He caught her hand and raised it up so he could look at it. He threaded his own fingers through hers in a very intimate touch. “When I first met you, you had grease under your fingernails.”
Natasha pulled her hand free, self-conscious that she was not very feminine. He caught her hand again and tugged her closer. “There is nothing to be ashamed of, Natasha. You are a beautiful woman. Your hands reflect that you are also a woman with a beautiful mind.”
She raised an eyebrow. “And does that turn you on, Professor?”
He caught her face and brought his lips to a hair’s breadth from hers, then said softly, “Everything about you turns me on.”
He then kissed her. Melting against him she hated when he said things like that because it made it so hard not to love him.
She caught hold of his shirt and pushed him backwards so they could land on the couch. He pulled back. “No, I want a bed.” Except the bed was so far away.
She yelped when he picked her up. She scrambled to hold on to him. “You better not drop me.”
He chuckled. “Never.”
She snorted and had to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. She wasn’t really worried as the strength atramento would have given him the power to carry her even if she was twice the size. She wasn’t petite and what she did have was muscled.
Warren took her into a darkened bedroom which had a little light filtering through the closed curtains. He placed her gently on the bed and followed her as she went down and kissed her again.
The bed was much better. She wanted to ask him if he was sure. She was no beauty and she wasn’t the kind of woman men found attractive. Except he didn’t give her a chance at first and later when she could ask, she didn’t bother as she already had her answer.
She ran her hands over his shoulders and into his hair. She pulled him closer.
She whispered, “Don’t let me go.”
He tugged at her clothes and cradled her close against him. “Never.”
He spent a long time just worshipping inches of her skin at a time. She tugged on his hair to speed him up. She had never felt like this before. She had thought it could be wonderful like this with a man she loved. But not this right, especially, for the first time.
She had always thought it would be awkward. After all, neither of them knew what they were doing. Instead, it was like the waltz. She listened to where his body wanted her to move and she followed to great pleasure.
Warren just took his time and it allowed her to wallow in her senses. Maybe it was the atramento which helped her enjoy this. Only she knew that was a lie.
It was Warren.
She was a little scared it would always be just Warren. She closed her eyes to hide the sheen of tears in her eyes.
___
The sun had set a long time ago and Warren could hear Natasha’s soft breathing which told him she was asleep. The whole experience shook him. More so than by the shooting. A few hours ago, he would have said that was impossible.
He hadn’t told her he had never been with a woman before. Although what they had done hadn’t felt like what people did their first time. It hadn’t been awkward. Instead, it was like they had understood each other at such a deep level they knew what to do or say in just that moment.
It had been easy.
He had always been focused on his work before. Even if he had noticed girls, he had never bothered to put in the effort to get them into bed. It pleased him he could bring that focus he had for his studies to studying Natasha. She had been fascinating on many levels.
Warren hadn’t realised she had never been with anyone else until later. He had focused him on his own inexperience that he hadn’t noticed hers. He was glad they had spent so long building up to this.
He had thought she might not like him because they had taken so long in their courting. Not that he hadn’t enjoyed the kisses and lingering touches which was a staple of their relationship in the last month.
Now, he realised she had been like him. Filled with fears and anxious about the unknown.
He rubbed his face with a hand. He was grinning. He didn’t grin. He rarely laughed and you could often catch him with a fleeting smile, but he never grinned like this. The giddiness of joy which filled him made him make a decision he knew would change his life forever.
He thought in the past, he would need to think of things like this and weigh up the pros and cons before he made a calculated choice. He didn’t as he didn’t need to.
Warren turned so he could see Natasha sleeping. He smoothed her hair from her face and kissed her. She slowly came awake and mumbled. “Aren’t you tired?”
He said softly, “The question is, are you tired?”
She chuckled softly. “I’m not too tired for that.”
His voice went all serious as he asked, “I hope I didn’t rush you? I mean, before. I should have made sure you wanted this. If I had known this was all so new to you, I might have gone slower.”
Natasha turned towards him and kissed him. “If you had gone any slower, I would have bitten you.”
Warren chuckled. “I might have liked that.”
That made her chuckle with him. He hadn’t realized it could be like this. There was more than desire between them. He kissed her lightly. His decision filling him with rightness. This was right.
He ran his fingers lightly over her skin. With his senses heightened the touch made him shudder with pleasure. He could see why Misha recommended it.
___
Natasha sat at the kitchen table wearing one of Warren’s shirts. All her clothes were at his father’s place, but she sat there content to drink pseudo coffee and just feel. Worries about the minutiae of life could wait.
In a short while she would have to lock down her heart, otherwise she would be left bleeding at the end of whatever this was. But she would leave that for later. She wanted to just enjoy this time where everything was right.
Warren entered the room, his hair wet from his shower. He made himself a coffee and stopped to kiss the top of her head as he passed by her chair. She liked the familiar gesture. He sat down and curled his hands around his mug and they sat there for a while in perfect domestic bliss.
“I suppose this place might be a little small for us. I wonder if there are any places for sale in the area. A place which will be good for children,” he said all this before he took a sip of his drink.
Natasha almost choked on her coffee. He looked at her concerned. “You all right, Kitten?”
She wheezed past the lump in her throat and coughed out. “What did you just call me?”
He said, “Would you prefer my little petal?”
She was speechless to that. She stood up and put her half-finished cup of coffee in the sink. She managed to get her breath back and slowly turned. “I don’t fit here, Warren, and I never will. I’m never going to be your kitten or your little petal. Darn, even if I was, I don’t want to be called something so inane. We can only be a temporary thing. We can enjoy ourselves just for this moment.”
He stood up and approached her. She sidestepped him. “Promise me, Warren. This is just for now. We can’t predict what is going to happen, but unless you promise me, this is just for now, we can’t continue.”
Warren gave her a dark look, then finally snapped. “Fine.”
Natasha braved the ice which stood between them and she stepped forward. She kissed his cheek. “Can I wear some of your stuff after my shower? All my clothes are at your Dad’s place.”
Her effort to put things back on an easy footing was a little strained and for a while she thought it had failed. When he gave a stiff nod, she walked past and hoped she had done the right thing. There could never be a future for them. No matter how much she wanted to be his kitten.
___
Warren sat down at the table and thought that had gone very differently to how he had imagined it. He took a sip of his coffee only it had gone cold and the pseudo stuff was tolerable when it was hot, but it made him gag now that it w
as cold. He went to the sink and poured it down the drain.
Her violent reaction to living with him and pet names was a setback, but it still didn’t change his decision. He knew what they had between them was right. He was an intelligent man. Surely, he could figure out a way to get what he wanted. To convince her their worlds weren’t so far apart after all and when they were together, they were right.
Maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned children. He had moved too fast; he realised. He should have enjoyed the slow dance they were in. Instead, he had rushed their steps and she was all skittish now.
He tapped his fingers on the stainless steel tabletop. She could run, but she couldn’t hide forever. He might have been more hurt if he hadn’t realised she was running from fear. Like she had avoided learning to dance because of the fear of hurting someone she loved. Was she running now because she loved him?
He headed back down the corridor and unbuttoned his shirt. He wasn’t going to let her hide, no matter how much she ran. Because in the end she wasn’t running away from him, but something else.
He walked into the bathroom and he could hear the shower already going. He finished undressing and slipped in behind her. She gasped and then relaxed against him.
Warren said in a rough voice, “I want you now, Natasha. Is that all right with you?”
She breathed out. “Yes.”
Soon she would be running to him instead.
Chapter Nine
Whatinga April, 2087
Warren paced his small apartment. “I don’t know why I bought this place. It is a cardboard box. Four walls and nothing else.”
Natasha sat on the small couch which dominated the lounge area and watched him. She liked the duskiness of his skin and the way the curls of his hair touched the tips of his ears. His eyes flashed from dark brown to a deep bourbon colour when his emotions changed. His body was lean although not muscled. He wore a neat pair of trousers she thought made his legs look longer. She liked his long legs.
Natasha was not a short person and she enjoyed having someone taller than her around. She had more muscle than him and very little in the way of curves. On bad days she thought of herself as boyish. When she was with him, she felt effervescent inside.
Natasha wore some of his clothes as they lounged around his house. But they would need to either figure out who was trying to kill him or she would have to buy some clothes. Not that she minded lounging around in oversized tracksuit pants and a button up top which was more like a dress than a shirt. Especially, when they had his scent on them.
She chuckled at his antics. “You are stir-crazy when you don’t have any work.”
He turned to her. “Yes, that is exactly what the trouble is. I need something to do. I have some of my work in my office I can work on. All the rest is at my father’s place.”
He wrinkled his nose at the thought of going back to his father’s house. It would be too dangerous still. She shrugged as she was also going a little stir crazy herself with nothing to do. “I’ll pick up a book. What are the chances your dad will look for you there?” she asked.
Warren waved that off as he went to the wall unit to call his father. “He knows what this is all about. I’ll call him and ask him to drop off some of your clothes while we are out. If someone is after me, they will follow us while we are at the University.”
She stood. “Sounds like a good plan.”
Or at least a plan which wasn’t going to end with them killing each out of boredom. She contemplated other things they could do to stave off the boredom, but they weren’t going to find out who was trying to kill Warren while they spent their days in bed. Like Warren she couldn’t enjoy the leisure time when there was work to be done.
___
Warren had left Natasha a few moments before as she had headed for the University library and he moved towards his office. He coded in the key which kept the room locked from everyone except the cleaners. He moved straight to his large desk which dominated the room. The only other real furniture in his office was the bookshelves which lined the walls.
He gathered up the papers on his desk and stopped. There was a flower which was in a vase. The bloom was almost dead but this particular flower was very hardy. It wouldn’t have survived this long if the cleaners hadn’t been changing the water. Other flowers wouldn’t have survived the weeks he had been away, but this flower was different. As it had come from the weather shield plant.
When the shield had first flowered his mother had spent months trying to figure out where in the DNA the flower had come from. He didn’t know and she had never found out before she had died. It was some freak of nature and she had been happy with that in the end.
Reaching for the flower as his memory came back. He had been arguing with Digger. He remembered that much and he had been holding this flower in his hand when he had been arguing. Though he couldn’t remember what he had been arguing over.
His head ached.
For a second his stomach went cold as he thought that Digger might be his enemy. Digger had been his friend since he was a boy. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt him. No, it couldn’t be.
But he couldn’t get rid of that feeling so he took the flower. He needed to know what he knew then. Maybe he could figure out what he was arguing with Digger for. He needed solid proof his oldest friend was also his almost murderer.
When he got outside, Natasha asked him, “What is that?”
He showed her the flower. “I think this is important. Every time I thought of flowers this last month it has given me a headache. I think this is the reason. I’m going to take it to a friend of mine. Maybe she can tell me why it’s important.”
Natasha twirled the flower in her hand as she looked at it. It was white with large petals. “What do you think you are going to find?”
He said cautiously as he still didn’t want to believe it, “I think it has to do with Digger. I remember having an argument with him and I had that in my hand.”
Natasha frowned at him. “Could he be the one who tried to kill you?”
Warren’s answer was slow in coming and he hated he was betraying his friend even with that hesitation. “No, no. We have been friends for years; he couldn’t be the one who tried to kill me.”
Natasha gave him a significant look. “Let us see what we can find out from the flower. Maybe the results will jog the rest of your memory.”
___
Natasha thought the lab looked a lot like the one Hal had in her old sandwich shop. The lab was extremely white and it gleamed. A woman in a white lab coat worked with some chemicals. When Warren tapped on the door, she looked up through the goggles she was wearing.
She quickly pushed them away and came towards them. “Warren, you are alive?”
Her voice was filled with relief.
Natasha was suspicious. She was the first person who had made any mention of the attacks. Except she didn’t sound like she wanted him dead.
The blond woman pulled off the gloves and caught Warren’s hands. “You are alive. I thought when you left here in a huff you had gotten into some trouble.”
Warren shook his head. “I don’t remember. I got hit on the head. I don’t remember. Did it have something to do with this?”
He produced the flower and she smiled as she looked at it. “Oh, yeah. You brought that to me and we discussed the addictive element to Ambrosia is from that flower.”
Natasha stepped forward. “Hi, I’m Natasha, Warren’s fiancée. Can you repeat that? This flower is what Ambrosia is made out of.”
The woman took her hand and introduced herself briefly. “Freya, an old friend of Warren’s family.” She motioned to the flower. “Well, not all of Ambrosia is made from the flower. There seem to be several different drugs. But it would be like all other drugs except it makes a user dependent on it past even addiction. That is the part which comes from the flower. It has a protein the brain absorbs which replaces essential processes so without that protein it would compromi
se other functions. Wherever that flower comes from is where the real drug comes from.”
Warren said in a hollow voice, “The flower comes from the weather shield.”
Natasha gasped. “I saw this the other day at the picnic. Can anyone just gather them?”
He shook his head, stunned by the revelation. “There are only a few areas of the shield which isn’t fenced off and it is highly restricted. Even the lake has security guards. You see, if someone wanted to kill this city all they need to do is get access to the shield and poison it. People can’t just walk up to the weather shield and pick the flowers.”
Freya coughed. “The Hausers can and anyone from the Charter Council can, as well.”
Natasha could see where this was going. “You said you had an argument with Digger. Maybe you think he got the flower, maybe you confronted him.” She didn’t add that Digger had then attacked him.
Warren said, “If that is true, then he is behind the attacks and that can’t be right. If we asked him, he will tell me what the argument was about. I’m sure it was all innocent.”
Natasha caught his arm as he had started to leave. “Wait. He has tried to kill you already you can’t just go up to him. You would be a bloody fool to go to him now.”
He pulled his arm free and growled.
“This is Digger. He has been my friend since before I can even remember.”
Natasha’s voice was gentle when she said, “People change, Warren. Are you sure Digger hasn’t?”
Warren’s voice was fierce. “He hasn’t, I swear.”
He left then.
Natasha turned to Freya. “Thank you for your help.”
She said, “No problem. Warren’s mother is the one who got me this job. Without the Nasser’s support I never would have been able to go through University at all.”
Natasha left then, but when she went outside, she couldn’t find Warren. He must have run. She swore softly to herself. She had to find him before he got into trouble. Especially, a kind of trouble which would get him killed.
___
Warren bulldozed his way past the servant at the door and pushed into Digger’s study. Digger jerked from where he lay on a couch in front of an electric fireplace.
Betrayed Hero (Atramento Book 2) Page 9