by Lucy Monroe
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I made it out of that prison, too. I’m not going back in.”
“I’m not trying to make you. I’m trying to keep you safe so you can continue to live outside of that prison for a long, long time to come.”
Ideally, she and Elle would go to a safe house until the issue had been resolved. He didn’t see that happening, however. Not for his sister, who would probably shoot him if he suggested it, and certainly not for Lana. Protective custody had to be a last resort for a woman who had been through what she had.
“By curtailing the very activities that prove the absence of those bars in my life now.”
Damn it. “Lana, we have no way of knowing where they will strike or how quickly. We need to keep you safe until the threat is neutralized.”
“That could take days, weeks, months, years even.”
“I’m too good at my job for that.”
“You’re even more arrogant than your siblings.”
“I thought you liked Mat and Elle.”
“I do, but their confidence levels are definitely higher than the average person.”
“That doesn’t make them arrogant, just aware of their own strengths.”
“You sound just like them.”
“And you sound like a woman who doesn’t want to admit when she’s in danger.”
Lana sighed. “I admit the danger exists.”
“Good.”
“But not that it’s immediate.”
“Damn, it, Lana!”
“Don’t curse at me, Mykola. This situation could be a long-term issue for the Vega Cartel. It could be something they are only mildly interested in, or even something they will never actually pursue. Regardless, you’re assuming they’ll come after me, but you don’t have any evidence pointing in that direction.”
Was she being deliberately obtuse? “They had your notes!”
“For all you know, they have notes on other scientists’ projects as well.”
He wanted to deny the possibility, but the only reason he had the information he did was that the Vega Cartel had shared those particular notes with the organization he’d brought down. “I don’t have enough information to speculate on that.”
“And you don’t have enough information to draw the conclusion that I’m in such grave danger I need to start living like I’m in prison again, either.”
“They named my sister their first target. Which means they have plans, most likely immediate plans. If they didn’t, they would just wait for her to move on to her next project. After all, she’s not an employee of ETRD, she’s a consultant.”
“That still doesn’t mean I’m at risk.”
“They named her their first target, not their last!”
“I’m not going back into prison.” She crossed her arms and set her mouth stubbornly. “I’m not.”
“You don’t have to live like you are in prison,” he ground out the reminder.
“Really? What would you call putting my life and the things that are important to me on hold indefinitely?”
“Smart.” The need to touch her again was growing with every word.
She was not reacting rationally and he didn’t want to, either. Call him primal, but he wanted to kiss her into submission. His gut told him it would never work, but it would be damn fun trying.
“One thing you cannot call me is stupid.”
“I wouldn’t dream of doing so, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do something dumb. We’re all capable of random acts of idiocy.”
“Even you?”
“Especially me.”
“Like what?”
“Like this.”
He reached her in two long strides and pulled her into his arms. She gasped in shock, but didn’t struggle.
Not even a little.
He was smiling inside as his mouth claimed hers.
She tasted just as sweet as she had the first time, but now he knew what to expect and he wanted more. Tilting her head back, he brushed his thumb against the corner of her lips while his mouth pressed against hers with intent. She got the hint and her lips parted, giving him access to an even sweeter version of the berries and cream spiced by sexy girl scientist flavor unique to Lana.
Damn. She was delicious. He’d been hooked after the first taste, but now he was facing true addiction. Enslavement. He would never need to eat again if he could just go on kissing this woman. She was exquisite.
Warm and silky, her tongue slid against his. She returned his kiss, tasting him with as much obvious enjoyment as he was experiencing.
And rocked his control to the core.
He thrust his tongue against hers before twirling it around the tip and then thrusting again. He had a deep need to conquer her mouth and to be conquered in return. So, he wasn’t the least disappointed when she countered his thrust with one of her own, starting a duel that lasted several long seconds while their bodies moved closer together until her fleshy curves were pressed against him.
He broke his mouth away only far enough to demand against her lips, “Lose the lab coat.”
She didn’t argue, shimmying out of the scientist garb as she enthusiastically dove back into the kiss. Pushing her tongue into his mouth, she fought for supremacy. He allowed her to explore his mouth just as he’d done hers, mostly because his hands were busy exploring the curves now covered in nothing but a snug fitting Winnie the Pooh T-shirt. She was wearing a bra; he could feel the straps when his palms skimmed her shoulders, but the fabric was lightweight enough it might as well have not been there.
He could feel the heat of her body through her clothes. Either her temperature was spiked with arousal, or she had an abnormally high ambient temperature. He was guessing the former because he felt like his own blood had grown volcanically hot. And he knew it was because she inflamed his senses to the point of spontaneous combustion.
He traced the lines of her barely there bra, cupping the encased mounds and wishing both the T-shirt and bra to Hades. Her breasts were large and round, so perfect, he had visions of coming between them, leaving her decorated with a string of liquid pearls. His cock throbbed in his leather jeans, aching for just such a release. Her nipples pebbled under his fingertips. Unable to help himself and unwilling to even try, he lightly pinched them, reveling in their increased turgidity. He rolled them between his thumbs and forefingers, loving the way the flesh responded to being abraded through the layers of fabric—becoming adamantine, their diamond-like hardness calling to his base desires.
He so wanted to take her into his mouth and suck on flesh both hard and soft and oh so succulent. Her mouth was so delectable; the rest of her body was bound to be scrumptious.
She made a feral sound of her own as he continued to chafe her stiffened nipples. Her arms came around his neck and she forcefully pressed her body into his. He wasn’t surprised when a sound of frustration from her mouth vibrated against his lips.
He knew the feeling—the need—driving her. To get the kind of satisfaction they both craved, they would have to be naked.
And no matter how far gone his libido was, he wasn’t about to have sex with her for the first time in one of her growing rooms. Even if it did smell of sweet pea rather than a gas-mask-worthy stink. Hell, considering the type of security systems his sister favored, Myk doubted he would ever be willing to get naked in any room at ETRD.
He wasn’t into exhibition.
Which didn’t mean he had to stop kissing her. And that was a good thing. Because she tasted necessary.
Like his next breath necessary.
Like catching the bad guys necessary.
Like survival necessary.
She seemed to agree as her lips molded to his and she accepted his tongue back into her mouth, where he set a rhythm like the one he wanted to create with their bodies. Her hips swiveled against his, telling him she was thinking along the same lines.
Damn. She was a good fit for him.
He reached down
and cupped the perfect spheres of her bottom. Deliciously fleshy. He caressed her through her capris, cupping the enticing globes and lifting her body until their sexes were in alignment through their clothes.
She squeaked against his mouth, her shock stilling her tongue momentarily.
Without breaking the kiss, he opened his eyes to meet hers. Was it too much?
Her eyes were open, but even if her body had stiffened with surprise, the hazel depths of her eyes glittered green-gold with desire.
He withdrew from her mouth with every intention of returning. “What?”
“I’m too heavy.”
He said a word that made her flinch and slammed his mouth back onto hers. Her eyes fluttered shut and he let his close as well. Better to savor her.
Women and their misconceptions about their bodies. He would have thought that his sexy little scientist would be the last woman to buy into Hollywood’s fallacy that thin to the point of emaciation was sexy. Wasn’t she busy trying to feed the starving masses of the world? Why in the world would she think she needed to look like them to be attractive?
Hell, her belief she was too heavy was a slight on his masculinity as well and damned if he’d take that lying down…or standing up and kissing as the case may be.
He set about showing her just how much not too heavy she was for him to do what he wanted. Using his grip on her delectable bottom, he held her still for pelvic thrusts that were both intensely pleasurable for him and proof that she was anything but unwieldy in his arms.
His dick was like to explode, but he wasn’t about to stop.
Hell, if he came in his pants, he’d chalk it up to her sexiness and not his own lack of control.
From the way she was moaning and thrusting her tongue against his, he’d say he wasn’t the only one in danger of climaxing from the intense kissing.
He broke the kiss. “You are not too heavy.” He accentuated each word with a thrust of his hips. “Understood?”
She threw her head back, letting out a keening cry of need. “Yes.”
Damn, he wanted to see her come. But this was not the place. He changed his hold on her so that one arm curved around her hips. He used his other hand to bring her head back up so their lips could meet again.
C-4 exploded behind his eyelids as their mouths collided once again.
“Oh, jeez. Get a room, I mean one with a bed. You two…This just isn’t right, Dr. Ericson. This is like watching my parents kiss, but way more intense. It’s kind of sexy, but ew, too.”
Shit. It was the assistant. Again. At least this time, he wasn’t trying to bash Myk’s head in.
Lana went absolutely rigid in his arms, but it took her a flattering number of seconds to break her lips from his. “Hello, Casey. Am I to assume you are finished taking samples?”
“Yes, boss. You’re not going to believe what I found on the Oryza sativa plants.”
Lana sighed, her light golden freckles drowned by the crimson blush on her cheeks. She met Myk’s gaze. “You can let me down now.”
“Are we agreed you are not too heavy?”
She rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you’re still on that.”
“You slighted my manhood.”
“It looked to me like she was trying to pay homage to it, not slight it, but that’s just me. I’ve probably got less real-world experience than even Dr. Ericson when it comes to sex.”
“Casey?” Myk asked.
“Yeah?”
“Shut up.”
“Oh, uh, sure.” A couple of seconds of silence followed during which Myk lowered Lana so that she was standing once again. “But I mean, do you usually take offense at a woman rubbing off on you?”
Groaning, Lana covered her face with both her hands.
Myk got control of an unexpected urge to laugh before turning to face the young male scientist. “My offense was taken when she said I was too weak to hold her up.”
“That’s odd.”
“That I took offense?”
“No, that Lana would accuse you of being weak. You are well above average height for a male of this era, very clearly in good shape, and too young to have muscle definition loss from aging.”
“You call her Lana and Dr. Ericson both. Why?”
“He calls me Dr. Ericson when he is angry with me, embarrassed about something, or in an uncomfortable situation.”
“Were you angry to find your boss kissing another man?” Myk asked.
“Not at all. Though, the ew factor, so not something I want to deal with on a regular basis, you know?”
“We won’t be making out in the lab regularly.” Lana sounded very sure about that fact.
Casey didn’t look nearly as convinced, but surprisingly he kept his opinion to himself.
Myk dipped his head toward the other man. “Thank you for not trying to cosh me again.”
“I only did that before because I thought you were attacking her.” Casey was now blushing even more brightly than Lana.
Myk raised a single brow at the younger man. “Now you know she’s a normal woman like any other.”
“No.” Casey shook his head for emphasis.
“No?”
“Lana is smarter than ninety-nine-point-five percent of all other women. She’s not normal.”
Lana groaned and Myk stifled another laugh. He knew Casey didn’t mean to be insulting. “And you? Is your I.Q. in the stratosphere, too?”
Casey just shrugged.
“Casey is very bright. The idea for the genetically altered Lathyrus odoratus was his.”
Myk would call that more than very bright, but then he wasn’t one of the head geeks in his family. “So, you two have been working together for a while?”
“Since Casey’s doctoral dissertation.” Lana shrugged back into her lab coat and moved so she was facing both Myk and Casey.
“Was he another child prodigy?” Myk asked.
“He is right here. Sheesh. I thought only parents, doctors, and teachers talked about a person as if they weren’t there.” Casey did disgruntled very well.
“You’ve been looking into my background?” Lana demanded before Myk had a chance to respond to her assistant.
“It’s my job.”
“I suppose.” She smiled at Casey. “I’ll let Casey answer your question about him, since he is here.”
“Thank you, boss.” Casey’s direct gaze met Myk’s. “Yes, I was what you term a child prodigy, but instead of thinking I was some kind of freak like Lana’s did, my parents were really proud of me.”
Myk slid a sideways look at Lana, but she didn’t seem offended or upset by Casey’s comment. “Aren’t they still proud of you?” he asked Casey.
“They’re dead.”
“Casey’s parents were killed by a drunk driver going the wrong way on the freeway two years ago.”
“I’m sorry,” Myk said to Casey.
The young scientist nodded at him. “Thanks. It still hurts, you know?”
“I can imagine.” He and his family were close. Myk couldn’t fathom losing both his parents in one harsh blow like that.
“I’m surprised you didn’t know that already,” Lana said.
Myk frowned. “I haven’t had a chance to do all the background research I would have liked. I came directly to ETRD after getting the prelim stuff out of the way for me to work for my new boss.”
“The Goddard Project?” Casey asked.
“Damn, does everyone in this facility know who Elle used to work for?” Maybe the agency’s policy of taking compromised agents out of the field wasn’t so draconian after all. Even other federal agencies weren’t supposed to know TGP existed, much less who might work for it.
He could see that his career with the agency was going to be a short one because he was going to be exposed simply by association with his sister. He could come up with a clever cover, but chances were, no one was going to buy it. Not at ETRD, anyway. The employees here weren’t your average Joe Shmoe off the street.
>
Their ability to do inductive and deductive reasoning scenarios far outclassed the average citizen. Everyone but the security detail. That group of dimwits had a rude awakening coming to them. Now that Elle knew how complacent they were, even after the attempts that had been made on ETRD’s projects in the past, she would take measures to rectify the problem.
He didn’t envy them. Not one bit.
Chapter 6
Lana sipped at the caramel mocha latte that Casey had talked her into getting after Myk left their lab muttering under his breath about dimwits and blown covers. She and her assistant had come to their favorite independent coffee shop only a few minutes’ drive from ETRD. The African tribal décor was a genuine tribute to the Kenyan family that ran the shop.
The grandfather greeted customers across the counter while his son made the drinks and his grandson kept the restaurant neat and clean.
“Now that’s coffee,” Casey said with a happy sigh after taking a sip of his triple-shot espresso, no syrup or milk added. He leaned back into the brown leather sofa he sat on.
Lana kicked off her Mickey Mouse tennis shoes and tucked her sock-clad feet under her on the oversized chair she’d taken kitty-corner to Casey’s spot on the couch. “You might as well hook yourself up to a caffeine drip and be done with it.”
“I’m not a caffeine junkie just because I don’t defile the purity of my coffee with enough milk and sugar to make a confectioner proud.”
“First, it’s not called defilement, it’s called enhancement. Second, you’re an addict because you require a triple-shot espresso before lunch.”
“Does that make you a sex fiend for having not one, but two hot kisses with our resident security expert’s brother before lunch?”
“I can’t be certain, since it isn’t my area of expertise, but I can surmise that it would take more than a couple of kisses following a year plus of celibacy to label me a sex fiend.” Lana gave Casey her best haughty look before taking a sip of her yummy coffee confection.
“Wow, you’re worse off in that department than I am.”
She glared, but Casey just looked pityingly at her. “I am not worse off. Sex is hardly the be-all, end-all of the human existence. I’m perfectly content with my life. I have a job I love, good friends, and my belly dancing.”
