Grady's Awakening

by Bianca D’Arc

  “What are you doing?” she asked breathlessly.

  “I’m feeling for any synthetic patches on your epidermis. You look clean, but touch is a better way to tell for sure.”

  “This is insane.” A shiver raced down her spine as his warm hands followed the same path. He touched every inch of her back and sides, his palms skating over her arms and even under them. Then he returned to her shoulders and began his journey down her front.

  Gina had to look away when he cupped her breasts. Her nipples hardened in his palms and he paused, giving them a tweak that made her jump.

  “Just wanted to see if you were paying attention.” His grin made her want to smack him.

  “You’re not supposed to enjoy this,” she ground out, accusing.

  “Who says?” Jim countered, his big hands still cradling her breasts, kneading them now with gentle motions that caused her stomach to flip.

  She sputtered for a smart reply but came up short. “B-b-because!”

  Jim laughed, finally releasing her breasts only to continue his examination of her body, stroking each leg as he knelt before her. Again there was that trust he gave, putting himself in the vulnerable position that would leave him open to attack if she chose to launch one. The gesture calmed her as much as his roving hands stirred her.

  When he moved closer as his fingers worked their way up the insides of her thighs, she was hard pressed not to moan. It should have felt wrong or awkward. This wasn’t about mutual pleasure, as her night with Grady had been. This was something else entirely, but it sure felt like the real thing. Having Jim’s hands on her felt like the most natural thing in the world. The thought scared her.

  Who was she? What was she becoming? Gina didn’t even recognize herself anymore. Had Grady’s lovemaking flipped some hidden on switch inside her and now she was ripe for any man? She wasn’t sure, but she didn’t think so. She hadn’t had this reaction to any of Jim’s men. But all Jim had to do was touch her—even in the most clinical way, and this touch was far from clinical—and she melted. She didn’t understand herself at all.

  “Open for me, Gina.” His words whispered across the bare skin of her belly, warming her, exciting her. “Spread your legs.”

  As much as she wanted to keep her legs locked together to hide the wetness now coating her most intimate place, she had to comply. She closed her eyes and bit her lower lip as she stepped out with one leg, giving him access. Jim took immediate advantage, sliding his hands up into the warm juncture of her thighs.

  “I see we won’t need to use the lube for this part,” he growled, still at eye level with her pussy. “I thought you didn’t want to enjoy this.”

  “I don’t,” she gasped as he combed his fingers through the neat patch of curls she kept meticulously trimmed. He spread the outer lips and ran one finger down her grooves, sliding in the slick wetness of her arousal.

  “You have a funny way of showing it, Gina.” His breath puffed across her spread folds, making her quiver. The warm, masculine chuckle that followed rumbled through her body like an earthquake of sensation. At that moment, he struck, sliding one thick finger into her channel.

  Gina realized suddenly what a terrible idea it had been to close her eyes. Locked in sensation without the distraction of vision, she could feel every last rasp of his calloused skin against her sensitive tissues as he pushed all the way inside.

  Then he began to move.

  Gina opened her eyes, but it was worse to see his rapt expression as he watched his finger sink into her. There was color on his high cheekbones, showing he wasn’t completely unaffected by what he was doing. That gave her some satisfaction. She wasn’t the only one being brought to her knees here tonight.

  “Do you do this to everyone who comes knocking on your door?” Her voice was a breathless whisper.

  “Not me personally, no. Usually we let Pierre do the honors since he’s a doctor.”

  “Then why? Why you?”

  “Because that French bastard was flirting with you.” He punctuated his unguarded words with a particularly fierce curl of his fingertip as he reached right up inside and hit her G spot. She cried out as he rubbed it again and looked into her eyes. “You like that, baby?”

  The grin he gave her melted her bones. She could only nod as he stroked inside again. She was so excited, it wasn’t even funny. Only her teeth biting into her lower lip kept her from crying out when he started a concentrated rhythm, his dark eyes watching her face intently.

  “Come for me, Gina. Do it now,” he ordered her, leaning forward as she mounted the final rung of the ladder on her way to oblivion. The touch of his tongue on her clit sent her over, spiraling upward as he rode her through the explosion.

  A minute later he pulled out, positioning her limp body to his satisfaction. He turned her and laid her out over the counter, bent at the waist so her ass was up in the air. He moved behind her, and her foggy brain dimly recorded his use of the lubricant in the jar before he slid one long finger into her ass.

  She’d never had anything up there before and wasn’t sure she liked the feeling, but it didn’t really hurt. Of course, her body was in a state of bliss from the amazing orgasm he’d just given her.

  To her horror, the finger in her ass made the fire in her blood rise again. It wasn’t possible. Was it?

  Before she really had a chance to find out, he pulled out and washed his hands in the small sink. Gina barely had the strength to stand. After a moment to catch her breath, she straightened by slow degrees.

  Jim turned away, pulling the promised jumpsuit off the peg on the back of the door and handing it to her.

  “Get dressed.”

  Gina considered the jumpsuit. “You want me to go commando?”

  That got a smile out of him. “We don’t have spare undies for you at the moment. Your stuff will be examined and returned once the techs have a look at it.”

  It was only as she tugged on the jumpsuit that she realized Jim wouldn’t be leaving here totally unaffected by what he’d done to her. Gina’s gaze fell to his waist and the huge bulge below his belt. The man was hard and had a huge cock if that long, thick ridge was anything to go by.

  “I—” he began, hesitating as she tugged the zipper on the suit all the way up. Covered now, she faced him, trying hard to suppress the flush in her cheeks.

  “What?”

  “I’m sorry, Gina. I was too trusting once before with disastrous results. It’s better to be sure.”

  “Do you believe me now?” She was surprised he’d unbent enough to apologize. She appreciated the very real concern she sensed from him. Her empathic skills were low, but she picked up more from Jim than she had from anyone in a long time. Anyone except Grady—but she promised herself she wouldn’t think of him. Especially now, after coming so easily and so hard for a man she hadn’t seen in years. She didn’t know what being able to read Jim’s emotions meant yet, but she was intrigued.

  “I wouldn’t go that far.” The twinkle in his eyes warmed her though his words spoke of caution. “But it’s a beginning. I’m satisfied you didn’t smuggle anything in here on your person. At least nothing I can find. The techs will go through your gear and that’ll bring you one step closer to earning my trust. For now, let’s take it one day at a time.”

  “Fair enough. One thing—when you take the maps out of my bag, you might want to handle those yourself, or keep them among your top men.”

  “Why?” His eyes narrowed. “I thought they were just maps.”

  “They are. Maps to get me here and one very special map the Patriarch sent along for you. It shows the coordinates and locations of the other sites we know of where humans are hiding out, plus some we suspect based on other data. That’s very valuable information, Jim. It’s meant for you alone. It would be a catastrophe if it somehow fell into Alvian hands.”

  “It came from Alvians.” His posture was challenging. The man who’d brought her to such heights of pleasure only moments before was all business
now.

  “It came from the Zxerah Patriarch. He’s very particular about what he tells the High Council and what he keeps to himself. This information is held closely among the brotherhood. The rest of the Alvian race has no idea these sites even exist.”

  “Show me.” He walked out of the small bathroom to where her belongings were lying in a heap on the chair. He dug through and pulled out her pack, laying it on the bed where he could observe her every movement.

  Gina was careful to keep her hands in plain sight as she opened the bag and took out the maps. She spread them on the bed, pushing the bag aside to make room.

  “This one helped me get here from the coast. I can’t tell you exactly where I originated. The location of the Zxerah base is known to only a handful of non-Zxerah on this planet.”

  Jim’s jaw firmed. He didn’t go to the trouble of pointing out that trust went both ways. For her part, she was beginning to trust Jim but the secret location of the base wasn’t her secret to share.

  “And this…” she carefully peeled away a layer of the laminated map to reveal another, thinner layer of map beneath. “This one is for you.” She laid out the map and pointed to a few features. “This is where we are now. There are a few known locations where our scouts have actually seen humans living in large numbers. The mountains of what used to be New York have a very large population. There are also sites in most of the surviving mountain ranges throughout the United States and Canada. The closest suspected site to you is this one here, in the Canadian Rockies. We don’t have confirmed reports of habitation yet. We do believe there is a strong possibility humans have moved in based on increased power consumption and other data.”

  “You can read their power consumption?”

  “Only marginally. The Zxerah site was part of a network of prototype artificial intelligence-controlled computers. The core was damaged almost beyond repair during the crystal bombardment but they managed to reestablish a few of the dormant computer links to the other sites. A very slight increase in power consumption was noted from this facility,” she indicated the one in the Canadian Rockies again on the map, “in the last year or so. That, combined with some other data I’m not at liberty to divulge has led the Patriarch to believe people have moved in.”

  “Do you even know what the other data is?”

  “Not all of it, but I’ve pieced together some from little things I’ve heard. Rumors of missing test subjects, escaped prisoners, et cetera. I think there’s a better than good chance they’re hiding out there.”

  “And you want us to get in touch with them?”

  “I believe with all my heart that doing just that is humanity’s best hope for the future.”

  “All right.” Jim folded the maps and tucked them both into his pocket, then grabbed the bag off the bed and the rest of her things from the chair. “We’ll go through this stuff as quickly as possible. There will be someone outside in the hall if you need anything. Otherwise, I’d ask that you don’t leave this room until we come get you tomorrow morning.”

  “Sure thing.” She sat, her arms folded as she watched him go. “I’ll be a good little prisoner and won’t make waves. For now.”

  He turned to stare her down. “The guard is for your own good, and the good of my people. Give us some time to get to know you, Gina.”

  “Oh, I think you just got to know me pretty darn well, Jim.” She felt heat rush to her cheeks as the words popped out of her mouth. Too late to call them back. She had to brazen the awkward moment out.

  “I’m sorry to have put you through that but I’m not sorry I gave you an orgasm, sweetheart.” He winked, and she had to stifle a gasp at the heat that entered his gaze. “In fact, I already plan on doing it again, when you’re in a better position to agree willingly to letting me fuck your brains out.”

  The raw words hit her like velvet punches to her midsection, leaving heat in their wake and an almost painful arousal. No man had ever been so bold with her. She was shocked to discover she liked his blunt talk.

  “Surely you have a woman here—or two—to see to your needs. You’re in charge, aren’t you?”

  “I protect my people,” he bit out, his eyes going hard. “I don’t take advantage of them. Ever. Especially the weakest of them. The women here are either part of existing families or have been traumatized. Like Tory. We protect them. We help them. We don’t take advantage of them. We’re not barbarians.”

  The very real anger in his tone brought her up short. She’d grown too used to the way most human males had coped with the shortage of females since the cataclysm. Many were downright savages. Most shared whatever women they could find, “protecting” them as best they could in small groups. Gina hadn’t given much thought to how a large group like the one living here would make do, but she remembered Jim as a man of honor.

  At least, he had been when she’d known him briefly in her youth. From the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice, the honor remained. Gina wondered what else of his previous existence had stayed with him and what parts had changed. She wanted to know what made him tick.

  “If that’s the case, then you have my respect.”

  “It is the case.” Challenge was written in every line of his tense body. Then he began to relax. “You’ll learn that for yourself once you meet the rest of my people.”

  Gina thought it was telling how he claimed caretaker status over the group. He probably didn’t even realize his word choice implied so much. He said it so matter-of-factly that she knew he felt a strong sense of responsibility for the people under his care.

  “Then you think there’s a chance I’ll make it past all your inspections and actually get to meet the rest of your group? I have to tell you, the only reason I came here was to meet you, Jim, and pass on what I know.”

  “There’s no going back, Gina. Once you learned of our existence—and especially with the knowledge you have—I can’t let you go back to your Alvian masters.”

  “They’re not my masters, Jim. The Patriarch is my sensei, my leader. I follow him of my own free will.”

  “So you say.” Jim held her gaze. “We’ll take this slow for now, but know this: I want you, Gina, and I intend to have you. You’re not off limits like you were when you were a kid.”

  His commanding voice sent a spear of heat through her belly as his words sank home.

  “So you were looking at me when I was a teenager? I think I’m flattered.” She tried to keep her tone light. There was more truth in her words than she dared let on.

  “Oh, I noticed you sashaying around the dojo, little girl.” A sexy grin lifted one side of his mouth as he stepped right up to her, invading her personal space. “I noticed you then, but kept my distance. This time nothing stands in the way. Not your age. Not your father or brothers. Not my honor.”

  “You’re still a man of honor.” Her words whispered across the scant space separating them as his head lowered toward hers.

  “How can you tell?” His voice was pitched low, his lips dragging across hers as his arms came around her body.

  “I just know.”

  Her words were swallowed by the sweep of his tongue over her lips. He kissed her then, delving deep. It was a kiss of possession, of learning and heat. She didn’t want it to end. He’d already been more intimate with her than a mere acquaintance, but they’d yet to share a kiss.

  As first kisses went, this one was damned near perfect. Jim seemed to know just where to touch, just how much pressure to apply, just what to do with his talented tongue to make her bones melt. She flowed into him as his arms tightened around her, craving his nearness, his strength, his warmth. She’d never felt anything like it, never dreamed such complete possession could be so freeing, so exhilarating, so much like flying.

  Her head was still spinning when he pulled back, letting her go by slow degrees. Her blood pounded through her veins, her breath labored, and she watched him with dazzled eyes to see what he’d do next.

  But Jim stepped a
way, setting her free. It was the dead last thing she expected and the one thing that restored her faith in him as a man. He wouldn’t take advantage of her dazed senses. He wouldn’t push her into anything on such short reacquaintance. He’d give her space and the time she needed. He wasn’t the barbarian she’d nearly accused him of being.

  “You have more faith in me than I do, Gina,” he said, putting his hand on the doorknob. “Keep this locked, and don’t go out until I come get you tomorrow.”

  As the door closed behind him, Gina realized two very important things. First, her life had just become very complicated. And second, she finally knew who the second man in her dreams had been.

  Chapter Seven

  Little Gina Hanson. Jim couldn’t get her out of his mind as he continued down the hall toward his core group of men who led and protected the complex. He knew they were waiting for him.

  The past few astounding minutes distracted him. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. About the past and the present. About the way her skin felt and how she’d responded to him.

  Gina Hanson was gorgeous. He’d always known she was beautiful, with an athlete’s body that wouldn’t quit, but she was clever too—an almost irresistible combination for a man like him who valued brains as well as beauty.

  She’d been too young for him in the old world, and he wouldn’t have disrespected her father by messing around with his daughter. Messing around was all it could have been then. Jim had been devoted to his work as a CIA operative. There’d been no time for relationships or family. Jim had always figured if he survived long enough to retire, he’d start thinking about the white picket fence, family and dog that went along with it then.