by D. Laine
What in the hell have I done now?
All she said was, “The bond.”
“What about it?” Jake prodded.
“You can . . .” She tapped the side of her head with a finger.
“Uh-huh.” Jake’s brow furrowed in his attempt to understand.
“And we . . .” She pointed a finger at me. “A lot.”
My shoulders shook with suppressed laughter once I realized the cause of her alarm. I tried to hold it in, but when her worried eyes met mine and Jake turned to me with a scowl, I lost it.
“It’s not funny, Dylan,” Thea growled.
I laughed harder. “You think he doesn’t already know what goes on when I come over? Or when you sneak over to my suite? Or when we’re both late to the mess hall, and show up with our clothes all wrinkled and hair sticking up all over the place?” I pointed a finger at her to remind her of her mishap yesterday. “Trust me. He knows.”
“Yeah, I know.” Jake mumbled quietly.
Holding Thea’s gaze, I nodded my head at Jake as if to say, “See?”
“Yeah, but . . .” She tapped her temple again, and gave me a pleading look. “He can get in my head. He can . . . know things.”
I sucked in a breath before spinning toward Jake. “Ooh, that could get interesting.”
“I doubt it’s that interesting,” Jake fired at me. To Thea, he assured, “I’m not in your head. I mean, I can be in your head, but I don’t want to be in your head. I really, really don’t want to be in your head whenever he’s anywhere in the general vicinity of you.”
“How do you . . . not get in my head?” she worried.
Jake smiled. “I pull the blinds down.”
She nodded, but she still didn’t look convinced. I knew she would need a better explanation than that if I ever wanted to see her naked again.
“Block her out,” I told Jake.
“What?”
“Pull the shades,” I instructed as I backed Thea into her room. “Block her out right now.”
“But what—”
I shut the door on Jake, and turned to Thea.
“What are you doing?”
“Close your eyes,” I instructed her.
She gave me a distrustful look.
I stepped close to caress her cheek with the back of my hand. “Just do it. I’m trying to make a point here.”
“Fine.” Her eyes fluttered shut with a sigh.
“Keep them closed.” I darted past her, sweeping my gaze across the floor in search of what I needed. Finally, in the kitchenette, I found what I was looking for. I plucked the squirmy bug with a million tiny legs off the floor and held it in my palm. “Are they still closed?” I called out.
“Yes.”
I crept back to Thea’s side. Knowing I would pay for this little stunt later, I pre-apologized with a soft kiss to the tip of her nose. Then I held out the ugly night crawler.
“Okay. Open your eyes.”
She took one look at the bug under her nose and sucked in a sharp breath. My other hand was ready, and I clamped her mouth shut before she could scream. Mission accomplished, I quickly dropped the insect and wrapped both arms around her with a chuckle. It morphed into a grunt when her elbow drove into my ribs.
“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.
“I’m sorry. I needed you to feel a strong emotion.” I held my hands out pleadingly, and she eyed me warily. “I’ll never do it again. I promise.”
“You better not.” She grudgingly slipped into my embrace so I could pacify her with a kiss. “You know I hate those things.”
“I know,” I soothed. “But there’s lots of stuff I haven’t had a chance to do to you yet, and I think this was the best way to ensure I get the opportunity to fulfill more of my corrupt fantasies.”
She swatted me in the chest as she backed away. But she laughed a little too, so I knew she wasn’t that pissed at me.
I opened the door to find Jake standing where we had left him, now with a scowl on his face. “Well?”
He shook his head. “I don’t even want to know what you did in there.”
I spun to Thea with a smug smile. “See?”
“You didn’t sense anything?” she questioned suspiciously.
“I got nothing.”
Her folded arms dropped to her sides. “Okay.” She nodded her content, but the look in her eyes when she looked at me confirmed that she hadn’t forgotten what I had done.
I knew I would pay for it. But I also knew any punishment she dished out would be worth the reward.
LATER, I traced her bare shoulder with my fingers. I couldn’t muster much more than that after cashing in my well-earned prize.
“You know it’s not all about the sex, right?”
“Hmm?” She didn’t move from where she had buried her face in my neck.
“I mean, that is a part of it, obviously,” I continued, “but that’s not all it is.”
She pushed up onto her elbow to peer down at me. “I know.”
“Good.” I nodded before letting my eyes drift shut under the weight of post-sex drowsiness. “Because you told me once before that was all this was.”
“I was mad at you,” she pointed out.
“Well then.” I guided her head back down to my chest. “I’m glad we cleared that up.”
I drifted on the fringes of sleep, tired but too aware of a naked Thea lying beside me to give in. If her fingers didn’t stop tracing the planes of my stomach soon, we would be going for another round. I was getting hard again thinking about how good she would feel when I slowly slid home. Her throaty voice did nothing to distract me.
“What is it that you like about me anyway?” she wondered.
“Aside from your curves?”
She pushed up to peer down at me, and I winked. Her earnest expression didn’t change when she nodded, and I squirmed from the nerves that fluttered in my stomach. This was one way to distract me from thinking about sex.
“I never really thought about it before,” I admitted.
“It’s clear you’re not hurting for options. So why me?” She turned to sprawl on her stomach beside me. Covered from the waist down by the thin bed sheet, she cupped her chin in her hands and stared at me. Patiently waiting.
I grinned. “You really want to know, don’t you?”
She shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, but I knew her well enough to know that it was.
I took a deep breath, and said the first thing that came to mind. “First of all, I thought you were hot when I saw you. No doubt that’s what caught my attention, but then I realized you were smart, too. And witty. You keep me on my toes in a way that most people don’t. I get bored easily, but with you . . . it’s like there’s something new to discover every day.”
“What else?”
“That’s not enough for you?”
She gave me flirty smile. “Try digging deeper.”
“Deeper?” I repeated skeptically. “I don’t do . . . that.”
“You do now.” She nudged my arm. “Come on.”
“You’re lucky you’re hot,” I muttered before trying again. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that you’re the whole package. You got it going on inside and out. I can see that, and I think maybe you see that in me?”
“You think I get you?”
“Not a lot of people do.”
“Jake gets you,” she pointed out.
“It’s different though.” I shifted to peer up at the ceiling as I tried to summon a concrete answer. It was harder than I anticipated. “I think you have a way of bringing me out. The real me. Not the assassin version. Sometimes when I’m with you, I actually forget that part of who I am.”
“So you feel more like yourself around me?”
“I guess so. I feel comfortable with you, like I can be that other guy I didn’t know I was capable of being. I don’t know.” I shrugged. That was a piss-poor explanation, but it was the best I had. When I looked over at
her, she smiled at me with a knowing smile. And then it hit me—what she had done. “You evil woman. You Jedi mind-tricked me.”
“Nope.” She rolled onto her back with a smile, taking the bed sheet with her. “Those were your words. Not mine.”
“Huh.” And somehow she had gotten those deeply rooted thoughts out of me before I realized it. I followed to lean over her, but stopped just short of kissing her. “Want to know what else I like about you?”
She bit back a smile and nodded.
“This”—I covered her mouth with mine—“and pretty much everything that comes out of it.”
Her arms wrapped around my neck. “Keep going.”
“And this.” I flicked my tongue over the hollow spot behind her ear. “And the goosebumps you get when I do that.”
Her fingers dug into my back when I licked at the tiny bumps dotting her shoulder.
“And that,” I groaned. “God, I love it when you grip me like that.”
“You should know by now that means don’t stop,” she sighed.
“Wasn’t planning on it.” I swiftly rose above her and wedged a knee between her legs. Her head rolled back with a breathy moan, and I was so done with the teasing. There was nothing playful about the way I kissed her now.
Maybe twenty minutes had passed since I’d last been inside of her, but I badly wanted a return trip. This time, I would really savor her.
“I want to take you slowly,” I informed her with my lips pressed to her neck.
Her hips rolled against mine. “Take me how you want me,” she breathed. “Just take me already.”
I settled between her legs, carefully slipping into her heat and enjoying every languid second as she tightened around me. Finally buried to the hilt, I stopped to peer down at her.
Her eyes were squeezed tight, her lashes fanned her cheeks, and her teeth caught her lip. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and I wanted to see more. Even more than I wanted that, I wanted her to see me.
“Look at me,” I demanded softly.
Her eyes drifted open to meet mine. Her gaze never wavered when I moved inside of her. Not even when I couldn’t stand it anymore, and I pumped harder and faster. Not even when she shattered beneath me. And especially not when every last piece of me poured into her.
My eyes locked on her, I knew. My heart and soul were hers for the taking.
IT SEEMED FITTING, when you gave so much of yourself to someone, to give them your deeply guarded past as well. Opening those flood gates wasn’t nearly as hard as I expected. Not with Thea.
“My parents were murdered when I was twelve years old.”
Though she hadn’t moved in nearly ten minutes, and it was well into the early morning, I knew she wasn’t asleep. The tension that crept into her shoulder where it pressed against my chest told me that she heard me, and it was too late to back out now.
I didn’t want to anymore.
“I never found out who did it, but they knew what we were. The agency saved me, but I lost my sister. They took her, and I don’t know if she’s dead or alive.”
Thea lifted her head. With the help of the subtle light drifting into the room from the suite, I watched her blink. “That’s why you’re with Jake.”
I nodded. “He knew what it was like.”
“What’s her name?”
I swallowed hard, but my voice was still hoarse when I said my sister’s name. “Sadie.”
“Have you looked for her?”
“When we could, we did. We looked for both of you.” I shrugged before rolling my head toward her. “I’m glad we found you.”
“Me too.” She leaned in, sealing the fresh wound with a kiss. When she pulled away, I didn’t see the pity I had come to expect on everyone’s face when they found out. I saw determination. “If you found me, you can find her.”
I nodded despite the feeling of hopelessness that settled in the pit of my stomach. Sure, I could find Sadie. If the apocalypse hadn’t killed her. But I didn’t want to talk about that.
I didn’t want to think about that anymore.
“Tell me something,” I asked of Thea. “Anything.”
She seemed to understand exactly what I was asking when she answered, “I never felt close to my parents. Now I know why. They weren’t mine.”
“Do you miss them at all?” I prodded gently.
“I miss . . . the familiarity,” she answered carefully. “But I also resent them for keeping me from Jake.”
I recognized the gleam in her eyes when she said his name. It was similar to the way she looked at me—but also different in many ways. I knew then that she had grown to love him, as she should have all along. They had been robbed, as I had been robbed.
I shifted against the pillow under my head. “This is getting too heavy for pillow talk. Tell me something else. Something random.”
“Random?”
“Yeah. I already know a few of your likes.” I smiled mischievously because I could and well, because my mind was almost always in the gutter around her. “But what else?”
“Dislikes count?”
“Why not?”
“I hate oranges,” she told me matter-of-factly. “Like really hate them. But I like orange juice.”
“That’s just weird,” I chuckled.
“Tell me something you hate.”
“The apocalypse.”
“Besides that. Something random.”
“Girls that ask ridiculous questions.”
Her fist slammed into my shoulder.
“Fine.” I grunted. “I’m afraid of needles. Still can’t stand them no matter how many times I’ve been poked.”
“You have a fear?” Her jaw dropped in surprise.
“I have a few of them,” I stated, “but that’s a random, meaningless fact about me. Just like I know confined spaces bother you.”
She shuddered at the reminder.
“What about heights?” I asked her.
“I can handle heights.”
“Jake has big problems with both,” I told her. “I wondered if you did, too.”
“Slimy, disgusting creatures bother me more. Pretty much anything with more than four legs . . .” She shuddered again.
“I have a weak stomach,” I volunteered. “I puked the first time I killed a tag.”
“Aw. The big, bad assassin couldn’t handle it?”
“That shit stinks.”
We stared at each other in silence for a moment, both fighting smiles.
Then, she admitted, “I was attracted to you the moment I saw you.”
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know.”
This time, I dodged her fist.
“I’m even more attracted to you now,” she added.
Her lips brushed against mine, teasingly at first then more assertive. Her hands ran over my chest and shoulders as she rose above me, and I guided her onto my lap. A look passed between us—an understanding that had become our own method of communication—and we both knew where this was going. Again.
IT WAS NEARLY MORNING before we finally slept. I didn’t sleep long and slipped out of her bed when the clock rolled over to eight. Carrying my wrinkled clothes, I crept through the door wearing nothing but my boxer briefs and a grin.
Jake was waiting for me in his suite. “You’re just now getting up?”
I grimaced. “She’s still asleep.”
“What?” He moved toward the door, and I jumped to block him.
“Don’t wake her up, Jake. We didn’t get to sleep until—”
He spun on me with something that resembled a growl. “I don’t want to hear it, Dylan.”
We stood nose-to-nose, and I waited. For his words. For his fist. I didn’t know what was coming, but I would take it. Part of me still believed I deserved it.
After a few tense seconds, Jake wrenched away from me to stalk across the room. His mouth worked open a few times, but he struggled to finish a thought. I didn’t need to hear the wor
ds.
“You said you were cool with this,” I reminded him.
“I am.” He stopped to shake his head rapidly. “I was. I know how you are, Dylan. I know what you do, and—”
“No. You know how I was and what I did. I told you before, it’s different with her.”
Jake snorted. His eyes snapped to the clothes in my hands. “This all looks a little too familiar to me.”
My jaw clenched. “You think so? You think I’m just using her for sex?” I waited and watched his eyes blaze with anger. “Because that’s all I could possibly be after, right? That’s all I got out of last night, right? We were up all night—”
He stalked a few steps closer to me. “Don’t.”
“—talking.”
He stopped and blinked. “Talking?”
“That’s right.” I nodded. “Some other stuff, too, but mostly talking.”
He stared, seemingly at a loss for words.
“I told her about Sadie,” I added. “I told her everything. I’m pretty sure there are no more secrets between us now.”
Jake’s stunned silence only amplified the significance of what I had done in telling Thea about my sister. He knew how big of a deal it was to me, and what that meant if I had chosen to share it with Thea.
I still said the words—and they didn’t get stuck in my throat, or cause any sort of bodily reaction aside from a little flutter in my chest, if that counted.
“I’m falling for your sister, Jake.”
JAKE REMAINED a man of few words when the three of us left the suite a few hours later to go to lunch. His eyes leveled on my hand, where I placed it on the small of Thea’s back. I noticed the hint of concern on his face, and I reminded myself that he was her brother.
We were in a fucked up position. He should be concerned.
Hell, I sure was. We couldn’t live in a bubble forever. Being with Thea didn’t magically fix all the shit we had to deal with sooner or later.
Likely sooner, if the chaos we walked into in the mess hall was any indication.
“What’s going on?” I stopped Maria before she flew out the door with her lunch.
