by J. M. Madden
“An addict,” she said softly. “When they get like that there is no reasoning with them or correcting them. Not until they’re ready.”
He nodded, still watching the screen. His eyes had gone foggy, though, like he was remembering something else. “I remember a glimpse of him, I think. Remember those wiggly eyed phones you pulled behind you on a string? I remember a little boy giving me one and I think it was him.”
Angela smiled at the memory. “I used to have one of those.”
John let the Golden Retriever out to go to the bathroom. She romped through the yard, did her business then ran back to the door to be let in. Eventually the family left the kitchen and went into the living room where Aiden and Angela couldn’t see.
Aiden started flipping through screens again.
“Have you printed out a copy of that encrypted info?” she asked eventually. “Sometimes it looks different on paper.”
Without a word, Aiden reached into a locked drawer and handed her a sheaf of papers. “Knock yourself out.”
Angela took the papers from him as well as a pencil and went to curl up on the couch again. Then she started looking for patterns in the information. She’d never been a Chinese reader, but by plugging some paragraphs into google translate it helped a little, but it was still gibberish. The words didn’t say anything. It was just groupings of words.
She stared and studied for hours, until her legs went numb and her eyes heavy. Aiden stayed at the console, not moving other than to scroll through screens. Angela wished she had his determination, but it had been a bit of a big day for her. Finally, she rested her head on the arm of the couch and let herself fall asleep.
Chapter Thirteen
Aiden felt the moment she fell asleep. Turning in his office chair, he stared at her, curled up on his couch. Angela brought a calmness with her that he hadn’t felt in such a long time. Part of the reason he had chosen this warehouse was because of the space. He didn’t have to work to block out the noise of any of the people on the streets around him.
Angela’s mind was very quiet. Every once in a while he would pick up a stray thought, mostly about him, which made him burn with awareness. When he’d crowded her shoulder earlier, skin to skin, she had fought not to kiss him, and her restraint had taunted him. He’d almost wanted to push that restraint, but as much as he ached to touch her again he was trying to be good. She’d already gotten hurt because of him and the deeper he drew her into the situation the more danger she would be exposed to.
She shuddered in her sleep and shifted, her neck curved at an odd angle. Did he dare move her? Maybe he should just wake her to tell her to move. He left the chair and walked toward her, not sure exactly what he wanted to do.
A sudden vision of her hand on his right pectoral hit him, stopping him in his tracks. Her fingers drifted down his skin, gently playing with the dark hair on his chest before trailing down. In her dream he still wore the white towel. Skimming over the scars on his abdomen, her fingers ran along the edge of the terrycloth to the knot at the side of his hip.
Aiden slammed his mental shields into place even as he turned away from her. Then, unable to help himself, he turned back, an ache in his heart that he’d never felt before. He could feel her need and desire and it shook him. No one had ever wanted him like that before, at least not that he was aware of. Her vision had been so clear.
His feet moved without his even thinking about it, moving closer to her and her passionate fantasies. He paused beside the couch, then sank down into the gray chair again. Angela’s respirations had sped up and she’d turned to lie on her back. Slowly, carefully, he lowered his shields.
The need that hit him was sharp and consuming. He hardened immediately, because in her dream her hand was wrapped around his cock and she was stroking him from base to tip. Aiden slouched back into the chair, his own breathing picking up even as his hand drifted down to cup himself.
This was so dangerous.
Aiden was hit with a quandary. If he participated in her fantasy would she be upset with him? Because he had a feeling he could enhance her experience if he dared.
Mentally reaching out, he allowed her to stroke him, but he burrowed a hand beneath her t-shirt to stroke a finger along the bottom edge of her breast. At the same time he brushed her lips with his, then hovered against her mouth, breathing her in.
Angela’s gaze, her eyes darkened with arousal, lifted to his with surprise. They were so close together their noses brushed, and needs and wants passing back and forth between them. Aiden reached up to cup a hand around the back of her neck, tugging her close. His cheek brushed her own and he just held her to him, his heart racing with hers.
Aiden felt … humble that she wasn’t pulling away. As he absorbed her warmth and the scent of apricots on her warm skin, a knot of dread eased in his gut that he hadn’t even been aware of. She wasn’t pulling away and she wasn’t criticizing him for anything. She just accepted him, even though she knew his most dangerous secrets.
Even as he sat in the chair his breathing deepened and his muscles relaxed as he absorbed the affection she was dreaming of giving him. Just the fact that she dreamt it meant a lot to him.
But then the dream changed again as she took control. Aiden was aware that even though he was the stronger of the two of them, Angela had her own brand of mental toughness, both in walls to block him out and the strength to pull him to her. She took up the dream where she’d left off. He’d tried to temper the experience but she wasn’t letting him do that anymore.
In her fantasy they backed over to his bed and she pushed him down onto the mattress, then landed right beside him. She was up on a propped arm, though, looking down at him.
Aiden’s heartbeat picked up again and he knew he didn’t want to try to back her off anymore. She had wrested control from him and he would go along with whatever she wanted. Especially if it meant a pleasure so profound he wanted to tear up. It had been so long since he’d been touched.
Her soft hand glided down the slope of his chest. Somehow the towel was still knotted around his hips, maybe he had dreamed it back into0 place, but probably not for long if the look in her eyes was anything to go by. Her lips curved as her hand brushed against the cloth again.
“Do you mind?” she whispered.
“No,” he gasped as her fingers slid beneath the cloth.
Was she crazy? He’d tried to throttle her back to be more circumspect, but she just wasn’t going to allow it.
Aiden looked at the t-shirt she wore and imagined it fading into something lacy against her pale, pale skin. Angela looked down at what he’d created and a shiver rippled across her chest, making her breasts shimmy. The dark pink skin of her nipples tightened, the tips pressing against the fabric.
Propping his head on a pillow, he reached out to brush the backs of his fingers against her, making her gasp. On the couch, Angela gasped into the quiet of the warehouse as well, and Aiden wavered between real life and dream. They should stop this.
Angela leaned up to press her lips to his own and he lost track of being responsible. She was taunting him to be daring, and dangerous. If this was an op he’d have no problem being that way, but his personal life was a very different proposition. Aiden had never slept around like his buddies had, in part because he’d been worried about letting people get close. He’d also worried about creating another child that might not be loved.
This was the most he’d ever been drawn to a woman, and it worried him.
He kissed her back exactly as he wanted to, open and wet, close, breathing her in. She responded in kind, scooting close enough to rub her breasts against his chest. With one hand he reached down and drew her hips against his own, letting her feel how excited she had gotten him. Angela moaned into his mouth and rocked her hips against him, reaching her own hand down to cup his ass beneath the towel.
“You have to be sure, Angela. Even here in the not-real you have to be sure.”
Rather than respond she clos
ed her eyes for a moment. Aiden could feel her do something and when he looked down, he realized she had willed the lacy covering away. She now lay in his arms completely bare.
With a final kiss she lay down upon the mattress, her arms above her head and a welcoming smile on her lips. Aiden was unable to deny their need. Making the towel disappear, he rolled toward her, pressing his erection into the side of her hip.
The sound of the warehouse alarm going off ripped him out of the dream. It wasn’t ridiculously loud, but Aiden had trained himself to respond as if it were. He bolted up out of the chair, swaying as he caught his breath. His gaze jerked to Angela, sitting up on the couch. Her mouth was in a perfect O as she tried to understand what was going on. Her eyes, hazy with need seconds ago, now widened with fear and adrenaline. She swung her legs to the side and pushed to her feet.
“What’s going on?” she gasped.
Aiden had already begun moving toward the monitors. He scanned them, blinking hard to replace the dream version of life with the real. It was hard. So fucking hard.
“There,” Angela pointed.
Aiden looked at the dog wandering across the expanse of bare lot outside the building. Apparently he’d found the hole in the fence and thought it would be a great place to look for food. Sighing, Aiden silenced the alarm.
“Well,” Angela told him with a laugh. “At least you know your alarm works.”
“I knew it worked before,” he grumbled. Then he felt bad. Angela hadn’t done anything, just helped him spot the issue.
Aiden could still feel the need thrumming through him. Angela had had a hazy look in her eyes when she’d first woken, and her nipples had been hard against her t-shirt. He remembered that.
Surreptitiously he snuck a peek at her in of his peripheral vision. Her arms were crossed over her breasts. Yep, she was still feeling the effects as well.
Grinning slightly, he turned away so that she couldn’t see his expression and demand to know what he was laughing about.
Once he’d ascertained the dog wasn’t going to be an issue, Aiden pushed back from the console. Night had fallen outside and the night vision had kicked in, highlighting everything in green. If there were any more incidents the alarm would let him know, just as proficiently as it had this time.
“Why don’t you take the bed,” he told her softly. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”
Angela frowned at him and he wondered if she was going to bring her fantasy up. No, he doubted she would. Not unless he did first.
“You looked beautiful in the lace,” he told her softly.
Hectic color flushed through her cheeks and her mouth dropped open. “That was … real?”
He nodded once and walked to the kitchen for a drink of water. “Every delicious second of it.”
“Why would you invade my privacy like that?” she demanded, arms crossed over her chest.
Aiden turned on her. “Let me tell you something, Detective. You drew me into your dream, several times in fact. Yes, I allowed it, what red-blooded man wouldn’t? But it was definitely you who led the scene.”
Her lips clamped together and she looked skeptical, but her eyes flickered and he knew she remembered.
“I’m not sure I believe you,” she said mulishly.
“You don’t have to,” he said calmly. “But you remember what was said and what you did. My conscience is clear.”
She still looked disconcerted, but that was her issue and not his.
With a final glance at her, he moved back to settle into the chair. “You’re welcome to use the bed. Looked like your neck would get a kink on the couch.”
Without a word she headed to the bathroom with her bag. He heard thumping as she set things on the counter and he had to close his eyes for a moment to catch his breath. Just the thought of her stripping down to get into his shower was enough to send fresh excitement through his body. Shifting, he tried to ease the tightness in his crotch, but it wasn’t working.
Aiden didn’t actually know what would have happened if they’d continued on the path they’d been on. Would they have orgasmed separately? Yet together? He had no idea. And he doubted Angela would be in the mood to experiment, physically or psychically now. Maybe he needed another shower…
Though he tried to focus on work, his brain was totally keyed to what Angela was doing. She rummaged in the small linen closet for the towel, then he heard the plop of her clothes on the floor. The pipes rattled as she turned on the hot water, like they always did, then the pressure equalized and they hummed. The shower curtain rings scraped across the rod as she stepped in, then back as she closed the curtain behind her. Aiden knew that the next time he got into the shower he would be imagining her doing exactly this.
Pressing against himself, he tried to will the erection away but it wasn’t happening until she was gone or he was gone or he’d taken care of it. This was going to be a long night.
Angela felt very much like she was invading a man’s space. Yes, she’d brought some of her clothes and toiletries, but everything still smelled like him, and was set for him. She adjusted the shower nozzle down to point at her neck, then reached for her Bath and Body shower gel. Squirting a big dollop in her hand she massaged it everywhere, lingering on her still beaded nipples and her breasts. They ached, deliciously. Rinsing, she ran her hand down her body and slid a finger into herself. Yes, aroused and on edge. Hiking a leg, she glided her fingertip around her clit. Oh, yeah. It would be super easy to get herself off.
Deliberately she dropped her foot and continued with her shower, but thoughts of them together pestered her. Had she been the one driving the vision? Everything had been so clear and yes, she did remember him pulling away. A couple of times. But she continued to draw him back. How had she had the ability to do that? He hadn’t been kicking and screaming by any means, but he’d definitely had the cooler head in the encounter.
Was she that hard up that she was willing to throw herself at him? Apparently, she sighed.
Angela finished with her shower and stepped out, drying off. She wrung her hair as dry as she could, but couldn’t find any kind of dryer. Aiden probably had never had a need of one. Detangling the mass as best she could, she plaited it into a loose braid, then dressed. By the time she left the bathroom she felt like she had a better grip on her emotions.
Then she saw him again. How had the man gone from being a murder suspect to someone she was so interested in? What was it that was short-circuiting her cop brain?
He glanced at her as she left the bedroom, but didn’t maintain eye contact. Crossing to the couch, Angela grabbed up the sheaf of papers and headed back to the bedroom, closing the door part way. Maybe if she studied these they would knock her ass out. She could feel in her bones that she was tired, but right this second she was too wired to be able to relax.
Maybe she should just offer to fuck his brains out?
The thought definitely had merit. Maybe that was what they both needed.
In the end, though, she chickened out.
Angela forced herself to study the papers for another hour, but she was no closer to any coherent answer. Finally, setting them aside, she curled up under the fresh sheets and let herself drift off to sleep.
Aiden worried that she would start to dream again when her defenses fell, but this time she truly seemed more tired than anything. It was both a relief and a disappointment that she disappeared from his mind.
It would probably be smart to catch some z’s as well.
Aiden stretched out onto the couch, propping his legs up on the far arm. His body sank into the cushions and he thought he caught a whiff of Angela’s apricot scent on the fabric. Damn it. That wasn’t going to help.
Closing his eyes, concentrating, he struggled to feel Fontana. The man wasn’t that far away. He would see him in the next day probably. Aiden had already given him the address of the warehouse, not that he needed it. Fontana could find him anywhere.
Fontana’s pending arrival eased his mind.
After the attack in Angela’s apartment by the unknown man, Aiden was feeling more off balance than normal. Was it because she was involved? And he felt more connected to her than he had anyone in a long time?
Aiden was not a relationship expert in any sense of the word. But he did know what he wanted and liked. And that was Angela.
When the dream started, he wasn’t concerned. He’d seen this one before, many times. They’d just dragged Wulfe back to his cage, limp within the hold of the two guards. The big German’s dark head was down and Aiden couldn’t see his face, but he could see what was done to his body. There were healing scars where they’d cut him open to do something. Recently they’d been getting more bold, and he wasn’t sure if it was because Shu had died or what. It was almost as if they were forging ahead into new areas to try to impress the bitch Mattingly.
Aiden tensed as they dropped Wulfe into his cell, then turned toward Aiden’s. They were striding toward him and he tried to ready himself. He didn’t know what was going to happen, but he would survive it.
Then the guards veered toward the right, and another cell he hadn’t seen there before. They unlocked the iron door and dragged out a body. It wasn’t until the woman screamed and began to fight that he realized it was Angela. Her brilliant hair was back in a braid and she wore jeans and a T-shirt. Actually it looked like one of his t-shirts. She punched and kicked and scratched but the men continued to drag her toward the med center. Just before she disappeared she looked right up into his eyes, pleading for help. He gripped and shook the bars of his own cage, but he couldn’t budge them. She snarled at him, and he wished he could defend himself, but he really couldn’t. He’d gotten her into this situation.
Aiden attacked the door again, determined to get out or have someone let him out. The guards that were normally near his cell were nowhere within mental reach and he screamed in frustration. He had gotten Angela into this situation and he needed to get her out of it. No matter how hard he tried, though, the bars wouldn’t move and no one would look at him so that he could grab their mind. He screamed in defiance, knowing that whatever they did to her it would kill her, because she hadn’t been treated with the serum like the men had. She hadn’t been prepared.
