The Devil You Know

by Kit Rocha

  Now she knew why he’d pinned her hands down. If she’d had one free she would have tangled her fingers in his hair and dragged his mouth straight to her aching nipple. But she’d asked for endless, and that was what he gave her. Slow strokes, relentlessly patient, until her skin was so sensitized she wondered if she could come again, just like this, just from a low whisper against her ear and his finger tracing an idle path down the center of her chest.

  His parted lips brushed her ear, her shoulder, then nothing. Just as she was about to open her eyes, his tongue flicked wet heat over her nipple.

  The sudden shock of it drove a cry from her. “Gray!”

  Her breath—and the rest of her cries—cut off as he closed his mouth around her nipple and sucked gently. It was exactly what she’d wanted, what she’d needed, but it only stoked the craving hollowing her out. She whimpered, lifting her hips in restless entreaty, but the warm hand on her hip pressed her back to the bed.

  There was nothing to do but feel it. His lips, his tongue—then his teeth, gentle as they scraped sharp sensation over her skin. Her hips jerked again, but he was relentless as he murmured something she couldn’t understand against her skin.

  The tone of his voice was enough. Liquid smoke, shivering over her, and she’d barely regained control of her breathing when his mouth closed around the other nipple and started again.

  “Please,” she rasped, squirming in his grasp. Squeezing her thighs together offered scant relief from the throbbing need. “Gray.”

  He lifted his head. “Look at me.”

  She forced her eyes open, only to find him hovering above her. Those beautiful Gothic eyes, his always-serious face, the hair that had gotten a little too long and was now wild from her fingers.

  That focus. The focus of a sniper who would spend an hour setting up the perfect shot—and all of it was currently centered on her. On her responses.

  On her pleasure.

  “Watch me.” He held her gaze as his fingers slid down, over her stomach.

  Oh God, oh God, oh—

  “Fuck.” His fingers brushed her clit, and pleasure so sharp and bright it almost hurt jolted through her. Her body jerked in response, and he froze, watching her face with that gentle, careful patience. The second graze of his fingers was softer, barely there. Sweeter warmth shuddered through her, and her eyelids drooped.

  “Maya.”

  She forced her eyes back open as he stroked her again. She felt naked for the first time, utterly exposed as he slicked his fingers deeper and watched her every response like he was committing her to memory. It should have been a vulnerable feeling. The fingers locked around her hands were unmovable steel. He had the strength in him to bend metal and shatter stone.

  All of that power … All of it focused on giving her anything she wanted.

  Breathing unsteadily, she let her thighs fall apart. There was no shame left in her. No hesitation. Just want. She stared up into his intense blue eyes and did her best to shake that perfect control. “I want to feel you inside me.”

  “Getting there.” His stare intensified, as if he was refocusing some bottomless well of attention on her. “Patience, sweetheart.”

  Patience was a distant memory. She was burning up from the inside and parted her lips to tell him so. But his fingers returned—and instead of stroking, they thrust deep. Her words vanished in a satisfied moan. Two thick fingers filled her completely, and the slick sound of him working them into her again was so illicit, she had the wild thought she’d never be able to see his hands again without blushing.

  But relief was short-lived. Her body twisted in dizzy knots as he fucked those fingers into her, but it wasn’t enough and he knew it. She could see it in his eyes, in the hot anticipation there.

  He bent and nipped at her earlobe. Then the rasping sound of his voice filled her. “If you want more, tell me. Say the words, Maya.”

  Gladly. Eagerly. She turned her head and whispered them against his lips. “Make me come.”

  He kissed her hard, then scraped his teeth over her cheek in a rough caress. “It’s going to be so good.” His thumb began to circle her clit in slow, steady strokes. “When I finally take you, it’s going to be so good.”

  It was already too good. By the second stroke she was trembling on a knife’s edge. By the third she was gasping, straining, so close, so close—

  “I’ll never forget one single goddamn second.”

  The tension shattered. Orgasm ripped through her, the intensity of it stealing her breath. She couldn’t make a sound as the first bright wave of bliss washed over her. Heat raced down her spine and out. Her toes curled. The second wave crashed down harder, and she gasped out his name as the undertow swept her away.

  For an eternity, that was all there was. Pleasure, and the echoes of it, and she couldn’t tell if she was still coming, or if the memory of it was so bright and real that the physical reaction shivered through her every time it replayed. She whimpered, clutching for something solid.

  Gray’s hand was there. Warm, strong. She clung to it, following that one contact with reality down her arms. She felt the quilt beneath her back, the heat of Gray’s body along one side of her. His free hand was stroking gently over her hip, as soothing as the soft murmurs against her ear.

  He peppered her brow with kisses. “You with me?”

  “I think so.” She couldn’t help the lazy smile that curled her lips. “You broke my brain, but only a little.”

  He was tense, a fine tremor running through his body, but he returned her smile. “And I’m not finished yet.”

  He shifted to the edge of the bed and took off his boots. The moment they hit the floor, he stood and reached for his belt.

  Maya rolled onto her side and watched him, languid satisfaction battling a fresh spark of anticipation at the soft sound of leather against metal. The rasp of a zipper followed, and she held her breath as he moved with his usual careful deliberateness—except this time he was stripping off his pants and everything underneath.

  He stood there for a moment, naked, his rapid breathing the only break in his careful control.

  Well, almost the only break.

  Maya sat up and swung her legs over the bed. He was close enough to touch, and she did, dragging her fingers up the outsides of his thighs. His muscles tensed as she ghosted her fingers across his abdomen. She glanced up at him, meeting those blazing eyes, and smiled. “Can I?”

  He caught her wrist. “Only if you want to blow all my careful plans. Literally.”

  She laughed, tracing the fingers of her free hand back down his hip. “What happened to all that patience and self-control?”

  “I’ve been listening to you moan, that’s what.” He lifted her in his arms and dropped to the bed, holding her above him. “Feeling you come.”

  Maya’s knees pressed against the quilt, her legs forced wide by the width of his hips. He lowered her slowly, and they both hissed when his erection brushed her clit. She braced both hands on his chest, resisting the urge to grind down against him. “I’ve never done it this way before,” she whispered. “Help me.”

  He guided her, the taut muscles in his arms standing out in sharp relief, tilting her hips until the head of his cock was perfectly aligned to slide into her.

  Then his fingers tightened, digging into her skin. “It’s whatever you want,” he panted hoarsely. “You’re in control.”

  She wanted to go slow. To torment him the way he’d teased her. To watch pleasure break over him as she made it last forever. But he was so hard, and she was so empty, and the first downward rock of her hips drove a helpless groan from him that shattered her self-control.

  Digging her nails into his chest, she took him deep. The stretch of it was dizzying, but nothing compared to the thrill she got from watching his face. His lips parted around a silent moan as he drove his head back against the bed, his expression as unguarded as she’d ever seen it.

  She shuddered and gave an experimental rock. Gray�
�s jaw clenched, his fingers flexing on her hips, and she reveled in the tiny fractures of his control.

  “Maya.”

  Oh, she was drunk on the feeling of him, already floating as she rocked again. The memory of recent pleasure teased at her, tingles shivering down her spine every time she took him deep.

  “Maya.”

  He growled her name this time, his eyes wild, and she let her hands slide up to curl in the quilt on either side of his head. The angle was sharper this way, the friction exquisite. She nipped at his jaw, then moaned as his hips jerked up in response. Bright lights sparked on the edge of her vision like fireflies, a warning that the high couldn’t last forever. Every touch, every sound, the scent of him and the taste of him—she pressed her parted lips to his throat and licked his skin, salt and sweat and lightning.

  Maya pressed her forehead to his. Her braids cascaded over her shoulders to form a curtain around her, even the brush of her own hair over her skin a liquid heat.

  Too much. It was too much. And she didn’t care. She grabbed on to the quilt as if for dear life and told Gray what she wanted. What she needed. “Fuck me, Gray.”

  His fingers tightened on her hips. He lifted her effortlessly and thrust up into her, the first stroke powerful enough to make her limbs feel boneless. It didn’t matter. Gray held her in place as if it were effortless, all of his strength and grace focused on one obscene and glorious goal.

  The first orgasm might have been a memory. She couldn’t tell the difference anymore—she could feel his thumb circling her clit like it was happening now, could feel his lips against her ear, his teeth on her throat, his tongue on her nipple. Pleasure was a kaleidoscope, every hard thrust turning over a new pattern made of memories overlapping reality.

  Then he shifted the angle somehow, and his next thrust ground the base of his shaft against her clit, and that was new. She slammed back into the moment, pressing her open mouth to his shoulder as if she could muffle the scream building inside her. But everything was bright and hot and beautiful, and her whole body shook as the pressure inside her unraveled without warning.

  She moaned at the beauty of it, especially when Gray groaned her name and his final thrust carried them both into bliss.

  Maya floated there. For hours. For centuries. It was better and worse than the last high. Tiny aftershocks trembled through her. She couldn’t see the stars and didn’t know if she remembered their names. But her cheek was pressed to warm skin, and beneath she heard a steady thud.

  She focused on it as it slowed, blocking out everything but that steady thump. Her shaky breaths slowed in time … in for five beats, out for five beats. When she didn’t have to think about breathing anymore, she let herself feel. A strong hand rested on her back, the thumb gently stroking her spine.

  “Whoa,” she whispered.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “That…”

  “Yeah.”

  Maya hid her face against his chest as irrepressible laughter bubbled up. “Oh God, I’m never going to be able to look at you in public again.”

  Gray chuckled. “Let’s be real—you could barely do that before we had sex.”

  She growled and bit his chest lightly. “Yeah, but now you’re gonna give me one of those filthy-hot little stares and I’m going to remember—” She faltered as even the thought of it threatened to summon a full sensory replay of Gray staring down at her, his fingers and thumb shattering her apart. “Oh God,” she groaned. “I’m so doomed.”

  He drew her closer with another rumbling chuckle. “Somehow, I think you’ll manage.”

  “Never,” she declared. “Everyone will know.”

  “Everyone already knows.”

  Maya’s cheeks heated. “No.”

  “But I’m sure they find it excessively adorable,” Gray offered teasingly.

  It felt so good to lie here with him, basking in this warm glow, prolonging it with gentle teasing and slow, soft caresses. She could have cuddled there in the warmth of his arms forever, but a sharp rap shattered the peace of the night.

  “Up and at ’em,” Dani called through the door. “The intel came in on Emerge BioCore. We’re rolling out.” She paused. “This means you, too, Gray.”

  Maya groaned again, and this time there was no amusement in it. Dani was going to give her so much shit, and she definitely needed to soundproof her bedroom. But she shakily separated herself from Gray and swung her feet over the edge of the bed. “We’re coming,” she called. “Give us ten.”

  Gray sat up as well. “Are you ready for this?”

  “I think so. My brain’s a little mushy, but I know how to lock it down. I may pay for it later…” She smiled at him. “But some things are worth it.”

  He took her hand and raised it to his lips. The kiss he brushed across her knuckles left the sweetest tingles in its wake. “Be safe.”

  “I’ll just be in the van,” she countered, turning his hand over to press her lips to the center of his palm. “Keeping you safe. Now go, before Dani decides to poke her head in here to see what’s keeping us and gets an eyeful.”

  “Frankly, she’d deserve it.” But he slipped away to gather up his clothes anyway.

  Maya closed her eyes and curled her fingers around her rumpled quilt. Her thoughts were enthusiastic puppies again, tumbling over one another in glee. Hopefully, the drive would be long enough for her to wrangle them into obedience.

  She had a feeling she’d need all of her wits on the other side.

  August 13th, 2066

  The only reason the entire mess with 66–221 wasn’t black-holed is that he hurt the wrong person. A TechCorps VP has the power to demand consequences. Vice President Anderson was impressed by my foresight regarding her grandson’s murderer.

  Now I have a powerful ally. And a goal.

  The Recovered Journal of Birgitte Skovgaard

  TWENTY-ONE

  Emerge BioCore had come down in the world.

  The abandoned office building in which they’d taken up residence had seen far better days. Half of their security seemed like plausible deniability—from the outside, no casual observer would guess the place was even occupied. The flexible solar arrays unrolled across the roof and the wide satellite dish were the only tells, and they were only visible from the air.

  A useful deception, unless the people hunting you had access to satellites.

  The place was a dump. Rainbow probably could have broken in. Dani could have infiltrated it sleepwalking. Even so, Maya’s heart pounded as Nina maneuvered their van toward their target. The familiar sounds of last-minute mission prep filled the tiny space. The rasp of Velcro, the whisper of knives going into sheaths, the rhythmic click of people checking their firearms. Conall’s fingers were already flying over his keyboard.

  Knox’s calm, authoritative voice rose above it all, repeating the plan in all its blunt, brutal glory one last time. “The back door is our point of entry. Nina and I go first—”

  “With me,” Ava interrupted.

  “With Ava,” he continued smoothly. “We’ll clear a path. The rest of you cover us. Conall and Maya…”

  “We find the kids,” Maya supplied, “and lead you to them. As fast as we can.”

  “As fast as you can.” Knox’s gaze took in every one of his soldiers in turn. “This isn’t about stealth. This is about destroying everyone between us and those kids and anyone who tries to stop us on the way back out.”

  “A real fucking pleasure,” Rafe growled, flexing his hands inside his tactical gloves.

  “Understood.” Dani fastened a sheath around her right thigh, a twin to the one she already wore on her left. The only difference was that one was for pistols, the other for knives. “This is a take-no-prisoners operation.”

  Ava sat across from Maya with her legs crossed, watching them all with faintly amused superiority. Even her armor was bespoke and fashionable, from her knee-high heeled boots to her tailored tactical vest. Rows of delicate, shiny throwing knives lined the fron
t like accessories, and her usual tightly braided bun was adorned with silver spikes she’d no doubt rammed through many an enemy’s neck. The silver bracers buckled around her forearms were so polished Maya could see her reflection in them.

  “I still question the tactical wisdom of bringing compromised men into a firefight,” Ava said, her gaze taking in Mace and Gray in turn. Gray stiffened next to Maya, and she briefly contemplated snatching one of those pretty hair ornaments up and poking Ava somewhere nonlethal with it.

  “The last time we rolled out with you in our vicinity, you were the asshole zip-tying our hands together and shooting at us.” Dani grinned, baring her teeth. “If I didn’t get to peel your face off for that, you don’t get to question shit.”

  “I have a perfect grasp of their skills and limitations,” Knox said in a tone that allowed no argument. “A far more thorough understanding than I have of yours, quite frankly. You trust my judgment and obey orders, or you stay in the van.”

  Ava studied him for a moment before inclining her head. “Fair enough.”

  Knox seemed to accept that as agreement. “Is everyone clear on the plan?”

  Mace tapped a full magazine on the frame of the van, then slid it into a pistol bigger than a person’s head. For the first time Maya could remember, his hands weren’t shaking. “Crystal.”

  “Good to go, boss,” Conall agreed.

  As the van coasted to a stop and Knox ran a final comms check, Maya snuck her hand down to Gray’s and curled her fingers around his. The warmth of his skin kindled memories that she couldn’t allow to drift into glorious focus, but they brought with them both peace and a purpose.

  “Have faith,” he murmured.

  She usually did. Nina had infected her with it, with boundless hope and a belief in miracles. Some part of her still thought she might find a way to pull Gray back from the edge. To steal back the months and years that could have been theirs.

  All it would take to snuff out her dreams was a stray bullet.

  Maya swallowed back the fear. Trying to stop Gray from doing what good he could in the time he had left would be a betrayal. She rallied a bit of her usual sardonic humor and gave him her best no-bullshit stare. “Don’t get dead,” she told him tartly. “Or I’ll kick your ass.”