Max and her CO shared a 'caught' look before turning to face the direction of the voice, which, surprisingly, belonged to Harold Walker.
"What are the odds?" feigned Alec, reaching out to shake Harold's hand.
The weathered man smiled wide. "I like to think they're a hundred percent," he grinned like the good-natured cowboy he was. "I thought it was you two!" Harold removed his cowboy hat and leaned to give Max a very chaste kiss on the cheek. "Eva, you look ravishing."
"Thank you."
To them both, he added, "How y'all doin'?"
"Good, Mr. Walker, how about you?" Alec handed Max the backpack and she slung it over her shoulder as Harold replaced his hat.
Last time the spy team saw him was when they'd been kicked out of the Eilers Estate for not participating in their buy-in swinger orgy for a discount on imported weapons. They both assumed Harold and Libby had stayed and slayed the beast with two backs (which incidentally was the phrase Max would have used to refer to Teddy and Colleen) with the other two couples. She held back a visceral cringe at the mental image.
"Please, call me Harry. Just got back from a meeting in Southern California. I assume you're here for the auction tomorrow night?"
"Sheer coincidence, we thought we'd check out a few auctions in Texas and just heard about this one. We were hoping to score an invitation," Max led, hoping his hospitality would extend to them. If Harry assumed they'd heard about this auction, then there had to be something there that Edward or Eva would be interested in buying.
While Harry continued talking with Alec, Max lifted a purse from a nearby kiosk and inconspicuously snapped off the security device. No traveled woman would traipse around the country without something to hold her identity and money, especially now that they knew about an auction that Edward and/or Eva would be interested in.
"Well, look no further," the genial man said. "You'll go with Libby and me as our guests. Come on over to the ranch and have supper with us. Libby'd love to see ya."
"We'd be delighted," Alec accepted. "Can you recommend a good hotel and rental car place? We just sort of decided to come out on a whim."
The man's eyes crinkled when he smiled. "Nonsense! You'll stay with us. We have more than enough room. Do you have checked bags?"
"Unfortunately, the airport lost our luggage. The lady at the claims counter didn't give us any idea whether we'd get it back, but they have the address for my summer home, well," he looked at Max, "our summer home now, which is where we thought we'd go after our quick little Texas tryst." Alec curled his hand around hers and gave a gentle squeeze.
She smiled at her cover-fiancé. "Though now the surprise I slipped into our suitcase will have to wait 'til we stop by the Boudoir Closet." She raised her brows suggestively, trying to remind Alec that they were supposed to have been newly engaged.
He licked his lips, and suddenly all she could see was the tip of his tongue. Her false smile faded into a real open pout and bedroom eyes, and her knees buckled a bit. Steadying her by the elbow, Alec kept her stare. For just that moment, he was unguarded, pupils expanded, lips parted, nostrils flared as he took in her scent.
There are better ways to taste me, she thought, heady from desire.
And then he was back to 'Eddie.' "Maybe we can grab some more clothes in town before the auction." He hoped this would give them a chance to meet up with their friendly and strategize together.
"Most of the shops in town open around nine tomorrow, unless you want airline hoodies or I Heart Texas t-shirts," the rancher laughed robustly. "If you like, you're welcome to take one of our cars tomorrow and then we can meet up to head out to Port Isabel."
Port Isabel?
Max squeezed Alec's hand in Morse code as they followed Harry through the airport, Max lifting a few items along the way to fill her new purse with a couple of necessities while surreptitiously discarding the crumpled up paper spacers all new handbags seemed to have. They made it out to the parking lot and to Harry's truck.
While Walker climbed into the driver's seat and texted his wife about their surprise guests, Alec gave his faux-fiancée a boost into the back seat.
"White Texans?" he whispered, confused.
Later, she mouthed to him.
On the ride to the Walker Ranch, Alec sat with the older man in front and Max watched the scenery go by, her mind filling with questions as they drove. What exactly did they farm at the Walker Ranch? Were the Walkers the 'white Texans' to which Freddie and Hans had alluded? If so, that meant the Walkers were growing coca bush, and suddenly the idea of them needing weapons to defend their farm made more sense, especially if the Valenzuelas were looking to poach or sabotage their business. How could they get away tonight to verify what they were growing? What kind of security did the farm already have? Cameras? Muscle? What kind of bio-weapon could they be using to defend their business? And how was it administered? If the auction was in Port Isabel, would anyone recognize them? Did Alec already have a fund they could tap for the auction, or would they have to get something set up?
And on top of all of that, the Walkers would expect the engaged couple to spend the night in the same room, the same bed. They were both professionals, but how far would they need to go to prove their covers?
Her last thought had her squirming a bit in her seat.
"Harry, this is a big truck," Alec stated. They were riding high in Harry's silver F-450.
"Big trucks are the standard in Texas. Well, everything's big in Texas," he laughed as if he hadn't said those exact words a thousand times before.
"Heard there are going to be some expensive items at the auction," Alec said vaguely, hoping their host would elaborate. The only things Edward would have in common with Harold business-wise were the bio-weapons Eilers imported. Was this auction specifically for that, or would there be other items?
"Yep, we're hoping to get at least one of them weapons Eilers was yammerin' on about."
Nodding as if he understood, Alec swung his head toward the back, where Max's eyes conveyed the exact same questions on his mind: if Manticore apprehended the container of weapons, how would there be any left to sell at auction? And who was selling them? And if Harry and Libby were hoping to procure one at the auction, did that mean they hadn't gone through with the orgy? Seemed like if they'd bought any that fateful night at the estate, it'd be Eilers' responsibility to make sure they got their merchandise, not the Walkers' to obtain their own at auction.
"Harry, we heard Eilers' transaction fell through?" The brunette shifted her stare to Harold's in his rear view mirror. Kind blue eyes met hers.
"We we're about to tuck tail and get the hell out of dodge when Ted got a call that his shipment was stolen," he answered simply. "Ruined the whole night and all deals were off. Good thing someone else out there was prepared."
Christ. If Manticore intercepted their container and Eilers didn't get the shipment, who else could bring in more weapons? Would Eilers be there to make sure these were not his stolen weapons?
"Any word on the seller?" Alec shifted in his seat. The whole idea that they'd been thrown into this Op and no one knew where these weapons were coming from unnerved him.
"Naw, nothin' yet."
"How many you think are up for bid?" Max tried to deduce how much capital they would need in order to buy out this auction and make sure these weapons stayed off the black market.
"I think there's only two. I guess they're not the most current tech or something."
For Max, only two was a bit of a relief. "So you're saying there's a chance we can both get one," she said with a hint of earnestness.
Harry turned onto the highway and nodded. "If you can outbid me on two of 'em, then I suppose."
"Anything my customers need to add to their collections? Gemstones? Rare edition cars or books? Anything super sensitive?"
"To be frank, I just don't know, Eva."
The rest of the drive was filled with Harry's history from the time he moved to Brownsville. He took the long driveway to his home, rows of trees lining the sides obstructing their land and fields. Even with their enhanced vision, the twosome could not make out much past the trees. They also didn't know how big the property was. During the day, they hoped to be able to see more.
As Harry parked the truck, the three travelers were met by Libby on the porch.
"Look who I found wanderin' 'round the airport."
"Oh, hey there. Welcome to our home," Libby greeted, hugging Alec momentarily before moving to Max. "It's like fate or somethin', y'all bein' here."
"How are you, Liberty Bell?" asked Alec, reaching back for Max, who wrapped her hand around his bicep. "Very nice of you both to have us."
"Think nothin' of it! We're always happy to have visitors. Lord knows I'll take any excuse to make more food. I hope you like T-bones, loaded spuds and homemade tea." Libby opened the screen door for them.
"Sounds great," Max agreed. It had been a while since she'd eaten anything.
The Walker home was much bigger than Max expected for it being a farmhouse, and the two-story home was lavish. The ceilings were tall, doorways and openings were wide, and just about all the decor shouted 'Texan' with some Arizona motifs. The entry double doors were painted like red-orange clay, and boasted stained glass transoms, shaped and mitered with a sienna sun in a rose gold sky with indigo mountains and hunter green grass fields below.
Past the threshold, the transgenic pair could see a large gathering room. The eastern side featured a blue gray love seat and a couple of armchairs, with a rectangular glass table on distressed, knotted wood legs. Behind it was a white wood wall of bookshelves, themselves mostly full. Alec zoomed in on some titles - they were predominantly agricultural tomes and books on interior design, but he caught a couple of science books that gave him pause. The wall opposite the loveseat faced the morning sun. He bet that was their morning/reading area.
As if right on cue, a barely audible whirring noise sounded, and dual sets of spying eyes snapped to the reading area windows. It was the sound of in-window cell shades lowering.
"Oh, Eddie, look! Just like at that hotel in Dubai," Max pointed excitedly, building up their well-traveled backstory.
Alec grinned lasciviously. "As I recall, we opened them when we got there and never closed them."
Max lowered her lids and conspiratorially said, "if they neighbors can't see in..."
"The whole house is outfitted with top of the line tech," offered Libby. "Gotta keep our secrets secret." She winked.
Alec nuzzled Max's neck gently, which gave her about half a second to look guilty for their PDA, then he turned back to the room.
The western side of the room was the television area, with a similar couch and chair setup as the reading, but instead of a wall of windows, there was a giant flat screen TV. Surround sound was wired through the walls and speakers were installed in the ceiling.
"Wow, Harry, nice setup," Alec admired, still holding on to Max's hand as he drifted forward a step.
"Never miss a game," the older man chuckled.
There was a hallway off the TV room which they presumed led to the kitchen and dining area. They were eager to have dinner, but first they needed to set their things down. Harry picked up on their unsaid need and gestured to his wife. "Lib, can you show our guests to a room and I'll plate dinner?"
Libby smiled. "Of course, come on, you two."
Libby led them up the stairs and down the first hallway. By Alec's count, there were nine doors off this hallway, and she took them to the room at the end of the hall. The room itself was somewhat sparse, but cozy and warm with an en suite bathroom. A queen size bed took up most of the room, sitting atop what appeared to be a hand-carved driftwood bed frame, with two neatly folded blankets resting on the Aztec-themed bedspread. "Here we are," Libby started. "Can we bring up your bags from the truck?"
"Thanks for offering, but the airport lost our luggage," Alec answered, letting the backpack into the bed.
"We were planning on shopping in town tomorrow before the auction." Max fidgeted with the shoulder straps of her purse.
"Oh, that's a shame," the blonde woman sang. "I think you're a bit smaller than me, but I'll see if I can rustle up somethin' for you to wear to sleep."
"We don't want to impose," Alec trailed.
Wait, so he would be fine if I had nothing to sleep in?
"Y'all let me know if you need anything, I'm going to go help Harry with the table and we'll see you down in two shakes."
Once Libby was out of earshot, Max laid the purse next to the backpack, sat on the bed, and looked around the room. If the Walkers were selling coca bush to a manufacturing operation, they may have security or surveillance measures in place to make sure their home would not be compromised. And she wasn't sure if they would be so trusting of a couple they'd met only twice before.
Alec seemed to have come to the same possible conclusions, because he shut the door and turned to face her, his Edward persona popped firmly into place. "I do remember that place in Dubai," he said, eying her like a predator, ready to strike. "I remember how loud your screams echoed when you came."
One slight tilt of her brow was the only sign of her surprise as he crowded her, placing his hands on the bed and bringing his lips to hers.
She curled her fingers at the side of his neck and pulled him forward. She was like a light switch, and he knew exactly what to say to flick her on. His dirty talk was really working for her. She never wanted anything to be true as badly as she did right that second. He could make her scream, and she could imagine orgasming around him, squeezing him passionately while they screwed. They'd be a tangle of limbs and tongues and teeth, needful groans and whimpers urging them to completion. She could feel her vaginal muscles grasping for that ghost of a movement, waiting for him to fill her up.
He smeared his lips against hers and deepened the kiss, sliding into her mouth to meet her tongue. He tried to settle between her legs, but with his hips between her knees, she had trouble inching up the fabric. She almost ripped the material - this dress be damned - but at the last second, he backed up a few inches and swept his hand up the side of the dress, raising the hem and baring her hip and panties in the process.
"Eva," he paused his ministrations. He was calling her back to their cover identities. It was hard for her to think, though, when he brought his hand between them and tapped on her inner thigh. If they were being watched, it would look like he was rubbing her center.
More Morse code. CAM.
"How many?" he asked.
How many? How many what? How many fingers would I like him to use? Yes. Dealer's fuckin' choice.
Max blinked her eyes open and tried to let the fog of arousal dissipate. No, he wouldn't be asking about that. He was asking about cameras. How many cameras were in the room.
"I don't remember how many times you made me scream," she said softly, realizing she hadn't really looked for cameras when they walked upstairs. She had just followed behind Alec. "Do you?"
He let his palm rest at her inner thigh and bent down to pepper kisses up the side of her neck toward her ear. He whispered as quietly as he could, "I counted two: hallway, corner armoire."
She reached her hands around him and caressed his back on the way to his ass, where she pulled him further against her center, causing his knuckles to brush her panties and gently knock against her lower lips.
Rearing his head and hand back, he searched her expression, heartbeat stampeding up into his throat, questioning silently.
Yes, she wanted to shout, I'm wet. Because of you. "All I remember is coming all over you."
He groaned and bent back down, removed his hand from between her thighs and rested on his elbows, caging her in again. He watched her expression for a brief moment, and then he took a hesitant breath. "We, uh, have a friendly in town," he started, nudging her chin up so he could tongue down her throat. "IDs and docs should be no problem."
Wanting to slam her head into the bed at his apparent ease in disregarding her wet panties, Max gritted her teeth. Get your head in the game, Max, she scolded herself. You have a job to do.
Alec pushed the neck of her dress down with his chin, the mere suggestion of where he was going like a direct order to her nipples to rise up to his mouth.
She tried to calm her racing pulse, and imagined for a moment that they had no chemistry. She did have a job to do, and despite what her crush on her handler had started to suggest, she was usually pretty good at it. Fucking brilliant, actually. She pushed against Alec and swapped places with him so that she straddled him.
She knew how she must have looked, her dress in a weird half-up position, maybe kiss-swollen lips and flushed skin. Lightning fast, she pinned his wrists to the bed and bent down to him, gripped his lower lip with her teeth, and tongued at it. She felt his dick twitch between them and applauded her own efforts mentally. "They're growing coca," she finally whispered against his lips, remembering the thing she needed to tell him, even more sure now that the Walkers were the 'white Texans' to which Freddie and Hans referred. "Need to confirm."
Loud enough for any surveillance equipment to hear, he said, "We need to get down to dinner. Harry and Libby are waiting."
Max muscled him closer again, kissed up the side of his neck and dragged her teeth across his earlobe. He ground against her core and growled impatiently. "No dessert before dinner?" she asked innocently.
Strong hands wrapped around her thin waist and stilled her movements. "We don't have enough time before dinner, Evie," he said, though it sounded like a plea. And it was the first time he'd used a nickname for her alias. She kind of liked it.
His golden-green eyes bored into her, she couldn't tell if they were anxious because he was trying to do a job, or if he was flustered from their soft dry humping. Maybe the former, she guessed, because his freckles were not visible.
Embarrassed, she backed off of him and the bed, and pulled her dress back down over her legs. "Okay," she started dejectedly. It was getting more difficult to separate her lust for him from her alias' lust for Eddie. "I'm looking forward to dinner. I really like Harry and Libby, plus, I'm starving."
"Me, too." Alec sat up and took a deep breath. Good lord, she's a skilled Romeo. He tried to will his erection back down by thinking about non-sexual topics like mathematical equations and waste management.
"You ready?" Max asked, turning toward the door.
"Just a minute," he responded, staring at the entrance to the en suite. He couldn't look at her if she could discern what parts of their little tumble were real and which were for show.