Then he was pushing deeper and faster, his moans coming loud and fast. She wrapped her legs around him, pulling him deeper into her, her own moans growing with his. She could tell that soon, he would cum, and that thought was enough to make her own orgasm building.
“I’m...going...to...cum...” he managed between thrusts, and that was all it took. He pushed deep into her, holding himself in place, and then, he came. She could feel his thickness jumping inside of her, just as her own orgasm washed over her. Her muscles tightened around his cock, both of them moving together in a way she had never thought was possible.
Her body was warmth, wracked with pleasure, and she was kissing him deeply, their lips and tongue working together as their orgasms finally subsided. They lay like that, still kissing for a few minutes, before Briggs grabbed the condom and carefully pulled out of her. He rolled over, taking it off and tying it before dropping it to the bed.
“That was amazing,” he managed. “I never would have thought…”
“Thought what?” she asked, rolling over.
“That something like that could happen to me. With someone like you.”
She kissed his cheek.
She rolled over him, grabbing the condom wrapper and used condom, tossing them in the trash. Then she was walking around the room, picking up the random piles of clothes strewn everywhere.
“What are you doing?” Briggs asked, genuinely confused. When he saw that she was putting the dirty clothes in the hamper, he nodded. “That’s part of your code, huh?”
“Code?” she asked, trying not to sound suspicious. How did he know?
“Or whatever you call it,” he said, sitting up on his elbows. “There’s nothing wrong with it. I had you pinned the first time I laid eyes on you. Neat to a fault. Career driven. Immaculate.”
“Oh, yeah?” she asked, dropping the last pile of clothes she had gathered back on the floor. She jumped into bed with him, both of them still completely naked. “Well, I have you all figured out, Briggs Dawson.”
“Let’s hear it then, Miss Crawford.”
“You’re proud and stubborn to a fault,” she said, emphasizing the last few words.
He looked like he was about to disagree, but then he smiled and nodded. “Maybe. You might be right.”
“There’s more.”
“Keep going.”
“You’re kind. Too kind for what has happened to you. Open minded. Generous. Willing to help others before helping yourself. You put everyone else ahead of you. You’re smart and committed. I could go on and on.”
“You might be right about those, as well,” he said, and laughed. He reached an arm around Kat and pulled her close. She let herself be held tightly by his strength. There was nowhere else she wanted to be. “But it’s taken someone like you to bring those qualities out in me.”
“Well, I’m glad I could,” she told him. His warmth was enveloping her and she suddenly realized how tired she was getting. She was looking forward to falling asleep in Briggs’ arms.
“You know, if you like, you can keep going on and on about how great I am,” he told her. His voice was tired.
“Okay, here it goes,” she started, and then drifted off.
*
Briggs woke slowly, and for once, warmly. For a few short seconds, he couldn’t remember where he was – then everything from the night before came flooding back to him. He relaxed. Wrapped in his arms was Kat, both of them buried underneath her thick comforter with the heat pumping through the house.
For a few moments, he almost couldn’t believe it. He was here, in her bed, holding her tightly, but he still wasn’t sure. How could he get so lucky? He decided that instead of dwelling on it, he would just accept it. For close to an hour, he lay there, holding Kat, the silence only broken by her soft breathing.
He held her in his real arm. He lifted his prosthetic up, watching it as it caught the dull winter light streaming in through a window. Today was the day that he had to return the arm. He would miss it, in a way. At the same time, he knew he didn’t need it. He’d never needed it. Agreeing to let Kat give him the arm had been for Kat, not for him. But he had to admit, it was useful. Especially for nights like last night.
Beside him, Kat stirred. He looked down at her. She smiled a sleepy smile at him, pulling herself even closer to him. “How long have you been awake?”
“Close to an hour,” he told her, running a finger through her hair. “I didn’t want to wake you.”
“You should have,” Kat told him, sitting up. “We have a busy day ahead of us.”
“We do?” Briggs asked. He genuinely hadn’t thought they had – he figured taking the arm off would be simple and quick.
“First, we need to go get your car from the parking lot,” she told him as she climbed out of bed and dug through her dresser.
“What for?” he asked, grabbing his jeans and underwear from the floor. He started to pull them on.
“You can’t leave it there forever,” she told him, coming back to him and kissing him lightly on the lips. “We’ll bring it back here. You can park it on the street. If you want to, that is.”
He nodded with a smile. “I would like that.”
“Then, we need to head into the lab. The tests are going to take a couple of hours, at the minimum. We have to have you do tests while it’s attached, then run all of the diagnostics on it. Then I have to compile the data together before submitting it to Cartwright. Then, after all of that – we have a movie night.”
“Oh, we do?” Briggs was grinning. He couldn’t help it: Kat’s attitude was infectious. She was driven to complete her work, help him out, and she had already decided they were having a night in, no matter if he agreed or not.
“We do,” she told him, and walked out of her room. She headed towards the bathroom to get ready.
*
Afterward, they rode to the YMCA to get his car. It was an odd feeling, climbing into his car with the intent to permanently move it. He couldn’t remember when he’d originally parked here. The space he’d parked in was as much as his home as his car had been. As he followed Kat out of the parking lot, he paused for a few moments, looking at the building with a kind of sadness. It certainly hadn’t been his favorite place, but it had done the job well. Regretful that he hadn’t used it for its purpose more often, he drove away.
The drive back to Kat’s was silent. His radio didn’t work, but that didn’t stop him from fiddling with the dials a couple of times. And then they were outside of Kat’s house again. Briggs pulled up in front of her house, looking at the back seat: bags of clothes, both dirty and clean, one of his tattered, yet warm blankets, and a couple of different fast food wrappers. He hoped he would never have to return to this lifestyle.
He climbed out of his car just as Kat was backing down her driveway to pull up next to him. She smiled at him. Briggs felt himself smiling back. Somehow, things were going just right. He climbed in next to her. She immediately leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“Are you ready?” she asked. She smiled again, but now that he was closer to her, she seemed sad.
“What’s wrong?” he asked her, suddenly worried. Was she having second thoughts?
“Nothing,” she told him.
“If you want, I’ll stay outside in my car,” he offered.
“It’s not that,” she told him, a small laugh following her words. “I hate that we have to take your arm away from you so soon. It’s not fair.”
“Kat,” he told her, putting his actual hand underneath her chin and raising her eyes to his. “Listen to me. It’s fine. I’ll miss it a little, sure. Who wouldn’t? But I knew that going into this. I knew it wouldn’t be permanent. I did it to help you. I didn’t do it for me. If this helps you, then it was a success.”
“Thank you,” she told him, and then he was kissing her deeply. They sat like that for a couple of minutes, kissing in the road, ignoring everyone and everything around them.
When their kis
s finally broke, he told her, “Let’s get this over with. I’m ready for that movie.”
*
“So, how’s it going, Kat?”
Kat had been zoned in on the computer monitors presenting data in front of her. They’d just finished up the final diagnostic scans for the arm. It had taken nearly six hours, but Briggs had been a trooper throughout the whole thing. She could tell that he had been bored out of his mind, but he kept quiet and let her do her work. On the other hand, she was having the time of her life.
She turned, seeing Cartwright standing in her little room. If he hadn’t said anything, she would have never even heard him come in.
“It’s great,” she breathed, hardly able to contain her excitement. She had hoped beyond all hope that the Aegis would be a hit, and it had exceeded even her expectations. “Take a look at this, Mr. Cartwright.”
Cartwright walked over to her, peering at the computer screens through his thick glasses. He didn’t say anything at first, but she could tell he was excited. From his expression, the Aegis had performed even better than he had expected, as well.
“Kat,” he told her, clapping a hand on her back. “This is amazing. What did you think of it, Briggs?”
Kat and Cartwright turned towards Briggs, who was sitting in a chair, leaning up against a pile of boxes full of scrap wires. He jerked awake at the mention of his name, looking confused for the briefest of moments.
“Great, great,” he told them.
Kat raised her eyebrow, saying, “Did you even hear what he asked?”
Briggs shook his head with a grin. “Sorry. All of this stuff is over my head. I must have dozed off.”
“Did the arm work? Any problems?”
“Not a single one. It even held up to a hammer,” Briggs told him. When Cartwright’s eyes went wide, Briggs continued, “Not my fault, I promise!”
“What happened? A hammer? Did it hurt?”
Briggs laugh was loud. “I thought my arm was broken. The pain faded surprisingly fast, though. I was thankful for that.”
“Hmm,” Cartwright told him. “I’m glad it did, for your sake, but it shouldn’t have.”
“We’re surprisingly resilient to pain,” Briggs told them, with a shrug. “Maybe that’s why it didn’t hurt as much as it should have.”
“Yes, that would make sense. A hammer? How’d that happen?”
“We ran into some close minded people. They called themselves the HDF. Human Defense Force. They want to kill all Shifters, and they made an attempt last night.”
Kat’s breath caught in her throat. Neither Briggs nor Cartwright noticed. She hoped that Cartwright’s previous feelings wouldn’t come to light. She didn’t want to risk alienating Briggs or Cartwright. Cartwright looked pensive, but he said nothing.
“Briggs fought them off. One hit him in the Aegis directly with a hammer. It did no damage to the Aegis itself, thankfully,” Kat quickly told him.
“Good, good,” he said. “When will the report be ready to send off to the investors?”
“Just another hour or so. The data is just about compiled, then I’ll bring you a copy, and a printed readout as well. Then we’re good to go!”
“That’s good news, Kat. I’ll eagerly await your report.”
“One more thing, Mr. Cartwright. Where are Simon and his test subject? I haven’t found any evidence that he’s been in here the past few days. I haven’t heard how well things are going.”
“He’s probably still out with his test subject,” Cartwright told him. He glanced at his watch. “He’s got a few more hours before the report is due. You know how he likes to push his deadlines.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” she said, but she felt uneasy. Something wasn’t right. Across from the labs, she could tell that Briggs had caught onto the same thing that she had. What was going on? Did Cartwright know something they didn’t?
It’s not possible, she thought. Cartwright had changed his ways. He wouldn’t have done anything to jeopardize his life’s work. The Aegis was too important to him. Right?
When he left, Kat blurted out, “What’s he not telling us?”
Briggs moved towards the plastic sheet, pulling it to the side and making sure that Cartwright was going back to his office. She could tell he was tense. “I don’t know, Kat. I can’t tell what he’s not telling us, but I know that there’s something he’s not telling us. That old man knows more than he’s letting on.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Kat said, though she didn’t entirely believe that. She looked over, seeing the Aegis prototype sitting behind the glass case. It looked lonely. Useless.
“Don’t worry, Kat,” Briggs said, coming up behind her. He massaged the back of her neck with his hand. She shuddered at the feeling: a combination of the warmth, his soft touch, and the massage itself. “It’s probably nothing.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t put it past Simon to pick up and leave. He had quit right after we submitted the prototype. Went to a new company.”
“You think he took the prototype and jumped ship?”
“Anything is possible,” Kat said, shrugging. “At least we have one left.”
“And it works perfectly, right?” he asked.
“Beyond perfect,” she told him.
“Then we have nothing to worry about. I’ll let you get finished up, and then we’ll head to your place.”
“Yeah,” Kat said, giving him a smile.
But she didn’t feel as happy as she tried to project. There was something going on here – and it threatened not only the company, but the Aegis itself. Could Simon have really fled with the Aegis leg prototype? Why wouldn’t Cartwright tell her? Simon had never seemed like that kind of person, but she didn’t know.
Did Cartwright know that Simon was a thief?
Or, did he know something else?
*
By the time they’d pulled up to Kat’s house, night had fallen and the temperature had quickly dropped. Snow was falling harder than it had fallen all year.
“I like the snow,” Kat told Briggs.
“If you like it, I love it,” he told her. Briggs was ready to be inside of Kat’s house. The day had been long, drawn out, and for him, utterly boring. He could tell that Kat loved her work, so he was glad to stick around, but the couch was calling his name. Plus, Cartwright’s mood at set Briggs’ warning alarms off.
Something was off with the old man. He couldn’t tell what – but he knew there was more to it than a stolen prototype. Cartwright was worried about someone, not something. But without questioning him, he didn’t think he could figure it out.
So he’d stayed alert for every second after Cartwright had left Kat’s lab. Briggs had even followed her up to the Cartwright’s office, just in case there was something going on. He didn’t think Cartwright was worried about his own life, or Kat’s, but it never hurt to be safe. He’d be damned if he let anyone harm Kat. He’d rather die first.
Still, the rest of the day had gone smoothly and uneventfully. He could tell Kat was worried. Whether she was worried about having to give up the prototype, her partner’s disappearance, or something else, he couldn’t be sure. He tried his best to comfort her while she worked, but it hadn’t done much good. Her mind was in another place.
Luckily, on the car ride home, most of that had seemed to fade away. The further they got away from Animus, the more Kat relaxed. Her worries were melting away, and Briggs couldn’t be happier. Still, something was up, and he meant to get to the bottom of it before it consumed Kat. But it could wait until tomorrow.
MARS (BBW Bear Shifter MC Romance) (MC Bear Mates Book 1) Page 31
