But words quickly failed Lillian as her entire body tensed, clenching against him and begging for more at the same time.
It didn’t take very long for her to reach the limit of her resistance, hands gripping the bed frame so tightly he could see her knuckles whitening. Part of him wanted to see just how long he could make her hold this. Even all afternoon, perhaps?
Instead, showing mercy (and frankly not wanting to wait to avail himself of seeing her orgasm), Nate stroked his fingers within while his tongue covered her clit without.
Lillian came. The wind and even the waves far beneath them seemed to go silent in the midst of her earth-shattering release, and for a moment, it seemed difficult to determine if it was just one orgasm or if it was two back to back.
He’d only count it as one, though.
Five.
“I know you’re enjoying this, but I’m not sure how many more I can take.”
Honestly, Nathan didn’t know how she even had words to speak right now. Then again, as exhausting as release could be, there was something energizing about it as well.
“Well, I’ll just have to get you fed, rested up, and we can continue later.” He raised an eyebrow, curious to see how she’d react as he sat up on the bed, pretending to be finished.
There was veritable fire in Lillian’s eyes as she frowned up at him, clearly having intended to imply something else with her words. She crossed her arms, and despite her curves and naked figure, she was going to make her point.
Of course, Nathan knew what she’d meant. He just liked seeing that spark in her eyes. Liked seeing her react to things in such feisty, adorable, human ways.
She opened her mouth, and he raised a finger before she could get too worked up.
“I’m joking. Not about doing more with you later. I fully intend to do that. But about being finished for now.” He lowered himself to her ear so he could whisper, “I promised to pleasure you senseless. And I make good on my promises.”
He bit down lightly on her earlobe, enjoying the way she jolted slightly, before standing off the bed and removing his clothes and throwing on a condom.
He came between her legs, surrounding her and focused wholly on Lillian. Then, taking his time, he sheathed himself within her, joining in slick heat that was unlike any earthly pleasure he’d ever experienced.
It was more than just their perfect fit, the way she arched her back in pleasure as they came together. There was something much deeper, much more profound in the way his body seemed to fill with warmth, touching a deep place of his soul he didn’t know existed. Somehow, it awakened a desire born of light so strong it alone felt it could match the darkness that had possessed him from birth, even if for just this moment in time—his need to love Lillian.
The sensual feeling of Lillian’s hands on his skin snapped Nathan back to reality, to the beauty of what they had, and he started to thrust in an intense rhythm. The pressure of each withdrawal, each push stoked the fire within him to a blazing height, and for a second, he questioned his own ability to hold back for the first time in his life.
Luckily, Lillian’s walls were already down, and she gave herself freely to a sixth orgasm, tension exploding into release as she intermixed his name between gasps and cries of pleasure.
It took everything Nathan had to just keep himself propped up on the bed beneath them, not allowing himself to come just yet.
“How the hell did you last through that?” Lillian asked incredulously. Her skin was glowing from exertion, the salt of the air around them intermixed with the scent of sex and lovemaking, a heady aroma Nathan wished he could bottle up and bring home with him.
“I’ll concede it wasn’t easy, but I wanted to watch you come one more time.” He couldn’t help himself. She was so intoxicating. More so than even humans addicted to things like scotch or other substances felt about their particular vice of choice.
“Yeah, well, I want to see the same thing now. It’s only fair, don’t you think?” Before he could retort, she somehow summoned the strength to move, and he felt her hips withdraw then push over him, surrounding him with slick friction that made the muscles in his forearms twitch unexpectedly.
Stubborn, even to the last second. She was perfect.
Matching her pace, Nathan moved with Lillian, doubling their speed. His body and soul screamed for release, but he wasn’t going to stop until she really was pleasured senseless.
That, and seven seemed like a fairly good number.
They moved together in tandem, totally in sync as each second felt like minutes, even hours of exertion. Then, as Nathan pushed in once last time, meeting hip to hip, he felt Lillian reach the edge. Her nails dug deeply into his back, and with a choked oath, she finally came.
It was more than enough to yank Nathan into abyssal pleasure as his body throbbed and pulsed.
Yet, through it all, he tried to remain focused on Lillian, wanted to see her pleasure and soak in it, even while his own senses went haywire from so much pent-up arousal.
By the time they were finished, Nathan had no clue what the time of day was. Or even what the date was. But it really didn’t matter. The hint of green in Lillian’s dark-brown eyes flashed as she looked up as though the world started and ended with him, her arms wrapped around his neck adoringly.
Shit. He really was in too deep.
He shoved any thought of the future or worries aside, though, so they could enjoy the present together. They’d probably rest. Go get food. If she’d regained her strength, Nathan sure as hell was going to double the number they reached by nightfall. Then they could head back to his place, and midnight would come again.
But for now, the future could go fuck itself. He’d never been happier in his entire life, and he deserved to enjoy it as long as he could.
Chapter 21
The next day at the hospital, Lillian watched Nathan accept an award and couldn’t help an odd welling of tenderness that started in her heart and seemed to creep into her throat, making it tight and uncomfortable.
She was in love with him.
It was impossible to deny after yesterday, after spending a quiet night in his arms, only leaving when the clock struck twelve.
As he stood at the podium, humbly talking about the work done by everyone in the building, from doctors to researchers to the brave kids battling cancer, she couldn’t find anything but admiration for him in her heart.
She rubbed her chest warily, wondering when was the last time she’d ever cared for a man like this.
She’d expected to prove to everyone that he was evil, to come up with some big reveal, but in spending almost a week with Nathan Lancaster, all she’d revealed was the vulnerability of her own heart.
Of course, anyone would have a hard time not falling for a handsome man who helped provide medical care for suffering children, but that wasn’t the Nathan she’d fallen in love with.
It was the Nathan who was so open in bed with her, so patient and caressing yet heated and intense at the same time.
Last night, he’d allowed her to touch him, and she sensed, for him, that was a very big thing. For all the people constantly trying to crowd around him, he never let anyone in.
She was more than honored to be the first person he made an exception for.
She was pretty sure he had feelings for her as well, as odd as it was to think. What had been obsession had turned into something tender in his eyes whenever he looked at her.
And though there were still mysteries between them, she really couldn’t imagine a time when he wasn’t around.
Today, she would tell him she was giving up on the article and see what he said. See if they could both be honest about their real reasons for spending time together.
Because she couldn’t pretend this was about journalism anymore.
Sure, she still wanted to know how he had such an uncanny ability to show up at the scenes of accidents, but if he wanted to tell her in his own time, that was fine now that she believed he was primarily helping a
nd never harming.
She stood to the side of the crowd as Nathan finished his speech to thunderous applause. His eyes met hers as he shook the hands of parents and children in front of him and then took a picture with a huge check he was apparently presenting to the hospital.
He didn’t own the building, but his generous donations had enabled it to be built in the first place. She wondered what in particular had made him exceptionally passionate about helping sick children, though he had philanthropic projects all over the world.
She took a few steps back so more of the crowd could get a chance to meet him and then looked up at a TV playing in the corner.
She gasped when she saw the news story on it.
“Local bank magnate’s son goes missing. Police are stumped.” Phil’s picture was shown alongside the text.
Phil, who had just taken Sasha out two nights ago.
There was a number listed that someone could call for leads, and she frowned as she wondered if Phil had been missing since that night.
She resolved to ask Nathan about it, since Nathan had said he’d go back and check in on him. A dark feeling of suspicion crept through her, but she told herself to ignore it.
But it wasn’t easy, given that Nathan had been the person to beat up Phil and presumably one of the last to see him…
And there was that cop who had mentioned Nathan had been the last person seen with several missing people.
Her heart thumped, but she also reminded herself that Phil was drunk that night. Maybe he crashed going home, or maybe he was being irresponsible and not going home to dear old Dad.
With what he’d tried to pull on Sasha, she wasn’t sure she should care.
Yet… given Nathan’s involvement, she did.
She knew it would take time for Nathan to open up to her, and now that she wasn’t investigating him, she could wait. But still…
Tomorrow she would go back to her job at the newspaper, though probably still stay at Nathan’s place until they caught whoever had ransacked it.
The cop had called earlier that morning to say no prints were found, which didn’t really surprise Lillian.
Still, it felt like a new day, and while everything might not be solved, she liked that she knew what direction to go in.
As she walked over to a couch and sat down, she thought of how odd it was that less than a week ago, things had been totally different.
She slumped her cheek on her hand, realizing now she was going to have to come up with a new story.
Her eyes followed Nathan as he shook hands with the people, smiling at them, and she decided she’d probably found an angle she could use.
At that moment, Nathan looked shocked, then reached in his pocket to pull his phone out, excusing himself politely from the crowd.
His secretary and one of his assistants swiftly took over, answering questions, as Nathan closed the phone and walked over to her.
“I’ve got to go out and take care of this. You going to be okay here?”
She nodded. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to interview some of the families you’ve helped.” Her fingers curled around her notebook. “I think I’ve figured out a new story.”
His blue eyes warmed, and he sighed as he shook his head. “I’m so lucky to have you, you know that?”
She was going to argue that he didn’t have her, but then who was she kidding?
After last night, after the past few days, she was wrapped around his finger.
Actually trusting a man.
“Just go,” she said, laughing a bit to extinguish the awkwardness. “I’ll help them handle things here.”
He smiled at her and gave her a little wave, then walked down a nearby hallway, his fine ass and broad shoulders making her want to drool as she watched him disappear.
Then she shook her head, forcing herself to snap out of it as she went to a nearby family that was waiting next to one of the cameras.
“Excuse me,” she said, taking out her recorder. “If it’s okay, can I ask you a few questions about Nathan Lancaster and what this hospital means to you and your family?”
The woman, a quietly pretty middle-aged blonde, smiled brightly. “Of course! Anything to help Nathan.” She pulled a kid of about six who was wearing a scarf on her head into her arms, hugging her tightly. “Without him, I wouldn’t have my little Susan.” She kissed the top of her child’s head. “We could never have afforded the kind of treatment we got.”
Lillian sighed as she thought about the unfairness of life, that parents couldn’t always get the best care for their children. “It’s lucky we have people like Nathan around.”
The woman nodded eagerly. “Many lives would have been lost without him.” She extended a hand. “I’m May Phillis, by the way.”
Lillian fought back a smile as she continued the interview, knowing the woman was just going to gush about Nathan again.
Still, Lillian couldn’t blame her, as a fond feeling rose in her chest just thinking about him. Nathan Lancaster was something special all right, someone unlike anything in this world, and she felt she could spend the rest of her life trying to figure out more about him.
* * *
Nathan quickly exited the hospital and ran around the back, hoping he had enough time to stop the bomber he’d seen in his vision, with little confusion or disruption to the crowd inside.
Speeches like the one he’d given were great for getting other philanthropists off the fence, ready to invest in medical research or give donations to hospitals.
And with how he and his brothers were, he felt he couldn’t give enough back to humanity. The good part that was.
It was why he particularly liked children. There was so little darkness in them.
Adult humans had time to ferment theirs, to choose to cultivate it until it almost overtook them, or to try and root out the blight in their soul.
Lillian in particular had done a great job fighting her darkness, refusing to become like her father or affected by what he’d done.
Her mother hadn’t fared as well.
Anger tightened his hands every time he thought of what Lillian had been through, but he knew he had to focus.
Unless he wanted something much worse to happen to Lillian and everyone else inside the hospital.
As he skirted the corner, he saw someone messing with something on the ground right in front of a utility shack.
Just as he’d seen in his vision.
He wasn’t sure why he’d been born with these powers. The ability to see random glimpses of the future and, when he touched someone, the extent of their darkness, but he could, and it helped at times like this.
It seemed to be the only benefit to the darkness that haunted his soul.
He had to turn into a monster at midnight, and he occasionally had to hunt, but moments like this, when he got to save people, made him a little less mad at the world.
“Freeze right there,” Nathan commanded as a man in an unseasonably warm hooded jacket pulled his coat farther around him, hiding his visage. “Don’t even make a move.”
The man reached down toward a package in front of him, and Nathan moved fast as lighting, getting between the man and the package and knocking the man back onto the ground.
Nathan picked him up and shoved him against a wall, kneeling with him, before the man could even blink or process what had happened.
The man’s dark eyes narrowed. “Who are you?”
Nathan slammed him against the wall. “What the fuck did you think you were doing?”
The man’s expression was cold, caged, but another firm knock from Nathan made him more talkative.
“What you’re doing is evil,” he spat. “Only God can decide who lives.”
Nathan let out an internal groan. Another one of these guys. He’d met evil in various forms ever since he’d been born, but sometimes he met truly heinous ones.
“So you get to be God, then?” Nathan looked over at the package that presumably held
a bomb. In his vision, it had gone off, exploding around Lillian and everyone else.
He would have yelled at all of them to leave, but he knew his visions usually gave him time to prevent bad things and also, scaring a crowd could cause untold injuries.
Luckily, he’d gotten here in time.
“I’m not God. I’m just serving him,” the man said. “Your scientists are the ones playing God. If a child is cursed, then he is marked to die. God has a purpose for him, and if you mess with that, then we’re all going to die.”
“Right, so helping sick children will bring about the end of the world.”
The man had the gall to wrap his hands around Nathan’s hand that gripped his neck. His eyes bulged, but he smiled, a wicked glint in his gaze. “No, but people like you will bring an end to the world. You think you have all the power because of your money, your looks.” His beady eyes darted toward the bomb. “But people like me have power, too. We have to fight you.”
“You’d be killing a lot more than the sick kids if you blew up that building.”
“I’d be sending a message,” he said, cackling gleefully. “Everyone would see me and know God’s purpose.”
“I don’t think you know the first thing about God,” Nathan said darkly. “And I think you belong in jail.”
“I’ll get out,” the man said, struggling against Nathan’s hold as if he still wanted to get to the bomb. “You’ll never stop me. You and your kind, you’re the ones who have to be stopped.”
For a second, Nathan’s heart stopped. Did this man know who or what he was?
“Those with power who try to play God, I and my kind will have to play God over you!”
So no, the guy hadn’t figured out Nathan or his brothers. He was just crazy. Downright insane, but probably not the type meds could fix.
“I’ll make a bigger bomb next time. You know they won’t even put me in prison.” The man gloated. “I’ll get off on an insanity plea. They’ll put me on meds. And then I’ll claim to feel better. I’ll get out, and then I’ll come for you, Nathan Lancaster. For you and everyone you care about.”
Nathan’s eyes went dark, and he felt bloodlust taking hold as he thought of Lillian. This man was threatening her.
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