The sudden invasion and size startled, then hurt her, and she clamped her legs together, trying to stop him. But it was too late. He lifted his hips in a strong surge, holding her against him with such strength she couldn’t move. Why had she thought she wanted him to make love to her? It hurt. He was too big. She tried to pull away from him, but he kept his hands on her hips as he pumped into her until he made one final lunge and fell back onto the seat, his hands dropping away from her.
As soon as he released her, she scrambled to get away, pulling herself up and off him. The top of her dress was around her waist; the rest of it was twisted around her hips and legs. She struggled to lift herself off the dress so she could pull it around and cover herself.
It was then that three large flashlights appeared at the windows. She heard male laughter and hateful humiliating remarks.
“Way to go, dude. We knew you could do it!”
“Damn. Looks like we’re going to have to pay up on that bet, after all. You always bragged you could score with her, given the chance. Guess you were right!”
“Who woulda believed you’d get this far with her on a first date! That beats all your records. Gotta hand it to you, buddy.”
At the first sign of the flashlights, Joe jackknifed into a sitting position and reached for Elena, but not before the boys had seen her bare breasts. They hooted and hollered, laughed and made obscene jokes while he helped her refasten her dress.
He quickly covered himself, then pushed the seat forward and jumped out of the car. The boys took off running with Joe in hot pursuit.
Elena was numb with shock and humiliation. There was a bet? He had gone out with her…he’d made love to her…because of a bet?
She crawled back into the front seat and huddled against the door, waiting for him to return to the car and take her home. If she could live through this horrible night, she would never, ever speak to him again.
Eventually he returned to the car. When he jerked open the door, the overhead light flashed on. She turned her head so she wouldn’t have to look at him, but she didn’t miss his disheveled appearance and the scrape on his cheek.
He closed the door but didn’t start the car right away. She could hear his harsh breathing. Finally he sighed and said, “I can’t believe those guys did that. I am so sorry, Elena. They’ve been drinking and they’re angry at me for leaving the group. I guess they thought they’d pay me back this way, but it wasn’t fair to you. For what it’s worth, I told them what I think of them. I can’t believe I ever considered them friends.”
“Please take me home,” she whispered.
“Of course.” He started the car. “I’m so sorry our evening had to end this way.”
She didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. It took all her concentration not to burst into tears and further humiliate herself. As soon as they reached the end of her driveway, she said, “Please stop here.”
He pulled in and stopped. “Let me take you up to the—”
That was all she heard before she pushed on the door and got out, then slammed it. She clutched her purse in one hand and her shoes in the other, her skirt dragging in the dirt. She grabbed it with a couple of her fingers and sprinted to the house, not looking back.
Joe watched her, feeling helpless. He’d never been in this kind of situation before. Sure, he’d had sex with a few girls, but tonight was the first time he’d made love with anyone. He’d had no control with her. He knew he’d hurt her, knew this must have been her first time.
Those stupid bums had ruined everything. If he’d had more time, he could have explained that his lack of control was because of the way he felt about her. He could have told her that she was very special to him.
He would wait until Monday and talk to her. Maybe by then she would be calmer and willing to listen to him.
Unfortunately Joe never had a chance to talk to Elena again.
One
Eleven Years Later
The staccato sound of her heels striking the polished floor echoed down the hallway, causing Elena to wince. She felt the need to tiptoe as she followed the directions she’d been given to attend a nine-o’clock meeting at the Quantico, Virginia, headquarters of the FBI.
This was not the part of the building where she’d worked as an intelligence analyst for the past seven years, and so the area was unfamiliar to her. She had no idea why she’d been requested to attend a meeting here with Douglas Wilder and his group. If nothing else, her curiosity had been aroused.
She glanced at her watch and decided she had time to stop at the women’s restroom to make certain she looked as professional and competent as possible when she met with Wilder.
Special Agent Wilder headed a team of field agents, people who had trained intensively to work with and around the public. She, on the other hand, was more comfortable working with facts, figures and raw data. She’d made it through the academy all right and had been relieved when she was assigned her current position.
Elena had discovered a long time ago that she was more comfortable being an observer than a participant in life. She enjoyed searching through information to find patterns, to make sense out of various bits and pieces of information and to put it together to explain what illegal activities might be going on in the country. She was used to working alone. Since receiving the phone call at home last night, she’d been unable to come up with any idea why Special Agent Wilder would want her to be in today’s meeting.
She pushed open the restroom door. Ceramic tile covered the floor, as well as the lower half of the gray walls. A frosted-glass window allowed natural light to flood the area. The small room, with its three stalls and four sinks, was empty. She sighed with relief. She wasn’t ready yet to see anyone this early in the morning.
Elena took a deep breath and forced herself to release the air in her lungs in a slow calm manner. You can handle this, she reminded herself. Maybe there was something in one of her reports that needed further explanation in person. There was no reason to panic. She was competent in her job. She just wasn’t used to working in a group.
She ran cool water over her hands and wrists, then carefully dried them on a paper towel from a nearby dispenser. She stared into the mirror that ran the length of the sinks, inspecting her image one last time.
After she straightened the collar of her white blouse, she adjusted the belt of her black slacks. Her lightweight cotton jacket matched her slacks.
Only her hair detracted from the professional and competent look she wanted. The thick wavy mass had always been the bane of her existence. Today she had forced it into a not-so-tidy knot at the nape of her neck. Unfortunately there were strands already escaping and curling around her ears. She felt a trickle of nervous perspiration slide down her spine.
Elena peered into her green eyes, deliberately narrowing them in an effort to look tougher. Her long thick lashes were no help at all. She’d been told that she had sultry eyes. Sultry! That was the last thing she wanted to hear from anyone.
Another glance at her watch told her she needed to get to the meeting. She tucked a curl behind her ear and made certain there was no smudge of lipstick on her teeth. With another deep breath she opened the
