Envy

by Lana Pecherczyk

  Heat filled eyes roamed over his body, and Christ, he enjoyed seeing that. The way her gaze snagged on his abs, the way her lashes flared wide and how her pink tongue flicked out to wet her bottom lip. Within seconds, her hands gingerly followed the path her eyes took. Tracing. Exploring. Cool fingers ran down his chest, bumping over his taut muscles, sending searing hot shivers wracking through him.

  His eyes fluttered closed.

  “Yes. Touch me, Grace.” The words came out a rasp.

  Damn him. Damn him to hell, but he did want to influence her. He wanted her to smell the pheromones pouring from him in waves. He wanted her intoxicated by him, to never stop touching him. Lower. Lower, he thought.

  Her touch disappeared.

  His eyes snapped open. “Don’t stop.”

  “Where?” she asked breathlessly. “Where do you want me to touch you?”

  Before he could stop himself, he drew her hand to his lips. “Here,” he said, and he pulled her fingers into his mouth, over his tongue. Her breath hitched, chest lifting, eyes clouding. He licked around her finger and sucked it in, then slipped it out and kept reverently tasting her skin. “And here.” Past her knuckles, wrist, over her scars, inside her sensitive elbow—she moaned—up her smoother bicep, over her sleeve, to the dip where her shoulder met her neck. Perfection.

  He nuzzled in deep and groaned. This. This is what he needed.

  “I thought I was meant to touch you,” she panted into his hair, fingers threading through his damp strands.

  “Do you want me to stop?”

  “God, no.”

  He smiled against her neck.

  “But… I do… want to touch you. Tell me how you like it. Where?”

  His cock twitched, speaking for him. Fuck. He involuntarily pushed against her belly.

  She grinned and then rolled her bottom lip under her teeth, biting down with angst. She glanced down and confidently unwrapped his towel, eyeing him off suggestively. “There?”

  “You never finished your examination,” he rasped, and she chuckled, then touched his stomach. He hissed. “Lower.”

  “I might need a closer look.” Her fingers trailed. Stopped. And then she said something that made his heart freeze: “What do you want me to touch it with?”

  Her wicked gaze broke him and he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t form a word because she lowered her body, still holding his fiery gaze, until she kneeled before him. She slid her hands enticingly down his bare hips, his thighs, and when her hot, slick mouth closed over the tip of his erection, he almost thrust in bliss. He bent forward and gripped the bench, straining to remain in control. It creaked under his forceful grip. It wasn’t just the sizzle of electricity zipping down his cock, tingling his groin, and shooting up his spine. It was the power building inside him, crackling down his arms, sizzling at his fingertips. He had to keep it together. Had to—oh fuck—her tongue twirled in a move that sent his mind into madness.

  He’d go early at this rate. Either burn the bench to tinder, or release in her sweet mouth.

  “Mm?” She hummed, thinking he was trying to speak. He was. He failed. She hummed again, and it sent more pleasure skipping through him. Jesus, he would die right there. Her hands moved to his ass and flexed, pulling his hips to her lips and then relaxing as she slipped away. Then back again. And again. Her mouth was pure heaven. Everything he dreamed of. Hot, tight. Wet.

  In a fit of urgency, he pushed the cardboard box out of the way and lifted her onto the bench, facing him, dazed. Still fully clothed. She didn’t seem to care, just wanted her hands back on him, pulling him closer by his shaft. This woman, and that look in her eyes was carnal and full of deep desire for him.

  God, he was in love with her. “Doc, you’re overdressed.”

  She grazed his lips with hers, taunting him, challenging him. “Then undress me. Tear my clothes off.”

  The words shocked him into action. He ripped her blouse down the middle. Buttons popped and clattered to the floor. When that was gone, he slipped her bra strap down, and reverently kissed her shoulder. He kept pulling the damned elastic thing off until her breasts sprang free. Creamy white and perfectly shaped with rosy nipples. Hell, yeah. He bent, sucked a puckered bud into his mouth and reveled in her groans of pleasure. When he let go, she was panting and dizzy with need, eyes glazed with passion.

  “More,” she demanded, fingers spearing through his hair and arching her chest into his face.

  He kissed her ferociously while simultaneously trying to rid her of the rest of her cursed clothing. Arms, hands and mouth, trying to touch her everywhere at once. He unbuttoned her jeans, pulled her off the bench just long enough to slide the fuckers down, then lifted her back up. Her naked ass slapped on the counter top and she squealed.

  Must be cold.

  “Sorry,” he muttered.

  “S’okay.” She drew his lips to hers, desperation giving her eyes a feral glint.

  Fuck he knew his girl would go wild. Her messy bedroom was just the beginning, and he couldn’t wait to explore every last messy iota of her life. Their next untamed kiss broke all their barriers. She opened her legs, and he pushed inside, groaning in the most desperate way. The shock of her tight sheath sent a euphoric haze over his vision. But… shit. Panic. He pulled out so fast it almost hurt. Stopped his heart.

  “I don’t have a condom,” he cursed.

  “Oh. Um. Okay, lemme think. It’s okay. I’m clean and I get the contraceptive injection. Wasn’t that long ago.” She lifted her legs to lock around his hips, nudging him back to her core, already trusting him. “Don’t stop.”

  “I’m clean.” She didn’t ask, but he said it anyway. “Get tested all the time. A few months ago…”

  Her lips slammed into his, silencing him. She pulled at his hair, tugging sharply, giving every fiber in his body a jolt, and he deepened the kiss, all rough and full of passion. He wanted her now.

  Now.

  Shit. He shouldn’t be like this, all macho demands and needs, but he couldn’t help himself. It was like his heart wanted to climb inside hers. He should take his time with her. Give her something to remember, something to scream about. In a good way. There would be only one first time together. He wanted it to be the best. Pleasure her first. Let her come, then—she took his shaft in her hands, squeezed, and pulled his tip against her slick core, rolling it around, rubbing her desire. Seeing his woman using him to take control of her pleasure was the sexiest damned thing he’d ever seen.

  “Why are you waiting?” she moaned, eyes rolling back in bliss.

  “Damn it, Doc.” He replaced his cock with his thumb, circling and toying with her until she whimpered something under her breath.

  “What?” he asked.

  She moaned again.

  “What do you need?” he demanded. “Tell me. Like this?”

  “Yes,” she cried.

  “And this?”

  “Oh, God, please stop talking. Just… do…”

  “What do you want?” Should he go down there? He would. He’d do anything she wanted him to.

  “You. Inside. Now.”

  He thrust inside her to the hilt. The shock of it had them both clutching each other with sweet, shuddering desperation. It was heaven. A slick, tight, wet heaven. Always, with her. It would always be like this. No envy niggling at him. Just her consuming him. He gripped her hips, and slid out, then in again. “Like this?”

  “Yes, Evan. You. Just you the way you are.”

  He grinned.

  She giggled. “But, faster.”

  As much as she wanted, he gave it to her. Anything she asked for. She got. Faster, slow… faster again, until the sheen of sweat on his body blended with hers. Until her cheeks glowed with a radiant light, until she gasped, tensed and went liquid around him all at once. And then he joined her in his release, finally letting go, collapsing around her.

  When it was done, when he came to his senses, he realized he’d fallen on top of her in a heap. To accommodate hi
s weight, she’d laid back, head barely held aloft by the bench top. To apologize, he kissed down her body, starting from her neck to her belly, withdrawing from her as he went.

  He was pleased to see he hadn’t lost control of his power. No scorch marks on the bench, just a thoroughly sated woman. He smirked and gathered her into his arms to carry back to the bathroom. He loved that he’d made her like that, all heavy and dazed. It made every male instinct extremely satisfied. Now he wanted to care for her. “Let’s get cleaned up, then to bed. I want to sleep with you in my arms, Doc.”

  “Sounds perfect.” She smiled languidly and rested her head against his chest, stroking his pec with her hand. “We should probably go visit that address we got. You know, from the ME.”

  He paused in the doorway to the bathroom. “Don’t you ever stop? Relax every once in a while and just do nothing?”

  She looked up at him guiltily. “I don’t sleep so well. I fill my time with… things to do.”

  “One day, I’m going to take you on vacation. Somewhere nice, like The Menagerie.”

  “Mm. I like the sound of an island getaway.”

  “I’ll hire one of those big houses by the beach, and we’d do nothing all day but make love to the sounds of the ocean, and then maybe even in the ocean. Then out again.”

  She giggled. “That would be nice.”

  “I suppose we could get a bit to eat now and then.”

  Another giggle.

  “And I wouldn’t let you think about work for a second.”

  She frowned. “We really should go and check that address out.”

  He had a feeling he knew where that habit of hers came from. Her state of anxiety when she looked in her father’s box was a pretty good clue. She hadn’t dealt with her parents’ death, instead she kept herself so damned busy she didn’t need to. Keeping busy to avoid your problems was fine, for short periods, but it never worked in the long run. It was going to blow up in her face, and then she’d end up doing something stupid like Evan did when he let those cocksuckers beat him to an inch of his life. But, she was also right about investigating the address of the lab they’d discovered. Damn her.

  “Not until the early hours of the morning,” he conceded. “That’s the best time for covert recon.”

  “What will we do until then?”

  He flashed her a grin. “Don’t worry, Doc. I plan to wear you out so much, you’ll sleep until next week if you could.”

  And after he helped clean her up, he took her back to her bed and made good on his promise.

  Twenty-Six

  Grace woke groggily on her stomach. It was still dark, and warm, and Evan kissed down her naked back with soft, reverent lips.

  “Mm.” She wiggled in her sheets and was rewarded with his hand curving over her butt, stroking and teasing. When he lowered, his arousal pressed into her rear, reminding her of the previous night in the kitchen, and the things that made her heart race and toes curl. She pushed back, challenging.

  “Doc,” he groaned, strained. His voice rumbled down her back like soft thunder.

  It did things to her insides, making her hot. She was so happy right now, so sated and content. He’d done the impossible, made her want to sleep in and stay in bed all day.

  He brushed her hair from her back and kissed her neck, below her ear, eliciting shivers from his hot breath. “It’s two-thirty,” he murmured. “If we want to go…”

  Her eyes popped open. “Oh, dear God. You’re right.”

  He slid off her reluctantly, and the cool air seeped in.

  Grace rolled to her side to look at Evan’s silhouette lying next to her in the soft moonlight. The black lines of his tattoos were dark shapes down half his masculine body. The other half was smooth, clean skin. The space around his heart was also bare and ink free—as though he saved that special spot for a special someone.

  She noticed a piece of paper and a pen next to him. “Were you drawing?”

  “I usually do when I wake.” His touch to the paper was almost melancholy. “I don’t need to sleep as much as the normal person, and… the dreams,” he elaborated.

  She was almost afraid to ask. “What is it?”

  With a shyness she hadn’t expected in him, he held up the paper. It was a portrait of the two of them sleeping. It wasn’t like the stark lines of his exhibition paintings, but crafted out of soft strokes and smooth shades. The care he’d taken around her face.

  “Last night?” she ventured.

  He shook his head. “It was a dream. I don’t think it was last night… look at the pattern on the sheets.”

  “I don’t have chevron sheets.”

  “I do.”

  His words hung in the air and her lips stretched into a smile.

  The want must have shone from her eyes because his gaze turned fiery, and he kissed her, fast and furious. She vaguely remembered hearing the paper crumple under his body. As with last night, and every time she touched him, her fingers were drawn to him with a magnetic force. Her nails dragged around his chest, hard pecs, ribbed stomach… suddenly remembering the bruising that covered him only a few days ago, she pulled away.

  It reminded her of where he disappeared last night and a spear of worry hit her.

  “You left yesterday, after the battle. Where did you go?”

  He rolled onto his back and lifted his hands behind his head to stare at the dark ceiling.

  She lifted on her elbow.

  “You were right,” he said, frowning with concentration. “I went to find the men I fought the other night. In the Crows Nest at the docks.”

  The Docks! Not the Narrows. Grace filed the nugget of information away, for future reference. Just in case she had to chase him down because, let’s face it, they were more than just together now. She knew it, deep inside her bones. She’d always find him if he needed her.

  “I’d been going there for a few weeks to fight in my Envy gear. I kept my fukumen mask on, so no one could see my face, but they all loved to watch me hurt.” He swiped his hand across the air in front of him dramatically and put on a showman’s voice: “Ladies and gentlemen. Envy, once a great and powerful member of the Deadly Seven, now reduced to rubble just like the building he helped destroy.”

  He sighed and dropped his hand. “I just wanted to feel in control of something, even if it was my own punishment.”

  Grace shimmied closer and cupped his face. How could she convince him it wasn’t his fault? It was Sara. All Sara.

  He glanced at her. “That morning I met you, I was supposed to throw the fight the night before, but I couldn’t do it. I saw how the crowd cheered for my opponent and I wanted it so bad, it was all I could think of. I hurt him. I lost control, and I won the fight. Still don’t know if he survived but the owners of the fight ring took me out back and taught me a lesson, then dumped me in that alley. I could have taken them, but by that stage, I felt so bad that I’d lost control, I let them beat me.”

  “Oh, Evan.” She wanted to kiss his pain away, but she stayed still and let him finish.

  “Yesterday, I was so… hurt. You looked at me like I was some kind of monster, and Sara got her way again. I’d just helped neutralize the threat, and all you wanted to do was help them. I was so angry, Doc. So jealous. I needed to take it out on someone. The fight ring owners made sense. They’d beat me in the alley and left me for dead, so I wanted to do it to them. I started to. Got one punch in, but then couldn’t finish. The dude hit me in the eye, and I left.” He faced her. “It’s all my fault. I brought this shit on myself. You were right. Taking another life isn’t the answer.”

  “Stop.” Grace kissed him gently on the lips, tears springing to her eyes. “You stopped. You didn’t go through with it, and you came back here. Even though you thought I felt that way, which I don’t, by the way. I could never think you are a monster.” Grace’s heart hammered in her chest. She had to know. Here goes nothing. “Why did you come back?” To me.

  “Because I made a promise to y
ou. I said I would keep you safe.”

  Her tears overflowed, and he saw. A frown etched between his brow and he pulled her on top of him, snuggling into her neck, wrapping his arms around her. “Grace, I’ll always come back to you.”

  It was exactly what she needed to hear. Seeing the box of her father’s belongings last night had jolted something out of her that she hadn’t felt in years: a yearning to belong, to be cherished. Their lips met and the kiss they shared was slow, passionate and filled with the love blossoming between them.

  Evan broke away first. “I don’t suppose I can persuade you to stay here, out of harm’s way?”

  “Nope,” she said. “It’s most likely a medical laboratory of some kind. I need to see what’s there. I have to see this through. I owe that to the people who lost their lives in the building collapse. I want to get them compensation.”

  “Thought so. Okay.” He rolled over the bed, changing their positions. “We’re finishing this when we get back.”

  The thought brought a cheeky grin to her face. “Definitely.”

  Grace dressed in her jeans and the darkest hoodie she owned, a navy blue sports thing she hadn’t worn in months. Evan had to put his leather pants back on, which he wasn't happy about. The smell had eased a little, and she’d sprayed it with air freshener. He’d had a black long-sleeved shirt on under the hooded jacket, so put that back on.

  “I can’t bring myself to put this jacket on,” he said, frowning at the soiled lump of leather dangling from his hand. “There’s got to be a better way to dress for battle. Laundering leather is a nightmare.”

  Grace shoved her boots on and stomped to fit them snuggly. “Surely you and your clever family can come up with something.”

  Hope filled his eyes for a fleeting moment. “They were working on something techie recently, but that stalled.”

  “Evan,” Grace said, determination setting her jaw. “We’re going to expose Sara and get your family back together.”

  He met her eyes and stared intensely. “I’m in love with you, Grace.”

  Before she could say anything, he rushed over and took hold of her arms.