by Lexi Ryan
Her breath came faster and she arched slightly, willing his mouth to replace his breath.
When she thought she might die from anticipation, his mouth latched on her breast through her top, and somehow the thin barrier between his tongue and her nipple was more erotic than tongue on flesh.
Her hips bucked instinctively and she bit her lip to keep a moan trapped in her throat. He increased the suction at her breast, pulling her nipple firmly between his lips as his hand released one of hers slipped between her legs.
She’d kept her bikini on to sunbathe, but as his hand rubbed against the saturated cotton between her legs, she wished she’d considered going nude.
He toyed with her clit through the spandex of the suit and laved her breasts with his mouth. She struggled to keep still and quiet, struggled to hide her pleasure from those crowding the sunny beach.
It cost her. She needed to touch him, taste him, dig her fingers into the muscles of his back as she guided him inside her.
Her sex quivered, and her breathing grew ragged as she exerted all her will to still the instinctive movements of her hips. His mouth left her breast and the breeze off the ocean turned the damp material cool against her flushed skin.
“Need you,” she murmured, but he covered the barely audible plea with his mouth, pressing a kiss against her lips that she couldn’t return. His fingers slipped under the thin, damp strip of material between her legs, moving it aside and exposing her sex to anyone who knew to look. And because she could do nothing else, she adjusted her legs, spreading them wider so he could explore her, pleasure her with his hands.
He slid a finger inside her and she squeezed her eyes shut. Air rushed out of her lungs as pleasure whipped through her.
“Shh,” he whispered, then his mouth joined his hand. His finger worked inside her, fucking her, moving in and out of her while his mouth sucked at her clit.
Dear God, was there anything more exquisite than the feel of a man’s tongue on her clit while his fingers her?
The trembling radiated through her now, and she struggled to maintain the façade of a sunbather. She gave up on keeping her ragged breathing controlled.
He drove her harder and harder toward release. Pumping his fingers inside her, toying with her clit.
She thought about his dick—the way it would feel in her hand. She wanted to taste him, wanted him to fill her mouth as she sucked him deep into her throat. She wanted him to slide into her, to fill her.
That was all she wanted now. Desperately she wanted it.
He withdrew his mouth, then his fingers. At that moment, she almost did cry out. Before she could, his mouth was at her ear again.
“Lie on the towel,” he whispered so she could barely hear. “On your stomach.”
She blinked, taking in her surroundings since the first moment she’d felt his hands on her neck.
Eden was an adult-only resort for Specials, and ten yards to their right, a couple sat in each other’s arms, watching the waves. Behind them, a man flirted with a topless sunbather, and all around them Specials enjoyed the sun, the sand, and the freedom to be who they were without restrictions.
People participated in wild acts on this island all the time. But Josie usually wasn’t among them.
Yet she found herself moving to her towel, lying on her stomach, and the feel of Tanner’s body lowering on hers was nearly as delicious as his mouth on her neck.
Several people strolled by, and Josie lifted her face to watch them. A middle-aged man among them cast a long glance her way and smiled. Could he tell she was aroused?
Tanner slid his hand between her legs and under her, seeking and finding her clit, and she realized she didn’t mind if the man knew. In fact, politically incorrect or not, she was a little turned on by the idea.
Tanner lifted her hips and she closed her eyes as her invisible lover slid into her from behind.
“Open your eyes,” he whispered in her ear. “Open your eyes and watch them mill around you, watch them watch you and ignore you as I fuck you.”
She did, and lost her breath. She couldn’t imagine what she looked like to them—face flushed, eyes hot, hips angled up just so.
Tanner wrapped his hand under her body and fingered her clit. His cock drove in and out of her at a speed that was at once deliciously languorous and aggravatingly slow.
She wanted to move with him, against him. But part of the fantasy—however forbidden—of being fucked in the middle of this crowd was that these strangers didn’t know what was happening. Part of the fantasy was that it remained her secret. So she resisted the instinct to rock her hips and bit her lip instead.
A man strolling along the water’s edge spotted her and smiled flirtatiously. Young, blond, blue eyes, he was handsome, but lacked that Tanner’s earthy ruggedness.
Tanner made his movements a little faster, the pressure against her clit a little more insistent.
His cock swelled inside her and pressed against her cervix. He wasn’t holding back anymore. He pressed deeper and hit that sweet spot with every stroke.
Josie cried out because Tanner filled her so completely and fucked her so right and she couldn’t stop anymore. Higher and higher, she clung to the pleasure until it threatened to throw her off.
Tanner pressed deep inside her and she buried her face in her towel. They came together, and Josie let the orgasm tear her into pieces. As the pieces settled back down to Earth, she closed her eyes and fell asleep to the sounds of the beach.
The dream that greeted her was anything but restful.
Chapter Eleven
Josie was strapped to a table—arms and legs both restrained. A big metal machine stood next to the head of her table. She didn’t know what it was but she knew she wanted as far away from it as possible.
She yanked at the restraints, her heart pounding. She had to get out of here. She couldn’t let this happen. She wouldn’t be the reason the Ascendants succeeded in their twisted plan.
“Let me go!”
“Shh, just relax.” A woman stood next to her, examining the veins on the exposed inside of her arm. Josie couldn’t see her face.
As he slid a needle into a vein in her arm, she cried out—not in pain but in fear of what would come.
“You’re dying for a beautiful cause,” she said, her face still hidden from view. “I wish you could see that. Specials everywhere will finally get the life and strength they deserve.”
“How? By drinking human blood?”
She didn’t answer her question, but lifted her head and smiled sweetly at Josie.
“Alyson?” Josie closed her eyes. Was this really her beloved yoga instructor and friend or someone posing as her?
Alyson squeezed Josie’s hand. “I had to protect you,” she whispered. Then she turned her attention to the door where someone else was being wheeled in, also strapped to a table.
Blond hair, familiar body. Josie knew that body. “Mallory?”
They positioned Mallory’s table next to Josie’s.
“What’s going on?” Mallory asked. “What’s happening? I don’t understand.”
“It’s time for the Ascendants to rule,” the man explained. “Your blood is perfect. This is your destiny. The Keys will give us the power to reshape the world.”
***
Quinton paced across his living room again, phone in hand. Step, step, step, turn. Step, step, step, turn. Repeat.
Oh, hell.
He was being a pussy shit. He punched in the number he’d looked up yesterday and waited for his international call to connect.
“Bonjour,” said a male voice on the other end.
“Bonjour,” Quinton said, “Je m’appelle Quinton Greyly—”
“Quinton!” the man said, cutting him off before he could go further. “Is Mallory there?”
That’s a good question, Quinton thought. “I don’t know where she is.”
“If you see her, you must have her call me immédiatement.”
“Is she okay?” Quinto
n didn’t understand what was going on, but he didn’t like it.
“She will be if she comes home.”
Quinton shook his head. This man had been ridiculously protective of Mallory and a large part of the reason Quinton had chosen to leave.
“Please tell me you’re not involved with her again,” the man said.
Quinton set his jaw. “No, sir.”
“She is innocent,” he said. “She must stay that way.”
Quinton hung up the phone before the man could say more. A man that interested in his grown daughter’s innocence was just creepy.
Plunking down on the couch he ran his hands through his hair. He still had no answers. Only more questions.
***
“Listen,” Josie said, “we need to talk about—”
Tanner groaned. “Seriously? This speech?”
She ignored him and continued. “I value our friendship.”
Wincing, Tanner mimed hara-kiri.
“I just think that since we’re likely to work together in the future, we need to keep our relationship—”
“Don’t say it.”
“—platonic,” she finished.
He shuddered. “You had to go there, didn’t you? You had to pull out that horrible p-word.”
Josie rolled her eyes. They were back in her room to get her bags. After the dream she’d had on the beach, she knew time for sulking and play were over. She needed to talk to Greyly about Mallory, find out why Dr. Martin had lied to her, and get her mother’s journal back. “You just think it’s horrible because it means no sex.”
He ran his gaze over her slowly, lingering on her breasts then her thighs. “Guilty as charged.”
There was a distinct humming sensation between her legs. Damn! Why did she have to know just how good it would feel to have him slide inside her? Why did she have to know how he would smell and taste, his skin slick with an afternoon of hot, sweaty sex?
“Just let me change out of my suit and we can go,” she said, crossing the room to her suitcase.
She grabbed a pair of denim shorts and a tank, then stopped when she realized he wasn’t going anywhere.
“Don’t mind me,” he said.
“Tanner, you cannot look at me like that!”
He rolled off the bed and took two long strides to stand before her. “I make no such promise,” he said, not touching her, but standing so close and looking so intense that she wished he would.
And it was that wish, that all-consuming desire that nearly controlled her, combined with her knowledge, that made her speak.
Hurt his pride now, or break his heart later.
“Wiley, listen.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Why do I have a hunch I’m not going to like this?”
She shook her head and plowed forward. “I like you. I like the way you look and that you have a good heart, and I’m not going to lie—” yet, she amended silently “—I’m attracted to you. That thing on the beach—” She closed her eyes, just thinking of it, her body demanded an encore. “It was fun.”
“Fun?”
She nodded. “Fun.”
He set his jaw. “But?”
She swallowed. Lies worked best when sprinkled into liberal amounts of truth. “But I’m cursed with this ability, and I see where this is going.”
He held up a hand. “Don’t be a hypocrite, Josie. You’re the one who always insists on free will. You’re the one who insists your visions change.”
She licked her lips. “I see myself pregnant with your baby, Tanner.”
She ignored his shaky intake of breath, closed her eyes, and prepared herself for the hard part. “I see myself pregnant, and though I might find you attractive, I have no interest in having your child. Ever.”
His face went blank. Unreadable. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll wait outside.” He turned on his heel and strode from her room.
When the door clicked closed behind him, she sunk to the floor and put her face in her hands as she choked on silent tears. Because there was no man whose baby she’d rather have.
***
Darian wrapped his arms around Paige’s waist and pulled her back against his front. She flashed a smile over her shoulder and wriggled her ass against his cock, making it grow instantly hard.
He groaned and nuzzled her neck. “Don’t distract me. I need to get through decoding the rest of that journal tonight.”
She turned and raised a brow. “Your brain and you haven’t broken it yet? Huh, must be a tough cookie to crack.”
“Yeah, it’s deeply encrypted.” He frowned. “But I only had it for a couple of hours before you came and got it from me yesterday. I’m good, babe, but even I need more than two hours to break something this complex.”
She pulled out of his grasp. “What are you talking about?”
He put out a hand. “Give me the journal and I’ll show you what I mean. Josie’s mother must have been wicked brilliant to—”
She pushed away his extended hand. “What do you mean give you the journal? You have it! Tanner said he left it with you.”
Darian cocked his head, looking at her as if she were one step from the loony bin. “Then you came and told me you needed it and would bring it back after Chrissie pulled some info from it.”
“Darian, this isn’t funny. You know I did no such thing.” Her stomach dropped when his face stayed serious. “I didn’t. Where’s the journal?”
“Fuck,” Darian said, and Paige thought that just about summed it up.
***
Flying over the ocean back to D.C. with Josie in the seat next to him, Tanner felt like someone had just stomped the hell out of his heart, scraped it off the ground like a piece of chewed bubblegum, and shoved it back in his chest.
He shouldn’t have ever expected he could have more with Josie. He shouldn’t have expected she’d be interested in offering more than her body. He was just some ex-foster kid with heavy baggage. She could do better than him.
When he’d come into his power at seventeen, he’d walked around his foster parents’ house, invisible for days before they’d realized he was missing. Of course, when he reappeared, he’d gotten the shit kicked out of him for “scaring them,” but that was typical.
It had seemed so appropriate to be invisible after a life of being unimportant. He hadn’t even questioned the power when it had come.
He wasn’t sure why he’d expected Josie to see him when no one else did.
“I need to tell you something,” he said, pulling her attention from the window. If she didn’t want him anyway, he might as well give it to her straight.
“What’s that?”
“I called in a favor and had someone who can time jump go back and retrieve your mother’s journal.”
“What?”
The light in her eyes dug at his aching heart. Wasn’t that why he’d done it? To see that look in her eyes?
“Tanner, why didn’t you tell me?”
“When I came to give it back to you, you were talking with the doctor. I didn’t know what the journal said, so I couldn’t risk giving it to you. I couldn’t risk you changing your mind and trying to go through with the DNA conversion until I was sure the journal wouldn’t sway you in that direction.”
Her body tensed but she didn’t move. “You didn’t have the right. That’s my decision to make. Where is it?”
He let out a long breath. “I can’t tell you that.”
Her silence was all the response he needed.
“Josie, please—”
“I want that journal back.”
Tanner shook his head. “I won’t let you kill yourself, Josie. Don’t you see? That’s what this would be. Suicide.”
But she’d turned back to the window, slamming the door on the conversation. On him.
***
“I need you to arrange a meeting with this doctor,” Josie said, pushing a piece of paper across her desk.
Her assistant, picked it up and nodded. “When?
”
“It needs to be completely private. No one can know we’re meeting.” After the dream she’d had in Eden, she was sure Dr. Martin wasn’t telling her everything. Or was outright lying. “The sooner, the better.”
Aaron nodded. “Anything else?”
Josie forced a smile. She couldn’t stop thinking about the way Tanner’s face looked yesterday. “You know anything about mending broken hearts?”
“His or yours?”
Josie dropped her gaze to her desk. She missed Tanner so much she ached with it. She’d fallen in love with him. She had to believe she’d broken it off before he had fallen too deep. “Neither. I’m fine,” she said, waving her hand. “I have a meeting with Sergeant Greyly tonight, so give me a call when you reach Martin.”
“Did you have a nice trip?” someone asked.
Josie looked to her office door to see Chrissie. “Hey, you. Come on in.”
“Don’t mind if I do.”
Paige filed in behind her, and Aaron excused himself.
“We missed you at the weekly meeting,” Paige said.
“Sorry, I needed some time.” Josie looked at her hands.
“Tanner said you’ve been avoiding him,” Paige said, a disapproving frown on her face.
Josie rolled her eyes. “I told him I wanted to keep things between us platonic. It’s his dick that’s disappointed, nothing else.”
“Why’d you do that?” Paige asked.
Josie shrugged. “I’m not interested, that’s all.”
Paige raised a brow, her face saying bullshit even if her mouth was polite enough to refrain.
“He likes you,” Chrissie said, scuffing the heel of her boot on the carpet.
“What, now Chrissie is going to suggest I get involved in some long-term deal? Who are you and where did you put my friend?”
“That’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m just suggesting that if you want to be with him, you should be. Life’s too short.”
“That it is,” Josie said, closing her eyes. The vision of her dead body in Tanner’s arms awaited her. She couldn’t get a grip on the timeline. She saw herself marrying Tanner, having babies with Tanner, yet the woman in his arms hadn’t aged from what Josie had seen in the mirror this morning. And how did all that fit in with the vision of Alyson fixing her to that machine?
