by Brenna Lyons
“Alyssa? Are you all right?”
“Fine,” she lied.
“You’re trembling.” His hands covered hers.
She pulled away and rose, striding to the coat rack. Alyssa pulled Gi’s old sweater coat on and held the collar to her cheeks.
“Alyssa?” He was a few feet behind her. “Are you all right?”
“Just cold.” It seemed she was full of lies tonight.
Far from rebuffing him, the complaint shot Daniel to her side. He pressed a hand to her forehead. “Are you sick?”
Alyssa shook it off. “No. Just a chill.”
His eyes narrowed. “No.”
She stared at him, barely breathing. “No what?”
“You’re not cold. Your hands are warm. What did I say to upset you?”
Her mouth went dry. “Nothing. I...”
“What was it?” He waited patiently, his hands caressing hers.
“I don’t...want to talk about Tom,” she managed. That wasn’t a lie. She’d talk about anything he wanted to, except Tom Armen.
“Why?” It wasn’t a demand. He almost seemed to be pleading with her.
“I told you. You...you said you understood that I wish he’d never noticed me.” With every breath she took some nights. Strange how she’d never lived in fear until the man who was supposed to take her fear away made her his own and then left her.
* * * *
Daniel cupped her cheek, his heart aching. “I do understand. You’re not alone. Do you understand that? I’ll protect you.”
Alyssa looked up at him, pleading for something he couldn’t comprehend, tears pooled on her lashes.
“Any threat,” he whispered. “Just tell me what it is. Any...wrong or hurt. I’ll fix it, if I can.”
For a moment, he thought she was going to speak. Then she pulled away, wiping her eyes on the sweater cuffs, laughing nervously.
“I guess I’m more tired than I thought.”
Daniel nodded, forcing his jaw to unclench. “You should sleep. If you don’t mind, I’d like to borrow a book or two.” At the very least, he’d get to see her when he returned them.
“Sure. Anything you want.”
Not remotely. “Thanks, Alyssa.” He didn’t try to fake a smile for her. Daniel headed to the book he’d dropped in the living room.
“Daniel?” Her voice was tremulous.
His heart rhythm faltered. “Yes?”
She started to speak, stopped, then started again. “Do you like burgers?”
“Love them.” But, what the hell was she talking about?
“I have tomorrow night off, too. I could cook some burgers. I’m not much of a cook, but simple things come out okay.”
Daniel stood with the book in hand, noting her attack of nerves. “I’d like that.” It was downright uncomfortable that he looked forward so much to it.
Alyssa nodded, relaxing slightly. “Until then?”
He took two steps, bringing him nearly body-to-body with her. As always when they were this close, the need to touch her was maddening. Daniel brushed a kiss onto her forehead. “Until then.”
Her stunned look nearly brought him up short. He forced himself onward, reminding her to lock the door behind him on the way out.
Chapter Thirty-seven
February 23, 2050
Daniel itched to find a way to get Alyssa to talk to him about Tom. Every time he mentioned her dead husband’s name, she closed herself off, so much so that he hesitated to bring the subject up, despite his promise to Bear.
Of course, he also burned to touch her. Every night she’d had off for more than a week and two afternoons, he’d sat with her, reading, talking about nothing important, eating a few meals.
He fought to focus on the page in front of him, a classic this time. Daniel’s first few attempts at the ‘classics’ had led him to decide that the classics fell into two categories: those that he couldn’t understand anyone considering classic and those he could. Nicholas Nickelby was definitely the former.
“Fantasy is one thing, but no offense...” he stated.
“Ridiculous,” Alyssa agreed without looking up from her own book.
Daniel stared at her. “Why didn’t you warn me?”
A smile curved her lips up. “You didn’t ask my opinion.”
He closed the novel and set it aside. “Fair enough. I’m asking.”
Alyssa slipped a bookmark in her book, closed it and turned toward him, folding her left leg under her. “Okay. What do you like?”
He was hard in less than a heartbeat. With her lips so close to his own, the only thing his mind could identify that he’d like was to taste them.
Her smile faltered and her breathing quickened, but she didn’t shy from him. Daniel held his ground, too caught up in the moment to care that what he wanted was wrong on so many levels.
Alyssa tipped her head to the right and closed the distance between them. Her lips parted for him, inviting him inside. Daniel accepted, stroking inside her mouth with increasing vigor. Her hand cupped him, and he groaned.
She pulled away, breaking the kiss. Her eyes opened slowly, and her gaze panned from his face to her hand in his lap. “Pregnancy hormones,” she whispered in what sounded like an apology.
“I don’t believe that.” Daniel needed to believe there was more in that kiss than a biological drive for sex. Whatever her reason, she wanted him, and he wanted her. The only question was whether she was using him to hide from Tom...or to pretend he was Tom.
Her fingers trailed along his length, and he realized that he wasn’t nearly as concerned with her reasons as he should have been.
“No. It’s not,” she admitted.
Daniel tipped her chin back up. “Then I’m going to kiss you again. All right?”
Her nod was cut short when he captured her mouth. They picked up roughly where they’d left off, mouths closely meshed, hands cupping heads closer, frantically seeking more. She stroked his cock purposefully, moaning into his mouth as he twitched against her hand.
He pulled Alyssa astride his lap, using his aching cock to return the favor. She broke off the kiss again, not stopping but riding hard on his length.
“Do you want me to touch you?” he asked.
Alyssa nodded, gasping out her agreement.
Daniel had only a momentary qualm about it. She had autonomy; he had autonomy. No one had the right to tell them not to follow through with this.
He stroked the rock-hard nipples through her blouse, swallowing a curse that she wasn’t wearing a bra. She arched into his hands, filling his palms with her breasts, seemingly begging for more.
Screw it! As long as she wasn’t stopping him, they were both going to enjoy themselves.
He silenced a niggling voice that argued that she might open up to him about Tom if she let him close in other ways. This wasn’t for Bear or any other Warrior. This was between himself and Alyssa, and it wasn’t about Tom Armen.
At least for me.
Shut up!
Daniel slid to the floor, laying her on the rug and following her down. He held himself up on his forearms, his cock pressed to her, watching in fascination as she writhed against him. She arched against him, and Daniel closed his mouth on her breast through the thin cotton of her blouse, pushing back on his knees to accomplish the task. Alyssa cried out harshly, though at the loss of his cock or the gain of his mouth, he couldn’t say.
The shock of his trilling cell phone jangled his nerves. He pulled back, grumbling a series of curses. Daniel closed his eyes, his jaw tightening as the phone rang again.
Not now. Damn this! My curse can wait for an hour or two.
“You have to answer,” Alyssa whispered.
No, I don’t. But, he did have to, and they both knew it. Daniel pushed to his knees, fishing the phone out as it rang a third time. He flipped it open and pressed it to his ear. “Daniel here.” He tried not to growl it, but that was a lost cause.
“Outside,” Bear ordered. “N
ow.”
He fought back Blutjagd. Bear had no right to...
“I don’t suggest you try it. I imagine you’ll need a few minutes. You have five.”
“And then?” It wasn’t quite a challenge, but it was close enough to make his meaning clear.
“Then you face a lot worse than a discussion with me.”
“Yeah. Got it.” But there had better be a damned good reason for this. Somehow, he suspected there wasn’t one.
“The clock is ticking.” Bear disconnected.
Daniel closed the phone and tucked it into his back pocket.
Alyssa slid back, her legs drawing up between them. “What is it?”
He opened his eyes, staring at her in misery. She took his breath away. Alyssa was mussed, thoroughly kissed, flushed. Her nipple was clearly visible through the damp fabric of her blouse.
“Daniel?” She smoothed her hair down self-consciously.
“Tes, you’re beautiful.” He traced his fingertip along her kiss-swollen lips.
“Something’s wrong. Isn’t it?”
“I have to go. Duty calls. Tell me I can come back another day?” His heart pounded in preparation for her refusal. The reminder that he was a Warrior was likely to make her turn from him completely. There better be a good reason for this!
She hesitated, then nodded.
Daniel leaned across her legs. “One more for the road?”
That kiss was slower, his solemn oath that he’d return. He pulled away, his gaze gravitating to the exposed nipple. Alyssa arched her back, and he dipped his head, laying a lick across it in parting.
He pushed to his feet, lifting her after him. Daniel held her to his body for a moment, seriously considering calling Bear’s bluff. It had to be a bluff. He wasn’t breaking any laws by sleeping with Alyssa.
That meant there was no way they could keep him from returning. “I’ll be back soon,” he vowed.
Alyssa nodded, watching him walk away as if something fascinated her. She was still standing there when he’d pulled on his weapons belt and jacket.
Daniel offered her a strained smile and headed out the door for his head-to-head with Bear.
His cousin didn’t disappoint him; Bear leaned against the passenger door to his truck, his expression grim. He glanced at his watch, nodded, then started to round the vehicle. “Get in.”
“My car—”
“We’ll pick it up later.”
Daniel ground his teeth in frustration, but he climbed in. They were a block away before he trusted himself to speak. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Bear?”
“Making sure you’re thinking with the right head, so you continue to keep both of them.”
His temper uncorked. “There is no law that says you—”
“On the floor, Daniel? You were...were... On the floor?”
He glared at Bear, noting his cousin’s white-knuckled grip on the wheel in surprise that did nothing to reduce his fury.
“I saw the two of you getting up off the floor through the front window.” He had the courtesy to look ashamed of that.
Okay... Maybe the floor was a bad choice. Alyssa does deserve better, and the baby... But, still. “I don’t have to justify my actions to you. Not about this. I have autonomy. She has—”
“Alyssa is a widow. A Warrior’s widow.”
“They’ve remarried before, sometimes to other Warriors.”
“Is that what you want?” Bear didn’t give him time to answer. “Is that what she wants?”
“You think I’ve asked her to seal? Ani! I am not Tom Armen.”
“Are you prepared to find out that she’s not serious? Chances are, she’s confused as hell right now, and she’s going to decide this was a mistake later. Even if she falls for you, what are the odds that she’ll let another Warrior seal after Tom? Are you prepared—”
“Of course, I am. Every Warrior has to be prepared for it. If I fall, and she doesn’t, I’ll go to the mad cabin and pay the price.”
“That easy?” he taunted.
“Is it ever easy? Is it, Bear?”
“Fine. Consider the other alternatives for a minute.”
“What alternatives?” Daniel snapped. “You really are stretching it.”
“Am I? Well, then, let’s stretch it all the way. What if Tom screwed her up completely? What if she commits to you and then gets her head straight and pulls on you after you’ve sealed?”
Daniel found it hard to breathe. He couldn’t believe Alyssa would do it to him, and yet it was a chilling thought.
“What if...” Bear sighed.
“What?” Daniel managed weakly.
“What if Alyssa feels responsible for Tom’s death? If they had an argument or something before he died, and that’s what threw him?”
“I don’t follow you.”
“What if she believes she can get it right this time? That she has an obligation to?”
“Inserting me in Tom’s place?” Hadn’t he considered that?
Bear shrugged.
“Are...” Daniel could hardly force the words past his lips. “Are you ordering me to stand down?”
“You know I can’t.”
“Are you doing it anyway?”
“No. As much as I want to, I won’t do that. Just watch your back and be sure you’ve thought it out before you go there with her.”
Daniel nodded.
“One more thing,” Bear added.
“Yeah?”
“Be gentle with her.”
“I would never—”
“I’m serious. You said it. Something went wrong between Tom and Alyssa. We don’t even know what went wrong, which makes this a minefield.”
“Whatever it was, I cannot believe it was Alyssa’s fault.”
“Probably not, but she’s still explosive. If you hurt her, even accidentally cause her more pain and grief, three houses are going to land on you.”
“No pressure, though,” Daniel quipped.
Bear chuckled. “None at all.”
“Out of curiosity...”
“You want to know how I knew you and Alyssa were...intimate?”
“It crossed my mind.” Actually, it was eating him alive.
“I got a phone call.”
Someone was spying on them? “From?”
Corwyn smiled and raised an eyebrow.
“Your mother? No fucking way! Why would the Stone interfere in this?”
“It doesn’t interfere, but it does thrust situations it finds noteworthy on her.”
“So, what is it saying?”
Bear’s smile disappeared. “Nothing. It’s not committing to a damned thing.”
Daniel groaned. “You are shitting me. Right?” It was always bad news when the Stone withdrew.
“I wish I was...about the Stone. As for my mother... Let’s put it this way. She said to tell you that she considered taking a blade to you herself for the thought about using sex to crack the mystery of Tom.”
He winced. “It didn’t last long,” he admitted.
“She was impressed at your ultimate determination on the subject. Good thing for you. She’d have left some decent scars.”
“She heard all of that, but she doesn’t know a damned thing useful?”
Bear sighed. “The Stone loves Her jokes and riddles. What’s funny this time?”
“Ha. Ha. Ha.”
* * * *
Alyssa stood, staring at the empty entryway for several minutes, her body and mind rioting. She lurched toward the door, locking the chain with numb fingers.
Gi’s hat mirror caught her attention, and Alyssa gasped. Her lips were swollen and sensitive, her face flushed and her blouse rumpled. It was also nearly-transparent, at least where Daniel had sucked through the fabric, her nipple rubbing the damp cotton as if seeking his mouth again.
She feathered her thumb across it, her vaginal muscles clenching in arousal. Every nerve was alive and aware of him, even after he’d left her. It would be a long
evening with the battery operated boyfriend now, and she hadn’t resorted to that in a long, long time.
Alyssa sobered. It was all too easy to remember the last time she’d resorted to it. The three days between when Tom Armen had saved her and when he’d shown up on her doorstep, intent on making good on his vow to make her his wife, had marked the last time she’d used the jelly vibrator...and the last time she’d felt the need to.
I should have turned him away when he came here.
But, she hadn’t. Whatever else Tom Armen was, he was the best lay she’d ever had. Not that she’d had many to compare him to.
Not to mention, there was something captivating about a man who announces he’s going to make you his bride on the first kiss. It was all too easy to imagine Tom getting into her house somehow and convincing her, if she did turn him away. He’d known no boundaries in pursuing her.
He’d seduced her within hours of killing the beast that had attacked her, claiming first his concern with her well-being, plying her with fine wine and taking her back to her room. His kiss, coupled with the tales of his sexual needs and hungers, had played at her wine-soaked mind and made her head spin. Before she knew it, Alyssa had been bent over a hotel chair with Tom’s cock working her hard...in the chair, on the balcony, in the bed.
In the morning, he’d calmly stated again what he’d vowed the night before: he’d do anything he had to do to make Alyssa his. She’d found it disconcerting, and it had been something of a relief that he’d left when she’d asked him to. Returning home had rarely felt so soothing.
But, Tom hadn’t stopped there. He’d followed her, he claimed, without permission of his family to leave his own range and enter Hunter. Tom had described Warriors as nearly-feral when taking a mate; he’d stated that the other Warriors would expect nothing less of him. Then he’d made his needs clear to her—his need to have her as his lover, wife, and the mother of his sons.
The combination of lingering arousal and the passion of his pursuit had led her to agree to let him into her life. She hadn’t made it to work that day...or for three days after. When Alyssa was fired, Tom had convinced her to go back to Armen with him. A little over two weeks and a sensual haze later, he’d managed to convince her.