Caro studied them for a while, staring at the photographs. She opened one of Noah’s laptops, which lay on the coffee table, and did internet searches on each one. Not much to be found. No missing-person alerts either, statewide or national.
She lingered over Sierra Horst, a waitress who’d disappeared from a restaurant during her shift. Blood found in the parking lot. Active investigation.
While searching one of the names, she found a video clip from a local news channel covering the disappearance of Brenner Jameson from Cheyenne, Wyoming. The attractive blonde reporter gazed earnestly into the camera, her lips not quite in sync with the audio. Caro listened closely.
“Brenner Jameson left his two-year-old daughter Callie with his mother-in-law at seven AM, just like he always did, for his daily ten mile run. Every other day, he’d come back, have breakfast with his daughter, and take her to day care on his way to work. But the day he disappeared was not like every other day . . .”
The blonde babbled on, speaking over a shifting display of photos. Brenner, muscle-bound and proud of it. Callie, a laughing toddler with dark hair. Callie’s mother, a pretty, slender woman who, the reporter said, had died of leukemia only a few months earlier.
Caro stared into the big, liquid eyes of the motherless toddler gazing back at her from the screen. Big, brown, owl-like eyes. So innocent. They hurt her heart.
It was a pain in the ass to have all these inconvenient goddamn feelings waking up again. Blindsiding her.
She’d bet good money that Callie’s dad Brenner was one of the unlucky ones.
She’d be so fucking happy to lose that bet.
Chapter 29
Caro started up out of an ugly dream. It took a moment to orient herself.
Oh. Yeah. She was in Mansion Two. She’d dozed off on the couch, laptop still on her lap. But where was Noah? There wasn’t a sound from any direction.
Looked like she’d be sleeping alone. She closed down the laptop, gathered the files together and set them in a neat pile on the coffee table. She went upstairs and stripped off her clothes, sliding naked between the cool sheets.
A half hour of ceiling-staring later, she felt the air currents shift as the bedroom door opened. And there he was. She wasn’t surprised. She was so acutely aware of him now. She wondered if hanging out with enhanced people sharpened her own senses somehow.
She reached for the bedside lamp. Stopped herself just in time. He’d had enough drama today. Getting jabbed with light would not help his mood. Or her own agenda.
She gazed at his tall, broad form, a deeper darkness silhouetted against the dark framed by the bedroom door. A breath of the outdoors came in with him, a whiff of the forest: dampness and leaves, needles and resin. Sweet wild earthy smells.
He’d taken off his lenses, and his eyes had that uncanny reflective gleam even in the dark, catching all the available light and flashing it back at her. It was a glimpse straight into the heart of the unfathomable energy of nature. The flash in a wolf’s eyes, the deadly grace in a mountain lion’s spring, the infinity of the night sky. Pure, distilled masculine power, armoring the secret tenderness inside him.
He was so beautiful, he stopped her breath. She held the sheet to her chest, warmed by delicious, toe-curling, very female desire as he tossed his jacket on the chair and stripped off his sweatshirt. What light there was gleamed on the wide, powerful contours of his shoulders as he bent to kick off his shoes.
She felt intimidated, shy, exultant. She needed so badly to be close to him, and sex was the most direct way. Besides, just looking at him made her ache to wrap herself around his big, hard, sinewy body.
Her lower body clenched in anticipation as he padded barefoot to the bed. He jerked the coverlet down, baring her.
“Didn’t Hannah bring you something to sleep in?” he asked.
Her hair shifted silkily against her bare shoulders. “Of course. Cami jammies, she called them. Very nice top and bottom. But I was hoping to get lucky. And here you are. Feeling better?”
He shook his head. “I tried to analog dive. Got slammed by another imbed.”
“What’s that?”
He waved the question away. “Never mind. Didn’t mean to talk shop. Sometimes I forget you’re not up on all our mutant mods terminology.”
“I’d love to learn,” she offered.
“No. Not right now.”
She noted his sharp tone and waited for a moment. “Then just tell me what an imbed is. That’s not too much to ask, is it?”
Noah blew out a breath, staring out the window into what looked like impenetrable darkness to her but wasn’t to him. “OK, if you really want to know,” he said. “An imbed is a hidden trigger for a stress flashback. This one was bad. I burned another analog. I can’t dive again tonight. I can’t use any of my usual tricks to chill myself out. And they’re all I’ve got. Except for you.”
“Hmm.”
Talking about all his enhanced whatevers wasn’t getting them anywhere. It sure as hell wasn’t enough for her right now. By no means.
She rose up on her knees, and grabbed his belt buckle. “Come here, Noah.”
He covered her hands with his own big, warm hands. “I’m wound too tight,” he warned her. “I don’t know if I can be gentle once we really start. You know how it gets with us.”
“I don’t care. Go wild.” She jerked his belt open and undid the steel buttons on his jeans. “I need you. Right now.”
“You talked me into it.” He pulled his jeans down, and his big, heavy penis sprang free.
He stopped talking as she seized his thick shaft, her hands squeezing and swirling around his velvety skin. She bent to lick up precome from the swollen tip, pleased to feel him jerk and shudder. She took him into her mouth, cupping his balls, swirling her tongue. Pulling him deeper. Inviting him with every touch of her tongue to take his own pleasure.
He did, thrusting slowly. She responded with sensual, rhythmic pulls.
Each stroke deepened her excitement. A hot glow of light raced through every nerve ending, centering within seconds in her lower body, her swift arousal matching his. Her nails dug into his steely muscled ass. Her excitement ratcheted higher, fueled by his ragged gasps of pleasure. She was exultantly sure she had him already thundering full speed ahead when he groaned suddenly and dragged himself out of her mouth.
Oh, no, no, no. Not now, when she was burning to feel that hot, liquid explosion of male energy in her mouth. “Let me,” she begged.
“No. Not yet.”
“But I need you,” she said wildly. “I need this.”
“You’ve got me. You can have me. As much of me as you can handle.” He gasped sharply as she squeezed his shaft again. “But don’t make me come yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because I want to be inside you when I do. If there’s anything that could make me feel better right now, it’s that.”
Caro sighed, and hooked his jeans, shoving them further down his thighs. “Then take what you want. Just don’t make me wait!”
She tried to yank him down on top of her and onto the bed, but Noah stood strong. He stripped off his clothes and then kneeled on the bed before her, pulling her closer.
“Be patient.” His tone was implacable as he slid his hand up between her legs, cupping her mound. He thrust his fingers tenderly inside her, pulsing and stroking. “You’ll wait if I say that you will.”
“Goddamnit, Noah—”
“Shhhh,” he murmured. “Don’t rush me. I’m getting you ready.”
She gasped as his fingers circled inside her, and clenched around him, wriggling with pleasure. “You are such a control freak.”
“Yeah. Fun sometimes.”
Anger and excitement and pleasure fought for dominance as one sensation melted into the next. He touched her with incredible skill, unlocking new desires she never knew she had. She’d never imagined being so open to a man.
Noah was exactly what she craved. Whatever she’d been bitc
hing about before the clothes came off and they got down to it, she couldn’t remember. Not for the world, while being caressed by his long fingers. His tongue would be next. And then . . .
“More,” she said shakily. “There. Yes.”
“I don’t need you to tell me that,” he muttered against her throat, between hot, dragging kisses. “Your sig never lies.”
“Damn it, Noah. Not fair.”
“You’re so right. But I don’t care. Too bad for you.”
But it wasn’t, not at all. It was good for her, so good, and he knew it. It was obvious, how much he loved making her whimper and writhe. He knew just where to stroke, where to press and circle inside her in ways that sent pulsing throbs of erotic energy through her entire body.
“Put your hands on my shoulders,” he commanded.
She did so, trying to dig her fingers in. His muscles were so hard, so dense.
“I imagined this, the first time I saw you dance,” he whispered against her ear. “Just us. Alone. You naked, dancing for me. But with my hand shoved up deep inside you, so sweet and tight. Sliding in and out of you. Your juice making my fingers all slippery and hot. Rolling your hips, getting closer and closer to coming right around my fingers. Made me hard as a rock.”
“Oh . . . God,” she whispered.
“I wanted it so bad,” he said. “I love how your lips get so red. Your eyes go almost black, and I can see inside, all the way into your secret, hidden places. Let me in, Caro. All the way in. Sweet fucking surrender.”
“Noah . . .” Her voice was low and pleading.
“Dance for me now,” he said. “Dance around my fingers. Come around my hand. I want to feel it. Make me hot, Caro. Do it. Move!”
The snap of command in his voice startled her into motion.
She did just as he asked, clutching his shoulders, face damp and hot, breath rapid and ragged. She thrust her hips down and around, her arms draped over his shoulders as she rode his expert hand, maxing out on strange new sensations.
He was doing it all to her. Noah. Her man, if that’s what he was. And if he was more than a man, she craved it all. Everything he was. Hers.
Noah withdrew his fingers and opened her legs all the way. Then leaned her back, his hands cradling her.
“Yeah,” he murmured. “That’s how I want you. Wide open to my hands, my tongue, my dick. My mind. You make me so hot.”
Caro moaned with pleasure at his weight, his heat, as he settled himself between her legs and teased her labia with his penis. Painting her with long, slow, licking, strokes, dipping deeper now and again, to bathe himself in her slick opening. His glans shone with it.
Ooh yes. Yes yes yes. His fingers encircled his dick, touching the tip to her quivering bud. Letting her enjoy the tiny thrill every time he did it. Keeping the action unpredictable. Delicious, maddening, marvelous. He continued, relishing her building frustration, until she rocked forward, squirming with eagerness. She clutched at him, trying to pull him deeper.
“Please, Noah,” she whispered. “Give it to me now.”
“You’re ready?”
“You know I am,” she said. “Don’t play games with me.”
“No games.” He thrust inside her with controlled, deliberate slowness.
She gasped at the heavy slide of his thick member moving into her inner flesh. He surged in, filling her completely, eased out. She could feel his strong pulse throbbing inside her.
“Look into my eyes,” he demanded softly. “Don’t look away.”
He clasped her hands, twining his fingers with hers. She lost herself in that amber glow, in the sensuously deep connection, every point of contact as intimate as a kiss, as steady as a heartbeat, shimmering with intense emotion.
Light blazed through her. She wondered if it was like the light he saw with his altered eyes. Wild joy lifted her, launched her into the heart of that brightness.
Her fingers held his with desperate strength as pleasure crashed over her.
She came back from far, far away when he nuzzled her neck. Caro shifted her body, and realized that he had not come. Still super hard. Still inside her. He just rocked against her. Waiting. She had no idea for what.
“I thought you wanted to come together,” she ventured.
“I do. And I will. I’m just not done yet.” He rocked his hips against hers, nudging deeper. “Caro. Listen. I want you like I want to breathe. In my bed. In my life. I want it it all.”
“What?”
“You know. The whole thing.” He waited, his body taut with expectation.
Caro shook her head, momentarily lost.
As if he’d read her mind, he rocked back and surged forward, swiveling his thick rod inside her, stimulating all those hot glowing sweet spots. Which was great, but it didn’t do much for her ability to think. She wanted to understand him. “What are you talking about?”
“Marry me,” he said.
She stared at him, mouth open.
He waited. “Say something.”
“You’re proposing to me?” she squeaked. “Now? You’re inside me!”
“Yeah,” he said, with evident satisfaction. “Feels fantastic. The last time I proposed to someone, it was so much more calculated. Champagne, candlelight, fancy ring, memorized speech. This is realer. I like it.”
She didn’t. “And I get a flying tackle from out of left field? Come on. That was the absolute best hot sweaty sex I ever had but if you think that I—Noah, this is crazy timing.”
He looked perplexed. “Do I have to give you the option of saying no? I don’t have a plan B.”
“I don’t even have a plan A,” she said hotly. “I don’t have squat right now. And when people get close to me, it does not end well. Don’t do this to me.”
“I’ll keep you safe,” he said intently. “We’ll get through this. I promise.”
She reached up, tracing the sculpted shape of his cheek. “Please. Let right now be enough for us. It’s enough for me. I’m grateful.”
He responded by nuzzling her neck, like he didn’t want her to see his face.
He finally lifted his head, stroking her hair away from her face. “I’d do anything to keep you with me. Sex as a strategic device? Yeah. Multiple screaming orgasms to wear down your resistance? Sign me up.”
“It won’t work,” she said. “And don’t joke around. Things are too dangerous. I can’t make promises and neither can you.”
“Why can’t you?” His amorous mouth whispered the question against her ear before he nipped her earlobe.
“Come on.” Her lips trembled. “I’ve got a big, dark cloud hanging over my life.”
“It’s my cloud now. I own it. So? What do you say? Where do you stand?”
She smacked at the solid wall of his chest, poised over her. “Who’s standing? I’m flat on my back! With you about three miles up inside me!”
“We could get engaged.”
“You must be kidding.”
They stared at each other for a long moment. He shifted, as if about to roll away, and she tightened her legs around him, trapping him inside her with a spasm of what felt almost like panic. “Don’t you dare move,” she whispered.
His smile flashed. He kissed her lips, her chin, her jaw. “Never. That’s the whole point.”
She gripped his big shoulders, fingers digging in. “It’s sweet of you to ask,” she said. “Very romantic. But it’s way too soon. Let it go. Please.”
“Don’t say yes or no,” he urged. “Just think about it.”
“I’m not going to say anything,” she said fervently.
He nibbled her ear. “I’m going to finish now. You good with that?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I love that. I love all of it, with you.”
He wound his arms around her shoulders. They clung to each other desperately as his hips drove against hers until he climaxed with a shout, and pulled her along with him, freefalling into sweet oblivion.
Some time later, he rolled onto his side,
keeping her clasped tightly against him.
“It’s dawn,” he said.
Caro yawned. “I noticed,” she said. “Sort of.”
He’d stayed on his side, keeping her clasped tightly against him. He ran a hand over her from shoulder to hip. “You OK?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Good. I’ll make you breakfast.”
She heard a faint ringtone. Waited for him to ignore it. He did, but after a few moments he stretched out his arm and grabbed the thing, tapping the screen.
“Hell,” he muttered. “Gotta call my crew. Sorry.”
“Why?”
“Looks like we have to figure out exactly how to sell our souls to my problematic brother.” He slid from between the sheets, sat up and reached to snag his jeans. His mind moving forward with the task at hand.
All business again.
Chapter 30
“If you want him to bring the safe, you have to show him the girl.” Asa sounded irritated. “He’s not stupid.”
“Not an option,” Noah said again, implacably.
Asa squinted up at the ceiling. “You keep telling me how hard it’s going to be to outwit this genius psycho. And now you tell me that we’re supposed to trap him without bait. What the fuck do you want, Noah? Miracles?”
“We’ll send him a video of her,” Noah insisted. “If anything fails, he’d cut her to pieces. She cannot be there.”
“I hear you, and you have a point, but still.”
As he spoke, Asa’s curious gaze kept flicking to the glow in Noah’s unshielded eyes. Noah had taken his lenses off, figuring what the hell, he had nothing to hide from his brother at this point. Besides, he wanted to take a good, long look at Asa’s sig.
He’d been surprised to find it as atypical as Caro’s, though for opposite reasons. Asa’s sig was unreadable. Shielded, as if he were generating some sort of interference. When Noah tried to read his brother’s energy pattern, all he saw was an eye-watering shimmer. Like heat rising from hot asphalt on a desert highway.
Right Through Me (The Obsidian Files #1) Page 31