She Shouldnt, But She Will (29 page)

She held her body up with her arms. His hands ran up her thighs, then over her hips and along her ribs before his penis pushed through the moist gateway of her pussy. She arched her back as he stretched and filled her sheath. He’d donned a cock-ring, one with an additional exciter for her clitoris. She knew because something more than his invading dick stimulated her. His hands pinched her nipples while her thoughts were consumed by the sensation of him moving in and out, slow at first then faster.

Her breathing quickened and moans emanated from her, louder and louder until they turned to begging. She thought she might die when she felt him stop stroking.

“Don’t stop!”

Despite her begging, before she could climax he slowed again. He made it a game of cat and mouse, bringing her close to climax then backing off. Thia was oblivious to her surroundings when every muscle in her pulled tight and her body began to shake out of control.

Her arms collapsed and she fell back on the table whimpering and shaking from the orgasm. Derek’s rock hard shaft still stretched her though, and she knew she needed to get control before he started to pump her again.

When he began the slow grind and pump again, she felt she'd pass out if he continued, but she had no will to stop. All she could do was accept the pleasure and let her body build toward another mind-numbing release.

When it came, she felt Derek pull out and a cool gel being applied to her pussy. Afterward, his dick pushed easily through her nether lips. For what felt like hours, she lay in the dark as Derek took her body to heights of pleasure. She was almost numb by the time he came, and when he removed the blindfold and carried her to the bed, she curled in his arms and slept like the dead.

Minutes later, Derek shook her awake. She batted his hand away. “I need more sleep.”

“How much more? It’s after
noon
.”

What?
She cracked open her eyes and saw sunlight streaming in through the windows.

“Come on and clean up. I have lunch made.” He swatted her bottom and walked off.

Stretching, she said, “What do we have to do today?” She heard him opening the small refrigerator and then a drawer.

“Jim is coming over to bring us up to date.”

Jim, the DEA agent they’d had dinner with the previous night, was good looking, with thick dark hair and eyes the color of Hershey’s kisses. He wasn’t as tall as Derek, nor as muscular.

Pushing the bedcovers aside, she wished she’d paid more attention to their conversation and less on her paranoia over Henry. And today, in the bright sunlight, after a long session of fucking and then a good sleep, paranoia is exactly what she thought it was.

She came out of the shower feeling refreshed but naked. “I didn’t wear anything over here. You aren’t going to make me meet Jim in my birthday suit, are you?”

“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t trust him around you looking like that. Here you are.” He held out one of his denim shirts he wore while painting. Spatters of color decorated it, and it was soft from years of wear and washing.

She buttoned it, then buried her nose in the collar, taking the fragrance of Derek and his work deep into her nostrils. Looking up, she saw him watching her, and smiled. “Did you mention food?”

He pointed to the table, where last night he’d pushed her to limits of sensation she hadn’t known existed. Two plates sat there, side by side. One held a whole sandwich. The other had a sandwich cut into small pieces.

“Are you too sore to have your hands bound again?”

She considered. “Loosely?”

He nodded. “Kneel.”

She cast a longing look at the food and dropped to her knees. He tied her hands and then pulled up a chair. She settled on her ankles. Picking up one piece of the cut up meal, he fed it to her. At intervals, he held a glass of milk to her lips and let her drink. While they ate, he read the newspaper out loud and they chatted, he at the table and she at his feet, petted and feted in a way she’d never imagined. It was different. Enlightening rather than demeaning since she trusted Derek implicitly.

“Are you going to tell Jim about the girls?” The meal over, Derek had helped her into a chair and was massaging her wrists where he’d bound her.

“Not if I can help it. They already know the Oglethorpe’s travel with women. They might think that’s strange but they don’t have proof anything is going on. I was hired to deal with drugs not women who don’t seem to be in much trouble.”

The noise at the door was just under a pounding. Thia looked at her bare legs. “Shouldn’t I put on more clothes? There’re some things the models left in the bathroom, though I don’t have bra or panties.”

“I like you in just my shirt.” The look he shot her was heated and possessive, and though she would have liked underwear, she warmed at what wearing his shirt meant. “But maybe you’ll be more comfortable wearing a bit more.”

“Probably.” She ducked into the bathroom and found a brightly embroidered peasant blouse and a skirt. By the time she was dressed, she looked nothing like the wanton she felt.

By the time Jim rang the bell on the studio door, coffee had been started and Thia sat at the table.

Derek led Jim into the kitchen.

“Hi, Thia,” Jim said, nodding to her as he walked in. His quick glance at her and the room, followed by his raised brows and half smile at Derek, showed he understood some of what had been going on. “Lucky shit,” he said to Derek, appreciation and a little jealousy in his tone.

Then he turned all business. “So, Thia, this is a picture of your husband?”

“Yes, Henry Williams.”

Jim glanced quickly at Derek, who’d sat across from Thia. “Well, this is also Howard Whitmore. Our people and yours—” he nodded at Derek “—have confirmed the identification, and the computers matched fingerprints we got in Russia to some we got from Oglethorpe’s office last night.”

Thia opened her mouth to ask how they’d gotten fingerprints from the Oglethorpe’s but Jim said, “Don’t ask,” so she didn’t.

“He’s not only shown up in Russia, but on surveillance tapes here in San Francisco. Good catch, Derek.”

“It was both of us. I took the photos of the helicopter but Thia and her instincts made me believe there could be something more. She’s the one who put the name to the face.”

“Well, good for both of you. So, how do you want to handle this? What do we have on Oglethorpe?”

Thia looked at Derek, pleading with her eyes.

“Can I assume you want info on who’s running the operation locally? Or do you think Whitmore is the leader? Because I don’t think Oglethorpe is involved in the drug smuggling—not beyond helping them get into the country. I think I can convince him to help us, though, if you can work a deal for him on that and a couple of other issues.”

Jim’s expression didn’t change but he went right to the core. “You have something on him and think you can turn him?” Derek nodded. “Spill.”

“I can’t. I promised someone I wouldn’t unless I had to. If Oglethorpe won’t cooperate, I’ll let you know everything.”

Jim studied Derek for a long time. “Give me one good reason why I should trust you after what you pulled in Bosnia last year.”

“I’ll give you three. You know I always deliver. You know there’s something going on with the
Natant Revel
you haven’t been able to prove, even with all your boardings and inspections. And, you know I was right to do what I did in Bosnia.” When Jim snorted a laugh, Derek added, “You would have done it too, if you’d been able to.”

“That’s what comes from being private instead of tied by federal laws.” He sighed and tapped his finger on the photo lying before him. “This guy’s in drugs up to his eyeballs. If he’s not the leader, he’s high up. We need to talk with him.” He turned to Thia. “He disappeared a few months after the major influx of drugs started. What do you think, Thia?”

Thia had been listening carefully, but the question caught her off guard. “Oh, he used to talk about disappearing, how nice it would be to be rid of the problems we faced running our own company. But he always said he’d never be able to do it without money, and knowing Henry, it would have to be a lot.”

They sat quietly. Then Jim spoke. “So, you think you can get the info we need to round up the dealers, stop the drugs from coming in, and arrest Whitmore? We don’t want to put this off any longer.”

“I think I can.” Derek glanced at his watch. "If I can meet with the Oglethorpes this afternoon, can you meet back here tonight?”

“To close this case, I’m at your disposal.”

“Let’s do it.”

* * * *

Derek called Sylvester and Lilly and arranged for them to meet at the loft. They knocked on the double metal doors and Derek opened the door. “Good afternoon. I appreciate your rushing into the city like this.”

“Well, when you said you had sketches we just had to see for the great room, we were too excited to wait.” Sylvester followed Lilly into the studio. “We’re going to combine the trip with a good dinner. Will you join us?” He saw Thia at the kitchen table. “And you, too, my dear.”

“Oh, Derek, I love your work space,” Lilly said. “And your view is divine.”

“Please make yourselves comfortable.” He motioned to the sofa. “I’m afraid we can’t join you for dinner, and I also have to apologize for getting you here under false pretenses. But we have something important to discuss.”

Lilly shot a startled look at Sylvester whose face sharpened into grim lines.

“My name is Derek Hawkins and I do paint, but not as a profession. I’m really a private detective and I contract frequently to the DEA.”

Lilly gasped and sank onto the sofa beside her husband. “And you, too?” she asked Thia.

“Thia is an innocent in this. Talk to me. Because I’m the one who can prevent your asses from being jailed for the next thirty years.”

“Oh, Lord, Sylvester!”

Sylvester took Lilly’s hand. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I understand you might think you have some idea of our bringing in girls from abroad, but that has nothing to do with drugs. I told you how I feel about drugs.”

“Don’t try to bullshit me, Sylvester, because I saw Howard Whitmore at your place. Whitmore has been identified as a major player in bringing opiates from Russia into the city. And funny thing, the DEA thinks it’s brought in on your ship. Now, they might not have found sure-fire proof, but I can make sure they do have proof on human trafficking. Just as nasty a crime.”

Lilly started to speak but Derek cut her off. “Oh, maybe not the way you do it. Maybe your girls are well treated, well-educated, earn a ripe retirement, but selling humans is selling humans when it gets into the courts.”

Tears rolled down Lilly’s face and she stared at her husband in horror. “What would happen to our girls if we went to jail?” Thia wanted to assure Lilly it would be all right if they just trusted Derek.

“What do we need to do?” Sylvester’s voice was low and broken.

“Tell the DEA how you got the drugs past them all this time, and help us trap Howard Whitmore. Plus cooperate with any information you have.”

“What if we decide to take our chances?”

Derek heaved a sigh. “I wouldn’t, Sylvester. Except for finding the drugs on the ship, the government has you. Now that we’re ready, they will impound the ship and strip it to its last bolt and nut, and I can assure you, they’ll find what they’re looking for—the hiding place with traces of opiate. Then you’ll do the time for the drugs, too.

“I sympathize with what you’re doing, saving those girls, but there’s a greater good here than the few girls you’ve saved. I’ll do whatever’s necessary to get the drugs off the street.” Derek held out his hands. “Make up your minds.”

“How long do we have?”

“You aren’t going home alone tonight one way or the other. My contact will be here in a few minutes. If you cooperate and make a deal, he’ll send you home with an operative. If you decide to take your chances, he’ll call his men to impound the estate and ship, and you’ll be taken into custody.”

Lilly cried a little louder.

“I’m afraid there’s no good way out for you.”

“Except by cooperating,” Thia insisted, speaking for the first time. She addressed herself to Lilly. “Derek will help you make a deal, he’ll help you settle things for the girls and maybe stay off the federal radar. But only if you help him.”

“Thia’s right.” Derek’s tone allowed no wiggle room.

“There’s nothing to decide, is there, Sylvester?” With some hope, Lilly looked into her husband’s eyes.

“No,” he said with some bitterness. But Thia thought there might also be some relief mixed in. “Tell your contact we’ll tell all we know about the drugs and that bastard, Howard Whitmore. He blackmailed us into helping him by finding out about the girls, and now you’ve done the same thing. Maybe it’s time for a change.”

Chapter 15

“Are they here?” Jim Jenson stepped into the studio. Derek closed the door behind him.

“In there.” Derek cocked his head toward the main area. “They’re ready to talk and cooperate. In exchange, I want you to get the feds out of their lives.”

“So you want immunity for the Oglethorpes.”

“Of course.”

“Immunity from what?”

“From everything.”

“You know I can’t make promises like that.”

“Then their participation in the smuggling. I know you can do that and you have.” Derek blocked Jim’s entrance, feet braced and arms crossed. Jim mimicked the stance and the two stood in a stubborn standoff for a long moment. Then Jim looked away and Derek knew he’d won.

“How far over the line are they?”

Derek relaxed and drew Jim aside. “Not that far. They did little more than reluctantly supply transportation. It’s best you know as little as possible, so you’ll have to trust me on this. What they’re doing for the drug smuggling will stop once Whitmore is out of their lives. However, they are the key to wrapping this whole case up.”