by Kaely Steel
“No one misses him.” He crushed me to him, his hands as urgent as his mouth, seeking forgiveness, seeking renewal, seeking redemption.
My heart soared as our mouths met, hunger feeding hunger. I could help him. No one had ever needed me like this before. I felt omniscient. All-powerful.
“I need you.” He said it aloud as if he had plucked it from my thoughts.
“Whatever you need.”
“I need this. I need you.” As he spoke he tore at my clothing like a desperate man.
Sunlight gilded my skin. I reveled in a myriad of sensations, gloriously alive like never before. As if I had been created for this man. Created for this moment.
I offered him one breast, then a second. Pierce suckled like a starving infant seeking sustenance, and I felt an answering tug in my womb. I ran a hand down the chiseled planes of his back, then inside his shirt as my fingertips thrilled to the sensation of skin on skin, sinew on sinew.
I moved to recline on the plush green grass where every blade tickled overwrought nerve endings. I lay open, waiting.
Pierce stood and disrobed, his admiration of me erasing the earlier shadows, easing the pain. “You’re magnificent in the sunlight.”
I had no words as he stood above me, all carved hewn planes and angles of intensely masculine perfection. I licked my lips and held up my arms. He knelt next to me, plucked a blossom from a nearby plant and dragged it slowly and torturously from my chin, down my throat, between my breasts and over my stomach to my needful womanhood. From there the petals tickled the insides of my thighs, before moving lower, outlining the contours of my legs and my feet.
I gasped when I felt him pick up a bare foot and place his lips on my instep. “That was you in the gym.”
He nodded as his tongue played with my toes. “Ledger was there first, but I couldn’t wait.”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. My vision misted. “How could you leave?”
“I knew you were in good hands. I knew he would take care of you.”
My breath caught at the way he looked at me, as if painting me with his eyes. I pulled him close, needing to feel every inch of him atop me, inside me, claiming me. “Forget about him. This is you and me.”
He levered himself atop me, propped on both elbows, his hands tunneling through my hair while his eyes stole my heart. “It can never be just you and me. It will always be you and us.”
I didn’t know how to respond. My heart was full of love and emotion for all of them, but right now I was focused solely on Pierce and the way our souls fit together like interlocking pieces from the same jigsaw puzzle.
I pulled his head closer and teased his lips with my tongue while my hands clung to his silken hair. He parted his lips, slowly at first, teasingly, as my greedy tongue probed for admittance and I rolled my hips invitingly. I felt his hard cock at the juncture of my thighs and I opened them slightly till his velvety head was nestled against my clit.
My body responded with an outpouring of love juice. I bobbed again, my clit kissing his cock the way he was kissing me. All purpose and soul-shattering intensity. Our breath mingled, mine shallow and fast as I felt my orgasm build. All feeling, all sensation centered on that one pleasure point before shattering into starbursts of release.
I leaned over and outlined the shape of his ear with my tongue, sucking on the lobe. “Roll over.”
He did as I asked. Straddling his torso, I smiled down at him, my hands flat on his chest. “Good view from up here.”
He reached up and cupped my breasts in his palms, which sent a fresh, sweet outpouring of excitement down to my core. “Not bad from here either.” He lightly massaged my nipples, teasing them into tight crests of delight. I arched my back in pleasure and approval, then wriggled lower, out of his reach so his cock jutted ramrod straight before me. I flailed it with my breasts and heard his groan of delight as I rubbed my wet pussy across his thighs.
Leaning forward, I took the tip of his cock in my mouth and lashed it with my tongue. I heard a hiss as he struggled for self-control while I slowly slurped him deep. Before I released him I dragged my tongue up and down the swollen glans, then took his smoothly-shaven balls in my mouth, first one, then the other.
He grabbed my head and pulled me away. “Christ!” His face was contorted in an agony of delight as he fought for control and fumbled for a condom. I gloried in my power as I inched back up and positioned my welcoming slit atop him. I wriggled teasingly, swiveled back and forth before I eased fully down onto his divine length and gyrated my hips.
His gaze skewered mine as he clamped his hands on my hips and moved me at the pace and depth he wanted, shallow, then deep, then shallow again.
“Rub yourself for me.”
I reached down between us and found my swollen clit which wept with joy when I touched it. I came instantly, using my free hand to fondle my breasts while Pierce continued to control the pace of our joining, thrusting his hips in tandem with mine. So deep. So full. I sobbed as another orgasm swept over me and through me.
“Wait!” Without dislodging him I spun around so I was facing the other way. I cupped his balls and squeezed them gently while I rode his cock fast and furious. I heard him pant then groan, seconds before his orgasm flooded through me, triggering mine. I continued to ride him, coaxing him back to life. I heard him moan in surrender, felt him grow hard inside me as I increased my tempo. In seconds I had milked a second orgasm from him. I glanced over my shoulder to where he lay beneath me, unmoving. “Round three?” I suggested.
He gave my ass a light slap, as if moving at all required a huge effort on his part. I dismounted, got to my feet and held my hands out to pull him up from the grass.
Wordlessly we found our way back into our clothes and onto the bench where I curled up on his lap, my head on his shoulder, his arms around me holding me close. I had just closed my eyes and started to drift into sated sleep when I heard the gate open.
“I hate to interrupt. But Thor’s here.”
Chapter 9
DARE
Truth be told I didn’t hate to interrupt Pierce and Jenna at all. Not that I was jealous, none of us was hard-wired that way anymore. I was just impatient to see some action. No one thought of me as the action-lover of the group because I was the techie. I knew more about computers, codes, and hacking than the rest of them together could ever hope to.
And while the computers were my first love, The Group and G Force offered me fulfillment of a different kind- the physical side of things. It was my release for what happened that fateful day when life as I knew it changed forever. I owed them my gratitude. I owed them my life. Here at G Force these men were my brothers. I would do anything for them.
Kind of a shame Jenna and Pierce were both dressed. Not that I’d planned to join in, not this time, but they were both beautiful people. Jenna looked adorable curled up on Pierce’s lap like a contented kitten. As for Pierce, he had a look about him that I’d seen only a few times. Protective. In charge. Primed for action.
Jenna gracefully disentangled herself from Pierce and got to her feet. “Why is Thor here?”
I shoved my hands in my pockets as I looked at Pierce. “Do you want to tell her or shall I?”
Pierce did the honors. “Thor is part of a very powerful group.”
“I know all that. They created G Force. But why is he here?”
“We’re going out in the field for a while. Thor didn’t want you to be alone.”
“Well, good,” Jenna said, with a toss of her silky brown hair. “Because I have a few questions for him.”
Pierce and I exchanged a look as Jenna stomped off ahead of us. Kind of a shame we wouldn’t be around for that little encounter.
JENNA
My afterglow was already a distant memory by the time I found Thor in the great room. He hadn’t changed a bit since I last saw him. Tall, trim, tanned, impeccably groomed and tailored. Nothing ever seemed to rattle his demeanor. No emotion ever showed in his coo
l gaze. Come to think of it, I’d never seen him smile.
“Hello, Jenna.” He made no move to hug me.
If he could be a popsicle, so could I. “I understand you’re the reason why I’m here.” I sensed the disapproval rolling off him in waves, which was more of a reaction than I’d ever gotten from him before.
“Actually, Jenna, that sham of a marriage you got yourself embroiled in is the reason you’re here.”
I tossed my head. “Since when do you care what I do? Since when does anyone?”
Before he could answer I heard the sound of the helicopter. I ran to the window and watched it depart, rotors whirring, disappearing into the distance, taking them away from me. Emotion welled up inside me, unstoppable. I turned accusingly to Thor. “You sent them away. You always send everyone I care about away.”
I sobbed at the last. Where had these emotions come from? Tamped down all these years and choosing now to burst free. I collapsed onto a nearby armchair. Tears blurred my vision as I looked up at Thor who watched me with no sign of emotion. My fists clenched. I wanted to punch him, kick him, anything to break through that icy shield he wore.
“My parents never loved me. You certainly never loved me. Anytime anyone in my life even started to care about me you sent them away. I was always alone, surrounded by people, but alone.”
“Jenna, you’re being melodramatic.”
“Am I? Am I really? You’ve got your big powerful group. Why would you care about me? Care how I felt. Care what I wanted to do with my life.”
Was that a hint of disgust in his voice, the first emotion he had ever shown me? “You did nothing with your life except flit from one party to the next and marry someone who was a danger to all of us.”
“He was working as a comedian. He made me laugh. Should I have run a background check? No doubt it would have been easy to find out he was a paid assassin.”
“You’re an adult, Jenna. It’s high time you started acting like one.”
“It’s hard to be an adult the way you kept me on an allowance like a child. Controlling my money.”
He pressed his lips together into a thin line. His nostrils looked pinched. I could tell he was taking a great deal of pleasure from this. “You have no money.”
My jaw dropped. “But you said… you told me….”
“I led you to believe your parents had left you well-provided for. Nothing could have been further from the truth. They sunk everything they had into their stupid laboratory research. Then, when they were on the brink of an important breakthrough …” he shrugged. “Well you know the rest. Someone with too much at stake didn’t want their findings made known and they were eliminated.”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat, unable to fully ignore the childhood me with all her secret hurts and feelings of abandonment. “I always felt like I was in their way. They had no time or love for me.”
“They were selfish and neglectful,” Thor agreed. “Focused solely on their work. I arranged for you to attend boarding school where you would be safe and cared for.”
“Cared for but not loved.”
Thor grimaced. “I don’t know where you got this romanticized idea of love from; it only exists in films and books. As for reality, you were right to flee when you learned of your husband’s dual identity. Once he realized he couldn’t use you to get to me, you would have been discarded.”
I put on my bravado act, arms crossed over my chest. “Discarded or killed?”
Thor didn’t try to spare me. “I would say the latter.”
I flinched.
Abandoned, neglected, abused; that was me. Not one single redeeming factor that made me worthy of love.
Of their own volition my arms slipped down to my waist in a protective self-hug. “What’s to stop him from finding me at some point?”
“It’s being taken care of.”
I nodded. Somehow, I’d known Thor would take care of things the way he always did. In his own domineering, overbearing way. And now he’d dropped the happy news of my impoverished state upon me. What a prince.
I clutched my chest where my heart felt hollow and empty as I glanced around the room, trying to commit it to memory. This time here with the G Force I had felt the most alive, the most real I ever had. Before long it, too, would be nothing but a memory.
I felt a fresh shimmer of tears and blinked them back. Tears were for sissies, a lesson drummed into me by the bullies at school when I was young.
I had learned things this week. I knew I was a worthwhile human being. I knew I was able to love; this week I had proven it. I had loved each and every G Force member.
Thor’s phone jangled. He pulled it from his pocket and answered it with a curt, “Yes,” then turned his back on me so I couldn’t hear anything but the rise and fall of his voice. The conversation was short.
He turned to face me. A stranger I had known for my entire life. “I have to go.”
“But, but what about me? What am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go?”
He straightened. “I don’t know, Jenna. You can’t stay here. But whatever you do, try not to marry an assassin next time.“
The door closed firmly behind him. Through the window I watched as he got into a limousine that was parked out front and then watched as the car’s taillights disappeared down the driveway.
I didn’t feel anything as he left. Abandonment was an emotion so old it didn’t even register. What did register is the fact that my life so far was a sham, built on a web of lies.
If I wasn’t a wealthy-heiress party-girl, what was I? I wasn’t a daughter. I wasn’t a wife. I wasn’t even a friend. I’d sashayed through life using and being used, discarding people without a backward glance. Until I came here. My gut clenched. From the moment I arrived I’d felt an inner peace, a sense of security and being that was new to me. I began to want more. Dared hope for more. I thought I’d given and received love.
As usual I was kidding myself. I’d given and received sex. Titillation. Attention. Nothing of any value. Nothing that would last.
HART
The atmosphere in the chopper was an interesting blend of jubilation and reflection. I always felt ramped-up following a successful mission. After everything I had gone through in my former life, I found an innate satisfaction in righting the world’s wrongs, one step at a time. I knew first hand society’s system was flawed, and while The Group’s methods weren’t perfect, they were the best in play. Without The Group, the world would be more corrupt, more dangerous, more volatile.
The Group did the planning, we did the dirty work and they mopped up afterwards, leaving us with the satisfaction of a job well done. The innocents were protected, at least for a while. Innocents like Jenna.
Now came the hard part, letting Jenna go. l had seen inside to the real Jenna, the little-girl-lost, the scared inner-self she refused to acknowledge. Everyone I knew had that person inside, that shadow self; whether they had been abandoned or abused or just plain old screwed over. Like the others on my team I had acknowledged and paid homage to that side of myself. By doing so I emerged whole, a better person than I had been before.
As a firefighter I’d had a huge ego. I got off on saving lives. I believed I was invincible.
Not only had I been wrong, I had the scars to prove it. Somehow Jenna had seen right through those scars to the person I am now. One by one, she had done the same with all the others and we loved her for it. Now it was our turn to help her find and revere her authentic self.
As soon as the ranch appeared in the distance, I felt the energy change. To a man we were all impatient to see Jenna, to debrief with her help, her love. To ensure she left us as a whole person, one with purpose and meaning to her life. I sincerely hoped Thor hadn’t damaged her more than she had already been when we found her.
From the Command Center where we unloaded our gear we clattered noisily up the stairs. I was surprised not to find her waiting for us. We’d made enough racket to wake the dead,
so even if she’d been sleeping she’d know we were back. Upstairs her bed was made, her room neat as a pin, almost as if she’d never been there. When she didn’t appear in a few minutes we split up to look for her.
I ran down the stairs to the gym which was empty. Scanning across the pool area my gut spasmed. A cloud of dark hair fanned around the head of a motionless body floating in the water.
Chapter 10
JENNA
What a failure I was!
I couldn’t even end my worthless life when it felt like the right thing to do. I’d jumped into the pool with that very intent. I’d heard drowning was a pleasant way to die, kind of like falling asleep and never waking up. But when I tried sinking to the bottom and staying there my stubborn will to live hadn’t let me gulp mouthful after mouthful of water. Instead it propelled me back to the surface, gasping for air time after time until I was exhausted from the effort. Eventually I rolled onto my back, stared up at the pattern of clouds through the glass overhead and dozed into the zone, safe in the warm, womb-like water.
I was startled back to reality by the sound of frantic splashing. Then strong arms scooped me up and dragged me to the edge of the pool.
“What the hell, Jenna!” Hart’s grip tightened as if he would never let me go, love and concern clouding his espresso-dark gaze as it roved over my face and body, ensuring I was all in one piece. When was the last time someone had cared for me so deeply? So sincerely.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. He kissed me long and hard, his mouth greeting mine in desperate need. I wrapped my legs around his midsection and clung to his shoulders, soothing the jagged scars on the back of his neck as I worked to kiss away the past.
He ended the kiss as the others rushed into the pool area. “Welcome back and why are you swimming in your clothes?” I asked.
“You were supposed to let us know when you found her,” Ledger said.