Tarrant put his hand over his heart. The action seemed flippant, but his promise was solemn. “I won’t. I’m going to do some research and see if I can get some idea what we’re going to do about the book.”
Sarah frowned. “Why does he get to research while I’m not allowed on my computer?”
Darius thought she was adorable when she frowned. Come to think of it, he thought she was adorable when she smiled. He’d lost all perspective when it came to Sarah. “Tarrant knows how to hide his presence online.”
Her gaze whipped back to his brother. “How?” she demanded.
Tarrant studied her for a long time, but she didn’t fidget or back down. She just stared right back at him. It was a huge turn-on to watch her stand up to his brother. Sarah was a strong woman with a backbone of steel. And he wanted her.
He shifted position as his pants became very uncomfortable, and he prayed Sarah didn’t notice his hard-on. Tarrant glanced at him and rolled his eyes before returning his attention to Sarah. “Come with me.”
His brother grabbed the wooden box with the manuscript, stuffed it back into the knapsack, and hooked the strap over his shoulder before he left the kitchen and headed down a long hallway. They passed several bedrooms and a study before reaching a heavy, metal door at the end. Tarrant put his palms on scanners mounted on the walls on either side of the door. They were spaced far apart, and only someone of Tarrant’s size and arm-span could reach them simultaneously. The locks on the door clicked. Then Tarrant punched a twenty-four-digit code into the keypad located directly on the door. When those locks clicked, the door slid open.
He motioned them both inside before following them. The heavy door slammed shut behind them. They were in a small elevator.
“Why aren’t we moving?” Sarah asked.
“Down,” Tarrant said, and the elevator went downward. “Voice activated,” he told them.
“This place is more secure than Fort Knox,” she whispered. Darius couldn’t disagree. Tarrant had always been paranoid, but this took it to an entirely new level.
The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. Another heavy door, this one Darius recognized as titanium, waited directly in front of them. There was no way off the elevator if they couldn’t open that door.
Tarrant stepped up to the retinal scanners and positioned his eyes over both. Another click and his brother shoved the door open. “Welcome to my computer lab.”
Sarah gasped and stepped forward. “This is amazing.”
Tarrant seemed pleased by her reaction. “State of the art. Most are one-of-a-kind prototypes I built myself.”
“Holy crap.” Sarah put her hands behind her back but moved closer to the long desk-height counters that ran all the way around the room.
Darius thought it was all just a bunch of machines. He didn’t understand them, but he knew Tarrant loved them.
Tarrant stowed the knapsack safely in a metal cabinet. Then he sat in a comfortable leather chair on wheels and pulled himself up in front of one of the many computers. “Let’s see what your friend Herman Temple is up to.” His brother’s fingers flew on the keyboard. “It will take me a moment. Ah, here we go.”
The New York City street where Herman Temple lived came up on the screen. Tarrant zoomed in just in time to see someone leaving the building.
“That’s Christian Temple.” Sarah took a step back before she stopped herself. Darius put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “How did you do that? That’s not Google Earth. That’s real time.”
“Satellite,” Tarrant told her.
…
“You have a satellite?” Sarah knew for sure she’d gone down the rabbit hole. The amount of security and equipment Tarrant had in his room had to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more. Not to mention the incredible home he’d built underground. This was a multimillion-dollar facility.
Tarrant ignored her, his fingers a blur on the keyboard. “There we go, all back on track again.”
“Who are you?” she asked. Tarrant and Darius were brothers, but they were also very different. Darius was blunt and forthright. She knew where she stood with him because, good or bad, he’d tell her. Tarrant was toying with her. He was a man at home with technology. She had a feeling he enjoyed playing games…and coming out the winner.
Tarrant turned around to face her. “I’m Cooper Communications.”
She felt her jaw drop but couldn’t help it. Cooper Communications was one of the biggest, most powerful communications companies in the world. They had television and radio stations. They sold cell phones and computers. They also built satellites and, if she wasn’t mistaken, even had military contracts. If it had to do with communications of any kind, they had a hand in it.
“Holy shit.” She was impressed in spite of everything. They might actually have a chance to get out of this situation alive. “Do you know what this means?” she asked Darius, who was hovering behind her.
“It means he likes to play with toys.” He glared at his brother. Sarah wondered why Darius seemed angry with him.
“No, it means we have leverage.” She turned back to Tarrant. “You have military contracts, don’t you?” Her head was whirling with the possibilities.
“Sweetheart,” Tarrant drawled. “I can control every satellite circling the planet. And there’s not a military system I haven’t been able to hack. I can ghost in and out of anywhere without being detected.”
That much power in the hands of one man was downright terrifying.
As though he knew what she was thinking, he winked at her. “Don’t worry, I’m not planning on destroying the earth. At least not today.”
“You need to rest.” Darius ran his fingers over her cheek. “You’re pale and exhausted.”
“It’s been a rough day, or two, or whatever it’s been. I’ve lost total track of time.” She must look like a wreck after everything she’d been through. Not that it matters in the grand scheme of things, she reminded herself.
“Tarrant,” Darius snapped out.
His brother tapped some computer keys and the elevator door slid soundlessly open. She hesitated before stepping inside.
“Don’t worry, I’ll let you out.” She couldn’t tell if Tarrant was mocking her or not.
“And if he doesn’t, I’ll bring the whole damn mountain crashing down on his precious equipment,” Darius assured her as the elevator doors closed.
“You can do that?” She wasn’t sure why that shocked her. “Tarrant called you an earth drakon. That makes sense considering you’re in the mining and exploration business.” And she was babbling to keep her mind off the fact that she was locked in a small elevator with a really big and sexy guy, and this elevator may or may not open when it got to the top.
She held her breath until the door slid back and she stepped into the hallway. She put one hand out to steady herself against the wall.
“Sarah.” Darius wrapped one arm around her shoulders and the other behind her legs and lifted her into his arms.
“I’m fine.” She wasn’t weak and didn’t want to be perceived that way. “Let me down. I can walk.”
“But why would you want to do that when I can carry you?” His blunt reply reassured her. She much preferred Darius to his brother. She had the feeling Tarrant was more like a chess master, always ten steps ahead of his opponent, always playing a game that no one else was aware of.
“The book.” God, they’d just left it down there with Tarrant.
“It’s fine.” Darius carried her into a bedroom and deposited her on a rather large bed. A muted light came on as soon as they’d entered. “It’s certainly safe enough.”
She couldn’t dispute that fact. The book was probably in the safest place on earth. “We still need to destroy it,” she reminded him.
“We will. Tarrant will figure out a way.” Darius crouched in front of her and unlaced her boots before pulling them off. Then he tugged off her socks. She curled her toes against his touch.
She hated leaving everything in Tarrant’s hands. “I’ll help him as soon as I’ve rested.”
Darius scowled. “You don’t need to work with him.”
“Why not?”
Darius tugged her until she was standing and then reached for the fastening on her jeans. She tried to bat his hands away, but he was relentless. “Why are you so angry?” she asked.
He lowered the zipper and pulled her jeans down around her knees. He gave her a gentle push and she landed back on her ass. He took the opportunity to pull her jeans all the way off. She was wearing her panties, bra, and Darius’s oversize shirt, the one he’d given her to wear. That seemed like days ago, even weeks, rather than hours.
He kicked off his own shoes and yanked off his socks.
“What are you doing?” He wasn’t going to strip in front of her, was he? She’d already seen him naked when he’d shifted, but this was different. For one thing, she was sitting on a very big bed.
Then he reached over his shoulder, grabbed a handful of material, and pulled his shirt over his head. Sarah swallowed heavily as his hard, muscled chest came into view. She should be too tired to even notice how built Darius was. And she certainly shouldn’t notice the way his abs rippled like corrugated steel, or the way the color of the tattoo seemed deeper, richer than it had before.
“You need to rest.” He rubbed his hand over his face and sighed. “And, God’s truth, I could do with some myself.”
Of course, he had to be exhausted. He’d been up as long as she had, maybe longer. He’d also flown them here while she’d napped. “Do drakons need as much sleep as humans?” There was so much about him she didn’t know.
Darius leaned down, wrapped his arm around her waist, and lifted her as effortlessly as if she were a child. He tugged the covers down and deposited her back on the bed. “No, we don’t need as much rest as humans do, but I haven’t been sleeping much lately. Scoot over.”
“Why?” He didn’t think he was going to sleep with her, did he? “Surely there are other beds you can sleep in. If not, those sofas looked mighty comfortable.”
He all but shoved her over as he crowded his way onto the bed beside her. He flipped up the covers and threw his arm over her. “But, Sarah, none of them have you.”
Her heart did a little flip-flop on hearing that. “This isn’t smart.” She was already way too attached to Darius.
“Would you rather it was Tarrant here with you?”
“What?” She levered herself up on one arm so she could see him. “Why would you say something like that?” The heat in his green eyes almost scorched her, and his lips were set in a thin line. “Are you jealous?” His jaw tightened and his nostrils flared.
“No. I’m not jealous of that idiot.”
He was jealous. Sarah was flabbergasted. Why would he even care what she thought about his brother unless he had feelings for her? That traitorous heart of hers did another flip-flop before it began to race.
It might be better if she allowed him to think she wasn’t attracted to him, but she simply couldn’t do it. She ran her fingers along his stubborn jaw. “Tarrant is handsome and very intelligent,” she began. Darius’s entire body turned to stone, and his eyes filled with fury, but along with that emotion was hurt. “But he isn’t you.”
Chapter Sixteen
Darius knew he was being an idiot, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. He knew Tarrant had more in common with Sarah than he did. They were both researchers at heart, both interested in technology. He was more at home in the depths of the earth, discovering her treasures.
He tried to ignore the brush of Sarah’s soft hand over his jaw, the unending throbbing of his cock. Her very nearness was driving him to distraction, but he couldn’t walk away from her. He didn’t want to.
If she was part of some intricate plan of the Knights, then he was shit out of luck, because he belonged to her, heart and soul, and all they’d done was kiss. How much worse would it be if he made love with her?
He desperately wanted to find out.
The words she spoke almost cut out his heart, but then she quickly healed it and made it soar.
Darius groaned and dragged her down on top of him. Her legs tangled with his as she planted her hands on his chest. That simple touch reached deep inside him and made his beast purr with pleasure.
She started to speak, but he didn’t give her a chance. He pulled her down and covered her lips with his. He needed her more than he needed air to breath. And when she kissed him back, he felt invincible.
Soft and plump, her lips parted, and he pushed his tongue inside, claiming what belonged to him and only him. He couldn’t bear the thought of another man tasting her sweetness.
He slid his hands underneath the shirt she wore and found the supple length of her spine. The strap of her bra was in his way, but he ignored it, knowing she was more relaxed with the garment still on. He’d much rather have her naked. For now, he enjoyed the press of her mouth against his, the tentative touches of her tongue, and the curl of her fingers against his chest.
Her breathing was ragged when she finally broke their kiss, her eyes dark and mysterious as she stared down at him in the dim light. “What are we doing?” she asked.
He ran his hand down her back and cupped one firm mound of her behind. “If you have to ask, I’m obviously doing it wrong.”
As he’d hoped, she smiled, but it was fleeting, disappearing almost as fast as it appeared. “You know what I mean.”
Unfortunately, he did. Darius sighed, and the lights chose that moment to click off. Before she could ask, he answered the question he knew was on the tip of her tongue. “The lights are linked to pressure gauges buried beneath the floor. If no one walks around the room for a certain span of time, they go off. They can be adjusted manually, but they’re preset to react that way.
“Wow, your brother really does love his gadgets.”
Darius could still see Sarah easily. As a drakon, he was as at home in the dark as he was in the light. But Sarah was more relaxed with them off. Maybe she thought he couldn’t see her as well.
“He does.” Right on cue, the baseboards began to emit a low-level glow, much like a nightlight for adults.
Darius trailed his hands down the back of her thighs, and Sarah shivered, her entire body quaking at his touch. “What we are doing”—he went back to her earlier question—“is sharing our bodies with each other. Giving pleasure with touch.” He slid his fingers over the silk covering her firm ass. “What is so wrong about that?”
“When you put it like that, it doesn’t seem so bad.”
He ran his fingers over her hips, dipped in at her waist and around to her back again, getting her used to his touch. He sensed Sarah was not the kind of woman who could or would bed a man if she didn’t have feelings for him.
“I also can’t think when you touch me like that,” she whispered when he coasted his hand over her behind and between her legs.
“Then I need to keep touching you.” He rolled until she was lying under him, propping himself up on his forearms so he wouldn’t crush her with his weight. The top button of her shirt had come undone and exposed a pale swath of flesh. Darius nuzzled her bare skin, inhaling her scent. “You are a treasure.”
He hadn’t meant to say that aloud, but he wouldn’t take it back. She gave a small, self-conscious laugh. “Hardly that.”
Darius sat back on his heels between her spread thighs and stared down at her in disbelief. She had no idea of her appeal, but he was just the man to appreciate such a gem. He flicked the buttons of her shirt open. As much as he liked the idea of her wearing his clothes, he wanted to see her totally naked. The urge was quickly passing from need to obsession. He knew it was his dragon nature, the part of him that was not human, that craved her naked body pressed against his. Of course, the human side of him wanted her almost as much, making him more volatile than he’d been in his entire existence.
In all the centuries he’d taken women to
bed, this was the only time his dragon had ever wanted one as much as the human in him did. That was dangerous for both of them. But Darius knew in his heart he’d stop before he’d ever do anything to harm Sarah.
She wrapped her hands around his wrists, and he stilled as quickly and fully as if she’d manacled him with the strongest chains. “What is it?” He wanted to quell any fears or questions she might have so they could continue.
He was just getting started.
…
His skin was warm beneath her hands. Sarah knew she was nowhere near strong enough to stop Darius from doing whatever he wanted, just as she knew he’d stop if she asked him to. Where did such faith come from? She’d known him less than a day but felt as though they’d been together for years.
Her skin still tingled where he’d touched her. She felt more alive in his arms than she had at any other time in her life. Maybe it was the mad run for their lives, or the enforced proximity. Such things could cause heightened emotions. She knew that.
Yet, it was somehow more profound, richer than simply living in the moment. Her craving for Darius went bone deep. Was it because he was more than just a man, or in spite of it?
Did it really matter? When it came down to it, she wanted him.
She had no idea what her life expectancy was now that she was involved in an immortal war, one she hadn’t even known existed until such a short time ago. Now she was smack-dab in the middle of it.
Life was precious. Fragile. She hadn’t understood how much she valued the ordinary until she’d lost it. But the loss had come with compensation. And he was sitting between her spread thighs, watching and waiting.
He was still wearing his pants, but his chest was bare. Even though the light was dim, her eyes were adjusting enough to see his outline. She was grateful for that small illumination. Being underground with no windows or ambient glow from the outside, could make it pitch dark, like being in a cave. She didn’t think she’d enjoy that sensation at all.
She had the feeling it wouldn’t bother Darius in the least.
Drakon's Promise (Blood of the Drakon) Page 16