by Marie Harte
“Hey!” she shouted.
“Hi,” he returned. His full lips curled with feral confidence. Charlotte’s fantasy of jumping him turned into full-scale temptation as he whipped off the garbage bag, exposing his naked chest. Holy shit. The man never failed to take her breath away with his sculpted shoulders, defined pecs, and rippled abs that were bisected by the finest line of dark hair, guiding her vision to the ridge beneath his shorts that made her mouth literally water. Maybe Aimee had it right all along. “Ensign Studcookie” certainly fit during times like this. All she could think of was getting her mouth all over him…
Her torrid fantasy was interrupted by Kade tackling Dreah to the grass. Her bra sling went flying, landing ten feet away, soaked by the two balloons that had gone down with it, Dreah wasn’t happy about her turn of fortune. At all. Charlotte thought she knew every variation of “asshole” in the book but Dreah’s nonstop string of profanity was practically poetry. She just wished she could enjoy it more. Though her brain confirmed Dreah was nothing more than a sister to Kade, her gut—and damn near the rest of her body—burned with jealousy at witnessing the woman writhe like a soaked cat beneath Kaden’s confident grip.
While everyone else whooped and cheered for the spectacle, Charlotte worked on holding in her spiteful snarl.
But she couldn’t do a damn thing about the scent she released with the emotion.
She watched the spicy smell strike Wick first. Giselle picked it up a second later. They swung curious but cautious stares her way. Since Dreah hadn’t been aboard the Sparta during the project and Shark was asymptomatic for the virus so far, the next possible hit for the release was—
Kaden froze.
Jerked his head up, twitching like a wolf detecting a nearby deer.
Charlotte’s heart walloped her chest like that deer, its pace doubling when he whipped the intensity of his gaze at her. Into her.
She couldn’t remember being more terrified in her life.
Or more thrilled.
Come maul me, wolf. Tear me limb from limb. Please.
Chapter Six
‡
“GAME OVER.” KADE uttered it to Dreah as he relinquished his grip, letting her roll away. “You win.”
Dreah’s snort indicated her belief level in his statement—next to nothing. She was right. Truth was, he just won. Finally, finally, Lottie was here. The jubilation of it made him actually stumble for a second, reeling from the floral perfection of her on the air. He even adored the sharp bite that hinted how she felt about his roll in the grass with Dreah.
He took just a second more to savor the sensation. The elation of having her back, so near and reachable…every time, the feeling got better, like waking up on Christmas morning. The happiness was even better today. Two days was too damn long to be without her.
Okay, so there’d been an advantage to her absence last night. One. He’d been forced to simply think about her. The results of that little soul-level meeting were a little stunning. Maybe more than a little.
Not that his dick didn’t have plenty of musings to keep itself occupied—but that was the given. It was impossible to envision the woman without recalling the perfect curves of her legs, the sweet nip of her waist, the berry-tipped perfection of her breasts…and so much more. But there was more than just that shit. So much more. More than a dozen times, his chest had clutched from remembrances of other things about their times together. Her adorable love of classic Saturday Night Live skits. Her ecstatic moans whenever he twirled her hair. The little touches she added to the dollhouse he’d built for Miranda’s birthday, molding a little puppy out of clay and fashioning a princess tiara from a paperclip and foil. Even the way she’d laughed when Miranda mistook the puppy for a turd, then drew a princess face on his niece’s finger when Miranda insisted on wearing the tiara there.
She made everything in his world so much brighter.
Better.
And at the present moment, damnably tighter.
New definition. “Painful” was a better way to phrase the battle between his cock and his pants. The torment worsened as he stepped toward Charlotte. And dammit if the beautiful creature didn’t start breathing faster through those perfect, plush lips of hers, like she wanted to run from him and at him at the same time. Her gasps pushed her breasts against the fastenings of her blouse, making him damn glad she’d worn something that looked flimsy as clouds to the office today. He hoped she wasn’t too fond of that outfit. He took no responsibility for the condition it would be in when he was done with her.
“Ohhhh, snap.” Shark cackled somewhere behind him. “The Charlotte factor saves Li’l Dre’s hiney. Isn’t that cute?”
“Get your eyes off my ‘hiney,’ Ensign Ass-For-Dinner. Nobody ‘saved’ me. The shithead conceded while he knew he still had it good.”
“Good.” Kade repeated it as he stepped into the circle of Charlotte’s most personal space—then shattered the inches that were left by yanking her close. “Yeah. That sounds about right.”
It was more than right. It was damn fucking good to feel her so close again, her sweet body fitting to his in all the best ways. He couldn’t help lifting a hand to her face and grinning like a smitten dork. Wasn’t like any of his friends hadn’t seen him do this before.
Charlotte gave back as good as she got. Her smile was as brilliant and beautiful as it was soft and seductive, permeating him with a crazy mix of completion and craving. He’d never dealt with anything like this in his life. It was insanity, there was no doubt…but now he started to understand why some lunatics just didn’t want to get better.
He’d started to like this shit.
A lot.
The confession made him damn glad they’d decided to fly under the radar with their discoveries about this shit. Just the thought of some CDC jerk throwing his ass into quarantine now… Hell. He barely held back a shudder. He didn’t do the caged animal thing very well, even under civilized circumstances—and being separated from Charlotte now definitely wouldn’t scoot him to the top of any calendar puppy finalist lists.
Charlotte tilted her head to a coquettish slant, making it close to impossible not to kiss her. Kade released a low groan. He couldn’t. Not yet. Not here. If he did, they’d be giving the gang a display much steamier than this. Even now, Dreah let out a harsh snort and called out, “Get a goddamn room!”
Charlotte giggled. He pulled harder on her hips as he rolled his own, ensuring his clarity about how her proximity possessed his body. He wasn’t sorry. Actually, he congratulated himself. The new contact washed away the last of the jealous spice from her scent, leaving only the bouquet of her happiness and the tang of her arousal. His own pleasure soared, spiking his pheromone output so high that he smelled his essence mixing with hers, a potent dance of aromatic desire.
The rest of the world faded away. Kaden’s head whirled. He felt himself sway from the impact of their nearness, and grabbed Lottie as she did the same. He swallowed hard. So did she. He stared, mesmerized by the gentle undulations of her throat…amazed at how the action made him want her three times more than he did a minute ago.
“A room,” he murmured, letting his gaze dip into the valley between her breasts. “Sounds like a really good plan to me.”
Like the Baltic Sea meeting the North, Charlotte’s gaze darkened from one blink to the next. Kade hissed. Fuck. Just the force of her lusty admiration made his nipples harden “Hmmm,” she finally emitted. “No. I don’t think so.”
“Huh?”
He was prepared to finish it with a take-no-prisoners glace, but as always the cute minx locked him up, instead. The padlock snapped over the bottom of his throat while she whispered, “I don’t want to wait on going to your room.”
She clarified it by throwing a little peek toward the villa’s garage, its roller door currently open. The freestanding structure, which had been turned into a combination of Kade’s wood shop and Wick’s guitar jam room, probably registered on the state’s early
earthquake detection grid when they were both inside doing their thing. Right now, his little Lottie wanted to rock the structure in a different way.
His little Lottie.
Goddamn, that had a nice ring to it.
The bell you’d be wise to yank the hell out of your bell tower right now, dickwad. Don’t think for a moment that just because the woman made your niece a clay turd she’ll want a thing to do with you once she cracks the code on this shit—and your bond to her, as well.
He angrily silenced the voice. Fuck. Was this what Batman felt when Alfred chastised him about taking stupid chances on his missions? Now he understood why the guy took joy rides in the Batmobile.
Right now, there was only one ride he wanted to take. Unfurling a wicked grin at the woman in his arms, he murmured, “Is my little geek a little impatient, when she was the one who insisted we cool ours jets last night?”
Her mouth opened to prep an indignant defense but he forced her to use the momentum for a scream, instead. In one motion, he swung her over his shoulder, wrapping one arm around her legs and securing the other hand to the beautiful mound of her ass. The woman wanted a little down and dirty fun in the garage, did she?
Your desire is my desire, Doc.
“Damn, Tiernan!” Shark shouted. “Way to tap your inner Tarzan.”
Wick’s chuff hit the air. “Or Fred Flintsone.”
Neither of them deterred Kade. Not right now, dammit. Without breaking stride, he announced, “We’ll be back in time for dinner. Maybe.”
“Oh, ew.”
Dreah got in her parting shot as he started the journey down the flagstone path to the garage. He allowed himself a couple of chuckles at Charlotte’s cute punches at the bottom of his back—until she abruptly gave up the fight. Under normal circumstances, he would’ve stopped and questioned why. The little geek hated conceding even when she “lost” to the Jeopardy contestants on TV. On the other hand, this wasn’t a normal circumstance. Not in the least. They hadn’t been apart for two consecutive days since that miserable week they’d been separated at the beginning of all this, when mutual stubbornness had nearly turned them both into vegetables. His whole body—along with a good chunk of his spirit—ached in agony from the stress of the last forty-eight hours. If his senses were still firing halfway right, so did Lottie’s. The potency of her arousal consumed his nostrils. Energy blazed through her skin, zapping new life and awareness into his. In the very fibers of his muscles, he felt the release of hers…the sudden slackening against him…giving herself completely over to his care.
Hell, yes.
Her silent surrender spoke the loudest—and most perfect—message. Kade reveled in every note of it while uncurling her from his shoulder, down onto his workbench. He yearned to thank her for it, to tell her that a demented part of him hoped to fuck that it took years for her to find a solution for this fever, but two factors stopped him from the confession. One, his cock spanked his zipper so hard, it was impossible to think of moving let alone talking. If that wasn’t enough to steal his breath, her beauty completed the task. Wow. Just fucking wow. Her thick hair, grown to her shoulders now, tumbled across the wood and mixed with the sawdust shavings. Her gaze was a stunning sapphire contrast against its rugged setting, and her frilly clothes heightened the effect.
Worse than ever, his fingers twitched with the need to tear the shit off her body then take her with as much force as the nail gun hanging on the wall. As he clicked the remote to send the roll-top on its descent, plunging them both into darkness, Charlotte’s scent confirmed her approval of that thinking.
“Kade?” Her voice held a question and a plea. The soft rustle of her blouse, along with the dim shadow he could now make of her, gave away the arm she raised toward him.
“Right here.” As he whispered it, slices of light from the edges of the door started piercing the air. They made it possible to see her answering smile. “I’m right here, beautiful.”
“Then I’m in heaven.”
She gave it enough of a sultry flair that her intent was clear—flirtation, not emotion—but Kade’s chest didn’t discern the difference. His heart pumped fifty pushups on his sternum in thirty seconds, giving him enough time to press over her before crashing their mouths together.
Fuck. She was right. This was heaven. If he had to die this minute to make it last longer, then so be it. The woman herself helped solidify his commitment, her throat vibrating with a tight mewl, sending tantalizing juices to her mouth. As their tongues slammed together, more of her taste flowed into him, and he groaned with the decadent surprise of it—like winter days when he’d come home to a cup of hot cocoa only to find out Mom had snuck a chocolate mint into it. Though familiar, Charlotte was new all over again. Though warm, she was a perfect thrill of cool. How was this possible? Why did his chest thunder and his hands tremble as if this were the first time they were together? How was it feasible that his cock swelled with more pressure, clamoring to conquer her pussy as if he hadn’t just done so two days ago?
And did those answers even matter when he deliberately avoided the most pressing query of them all?
Did Charlotte feel this way, too?
In that uncanny way she had of slipping into his head at the perfect time, the sweet geek lifted a hand to his jaw and murmured, “Why do I feel like it’s been two years instead of two days? That I need to learn every inch of you all over again?”
He smiled his way into another kiss. “Are you looking for a rebuttal? Might as well go talk to the buzz saw, because I don’t have one. Ow!”
At his reaction to her soft slap, she giggled. “Hmmm. Mr. Buzz Saw, huh? I’ll bet he smells pretty interesting. And maybe he’s not such an ornery sort. Bet he has a cutting sense of humor.”
He stopped her there, once more using the force of his kiss. He’d been working to rein back the intensity of his passion, but Lottie’s intention was clear now. She was baiting him. Needing more from him. Right now, she didn’t just want heat. She needed punishment.
He was all too happy to deliver.
While mashing her mouth again, he grabbed both her hands and shoved them down, pinning them to the wood on either side of her head. With his fingers splayed across her palms and his wrists locked around hers, he rammed her mouth wider. She sighed as he claimed every inch of it in searing, dominance. No corner escaped his assault, further ignited by her greedy girl growls. Her sensual sympathy ignited him, pinging new corners of him with light and life and wonder. Fuck, how he longed to do this to her for hours. Perhaps take her to the brink of explosion then back off, driving her insane with lust again and again.
Wasn’t in the cards. Not today. Not when his cock was already a miserable camper about having to wait another minute for her.
He finally relented—a little. Long enough to raise up, sliding his hands over her chest as he did. As Charlotte’s growls turned into gasps, he hooked a couple of fingers into an opening between two of her shirt buttons. Tucked two more into the slot below that. After a pair of determined rips, the whole garment gave way. Lottie’s breath clutched for a second. Kade wasn’t sure if he remembered to breathe either. Damn, her skin…it felt like flower petals and smelled even better.
The only thing that saved her bra from the same destruction was its front clasp. “Perfect,” he snarled, feral satisfaction dripping from both syllables. He twisted open the fastening. When both her nipples stabbed the pads of his thumbs, he added, “Fucking perfect.”
Her desire thickened the air, turning his breaths into a combination of torture and pleasure. He wanted more—and knew how to get it. With slow pressure, he squeezed her nipples. Charlotte’s sigh climbed higher, finally erupting into a needy scream. “Kade! Oh, please!”
Her lust whipped his blood into a goddamn maelstrom—and her scent only made everything better. He dropped his head to skim his face across her skin, drawing in as much of her taste and smell as he could, barely resisting the urge to open his mouth and suckle at her. If he
did that, the game was up. His dick wouldn’t let him play cat-and-mouse with her anymore. And damn, was he having fun with this game.
Trouble was, his little geek had him figured out, too. Even in the shadows of the garage and the midst of her lust, she detected what he was up to: a bit of drawn-out retribution for insisting on her all-nighter at the lab, denying them both the sustenance they needed for survival—and sanity.
Sure enough, the next moment she gasped, “Look—I get it. And I’m sorry—about last night—but Kade—”
“Ssshhh.” He silenced her by kissing her, temporarily slaking his hunger for her taste—though he knew the fix wouldn’t last long. And dammit, so did she.
“Please,” she begged. “Bite me. Lick me. Fuck me!”
“But I like playing with my food.”
He pinched her nipples again. Laughed as a rough little roar took over her throat. But what was that they said about baiting a lioness? Maybe they didn’t say anything—because lionesses pulled the move she did next, rearing up so suddenly that all a guy could do was get out half the f word in shock. And what about the other half? Oh yeah; that. Kade figured it was easy to forget the back end of any word when a woman had enough leverage on her side to delve a hand down the front of a man’s shorts, reaching for the flesh consuming the space inside. More amnesia assaulted as she slicked a finger through the drops that pooled in the cleft atop his cock—before pulling it out and lifting it into her waiting mouth.
“So do I,” she whispered. She darted her tongue out again, cleaning her fingers with kitten-like licks. “Mmmmm.”
“Damn,” he gritted. “Ohhhh, damn.”
“You’re very delicious…”
Where was he again? What the hell was his name? And did it matter when he had the treat of watching her continue to lick at her fingers, knowing that if he clicked over just one notch in the imagination, it was his erection on the receiving end of that talented mouth…
