by Joni Hahn
“No, it wasn’t.” Carol’s voice turned soft again. “Your father didn’t deserve her.”
“What are you going to do with us?” Cassandra Naylor said, her tone heavy with frustration.
“Whatever I want.” Carol held out her arms and shook her head with assurance. “I think I proved that by getting you here.” She gave a condescending smile. “My girls are good, aren’t they?”
“Your assassins, you mean.” Natalie said, scowling at her through the glass.
Carol gave a nod of agreement. “My assassins are loyal, skilled, and ruthless. Proof that control works.”
“You have flaws,” Hope said. “Robin altered her shot at Monica.”
“Belle,” Carol’s voice carried to echo in the chamber, “will pay.”
“Not if she stays here, she won’t.” Austin spat at the screen before squeezing Monica’s hand.
“They were trained to be a team,” Carol said. “Belle betrayed that trust.”
Monica’s wince drew Keegan’s gaze. Carol Robinson knew what buttons to push, a seeming expert in pain and manipulation. Although Monica knew Carol had manipulated her and the others, she still cared for them. She still felt the guilt of desertion and the immoral deeds she’d done without remorse.
“Regardless, you have flaws.” Rachel spoke with defiance. “You also have no conscience, considering what you’re doing to my father.”
Keegan shared a questioning look with Clint. How did Rachel know Jim was her father and not a clone?
“Your father?” Carol went to the glass in front of Rachel and stared at her, nose to nose. “Your father is dead.” Spittle sprayed the surface in front of her. “And, good riddance.” Her patronizing glance bounced off Cass, before returning to Rachel.
The woman was pure evil.
“Jim Monroe will always be my father,” Rachel said, stiffening her spine. “Whether you like it or not.”
With a vicious laugh, Carol said, “You’re delusional—like your mother. She always thought the world should revolve around her. Jim deserved better.”
“Oh, like you?” Cass looked down her nose at Carol. “You look like you’re on death’s door. Hades must be waiting in anticipation.”
“I’m not dying quite yet.” Carol gave a sly grin before pointing behind Cass. “That’s why she’s here.”
They all turned to stare at Teague Hamilton who sat on the cot against the wall, her face pale, her eyes staring a hole through Clint’s mother. The geneticist had multiple sclerosis and was pregnant in her first trimester. The stress had to be taking its toll.
“She’s going to cure my cancer.”
“How?” Jocelyn turned back to Carol. “There is no cure for cancer.”
Smiling, Carol said, “She’s perfected her own DNA. She’ll perfect mine, too.”
Hope scowled at her. “Not if she refuses.”
“Why do you think she’s sitting back against the wall without responding? The serum I put in your drinks this morning feeds off of estrogen. Her levels are ten times higher than the rest of you. She’s easier to manipulate than anyone on the planet.”
“Now that I have Teague and Cyrus here, we can begin cloning again. With Riordan and Dylan, and the rest of your men, we’ll have prime specimens to work with.” Her maniacal laugh sent a shiver down Keegan’s spine. “Now that Mitchell is dead, there is no stopping us.”
Gritting her teeth, Keegan glared at the screen. Oh yes, there was, and she knew just how to do it.
Chapter 11
After watching his mother’s award-winning performance on screen, Clint sent Austin to the farm with all of the available field agents. They had orders to surround the perimeter of the property and wait for his instructions. After checking on Angela, who refused to acknowledge him, he sent Monica and Keegan to bed.
Pushing his glasses up his nose, he studied the data on his computer screen. When his eyes were tired, he resorted to glasses rather than contacts. After staring at the wall of screens all day, his eyes burned from exhaustion.
It was well after midnight and still, he couldn’t sleep. Not until he saved his friends and D.I.R.E., and knew Keegan was safe.
She was another thing burning his eyes. Watching her in climax, in the throes of passion was like the brilliance of dawn over the desert. She personified beauty at its purest, her sheltered innocence shining through the unbridled sexual need she couldn’t seem to contain. Had she lived another life, he believed she would’ve been a kind, gentile woman. However, she had come out of her seclusion with a fighting, defiant spirit, a devotion to family and beliefs that no one would usurp.
Knowing that, he could never hope she’d stay away from the farm. Natalie and Riordan were her family and she wouldn’t sit still until they were back home safe. Luke and Dan had called several times that day, looking for answers, but he’d avoided their calls. The fewer people that knew what was going on, the better.
Leaning back in his chair, he blew out a breath and ran his hands through his hair. This was the only way he could ensure she’d always be safe. He wasn’t a Navy SEAL, or a bad ass mercenary. He was a scientist. He fought bad guys with knowledge and his own brand of weapons.
The lab door swung open behind him. Turning around in his chair, he watched Keegan storm into the lab, a woman on a mission. Her strawberry blonde hair was piled high on her head, her long legs clad in small, gray workout shorts, a D.I.R.E. t-shirt stretched over her perfect breasts. Each time he saw her he caught his breath, her beauty a weapon in itself. He couldn’t blame his brother for wanting her.
He’d wanted her since the first moment he saw her, descending the steps of the D.I.R.E. jet after her rescue.
“Clint.”
He gave her a slow perusal from slim ankles, up her long legs, over breasts he’d give his Einstein t-shirt to taste right now, to a mouth he could survive off of, if need be.
Frowning, he admonished himself. Since when had he become obsessed with her?
These are the end times for you, Robinson. Face it—she is your bucket list.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
A flush crawled up his throat and into his face. “Like what?” He swallowed hard.
Her eyes took on a green-gold glow, wreathing her face in a cloud of ethereal perfection. Her gaze latched onto his, drawing him in, pulling him under her mesmerizing spell. Pinching the clip that held her hair, she released the abundance of waves. They fell around her shoulders like a veil of golden silk, highlighting the pink in her full lips.
Kicking off her running shoes, she grabbed the hem of her shirt with both hands and whipped it over her head.
His erection was immediate, is body humming at the vision before him. Plump, full breasts nearly spilled from the top of a burgundy, strapless bra. The band of her shorts was rolled down to her flared hips, her stomach flat, with faint musculature. Shimmying out of her shorts, she stood before him in nothing more than her wedding day underwear, a fantasy come true.
Then it hit him. This was a dream. He’d fallen asleep at his desk as he worked on the enhancements he wanted to give her.
“You’re looking at me like you want me,” she said, her radiant eyes bold as she took in his obvious reaction to her near nakedness.
He snatched her wrist and yanked her down onto his lap. She gasped, her hand braced against his shoulder to steady herself. With a small smile, she straddled his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, his hands cupping her round rear and squeezing. A moan escaped her throat, her hips sliding over his erection with slow, deep purpose. They didn’t kiss, didn’t speak, only gazed at each other, his body bonding with hers in a way that didn’t allow for words.
This went against everything he’d said he wanted, yet, her body spoke louder, her spirit connecting with his in a way that surpassed logic, a way that had nothing whatsoever to do with science, physics or biology.
He didn’t understand it. Couldn’t explain it.
Yet, knew it existed
, nonetheless.
She wasn’t the stay-at-home wife he’d always envisioned, a woman devoted only to raising a happy, healthy family. If he’d had the kind of life to share with someone, he would’ve wanted to spend it with her. In that moment, he envied James his years alone with her.
With the short amount of time he had left, he’d take whatever she offered. She was so out of his league. It boggled his mind that she wanted to use him as a sex education project at all.
With both hands, she removed the glasses from his nose, her smile soft, knowing as she set them aside. Her fingers feathered over his face with reverence, trailing over his jaw, his chin, caressing the stubble with a gentle touch. He couldn’t believe she sat there touching him in ways he’d always wanted to touch her.
Her lips pressed against the pulse in his throat, tentative, soft. It kicked into a gallop, eliciting her smile against his skin.
If she’d ever truly questioned her affect on him, she knew the truth now.
His hands splayed over her back, her skin so soft it felt like it might melt in the heat building between them. She snuggled closer to him, her mouth finding the area behind his ear. Shivers raced down his spine and through his limbs, his erection so hard he thought it may break.
Finding the hooks at the back of her bra, he flicked them open. She backed away a moment, allowing the bra to drop to his lap. She pressed against him again, her breasts crushed against his jersey-covered chest, a guttural groan fleeing his throat with unabashed rebellion. It felt like his body just answered hers of its own will, like he was a spectator in this entire, mind-blowing thing.
Smoothing his palms over her back, he inhaled deep, her scent of magnolias overwhelming him, sinking into the recesses of his mind to take with him when he left. Her lips skimmed over his cheek and jaw to hover over his mouth, her breath mingling with his, setting his body on fire with mere expectancy.
No more.
He took her mouth with bruising force, his tongue delving deep, desperate for her taste. She’d pushed his body too far with mere kisses, with only the crush of her bare breasts. His hands took the full mounds in his eager palms, kneading with a yearning he’d fantasized about hundreds of times. It was no longer her subtle, sweet journey of exploration but his explosion of need that had to be doused.
Breathing hard, she yanked his t-shirt over his head, her frenzied hands freeing him from his jeans and briefs and tossing them on the floor. Stepping out of her panties with haste, she knelt over his lap and lowered herself onto him with a long, deep moan. Her head dropped back against her shoulders, her chest heaving with labored breath. Her slick center surrounded him with intense heat, his body a haven of volcanic promise.
His lips clamped over her breast and suckled, pleasure shooting through him like a million stars, blue hot and brilliant. She moved on top of him with lush, languid movements, taking him to summits, to a carnal gratification that surpassed all reasoning. It went beyond sex, beyond physical feeling and rose to a perfect place no man should be allowed. Least of all, himself.
Tasting every inch of her skin he could reach, he marveled at the freedom of her passion, how she’d just let go of everything they’d been through to live in this moment. His identity didn’t matter and neither did her past. Just the two of them, individually, together.
The walls of her core tightened around him, pulsing with that passionate freedom of hers, in a cry that ripped from her lungs. His seed seemed to come from deep within his gut, spilling inside her with a claiming, a finality he’d never experience again.
Keegan climbed into Clint’s lap, blocking his view of the computer screen. With his shaggy blond hair mussed, and clad only in his boxer briefs, he had to be the sexiest scientist she’d ever laid eyes on.
Giving her a quick kiss, he turned her in the circle of his arms, his t-shirt twisting around her body to show a good portion of thigh. With a flirtatious smile, she tugged the hem a little higher, teasing him. His manhood stirred beneath her.
“I’m trying to work here.” His long fingers stopped on the keyboard to trail up her thigh.
“The question is, why?” She tipped back her head and kissed his throat.
After sex in his chair, they’d had a snack of cheese and fruit from the cafeteria, before making love again on top of the super-agent suit platform, against the wall in the closet, on one of the enhancement recovery beds and on one of the drafting tables. Clint had shown her lovemaking like she’d never had before, wild, passionate and hungry, yet gentle, non-threatening and generous. He’d proved nothing like Cyrus, his concern only for her needs and nothing else. After the first time, his patient nature had taken over, unwilling to let her need for release be rushed, making each experience more gratifying, more loving than anything she’d thought possible.
His unselfish adoration brought to light the severity of Cyrus’s obsession. He’d take her when he wanted her, clearing a room full of people if he so desired. If she fought him, he would punish her in ways that still sent chills through her. She’d never felt safe, never felt sure of what would happen next. Her life had been lived in constant fear.
Only in the comfort of Clint’s arms had she found any peace.
Now that she’d let down her guard and relaxed, she felt the beast inside stir. It woke at the first hint of freedom and swam to the surface of her stomach. Wincing, she felt it claw its way up her throat, desperate for air, leaving its path coarse and raw. Words spilled from her mouth like a waterfall, powerful and liberating.
“Once, when I refused to sleep with Cyrus, he lifted me by the neck and held me against the wall.” Clint stiffened beside her, as she held her hand as though it encircled her throat. She’d never told anyone about his abuse, not even Natalie. It felt good to give it air.
“He tightened the hold on my neck until I blacked out.” Lost in memories, she still remembered her bedroom fading slowly into darkness. Her fingers clenched into a fist. “I thought I was going to die.”
Clint tightened his arms around her and tucked her head under his chin. “Baby, don’t…”
If she hoped to salvage any part of her sanity, she had to let it out. Until tonight, until Clint, she didn’t know if it was possible to find her freedom.
After seeing what he’d gone through and feeling the tenderness of his lovemaking, he’d given her the strength.
“A few years ago, he left me outside in the middle of a tropical storm.” Her body trembled, remembering the absolute fear of being swept from the island and into the ocean. “After banging on the door for an hour, I realized he would never let me in. I knew I was out there until it blew over, or I blew away.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “In that moment, I wanted to be blown away more than I wanted to go back in the house. I stood on the beach with my arms wide, thinking if God was ever present anywhere, it was in something that mighty and strong.” Her self-admonishing chuckle sounded pitiful. “So, I begged Him to take me…”
Clint showered her face and throat with kisses, his eyes filled with torment, his lips desperate where they touched her skin.
“It did no good to lock the door or tell him no…” Her voice trailed off before twin tears dropped onto Clint’s chest and disappeared into a blur. “He almost broke me, Clint.”
His arms were like steel around her, giving her that sense of safety. She snuggled into his hold, inhaling the scent of soap and perspiration on his skin, as she cried against his chest.
“Never again, Keegan,” he said into her hair. “I swear it.”
Swallowing hard, she said, “I would die first.”
His arms tightened again. “God, Keegan, don’t say that.”
“After he created Eve from my DNA, he didn’t come to me as much. When he did, it was out of frustration because he couldn’t have all of me.” She gave a small, bitter laugh. “It was the only thing I had over him. My hatred. I made sure he knew it, too.”
“What if I could guarantee you’d never be vulnerable to anyone agai
n?” His words at her ear were hesitant, uncertain.
Pulling away, she sniffed as she looked up into his solemn, round eyes. “How?”
Nodding at the computer screen behind her, he said, “I want to give you enhancements.”
Glancing over her shoulder at the computer screen, she saw the calculations on the monitor but didn’t pretend to understand them. “Which one?” she said, turning back to find him grinning.
“All of them.”
Chapter 12
Keegan threw her arms around Clint’s neck and barked out a yelp. “Yes!”
Disbelief warred with excitement inside her, exterminating the beast. She could save Natalie and Riordan. She’d never have to be vulnerable to Cyrus again. She could pummel him with Jaydan’s super strength before stringing him up with some of Aidan’s electrical interrogation tactics.
She would never have to worry for her safety again.
Clint shoved her to arms length, his handsome features somber. “This isn’t a game, Keegan. Installing enhancements comes with a risk. A big one. I’m infusing your body with elements it wasn’t meant to house.”
“I believe in you,” she said in a rush, her heart soaring, knowing true independence was in sight.
He shook her. “Keegan, you have to understand. This is dangerous. If I felt like I had any other choice, I wouldn’t take the risk.” His voice lowered to a soft caress. “You’re too important to me.”
Her palm cupped his cheek as she leaned forward and kissed him. He was important to her, too. Way too important for her rebellious, independent nature.
Clearing his throat, he continued, “I won’t be lax in my ability to keep you safe. I don’t want you to ever feel helpless again.”
Straightening in his lap, she placed her hands on his shoulders. “Clint, I came here to ask you to give me the ability to teleport. This is more than I could’ve hoped for.” Gazing into his eyes, she said, “Listening to your mother yesterday, I realized what I wanted to do with my life.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “I want to be a D.I.R.E. agent.”
