Fixing Justice (5 page)

Alright.
Fuck it
, he thought as he grabbed hold of himself and gave a good squeeze. Sometimes a guy had to do, what a guy had to do. Unable to dismiss the picture of Victoria’s striking brown eyes from his mind, he thought about what having the small woman climbing all over his rock hard body would feel like and decided she’d be a definite turn-on in the sack. Hell, she was so petite, he could probably twirl her around on his dick without much effort.

His hand stroked while his mind conjured up one sexy visual after the next, all starring the strange fey woman. He was surprised at his reaction to these thoughts as his excitement ramped up higher and higher with each slow caress of his engorged flesh. Before too long, his heart was beating with the force of a bass drum while his balls filled and tightened.

Wondering what it would be like to sink into her body as those sinfully sweet eyes stared up at him had Drae moaning within seconds.
Christ
. He bet she’d be tight and wet. The idea of pounding away at her until she cried out while coming all over his dick made his impending orgasm build strength and speed. A few quick, efficient strokes of his big hand detonated an explosive climax that started in the bottoms of his feet and shot along his nervous system with astonishing force. Throwing back his head, his neck corded with tension from the release. He felt his cock jerk and pulse under his fingers. The sensation went on forever, something that didn’t normally happen in these hands-on situations. When it was finally over, he was hanging onto the wall for dear life as deep, gasping breaths filled his lungs.

Holy mother of God
. What the fuck just happened? Had he actually had one of the most intense orgasms of his life, alone in a shower, while fantasizing about a woman he’d spoken to for less than five minutes? To make matters worse, his dick wasn’t exactly settling down either.
Goddammit.
This wasn’t like him. Wasn’t like him at all. It was going to be a hell of a night.

Breathe. Run. Breathe. Run.
The sound made by Drae’s feet, thundering along the hard packed dirt, echoed in unison with his breathing as he mentally chanted the running mantra through the last leg of an early morning power-jog. It felt good to push his body to go harder, faster, longer. He hoped the intensity would clear the cobwebs from his brain after a short, sleepless night.

The cadence of his pounding legs got inside his head, pushing him harder. Dressed in baggy sweats that had seen better days and a faded Corps t-shirt, he’d been running from the devil for the last hour. Up ahead his house came into view, where he stopped and grabbed some water before continuing up the lane. He kept running, only slowing for a cool down in the last stretch.

Arriving at Cameron’s cabin just as the contractor began setting up a work zone with his crew, Drae channeled the restless energy he’d been trying to burn off into the building project. Looking around, he was satisfied that every attention was being paid to the details he specified, right down to the extensive desert landscaping that would be needed along the outside of the addition. A couple of minutes later, Alex rolled up in an ATV, waving to Drae.

As soon as Alex eased off the seat and started walking toward him, Drae was struck with concern for his friend. Obviously, being on his feet most of yesterday and then dancing and partying well into the night had taken a toll on the man’s body. Reminders of the day when Alex had almost eaten it courtesy of a suicide bombing never really faded, not when old injuries reeled their ugly head. The dude was struggling to put one foot in front of the other.

“Hey man,” Drae called out as Alex neared. “Some fucking party last night, huh?”

At Alex’s snort of amused agreement, Drae eased off a bit. Thank God his friend wasn’t snarling and acting like a king-sized control freak. “They’re getting started early,” Alex murmured, taking in the bustle of activity unfolding around Cameron’s house. “Oh, by the way - there’s a message for you in the office. The company doing the video install has some questions. Sounded important, too. Whatever you chose six weeks ago is apparently obsolete today!”

“Of course,” Drae chuckled with a half smile. “Why the fuck not? Do you have any idea what they’re talking about? All that technology shit is your area of expertise. I only picked the flashiest system with the most bells and whistles because it was top of the line. Beyond that, I have no goddamn idea!”

Alex laughed along with him. “If you want, I’ll take a look at that end of things so you can concentrate on being the Wood Whisperer.”

Booming with laughter, Drae asked, “Wood Whisperer? What the hell is that? Sounds kind of depraved!”

Alex grinned broadly. “Dude. Didn’t you know? That’s what some of the workers call you. Hilarious, really. I think Gus overheard one of your long-winded rants about a piece of lumber in the shop. He came up with the tag and it stuck. You really do sound like a chick picking out a prom dress sometimes, Drae.”

“Suck my balls!” Drae laughed good-naturedly at the friendly taunt. Yeah, he did sometimes get
way
into his woodworking. It was, after all, its own form of meditation for him.

Turning to him with palms placed in blessing position at his chest, Alex bowed slightly in mocking supplication and said, “No thanks. Your balls are of no interest to me!”

Slapping his old commanding officer and good friend on the back, Drae gestured to the ATV and suggested they ride back to the main house for a swim. The idea of diving into the cool water, after the sweat he’d worked up on his run, sounded like heaven.

After they’d climbed into the double-seated vehicle and began the drive back to the main house, Drae suddenly blurted out the question he had about the mystery woman from last night before he realized he was doing it. “So, I ran into your new assistant last night, Victoria.”

Alex flashed a quick smile. “You mean Tori? Yeah, she’s great. Totally lucked out finding her. She tell you to call her Victoria? That’s odd.” The unspoken question and surprise in Alex’s response didn’t sail over his head.

He wanted to come back with a snappy retort. Maybe an off-hand slap on his own back about her having been addled by being in his presence, but he didn’t. He wanted to find out exactly who the small, plain woman was without piquing too much of anyone else’s interest to why he was so curious. “Yeah, yeah. She introduced herself with her full name. NBD, man. Must have been the tuxedo and the way I barked at her.”
Good way to cover
, he thought.

“Well, watch yourself around her. She’s one smart cookie. Having her around is going to be great for everyone, not just me. Tori has an extraordinary ability to interpret complex systems and patterns…..”

Drae chuckled at his friend’s description. “Alex, I have no fucking idea what that’s supposed to mean! It’s enough that you do, though. Where’d you find this brainiac treasure? I don’t recall you actually doing a search. She turn up out of thin air?”

“Jesus, Drae. That’s a bit cynical even for you. No, I didn’t interview anyone else but yes, she’s been carefully vetted so you can relax!”

They’d arrived at their destination behind the main house next to a short walkway that led to the pool and cabana area. Alex slightly struggled when getting out of the ATV. Drae had to pull back from offering assistance. He knew the help would not be appreciated. Alex hated feeling like he was debilitated in any way.

Covering for his wobbly posture, Alex suggested that Drae grab some swim trunks from the cabaña and join him in the pool. “I’ll give you the four-one-one on Tori. That way you can save the trouble of an investigation. She’s good people so ease up.”

With Alex’s words hanging in his thoughts, Drae slipped into one of the changing rooms, pulling on a pair of swim trunks in supersonic time. Finding Alex already in the pool, he dove into the deep end in a smooth arc. There really wasn’t anything quite like being fully submerged as your body sliced through the clear, cool water. Dolphin kicking leisurely to the side of the pool, he came up for air and waited for Alex to fill in the blanks in Victoria’s story.

“Okay. So where was I? Oh, right. You asked where Tori came from.” Alex eased onto a step and flexed his leg while he gathered his thoughts.
Just like Alex
, Drae thought wryly. Pull together the basic information. Sift through it. Decide which points were worth sharing, and go from there. He hadn’t been their commanding officer for no good reason. Even so, if he didn’t get on with it, Drae was going to smack him.

After a minute, Alex scrubbed his hand through already mussed hair, making it even worse. He couldn’t look any more like an absentminded professor if he tried.

“Around eighteen months ago, the agency sent some randos from the B team to do security for a beauty contest. It was good practice for our guys, herding a bunch of pageant models through a big media event. Anyway, our liaison from the pageant coordinators was a woman named Stephanie Bennett. Former beauty queen. Two months ago, she contacted us again for an upgrade consultation. I handled the technical stuff and during one of our conversations she mentioned a daughter. Do you remember that British financial scandal last year?”

Drae did remember. He’d been in Europe at the time with the heartthrob superstar kid. Staying on top of what was going on with the press had been part of his security headache. When the banks and brokerage houses scandal hit, the story had exploded in the tabloids. Those things always got ugly, and he pitied anyone who had gotten caught in the mess.

“Well, it seems that the whistleblower was none other than Tori Bennett.”

Drae blew a dramatic whistle at the shocking reveal. Searching his memory, the basics of the scandal popped up. Some rich guy’s financial house of cards had been toppled by a do-gooder, supposedly a girlfriend. Victoria was involved? That hardly seemed likely.

“I know! Right?” Alex chortled when he spied Drae’s look of astonishment. “She doesn’t seem the type but the way her mother told it, she was overwhelmed and duped by an older man who played the game very well. He was a Duke or an Earl or something. Earl of Bullshit if you ask me!”

Drae struggled to wrap his mind around what he was hearing. That diminutive lump of no-frills brown had taken down half of Europe’s financial big-wigs? Oh man, this was getting good.

“The tabloids chewed her up and spit her out according to her mom. Judging by how Tori came off when she got here, I’d say the whole thing traumatized her pretty damn good. Y’know I hate that kind of shit. Why is it the people with a moral compass are so often the ones who get run over?”

He wasn’t surprised when Alex started talking ethics and the principles of behavior. No one was more honorable or decent than Alexander Marquez. The man still carried the burdens of having been a wartime commander. People died on his watch and not just the bad guys.

“In the end, it was an enormous shit-storm. She bolted back to the states and went in to seclusion at her mother’s. To be honest, I was curious by the story so I did some checking around.”

The raised eyebrow of surprise Drae offered earned him a stern look in return. “Not the scandal, you dickhead. I was curious about the woman who single-handedly spanked so many rich and powerful people. Being an economic prodigy meant her services were in high demand. I discovered that she’d come to the attention of financial bigwigs from Wall Street to the London Stock Exchange. That’s how she wound up overseas.”

“So let me get this straight. Your new assistant is a financial Einstein who you rescued from tabloid infamy? Am I anywhere near the truth?”

“You hit it right on the mark, actually.” Alex laughed. “But do
not
go comparing me to Cam! This rescue most definitely isn’t going to lead to romance. I’m no knight in shining armor. She needed to start over and with her mad skills, I’d have been an idiot not to snap her up. Really, Drae. Once you get to know her you’ll see she’s fucking brilliant. She’s got a head for details and doesn’t ask stupid questions. I’d say that makes her a perfect fit for the agency.”

Conversation essentially over, the two broke apart and swam several dozen laps, churning the pool with their workout. Drae considered everything he’d learned about the woman he couldn’t dismiss from his thoughts as he pulled his body through the water. With each punch of his hands hitting the surface, his mind picked apart the information available. No matter how he tried, there was no way to realistically link the prim and proper creature he’d met last night with the very different picture Alex gave of Victoria Bennett.