Part Two
Feet on the coffee table of his den, Dr. Stephen Benford sat with his laptop balanced on his legs
reading the personnel file of Dr. Claire Holden. He’d been back from Seattle for a week and she
lingered in his thoughts. He chided himself for dwelling on what had probably been little more
than a convention hookup for her. It had felt like more to him, the strength of the attraction had
been a little mind bending. Why hadn’t she seemed to be more interested in pursuing a
relationship? The idea he kept returning to was the scar on her stomach and the hint of dark
memories attached to it. He knew it bordered on invasive to search her records for clues, but he
stubbornly clung to the idea that knowing what haunted her fell in his purview as the Division P
staff psychologist.
Scrolling down through standard resume information to look for more personal data, he
eventually discovered an attached file labeled “Police Report.” He clicked on the link. The file
began as an assault report.
Claire Holden had been stabbed in her apartment by Rex Hayworth. The formal police statement
indicated that Hayworth was an ex-boyfriend who had become a stalker. Paperwork for
executing a restraining order had been started prior to the attack. Claire had been critically
injured and charges of assault with intent to kill had been filed. Another portion of the file was a
written statement from Claire. During her attack, Claire had hit Rex with a chair and a hospital
document indicated that Rex Hayworth now existed in a persistent vegetative state due to a
traumatic brain injury of undiagnosed origin. Stephen squinted at the last part. Undiagnosed?
That didn’t quite track. Anyway, the end result of all of this was Claire had recovered, been
cleared of any charges and Hayworth was drooling on himself in a long term care facility.
Stephen closed the file and sat thinking about the whole scenario. He’d been doing this long
enough to realize that there were things missing from the reports, mostly likely things involving
Claire’s psychic Talents. Things like the victim claiming I felt him coming after me, wasn’t the
sort of thing that made it into official statements.
God, no wonder Claire was gun-shy of anything beyond a physical relationship. To go through a
traumatic event like that had to leave as many emotional scars as physical ones. It sickened him a
little to think of someone ripping her open with a knife.
~
Weddings were magnificent, beautiful, expensive and a fucking pain in the ass. Claire gritted her
teeth as she made plane reservations to attend her college roommate’s wedding. She was happy
for Sue, really, but how had she been conned into being a bridesmaid? At least the dress Sue had
ordered her wasn’t sinfully ugly. As Claire considered where she was going to stay during all of
this, she realized that Richmond was only about a two hour drive from Suffolk, where Division
P’s headquarters were located.
Maybe she should pay a visit to Division P? Maybe she could arrange to see Stephen? She still
had very mixed feelings about the level of attraction she felt for him. He was brilliant and
Talented and pretty damn amazing in bed. They actually had a lot in common, but. There was
always a but.
After Rex and that whole clusterfuck, she’d never quite trusted herself or the things her Talent
could do ever again. Destroying Rex’s mind had been unintentional. Part of her tried to chalk it
up to the- I was in the middle of bleeding out effect. The other part of her feared her own
capacity to actually do that level of damage.
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. She could send Stephen some email and try to ascertain
if he wanted to see her again. She had sensed conflicting emotions in him regarding her casual
attitude toward sex. Hey, two consenting adults getting it on, why did there have to be more to
it?
To: SBenford@DivP.gov
From:CHolden@DivP.gov
Hi Stephen
I’m going to be in Virginia for a long weekend next month so I can be a bridesmaid for a friend’s
wedding. Would you mind if I dropped by HQ? I kind of ducked the training phase when I got
hired and have never actually been to the complex. Maybe you could show me around?
Claire
~
The email from Claire caught Stephen off guard. If it had been strictly a business issue, he
wouldn’t have been surprised, but this sounded almost like a date. Stephen found himself
smiling. He would be delighted to show her around and maybe if time permitted they could have
dinner. It was probably too much to hope he might get lucky, but then again Claire didn’t seem
to have any major hang-ups about physical intimacy.
~
The Division P complex was a whole lot bigger than Claire had anticipated. Discretely hidden by
barbed wire topped fencing bordering heavy foliage and fields, the large sprawling central
building lay like a sleeping giant. She had to ask directions from one of the security people to
find Stephen’s office. In retrospect, she probably should have asked him to meet her out front but
she really wanted a few minutes to eyeball the place on her own. She counted doorways. The
guard had said fourth door on the right. She could see a hint of late afternoon sunshine streaming
from the open doorway.
She knocked lightly on the door frame. “When Milbourne said HQ was big, I didn’t quite fathom
how big.”
Stephen was seated at his desk with the window to his side, typing something on his computer.
“Claire!” He jumped to his feet and crossed the room to give her a hug. “I wasn’t sure when
you’d get here.”
“Me neither. Thank God for GPS, or I’d have been lost for sure.” She noticed that he was still
holding onto her, and the warmth of his arms around her was a really good feeling. She tilted her
head slightly, angling for a kiss and he met her mouth. Mmm, no razor stubble, she was amused.
He must have shaved late in the day for her.
One hand cupped behind her head, as his kiss deepened. She opened her mouth to him, and
relaxed her mental shielding a little. Oh God, he was such a fierce solid presence, such tightly
leashed control, and yet she could feel the cracks in that control. He wanted her so bad. She
could sense his pulse accelerating and blood vessels dilating. Her own body was doing similar
things.
Here, now, Stephen… She was losing her train of thought in the haze of arousal. “Does the door
lock?” she managed to mumble against his lips.
“Uh-huh.” He was slowly walking her backward toward the door. He paused in his tender assault
long enough to push the door shut and twist the lock. She took the moment to look at his
reddened mouth, blown pupils and slightly flushed skin. Lord, not even Rex had ever … She
shut that thought down hard, and pulled Stephen tight to her body, feeling the hard ridge of his
cock pushing against her groin.
He hesitated. Oh hell, had he caught a hint of her interrupted flicker of memory?
“Yes?” he asked softly.
“Hell yes.”
A button from his shirt pinged off a file cabinet in their rush. Her jeans and underwear got flung
over a chair as his dress shirt and T-shirt landed on the desk. Stephen fell back onto the sofa
slacks and boxers around his ankles, awkward fishing in his pocket and coming up with a
condom.
She straddled his thighs and sank onto him as he resumed ravaging her mouth. One of his hands
teased her nipples, the other wrapped around her body guiding her rise and fall as he thrust up
into her.
Claire was never good at quiet. She moaned and whined as she spiraled closer to climax.
“Ohgod… moretheremore …harder unhthere oh god that!”
They skidded sideway on the sofa and Stephen lay beneath her on the cushions, every buck of his
hips meeting her motion, hitting deep inside her as his mind was a hot flare along her own. And
then he came hard, the flash fire of his nervous system igniting her own orgasm. A cry of
pleasure tore from her throat.
~
Claire lay draped on top of him, and Stephen could feel the hard crash of her pulse slowing
against his chest. One hand tangled in her hair, toying with the lock of bright blue. She was fire
and passion and intelligence and he adored the way she felt in his head. It was like sitting next to
a bonfire. Even when it was banked, the coals glowed underneath.
He traced a finger along her lips and she opened her mouth, sucking lightly on it. He could feel
her calling her energy to crawl along his skin. His cock twitched slightly at the teasing sensation
but he wasn’t eighteen anymore and it would take a little while before that body part would
respond again.
She snickered. “I bet I could raise the dead if you wanted me to.” She reached down and cupped
his balls in her hand. The energy buzz drew a low groan from him. He took her hand and drew it
back up to his chest.
“I think you already woke the dead. I’d forgotten what a screamer you are. Half the complex
undoubtedly heard us.”
“It’s after six on a Friday. How many people are there likely to be around anyway? Maybe just
the security.”
“You forget some of us live here. Not in this wing but nearly a dozen of us have apartments
here.” He held her face in his hands and kissed her. God, she was beautiful. Her stomach
growled and he laughed. “Sounds like I need to feed you.”
“I’m starving. The airplane food sucked.”
~
Redressed, Claire tugged her shirt straight. Stephen had that relaxed, well and truly fucked
expression. He had run his hand through his hair in an effort to make it less of a mess. It hadn’t
really helped. She walked down one of the corridors with him.
“This place is massive,” she said.
“Better than the L.A. office?” he teased.
“Different. That’s an office building and everything is categorized by floor.”
They came to the cafeteria and Claire asked, “This place is still open?”
“Seven to ten every day, sometimes we keep really odd hours. No cafeteria out there?”
“There’s a kitchen that somebody restocks every couple of days, with a halfway decent selection
of food, but that’s the extent of it. Do you eat here every day?”
“Not quite,” he replied looking vaguely embarrassed.
They collected some food and sat to eat. Claire saw a tall lanky blond man come in and head for
the coffee pots along the far wall. He raised a hand in greeting to Stephen. After the man poured
himself a cup, he head toward them.
“I’m Danny Valentine. I don’t think we’ve met,” the blond man said, holding out a hand.
“Claire Holden. I was in the area on other business and thought I’d come by,” she said.
“Holden, oh wow, you’re the healer from the L.A. office. Peter’s going to be disappointed he
missed you.”
“I thought he was around somewhere,” said Stephen.
“No, he’s spending the next day or so at Jennifer’s house. I’m stuck by myself this weekend. It’s
okay though, I’m so jet lagged I’ll probably spend half of tomorrow sleeping,” replied Danny.
“Does that mean Mason is on call for the weekend?” Stephen asked.
“Yeah. He’ll drive over if we need him. He’s probably busy changing diapers in the meantime,”
said Danny with a grin.
“He loves it.”
“Yeah, he’s every bit as devoted as Cam. Nice to meet you in person Claire. I have paperwork to
do before I go collapse into bed.”
As she watched him walk away, her mind picked up on the hint of loneliness in Valentine.
“Who’s he missing?” she asked.
“Peter and Jen, they have a tight threesome relationship going, but Jennifer lives over in Norfolk.
Both Peter and Danny spend a lot of time over there, but sometimes one or the other needs to be
available here.” Stephen said. “So tell me about this wedding you got drafted into.”
“Sue Stark was my roommate in college. We’re still fairly good friends and she conned me into
the bridesmaid thing. I’m not looking forward to having to deal with the other two though.”
“Other two?”
“Bridesmaids, Sue’s sisters. I guess they mean well but they are a catty, elitist pair. We have
never gotten along and having to put up with them all through the rehearsal, the wedding and the
reception …Geez, maybe I should bang my head against the nearest hard surface right now.”
Stephen smiled. He reached out and stroked the back of her hand with his fingertips.
Claire enjoyed the solid steady feel of his presence. It gave her the feeling that he had her back,
was there to give her a still point for the usual chaos in her head. “Any chance I could convince
you to come defend my honor on Sunday?”
“That sounds disturbingly like show up at dawn and prepare for ten paces, turn and fire.”
She laughed. “Eh, it’s not quite that bad. It was just a thought anyway.”
“I didn’t say no. Tell me where and when.” He picked up her hand and turning it over, kissed the
center of her palm.
The warmth of his mouth sent a little trickle of arousal through her body. She sighed slightly.
Why the hell had she agreed to meet Sue at ten tonight? She had just barely enough time to finish
eating and drive back to Richmond. Claire gave Stephen the address and the other pertinent
information as they finished dinner.
~
She was gone, on her way back to Richmond. Stephen settled into the chair behind his desk, and
rubbed his hands down over his face. Was he ever going to be able to look at his office quite the
same way ever again? The overhead light was off and only the much smaller illumination of the
floor lamp lit the room. He glanced out the window into the darkness, and felt like he was
questioning his own sanity just a little. In Seattle, up against a door. In his office on the sofa.
Both times it had been raging lust and this undecipherable need to fuck her senseless. Except Dr.
Claire Holden gave every bit as good as she got. She was no delicate fragile flower. No, she
moaned and screamed and met every thrust, riding him as hard as he did her.
He’d spent the past decade of his life trying to unravel the complexities of the psi mind, what
made it different, why trauma could be so much worse and why relationships between psi were
often so very intense. All that and the entire time, he’d been an outsider looking in. There had
been dates and a very few casual and temporary involvements, but he’d never felt as damnably
out of control as he felt now.
Tomorrow she’d be busy, but Sunday he’d agree to go to the wedding to be her date. He had
some comprehension that he was there to provide moral support as much as anything else. It
should be an interesting experience.
~
A quick text message from Stephen let Claire know that he was outside the church. She hurried
out one of the back doors and circled around to the parking lot to meet him.
He was leaning against a street lamp, dressed in a suit and tie, hands in his pockets. Her stomach
gave a funny little twist and she cautiously acknowledged to herself that she was happy to see
him.
“I see you acquired a replacement suit after the adventure in Seattle,” she teased as she walked
toward him.
He gave her a ruefully amused smile. “I do actually own more than one.”
“Oh? I usually see you half dressed.”
He smirked. “I could say the same. On the other hand, that’s a very nice dress.”
Claire wore a dark green, off the shoulder, tea length gown for her position as a bridesmaid. She
leaned in and placed a hungry kiss on his mouth. “It could be light years worse. At least Sue has
halfway decent taste.” She curled a couple of fingers around his lapel and leaned into the warmth
of his body. No matter what, touching him always seemed to spark a deep seated flicker of lust
within her. Dark hair, blue eyes, well sculpted features… she wasn’t sure if the media would call
him handsome but God… he drew her like a moth to a freaking flame. She ran a fingertip across
his lower lip. “I think I got lipstick on you.”
“Isn’t that how women mark their territory?” His hands rested on her hips.
She laughed. “Oh, I could think of a whole lot of places I’d like to mark, but if I screw up my
makeup and hair before this whole event, Sue will crucify me.”
“Then maybe I should keep my hands to myself?” He lifted his hands away.
“Only for another hour or so.” She brushed another kiss across his mouth before she went back
inside.
~
As weddings went, Stephen thought this one was average. No major drama occurred and
everyone seemed reasonably happy. He lingered in the back of the church afterward while
photos were being taken, just watching.
The reception was held at a hotel a few blocks away and he finally caught up with Claire.
“I am so glad that’s over. I told Sue if she ever ditches Mike, she’s on her own the second go
round,” Claire commented flopping against the wall beside Stephen.
“Do you have doubts their marriage will last?”
“No, not really, in this world, I just never consider anything a forever bet.” She turned and
leaned her body weight against the front of him. He wrapped his arms loosely around her and
rubbed the back of her neck. Any opportunity to touch her was too precious to pass up.
Claire nipped lightly at his jaw and he dipped his head for a kiss. He could feel the subtle buzz of
her energy crawling along his skin. She tasted of champagne. With the wall at his back, he gave
in to losing himself in her presence for a minute.
“I am so glad you’re here,” she whispered against his mouth.
The next hour was spent in socializing and being introduced. The DJ played The Macarena and
Claire dragged Sue and another friend out into the middle of floor and with gales of laughter they
all did the dance. Stephen watched with a smile.
As the cake was cut and distributed, Stephen went off to get a fork for Claire and was unhappily
rewarded by overhearing a conversation between the bride’s two sisters.
“I’m actually surprised Claire brought somebody, and the guy looks half respectable too,”
commented Candice.
“Yeah, well he’s probably some doctor she works with. What with the blue hair and the gay guy
Sue said she hangs out with all the time, she’s hardly a catch. I don’t care what kind of degrees
come after her name,” replied Beth
“She probably barely knows any normal people.”
“Oh and there was that weird guy she was dating that she let stab her. I heard a rumor that it was
all part of some BDSM role playing thing. I always thought she had bizarre friends when Sue
was in college with her.”
Stephen’s jaw clenched in absolute fury. How dare that woman believe that Claire somehow
deserved to nearly die? Or that her lifestyle made her the perfect target for such a violent attack?
“Did you notice how she’s had her hands all over her date? She’s such a slut,” Beth continued.
“He didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he seemed pretty close to groping her too.”
Okay he’d had it. Those two deserved to be embarrassed. It was petty a bit unethical and he
didn’t care. He focused on Beth, and pushed. You’re hot, really hot and you need to get out of
those clothes.
Beth turned around and giggled and began to undress. Candice gave a little shriek and tried to
stop her sister, but Beth stripped off her dress and the bra and got to the pantyhose… and
stopped. She flushed crimson red as Candice yanked a tablecloth off and wrapped it around her
sister.
Stephen thread his way back through the throng of laughing and gasping wedding guests, back to
Claire.
“What the hell is going on over there?” Claire asked as Stephen handed her the fork.
“I think one of the bridesmaids had way too much champagne.” He sat down in the chair beside
her.
Claire raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Why do I suspect there’s more to that comment than you’re
telling me?”
“Certain people needed a lesson in human kindness.” He laid a hand on her shoulder and brushed
his thumb along her collar bone. Just how bad had her weekend been with those two women
around? Putting some distance between Claire and them would be a good thing. “How much
longer until we can escape?”
“Maybe half an hour. I think Sue intends to do the bouquet throwing thing and then she and
Mike will get pelted with bird seed on their way out.”
“Do you have other clothes? I was thinking maybe we could grab some dinner,” Stephen
suggested.
“My suitcase is in the rental car and my plane leaves a nine; nothing like a red eye back to
California.”
~
In the large hotel bathroom, Claire shucked her gown, and everything else that went with it. Talk
about a “best of times, worst of times” weekend. Seeing Stephen definitely fell in the best
category. Having him agree to come to the wedding had been a near blissful relief from having to
make small talk with people she either didn’t know or loathed. As she yanked on jeans and
buttoned her shirt, she entertained the idea of delaying her flight. Extra time with Stephen had a
certain allure, but that was just setting herself up for an emotional attachment she needed to steer
clear of.
As she left the bathroom, gown in a garment bag along with all the rest of the accoutrements, she
spied him down the hallway, sitting on a padded bench. He’d taken off his jacket and tie, and
rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt.
“I’m good to go. I just have to put all this stuff back in my car,” she said.
He held out his hand. She took it and they walked toward the lobby. “What are you in the mood
for?”
“That was a loaded question,” Claire replied with a smirk.
He grinned. “Somehow I doubt this is the kind of hotel that rents rooms by the hour.”
“Well, damn.”
~
Dinner was a slow relaxed affair in a Chinese restaurant. They lingered over green tea, talked
shop about Division P… and touched. In the relative seclusion of a booth in the back, Claire sat
beside Stephen, the side of her leg against his, his arm around her shoulders. For a while she
forgot the danger.
But the uncomplicated things always had to end, and with only a couple of hours until her flight,
he drove her back to where her car was parked behind the hotel.
She leaned back against the car. The metal was warm from the summer sun. Stephen stood in
front of her, one hand braced on the car beside her, the other cupped against her face.
“When will I see you again?” he asked.
“I don’t know. We’ve both got a lot of responsibilities.”
“Will I see you again?”
“I think so, but Stephen, I’m not any good at serious. I won’t make promises I can’t keep.”
He kissed her softly. “Then let me be the one making the promise. If you need me, I will find a
way to be there.”
She looked into his eyes, feeling his mind as close to hers as his body was. There were unspoken
depths to what he said, but she couldn’t quite figure out what they were.
~
It was late Sunday evening. Danny Valentine was sprawled on the sofa of his quarters watching
TV when the door opened. Peter came in.
“Did you just get back?” Danny asked.
“Yeah, about ten minutes ago.” Peter crossed the room and settled on Danny’s lap, straddling
Danny’s thighs as he delivered a long slow kiss.
“Missed you.”
“Ditto.”
“Are we on for dinner at Jen’s tomorrow night?” Danny wrapped his arms around Peter’s wiry
form.
“Yep.” Peter traced a fingertip across Danny’s mouth.
“I have gossip for you.”
“Spill.” Peter looked intrigued.
“I think Stephen has a girlfriend.”
“Somebody I know?”
“Claire Holden,” said Danny.
“Huh? What? Stephen and Claire? I’m having a really hard time imagining Stephen with Miss
adrenaline-junkie-wild-child. I mean I know they met out in Seattle a month ago but I thought
that was just a professional thing followed up by her doing a little healing on him when he got
roofied. Wait, was she here? On this coast?”
“Yes. She was here at the complex on Friday evening for a little while, and Stephen said
something about being her date at a wedding that occurred this afternoon I think.”
“Wow,” said Peter.
“And I’m pretty sure he got laid too.”
“Oh?”
“There were some really interesting noises from the general vicinity of his office Friday evening.
I tried not to pay too much attention.”
Peter began to chuckle. “Way to go Stephen.”