The Enemy Within (Daughters of the People Series Book 3) (9 page)

The longer
Indigo spent around Bobby and his crew, the more impressed she was by their
efficiency and effectiveness. By the end of the first week, Hiro and Drew had
rounded up and questioned two of the Daughters on their list.

Of course, it
had taken a whole team to persuade each of the Daughters to answer questions
and BDH had run through its in-house supply of bandages as a result, but the
job had been done. They’d questioned the Daughters, thoroughly checked their
stories with the help of Zena and Laura, and let the Daughters think the
scrutiny was done. It wasn’t. Bobby assigned rotating teams to keep tabs on the
women’s movements and contacts, funneling the whole through his own hands to
stay on top of their progress. Hiro and Drew were equally as bad, focusing
intensely on each step of their assignments, seemingly to the exclusion of
everything else.

She and Bobby
worked closely together, though she focused on India and he on coordinating the
entire operation. When they were at BDH, they usually holed up together in his
office with her set up on the couch and him at his desk. More often, they were
on the road, tracking leads and gathering information.

The days were
long and hard, lasting well beyond what Indigo had expected, and effectively kept
her from acting on any tentative thoughts she might have had to seduce Bobby.
Not that they didn’t spend time together, because they did, but it was usually
at BDH or on the road.

He hadn’t
stopped touching her. His hands lingered on her waist, brushed through her
hair, slid under her shirt when they were alone, caressing the skin of her
torso. His lips found hers in odd moments, at times tender and fleeting, at
others fiercely demanding, until Indigo gasped with pleasure and bit her tongue
to hold in pleas for more.

More
was something
he never requested, never pushed for.

It bothered her
more than it should have. She replayed their kisses over and over again in her
mind until her body hummed with frustrated passion, and began to wish she’d
never said no to him in the first place.

That day still
stood between them, not because she couldn’t move past it, but because Bobby
couldn’t. His eyes lingered on her far more than he likely realized. In them
she caught a haunted longing that left her wondering exactly what was going on
in his stubborn, male head.

On Halloween,
she took a short break to pass out candy with her mother and step-father at their
house in Tellowee. A bittersweet envy filled her as she watched Glen fuss over
her mother’s rounded form. They were so in love, so intent on one another. As
soon as was polite, Indigo made her excuses and slipped out, ashamed of the
jealousy gnawing at her over their obvious happiness.

Another week
passed, the list of suspects grew, and more people were brought in for questioning.
Word got out that Bobby was on the prowl and some of their sources dried up.

Hiro and Drew
were only too happy to take teams out and renew those sources.

Margaret, on the
other hand, seemed content to observe and take a back seat to the main action.

Indigo hadn’t
told Bobby about her conversation with his sister in the break room or shared
her suspicions that Margaret was more heavily involved than she let on. Indigo
hadn’t forgotten, though, and in her spare time began to dig quietly into the
other Daughter’s movements over the past few centuries, searching for answers
to a conundrum only she could define.

By the middle of
the third week, Indigo’s nerves were stretched thin. They were no closer to
discovering India’s whereabouts or her possible connections to the Eternal
Order, and had been unable to fully eliminate any of the other names on their
list. Bobby seemed as focused as ever on their end goal.

She was ready to
scream with frustration.

The only things
that kept her from doing so were their morning workouts and their evening work
sessions. Each morning, they met at the gym on the floor above BDH and spent an
hour lifting weights, swimming, or sparring. Each night, they would grab supper
and eat it at Bobby’s desk or in the break room, or go to her apartment to
continue working.

As gently as she
prodded, their conversation never lingered on the past. It ate at her, the
things she’d done, the things he’d done because of her.

Nearly two weeks
after Halloween, they met at her place for supper, a roast she’d put in the
crock pot that morning before she’d left for work.

Bobby sidled up
behind her while she stood at the counter, waiting for the microwave to heat
the mashed potatoes. His arms came around her waist and she leaned back,
drawing comfort from his warmth.

“Mmm.” He
nuzzled the side of her neck and pressed a chaste kiss there. “How can you
still smell so good after the day we’ve had?”

“It’s called
soap,” she said with a laugh.

His tongue raked
over her skin, sending a wave of heat through her. “I think it’s called
Indigo.”

The microwave
dinged and she pulled free to check the potatoes. Bobby took plates out of the
cabinet. His clothes tightened over his lean, fit body as he stretched up. She
bit back a sigh. What would he say if she yanked his shirt up and licked her
way down his torso? Surely he wouldn’t mind if she took just a nibble or two.

That’s depraved,
Indigo
,
one part of her chided, and another answered with,
Yes, but do it anyway
.

“What are you
smiling about?” Bobby asked, bringing her abruptly back to reality.

A flush crept up
her cheeks and she cursed her fair skin. “Nothing,” she said, which was true
enough. Her inner ramblings were nothing he needed to hear.

The phone rang,
saving her from the inquisition gathering behind his narrowed eyes. Without
moving his gaze from her, Bobby reached out a long arm and picked up the
receiver. “Hello.”

She crossed her
arms over her chest, struggling between laughter and outrage. If he felt free
to answer her phone, maybe he was a little too comfortable in her home.

He leaned back
against the counter while he listened and gave her an arch look. After a
moment, he said, “We’ll be there,” and hung up.

He turned to
rummage through her silverware drawer and she huffed out an exasperated breath.

“Who was that?”
she said.

“Who was…? Oh,
on the phone.” He pushed the drawer shut and dropped forks and knives on the
counter. “Your step-dad. He’s at the hospital with your mom.”

Nervous
excitement flitted through her, making her bounce. “The baby?”

Bobby grinned as
he picked her up and whirled her around once, right there in the kitchen. “On
its way.”

She clutched at
his shoulders, as much to hold him as to counteract the dizziness. “We have to
go.”

“Supper first.”

He let her slide
down his body, and she hitched in a breath at the feel of his hard muscles
rubbing across hers.

“No, no time,”
she said and caught his hand. “We need to go.”

“You need food,
sweetheart.” He dropped a kiss onto her forehead and turned to dish up two
plates. “Besides, babies are slow. You can spare five minutes to fuel your
body.”

“Oh, fine,” she
huffed, but took a plate when he offered it. He was right. It could take hours
for the baby to come, and they hadn’t eaten in so long her stomach dug into her
backbone in protest.

They ate
standing at the counter, then stored the leftovers in the fridge and washed up
before leaving. Bobby drove, leaving her to fret during the short distance to
the hospital. To distract herself, she pressed a hand against his thigh and
held on as if he were her anchor, and not the man she found herself wanting
more and more with a need that bordered on desperation.

* * *

Bobby edged the
truck up over the speed limit in the twenty minute drive from Indigo’s
apartment to the hospital outside Tellowee, not enough to get caught, but
enough to shave time off the drive.

Indigo’s face
was pale and tense. Nerves or excitement, he figured, or maybe both. Two
minutes after hitting the highway, she’d latched onto his thigh as if she were
afraid he’d abandon her. Her fingers tightened hard enough to leave bruises,
sending a pulse of pleasure through his muscles at the sweet pain of her touch.

Maybe if she’d
placed her hand a little lower on his leg, it would’ve been different, but
she’d unthinkingly rested it so that her pinky brushed against the fly of his
jeans every time he moved his leg.

So maybe he
jiggled it a little more than he should have, but by the Goddess, even that
small touch sent him to heaven.

He took a curve
a shade too fast and inhaled sharply when her hand slipped and her knuckles
grazed his erection through his jeans. When the road straightened out, he
grasped her hand and reluctantly moved it closer to his knee where it wouldn’t
be so distracting.

Hospital first.
Touching later.

The paleness of
her hand contrasted starkly with the dark blue of his jeans in the night’s
shadows. Would she touch him like that if they were alone in her apartment? Maybe
if he coaxed her into it she would. He glanced furtively at her, ran his gaze
along the drape of soft fabric over firm breasts, the toned muscles of her
thighs, and shifted as the heat and need ratcheted higher. Yeah, maybe he
would.

He parked in the
first empty parking spot he came to and hustled Indigo out of the car and into
the hospital’s after-hours entrance. She held his hand as they took the
elevator to the floor housing the maternity ward, her breath humming shallowly
in and out of her lungs as she watched the elevator’s numbers light up. When
the doors opened, they stepped off it into a crowd of friends and family.

Bobby trailed
behind Indigo, letting her lead the way, speaking to the people he knew, which
was nearly everyone. Tellowee was a small community and his mother a well-known
member. Politicking, as she called it, had been bred into him at an early age.

After Indigo
found a nurse and received an update on her mother, they squeezed onto one of
the waiting room’s couches. He draped an arm over her shoulders and pulled her
close, as much because of the tight space as anything.

She completely
missed the curious stares directed their way.

Bobby met each
one with a steady gaze, raising smiles on some faces and scowls on others.

As much as they
all liked to believe otherwise, there weren’t so many People that gossip didn’t
spread like the wind, and was remembered far longer. Nearly everyone who knew
him and Indigo had probably at least heard that they’d had some difficulties
when he was a teenager, although few would know exactly what those difficulties
were. For him to show up at an important family event with her and show such
casual affection was bound to raise a few eyebrows.

What would those
same people say when Indigo took him as her lover?

It was bound to
happen, maybe would’ve already if they hadn’t been so busy at work. He hadn’t
missed the way her eyes followed him, the flush that crept up her pale cheeks
when he caught her staring, shy and sweet and sexy all rolled into one. She had
the cutest habit of drawing the corner of her bottom lip into her mouth when
she was thinking about sex. Every time she did that, his penis saluted. Every.
Single. Time. It was getting so he couldn’t be around her without the damn
thing standing at attention.

He’d taken to
jerking off in the shower, his senses surrounded by steamy heat and the memory
of her fingers tangling in his hair, the taste of her skin on his tongue, the curve
of her ass under his hand and her back arched, pressing her breasts into his
chest; and his fist, working his erection hard and swift, willing himself to
come just so he could maintain a little control around her.

Sometimes it
even worked.

He shifted on
the couch, cleared his throat, leaned forward over the near painful erection
pushing against the fly of his jeans. The need he had for her never eased. The
urge to sink into her and feel her slick heat wrapped around him was never far
away. Just the thought of being with her like that, of joining his body with
hers and having her accept him, sent desire pulsing through him, low in his
gut. He pushed it back, fixed his attention on the game of Rummy someone had
started while he’d been lost in thought, and breathed a silent prayer.

Sweet Lady Ki,
please let her be ready soon
.

An hour passed
so slowly Bobby shook his watch to make sure it was running, and was still
surprised at the digital numbers on its face. People came and went, stopping by
to offer their good wishes or staying to help pass the time.

His mom dropped
by, took one look at Indigo squeezed up against him, and furrowed her brow. He
wasn’t sure if she was issuing him a silent order to behave or if she was
concerned about the implications of his and Indigo’s position. Since several
people were squeezed into tighter spots in the waiting room, he thought it was
probably the latter.