Gray backed her up until he could lower her to the bed. As soon as she was lying down, he knelt at her feet and began to pull off her socks. She was right, he was obsessed with her feet. He stroked her arches.
“Hurry,” she murmured.
“No.”
He threw her socks over his shoulder, then he pulled her up into a sitting position. Ever so slowly, he peeled the UCSD sweatshirt over her head, then sucked in a deep breath when he found nothing but the sheerest red lace.
“Surprise,” she whispered.
“You’re going to give me a heart attack.”
“I like wrapping paper, you like unwrapping gifts, it’s a win-win.” Her black eyes danced. He cupped her breasts while they were encased in the delicate fabric, then he circled her nipples with his thumbs. Riya threw her head back and moaned.
He put his mouth over one hard peak, and suckled.
“More,” she cried.
He bit softly. It took him a moment to figure out she was trying to undo her jeans.
“Nuh-uh, that’s my job.” He pushed her back so that she was flat on her back. He divested her of her jeans. He took a short moment to admire the matching red thong, but right now it had to go.
"Please, Gray, hurry up."
He was going to do everything in his power, not to hurry up. But it was going to be hell. Riya struggled to sit up.
"What are you doing?"
"You're not hurrying. You need to be naked."
She was right.
"Lie back," he commanded sternly. She continued to move. He tried a different approach. "If you hold still, I'll make it worth your while."
All movement stopped, and her eyes glittered up at him. Damn, he was so hard, he'd never be able to unbutton his jeans over his erection. Gray pulled his Henley shirt over his head.
"More," she practically purred.
He sat down on the bed, and untied his boots, and yanked off his socks, then he stood back up and pulled at the buttons on his jeans, and winced. Yep, his woman had made the situation hard.
I did not just think that, did I?
His brain had officially turned to mush.
His.
She was his.
He picked up her foot and brought it to his chest. He stroked her toes, and looked at the flesh at the top of her thighs. He could see that she was wet for him, and it made him crazy. This petite little scientist matched him.
Riya gave him a sultry grin and slowly lifted her other leg, pointing her toe at him, as she aimed it at his erect flesh. Gray waited with baited breath, then she stroked her soft foot over his cock and he shuddered.
She gave him a wicked smile, then did it again, smoothing it up, then down. He grabbed her foot, pulling it away from his cock. He bent her legs and then knelt down beside the bed.
"No, it's my turn to taste you, I've been keeping score," she protested.
"You foolish, foolish girl. Keeping score means you think that I lose when I get to lick you up." Gray bent his head and gently brushed his tongue over her tender flesh. He heard her sigh with pleasure, and sweat gathered on the back of his neck. He wasn't going to last long.
"Get a condom," she breathed. As much as he wanted...needed...to hear that, he was going to make her come this way first.
Gray curled his tongue around the bud of her clit, then pushed a finger into her tight sheath. The feel of her was intoxicating. He needed to bury himself inside her. Her sighs were turning to moans. Gray increased the speed of his thrusts, and caressed her swollen flesh in tighter circles. More. Faster.
"Gray!"
Hallelujah.
He stood up and grabbed his jeans, fished out the condom and covered himself. Riya stared at him, clearly in a daze. He moved her languid body so that it rested in the middle of the bed, then slid beside her. He gathered her beside him. It was like a fire was lit, because Riya rolled over on top of him.
"Now I have you where I want you," She said.
"You do?"
The most perfect lips in the world lowered and blessed him with a kiss. Gray's head spun. He felt the rasp of lace on his chest, and realized the pretty red bra was still adorning Riya's golden flesh. He worked the clasp loose and slid it off her, so he could touch her luxuriant breasts without any impediment. He loved the feel of her stiff nipples rubbing against his palms. But there was one thing he needed more.
Gray lifted Riya and positioned her, so that he was lined up with her entrance. He looked up at her face. All he saw was eager anticipation. Wasn't that fantastic?
She braced herself against his abdomen and slowly slid downward, her tight flesh engulfing him in molten rapture. He gritted his teeth. It was her show, and he wasn’t going to rush her, no matter how badly his body was demanding release.
“I want to do this forever and ever.” He had to strain to hear her. When he did, his heart melted.
“So do I, Baby.”
A long slide and he was home. “Help me, Gray.” Another whisper.
“Tell me what you need, Riya.”
She bent down, and rested her head on his chest. He slipped his hands down to the plush globes of her ass and pulled her close, starting a languid rhythm. Riya moved her hands and gripped his hair.
“God, yes. I need this. More, give me everything.” She slammed her mouth to his, tangling their tongues, turning their lovemaking into a hectic force that stunned him.
Gray met her greedy need with masculine power. He rolled them over and Riya’s legs clamped around his waist as her internal muscles milked his cock.
“Yes,” she screamed out her release.
He closed his eyes as he followed her over the edge. He gathered her as close as he could. His universe could never be complete without her.
13
Why is Gray’s side of the bed cold? Riya pushed further and finally found warmth, but Einstein’s fur wasn’t the same thing as Gray’s sleek flesh.
She pushed up on her pillow, then looked at the clock on her nightstand. Three o’clock in the morning? Where was Gray? Einstein butted his head against her arm. She gave him a few strong strokes. “You’re nice and all, but I was really hoping for something yummier.”
Riya got up and picked up all of her clothes and threw them in her laundry basket, then put on her sleepshirt, sweatpants and fuzzy socks. Hot chocolate sounded good. Maybe Gray had gotten hungry, but she doubted it, he would have been back by now. His pillow had been too cool and Einstein had been too comfy.
When she got halfway down the stairs she saw Gray sitting on the couch with his laptop. He must have brought it in from his car. She saw the glasses he was wearing and felt a tingle go through her body. He looked so distinguished. Then there was the hint of blond stubble. He was hot, with a capital ‘H’.
Down girl.
And he’d said he loved her. She gripped the railing tighter.
“I hear you.”
Gray didn’t turn his head, he continued to concentrate on whatever was on the screen in front of him.
“I didn’t make any noise. You couldn’t have heard me,” Riya protested.
“But I did. Why did you stop? Aren’t you coming downstairs?”
She came down and sat next to him. He shut the laptop as she snuggled next to him. “Is it confidential?”
“’Fraid so.”
“I was going to make cocoa, want some?”
“I don’t have the chocolate tooth you do. I think I’ll pass.”
“Hot milk?” she asked.
“That sounds nasty.”
She laughed as she got up from the couch and started for the kitchen. He followed her. He opened up the cupboard above the refrigerator and took out the antacid bottle.
“Old man, you need reading glasses and antacids?”
“You’re supposed to respect your elders,” Gray said as he leaned against the counter and watched her put a mug of water in the microwave. She ogled him out of the corner of her eye, but as she did she saw that he was looking at her oddly. Sh
e pulled the mug out and mixed the cocoa in.
“Gray, what’s wrong?”
He sighed. That was odd. She didn’t remember him being a man who sighed. She set the mug down on the counter.
“Darn it.” She grabbed a paper towel and wiped up where some spilled because her hand had trembled.
“Riya, nothing’s wrong.”
“That’s not true. You’re acting funny.”
He picked up her mug and set it on the kitchen bar, then pulled out a barstool for her to sit on. He sat beside her.
“Just tell me, Gray. I hate not understanding something.”
He pulled her hands out of her lap, and held them. “Miranda said you suffer from Asperger’s syndrome.”
He was looking so concerned, she tried not to wince at his use of the word ‘suffer’. Her heart started to beat fast. She took a deep breath. She tried to make sense of his expression. Concerned, maybe? But what does it mean?
“Okay, so she told you today? Why?”
“Aiden did. But Honey, the Asperger’s isn’t an issue. You know it isn’t.”
This totally didn’t make sense. She blew out a stream of air. “Aiden? Aiden O’Malley?”
Gray’s eyes grew stormy. “It was a clusterfuck. Miranda said something to Griff who talked to Aiden. They were just trying to make sure you felt comfortable. They wanted to make sure everyone was kind of laid-back.”
Riya thought back to when she started at TAID. She’d been up front with Miranda that she was on the high-functioning end of the autism scale, that she basically had Asperger’s. She explained that it shouldn’t be a problem with her work, but that sometimes she was slow to clue in to some social situations. Miranda had been great in helping her out.
After six months she’d told Riya that she thought that a lot of times when she had trouble dealing with situations she thought it was her lack of work experience, not the Asperger’s, and she should cut herself some slack. She could tell that Miranda had studied up on the diagnosis and worked hard to assist her on the job. Riya had been overjoyed to find such a great mentor.
“Why is it a clusterfuck if they were just trying to be nice?” She had to be missing something. “It’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
“They had the best intentions. My friends have great hearts, I just don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”
“Is that why you’re up in the middle of the night?”
“Partly. I was also checking up on some things from our last mission.”
She studied his face, trying to get a read on him, at the same time trying to figure out how she felt that people had to be told to make her feel comfortable.
“How awkward was it for your friends?”
“Huh?” Gray twined his fingers between hers so that their palms met. “Oh. Shit, Riya. Jack, one of our former teammates who wasn’t there today, damn near called a team meeting to tell us how to behave before we met Beth. He thought she needed to be handled like spun-glass.”
“Did she?”
“Maybe in the beginning,” Gray admitted. “I think Griff only told Aiden. who more than likely told Evie about you.”
Riya thought through the day’s events. “Dalton. They told Dalton. He was really calm and gentle.”
Gray gave a wistful smile. “Dalton has his own story, so no, that’s just the way he is.”
“Then I don’t understand. Why are you so upset if the host and hostess were told I needed to be eased into a social situation? I know some people are bothered by this, but they didn’t seem to be. I mean, I can explain it to you. It’s really a lot more common than you’d think. Wait, I have a book on it, let me go get it.” She tried to pull her hands out of his grip, but he wouldn’t let go.
“Calm down, I don’t need a book.”
A book? Had I really offered a book? What a dumbass. Wait a minute…
“Are you weirded out, now that you know?”
He reared back and looked at her askance. “Are you seriously asking me that question?”
She looked at him and relaxed. “I guess I shouldn’t have worried.”
“Damn right you shouldn’t. I love you. I love every single thing about you, even your wrapping paper fetish.”
She tightened her fingers on his. “I’ll handle time with your friends better as I get to know them.”
“Hell yeah you will. I’ve watched you handle everything. Hell, you even managed to conquer Drake Avery at the end.”
She snorted. “It was easy as soon as he got around his wife, then he got all gooey.”
Gray let go of her hands, draping his arms around her neck and rubbed his nose against hers. “And me? When do I get all gooey?”
“My man? He doesn’t get gooey, he gets hard.”
Nothing was better than Gray Tyler’s laughter.
* * *
“Riya?”
She wrote a note, then shut off her microscope and looked over at the door of Jonah’s lab, where she’d been hiding.
“Hey Susan,” she smiled.
“You have your cell phone turned off again.”
Riya sighed. She fished out her phone from her lab coat and realized it was powered off. “It was ringing too much. I’m on a deadline.”
“There’s a pissed off general in Miranda’s office. She’s been holding him off, but I think she needs your help. What are you doing in here? We’ve been looking all over for you.”
Riya turned on her phone as she quickly walked over to Susan. “Shit, there’s a ton of texts, and they’re not just from Miranda. What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. But you’re a popular girl. The CDC has been calling for you, too.”
“I’m sorry, I was hiding in here to get this last set of tests done. Jonah took today off, and he keeps a tight ship, so leaving my lab was worth it to finish up. I’m sorry, Susan.”
They went out the door and across the campus to Miranda’s office. When they got there, she saw Lieutenant General Astor drinking coffee and laughing at something Miranda was saying.
“There you are,” Miranda smiled. “The general told me how impressed he was with your work last month. Of course he didn’t go into as much detail as I would have liked.” Miranda waved her to the seat beside the general.
Well she had done a good job, but she sure didn’t remember the general singing her praises. It must have been more of the Porter magic.
“Dr. Patel, it’s good to see you again.” He cleared his throat. “She and I were reviewing your file. When you took your job with TAID and got your clearances with the government, it was with the understanding you might be asked to work on classified and / or top secret assignments.”
“Yes, I remember. It also said that the assignments were at my discretion.”
Riya thanked God that the leather seat she was sitting in had high arms, it allowed her to slip her hands under her legs to contain the sweat forming on her palms.
“Riya, I think you understand that if we asked you to work on something that was top secret it was because your country needed you. I talked to everyone at the Pentagon, and I was told you were the man for the job. I mean, woman.”
When things were this confusing, she found it was just better to wait, and let the person speaking to just keep talking, so she waited.
“We have a top secret international assignment. It’s critical that you go on this mission. Your country needs you.” His eyes drilled into hers, it took every ounce of her willpower not to drop her gaze. “Will you do this?”
She sat up straighter. “Of course I will.”
“Good.” He gave a brisk nod.
“General, when will this assignment begin? Is there something that Dr. Patel can review prior to leaving?” Miranda asked.
“She’ll be leaving out of NAS tonight. When she reaches Coronado she’ll join the briefing with the team. Members of the CDC will be meeting us there with the equipment she’ll need.”
Suddenly she wasn’t as worried. He was talking her language.
“What kind of equipment, Sir?”
“She’ll need a portable biocontainment lab.” He spoke to Miranda instead of her.
Riya looked over at Miranda and did a quick eyeroll that the general couldn’t see. Then she turned back to him.
“Understood, General. I’ll be dealing with at least a BSL-1 safety hazard, got it. Is it the same one I was researching before? The airborne toxin?”
“Are you excited about this?” It sounded like he was angry. No, it was more like he had eaten something he didn’t like. It took her moment to figure out what he was thinking.
“I take my projects very seriously. I think you are misunderstanding my eagerness to assist you, with some sort of elation.”
“Oh. Well then,” he smiled. She could tell she had appeased him. “Riya, I’m grateful to have you working on this. I’m just sorry I didn’t have you continue working on the toxin longer, like you wanted too.”
Having dealt with enough Pentagon personnel, she knew better than to smile at this point. But inside she was smiling. Inside she was thankful that she had continued to analyze the poison and come to some of her own conclusions. Maybe this would give her a leg up on whatever job she would be doing.
* * *
“Mason, do you have any idea what this is about?” Gray asked his counterpoint, the lieutenant of the Midnight Delta SEAL team.
“I’m as much in the dark as you are,” Mason responded.
They looked up as the conference room door opened.
“Hey, guys,” Max Hogan nodded his head.
“Well, this has to be big, if they pulled you in from Virginia. Did they bring in your entire team?” Gray asked the lieutenant of the Night Storm SEAL team.
“Yep. We just got in an hour ago,” he said, taking a seat at the table. He looked tired.
“Weren’t you just on an op in Bolivia?” Mason asked.
Max waved his hand. “Something like that. We got home five days ago. We’re ready for something new.”
“Kane was a real help to us on our last mission,” Gray said. “I really appreciated that.”
Her Captivated Hero: A Black Dawn Novel Book 6 Page 14
