Reluctant Protector

by Nana Malone

  “Stop talking in riddles, Cassie, we don’t really have time for this. We need to get on the road. I—”

  “You need to see yourself.” She cut him off. “Lisa brought a full length mirror down from the master bedroom.”

  Even though he tried to shrug off her supporting hands, she pulled him up from the bed. The contemporary style, clean metal frame and short legs made him feel like he was in the middle of a modern furniture exhibit. As he stood, Seth noticed that Cassie seemed smaller to him, more delicate, certainly more petite. Bare feet sticking to the chilly wood floor, he lumbered to the full length mirror leaning against the wall opposite the door. He frowned at his feet. They moved like cement blocks and didn’t cooperate as usual.

  When he reached the mirror, he stared at his shirtless form. He looked taller. Several inches taller than his usual six-one frame. His face—he leaned in to get a better look. He was still him, just more lean muscle. More angled. His neck was corded with muscle. And, holy shit, were those his abs? He'd been a lifelong endurance runner, but he still never had the kind of chiseled-from-marble abs he was sporting now. Shit, even his arms and legs bulged with muscle and his pecs protruded like he spent serious quality time with the bench press. He looked like—a soldier. A no-nonsense-commando-type soldier.

  He turned to face Cassie, in his now too tight, too short pants. “Please tell me this is some kind of weird acid trip a person has without actually dropping acid.”

  She slowly shook her head, her dark hair framing her face. She spoke and time slowed as each of her words permeated another layer of his awareness. “The first clue was when your temperature spiked, but I didn’t start to suspect until you experienced those flashes of precognition. I didn't fully understand what was happening to you.”

  Anger simmered just under his skin as he stared at her. “And my loss of sight?”

  “It could be a side effect of what was happening.”

  Once he shrugged off Cassie’s steadying hands, she moved to the Barcelona chair in the corner of the room, the scarlet red leather the only stain of color. The rest of the bedroom had no photos and just a few books on the bookshelf. The perfect anonymous room. “I think, like me, when you overuse your power, you experience side effects.”

  He narrowed his eyes as he stalked over to her. He put his hands on her shoulders and lowered his voice to a growl. “Overuse my what? I didn’t overuse anything. I’m a journalist. Seth Adams. No one’s ever called me Peter Parker. I’m human, plain and simple.” A brief glimpse of Cassie lying on a bed covered in blood, skimmed his vision. But the moment he tried to hold onto the vision, the visual dissipated.

  Cassie slunk back as if he slapped her. When she spoke again, her voice was quiet. “The visions. The images. Until you learn to control them, they might have adverse effects on you. For me, if I use my power too much, then I'm incapacitated with the kind of headache Godzilla would have. It um… It might be the same for you.”

  Shit, he was an asshole. In the back of his mind, he knew he shouldn’t take the events of the last day out on her. This wasn't his fight. No, pal, that’s not true. You chose to go with her. “So what you’re telling me is that I'm some sort of human weapon like you are?”

  Cassie shrugged and Seth glared at her, holding onto his anger with a death grip. But a growing, more insistent part of him focused on the lift and fall motion of her breasts. Probably the increased sex drive she mentioned. Was this his life now, the inability to not think about sex?

  “More or less. But you’re untrained, so you could do more damage to yourself than you realize. I can try and show you some things to protect yourself, but you'll be more a detriment than a help for a while.”

  Seth scrubbed both hands over his stubbly beard. “Is Lisa going to help us?” He asked quietly.

  Cassie nodded. “There’s nothing deceptive in her thoughts. I didn’t even have to push her to go to the store for me. She won’t sell us out while we sleep.”

  “Our relationship isn’t what you think.”

  Cassie moved to the chair by the bed. “None of my business.” She kept her body statue-still, staring at the bookshelf.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lashed out like that. I hit below the belt and that’s not my style. A lot is going on, but taking it out on you is still uncalled for.”

  She didn’t feign ignorance about the root of the apology. “You’re angry. And you have a right to feel this way. You didn’t ask for any for any of this. Consider me your radioactive spider.”

  “I see your pop culture references are up to date.”

  “The only companions I had were television and books. I read a lot, watched a lot of movies.” She shrugged and eyed the door again. “Why didn’t you want to come here?

  Seth ran his hand through his hair and tried for the quick and dirty version of the story. “Lisa, her husband, Matt, and I have been friends for years. Matt and I grew up in DC together. Like me he was a journalist. Mostly freelance for international outfits. We were both war correspondents in Afghanistan.”

  Seth tried unsuccessfully to separate the burning pain of loss blooming in his chest from the memories. “Afghanistan wasn’t the first time we worked war-torn regions. Rwanda, Serbia, you name it, we crossed paths, often working together. At any rate, three years ago, Lisa decided she was sick of being away from him and joined Doctors Without Borders. “

  “We got a tip that a group of village women were being used as suicide bombers. The three of us went with a military escort. The scene was a blood bath. While Lisa attended to some of the young girls who had been injured, Matt and I followed our lead. The building we were searching exploded sending debris and shrapnel everywhere. I walked away. He didn’t.”

  Cassie’s eyes shimmered with tears. “Lisa blames you?”

  He shrugged. “I was the one who convinced them to come with me. She has a right to blame me.”

  She reached out to touch him and heat immediately warmed him from the inside out. “You didn’t set that explosion.”

  He studied her with clear eyes. “You didn’t shoot yourself up with body-altering drugs. You didn’t know that sleeping with me would make me into Mr. Hotbody.” Another fleeting image of a naked Cassie bucking on top of him sparked at the edges of his vision. Again he tried to hold onto the visual, but it vanished.

  She withdrew her hand. “It’s not quite the same.”

  He pulled her hand back to his leg. “Sure it is.” Again an image flickered. Cassie’s legs wrapped around him as he braced her against the wall, driving into her again and again.

  She looked down at her hand, then shifted her gaze ten inches to the apex of his thighs. His cock stirred. He was in real trouble if she did that to him just by looking at him.

  Her voice was quiet, as if she knew the direction of his thoughts. “Seth, you only want me because of the amped-up sex drive. It’s a side effect and—”

  His blood went from simmer to boil the moment her ice-green eyes met his. He pulled her up. “I have my own theories about this amped-up-sex-drive thing.”

  Chapter Ten

  Cassie didn’t like where this was going. Or maybe she liked it too much. He kept hold of her hand, stroking the inside of her wrist. Desire burned like a kindling flame where he touched her. “Let’s hear your theory,” she said.

  He smiled that lopsided grin she liked so much, except now it held an air of danger. “True, there might be something about your pheromones or blood or whatever you did to heal me that makes me want you so bad. But the truth is, if I’d met you in a bar or on Match.com or something, I’d still do everything in my power to take you home.”

  Heat flooded her cheeks. When he talked to her like that she felt like the heroine of every romance book she ever snuck off to read. “But something about me is altering your body and behavior on a cellular level. Sure, you’d be attracted under normal circumstances.” She sighed. “When I’m with you, I experience this magnetic pull, like gravity is forcing me to
orbit around you. Do you feel that?”

  His nod was slow as his brows furrowed. “I still don’t see how that’s any different than two people who are totally into each other.”

  Cassie puffed a breath. “Most people feel an attraction and a need to be around each other, yes. But what we’re experiencing is unnaturally strong. Think about it. Under normal circumstances, would you ever wake to find yourself having sex with someone you barely knew?”

  He grinned. “Only on a very good day.”

  “Be serious, Seth.” She pulled her hand from his. “Until we know how I affect you, it’s better we keep some distance.”

  “You were planning on leaving me behind, weren’t you? Back at the hotel? But something changed your mind.”

  Her face flushed and she couldn’t meet his gaze. “Yes.”

  Seth closed his eyes and breathed slowly. “Don’t you have to give me some instructions on my powers or something? I think I know you a little by now. You wouldn’t leave me before I could defend myself.” He kissed her neck.

  Cassie sagged, deflated. He had a point. He needed to learn how to use his powers or he could get hurt. And he was an excellent kisser. Excuses, Excuses. “Uhm, Seth? While sleeping with you again would curl my toes, it might make you spontaneously combust or something. You slept with me once, next thing you know you’re blind. You want to risk something like that being permanent?” One of them had to use a rational brain.

  Seth’s normally warm brown eyes narrowed as he cradled her face in his hands. “Well, funny you should mention the side effects. Because when I’m near you and we’re touching, I start to get these little glimpses.”

  She grasped his forearm, tugging his hand from her face. She couldn’t think straight when he touched her. “What kind of glimpses? Is your vision graying when you get them? Like last time?”

  “I think I have to test the theory more to be sure.”

  The heat at her core radiated outward. Just the thought of him touching her and her body trembled. “Seth, we—” She scented his arousal—woodsy rain. The muscles in his forearm tensed then relaxed. The steady thump-thump of his heart ticked up in tempo as his nostrils flared and he deeply inhaled.

  When he brought his lips to hers, he had to angle his head for their lips to meet, but when they did, he wasn’t gentle. Their melding bodies went from inferno to sun flares in seconds.

  In one quick move, Seth scooped her up by her ass and wrapped her legs around his waist. He continued a steady onslaught of drugging kisses, and all she could do was hold on as desire overruled her rational side.

  A clatter sounded behind her before she found her back flush against the wall. One of his hands stole up her soft cotton T-shirt to caress her breast while the other gripped her ass and helped anchor her around him.

  His thumb drove her mad with his lazy strokes, teasing the top edge of the bra. The low moans deep in his throat told her how much he wanted her. But was his need a byproduct of the transition? The weaker part of her brain asked if it mattered.

  He tore his lips from hers, placing kisses along her jaw, never pausing the hand at her breast. His impatience won out and he yanked the flimsy fabric aside to gain better access to her nipple. He traced slow circles around the tip with his thumb and she gasped. Seth chuckled, and then lightly tugged on the turgid peak.

  Cassie called his name as she shifted to align better against his straining cock. She just needed was him in the right spot and she could—

  “Are you in a hurry, Cassie?” He nipped her ear. “Or do you want me to take my time?” His tongue laved the tiny injury and the slick heat of her core dampened her panties. He rocked his hips against her, a small taste of her impending ecstasy ripped through her thighs. “It’s up to you,” he murmured

  She couldn’t concentrate enough to form words. All she could do was try and drag him closer to her.

  “You didn’t answer my question. How do you want me?” To emphasize his point, he nipped at her neck.

  She took two attempts to form the word. “Fast.”

  Seth’s hands flew to the button of her jeans and yanked them down. He ripped at the button and zipper of his pants and shoved them to his knees. Cupping her ass, he settled her back against the wall.

  From a distance, a mewling filled the air as Seth’s deft fingers stroked her tender flesh. Her pussy clenched at the emptiness, begging for him to fill her. He moistened his cock with juices from her weeping center and returned his attention to her lips. His tongue dove in with wild abandon. But he didn’t enter her. Instead, he stroked her slippery flesh with the tip of himself, teasing her.

  She bucked against him and pulled her lips from his. “I thought you promised me fast.”

  He nipped at her pouting lips, working his rigid length back and forth against her slick lips. “I promised you fast. But I also want to drive you crazy.”

  Cassie whimpered. “I’m already crazy. Please, Seth. Now.”

  The head of his cock settled at her opening and she wanted to weep in relief. But her anticipation was short lived as he proceeded with a slow and controlled entry. She tried to thrust to urge him on, but his grip on her hips held her still.

  “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  She took his cue and nipped his ear. His curse was terse and guttural.

  “Please, Hurry.”

  He shook violently when she clenched her walls against the smooth tip of him. With a muttered, “Fuck,” he drove into her. Both his hands gripped her hips to the point of pleasure-plain when he retreated so just his cock-head nudged her velvet opening, then surged back in.

  With every stroke of him, she cried out. His mouth didn’t ease up on hers. When he finally pulled back, she opened her eyes and could read everything about him. His need, his desire, and more. She saw through his eyes the first time they met. The way he felt about her when they finished the firefight in the woods. She’d amazed him.

  He showed every feeling with each driving, piercing stroke.

  “Seth,” she breathed as she held on to him, fisting her hands into his hair.

  His strong hands held her in place as he filled her. With every surge forward, he rubbed against her clit and tingles shot from the base of her spine to her toes. His hands gripped her flesh. His fingers soothed and urged her to go faster. “Cassie, I need to feel you coming around me. Show me how much you like this. How much you need me.”

  She was so close she could taste it. But their angle was different than in the hotel room. She needed more. “Seth, I—I don’t know what I need.”

  Instantly, he slowed his pace and met her eyes. He shifted positions again, tilting her hips forward. His right hand caressed her ass as he held her. “I can help. Just let me know when something feels good. He withdrew. She moaned. When he surged forward again, her breath caught.

  But when his fingers grazed the cleft of her buttocks she started to tremble. A wicked glint flashed in his eyes and he repeated the movement as he pumped into her again. The only way Cassie knew to answer him was to crush her lips to his.

  As he kissed her, his fingers stole down the cleft of her ass, past the tense pucker to where their bodies met. He stroked the sensitive patch of skin and wet his fingers with her juices. When he traced a path back to the tight pucker, Cassie stilled.

  In a slow measured movement, he circled the opening with his moist fingertips. Her breath hitched. He performed the motion again and she whimpered. He started working in rhythm with his thrusts and her orgasm began building again. More than a fleeting distant sensation. Now as a tangible concrete mantle she hurtled toward. One gentle finger probed her ass and her head flew back as the blunt digit pushed beyond the resistance.

  In time with his finger, he worked his cock in and out of her. Then he added another finger. The tight pressure completely filled her. With another curse, he picked up the pace, demanding she follow him. She had no choice. With or without him, her path led to ecstasy.

  Seth shifted his other hand s
o both hands rested her rear entrance, opening her, teasing her nerve endings. Cassie’s orgasm slammed into her with such force, her vision grayed. The walls of her pussy milked Seth, pulsating around him, refusing to let go.

  With another groan, Seth followed her jump into oblivion—his body trembled with each pump of his seed inside of her.

  He still didn’t release her lips as he stumbled back from the wall to the bed. Seth collapsed on top of her with their bodies still joined.

  Chapter Eleven

  Lisa barged into the guest bedroom like Satan himself was on her heels. “Move your asses. You got to go.”

  Cassie sprang from the desk in the corner, pointing her gun at Lisa, safety off. Somewhere in the middle of the night she needed to breathe and shoved Seth’s hulking body off of her. But missing his warmth, she donned her long sleeved T-shirt and perched by the window, trying to work up the nerve to leave him. She never found it. So, she made use of the time and tried to get a peek at the flash drive Annabel had given her. No luck, though. The damn thing was encrypted.

  She darted a glance at Seth, face down on the bed, naked as when she pushed him aside. He was dead to the world. He really needed to work on his reflexes.

  She lowered the gun and returned her gaze to Lisa’s strained expression. “What’s happened?”

  Lisa helped toss their things into Cassie’s lone bag, along with some medical supplies. “Nosy neighbor who listens to police scanners came over this morning, asking about your car in the back driveway. There’s an APB out for your make and model.” She paused, her eyes grave. “Cassie, that friend you mentioned, Annabel. She’s on the news.”

  Cassie stilled.

  “They found her in her house. Apparent suicide. I have to admit, even with your levitation trick, your story was a little hard to believe until that news story. You guys have got to move.”