Chapter Two, Not My Brother
PG-13
He awoke to the pleasant sensation of Max's breasts pressed against him, tampered only by the annoying buzz of the telephone.
Max's brown eyes met his and she stretched to pick up the phone, flaunting her naked body before his very appreciative eyes.
"He-um, Hello?" Ben coughed into the phone.
Grinning, Max ducked underneath the cord to wrap herself around him again.
Belatedly, it occured to him that someone was speaking to him.
"Could you repeat that? Sorry, I just woke up."
Max smiled mischieviously, meeting his eye as her tongue flicked out against his chest.
He swallowed hard, trying to focus.
"-if you could come over, we need your help."
"Yeah, no problem."
"See you in an hour?"
Ben bit back a groan, that was WAY too soon to part from her, "I'll be there."
He rolled them over to hang up the phone and groaned at the contact.
"Where you headed?" she smiled, pulling him down for a kiss.
"Staying here," he muttered into her mouth, his hands exploring her soft skin.
He pressed his lips to her neck and she arched into him. "No," she murmured, "You have to go."
Ben shook his head in disagreement.
Max whimpered, her fingers running through his hair as she pulled his head against her. "Ben, please..." she whispered.
He nipped her and she moaned.
Ben smiled and nuzzled her.
Max made a strangled noise, deep in her throat and Ben's eyes closed at the sound.
He wanted to stop the torture and be with her, to feel what it was like to make love to her as he'd wanted to do since he saw her again.
But they didn't have time for everything he wanted to do.
With great willpower, he managed to pull himself off her, falling back against the mattress as she sighed.
"I never knew this would be so..." her voice trailed off and she met his eyes.
Ben smiled and his eyes traveled over her, "...amazing? ...beautiful? ...so fucking sexy," he shook his head and sprang off the covers. "Mission," he muttered to himself.
"Intense," she whispered, slipping out of bed to don her clothing.
***
He was a couple minutes late, but no one seemed to mind.
"We're at the last stage of development for our prototype," Jonas told him as he poured drinks. "We need to accelerate the process, that's where you come in. We need a facial recognition scanner in place by tomorrow. Can you do it?"
"What's it worth to you?" Ben asked upfront. People like this understood money. Greed would be expected.
"One million dollars. You get half when you leave tonight. The other half field test."
"Cash?"
"Wire transfer."
"So this is this photograph recognition?"
"Correct."
Ben nodded, "I'll need access to your computer system."
"Right this way," Jonas led him out of the house, where Max was prepared to knock on the door. "Ms. Guevara?"
"I thought this would be a good time to discuss a few things?" she sniffed.
"I actually have a previous engagement with my young friend here. Perhaps you two met at the party?"
"Ben, was it not?" Max asked, arching an eyebrow at him.
"Indeed it was, Ms. Guevara," Ben smiled, his gaze caressing her figure as he remembered her taste, the way his fingers ran over her soft skin.
Thankfully, Jonas seemed unaware of Ben's preoccupation and they continued to his car, leaving Max on the doorstep.
They stepped into the limo and Jonas was on the phone immediately. "Steve, make sure we lose this tail."
"She's tailing us?" Ben asked.
"She might."
"What's her problem?"
"Nothing that concerns you, don't worry about it. Family problem."
Ben shrugged. Max had done her job, pressured them from the outside and it had worked. He wished Manticore had told her to cut bait when that happened, but they were both supposed to stick it out until the end.
For some, inexplicable reason, this made him nervous.
***
Max watched him go with a private smirk. Everything was working out perfectly, they'd be home by tomorrow.
Frowning at the thought, she walked her car. Or, more appropriately, Manticore's car. The idea of going back scared her.
Would they find out what had happened last night with her and Ben? Would they send him away again?
She knew she was being paranoid, the worst thing that could happen was that she and Ben wouldn't be able to continue their...whatever it was... behind Manticore's gates.
The idea depressed her. What if it was months til their next away mission? Could she wait that long? Could he? What if he went with someone else? Max slammed her door shut as she got in.
Eva's beautiful face danced in her head for a moment and Max shook it off.
Ben cared for her, he had to. She knew he did.
Max shook her head of her own psychosis. They fool around one night and she never wanted him to touch another woman. They just cared about each other...and were experimenting, having fun breaking the rules together and stuff.
It didn't have to MEAN anything.
Finally getting her head in the game, Max glanced in the rearview mirror. She was being tailed, as expected. Parking, she grabbed her bag and walked into the nearest building.
She ignored the woman at the desk and walked up the stairs, opened a window, hopped on the fire escape and jumped. Landing with a grin, she slid onto the motorcycle that awaited her and pulled a laptop out of her bag.
"Where are you, Ben?" she murmured, putting in her earpiece as a flashing light indicated Ben's location.
Max smiled and slipped the laptop back in the bag and revved the engine.
She could really get used to this.
***
In reality, what they wanted him to do wasn't a big deal. Wouldn't take him very long...particularly with Max hacking through the back door.
He glanced at the clock and coughed, alerting a guard. They hadn't been willing to let him do everything without the watchful gaze of someone else.
"I just need to go to the bathroom," he told him, "I'll be back."
In the bathroom, he slipped in his earpiece.
"Test," he muttered.
"I've gotta get a motorcycle," his ear answered back.
"Hey Maxie," he grinned, flushing the toilet. "Ready?"
"Let's do it."
What he wanted to do had nothing to do with the situation at hand, of course, but he walked back to the computer anyway.
It wouldn't take long before he and Max could get out of there. Everything would be finalized soon, leaving Ben and Max free...for awhile, anyway.
He shook his head to focus, he had enough to do without the idea of freetime with Max jumbling his thoughts and screwing up his typing.
Ben frowned, hit backspace and continued.
It remained very clear that they had limited time outside Manticore and all this time they were wasting on what amounted to a remarkably simple mission was a little annoying.
Why couldn't they just kill them and be done with it?
Life was so much easier when they were younger.
Ben sighed. The nostalgia.
***
"Couple more minutes," Max reassured Ben through her comlink.
She was on the other side of the warehouse he was in, tapped into the phone line.
He was fixing their problems, she was downloading their information.
The laptop dinged it's completion and she smiled, slipping in a disk, transferring information and slipping it out again.
The CD she put in next copied the entire contents and Max smiled.
"Done here," she told Ben, slipping the CD into a manilla envelope with a note.
***
He hit enter and smiled.
"Done...when do I get the money?" Ben turned to his guard.
The guard grabbed his phone. "The kid's done."
He nodded and hung up, pulling a gun on Ben. "Thanks for your hard work."
Ben raised his eyebrows, "You might want to check with your boss again before you kill the only person with the password." ***
Max swore softly, reopening her laptop.
***
"There's no password..." the guard told him uncertainly.
"You want to try it out while I call your boss?" Ben asked, getting up and snatching the phone.
The man leaned over the computer as a password box popped up.
Ben grinned and hit redial.
"This can't be right," the man murmured, putting down his gun to hack the password.
It was almost insulting.
"Hello?" Jonas answered on the other end.
"Jonas, I understand you wanted to shoot me...but I have control of this new little toy of yours, so I suggest you send the money. All of it. I'll get back to you when the transfer's confirmed."
He hung up.
"I got it!" the guard yelled excitedly, turning to face Ben and a semi- automatic weapon.
"Congrats," Ben smiled and punched him out. "What was the password?"
"Fuck you, all caps," Max told him.
Ben laughed, "What a dirty mouth."
"What are you gonna do about it?"
"I have a few ideas."
"Hope they don't keep you, I'm getting out of here. Transfer confirmed."
"OK, I'm leaving too."
"Good luck."
"Out."
Ben pushed the unconscious guard out of the way, sitting down next to a file marked important.
He opened the file with one hand and changed the password with the other.
It was a picture of Max.
Ben's eyes narrowed and he typed in the password. He just needed to do one more thing...
***
"You deliver it?" Ben asked, sitting down next to Max in the bar they'd been the night before, Crash.
"Yeah, you have any more trouble?"
"A little...I cleared it up."
Max nodded, "So when do we have to be back?"
"It'll probably hit the News in a few hours."
"So we should probably call in and go back..." Max murmured into her beer.
"Or we could wait awhile," he took her hand, massaging her palm with his thumb.
"OK," she smiled.
He leaned down to kiss each of her fingers and as her heart accelerated. Just watching him touch her hand was killing her.
"What do you want, Ben?" she whispered.
Ben smiled, reaching around the table to pull her next to him. "You," he smiled, lifting her onto his lap.
"Me...or..." she swallowed and looked away.
"Just you."
"If you'd been assigned with Eva or Syl...?"
Ben made a face, "They're like my--"
"Sisters?" she asked when he broke off.
He nodded, smiling wryly.
"So I'm different?" she smiled, shifting in his lap.
Ben's eyes widened and he nodded quickly.
"Let's go somewhere else," Max suggested.
He had no argument.
***
Their shirts hit the floor and Max and Ben hit the bed.
Everything was more familiar now, a day of experience lending confidence as they explored each other's bodies more thouroughly.
His intoxicating masculinity was overpowering and Max just wanted to climb inside his body. Ben hovered over her, smiling as she ran a hand over his cheek.
Mesmerized by the light in his eyes, she caressed him. The hard muscles of his back harnessed power that drew her as she kneaded them with her fingertips.
Ben purred softly, dropping his head to nuzzle her neck and trailing kisses along her collarbone.
***
Just the few hours without her had been torture.
Her skin was sweet to his tongue as she melted into him. She sighed at his ministrations and he could feel his excitement grow as she made her enjoyment more and more clear as her breathing picked up.
It was the first time for her and Ben made it perfect, holding himself back until she begged him.
***
Ben couldn't move and never wanted to.
Max's hand ran over his back and she sighed.
He rolled them over, pulling her onto his chest and Max smiled lazily at him, her hand roaming over him.
Practically purring, he thought, with satisfaction and relief. And she said she loved him.
"Do you really?" he asked softly, watching her face anxiously, hoping her words of love hadn't been uttered in the spirit of the moment.
"You know I do," she grinned, snuggling against him and purring as he wrapped his arms tightly around her.
"I'm not giving you up," he told her seriously, running a hand through her hair and over her body.
"I'm glad we agree," she smiled.
His heart surging with excitement, he pulled her toward him for a kiss.
"So," she winked at him, pulling back, "You think we could do that again before the news comes on?"
Ben nodded enthusiastically.
He awoke to the pleasant sensation of Max's breasts pressed against him, tampered only by the annoying buzz of the telephone.
Max's brown eyes met his and she stretched to pick up the phone, flaunting her naked body before his very appreciative eyes.
"He-um, Hello?" Ben coughed into the phone.
Grinning, Max ducked underneath the cord to wrap herself around him again.
Belatedly, it occured to him that someone was speaking to him.
"Could you repeat that? Sorry, I just woke up."
Max smiled mischieviously, meeting his eye as her tongue flicked out against his chest.
He swallowed hard, trying to focus.
"-if you could come over, we need your help."
"Yeah, no problem."
"See you in an hour?"
Ben bit back a groan, that was WAY too soon to part from her, "I'll be there."
He rolled them over to hang up the phone and groaned at the contact.
"Where you headed?" she smiled, pulling him down for a kiss.
"Staying here," he muttered into her mouth, his hands exploring her soft skin.
He pressed his lips to her neck and she arched into him. "No," she murmured, "You have to go."
Ben shook his head in disagreement.
Max whimpered, her fingers running through his hair as she pulled his head against her. "Ben, please..." she whispered.
He nipped her and she moaned.
Ben smiled and nuzzled her.
Max made a strangled noise, deep in her throat and Ben's eyes closed at the sound.
He wanted to stop the torture and be with her, to feel what it was like to make love to her as he'd wanted to do since he saw her again.
But they didn't have time for everything he wanted to do.
With great willpower, he managed to pull himself off her, falling back against the mattress as she sighed.
"I never knew this would be so..." her voice trailed off and she met his eyes.
Ben smiled and his eyes traveled over her, "...amazing? ...beautiful? ...so fucking sexy," he shook his head and sprang off the covers. "Mission," he muttered to himself.
"Intense," she whispered, slipping out of bed to don her clothing.
***
He was a couple minutes late, but no one seemed to mind.
"We're at the last stage of development for our prototype," Jonas told him as he poured drinks. "We need to accelerate the process, that's where you come in. We need a facial recognition scanner in place by tomorrow. Can you do it?"
"What's it worth to you?" Ben asked upfront. People like this understood money. Greed would be expected.
"One million dollars. You get half when you leave tonight. The other half field test."
"Cash?"
"Wire transfer."
"So this is this photograph recognition?"
"Correct."
Ben nodded, "I'll need access to your computer system."
"Right this way," Jonas led him out of the house, where Max was prepared to knock on the door. "Ms. Guevara?"
"I thought this would be a good time to discuss a few things?" she sniffed.
"I actually have a previous engagement with my young friend here. Perhaps you two met at the party?"
"Ben, was it not?" Max asked, arching an eyebrow at him.
"Indeed it was, Ms. Guevara," Ben smiled, his gaze caressing her figure as he remembered her taste, the way his fingers ran over her soft skin.
Thankfully, Jonas seemed unaware of Ben's preoccupation and they continued to his car, leaving Max on the doorstep.
They stepped into the limo and Jonas was on the phone immediately. "Steve, make sure we lose this tail."
"She's tailing us?" Ben asked.
"She might."
"What's her problem?"
"Nothing that concerns you, don't worry about it. Family problem."
Ben shrugged. Max had done her job, pressured them from the outside and it had worked. He wished Manticore had told her to cut bait when that happened, but they were both supposed to stick it out until the end.
For some, inexplicable reason, this made him nervous.
***
Max watched him go with a private smirk. Everything was working out perfectly, they'd be home by tomorrow.
Frowning at the thought, she walked her car. Or, more appropriately, Manticore's car. The idea of going back scared her.
Would they find out what had happened last night with her and Ben? Would they send him away again?
She knew she was being paranoid, the worst thing that could happen was that she and Ben wouldn't be able to continue their...whatever it was... behind Manticore's gates.
The idea depressed her. What if it was months til their next away mission? Could she wait that long? Could he? What if he went with someone else? Max slammed her door shut as she got in.
Eva's beautiful face danced in her head for a moment and Max shook it off.
Ben cared for her, he had to. She knew he did.
Max shook her head of her own psychosis. They fool around one night and she never wanted him to touch another woman. They just cared about each other...and were experimenting, having fun breaking the rules together and stuff.
It didn't have to MEAN anything.
Finally getting her head in the game, Max glanced in the rearview mirror. She was being tailed, as expected. Parking, she grabbed her bag and walked into the nearest building.
She ignored the woman at the desk and walked up the stairs, opened a window, hopped on the fire escape and jumped. Landing with a grin, she slid onto the motorcycle that awaited her and pulled a laptop out of her bag.
"Where are you, Ben?" she murmured, putting in her earpiece as a flashing light indicated Ben's location.
Max smiled and slipped the laptop back in the bag and revved the engine.
She could really get used to this.
***
In reality, what they wanted him to do wasn't a big deal. Wouldn't take him very long...particularly with Max hacking through the back door.
He glanced at the clock and coughed, alerting a guard. They hadn't been willing to let him do everything without the watchful gaze of someone else.
"I just need to go to the bathroom," he told him, "I'll be back."
In the bathroom, he slipped in his earpiece.
"Test," he muttered.
"I've gotta get a motorcycle," his ear answered back.
"Hey Maxie," he grinned, flushing the toilet. "Ready?"
"Let's do it."
What he wanted to do had nothing to do with the situation at hand, of course, but he walked back to the computer anyway.
It wouldn't take long before he and Max could get out of there. Everything would be finalized soon, leaving Ben and Max free...for awhile, anyway.
He shook his head to focus, he had enough to do without the idea of freetime with Max jumbling his thoughts and screwing up his typing.
Ben frowned, hit backspace and continued.
It remained very clear that they had limited time outside Manticore and all this time they were wasting on what amounted to a remarkably simple mission was a little annoying.
Why couldn't they just kill them and be done with it?
Life was so much easier when they were younger.
Ben sighed. The nostalgia.
***
"Couple more minutes," Max reassured Ben through her comlink.
She was on the other side of the warehouse he was in, tapped into the phone line.
He was fixing their problems, she was downloading their information.
The laptop dinged it's completion and she smiled, slipping in a disk, transferring information and slipping it out again.
The CD she put in next copied the entire contents and Max smiled.
"Done here," she told Ben, slipping the CD into a manilla envelope with a note.
***
He hit enter and smiled.
"Done...when do I get the money?" Ben turned to his guard.
The guard grabbed his phone. "The kid's done."
He nodded and hung up, pulling a gun on Ben. "Thanks for your hard work."
Ben raised his eyebrows, "You might want to check with your boss again before you kill the only person with the password." ***
Max swore softly, reopening her laptop.
***
"There's no password..." the guard told him uncertainly.
"You want to try it out while I call your boss?" Ben asked, getting up and snatching the phone.
The man leaned over the computer as a password box popped up.
Ben grinned and hit redial.
"This can't be right," the man murmured, putting down his gun to hack the password.
It was almost insulting.
"Hello?" Jonas answered on the other end.
"Jonas, I understand you wanted to shoot me...but I have control of this new little toy of yours, so I suggest you send the money. All of it. I'll get back to you when the transfer's confirmed."
He hung up.
"I got it!" the guard yelled excitedly, turning to face Ben and a semi- automatic weapon.
"Congrats," Ben smiled and punched him out. "What was the password?"
"Fuck you, all caps," Max told him.
Ben laughed, "What a dirty mouth."
"What are you gonna do about it?"
"I have a few ideas."
"Hope they don't keep you, I'm getting out of here. Transfer confirmed."
"OK, I'm leaving too."
"Good luck."
"Out."
Ben pushed the unconscious guard out of the way, sitting down next to a file marked important.
He opened the file with one hand and changed the password with the other.
It was a picture of Max.
Ben's eyes narrowed and he typed in the password. He just needed to do one more thing...
***
"You deliver it?" Ben asked, sitting down next to Max in the bar they'd been the night before, Crash.
"Yeah, you have any more trouble?"
"A little...I cleared it up."
Max nodded, "So when do we have to be back?"
"It'll probably hit the News in a few hours."
"So we should probably call in and go back..." Max murmured into her beer.
"Or we could wait awhile," he took her hand, massaging her palm with his thumb.
"OK," she smiled.
He leaned down to kiss each of her fingers and as her heart accelerated. Just watching him touch her hand was killing her.
"What do you want, Ben?" she whispered.
Ben smiled, reaching around the table to pull her next to him. "You," he smiled, lifting her onto his lap.
"Me...or..." she swallowed and looked away.
"Just you."
"If you'd been assigned with Eva or Syl...?"
Ben made a face, "They're like my--"
"Sisters?" she asked when he broke off.
He nodded, smiling wryly.
"So I'm different?" she smiled, shifting in his lap.
Ben's eyes widened and he nodded quickly.
"Let's go somewhere else," Max suggested.
He had no argument.
***
Their shirts hit the floor and Max and Ben hit the bed.
Everything was more familiar now, a day of experience lending confidence as they explored each other's bodies more thouroughly.
His intoxicating masculinity was overpowering and Max just wanted to climb inside his body. Ben hovered over her, smiling as she ran a hand over his cheek.
Mesmerized by the light in his eyes, she caressed him. The hard muscles of his back harnessed power that drew her as she kneaded them with her fingertips.
Ben purred softly, dropping his head to nuzzle her neck and trailing kisses along her collarbone.
***
Just the few hours without her had been torture.
Her skin was sweet to his tongue as she melted into him. She sighed at his ministrations and he could feel his excitement grow as she made her enjoyment more and more clear as her breathing picked up.
It was the first time for her and Ben made it perfect, holding himself back until she begged him.
***
Ben couldn't move and never wanted to.
Max's hand ran over his back and she sighed.
He rolled them over, pulling her onto his chest and Max smiled lazily at him, her hand roaming over him.
Practically purring, he thought, with satisfaction and relief. And she said she loved him.
"Do you really?" he asked softly, watching her face anxiously, hoping her words of love hadn't been uttered in the spirit of the moment.
"You know I do," she grinned, snuggling against him and purring as he wrapped his arms tightly around her.
"I'm not giving you up," he told her seriously, running a hand through her hair and over her body.
"I'm glad we agree," she smiled.
His heart surging with excitement, he pulled her toward him for a kiss.
"So," she winked at him, pulling back, "You think we could do that again before the news comes on?"
Ben nodded enthusiastically.
