In My Skin

by Shannon McKenna

  “You saw what came for you last night.” His voice was harsh. “I’m the only one who can protect you from them. I’m the only one who can see them coming because I used to be exactly like them. You get me, Dani?”

  She shook her head. “Keeping me safe isn’t a one-man job, Luke. I also need to borrow your phone, so I can call my supervisor and tell her about what—”

  “No, you don’t. And you can’t. You can’t tell anyone anything. Any calls you make will be monitored. They’ll watch and listen to everyone you’re in contact with. Colleagues, friends, neighbors, everyone. You’ll put yourself in the crosshairs again.”

  She gazed at him, appalled. “But…Luke, get real. I can’t just disappear on my colleagues. It would be so unprofessional. You just don’t do that.”

  “It’s not safe for you out there!” He put vicious emphasis on each word. “Get it through your head! I’m not being controlling or paranoid. I’m just trying to keep you alive.”

  Dani bit her lip and stared at the floor. Shit had just gotten real.

  Classic male attitude, for him to conclude that he was the only one in the world who could keep her safe. And he was so heroic about it. So fucking noble and sincere.

  But he wasn’t going to let her go home. Not willingly. Nor would he let her use his phone. And now he thought he loved her? Oh man.

  She was in for it now. Right up to her neck. She fled toward the bedroom.

  “Where are you going?” he demanded.

  “I need another shower.”

  “Me, too.” His voice was challenging. He sensed her doubts. Wanted to hover.

  Luke followed her into the bathroom and stood behind her, meeting her eyes in the bathroom mirror. The harsh light over the sink threw all his ripped muscles and his rough scars into strong relief. His huge cock pressed prominently against his jeans.

  The contact with his eyes, the sight of his half-naked body made her weak and stupid. She needed to get away from him, back to civilization, but right now, all she wanted in the whole world was one more fiery taste of what he had going on. The sweet oblivion that only he could give. Only Luke could drive away the sickening, sinking fear and replace it with hot excitement. And wild pleasure. Her breath came faster, her lips parted, her nipples tightened. Her pussy was still hot and soft from their last bout.

  She turned around to face him, and he put his fingers up to touch her lips, caressing the shape of them with slow, reverent gentleness.

  He caught his breath as she sucked his fingers into her mouth. She reached down one-handed, wrenched open the buttons of his jeans. Put her hand in, seizing that thick, hot shaft. Squeezing it.

  “Oh, holy fuck…” His voice broke off at her deft, pumping strokes as she sucked his fingers more deeply into her mouth. Her eyes closed. Lost in it already.

  “I gotta get us some condoms,” he said roughly. “This is driving me nuts.”

  Her eyes opened, and on impulse, she blurted it out. “I’m covered. I have a contraceptive implant. And I don’t have any diseases. I’ve been tested since the last time I got involved with anybody. You?”

  “I’m clean,” he said simply. “No diseases.”

  She stared into his eyes, trying to read him. He just looked right back, holding her gaze fearlessly. Like a man with nothing to hide.

  Fine. He passed the test, and a good thing, too, because she could not resist this. Her last chance. She had to have him. Right…now.

  Luke pulled his hand out and spun her around to face the mirror again, placing both her hands on the porcelain sink bowl.

  “Bend over,” he said. “And hang on.”

  She did just as he asked, bending deep, arching her ass, opening her legs. Offering herself. Never breaking eye contact. He pushed the T-shirt up, high on her back so he could see the whole length of her spine, running his big, warm hands hungrily all over her skin, over her ribs, while he shoved his jeans down. She didn’t want to break this spell. Let it last as long as it could last, because she knew what waited for her on the other side.

  Not yet. Let her just have this. Let her feel it. One more time.

  She rocked back against him with a gasp when he nudged her with his cockhead, sliding the broad, blunt tip tenderly against her pussy lips. Then pressing slowly inside her tight, juicy inner flesh with the swollen bulb of his big cock.

  When he was shoved deep inside and rocking, he stopped, gripping her ass cheeks.

  “I will protect you from them,” he said. “I promise, Dani.”

  Oh no, no, no. Don’t ruin it. Please.

  “Not now, goddamnit,” she gasped out. “Please. Just do it. Just fuck me.”

  Chapter 12

  So…incredibly…good. Being inside her, skin to skin. The heat. The slickness.

  Luke threw his head back, eyes squeezed shut. Hung on to himself. Nonononot yet. Could not come yet. She had to have one of those mind-bending orgasms first.

  Dani was perfect. Luscious and soft. Beautiful tits swinging below her with each thrust. That sexy rounded ass and the wet hot heaven between her legs.

  She offered herself to him like a goddess bestowing her favors. But she was a hungry, prickly, dangerous, red-hot goddess and he had watch himself. Stay on his toes.

  Yeah. He fucking loved that.

  She let out a whimper with each hard, urgent thrust. Her cheeks had a dewy flush and her eyes glowed, dazed with pleasure. Locked on his.

  He had to check, just in case. “Am I hurting you? Is it too hard?”

  “I like it that way,” she said, breathless. “Shut up and give it to me.”

  He felt a strange, unfamiliar shaking in his chest, and was startled to realize that it was laughter. He’d forgotten what laughter felt like.

  Everything about her drove him to a frenzy. The look in her eyes, the sensual arch of her long, smooth back. The sensational feeling in his cock as he pistoned in and out of her hot depths. The globes of her ass jiggling with each hard thrust. The sounds she made.

  He felt the tremors long before, building in momentum. Her orgasm and his, bound together somehow as if their energies had merged. The deep clenching pulses from her pussy milked him, pulling him, demanding—

  He exploded inside her. Gripping her hips as his orgasm tore through him.

  He sagged over her back, caressing her, when his senses returned. She wouldn’t meet his eyes in the mirror any longer. Her head hung down, avoiding his gaze. Their breathing was still loud. Rasping pants.

  The light seemed harsh, now. The shadows too sharp. They sliced like knives.

  Dani was scared. The feeling vibrated through his inside senses. He felt it. She wouldn’t look at him. She’d wanted him to fuck her to distract her from the way she felt, but it only worked until she came. Then her emotions surfaced again—and crashed down on her even harder than before.

  He splayed his hands over her ass, a possessive caress. “I’ll keep you safe.”

  She swayed away from him. “I need a shower.”

  “Are you OK?”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “Sure. Other than being, you know. Shattered.”

  “Shattered about what?”

  “Don’t want to talk about it,” she muttered.

  He followed her into the shower stall. Dani shot him a wary look. “You want to do this with me? There’s a whole lot of you and not much room, Luke.” She glanced down at his still-hard penis. “Your dick alone will cramp my style.”

  “I’ll make it worth your while,” he promised.

  And he did. Seeing Dani naked and wet under pounding hot water was exactly as stimulating as he’d expected it to be. He got busy with the shower soap, and made it his business to soap and rinse and finger every sensitive secret curve and hollow and fold of her. He spent a long, slippery time with her breasts. Almost as long memorizing the curves and hollows
of her waist and hips, the swell of her belly, the dimples at the top of her ass. By the time he got down between her legs, the flowerlike pussy lips and the tight, thrumming bud of her clit, the hot glow was in her eyes again. She leaned back willingly, lifting her leg and draping it over his arm to give him access for a long, slow and deliciously skillful fingerfuck.

  She was the one who slapped his hand away and reached for his cock. They groaned with delight together as he hoisted her up and sank his full length into her.

  This time it was lazy and unhurried. Punctuated by wet, luxurious tongue kissing. A deep, slow swivel and slide, going for all the hot spots. He was going to drive away the fear she felt for as long as he could and this was the only tool he had to do it.

  Fine with him. He could do this forever. Fuck yeah. Sign him up for that.

  He didn’t chart the time. There were better things to fixate on. Her half-lidded eyes, long curly lashes tangled with water, wild ringlets decked with water drops. Her full pink lips exploring his. Her sweet taste. Those amazing green eyes gazing into his.

  Finally she arched and moaned and gave it up, fingernails digging into his chest as she came deeply and violently. Then and only then did Luke let his own climax take him, spurting into her hot depths for what seemed like forever.

  Fear pounced on her right away. Like it had been lying in wait. Nothing changed on her face, but he still felt it vibrating in the air.

  They dried themselves off silently in the foggy bathroom. He wanted to say something, but there was too much to say. She wrestled her T-shirt back on, not meeting his eyes.

  He followed her back to the bedroom. “I’m starving,” he said. “But I don’t have anything worth eating in the fridge. So here’s the plan. At the bottom of the mountain there’s a strip mall, with a pretty decent steak house. Prime rib, baked potatoes, Caesar salad. Good pie.”

  The flash in her eyes and her stomach’s audible growl was his response.

  “I can’t go out dressed like this,” she said. “Go without me and get some take-out. If you could buy pants and sneakers for me somewhere, that would be great.”

  “I don’t want to leave you alone,” he said.

  “You said I was safe here, right?”

  She had a point, but he still hated it. “Come with me anyway,” he urged. “Stay in the car. I’ll buy clothes, and you can change in the store. Or the restaurant bathroom.”

  She closed her eyes, lips tight. “No, Luke. Just go, and do your food run, and give me a chance to breathe, OK?”

  He felt stung. “Didn’t mean to crowd you.”

  She held up a hand. “You’re great and awesome, but you’re pretty damn overwhelming. This whole thing overwhelms me. I could use some down time.”

  Luke felt his face heat. He got dressed quickly and grabbed his jacket off the hook by the door.

  “Stay inside,” he told her. “If you leave the house, I’ll know.”

  He’d meant the words as a reassurance, but his tone and the way they came out made them sound angry and menacing. Shit.

  Her eyebrow tilted up. “You carry a monitor with you everywhere you go?”

  “No. There’s one inside my eye. Projected onto my retina.”

  “Ah.” She nodded. “Of course.”

  “So. Just stay inside. I’ll get food and pick up new clothes for you.”

  “Fine, that would be great. Thanks.”

  Luke activated the full mosaic on his screen as soon as he got into his car. He had enough juice to watch all the vantage points at once, but the only one he currently gave a shit about was the one that showed Dani making herself a pot of coffee.

  He watched her doing that for the time it took for the SUV to bounce down the rutted driveway and onto the ridge crest road, watching her pour water, spoon ground coffee into the filter. She rummaged around in the fridge and the cupboards while it brewed, probably looking for sugar and milk. She found none.

  She poured a cup. Took a cautious sip, grimacing.

  As if she felt his thought, her gaze flicked directly up to the camera mounted in the corner over the door. Her bright green eyes narrowed thoughtfully as she sipped coffee.

  She flipped him the bird. “Spying is creepy, Luke,” she called. “Not cool.”

  Luke’s face turned red, as if she could see him. He turned his attention to the other camera feeds.

  Caught in the act. Like an asshole.

  * * * *

  Dani moved around Luke’s lair, intensely aware that he could watch her by some freaky means, even if it wasn’t in the science-fiction way that he’d described.

  She had to play it cool. She imagined talking to him, oh-so-casually. Say, Luke. Are those beater cars outside, like, normal? Or are they souped-up demon vehicles like the one I knew I wasn’t driving? She checked her innocent expression in the reflection of the kitchen window over the sink as she sipped her coffee.

  Good enough. Possibly even convincing. She put the cup in the sink and studied the sad assortment of cars and trucks decaying in the tall, shaggy meadow grass outside.

  It was drive or walk. And it would be a very long walk down that mountain, in flip flops, at high altitude. In weather that was rapidly getting worse.

  She searched through the place room by room for car keys and anything else that might be useful. Luke’s stuff was easy to spot, being newer, a lot less dusty and piled in the foreground. The grimy clutter behind it was older, more random. Like the drawers in the kitchen which had years worth of rubber bands, twist ties, paper clips and yellowed coupons shoved into them. A swift search through those yielded no keys.

  But a back door off the kitchen led to a mudroom packed with junk, and by the screen door was a big pegboard with hooks on it. Her heart thumped as she spotted key fobs dangling from them. Four different sets. And she’d seen cans of gasoline stacked against the garage wall. She pushed aside the cobwebby curtains of the mudroom window to check out the cars and trucks once again.

  She had to be swift and decisive. No false moves. But it scared her to death.

  It also made her feel guilty as fuck.

  The danger out there was real. Who knew what Naldo had gotten himself mixed up in. Or what info was actually stored inside that capsule. But it wasn’t the coordinates for picking up an altered superman. It was something shady and bad and tragically normal, involving illicit drugs or guns or human trafficking or terrorism. Something like that.

  Something real. Something that made sense. Luke’s bizarre, futuristic tale of high-tech victimization and woe just didn’t. No fucking way.

  Still, Luke’s selfless heroism was absolutely real. He’d saved her life several times over. He was going to feel betrayed and fucked over if she ran. It just crushed her heart to imagine it. Which meant he’d already gotten inside her head. And she’d let him in.

  Guilt assailed her. Having sex with him? Genius way to confuse and disorient the guy still further. Jerk him around, hurt his feelings, piss him off. Brilliant, LaSalle. Just brilliant.

  Luke didn’t deserve to be treated that way.

  She’d come on to the guy. No one forced her, but it hadn’t felt like a choice. The attraction was…huge. Overwhelming. And if she saw him again, it would happen again.

  Just looking at the man made her wet. She’d never felt so drawn to anyone.

  She rummaged again through the clothes on the dresser in the bedroom. Picked out a thick hooded gray sweatshirt. The shoulders lapped down to her elbows, the hem sagged halfway down her bare thighs, and the sleeves hung way past her hands, but she just folded and rolled until she found her fingers again.

  So? Get some gas into one of those vehicles and scram. She who hesitates is screwed. Move it, LaSalle. Like right now.

  But her vision blurred as she plucked all the key fobs—she had no idea which vehicle would actually start—from the pegbo
ard in the mudroom and darted into the garage. She grabbed a can of gasoline, and started to cry when she shoved the door open and ran, leaving the alarm box mounted on the door flashing an angry red.

  She ran through a field of dead grass, gulping back tears. Gas can thumping painfully against her leg. Flip-flops flopping. One of them came apart and left her limping on the bare foot, the broken sole flapping loose as she picked her way around boulders and piles of beer bottles, old tires, cinder blocks.

  She reached the ancient Toyota pickup. Got the right key inserted in the door.

  Gasoline first. She unscrewed the cap, upended the can and let fuel glug in, hoping the tank was intact. Hell, just hoping there was a gas tank in there at all. Who knew? She could be pouring fuel right down onto the ground. A glance at the tires showed them to be both bald and low but not completely flat.

  She’d just cross her fingers and hope for the best. No other option.

  The truck cab opened with a creak and a puff of dust. She heard a frantic rustling as she slid into the seat. Little creatures who’d decided to call the place home were abruptly reconsidering their decision. Snakes, mice, beetles, scorpions? The odor of dust and mold, rotting plastic and rodent shit made her nose wrinkle.

  She turned the key in the ignition, closing her eyes and praying the dashboard would light up. If it didn’t, both she and the battery were screwed.

  She opened her eyes. Holy cow. The dials and displays gave a steady greenish light. Someone must have started up this engine fairly recently. She turned the key all the way. The motor turned over, then died. She tried again.

  It coughed and roared to life…and stayed running. The gas gauge quivered, and rose a couple of notches above empty. She shoved down the clutch and muscled the thing into gear, yelping as a huge spider scuttled across her lap.

  The truck was angled downhill, so gravity was on her side. She thudded over the lumps and bumps in the grassy field, barely able to see through the filthy windshield.