
watching her intensely and felt the instant response of her body,
the painful stiffening of her nipples, the soothing gush of
moisture from her pussy, and cursed herself for every kind of fool.
“I’m fixing omelets. Do you want one?”

“Hell yes,” Ian said quickly. “After raiding
your refrigerator, I don’t need to ask if we’re having bacon or
sausage with it.”

“No, you don’t. The only meat I eat is the
fish I catch myself. Deal with it. Afterwards, you’re going to tell
me what happened last night. Now, get out of my kitchen until I
call you.”

“So, who’s Crack?” Brody asked around a
mouthful of the best omelet he’d ever had. Watching her whip brown
eggs that she assured them were healthier for you then filling them
with fresh spinach, feta and onions, they had both had their doubts
about the concoction, but the first bite had both he and Ian
groaning in satisfaction.

“An ex biker gang member who owns Rowdy’s,
the only bar in town. It’s a favorite hangout and Crack lends a
good ear when I need one.” If Piper had been open to anyone filling
the void Charles’s absence had left in her life, Crack would have
been more than willing. Somewhere in his early sixties, even though
his hard life made him look older, he was old enough and over
protective enough to be her father. Nobody crossed him, and nobody
harassed, insulted or threatened his girls, as he often called her
and Haley, without consequences. As much as she appreciated his
kind, gruff manor, her determination to maintain the independence
she had worked so hard to achieve didn’t allow for her to rely on
anyone for anything other than friendship. She had learned the hard
way not to let her feelings and emotions blind her to reality
again.

“If that’s your jeep out front, how’d it get
here if he brought you back from town?” Ian asked as he slathered
butter on a piece of toast made from homemade bread then simply
closed his eyes in appreciation as he bit into it.

Piper rose from the counter where she had sat
between the two of them, very vague images of being sandwiched
between them in her bed causing her to sit uncomfortably in damp
panties. She didn’t care for the questions or these hazy thoughts
that had her wondering if they were really remnants of a dream. “I
only take the jeep when I need to go into Branson. Otherwise, I
walk everywhere.” Putting her plate in the sink, she turned to face
them in time to see surprise at her statement reflected on both
their faces. “What?”

“How far is Hope from here?”

“I don’t know for sure since I cut through
the woods. About two miles.” Looking at Ian, she decided it was
time she asked the questions. “You said something about last night,
something I said. What were you talking about?” The two men
exchanged a look she couldn’t decipher then Brody gave a very
minute shake of his head before turning to her.

“We’ll discuss the condition we found you in
later. Right now, you need to tell us your routine, where you go
and when so we make sure one of us is with you. There’ll be no more
trekking through the woods alone until we find out what’s going
on.” Brody knew he had phrased that badly when sparks practically
flew at him out of angry green eyes.

“Think again Brody Pearce. I’ve gotten along
just fine for five years without you around, and I’ll continue to
do so. I’m sure as hell not going to have one of you dodging my
heels every time I need to go somewhere.” Piper didn’t know what
angered, or scared her more, the thought of how attracted and
vulnerable she still was to this man or why it was necessary for
him to make such an outrageous statement. She wasn’t stupid,
something had happened to cause her to forget over two days, but
since she was unharmed, the fear of what had occurred during that
lost time wasn’t enough to give up her hard earned independence and
wasn’t as strong as the urge to give in to her lust again, setting
herself up for another rejection. Of course, now she was also no
longer fifty pounds overweight and was no longer a potential risk
to whatever investigation he had been undercover for, so maybe he
wouldn’t be so quick to reject her.

“This ought to be good,” Ian stated with a
smile as he rose and took his plate to the sink. Bending down, he
kissed her cheek, grinned at the startled, wary look she gave him
then turned to Brody. “I’m going to scout around while you two hash
this out.”

After Ian went out the kitchen door, Brody
glared at Piper, wondering where the quiet, malleable young woman
he had left in Geneva had gone. “You’ve changed, Piper.” His eyes
took a leisurely slow look of her body from her black, silky head
to her small, bare feet and then just as slowly back up again. He
had touched every inch of that body last night, felt her arch
against his hands and mouth as she came apart over and over, her
soft, sweat-slick skin enough to drive him crazy. His cock stirred
at the memory and his mouth practically watered with the need to
feel those nipples hardening on his tongue, feel the soft, bare
flesh of her pussy under his fingers, her juices dampening them,
easing his way in.

His look had her nipples peaking, her pussy
swelling, dampening even more. Cynically Piper raised her brow,
recognizing that look. “And now that I’ve changed, as you so
succinctly put it, you want me.”

“I always wanted you.”

“Yeah right,” she snorted. “I had to
practically force myself on you, go down on you until, being a guy,
I got you to the point you didn’t care what I looked like or who I
was.”

Brody came around the counter so fast Piper
didn’t have time to do anything but back up and face the storm she
saw brewing in those pewter eyes. When he braced his arms on either
side of her, she couldn’t help but notice, and react to the
strength in those arms, the corded muscles bulging tautly as he
leaned down into her face so close it took every ounce of willpower
she possessed not to pull herself up against him and urge his head
down far enough for her to feel those soft lips ravaging hers
again. Despite the satisfying sex she had with Cole whenever his
job as a wilderness guide brought him to Hope, she had never
achieved the heights she had that one time with Brody and had never
forgotten the feel of him, the taste of him. Which just pissed her
off more.

“If you’ll recall,” Brody said in a
deceptively soft voice, “I was hard long before I got into bed with
you, long before I woke to feel that incredible mouth around my
dick and I have never, ever, been controlled by my cock. I could
have said no to you, turned you down, if I had wanted to. I didn’t.
Remember that before you accuse me again of wanting you now simply
because you’ve lost weight.” Brody grabbed her and hauled her
against him, lifting her until her mouth was level with his, her
startled eyes on his as he swallowed her gasp with his mouth.

Just that quickly, Piper was sunk. The feel
of his mouth taking hers was both familiar and new, just as
carnally arousing as she remembered, yet it was as if she had never
been this close to him before. She opened willingly for his tongue,
matched him stroke for stroke, invited him to explore her teeth,
gums, lips, anywhere he wanted as long as those lips were on hers.
Their mouths never parted as he lifted her onto the counter, spread
her thighs and settled between them, never let up contact when he
pushed her shirt up and closed those large, hard hands over her
bare breasts. Piper couldn’t help the whimper of pleasure that
escaped her throat when he grasped her nipples, didn’t try to
suppress the moan he drew from her when he rolled those taut buds
between his fingers then pinched them just to the point of pain.
Upon his release, blood rushed back into the tortured peaks, making
her lightheaded with the pleasure, aching for more, craving that
which only he seemed to be able to give her. When she remembered
Ian, when she was able to process the possibility that he could
return at any moment and see Brody kneading her bare breasts, her
arousal rose even higher, shocking and exciting her at the same
time.