by Lauren Dane
“I can video call for those meetings. I’m going to D.C.”
“Really?”
“No offense or anything. I believe he’s great and a super warrior. I’ve seen Simon in battle so I really do mean that. She’s out there, exposed to a greater threat each day. I’m the only person I trust with her at this point. He can come along though. I’m happy for the backup.”
“Come to Heart of Darkness tonight. Bring Molly.”
“She won’t want to go. The night before she travels she’s got a routine. She’s going to want to listen to Led Zeppelin, drink red wine and make note cards.”
“Led Zeppelin? Molly? I totally underestimated her, clearly.”
“On vinyl no less. Anyway, she won’t want to go out to a club. Maybe I’ll stop in, though. See what’s going on.”
He had no idea why he’d even said that. He knew he wasn’t going to leave her alone. In fact, he liked to sit on the couch while she worked, reading a book while she made her cards. He’d refill her wine; they might bicker. They’d definitely have really hot sex.
Lark just looked at him. “Don’t even think you can play that this is casual.” She said it in an undertone as David’s voice came down the hallway toward Gage’s office.
“It is casual. I like her.” He put his hand up to keep Lark quiet. “We’re having a good time so it’s not like I’m denying that. But we’re not engaged or anything. And not joined at the hip either. I think it’s best to keep things slow and easy. Now isn’t the time to go getting serious. I’m sure I’ll stay home though. I should pack and stuff.”
“Now is exactly the time, dumbass. What else do we have other than a scary, uncertain future? Oh right. Packing.” She rolled her eyes before hardening her gaze as David came into the office.
* * *
RITA popped her head into Molly’s office. “Senator Sato’s office just called to tell you to check your email.”
“Lovely. That sounds just swell,” she muttered, turning back to her computer to open her email.
“His assistant said to tell you to read Senator Sato’s note before you read the bill.” Rita shook her head. “I can only guess. I’ve got coffee brewing for you now. I’ll be back shortly.”
“Thank you,” Molly said to Rita’s retreating form. She turned back to her screen.
HR 877—The Domestic Security Act.
That wasn’t a header that made her feel any better. She opened it up.
Molly, this just hit my desk a few minutes ago. There’s a Senate version being shopped around now as well. We’ll talk about this tomorrow. I will do all I can to block this.
Call me when you arrive. I’ve put you on my
calendar at two. Come here and bring your people with you. We’ll go over it then.
Tosh
She opened the attachment and began to read.
* * *
GAGE stopped by her office when he hadn’t heard from her in hours. It was already nearly eight and he wanted her to eat and rest before the trip tomorrow. Wanted to get her fortified.
“Yes, I’m aware you’re busy. That comes with your job, doesn’t it?”
Well. Today was her day for being the ice queen obviously. Gage got himself situated in a chair near her desk and watched her in action. She tapped her pen on a thick sheaf of papers dotted with Post-it notes of varying colors. Her mouth was a flat line. His sweet Molly was pissed.
“No. I don’t understand. I’m out of understanding today so you’ll have to come up with a better reason for not contacting me about this ridiculous legislation than I’m busy. It’s impossible for the show to air without even a comment from my people. To do otherwise would be irresponsible of you.”
She listened and blew out a sharp breath. His aunt Rita came in, putting a mug of something at Molly’s right hand. Losing the hard expression, Molly smiled up at Rita in thanks. She patted his shoulder on the way out.
“Yes, that’s more like it. I’ll be happy to be interviewed then.” Molly hung up and Gage had to laugh, imagining the face of whoever the hell she was talking to as she disconnected without a good-bye.
“It’s your day for smackdowns.”
“If people didn’t act like jackwagons, it wouldn’t be necessary to call them at home at”—she looked at her watch—“eleven at night. Imagine the media not even consulting us about this situation in Indiana? Or worse, this new legislation? I shouldn’t have to smack anyone down. They should have called me right away. Or someone from the pack. Or anyone to give a reaction from the Others.”
“Legislation?”
She held up the sheaf of papers. “House Bill 877. They’re calling it the Domestic Security Act. Sounds promising though slightly ominous. What it does? Well, I’m glad you asked. It strips all Others of their citizenship and gives them a new status. Domestic Threat. Lovely, isn’t it? We’re anthrax or dirty bombs now.”
He blinked, stunned.
“Oh, but that’s not all!” Molly looked down at the papers, flipping through until she found the right page. “All Domestic Threats will be tracked for the safety and well-being of United States Citizens and put into one of five installations across the country where their numbers and activities will be managed by the newly formed Department of Domestic Threat Surveillance.”
Shock made his skin cold and then a fire of outrage began to build in his belly. “They want to put us in camps?”
“They want to chip us with GPS trackers. They want to forcibly sterilize all of us so we can’t procreate and yes, they want to put us in camps. Reservations. Whatever you want to call it. Our property would be taken by the government and put into accounts for us to use while being hosted.”
“This is a fucking outrage, Molly.”
“No kidding. So that was the big Sunday morning politics show I was just on the phone with. I’ll need to meet with the Others when I get to town. The studio will be the day after. I’m on the panel now. Apparently Carlo Powers and Senator Hayes were already scheduled. Tosh told me he was on it too, so at least there’s that. His office sent me the bill and then called about the show. I guess he made a fuss that I wasn’t invited.” She riffled through other things on her desk as he tried not to frown.
Toshio Sato was like a damned bad penny. He kept turning up. Usefully, though Gage wouldn’t admit it out loud.
“I’m sure Rita already told you this, but we’re set to fly out at six. Are you nearly done here? It’s after eight and I know you haven’t eaten.”
Her annoyance faded as she gave him her best Molly smile. “You’re sweet.”
“Don’t tell anyone. They all think I eat nails for breakfast.”
“Give me ten minutes. I need to gather up some supporting documentation to take with me.”
He stood. “I’ll be back in ten minutes and you’ll be coming with me.”
“I love it when you’re forceful.”
“I know you do.” He waved over his shoulder as he left the room.
“Make sure she rests.”
He paused at Rita’s desk. “Says you. Who’s here at eight at night.”
“I’m old. I don’t need as much sleep. Also, I’m not being pummeled on every front twenty-four hours a day like she is. I’m counting on you to not only protect her, but to take care of her. I know you’re sweet on that girl. She needs it. Needs something to think about other than this job.”
“How’d you know?”
“The way you look at each other. The way you take care of her. The way she looks for you in a room when she enters it. The way you touch her. I’m old, I’m not dumb or blind.”
He smiled, bending to kiss her cheek. “You totally aren’t. Why don’t you go home too? If you leave, she’ll find it easier when I come back in eight minutes.”
“I don’t leave until she does. It’s our deal.” Rita patted her hair and sat straighter.
“All right. I’ll be back in eight minutes and you’re both leaving. I’ll drop you home too.”
He
moved out of there quickly before she could argue, heading to his office. He wanted to leave notes for Lark. Turns out he didn’t have to as she was still working.
“Hey, I figured you’d be out on patrol or home.”
“Full crew is out on patrol tonight. I promised Simon I’d be home before nine for a change.”
He told her about the legislation and about how Molly had browbeaten the journalist on the phone about not being on the panel.
Lark shoved both hands through her hair, sending it all over the place. “You’ve got to be joking. These people won’t be satisfied until we’re all dead.”
“I agree.”
“Her options are more limited each day.” Lark meant Molly.
“Yeah.” He hated that it was true. Knew she wanted peace. Hell, even he wanted peace. But that option was less and less certain as the days passed.
“She’s no dummy. Certainly not weak. She’ll do what she needs to. Even if she wishes she didn’t have to.” Lark sighed.
“I think so, yes. I’ve got to run. I’m giving my aunt a ride home before I get Molly back to the hotel. I’ll keep you updated.”
“Be careful, Gage. Listen to your gut.”
He’d shared with her the way his powers had grown in recent months. His ability to go into a crowd and sense a real threat seemed to grow each day. The problem was in crowd situations it was harder to tell the direction of the threat. Especially if more than one person truly wanted to harm them.
“Count on it.”
Lark held his gaze. “I do.”
Chapter 23
SHE settled in with her note cards and Gage put a glass of wine on the table where she could reach it.
“Thank you. For everything.”
He paused. “I like taking care of you. You reward me so nicely.”
It was more than the sex. She knew that to her toes. He could skirt around it all he wanted, but he protected her in a way that was far different than how he protected Meriel. He touched her like she was special.
“Mmm-hmm. You going to stay over?” She asked this absently, knowing his answer, while she began to put together a map for all the things she needed to do the following several days.
“Easiest that way.”
“It’s a really far trip from your room next door, yeah.”
He snorted a laugh. “I gave that room up a few days ago.”
She looked up from her work. “You did?”
“I sleep here every night and when I’m not here, we’re at my place. Or traveling. Waste of resources.” He blushed as he shrugged his shoulders.
“Oh. Resource conservation.” She nodded her head like he wasn’t a dumbass and looked back at her cards.
“I like being with you.”
Well, that was far nicer than resource conservation, she had to admit. She locked gazes with him. “See? That wasn’t even hard. Also, I like being with you too.”
“I should pack.” He hurried from the room as she snorted and went back to her work.
This thing they had brought her no small measure of comfort. Of stability. He was something so positive in a life filled with negativity. Despite their bickering, his heart was good. His convictions were strong. He talked a good game because he was grumpy, but he wanted peace if they could have it.
Their little tiffs kept her on her toes, and she needed that. Because the humans she had to deal with didn’t.
This time in D.C. was pivotal. She could feel it to her toes. Or rather, in her gut.
He wandered back in the room and settled on the couch with a book.
She kept writing, putting her thoughts down, organizing them. The more she did, the more her color-coded ink filled the paper and the greater the number of stacks, the better she felt.
Two hours later she stood to stretch and caught him watching her, wearing his sex look. It shot straight to her lady bits and she waggled her brows at him. “I was planning on a shower.”
She padded from the room, smiling to herself when she heard him get up to follow.
Gage had become more than a guy she had sex with. She craved this time with him. When it was just the two of them, naked or not, but certainly naked was the most fun. She could let down all her barriers and just be Molly.
She pulled off her clothes, putting them in her laundry basket before going into the bathroom where he was already naked and had turned the shower on. A shiver went through her at the sight.
Gage was beautiful. Masculine. Hard and toned. Naked he was even more impressive than when he had weapons strapped all over him. He was a weapon. A physical manifestation of the most badass gun, knife, whatever.
And when he looked at her, all that hardness, all that furious defense of everything she held dear softened.
Well, not everything. Some parts of him got harder.
“That smile scares me, beautiful.” He moved to her, pulling her close so they were skin to skin. She shivered, sighing into his embrace, letting the heat of him settle into her bones.
“Nothing scares you.” She kissed his shoulder.
“Lots of things scare me.”
The tone he used caught her attention as she let him dance her into the shower. She groaned as the water hit her, warming the chill.
She shampooed and conditioned her hair first and then did his, loving the feel of his scalp against her palms.
“Like what?” she asked. “What scares you, Gage?”
He poured soap in his palm and rubbed his hands together as she watched, captivated by the sensuality of the slow, purposeful movement. Then those hands found her skin and she closed her eyes, opening her senses to the way he made her feel.
She was aware part of his motive for these awesome sex moves was to take her mind off his earlier comment and to keep from answering her question. Sometimes they did this. This careful dance of opening up and being vulnerable to the other.
It helped when there was sex. When they were naked, hands on the other, lips on the other, it was easier to unleash the words they kept so tightly.
His soap-slicked fingers tugged on her nipples until she made needy sounds. When she opened her eyes she found his gaze on her face.
His hair, wet and slicked back, exposed the masculine beauty of his face. Of those movie-star cheekbones and the full, luscious lips.
“So beautiful.” He leaned in to kiss her. A tease of contact, pulling away and going back to soaping her body up.
“Me? Ha. You look like a television commercial for exercise equipment.”
He grinned and she found herself backed to the tile, his body pressed to hers. He slid his arms around her, big hands on her ass, cupping, tipping her hips just exactly how he wanted.
He made her swoon sometimes. The way he just took what he wanted. Knowing it was what she wanted too. She was no virgin. There’d been others who’d rung her bell in the sex department.
But this was something else. More. So much more that every time he touched her she ached. Needed. Craved. She thought about sex with him pretty much all day long. Which made interminable meetings more amusing, certainly.
His fingers brushed against the heart of her, sliding through her pussy, sending ripples of sensation through her body until all she could manage was a stuttered breath.
“So hot and wet. I think about this.” He punctuated that with a quick, relentless flick against her clit until she gasped a please. “Every time I smell you. Did you know your perfume hangs in the air like a siren song? Your magick and your skin—powerful combination. I walk down a hall and I know you’ve been there. My whole body gets hard and all I can think of is being in you. Of the way it feels when I slide inside and you hug me so tight.”
She leaned back against the cool porcelain but it didn’t help. His words dazzled her, rendered her into a pool of need. When the head of him brushed against her she didn’t jump. She arched to get closer, going to her tiptoes to take him, her fingers digging into the steel of his biceps, urging him on, in.
“Imp
atient.”
She nodded and tried not to snarl when he pulled back a little.
He let go of her butt, sliding his hands around her body, testing the weight of her breasts in his palms. “All mine.”
Goddess, yes.
Then his hands slid down, fingertips teasing her belly button, a light touch over the seam where thigh met body that sent a shiver of anticipation through her. He spread her open as her hips jutted forward to get more.
“You’re soapy still. I should rinse you off.”
He unhooked the showerhead and rinsed her, slowly, methodically and she had to bite her lip to keep from begging him to get on with it.
“What I think I love most about you is the way you’re so controlled out there in the world. No matter how pissed off or annoyed you are, you never let anyone get under your skin. Your responses are so sharp and cold sometimes, slicing right through the ego of your enemies. You’re calm and collected. But here with me? When the door is locked? You’re not so controlled at all. You know what you like and you’re fearless about demanding it.”
Helpless against his appeal, she took in the way he watched her, watched the soap slide down her thighs.
“That Molly is my secret. All that fire and passion just beneath the skin. Mmmm.” He dipped his head to lick over her shoulder and then spread her open again, this time aiming the showerhead at her clit.
She sucked in a breath as the sensation began to build. Her muscles burned as she worked to keep standing as the relentless brush of the water over her clit dragged her up and up, closer and closer to climax as he watched.
His gaze was nearly as physical as the water, as the fingers holding her open. And when she broke, it was on a breath and a gasp, his name in her head.
And then he was pressing into her body, pulling her thigh up over his hip, even as her inner walls continued to flutter.
The way she peeled back, layer after layer, each more complex than the last made her irresistible to him. He wasn’t sure when or how it had happened, but what he was most scared of was losing this woman whose body took his so eagerly. This woman who had a sense of humor most people rarely saw. This fierce, powerful advocate for her people with a great big heart.