“C’mon.” Candy switched tones and spoke loud enough for Hux to hear. “Let’s head back upstairs. The equipment to get Dani wired is ready. Marduk and I laid it all out weeks ago. We just need to go over the rest of the shit to be good.” She took Dani’s arm and steered her back to the elevator, noting that Huxley followed. “If we get lucky, they’ll grab you as you leave the hospital after your shift.”
“Great,” Huxley mumbled behind them. “Just fucking great.”
The elevator trip up was made in silence.
They entered the thunder god’s office, where Huxley let them know, “I’ve called Marduk.” He plunked himself down in a chair to wait. The god appeared seconds later and looked over the trio.
“So this is it, huh?” he asked. “You’ve made up your mind?” His glance travelled to Dani, warm but cautious. “This isn’t anything for you to enter into lightly,” he reminded her. “You could end up badly hurt or worse.”
Dani looked Marduk right in the eye. “In all my life, the thing I’ve felt really good at—really useful—is saving lives. It’s what I do, and I can do that with a scalpel, or I can do it using whatever other tools I might be handed.” She brushed a fall of hair back from her face. “In this case, that tool is being human,” she said, a little cheekily.
“But Dani—” Marduk started.
She waved a hand, not letting him speak. “Don’t you think that, since meeting you all, I feel a little bit outside the god club?” Marduk would have argued but she shushed him again. “I know, I know. I’ve been a great help to you in my capacity as surgeon. I get that. But to only be able to see a third of the people who live here? To know that conversations are going on around me of which I am unaware? Those things get old. But rescuing the queen? It’s something I can do as a human. Something that you, as a god with an energy signature, can’t.”
Dani figured that Candy could relate. It had only been five weeks since the agent encountered the gods, and she sported a very healthy ego. But she’d told Dani it still bugged her not to know or be part of the entire group, even though she could sort of hear most of them. Candy described her awareness like a radio that skirted around a station. Fuzzy sometimes, and clear others. Dani confessed that living with the invisible gods felt like eating frosting but not being allowed any cake. Fluff without substance.
“Okay, Dani. No more arguments.” Yes. Marduk finally gave in. “How do you want to play this?” They all ignored Huxley’s dark glares.
“Candy and I should leave now and pick up a few necessities for my empty apartment: a couple of blowup mattresses, blankets, towels, pans, paper goods, and food.” She contemplated moving back to her apartment for a short stay. “If we leave without anyone tailing us—they’ve probably become complacent over my empty apartment—nobody will think to look for us there tonight.”
“Fine, but we’ll want you both wired up before you leave the compound. Huxley needs to be able to monitor you’re every move.”
“Agreed.” Dani-Lee became pragmatic. She would not take any unnecessary risks.
“Okay, let’s get started.” Candy looked right at home over the plethora of equipment on Marduk’s desk.
No more than an hour later, Candy and Dani sat in Candy’s rental car and got underway. Candy had expertly rigged them both—and Huxley—with tiny microphones and invisible earpieces. When Huxley asked how far away from each other the equipment would work, Candy assured him that the range was infinite. These were a new cellular variety of communication systems, and they worked in groups of preprogrammed sets, using their own closed channel. In English, that translated to them having their own interconnected, private phone line in their ears.
The gods left behind didn’t need to be wired in. They could all communicate via head-channel with Huxley, and he would keep them up to date.
****
After retrieving her key from the landlord’s office, Dani and Candy entered the stale space of her apartment.
“Whew.” Dani sniffed and waved a hand in front of her face. “Needs to be aired out.
Candy agreed, and plunked down her bags to open windows.
“Better,” she grunted, after a few minutes.
The pair blew up their mattresses in the one bedroom and smothered them in layers of comforters, which would act as cushioning and covering. It looked cozy enough.
Candy, it turned out, was an accomplished fast food cook, and to Dani’s amusement, the agent nuked up a batch of chicken nuggets, smothered them in hot sauce, and added them to a green salad with blue cheese dressing. And damn, it tasted good.
They ate their meal in paper bowls, sitting cross legged on the kitchen floor, while laughing and relating it to dorm living—which both women had experienced—and camping out—which neither had ever tried.
There was no TV, no stereo, and no lights except for three pitiful pot lights in the kitchen and one seriously impaired sconce in the bathroom. So the two, having bought a deck of cards to keep themselves amused, sprawled belly first on the cold linoleum floor of the kitchen and played rummy until they could no longer keep their eyes open.
“I think it’s bedtime.” Dani yawned.
“I’m with you,” Candy agreed. “Are you an evening shower person or a morning one?” she asked.
“Morning, why?” Dani picked up the cards, slipped them in her pocket, then nabbed the paper cups they’d used for some cheap wine. She added those to the other paper goods in the sink. They’d forgotten to pick up a trash bin and would add it to the list of goodies to get tomorrow, if the bad guys didn’t take the bait and she made it home.
“Well, that equipment you’re wearing and the tape holding it in place is waterproof, so there’s no problem showering as long as you don’t scrub too hard.”
“Good to know,” laughed Dani-Lee. “I’d wondered about taking it off.”
“No need,” Candy assured, as Dani walked into the bathroom.
Dani was brushing her teeth when…
What? Huxley’s voice rang out.
From her kitchen? He hadn’t said he would follow them inside.
“There’s nobody around,” he assured Candy. “I’ve been checking for hours.” Hux gave a brief pause. “Listen. Why don’t you head back to the compound for the night, and I’ll take this shift with Dani and deliver her to the hospital in the morning?”
Every body part Dani owned stood at attention.
“Because that’s not the plan,” Candy reminded him.
“Screw the plan. I can take care of her as well as you can, if not better.” Candy had armed herself to the teeth, but Huxley did have semi-god strength on his side. It only took Candy a minute to give in, and Dani didn’t know whether to panic or do a happy dance.
“Fine. But I’ll meet you at the hospital tomorrow, and we’ll need to change our plans up. Let’s make a little scene for anyone who’s watching.”
“Gotcha.”
Dani was no fool. Candy had given in damned easily. Clearly she was aiding and abetting Huxley in whatever he had planned.
Dani managed to spit and rinse before spluttering her own words into the ether. She figured she might as well sound reluctant, even though her body had already primed itself for wild caveman sex.
“Excuse me, but this is a pajama party for the girls,” she complained loudly from the bathroom. “How am I supposed to sleep with you in my room?”
Huxley actually chuckled. “Who said anything about sleep?”
Wha…? Who the hell was in her home, and what had happened to the real Huxley?
“Okay, I’m off,” Candy actually gave a loud snort. “And FYI, I’m shutting down my earpiece and mic for the night,” she impishly added.
“Traitor,” hissed Dani, hearing a satisfied “thank you” from Hux.
Dani dragged her feet back to the kitchen, and Huxley regarded her with hooded eyes. “Tell me you don’t want me, and I’ll leave.”
Candy stood by and paused with her hand on the doorknob, watchi
ng the interplay.
Dammit. Dani couldn’t lie. “I…I would be more comfortable…”
“That’s not what I’m asking,” Hux reiterated “I asked if you want me.” His words held a double-edged meaning that Dani could not mistake.
She sighed, long and pained. “You know I do. I’ve told you I do, but I’m…” She should take a page from Candy’s big girl book. “Tired of your shit.” Dani clapped a hand over her mouth in horror. She’d actually said that out loud.
As for Huxley, it looked like he didn’t know whether to laugh or humor her. “No more shit, Dani. I promise.” He’d settled for a few, well-chosen words.
“Damn.” She chewed on her lower lip. “Now I’m really nervous.”
“That’s my cue to scram,” Candy interjected. “Later, guys.”
Dani-Lee heard Candy let herself out and through the headsets a “good luck” crackled from Candy’s mouth.
Before brushing her teeth, Dani had donned a deep-green, silk, baby-doll pajama top accompanied by matching and very skimpy boy shorts. She swallowed hard. Should she run back into the bathroom and put on less revealing clothes? But the thought of sleeping in her discarded jeans…no thanks. Besides, if Huxley wanted what she thought he did, then shit. She needed to feel sexy. But what if he was just here as her new muscle? There was only one way to find out. She turned and walked, with deliberately swaying hips, into the bedroom.
Dani shivered. Huxley followed her. She heard his stealthy footsteps. And when she looked back to regard him, he raked her from head to toe with eyes that glinted in the meager light coming from the bathroom. She had to know his thoughts.
“You like what you see?” she asked in a small voice, running her hands down the green silk.
“Yeah.” He nodded gruffly. “Although, I wouldn’t mind it being gone.”
Dani quivered. He’d seen her in underwear, he’d licked her pussy, but he’d never seen her completely naked.
“Take it off,” he growled. It seemed like he suddenly became interested in seeing all of her skin, bared.
“I can’t take my pajamas off with you standing there completely clothed.” Her voice sounded shaky to her own ears. “You take yours off first.”
“I’ll tell you what.” He licked his lower lip and she watched, entranced. A delicious thrill moved through her at his low, sexy voice. “Do you still have that deck of cards?” He must have been listening on his headset as she and Candy played rummy.
“I do. Why?” Dani couldn’t figure out what cards had to do with anything.
“Do you know how to play poker?” Huxley wanted to know.
Dani grinned, knowing what he proposed and struggled to keep a straight face. Did he not know that late into the night, interns on call with nothing better to do played every form of poker known to man? Dani had become unbelievably good at it once she’d mastered her poker face. She’d gotten quite a reputation on the surgical wing.
“Poker?” she questioned softly. “For clothes?”
“That’s right.”
“Sure. I can do that.” Dani fled on light feet to retrieve the cards, and by the time she came back, Huxley had positioned the air mattress closer to the dim light of the bathroom, where they would have just enough illumination to see the cards.
“I’ll give you an advantage,” Huxley said, and sat down, removing his boots and socks.
Dani snorted. “You call that an advantage? I’m in two pieces of material, while you have three.”
Hux raised his eyebrows sassily at that. “Explain.”
“Jeans, shirt, and underwear,” Dani enumerated, crossing her arms over her nearly bare chest.
“No underwear, babe,” he let her know with a drawling grin, and damn. Huxley commando under his jeans caused heat to work up her neck.
He noticed. God, sometimes she hated being a redhead.
“Five card stud, two’s and one-eyed jacks wild.” Huxley took the cards from her outstretched hand and shuffled the deck like an expert. Huh. He seemed practiced. Maybe she’d be surprised, and he’d be a worthy opponent. Dani sat on the opposite side of the mattress from Hux, and bit her lip as he dealt. This could be interesting.
Fifteen minutes later, Huxley stood up, bare-chested, and reached for the button on his jeans. “I’ve been had,” he claimed, in a not-so-unhappy voice. “You’ve played poker before.” It was a statement, not a question.
He’d lost his shirt just five minutes before, and was about to shuck off his pants. “You’re sure about this?” He lowered his zipper a mere half inch.
Dani observed silently and nodded, biting her upper lip. She’d never seen Huxley naked before. She’d never seen more than his hard, bare chest, except when she’d operated on him, and that didn’t count. Right now, all six foot three of him stood before her virile, awake, and manly…and if it indicated his intentions, his cock bulged, fully aroused behind his zipper.
She drew in a breath. Her ex-husband had been endowed with six inches, which he’d assured her time and again was, according to medical books, above the average of five point six. Looking at Huxley’s package, he had a lot more than that.
Oh, my. He certainly didn’t disappoint when he freed himself and dropped his jeans. Dani ogled his size and registered the colloquialism “in all his glory.” She’d never before wondered what that meant. Now she got it. Hux was glorious.
“You’re turn.” His cock twitched.
“But I didn’t lose,” Dani’s voice emerged, barely perceptible as her eyes roamed his hard, contoured muscles.
“No, you definitely won,” he agreed. “But to collect your prize, I need you naked.” He reached down to a jeans pocket and removed a foil packet, which he quickly opened with his teeth. He rolled the protective condom on, all the while growing harder from her gaze.
“Oh.” Dani stood up, quivering in anticipation on the opposite side of the mattress. He was going to…they were going to… Holy shit.
She tried to remove her sleepwear, but for some reason couldn’t make her hands work. For a skilled surgeon, she’d lost her dexterity.
“Would you do it for me?” Dani breathed.
“My pleasure.” Huxley stalked easily around the obstacle of the mattress, and drew her into his arms, leaning down to bury his nose in her neck. “God, you smell good.” His voice muffled by her thick hair.
Dani turned her head to kiss him, but he was long gone, busy working his mouth down her body, easing off her panties as he went. Her body turned molten as his hand brushed across the small bit of curls at the juncture of her thighs. He swept that scrap of material away, and rising up again, whisked the top right up and over her head then stepped back two paces. Her flesh burned with fire as he looked his fill. She stood totally naked and exposed, except for the wire she still wore. Huxley didn’t seem to mind.
“Beautiful.” He lowered them both onto the fluffy pile of comforters and brought a hand forward to cup her breast. She moaned. Dani inched a hand toward his erect cock, but he quickly twirled her around in his arms so his front pressed against her back. His fingers pinched her nipples, his penis wedged firmly between the cheeks of her ass. It felt so sinful, Dani arched back to increase the pressure.
“Raise one knee, Dani.”
She did as he commanded, and one of his hands moved down from her breast, wandering slowly toward her clit. His fingers found their target.
“Tell me what you want,” he asked, making small circles around her engorged nub. She made small cries that only served to further enflame his desire if the growing size of his cock was any indication. “Do you want me here?” He flicked her clitoris. “Or here?” His finger slid across her pussy’s wetness.
“Huxley.” Dani panted. She’d had his fingers and she’d had his tongue. Right now she wanted to experience that magnificent hard-on that tormented the cheeks of her ass. “Please.”
“Say it, Dani. Tell me you want me to fuck you.” He tweaked one nipple and breathed hotly into her ear. Holy s
hit. She could come from no more than that.
“Yes, Hux. Yes.” Dani could barely form the words.
“I need you to say it all. Say the whole thing, Dani.” His fingers stopped playing and he turned her until his dick pressed into the softness of her belly as they lay on their sides. His hand wrapped into her long hair and he eased her head back, lowering his own and kissing down the column of her neck to the valley between her breasts, where he turned and flicked a tongue over a highly sensitive peak.
The words he needed erupted from her mouth. “Fuck me, Huxley,” she pleaded, reaching for him, needing to put his cock into her, but he didn’t want her help. Huxley captured her hands and brought them together over her head, rolling her to her back. She closed her eyes in ecstasy as he rubbed his length back and forth across her pussy.
“Look at me,” Huxley ordered, restraining her hands while at the same time holding their upper bodies several inches apart, leveraging up on his elbows. “I want your eyes on mine as I fuck you.”
Her lids fluttered open. Damn that was hot. Dani was so ready for him and if he needed to see her eyes? Fine with her.
He positioned his cock at her apex and used his stiffness to part her labia. He worked himself in slowly, an inch then two before easing back out. Her desire, if anything, grew stronger the more he teased. Her legs wrapped around his hips, attempting to drag him in. She gave a whine of dismay when he wouldn’t comply.
“Uh, uh,” he said, his voice low and husky. “Greedy girl.” He continued to give her just the tip of his rod until she wanted to scream in frustration. She needed to be stretched by him. All of him. As far as his cock could go.
He gave a gruff laugh, as if he appreciated that she’d reached the end of her rope. “God, you feel good,” he groaned. He reared back and staring deeply into her eyes, plunged into her cunt, filling her completely with one thrust. They both cried out.
Dani couldn’t believe it. She was filled with Huxley—nearly to the point of pain—so much bigger than her ex-husband. She moaned at the sudden fullness, more turned on than she’d ever been in her entire life.
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