Primal Passion (17 page)

He slid the door open slowly, taking in the
horrifying scene before him. The Reverend had his back to Price. He
held Denise in front of him as he pressed a knife to her throat.
Gunner tossed his gun onto the ground at Leopold’s command.

Price raised his weapon but hesitated to
fire. Given his angle, if the bullet should pass through Leopold,
it would go into Denise. Price kept the gun trained on the
Reverend’s back, waiting for his moment.

Soon enough, it came.

Leopold kicked Gunner’s weapon under the limo
and then turned to his side as he passed the FBI man. All the
Reverend’s attention was focused on Gunner. Denise was considerably
shorter than Leopold. She was slumped, clearly determined to make
the villain drag her. She wasn’t helping the man’s escape and her
position offered Price a clean shot.

The Reverend never saw Price step into the
alleyway, take aim and fire. His bullet went straight through
Leopold’s head. Gunner grabbed Denise as the man fell. When Price
reached them, Denise was running her hands over Gunner’s shoulder,
trying to apply pressure to the bleeding there.

“Gunner’s been shot.” Her eyes when she
looked at Price were glazed, unfocused. Shock was beginning to set
in.

Price nodded. “I know. We’ll take care of
it.”

He jerked when he heard footsteps coming down
the alley. Price raised his weapon and then lowered it as Agent
Young approached.

Young took in the scene. “Leopold dead?”

Price started to laugh at the inane question.
The man was lying in a pool of his own blood and brain matter.
Instead, he said, “yeah.”

Young pointed to the weapon in Price’s hand.
“Is that the gun that did it?”

Price hesitated. While he knew Gunner trusted
the fellow FBI agent, Price still wasn’t sure what to make of the
man.

Gunner answered. “Yeah. That’s it.”

Young’s gaze traveled over Gunner as he sat
on the ground, Denise in his arms, her trembling hands trying to
stem the flow of blood. “You okay?”

Gunner nodded.

“Why don’t the three of you get out of here?
Get yourself stitched up. I’ll clear the scene.”

Gunner rose on unsteady feet. He’d lost a
fair amount of blood and it was clear the adrenaline that had sent
him chasing after Denise was fading fast. Price stepped closer and
placed a strong hand under his friend’s arm to help him.

“Take the limo,” Young suggested. “And I’ll
need that gun.”

Price didn’t hand the weapon over until
Gunner placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Price. Young
knows what he’s doing.”

Price gave the agent the gun, opened the door
of the limo and helped Gunner and Deni inside. He walked to the
front, relieved to find the keys still hanging in the ignition. He
really didn’t want to have to rummage through a dead man’s pants
for them.

Putting the car in reverse, he slowly
maneuvered out of the alley. The crowd on the street had dispersed,
though there were still quite a few patrol cars parked in front of
the library, their lights flashing.

He glanced in the rearview mirror. “Where
to?”

Denise instantly said, “The hospital.”

Price didn’t acknowledge her response. He
knew where she wanted to go.

Gunner held his gaze through the reflection.
“You know how to stitch?”

“Yeah.”

“You got supplies at the mansion?”

Price nodded. “I do.”

“Then let’s go home.”

Deni started to protest, but Price let Gunner
explain why it was better for them to lay low. Young’s job of
cleaning up the mess they’d left would be that much harder if an
FBI agent arrived at the hospital with a hole in his arm.

Silence fell in the limo as exhaustion took
over.

Only one thought managed to penetrate Price’s
hazy mind, repeating itself like a mantra.

We made it. We made it.

We made it.

Chapter Eight

“Young,” Gunner said, shaking hands with his
new partner. His boss at the FBI had decided he and Agent Young
made a good team. He’d just gotten the new orders this morning that
they would work together.

“How are you holding up, partner?”

Gunner grinned. “Looks like you’re stuck with
me.”

Young shrugged. “I can think of worse guys to
work with. How’s the arm?”

Gunner pulled a chair out from the table and
sat. He gestured for Young to join him. His arm was bandaged up,
but Gunner refused to wear a sling. It ached like the devil, but
today was too important and there was no way in hell he’d show up
looking injured.

He’d asked Young to meet with him in the
library. Two days had passed since he’d seen the agent in the
alley. Gunner and Price had kept Deni at home following her wild
ride in the limo with the Reverend. Deni, in typical form, had
bounced back quickly from the frightening event. While she’d cried
herself to sleep the first night, by the next morning she was more
like her old self, laughing with them over breakfast. The second
night had been easier as they had playful sex in the hot tub, all
of them grateful that they were still alive, still together.

He glanced at his watch. “I’ve only got a few
minutes. I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to talk to you since the
shooting.”

Agent Young grinned. “Well, I don’t blame you
there. If I had a pretty nurse like your Dr. Parker, I wouldn’t
bother to come up for air either.”

Gunner rolled his eyes, but he was glad to
see Young had jumped to the conclusion he, Price and Deni had
agreed upon. There was a brief article in the newspaper regarding
the protest at the library, followed up by a slew of articles about
the importance of stem-cell research. The lab director had called
Deni this morning to tell her that contributions to the lab had
already doubled the previous year’s campaign. Gunner suspected
Price had written a fairly large check as well.

Young had outdone himself suppressing the
truth from the media. The so-called fire at the library was falsely
reported as smoke bombs set off by prankster teenagers. But the
true masterpiece was the explanation of the Reverend’s death.

“So Leopold killed himself?” Gunner
asked.

Young nodded. “Got drunk in that bar on the
corner, walked out into the alley and put a gun to the side of his
head. Several patrons of the bar have reported overhearing him talk
about the fact he was a fraud and he was about to be exposed.”

Gunner appreciated the man’s ingenuity. Young
would have made an excellent member of the Trinity Masters. “Smart.
It’s harder for his followers to make him a martyr if he reveals
himself as a liar and takes his own life.”

Young straightened his tie. “That’s what I
thought. We’ve also leaked some details about his early life, his
time spent in a sanatorium, his run-ins with the law, questions
that have been raised about how he got his money through illegal
means.”

“What about his congregation?”

“Word on the street says they’re disbanding.
A lot of the higher ups, Leopold’s trusted friends, are vanishing,
lying low until everything dies down.”

Gunner rubbed his arm, trying to ignore the
twinge of pain. “What about the guy who shot me?”

“It was the night custodian at the lab,
Chester Cook. The same guy who shot Deni’s assistant, Curtis.”

Gunner recalled seeing the man knocked down
through the haze of smoke in the stairwell. “One of Bennett’s guys
tackled him right after he shot me.”

“Yeah. The security guard was still holding
him when the police got there. Told them he was the guy wanted for
questioning in Curtis’s attack. Good thing Price had the foresight
to flash Cook’s picture around to his staff along with the
Reverend’s when we were setting up the sting operation. Helped us
kill two birds with one stone. Once Cook heard about the Reverend’s
suicide, he sang like a canary, confessed everything.”

“Good.”

Young frowned. “What’s the deal with you and
that Bennett guy anyway?”

Gunner grinned, deciding to use one of
Price’s favorite phrases. “I could tell you, but I’d have to kill
you.”

Young rolled his eyes as Gunner rose.

“I appreciate the way you took care of
everything, Young.”

The man shrugged, obviously uncomfortable by
the praise. Then he stood too. “What are you all dressed up
for?”

It was the first time Young had acknowledged
Gunner’s formal suit. “I have a date. And I’m going to be late if I
don’t leave right now. See you at work.”

He and Young shook hands, then Gunner headed
for the rare-book room. A month had passed since the introduction
ceremony.

What a month.

Today was the formal binding ceremony. He was
about to be joined with Price Bennett and Denise Parker for the
rest of his life.

Gunner grinned. He couldn’t wait.

A few hours and one ceremony later, Gunner
entered the limo first, reaching back to help Deni in. She was
giggling, her face gleaming with pure joy.

Price stood at the door with Roman, who was
also sporting stitches. While Gunner’s were in his arm, Roman’s
were on the back of his head. It turned out the driver had been
lured from the limo the day of the lecture when he witnessed a thug
knock an old lady down and steal her purse. Roman had jumped from
the vehicle to help the woman up when someone bashed him on the
head from behind. He’d been unconscious in the middle of the road
until the limo pulled away from the curb.

“Take the scenic route,” Gunner heard Price
instruct the driver. Roman winked and nodded as Price climbed in
and shut the door.

“We did it. We’re married.” Deni’s smile grew
even wider.

It was a contagious look. Gunner couldn’t
contain his happiness either. “You’re right. We are.”

Price stretched his arm along the backseat,
tugging Deni closer. Gunner had claimed the side couch as
usual.

“I think we need to go on a honeymoon,” Price
said.

Deni laughed. “We’ve been honeymooning for
the past month.”

Price shrugged. “I want more. Besides, I mean
a real honeymoon. I want to go somewhere. I own a small island in
the Caribbean that would be perfect. It’s very secluded and
private. No one would—”

Deni and Gunner burst into loud peals of
laughter.

“You own an island?” Gunner wasn’t sure why
he was surprised. In the past month, he’d discovered Price owned
several restaurant chains, a private jet and a home on Martha’s
Vineyard.

Price wasn’t deterred. “I’ll make the
arrangements with my personal assistant.”

When Price wanted something, he got it.
Gunner suspected that would cause waves somewhere down the road,
but for now, he didn’t want to worry about the future. He was more
interested in the here and now.

“You look beautiful in that dress, Deni.”

She blushed, looking down at the silky white
slip dress. “I feel sort of silly in it. I don’t wear dresses very
often.”

Gunner moved toward her, knelt on the floor
at her feet and opened her legs with his hands on her knees.
“That’s a shame. Makes it awfully easy for me to do this.” He
reached out, pushed the thin layer of her panties aside and pressed
two fingers inside her hot, wet sex.

Her eyes drifted closed and she sighed
contentedly. “Maybe I should add a few more dresses to my
wardrobe.”

Gunner added another finger. “Maybe you
should.”

Price turned in his seat slightly, watching
in silence as Gunner finger-fucked their wife.

“Deni,” Gunner said when her face began to
flush, her hips thrusting against him, seeking more friction. He
waited until her eyes opened and focused on him. “I want you.”

She nodded.

Gunner reached for her, lifted her from the
seat until she also knelt on the floor. He directed her between
Price’s outstretched legs. Price had freed his cock while Gunner
fingered Deni. When he recognized Gunner’s plan, Price lifted his
hips and shoved his pants to his ankles.

“I want you to suck Price’s cock while I fuck
you from behind.”

Deni nodded eagerly. They’d yet to discover
any game their little virgin scientist wasn’t willing to play. Deni
bent over the seat and wrapped her hand around the base of Price’s
dick.

Gunner tugged on her hips, spreading her ass
cheeks with his thumbs. “So fucking pretty.”

Gunner let go just long enough to release
himself from his own constricting pants. Price’s sharp intake of
breath caught his attention and he watched Deni’s lips move along
Price’s erect flesh before parting to suck the head in deep on the
first pass.

“Fuck.” Price reached for the silver hair
sticks he’d bought her as a wedding present, pulled them out and
freed Deni’s thick blonde waves. His fingers tangled in Deni’s
tresses, tightening, using his grip to drive her mouth faster.

Gunner couldn’t resist any longer. He placed
his cock at the opening of her sex and shoved deep with one rough
thrust.

Deni groaned and mimicked his impatient
rhythm. All the finesse of the past month disappeared as the three
of them moved together in sheer primal passion. Gunner fucked her
hard, pounding into her tight pussy, his fingers leaving marks on
her hips at his tight grip.

Price began to mumble a mantra of curse words
as Deni sucked his dick faster. “Fuck, fuck, fuck. Oh, fuck yeah,
baby.”

Deni’s climax struck the same time as
Gunner’s. They both jerked and tensed as he filled her with jet
after jet of hot come. Exhausted, he withdrew and fell to his
haunches. Deni had released Price’s cock as she came. When she
reached out to resume her blowjob, he tilted her face up and shook
his head.

Then he lifted her and placed her knees on
either side of his hips. “Ride me, beautiful.”

Deni took his cock inside her sex and started
to bounce. Price tugged at the zipper on the back of her dress and
pulled the straps over her shoulders. Deni didn’t wear a bra.
Gunner moved closer, planting himself between Price’s legs.