by Lacey Savage
She stepped away, putting distance between them. Nathan’s first instinct was to reach out to her, to pull her back to him. But before he could, she grabbed for the hem of her absurd pink shirt and yanked it over her head in a move he’d only seen executed so flawlessly in movies. The kind he didn’t watch in theaters.
Her firm breasts jutted out, dark nipples pebbling against the slight breeze. She tossed the shirt to the side and darted out of the cave.
He followed, mesmerized. Moonlight glinted off her body, shimmering along the edges of the golden glow that emanated from her flawless skin. Why hadn’t he noticed that glow the first time they were together? It was ethereal, hypnotic.
The sway of her hips called to him. He couldn’t have stayed where he was if he’d tried.
As she walked backward, she rocked her hips in a gesture that had his cock pulsing against the seam of his pants. He’d worn tight black jeans tonight though he hadn’t needed the dark attire to camouflage himself. Still, he preferred dark clothes. They made him feel even more invisible than usual.
Laela beckoned to him. He stole a glance down the length of the beach, but there was no one out this time of night. Even the compound’s guards hadn’t made it out this far yet. They were alone. Well, mostly. A ship docked off to the side of a long pier about thirty feet away could be harboring curious eyes. A flash of jealousy wiggled its way into Nathan’s gut, but he pushed it away.
She wanted him to follow her. That much was clear. And it was important enough to her that she was willing to use her feminine wiles to ensure he’d come along willingly.
The Marine in him knew he was being played like a fiddle. The man in him didn’t give a fuck.
Skimming a hand across her nipples, Laela tweaked one between thumb and forefinger. Her other hand joined in the fun and she cupped both breasts, lifting them, placing them on an invisible shelf before pinching and rolling her nipples again.
A groan tore from Nathan’s throat. Sand gave way beneath his feet as he followed her, fighting the impulse to race ahead, tackle her to the ground and take her right there, on the beach. Consequences be damned.
He was too well-trained for that, too attuned to danger. Even with his senses addled and his libido on fire, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was still on display. Still being watched by a predator with hungry eyes.
He shook his head to clear it and almost missed the sensual way in which Laela caressed her stomach as a prelude to dipping her fingertips inside the waistband of her short skirt.
Still moving backward, she flicked what Nathan guessed had to be a button at the top of the waistband and rocked her hips. Every smooth swaying motion of her narrow waist was a promise of things to come. She moved like a woman in lust, a woman who relished the idea of being his for the taking as much as he did.
It felt like forever until the garment fell off, but it finally slid down the length of her long legs to pool on the moonlit sand, leaving her naked from head to toe. She wasn’t even wearing shoes, he realized as he watched her delicate toes dip into the surf.
Her pussy was clean shaven, just the way he remembered. Soft pink lips peeked from the smooth mound. Moisture glinted off them in the faint light.
He couldn’t bear it any longer. Taking a lesson from Laela, he unzipped his jeans and stumbled out of them as he struggled not to get left too far behind while he undressed. He wore boxers too, but those came off with less effort.
Laela halted when she saw him circle his erection with his hand. His cock pulsed, throbbing in anticipation. A drop of precum had gathered at the tip, and he smoothed it down over the thick length, swallowing back a hoarse groan.
He stroked his cock, up and down, as he neared her.
“I want to do that,” she said in a husky whisper.
Nathan removed his hand. His cock jutted out, so close to her he could thrust his hips and nudge it against her moist folds. “Then do it. Touch me.”
A mischievous smile appeared on Laela’s heart-shaped face. She jerked her head in the direction of the ship he’d spotted earlier. “Get on. Then you can do whatever you want to me.”
Alarm bells went off in his mind, as loud as the ones that had blared at the compound. Apparently sensing his hesitation, Laela grabbed his hand and placed it between her legs.
She rocked against him, her pussy rubbing lengthwise along his palm. Her swollen folds welcomed his fingers, allowing them to slip inside her moist sex effortlessly. The tip of her tongue peeked out between her full lips. She swiped at the lower one, not as a woman using her sexuality — but as a woman who was as affected by her performance as the man she was trying to seduce.
Trying and succeeding all too well.
When she pulled away, he felt the loss of her body heat like a blow to the gut. He could still feel her cream on his fingers. Her scent imbued the air, driving him mad with desire.
She turned and ran, closing the remaining distance to the ship. A narrow pier was the only thing standing between her and the plank that would lead her aboard.
Halfway up the makeshift plank — which was really nothing more than a board laid haphazardly between the edge of the deck and the pier — she glanced in his direction to make sure he was following.
Against his better judgment, he was.
Chapter Three
The subject has shown an increased response in his libido since being doused with the Cum-a-Chameleon powder. Because the effects of the undiluted powder have not yet been tested on a live specimen in a controlled environment, I will be keeping a close watch on the subject to ensure the suspected side effects —
“What have you got there?”
Laela started at the sound of Nathan’s voice and slammed her little notebook shut. “Grocery list.”
He pressed up against her, the tip of his erection gliding across the smooth naked flesh of her back. “I disappear for two minutes and you forget your promise in favor of milk, bread, and tampons?”
Forcing a nonchalant chuckle, Laela yanked open the top drawer of a small wooden desk and threw the notebook inside. After sliding it closed, she turned back to Nathan and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Tomatoes, boxed macaroni-and-cheese, and the latest People magazine, thank you very much.”
He arched an eyebrow. “You have to write that down?”
Guilt crept up her spine with ghostly fingers. “I can’t remember anything unless I make a note. Big brain, simple mind. That’s what my father used to say.”
Nathan grabbed her hips, pressing her closer to him. Around them, the small cabin swayed as the ship pulled away from shore. “There ain’t nothing simple about you, lady.” He bent his head, swiped his tongue across her earlobe and scraped his teeth across the sensitive skin of her neck. “Nothing.”
A shiver stole through her. On impulse, she lunged into his arms, burying her head in the crook of his shoulder and squeezing him to her with all her might.
He’d given in so easily. She’d wanted him on the ship, and here he was. She didn’t have to use any weapon in her pathetic arsenal of tricks except her feminine wiles. And God knew she didn’t have many of those.
There was only one explanation for the effortless way in which she’d enticed him. The formula was working in ways she hadn’t expected. In the lab, when she’d simulated applying the Cum-a-Chameleon formula on the digital prototype, the man had grown immensely aroused, wild with desire.
For the most part, things were progressing just as she’d expected. Nathan was aroused — there was no denying that. But his feverish need for her was a side effect on which she hadn’t counted.
Shame flittered through her. Before she’d left Rookery Cove, Okibi had read her the full, classified report on Nathan Alexis. The one even most branches of government never got to see. Laela hadn’t asked how Okibi had received clearance to read such a document. She’d learned long ago that the less she prodded into Okibi’s family secrets, the better.
What she learned, however, had been hear
tbreaking. Nathan had been deployed the morning after their tryst in the back alley of Club Surge. The mission had gone well — and one assignment in particular had turned out better than expected, thanks to Nathan. He’d been able to slip into an enemy camp undetected and retrieve valuable strategic information back to his unit.
He’d been promoted, rising rapidly through the ranks. His reconnaissance skills were unsurpassed. Until one day, when his commanding officer decided to follow him as he snuck into a suspected terrorist hideout. He’d seen Nathan fade to blend in with the background behind him. He’d witnessed the impossible, and he’d been all too happy to tell his superiors about the paranormal effect he’d seen with his own eyes.
It wasn’t long until Nathan was pulled off active duty under the guise of a much-deserved leave. Only he never made it back to San Diego. He was picked up at the airport by a group of men who worked for Zone 99, a secret branch of the Marine Corps. One that researched unexplained phenomena and used what they learned to create new, technologically advanced, weapons.
For almost three full months, Zone 99’s scientists ran every known test on Nathan in an attempt to gauge what fueled his paranormal ability. And when the known tests didn’t give them the results they expected, they resorted to even more probes and examinations resulting from unthinkable experiments of their own devising. No one cared what those experiments might do to Nathan. After all, there were certain perks to being part of a secret organization, as Laela well knew.
Only unlike Zone 99’s scientists, Rookery Cove’s employees never harmed their specimens. Most of the island’s inhabitants were all too familiar with how it felt to be different, and none of them would put another creature through a painful or even an uncomfortable ordeal to test a product.
“Hey.” Nathan pushed her away gently, putting just enough distance between them so he could peer into her eyes. His own were full of concern. “You all right?”
Concern for her. Concern she didn’t deserve. It damn near broke her heart to see it.
With a great deal of effort, she pasted a sunny smile onto her features. She wasn’t like the men from Zone 99. She wouldn’t use Nathan for an evil purpose.
But you are using him for your own purpose nevertheless, a ruthless voice inside her head reminded her. That’s just as heinous and unforgivable.
“I’m fine. A little sea sickness, that’s all. It’ll pass.” God, she was getting good at lying to him. Too good. And she hated every foul word of it.
As soon as they got to Rookery Cove Island and she was able to prove to Éliane that the formula worked, she’d set him free. She knew he’d been outside Zone 99’s compound intending to break in. For what purpose, she couldn’t say, but she was willing to bet it had something to do with the warrant out for his arrest.
Okibi’s report had claimed he’d killed three men when he’d escaped. Laela’s only regret was that he hadn’t killed four.
“I think maybe you need to stop worrying about me,” Laela said, dragging the tip of her fingernail across the T-shirt he still wore, “and start thinking about yourself. About this voyage… about what I’m going to do to you while I have you all to myself in this tiny little room.”
“Now that’s more like it. I agreed to be your prisoner while we sail around the world. But even prisoners have the right to conjugal visits.” His eager grin looked so genuine, she thought she might breakdown and tell him everything right then and there.
She’d given him only a vague indication of where they were going when they’d boarded the ship. To Canada, she’d said when he asked. He’d shrugged, but hadn’t argued. Judging by the report she’d read, she couldn’t blame him for wanting to put a little distance between himself and Zone 99. The compound would still be there when he returned.
Through it all, he’d seemed unconcerned with the possibility that she might be working for his enemy. For all he knew, this could all have been some elaborate trick to get him back into Zone 99’s clutches.
Simply put, he seemed to trust her. And she had no idea whether her formula was to blame for that.
Fuck. Éliane had been right. She needed to run more tests. She needed… well, she needed Nathan. In the flesh. At Rookery Cove. Which was exactly where she was taking him, if she could keep her big mouth shut long enough for the ship to get them there.
Damn, she needed a distraction. Bad. She had to do something with her mouth that didn’t involve confessing all her sins to the man who held her future with Rookery Cove Aphrodisiacs in the palm of his broad, sexy hand.
Skimming the length of his long torso with her palms, she grabbed the hem of his shirt and tugged. He helped her pull it up over his head. She sucked in a breath as she took in all of him for the first time.
She’d thought him magnificent when they’d first been together in the alley, but she hadn’t been able to see him through the dark shadows. Now, she knew better.
He wasn’t just magnificent. He was breathtaking.
Every ounce of him was rock hard, from his thickly muscled shoulders to his strong thighs and everything in between. The Marine Corps logo tattoo she’d glimpsed on his chest that night all those months ago was still there, hidden among the dark curls.
Her palms caressed the bulging swell of his biceps and glided lower, along the soft hair on his forearms. She dropped to her knees, her hands continuing to skim the six-pack curve of his abdomen, the lean lines of his waist and hips.
Sucking in a deep breath between her teeth, she reached for his cock. Nathan jumped when she touched it, and the thick shaft leapt in her hand.
“Wow,” she murmured, sliding her closed fist up and down his firm erection, mimicking the rhythm she’d seen him use on the beach. She wanted to pleasure him with her hand, her fingers, her mouth. She wanted to marvel at the thick length of his cock and hear his soft groans of approval as she took him to the brink of release.
“Wow yourself.” He parted his thighs a little wider, giving her more room to maneuver.
She’d been waiting for that. Without hesitation, Laela tucked her forehead just beneath his soft sac, slid back a little farther, and swiped at his delicate scrotum with the tip of her tongue. He rewarded her with a swift trembling shiver that buckled his knees.
Encircling his shaft with both her hands, she used her mouth to draw one of his balls between her lips and suck gently. Her fingertips trailed across the top of his cockhead, smearing some of the moisture escaping from the slit down the length of his rod.
His panting breaths and the way his strong thighs flexed weren’t enough. She wanted to give him more. She held no illusions that it would soften his anger when he learned her real reason for bringing him along on this journey, but for now, his pleasure was all that mattered.
His scrotum slipped out of her mouth as her tongue worked its way closer to the base of his shaft. When she swirled her tongue across the bottom of his rod, his hips rocked, thrusting upward. His cock jerked into her hand.
She gripped it harder, swung her legs around on the floor, and slid her mouth up the shaft to envelop the bulbous head.
“Baby…” He tangled his fingers in the spiky ends of her short hair. “I want to taste you, too.”
She didn’t stop. The idea of letting him slip his tongue between her swollen folds held infinite appeal, but right now she wanted to concentrate on giving him her complete attention. It was the least he deserved.
She sucked him deep into her mouth, working her hands along the shaft as she dipped down to take as much of him as she could. Then, as she inched her way back up the thick stem of his cock, her closed fist followed, gripping him tightly, smoothing her saliva and his precum over the tightly-drawn skin enveloping his shaft.
Nathan tightened his grip on her hair. His hips jerked in small circular movements as she continued to make love to his cock. She took him in slowly at first, lavishing him with soft, sensual swipes of her tongue. As his breathing grew more ragged, she sped her strokes, sliding up and down fast
er, her lips working with the same tenacity as her fingers.
His fingers worked, too, caressing her head, holding her close to his groin. The scent of his body seeped into her bloodstream with every deep breath she took, urging her on. She loved the hoarse groans of pleasure he emitted, the way his cock twitched and pulsed in her mouth as she gave everything she had to taking him over the edge.
Her senses became so attuned to him, she could have pinpointed the exact moment he lost control even if he hadn’t chosen to speak. But he did.
“Oh, God, Laela. Take me. Take all of me.”
And she did.
He came with a harsh, bellowing cry that echoed through the small, windowless cabin. He pulled back a fraction of an inch before his cock jerked up, hit the roof of her mouth, and flooded her throat with his wet heat. She did exactly as he commanded, drinking every last drop, sweeping her tongue across his shaft as his cock pumped his seed down her throat.
She couldn’t get enough. He tasted salty and musky, all male. She’d never enjoyed the flavor of semen before, but this was different. She sucked his spurting cock eagerly, drowning in the feel and taste and heat of him. He gripped the back of her head as he came in a gesture so overwhelmingly possessive that it made her knees buckle.
When his spent cock slipped out of her mouth, she still hadn’t had enough of him. Her tongue darted out to catch a stray bead of cum that had dripped down to his sac. As she swiped it into her mouth, he lifted her to her feet. “Down. On the bed, over there. On your back.”
She barely had time to react before he swept her into his arms and tossed her gently backward to land in the middle of the plush comforter. Her head spun with arousal and anticipation. The wooden slats of the ceiling swam in her field of vision.
“Part your legs,” he instructed. He was in charge now, and she… for the time being at least… was at his complete mercy.
She’d never had a man speak to her in that manner before. After the way Aline had turned her back on the family after meeting a vampire she couldn’t get enough of, Laela had vowed she’d never allow herself to be dominated by a man. Being a strong, independent woman — a scientist, no less — was more important to her than all the sex in the world.