Tested

by Stalder, Janelle

  Well that made enough sense, she thought. They didn’t speak again until they reached the bottom.

  “How was the main entrance?” he asked, breaking their silence as they entered another hall.

  “Fine when I came in,” she answered, “but the fire was heading in that direction so I can’t say the same about it now.”

  He grunted. “We’ll head to the most southern side of the building then and try our luck there.”

  They ran now, their hands still firmly clasped together. Their footsteps echoed around them, making her feel as though they were the only souls left in the world. What was happening outside these walls? Had the entire eastern ghetto been reduced to nothing but mere rubble, the citizens all buried beneath it?

  The longer they ran, the more she feared what they were running to. What could possibly be left for them after such an attack? More importantly, had the same thing happened to the western ghetto? She prayed with all she had that her sister was okay. She had to be. Nothing could bring Phoenix down, she reasoned. Her sister was one of the toughest, most resilient people she knew.

  When they reached the end of the hall, they both skidded to a stop. There was nowhere else to run. Tyler swore loudly, looking from left to right. They were going to have to backtrack, she knew, something that didn’t seem like such a good idea right then as a loud crash sounded down the halls. They both looked at one another, their thoughts the same. They were in deep, deep trouble.

  “Well, lass, I hope you’re not squeamish about jumping out of windows.”

  They’d been sitting around the living room when Garrett and Lake barreled through the door. Charlotte hit Pete’s head that lay in her lap to get him off her – much to his annoyance.

  “Easy, woman!” he complained, sitting up.

  Ignoring him, Charlotte turned to the two new arrivals. “What’s the matter?” she asked, taking in their stark faces.

  “Bombs,” Garrett said, his usual bright demeanour clearly troubled.

  “What do you mean bombs?” Pete asked his younger brother, standing up only to block her view. She smacked him on the ass to get him to move. He looked down over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised. “That can wait till later, don’t you think?”

  Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Give me break,” she said, fighting back a reluctant smile. “Move so I can see properly.”

  “What is this about bombs, son?” Michael asked, refocusing their attention.

  “On the eastern side,” Lake answered. “We saw planes overhead and then they just started dropping them.” She gulped audibly. “Again.”

  Charlotte fell back against the couch cushions. She never would have expected to live to see a day where Ludwig rained down his terror on his own people again. Her eyes met Pete’s as he turned to look at her.

  “What about Tyler and Missy?” Sam said, her usual indifferent expression now pinched with worry.

  “We’ll try her phone again and see if she answers this time. Until the raid is over, there’s no way any of us can go over there looking for them,” Michael said.

  “Plus,” Pete added, “we don’t even know if the building where Tyler is being held has been hit. For all we know, they could be safe. None of us needs to be walking those streets during a raid.”

  “Why can’t things ever get easier,” Seamus complained. “There’s always something going wrong.”

  “It’s the world we live in, get used to it,” Garrett said, sitting down on one of the empty chairs.

  Seamus grunted, unimpressed. “I refuse to get use to this shit,” he grumbled.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Missy screamed as she fell. They’d had to go back up a couple of flights before they found a room with a window they could access. She’d watched Tyler drop effortlessly. He’d made it look so easy, but when she swung her legs over the sill, sitting there in preparation to drop, it suddenly looked a lot further down than it had before. Tyler had yelled up at her to hurry, but fear made her immobile.

  After many encouraging words, and some outright frustrated, from Tyler, she’d finally let herself fall. Her scream pierced the air for the second that it took for her to fall before two strong arms wrapped around her hips. Her eyes popped open in surprise. Tyler had actually caught her! His hold kept her plastered to him as she quickly caught her breath.

  Now that she was safely outside, she felt slightly foolish for being so scared. It really hadn’t been very far, especially with him waiting to catch her.

  “Are you okay, lass?” he asked, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his lips. His eyes danced with amusement.

  “You’re laughing at me,” she accused.

  He tried his best to straighten out his expression. “Not at all.”

  Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t argue. Biting back her retort, she decided it was best to just thank him instead. “Thank you for catching me,” she said.

  “You’re an easy thing to catch,” he said with a smile, tightening his hold slightly before releasing her and returning her to her feet. Tyler smiling was always something that seemed to entrap her, making it impossible to look away. It was that of the sun breaking through the clouds on a grey day. He was always so serious, his mouth always stuck in a sensuous pout, something she noticed first about him. Smiling made him even more appealing, and the sudden urge to seal her lips over his had her entire body heating.

  Get your mind out of the gutter! She reprimanded. This was clearly not the time for those kinds of thoughts. She blamed the abundance of adrenaline pumping through her system. She looked away in an attempt to regain some composure, but when she looked back to find him watching her carefully, his own eyes burning with knowledge, it was useless. Her breath caught when his eyes drifted down to focus on her lips.

  Unconsciously she flicked her tongue out, wetting her bottom lip. His eyes narrowed on the movement, his entire body visibly stiffening. Neither of them moved toward the other. Missy wondered if they would have stayed that way forever had the building behind her not snapped and cackled as another section of it fell victim to the on-going fire.

  Missy jumped, blinking back to reality.

  “We need to move,” Tyler said, grabbing her hand again.

  “Where are we going to go?” she asked as they made their way down the empty streets.

  He looked over his shoulder at her. “I’m from this side of the city, Missy. I have my own place we can go to until we can figure out how to get back over to the western side.”

  “Oh,” she replied lamely. Oh. They were going to go to his place? Why did that both excite and terrify her? “What if it was ruined in the bombing?”

  He shrugged as though it didn’t matter. “Then we’ll go somewhere else. Pete’s place could still be intact, or even Bridge’s. Either way, we’ll find a place.”

  Tyler’s apartment was little more than a room with a bed and a small kitchenette off to one side and a narrow doorway to a simple bathroom on the other. It wasn’t much to look at, but at least it hadn’t been destroyed, so it was better than nothing.

  Missy stood awkwardly in the middle of the room as Tyler went around, looking out the windows and then quickly covering them up with sheets. The room grew even darker as he completely blocked out the world outside. Now it really was just the two of them. They might have been locked in a room together before, but there had always been the threat of the technicians walking in. There was no such threat here now, and it brought goose bumps to her skin at the realization.

  Energy pulsed through her from their entire experience. Running through a burning building and jumping out a window had her body literally vibrating with adrenaline. And all of it was focused on the man that had been by her side every step of the way.

  When Tyler finished, he turned and stood there for a moment, looking back at her. Her chest burned from holding her breath as he walked slowly toward her, as if she were a scared rabbit about to bolt. Perhaps she was, she thought. She didn’t release the pressure on her
lungs until he stood right in front of her.

  She thought he would say something, but instead he simply took a step closer so that their bodies were almost touching, and reached up to gently cup the side of her face. His usually cold eyes turned warm and liquid as they stroked over her face, his thumb moving to ghost across her bottom lip.

  “Next time, lass,” he said gruffly, his brogue thick, “don’t be running inside a burning building just for me. Got it?”

  He didn’t wait for a response before bringing his mouth to hers in a move that had her gasping both in surprise and relief. His tongue took the opportunity, sweeping in to stroke against hers demandingly. She moaned loudly, her arms instantly encircling his neck, pulling him closer. He groaned as their bodies pressed tightly against one another, her front all but plastered to his.

  Heat like she’d never known raced through her. It felt as though she couldn’t get close enough, couldn’t feel him the way she desperately needed to. She shamelessly rubbed herself against him, wanting more, needing more. His hands reached around to grip her ass in a way that made her feel branded, and then lifted her easily so that she could wrap her legs around him.

  “Shouldn’t we try to get a hold of someone,” she said breathlessly as his mouth moved to trace down her neck. They were moving now, toward his bed, his face buried against her skin, not even watching where he was going.

  “They can wait,” he said simply, suckling where her pulse raced beneath her skin. She moaned loudly, in complete agreement with that decision. He laid her gently on the bed, his body instantly following to cover her. She was now surrounded by Tyler, and it was a heady thing. Normally she would have expected herself to panic, but there was nothing but need and desire racing through her. Not one part of her was scared of this strong, intense man.

  His tongue traced along her collarbone as one of his hands slipped beneath her shirt, the heat of his palm spreading across her stomach. She arched into him, silently begging for him to move higher where she needed him most. Her breasts ached, feeling heavy and full.

  As if reading her inner thoughts, Tyler pulled back slightly, to quickly pull her shirt over her head and off, her bra shortly following. She would have laughed at how easily he had done that, making some comment about how well he seemed to know his way around a bra clasp, but any rational thought fled as his mouth covered her left breast.

  If possible, she arched her body even closer to him, her hands gripping his hair. His mouth pulled on the taunt flesh causing her to cry out as shock waves went straight to her core. He released her, only to kiss a path over to her other breast, showing it the same attention.

  Missy let her hands smooth down the back of his head and neck, relishing the feeling of the muscles in his shoulders as they flexed beneath his shirt. She wanted to feel his skin – now. Pulling at the fabric impatiently, she tried to pull it up as much as she could, but it was useless with the way they were lying.

  Seemingly in no rush, Tyler kept his attention on her breast for a moment longer, nipping it lightly with his teeth before finally letting it go and propping himself up enough to look down at her.

  “Trying to get me naked, love?” he asked with a smug smile.

  “Yes!” she said, exasperated. What woman wouldn’t be trying to get him naked? He chuckled darkly as he leaned back on his knees between her legs and pulled his shirt off. Missy simply took him in, her eyes roaming over every sculpted muscle, every inch of smooth skin decorated with intricate ink. His stomach was what every woman fantasized about. She looked up to meet his gaze, realizing that while she was admiring him, he was doing the same to her. She blushed, wondering what he thought of her. She was nowhere near as fit at him, but she refrained from covering herself up.

  “You take my breath away,” he said, running his hands slowly up the outside of her thighs. “You’re more beautiful than anything I’d imagined.”

  She grinned, tilting her head to the side. “You’ve imagined me naked?” she teased.

  “Och, lass,” he said, continuing his trail up her, his thumbs brushing the sides of her breasts, “more times than I can count. None of it can compare to the real thing. I want to just look at you for hours.”

  Her blush deepened. “You’re not too bad yourself,” she said. Understatement of the century. She trailed her fingertips down the ridges of his abs. “All that training and fighting did you some good.” So, so, much good, she thought. It might be the only thing she was thankful to the technicians for.

  He chuckled. “I’m glad you think so,” he said, moving to cover her body again. She gasped when his skin met hers, the heat of him intoxicating. He nipped her chin playfully before affectionately rubbing his nose against hers. They looked into each other’s eyes for a moment before she couldn’t take the distance any longer.

  Lifting her head, she sucked his lower lip into her mouth, her hands moving to grip the back of his head again. Pulling him the rest of the way down so his weight crushed her into the mattress, something she wasn’t about to complain about. She licked at the seam of his lips until he opened up to her. His tongue met hers as he angled his head to deepen the kiss.

  One of his hands reached down to grip her thigh, hiking her leg up over his hips so that he was nestled more snuggly against her center. He moved sensually, ratcheting up her desire every time he hit the spot that begged for release the most. By the time he tore his lips away from hers she was gasping and pleading for – something. More, less, she wasn’t sure. She needed relief from the tension that was continuing to build.

  Tyler moved his body down hers, his movements smooth and fluid despite his size. His hands gripped the waist of her pants and dragged them down her legs, dropping a kiss on her hip bone before kneeling up again to fully remove them. Her panties soon followed, leaving her completely naked, splayed out in front of him.

  He growled in what she hoped was appreciation. His large palms spread across her inner thighs, pushing her legs further apart. She resisted slightly, embarrassed by how open and exposed she was going to be to him. He paused, looking up with one brow arched. Missy instantly relaxed her muscles at the demanding glint to his clear, green eyes.

  Pushing against her again, he spread her legs wide and then instantly position his broad shoulders between them, stretching her further. The warmth from his breath so close to her had her sucking in a large gulp of air. That same air came out in a whoosh as his tongue met her sensitive nerves, causing her entire body to spasm and shudder. He gave her no time to gather her wits as he devoured her with a passion that had her thrashing beneath his ministrations.

  The climax that took her was so sudden and overwhelming that a scream tore from her lips as her hands gripped his hair in a tight hold. She pressed herself closer to him as he drew out every last second of her orgasm until she was nothing but a boneless heap on the bed. He stroked his tongue one last time, making her shudder at the sensitivity, before climbing back up her body.

  Missy could barely find the strength to untangle her hands from the death grip she had on his hair. She briefly wondered if she had hurt him, but doubted it from the way his eyes heatedly met hers as his body covered hers once more. It was then she felt the brush of his naked skin of his thigh against hers. In the chaos of her pleasure, Missy hadn’t noticed that Tyler had removed his pants at some point.

  The hard length of him rubbed against her inner thighs, causing her desire to return when she’d thought it was physically impossible. She lifted both eyebrows questioningly as she rubbed her heel along the back of his legs and over his firm buttocks.

  “You’re quick,” she said.

  He grinned in a manner that had her breath hitching. He really was beautiful in a way that no other man was. His features were harsh, his eyes often cold, although now they burned hotter than any fire. His lower face was covered in a beard that one would think would take away from his looks, but only seemed to add to them by making him look that much more manly and somewhat mysterious.


  His tattoos just made his body more of a piece of art, even those decorating the side of his head where his hair was shaved short. There was simply nothing typically attractive about Tyler, and yet Missy swore she’d never met anyone as gorgeous. Suddenly she needed him inside her more than she needed the air to breathe. Her hands reached down to grip his hips, pulling him closer.

  “I need you,” she whispered, effectively wiping the grin off his face, replacing it with a look so intense she knew she was never going to be the same after this. Tyler moved his hips away from her, positioning himself right where she needed him, when a loud ring filled the room. They both froze as the cell phone in her pants pockets rang out.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Every muscle in his body was so tight, he was afraid he might snap. Tyler looked down at Missy, her eyes wide now as the phone rang, but that hazy, well pleased look that had just been there was still lurking. She was by the far the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Seeing her naked and vulnerable, her eyes calling out to him, trusting him – it was everything he’d wanted and more.

  Common sense and responsibility called for him to answer the phone, but he found he couldn’t force his body to move away from her. He was poised to enter her body, and right then nothing else seemed more important than being with this woman.

  Fuck it, he thought. In one move, he buried himself inside her, ignoring those who were trying to get into contact with them. They both gasped at the sudden connection. Tyler’s arms gave out, his body falling on to hers as he shuddered at the sensations surrounding him. Missy’s arms wrapped around his shoulders, keeping him close to her.

  He turned his face slightly, letting his lips graze across the skin on her neck, waiting for her body to grow accustom to his size. She was so incredibly tight and hot, soaked from her earlier climax. If he died right then, he’d die a happy man. It was by far the most amazing feeling he’d ever had. The need to move was becoming unbearable, but he could feel her muscles still flexing around him at the intrusion.