RetroCog (a Power Up! story)

by Harte, Marie

  “Dammit.” Noah sounded panicked. “We need to get her to a hospital.”

  “I’ll get the car.” Mike’s voice.

  Then Frank’s. “Just hold on. You’ll be okay, Lara. Jesus, Noah, she’s losing a lot of blood.”

  “Ask me to go with you.” She blinked and felt the world focus again. But with it came the pain.

  “To go with me? Anywhere, honey. I love you.” Noah lowered her to the ground.

  “Ow!”

  “Sorry, baby. I have to keep pressure on it. But I’m not asking you a goddamn thing. I’m telling you. Either you come with me back to Bend, or I’m staying here in Brownville with you. You’re not getting rid of me, now that I’ve found you. Oh, and we’re getting married too. I’ll give you a couple months to get used to the idea, but if the answer isn’t yes, I’m not proposing.”

  “How romantic. No wonder you don’t rely on that charm to get laid.” Frank made a retching sound.

  Noah chuckled. “Hey, man, it works for me.”

  “That’s what you think.” Lara poked him in the chest. “I’ll say yes when you’re on one knee and begging me to marry you.”

  “Begging, hmm?”

  She could read the interest on his face and knew he was thinking about how to make her beg in the bedroom. She wished she had the energy to indulge him right now.

  He smiled at her blush. “Oh baby. You have a lot to learn about who’s in charge.”

  Not willing to give him the complete upper hand, she raised a brow, trying like heck to ignore the pain in her leg. “Remember the shower?”

  Noah ignored Frank’s apparent interest. He leaned down to whisper, “Look, just let me pretend for now. It’s good for my ego.”

  Lara gave a weak laugh, then groaned. “I love you, Noah, but I’m going to have to take a stand on this. We’re going to Bend. I want to get as far away from this place as possible. Besides, I can’t stay in a town no longer haunted by ghosts. Who will talk to me when you’re not around?”

  “I’ll always be around. I love you, Lara.” Noah kissed her but didn’t let up on the pressure he was applying to her leg.

  Frank huffed. “Ech. The sweetness between you two is killing me. Oh good, Mike’s back with the car. Let’s get out of here.”

  “I second that.” Chloe sat up, rubbing her head. “What did that bastard give me?”

  Mike arrived and helped get Lara and Chloe into the SUV. He used his belt to slow the blood flow of her leg. “I already called the hospital on my cell. They’re waiting on you.” He waved Noah to the driver’s side.

  Noah put his hand on the handle. “You’re not coming?”

  “Fuck, no. I’m not going through another hit-and-run, or shoot-and-run. Whatever. You can handle the injured. And Noah—” Mike paused. Lara couldn’t see his expression, but he sounded more than sincere when he said, “Make sure you take care of her. Lara’s a special woman.”

  “I know. Thanks.” Noah shut the door and drove off. He didn’t look at her as he sped away from the burning house. But he took Lara’s hand in his own. “My special woman.”

  * * *

  Three days later, Noah had never felt so unsure of himself. He stared at Lara’s bandaged leg, still shaky at how close he’d come to losing her.

  She patted the spot next to her in her bed. “Come over here, hero.”

  He checked to make sure her bedroom door was locked before joining her.

  “Paranoid?” she teased.

  “Hell, yeah.” Though all the reports had been made and the authorities called in to deal with Bill’s victims, he wouldn’t be satisfied until they left Brownville for good. “How are you feeling?”

  He sat next to her, careful to keep himself from brushing against her injury.

  “I’m a little sore, but the painkillers are doing their job. And really, the bullet passed right through me. So I should be up and running in a few weeks.”

  He groaned. “Lara, no running. Not unless I’m right there next to you.” He sighed. “You’re sure this is what you want? Coming with me to Bend?”

  She took his hand in hers and kissed it. “I’m sure.”

  He cleared his throat. “I told you I love you. And I do. But Lara… I don’t want to wait.” He hadn’t meant to ask her now, but he couldn’t stop himself.

  “Wait for what?”

  “I want all of you.”

  “I’d say you’ve had all of me.” She winked at him. “I’m a little put out you haven’t had more lately. I’m in bed, half-dressed, just you and me and no one else for a change, and you haven’t made a move.”

  “Woman, I’m trying to ask you to marry me.” There, he’d said it.

  She blinked at him. “Huh?

  Not exactly the response a man wanted to hear after proposing. “Lara, I love you. I know I said I’d give you time. We haven’t known each other very long. But I love you. All of you. You can handle me. You don’t freak out just because I’m a little different. And you’re so strong, so intelligent and funny. I want to live the rest of my life with you. You’re the one for me, honey. I know it deep inside.” He brought her hand to his chest.

  “Oh Noah.” Her eyes filled. “That was so romantic. I can’t believe it came from you.”

  He grunted with laughter.

  She continued. “I trusted you from the beginning. It wasn’t even the voices, it was you. Something about you that called to me. You’re the only man who’s ever seen me. I won’t lie and say I’m not a little scared by the idea of marriage, but yes, I’ll marry you. In eight or nine months.”

  “Hell, Lara. You want a long engagement, you got it.” Noah wanted to burst with happiness. If only the woman would stop shifting on the bed. The T-shirt she wore kept riding up, exposing her smooth belly. And those damn shorts hinted at all kinds of things. Even with the bandage, her legs would look perfect spread wide while he licked and sucked her pretty pussy.

  “Uh-oh. You have that look again.” The wicked grin she sent him made him groan and press down his hard-on. “Tell you what, handsome. You want me to say yes, then you have to show me what it’s worth to you.”

  She spread her legs, slowly. “Man, my leg hurts, but not as much as my pussy.”

  The sly woman knew he liked it when she talked dirty. Damn, he loved her.

  “Fuck me with that huge cock, and we’ll see if I say yes.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you.” He sounded like he’d swallowed a bag of gravel.

  “Then don’t. You’ll have to be gentle. And we’ll fuck so slow, until I come all over you.”

  He swore under his breath and stood. Stripping down to nothing, he did the same to her, being ultracareful of her leg. “I think I like you this way best. Naked.”

  She laughed.

  “Now don’t move. You’re only allowed to lay there and take what I give you.”

  “I love when you get all bossy on me.” She moaned when he sucked her breast, biting gently on her nipple. “Oh God. Noah, I’m ready to say yes right now.”

  He chuckled and turned his attention to her other breast. He had her begging in seconds, and he ached to fuck her. But he wanted to draw this out, to please his woman and himself by taking his time.

  He drew down her body and knelt between her legs. Lowering his head to her pussy, he licked her with patient, deliberate strokes. She writhed and moaned, but he wouldn’t be rushed. When he sucked on her clit, her flavor exploding on his tongue, she cried out for more.

  “I said be still.” He palmed her stomach, holding her in place while he ate her out.

  He waited until she’d come before he eased himself next to her and turned them so that he spooned her. Then he eased her injured leg over his, taking care to move without jarring her. “Okay?” he asked on a breath, out of his mind with lust.

  “Oh yeah. I want to feel you inside me, Noah. Come on, deep in me.”

  He found her entrance and slid inside her. “Oh fuck. You’re hot.”

  “And wet. V
ery, very wet.” She whispered his name as he continued to push.

  He continued until he’d put the whole of himself inside her. Shaking at the effort to hold still, he kissed her neck and nibbled at her ear. “I love you so much, Lara.” He pulled back, then thrust inside her again. “Always.”

  Their lovemaking was slow, tender, and so rich that it tied his every thought and breath to hers in a way that felt almost mystical. Not just sexual, this loving wrapped emotion and psychic pathways together, until the two of them flowed together like one entity. Like Flynn and Cecilia must have been, came the unbidden thought.

  And then thoughts of the outlaw lovers left him as he poured himself into Lara, the woman who owned him heart and soul. He’d spent his life caught up in the past, but he’d found his future in the arms of a woman steeped in the present.

  “Forever, Noah. I love you.” Lara hugged his arm over her belly and snuggled with him, still joined.

  He had trouble catching his breath. “Oh baby. Me too. You’re mine. Never forget that.”

  “As if I could.” She laughed, and he laughed with her.

  Noah couldn’t be sure, but he felt a soft sigh and the sense of approval from a powerful presence beyond them.

  “Oh, she’s glad we found each other,” Lara whispered. “She’s leaving me in peace now. And she’s thankful we solved their murder.”

  He pulled her tighter against him. “I have all the thanks I need, right here in my arms.”

  “You said it, cowboy.” Lara sighed and settled against him. They lay in silence for some time before he finally withdrew, and Lara turned to face him. “Bend, Oregon, hmm? Tell me more about this PowerUp! gym and the people who work there…”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Frank had been right. A few days later, Noah and Lara were still pouring on the love with a saccharinity that made her teeth ache. Chloe squirmed in the uncomfortable seat on her flight that she prayed would make it back to Oregon in one piece. The lovebirds sat behind her holding hands and doing all that lovey-dovey crap that annoyed the hell out of her. Sure, she wanted her buddy to be happy, but his newfound emotions continued to impress upon her the deficiencies in her own life. What awaited her at home? A few cans of SpaghettiOs and some lint balls rolling on the floors of her near empty house?

  Jeez, she hadn’t seen any man action in close to a year. How pathetic was that?

  “Change is coming.”

  Trust that fucking voice to be back now. Where had it been before, when she’d been close to circling the drain in that psycho’s attic? On a good note, at least they had the painting. Her boss would be pleased about that. Jack couldn’t chew her ass that much about being late on delivery. Plus, he now had a much better balanced retrocog in Noah. Lara centered him, the couple was in love, and Jack no longer had to worry about losing Noah.

  Though the boss man didn’t show his emotions, he was the first one on her ass if he sensed anything wrong with her squad. The night-shift guys worked well as a unit, but he counted on Chloe to keep a closer eye on the general well-being of his agents. Kitty, her daytime counterpart, watched the dayshift. Of course, it helped that the empath could sense the emotional health of her team. Chloe had to go on gut instinct and direct supervision. And with guys like Noah, Nathan, and Aiden, she had her hands full.

  She shifted again, wishing her ass hadn’t gone numb from the stupid seat. At least she had a space beside her. The rotund man on the aisle seat continued to snore his way home, but she could handle that with a view out the window.

  She glanced at him, wondering if she closed her eyes and napped, if she could count this as sleeping with another man. How boring was her life that the past few days had been more excitement than she’d seen in months? Not having a sex life was pathetic yet doable. But God, she really missed her work with the PWP.

  “Be careful what you wish for.” The warning shocked her. She heard the voices; she was a clairaudient. But they never sounded worried. Dry, matter-of-fact, not concerned. What the hell?

  “Who are you?” Maybe this time she’d get the answers she’d been seeking. Who talked to her? And why? Why her?

  “We’re coming, Chloe. It’s time.”

  “What?” Coming? We? “How many are you?”

  “Ah. Hope you don’t mind, but the lady back there needed to breastfeed. Hello, uncomfortable.” Frank Hanover, aka Ian Ryder, stepped over the man in the aisle seat and sat next to her with a big grin on his face. “Happy to see me? Noah thought I might be a help to the team. Said I was wasting my time in Brownville, and your boss was eager to meet me.”

  She ignored her concern about the voices and turned to glare at Noah over the seat. “Thanks a lot.”

  He smiled. “No problem. Hey, maybe Frank can take some of my shifts. I’m thinking about teaching at the local college a few nights a week. Lara thinks I should embrace my sense of history. Might help me deal with the past while strengthening my abilities for the group, you know?”

  She huffed and turned back around, not dignifying that possibility with an answer.

  Frank grinned at her. “Just think, Chloe. What good friends we’ll be.”

  “God help me.” She ignored his chuckle. She even ignored the news that their flight would be delayed another half hour due to traffic on the runway. More time for her ass and the lumps in the seat to become better acquainted.

  Then the voices returned.

  “We’re coming, Chloe King. Find us before it’s too late. For all of us.”

  Her life suddenly got a lot more interesting.

  Loose Id Titles by Marie Harte

  Mirror, Mirror

  Reaper's Reward

  Saturnalia

  Satyr's Myst

  Tied & True

  Willa's Wish

  The CIRCE'S RECRUITS Series

  Roan

  Zack & Ace

  Derrick

  Hale

  The DAWN ENDEAVOR Series

  Fallon's Flame

  Hayashi's Hero

  Julian’s Jeopardy

  Gunnar’s Game

  The POWER UP! Stories

  The Lost Locket

  RetroCog

  Marie Harte

  Marie Harte is an avid reader who loves all things paranormal and futuristic, but especially all things romance. Reading romances since she was twelve, she fell in love with the warmth of first passion and knew writing was her calling. Twenty-three years later, the Marine Corps, a foray through Information Technology, a husband and four kids, and her dream has finally come true. Marie lives in Georgia with her family and loves hearing from readers.