Duty Bound (9 page)

“With?”

I huffed with irritation. Not with Sebastian, but with me. I filled him in on all that had been going on with Harper, choosing to leave out the new-found sexual aspect to our relationship. “The local police are too damn slow, and I don’t have the kind of time to give this the attention that it needs.”

Sebastian’s expression was blank as he listened. “And this involves me, how? I certainly don’t have the time to come here and help out.”

“I know that. It’s just that you have…access to things that we mere mortals don’t.”

“You know I hate when you pull that card, right?”

I shrugged. “Believe me, I didn’t want to involve anybody else in this situation. But I figured you’d know the name of a good PI who could help with this. Maybe someone who owes you or your family a favor. I don’t have the kind of money that you do, but—”

He held up a hand to stop me. “Don’t give me that bullshit, Levi. If you need help, then I’m there. I don’t give a damn about the cost. That has nothing to do with it. We’re friends and that’s why I’m willing to help. I don’t need or
want
your money. Gavin was my friend too, and that means I’m concerned for his sister’s safety as well.”

I nodded and felt a little ashamed that I even brought up the money aspect. I only did it because I didn’t want Seb to feel like I was trying to take advantage of him. He’d had enough of that in his life, and I didn’t want to be one of those people. “I appreciate that, man. I really do.” I took a sip of my own drink. “I’m just hitting one brick wall after another. If I didn’t have to go to work every damn day at a job I hate, I’d be able to do a lot of the leg work myself. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.”

He nodded. “Or the night, apparently.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

A knowing smirk crossed Sebastian’s face. “I think that your lack of sleep is only partially caused by your…
concern
for Harper. The rest? That’s all on you and her.”

There was no condescension to his words, and it made me relax. “It just happened,” I admitted, dropping my head. “I really tried to fight it. It was just…”

“You don’t owe me an explanation. You’re a grown man and Harper’s a grown woman. From what I observed at the bar the other night, you guys definitely had a thing going on.” He shifted in his seat. “Just make sure that you remember who she is and that you’re with her for the right reasons. Gavin may not be here anymore, but that doesn’t mean that it’s okay for you to be using her need for protection as an excuse to be sleeping with her.”

“Shit. Do you think I’m that much of an asshole?”

He shook his head. “No. I think you’re one of the most honorable guys I know. But I think this is a tricky situation and that lines can easily get blurred. Just keep your head on straight.”

It was easier said than done.

“So can you help me?” I finally asked. “Do you know anyone who can give this a little attention?”

Sebastian pulled out his phone and began scrolling through his contacts. Before I knew it, he was talking to someone. And soon he looked at me and nodded.

It was the first time in a long while that I felt a glimmer of hope.

Unfortunately, that was the easy request.

“There’s just one more thing,” I said, suddenly feeling ridiculously uncomfortable. Seb merely cocked a brow at me and waited. “She’s got it in her head to go to DC this weekend. Some sort of fundraiser event.”

“So? She’s a reporter. Maybe she’s just covering the news.”

Now it was my turn to cock a brow. “Have you been paying attention at all? Trust me. Harper is not going to Washington for a business trip.”

“How can you be so sure? Maybe there’s a story –”

“Oh, there’s a story. Only she’s the one who’s creating it.”

Sebastian leaned back in the booth and threw up his hands in frustration. “I’m already in for the damn penny. Might as well give me the pound.”

“I want to make sure that she doesn’t get in to the event.”

“And you think I can do that?”

I shook my head. “Not personally. But I think you know somebody who can.”

“You’re pushing your luck right now, Levi. You know that, right?”

“Do you think that I want to be doing this? Do you think I feel good about this? Five minutes ago you were telling me that I’m an honorable guy. And now? Now, I feel like I’m fucking lying to everyone.”

“All right, all right. No need to be so dramatic.” He reached for his drink. “Get me the name and date of the event, and let’s be done with it.”

“You’re pissed, aren’t you?”

He shook his head. “Not at you,” he said with just a hint of annoyance. “It’s the whole damn situation. I thought that once we came home…shit would be different.”

I couldn’t agree more. “Me too.” I finished the rest of my drink and then looked over at him. He was one of my best friends, and I was asking him for the same kind of favors that so many others had, and I hated myself for it. “I just want you to know, if there were any other way to do this, I would have.”

“I know.” We sat in silence until it was uncomfortable. As if waking from a trance, Sebastian slammed his hands on the table and leaned toward me. “Well, since you’ve dragged me into your sorry situation, I’d say it’s only fair that you pay for the food.”

There was that damn Donny Osmond smile again. It was hard to not return it. “Deal.”

Harper

“What are you doing?” Levi asked, rolling over to face in my direction. He’d just woken up and was stretched out on his bed with the sheet barely covering his lower half.

“Just checking on some stuff.” I quickly finished writing an email and hit send before I glanced up to smile at him.

He was definitely a sight to smile at. His bare chest was incredible, with rippling muscles and smooth planes leading down to the rumpled sheet. His hair was sticking up on end, and he desperately needed to shave.

“What do you need to be checking on at five-thirty in the morning?”

“I just thought of something and wanted to get it done while it was on my mind.” I’d actually just thought of someone else I wanted to talk to while I was in DC this weekend, so I’d hauled myself out of bed to write my friend a quick email to see if she could arrange it.

I hadn’t yet told Levi about the trip to DC. I knew he wasn’t going to be happy about it, and I didn’t want to deal with an argument, especially since things were going so well between us.

I experienced a stab of guilt at the thought of keeping the trip from him, though.

Whatever was happening between me and Levi, it felt real to me. It might not be long-term, but it felt
real
. And keeping something like this from him didn’t feel right anymore.

“So you aren’t going to tell me what pressing duty dragged you out of bed at this ungodly hour?” He frowned at me and adjusted his leg, causing the sheet to slip dangerously low around his hips.

So call me shallow, but my gaze couldn’t help but linger on his lean waist and hips, at the dark trail of hair that led down beneath the sheet.

“Hey,” he said in an amused tone. “I’m talking to you.” He gestured toward his face. “Up here.”

I giggled helplessly and put down my tablet. “If you want me to look you in the eye, then you shouldn’t sprawl out naked in such a deliciously sexy way. What’s a girl to do?”

“A girl,” he said, a familiar heat igniting in his dark eyes, “can come back to bed and do something other than leer.”

“We just had sex a few hours ago. Just how insatiable are you?

“You have no idea how insatiable I can be when it comes to you.”

I laughed again and picked up my tablet. “Let me send one more email while I’m thinking about it. Then you can indulge your insatiability to your heart’s content.”

He didn’t object, so I tapped out another quick email.

When I finished, he was watching me as I walked back to the bed, pulling down over my thighs the t-shirt of his I’d thrown on before going to sleep.

“So you really aren’t going to tell me what that was about?” he asked, his tone more serious as he lifted the sheet as an invitation to join him under the covers.

I climbed into bed and rolled on my side to face him. “Actually, I’m going to DC this weekend, and I’m trying to arrange things so I can talk to the people I need to talk to.”

His face was utterly sober now. “Do you really think that’s smart?”

A familiar defensiveness rose inside me, as it always did when someone was trying to hold me back or tell me I was wrong. “Why wouldn’t it be smart?”

“Because someone is trying to kill you.” He reached over to stroke my cheek briefly and then trailed his fingers—feather soft—down my shoulder and arm. “And, believe it or not, I don’t think the world would be better without you in it. I think the world would be much, much worse.”

Despite my prickly response, I felt a melting in my chest at his words and his tender tone. “Women go to DC all the time without getting killed.”

“Yes, but they haven’t had attempts on their life already. And they don’t go to stir up a hornet’s nest.”

“I’m not going to stir up a hornet’s nest.”

“Yes, you are. That’s exactly why you’re going. You want to make sure your voice is heard—as loudly as possible—so you can get some answers.”

“So what’s wrong with that?” I was feeling strangely torn—as if he were making some degree of sense, as if I were doubting my own decisions.

It wasn’t a common feeling for me, and I didn’t like it.

He pulled me over so I was straddling his hips, and he reached up to cup my face in both hands. “Two things are wrong. One, I don’t think you’re ever going to get the answers you want, so you’re fighting a losing battle. And, two, something is wrong with any plan that puts your life at risk.”

“I’m telling you—”

“You can’t tell me you aren’t at risk. Someone has tried it already. If you stir up a larger shit storm, then the likelihood is they’ll try it again, more purposefully this time. You know that. You
know
it.”

I was affected by his words—I couldn’t help but be—but it just wasn’t as easy as that. I slumped above him, falling down to rest against his chest.

He wrapped both arms around me, and I felt safe, protected, cherished.

“I can only be me,” I said at last. “You can’t expect me to be anything else.”

“But can’t you be
you
and also safe? I can’t believe it’s not possible to be both.”

I thought about that. Thought about what was driving me to find answers. Thought about what it would mean to give up the search.

“I can’t,” I said at last. “I can’t not do this.”

I heard and felt him release a long sigh. My cheek was pressed against his chest. “Can I come with you then?”

I raised my head to look at his face. There was a question, almost a plea in his eyes.

Somehow—at some point—I’d learned to trust him. Maybe it had happened years ago, when he was my brother’s obnoxious friend. Or maybe it had happened in the last week. I didn’t really know.

But I did know one thing. He was asking me this now because he wanted the best for me.

I couldn’t throw that back in his face.

“Okay,” I said, nodding a little jerkily. “You can come with me.”

He gave a low groan and pulled me up higher on his body so he could reach my lips. “Thank you,” he murmured against my mouth.

It felt important. It felt like something had changed. Like something had been decided between us.

My heart fluttered wildly in fear, in confusion, in excitement…and in something even deeper.

His tongue slipped into my mouth, and his hand tangled in my hair. He held my head in place as he deepened the kiss, and I tried to squeeze my hands beneath his back so I could hold onto the warm, hard substance of his body.

“Levi,” I gasped, when his hands slid down to my bottom, pushing me gently against his groin.

“Hmm,” he murmured, his mouth too busy against mine to answer fully.

I turned my head as pleasure and feeling washed over my body, my heart. “Is this my thank-you for letting you come?”

“Baby,” he said hoarsely, grabbing the fabric of the t-shirt I wore and pulling it over my head. “I’ll give you any sort of thank-you you want.”

I rose up, straddling his hips and completely naked now, arching my back as his hands stroked up to my breasts.

I gasped with pleasure and let my head drop back, my hair spilling messily down my back. “Do you mean it?”

His breathing had accelerated, and I felt the tension of arousal in his muscles. His eyes devoured my naked body. “Do I mean what?”

He’d obviously lost the thread of the conversation—he was so far gone in lust.

So I explained, “Do you mean it that you’ll give me any sort of thank-you I want?”

“Of course. Just say the word.” He thumbed my nipples, making me gasp.

I lowered his hands and stretched them out on the bed beside him. “Do you trust me?”

He blinked. “Of course.”

“Do you really?”

He reached up to cup my face again. ”Why wouldn’t I trust you, Harper?”

“Because, before, you were always trying to control me. That’s not a sign of trust.”

“I wasn’t—”

“Shh.” I covered his mouth with two fingers. “I’m not trying to get in an argument. You said I could have any sort of thank-you I wanted, and I want, as my thank-you, for you to show me that you trust me.”

I honestly had no idea what he would say. He was a powerful, dominant man, and he wasn’t used to giving up control.

It felt important, though. It felt like the natural result of the unspoken thing that had just been decided between us.

“How can I show you?” he asked, his voice like gravel.

I pulled up again and ran my fingers down his chest to his belly. Then I scooted back slightly so I could take his erection in my hands.

He jerked slightly in response to my caress and reached up to pull me down into another kiss. “I thought this was
your
thank-you.”

“It is.” I resisted his hands and then wrapped my fingers around his wrists to place his hands back on the bed. “
I’m
doing this.”

Something changed in his eyes, and I knew he understood. “I see.”

“If you trust me, then you won’t always have to be in control.”

“Is this a test then?” he asked quietly.

“Not a test. A thank-you. If you don’t want to do it, then we don’t have to.” I hovered above him, meeting his eyes without looking away. “Seriously,” I added. “We don’t have to.”

He was very still for a few seconds. Then he nodded. “Do whatever you want.”

I took a shuddering breath and leaned down to kiss him. His lips met mine, and so did his tongue, but he didn’t take control of the kiss the way he normally did.

I deepened the kiss, taking my time, exploring his mouth, until I could feel the tension in his body tightening to such an extent that he was rocking slightly beneath me.

So I released his lips and pulled up, panting and flushed.

I smiled at him, and he smiled back. His arms were outstretched on the bed, and I could see he’d clenched his fingers in the covers.

Feeling excited, powerful, strangely emotional, I trailed kisses down his chest, exploring the contours of his pectoral muscles, his nipples, his abdomen, until I followed the line of hair down even lower.

He was breathing jerkily now, but he hadn’t moved his hands from where I’d placed them.

I stroked his erection gently and felt his hips give a little thrust into my hands.

I glanced up at his face, and his eyes were so hot and hungry I lost my breath. His jaw was tight, though, and I could see he was visibly reining in his need to move, to thrust, to take control.

I lowered my head and took him in my mouth.

“Fuck,” he gasped, his hips jerking slightly. He tossed his head back and forth on the pillow a couple of times. “This feels more like a thank-you for
me
.”

I let him slip from my mouth. “Maybe it’s for both of us.”

I waited until he’d relaxed a little, and then I slid my lips around his erection again. I started to suck rhythmically, stroking his hip, his thigh, his balls with one of my hands.

After a minute, his hands flew over to my hair as he let out another groan. But even before I could raise my head, he’d dropped them again and clawed at the sheets instead, holding himself back from controlling the encounter in any way.

I was filled with something I’d never experienced before as I built him up to climax. This went against all of his instincts, but he let me have control of it anyway.

He was doing this for me. For
me
.

He was muttering out raw, helpless words about how good it was, how incredible I was, how close he was to losing it. And then I dug my fingernails into the inside of his thigh as I sucked hard a few last times.

He came with a muffled roar, his body jerking helplessly with the power of his climax.

I kept sucking him until his body had softened, and then I let him slip out of my mouth.

He gasped helplessly as I crawled up his body.

“Can I hold you now?” he asked hoarsely, his eyes never leaving my face.

I nodded, strangely close to tears. “Yeah.”

He wrapped his arms around me and turned us over so we were both on our sides. I fit myself against him as he started to kiss me, gently, tenderly.

“I don’t really know if any man has trusted me before,” I admitted, nestling into his embrace. “It means so much that you do.”

I felt something tighten in his body briefly before it relaxed. He nuzzled my hair and didn’t say anything.

Feeling like I needed to say something else to acknowledge everything I felt, I met his eyes and whispered, “I trust you too.”

***

The next day I was packing for DC in the late afternoon when the doorbell rang.

My folks were out doing errands, so I ran to the window, stuck my head out, and yelled down to Levi, “It’s open. Come on in.”

For the last two days, I’d been brimming with giddy excitement and trying to talk myself down from hoping for too much so early.