“At least you recognize that he would have!”
“Could have. Not would have.”
“Why would you defend him?” Riley cried. “He took everything from you.”
“Stop yelling,” Marley demanded again. “I’m not defending him. I just refuse to condemn a dead man on unfair assumptions.”
“Oh, please.” Riley leaned against the door and shoved her arms across her chest. “They are so not unfair. When did he ever do anything altruistic? Anything that wasn’t part of his own grand plan? Even working for Numina was part of a bigger scheme. He never would have stopped.”
“No,” Marley agreed. “But you guys stopped him. He almost died. And in case you hadn’t heard, that can have a profound effect on people. He wasn’t operating with the same motivations anymore.”
They faced each other in silence for a few moments. Marley didn’t want to continue this argument. It was pointless. Anson was gone. Unless Cressida had the ability to resurrect him, he couldn’t harm any of them anymore.
“There’s nothing we can do about it now,” she told Riley softly. “Can we please change the subject?”
Riley’s chin jutted mulishly for a moment, but then she smirked. “Okay. Let’s talk about that.” She waved a hand in the direction of the living room. “This thing with Gage is obviously more than partnership. Again.”
Marley sank back onto the bed, this time sitting on the side so it didn’t threaten to dump her on the floor. “He’s not like Anson.”
Riley raised her hands in denial. “Not judging. These circumstances are too much like me and Sam for me to be critical.” She sat next to her and rubbed her hands slowly against each other. “He’s Numina, though, and his father is the man in charge. That could get complicated.”
“It already has.” She didn’t want to discuss the things Gage was keeping from his father. “But it doesn’t matter. It’s not going to last.” Saying the words aloud hurt way more than it should have after only four days. Four concentrated, intense days, to be sure. She was consistently aware of where he was, whether it was inches away or in another room. And any other room was too far. Her body, her awareness, sought him all the time. She didn’t relax unless he was near. His smooth, deep voice resonated inside her with every word he said.
“It’s too early for you to say that. I mean, not to be all ‘look at me and Sam’ all the time, but…look at me and Sam.” She laughed, delight at the core of the sound. “Similar circumstances, though you’re a lot tougher than I was when I met him.”
Sometimes she felt tough, as though all her efforts to grow stronger had brought her closer to the woman she wanted to be. Most of the time, it just felt like a shell over the same old Marley.
Riley twisted and pulled one leg up on the bed so she faced Marley. “Is he worthy?”
Marley stared at her. “Of me?”
Her friend’s eyes flashed. “Yes, of you. Why are you so hard on yourself?”
“Why shouldn’t I be?” After so many months of keeping to herself, she couldn’t hold back anymore. It felt too natural—too normal—to sit in a bedroom with a friend, talking about boys. “I don’t even know how you can ask that after everything that happened. I was such a—” She shook her head. “I’m trying not to be that weak, useless woman anymore, but—”
“Oh, Marley.” Riley leaned forward and threw her arms around her.
Marley froze, blinked, and then hugged back, gratitude making a simp out of her.
When Riley pulled away, she looked sternly at Marley. “You were never useless. Sam regales me all the time with the tale of how they met you and you all took down the leech.”
“They took down the leech. That I created.”
“Yeah, accidentally. Did you forget that you weren’t his only victim? He fooled other women, you know. And you were a big part of stopping him. Twice.”
Marley bit her tongue. There was no value in arguing. “The fact remains that I chose badly when I chose Anson.”
“This time, you didn’t.” Her eyes sparkled. “He never stops touching you. You know, little brushes, to make sure you’re still there. And when he can’t touch you, he watches you. I’ve seen that look on two guys: Nick and Sam.” She tilted her head sideways, eyebrow quirked to emphasize the significance.
Marley had to agree that she’d rarely seen two men as in love with their wives as Nick and Sam were, and she’d hosted weddings and honeymooners in her other life as an innkeeper. But she couldn’t let herself hope that she and Gage were on their way to such a result.
“He seems like he’s cut from the same cloth,” Riley pointed out. “Loyal, smart, resourceful. Ready to take on a challenge like saving the world when he doesn’t really have to.”
“Stop.” Marley threw herself off the bed and circled toward the door. “Don’t get your hopes up.” Don’t get my hopes up.
“Why not?”
Marley closed her eyes, hand on the doorknob. Because she was having hallucinations. Because no matter what plan they devised to stop Cressida, she was going to have to take in more flux. And because Gage had already lost someone to mental illness. Nick and Quinn and Riley and Sam may have had obstacles—Marley didn’t really know—but she did know they couldn’t have been this insurmountable.
“It’s just ridiculous to consider right now, with everything that’s happening. I’ll be right back.”
She escaped to the bathroom, afraid Riley would see more, ferret more out of her. Marley didn’t know what to do about Gage. She couldn’t let things go any further, knowing what was happening to her and not knowing how deeply into insanity she’d plunge.
But god help her, she wasn’t sure she had the strength to stop them.
…
Marley drifted awake in the dark bedroom, nudged out of slumber by noises from the kitchen. She could smell coffee and bacon, universal “good morning” greetings. This was the second day Riley and Sam had gotten up early and made breakfast. A couple more would make it routine.
If they were lucky, there wouldn’t be enough days for that. Yesterday had been shockingly productive. After some early tension, Sam and Gage had connected over tech talk and strategizing. They’d collected the information they needed and today, Gage was going to try to get Aiden alone. Their next move would depend on what Aiden was willing to tell him.
She worked through the plan, still worried about letting him go into the Fiametta alone. Sam and Riley planned to hang in the courtyard, but Marley couldn’t get that close and risk being spotted. She’d be nearby but not close enough for comms. Which they weren’t using, anyway, because they didn’t want Aiden to spot any sign of deception.
Gage was banking on his close relationship with his brother being enough to keep Aiden from turning him away. Marley was afraid Cressida’s influence penetrated too deep.
Next to her, Gage groaned. “You still think too loud in the morning.” He rolled over and propped himself on his elbows, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. “You sleep better last night?”
She rolled onto her side and tucked her arm under the pillow. “Better than what?”
“Better than the first night.”
She hadn’t realized he’d noticed. It wasn’t like she’d tossed and turned, keeping him awake. She’d been too conscious of the ridiculous queen-size mattress balanced on a double frame. Either one of them could roll off the side. But with only two bedrooms in the apartment, they’d agreed sharing was preferable to the petri-dish couch or uneven, rough floor in the living room. There wasn’t enough floor space in here, and no way to make it even resemble comfortable if there were.
“I slept fine,” she lied. It was almost insulting how easily Gage seemed to sleep next to her when all she could think about was his body, his heat covering her, the ecstasy he’d wrung from her back in New York. He smelled so good, so rich and spicy, and the few times she did drift off, erotic dreams had alternated with nightmares about battling Cressida and losing the people she cared about, one by one.
; A pan clanked on the stove outside the bedroom. The radio clicked on just in time for the DJ to proclaim another bright, clear, perfect day.
Gage shifted closer and ran his hand over her hip. “Good morning.” His head lowered, lips meeting hers in a soft, tender greeting.
“Morning,” Marley whispered. “What are you doing?”
“What I’ve been dreaming about doing for two days.” He kissed her again, this time hungrier. He made a low sound in his throat when she sighed and opened to him, incapable of resisting.
One last time, she told herself. She concentrated on the glide of his tongue, his taste, the weight of his hand sweeping down her leg, the other curving under her waist to the small of her back, tugging her against his body. They fit amazingly well, chest to chest, hips to hips, his erection a long, solid ridge between them.
The kiss went on and on, dragging her into sensation, away from thought. Her hands mapped every inch of him she could reach, filing away little details like the scar on the front of his shoulder, the mole on his back, the indentation at the base of his spine, and the delicious curve of his ass.
He slid his hand up her torso, his breathing hard on her neck. She had one final coherent thought—not to let Sam and Riley hear—before Gage’s hand closed over her breast. She had to bury her face in her pillow as the moan vibrated in the back of her throat.
“I need you,” Gage murmured into her ear. He waited for her to nod, then rolled her onto her back and settled on top of her. With excruciatingly slow movements no one could ever have heard, not even with the stupidly thin walls in this apartment, he maneuvered off her tank top and knit shorts as well as his own pants.
His hands never stopped roaming. Up and down her body, while his bare chest abraded her painfully taut nipples, sending that sweet ache into her pelvis, swelling her. She arched, needing the press of him between her legs, desperation growing. Her fingers dug into his ass, but the heels of her hands pushed against his hipbones, keeping him at a marginal distance.
“God, Marley, I want you so much.” His hot breath drifted into her ear with his words, driving her desire higher. “I’ve never wanted a woman the way you make me want you.”
“Gage,” she breathed back. Pressure built in her chest that had nothing to do with his weight compressing her lungs. He rocked his hips. His cock stroked her sensitive flesh, making her gasp against his shoulder. She bent her knees and pushed her hips upward. For several seconds they hovered that way. Gage caught his breath, braced just enough on his elbows to keep from crushing her.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered.
“Just give me a second.” His eyes squeezed closed. “I’m trying to remember where I put the condoms. You make me forget my own name.”
She giggled and then covered her face, embarrassed. Gage shifted sideways. There was a crinkle, then a few seconds later he was back, mouth covering hers, no intensity lost in the short break. She sucked him in, loved the way he devoured her, the way he clutched her hip hard with one hand and cradled her head so gently in the other.
With one small move he positioned himself and slid into her, inch by inch. Marley screwed her eyes closed and tightened every muscle in her body to hold back her howl.
Holy crap, that was good.
Waves of ecstasy flowed through her, amazing in their constancy. She rolled her lips inward and bit down. Her hands clutched Gage’s shoulders, holding him tight to her, as he pressed all the way in, then harder, deeper, before slowly, slowly drawing out again. Then just as slowly he glided back in.
“Oh, God,” she moaned. “God, Gage, I can’t—I’ll never survive this.”
“Hang on, baby.” He slid a hand around to the small of her back and shifted her so that when he drove into her, his cock dragged against her clit. The waves intensified, focused, but he kept the pace so slow, so quiet, it went on forever, a relentless sea of pleasure. She dove deep and came with the longest, most intense orgasm she’d ever had.
As soon as she convulsed around him he jerked and gasped, joining her with tiny, frantic thrusts. His hands and arms held her tight enough to leave bruises but Marley didn’t care. She’d let her entire body go black and blue if he’d do this to her again.
No. She didn’t mean that. She was overreacting to good sex. Endorphins.
She clung to that as they held each other. Even as their bodies cooled, emotions settled, nothing changed. Her heart felt gigantic, full of something she refused to identify or label.
After a couple more minutes she was able to shove it inside a figurative box, slam the lid, and seal it. To be dealt with later. Or never.
Gage pulled back and looked down at her with the softest expression she’d seen on his face yet. His hair was a wild mess, and his eyes sparkled with the same electricity she’d recognized when she’d first laid eyes on him in the club.
Words clogged her throat. She didn’t know what they were, but anything she said right now would be a mistake. He bent and kissed her. His mouth clung, and his hand stroked down her cheek, knuckles against her jaw. A lone tear slid out of her left eye, hitting the pillow before Gage noticed it.
He pushed himself all the way up and grinned down at her. “I didn’t know you could be that quiet.”
“It was an effort, but don’t let your ego hear that.” She managed a smile.
A knock on the door startled her. She hadn’t heard Sam’s footsteps, which was crazy. He was far too big to not to make these cheapo floors squeak.
“Guys, you up?” he called through the door. “Time to get moving.”
…
Clear skies, check. Bright sun, check. Perfect? Not so much.
Marley stood on a street corner near the Fiametta, sweating her ass off. She rocked from one foot to the other, waiting for the light to change so she could cross the street. A girl about half a foot shorter than she was, with smooth blond hair exactly like the Barbie Marley had carried everywhere when she was little, strode past her and did a little tripping jog into the crosswalk, against the light. Three cars had to brake hard but no one honked. Probably because the men driving those cars were too entertained by the unbound boobs putting on a show in the chick’s tank top.
Maybe that was Marley’s problem. She mopped her forehead with the back of her hand and blew air up into her bangs. She was overdressed. She’d pulled on her jeans, sneakers, and olive-green T-shirt without much thought this morning, and she didn’t have any shorts to wear even if she had thought about it. But come on. It wasn’t supposed to be hovering around ninety in October, even in LA.
No one else seemed bothered. The old guy in the sweater vest was probably always cold, anyway, but none of the other people standing near her were sweating or complaining. Maybe it wasn’t as hot as it seemed. Maybe it was just her.
Maybe this was a fun new side effect of the flux. Hallucinations and hot flashes—magical perimenopause. Fun.
The light finally changed, and she strode across the street, then checked the time. Only ten minutes since she’d left the apartment. Gage probably hadn’t made contact yet. Sam and Riley were on the other side of the Fiametta, where they could cuddle and coo by a fountain and wouldn’t set off alarms if one of the Deimons spotted them. Marley was actually glad she was on patrol, even if she felt she was too far away. At least she could keep moving, work off the nervous energy, while staying as close as she could to this side of the block. If Gage needed her, she was really only a mad dash away from rescue.
She paused in front of a bookstore displaying rickety wire racks full of old paperbacks out on the sidewalk. The metal creaked as she turned the rack, flipping through romances and mysteries. The musty smell that arose reminded her of digging through boxes at yard sales with her mother.
She shifted behind the rack to avoid a group passing in the other direction. The new position gave her a better view of the street. The block was busy, full of young Hollywood hopefuls hurrying to or from auditions, or gathering in clusters to do whatever young hopefuls
did together. There were also plenty of older people out shopping or walking their pets. She was on the alert for Deimons or one of Cressida’s inner circle but also for anyone who fit the profile of the addicts. Sam had been unable to glean any more information about the group in New York, how they’d wound up there or what exactly had happened to them, so the “profile” wasn’t exactly robust. They’d all been male and had taken enough flux to appear unhealthy and strung out. So far, she hadn’t seen anyone who fit.
Her phone buzzed. She flipped it up to check Gage’s text. I’m here. She answered and moved on, passing an empty storefront and pausing again in front of a gallery, not really registering the flamboyant flower paintings she pretended to peruse. Would Aiden let him in?
Gage was fully on board with the greater goal, but Marley knew the longer he and Aiden were in conflict, the more it hurt him. He’d continued trying to contact his brother since they’d arrived in LA, and every call, text, e-mail, and IM went unanswered. For Gage’s sake, she hoped Aiden opened up to him personally, explained why he was doing this. For the sake of the rest of the world, she hoped he gave them the key to taking down Cressida.
Sunlight glinted off a passing car into Marley’s eyes. She winced and held her breath against a roll of nausea. Chartreuse spots came and went in her vision, obscuring the sidewalk and the bistro tables next to her.
“Are you all right?” A young woman carrying a bunch of boutique bags stopped and put her hand on Marley’s arm. “Can I help?”
Marley coughed and shook her head. “I’m fine. Thank you.” But she had to move on. She was calling attention to herself. She tried to blink away the dots enough to see where she was going and started down the sidewalk again.
Then she hesitated, her attention yanked to something magnetic, familiar and yet foreign at the same time. A booted foot shot out, knocking a chair directly into Marley’s path. She stumbled into it, barely able to keep from falling.
“What the—” She caught herself on the back of the chair, the metal cool against her palms, and swung around to yell at…
Sunroper (Goddesses Rising) Page 22