Dark Steel

by Fable Gray

  I one swift movement, he shoved his hips and sheathed himself completely in my heat. Our gasps came in unison, and the feeling of being so full, so complete, nearly made me come again.

  “Oh, God,” I whispered, my eyes slamming shut.

  I could feel him pulsing inside of me as he waited, letting himself adjust. Or maybe just stopping himself from coming like I almost had.

  “Royal,” he murmured, his hand releasing my wrists. “Touch me.”

  I obeyed, immediately reaching out to run my hands over his impressive shoulders and down his biceps.

  He started moving at the same time, rocking his hips against mine in a steady rhythm that made it hard to do anything more than just feel.

  I jerked my hips against his, loving how deep he went and how good it felt.

  “Yes, Royal,” Declan bit out. “Fuck yes. Keep doing that.”

  He sped up and I tried to match his pace, but Declan was racing to the finish now and he was far too fast for me.

  The friction was delicious, making me delirious with the need to come. I felt the quickening inside of me.

  “Open your eyes,” Declan said. “I want to see your eyes when you come.”

  I opened my eyes and they locked on his sapphire ones. I held them, steady and deep as he pumped into me two more times.

  My nerve endings went wild and I clenched tight around him. His breath caught at the feel of it, then he was pouring into me, hot spurts that were just verging on painful—enough to drive another thrill to me and make the orgasm last even longer.

  “You’re squeezing me so tight,” Declan bit out. His arms clamped around me as his body shook, nearly taking my breath away.

  We held each other until the world went quiet around us and all I could hear was our heartbeats in sync with each other like we were both right where we belonged.

  Chapter 19

  Declan rolled to the side, pulling out of me, and making me mumble a noise of disagreement.

  “You’re so warm,” I said, my voice sleepy.

  He pulled me over so my cheek rested against his chest. “And you’re so cool. Except for inside.”

  My body tingled at his words. He said what he felt, and it was refreshing.

  My fingers trailed over his chest, running down to his abdomen.

  “Careful,” Declan warned, his voice deep and amused. “Or we’re going to have to do that again, and I’m not sure you’re ready.”

  “Me? I’m not sure you’re ready,” I taunted, but his lips only curved.

  “Don’t be so certain.”

  I looked down, surprised when I saw his cock hardening again, looking just as big as it had before. Like steel.

  “How…?”

  He brushed his fingers on my cheek. “It’s one of those abilities I was talking about. Fast healing, fast…regenerating.”

  I sat up with one arm propped on his chest. “Seriously?” I glanced down at him, torn between straddling him and asking a whole lot of questions.

  “I see that,” Declan murmured. “Your science face. I know you have a lot of questions.”

  “I do.” I smiled at him and kissed him on the chest. “But they can wait. I should get back to my dad.”

  He gripped my arm, his fingers like fire. “I don’t want you to go alone. I’ll take you.”

  “I don’t mind. I can call an Uber.”

  His lips quirked. “Randy?”

  I laughed and got up, feeling more relaxed than I had in days. I stretched my arms high above my head. “No, I feel bad for him. He’s been chauffeuring me all over the city—and other places—this week.”

  “Good man,” Declan said, his eyes dropping to scan my body. “You sure you can’t stay longer?”

  I bit my lip. Declan was already ready to go again, hard as stone. My mouth watered.

  “Maybe a few more minutes?” I asked, sounding unsure. I highly doubted Declan could whittle something like this down to a few minutes.

  “I’ll try not to get carried away,” he said, scooting to the edge of the bed.

  I held up my hands. “No. Stay there. If you—if you start touching me again, this won’t be quick.”

  He grinned. “What do you suggest?”

  I got on the bed and gently pushed his chest, urging him to lie back. “Just stay right there.”

  And when I straddled him, taking him fully inside of me, he relaxed on the bed.

  “I’ll take you to the hospital,” Declan said with a firm nod.

  I smiled and kissed him. “Thank you.”

  And then I rode him until I lost my mind again.

  #

  After we’d showered, Declan had his driver bring us to the hospital. He introduced me to the two men he had stationed there, two men who were very discreet because I’d never seen either of them at the hospital before even though Declan told me they’d been there since the day of my father’s accident.

  My dad was doing well physically but was still struggling to remember what had happened leading up to the accident. Even though I wanted my father back, I still wanted him safe so I didn’t tell him anything more than what he already knew.

  I insisted Declan stay in the hallway during my visit, at least for now, and he respected my wishes, though he didn’t look happy about it.

  “You think he’ll be okay?” I asked when I finally came out and joined him in the hallway again.

  Declan took my hand and brought it to his lips. I realized at that moment how grateful I was that he was here.

  And also how much I needed to sort out. I needed to talk to Xander first and foremost. He’d called me again twenty minutes ago, but I hadn’t wanted to answer when I was visiting my dad.

  “My men aren’t leaving. They’ll be here in shifts, always two of them. Your dad won’t be alone,” Declan said.

  I leaned my forehead against his chest. The light feeling I had earlier was threatening to vanish completely. His arms came around me, heating the chill that had swept over me.

  “Come home with me,” Declan murmured, smoothing his hand down my hair. “You need some rest. And I want you safe.”

  I looked up and searched his gaze, surprised at the vulnerability I saw there. “I need to talk to Xander and… I don’t know. Maybe just sort through everything that’s happened.”

  “Don’t pull away from me, Royal,” he said.

  “No, it’s not—I’m not doing that. But this is fast and with my dad and…other things going on, I need to focus.”

  “Reassess,” he said quietly, finding the meaning behind my words that I wasn’t able to say out loud. “Do you regret what happened between us?”

  I blinked and shook my head. “No. Not at all. But where do we go from here?”

  “I want more. More of you—more of us. And like I said before, we’re in this together. I want to help. There are things we still need to talk about.”

  “I don’t know where we go from here, but I’m not walking away,” I told him.

  I didn’t want to. It would be easy to go home with him—to his house in the foothills or the city. To let my guard down and be with him. But I couldn’t set my real life aside. I needed perspective. And I needed to make sure I was keeping my head on straight.

  “Can you take me home?” I asked him.

  Declan’s jaw clenched but he stepped back. “Of course.”

  I caught his hand as we walked to the elevator, and after a moment, he squeezed it tightly.

  I blew out a quiet breath of relief. I knew he wanted more but the only assurance I could give him right now was that I wasn’t running away. I was just taking a minute.

  When we got in the car, Declan turned to me. “In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ll be stationing one of my men outside your building. Just in case.”

  My stomach clenched. “You think someone might do something?” I thought about my dad and what might have really happened on the road.

  What if someone wanted the information I had? Or to stop it from getting ou
t?

  “Hey.” Declan squeezed my hand. “It’s not to worry you. It’s just in case. There are people out there that would kill to have the kind of information you have.”

  “And you think they know about me?” I asked, then tried at a small joke. “Because I told you I was discreet.”

  He offered a small smile, but it faded as quickly as it had come. “As I said, I don’t want to worry you. Do what you need to do at home and then…”

  He turned to face the window, leaving his sentence unfinished.

  Then what? He probably wanted to ask. He was a hundred steps ahead of me and clearly worried that I wouldn’t catch up anytime soon.

  Or at all.

  “I’ll call you,” I told him when we reached my apartment. “Okay?”

  He leaned over to cup the nape of my neck. “I hope you do,” he murmured before giving me a lush kiss that had me remembering his powerful hard thrusts into my body back in his bedroom.

  When he finally released me, he got out with me on the sidewalk and made sure I made it into the building safely.

  My legs wobbled but I managed to get inside and cast him a wave before going upstairs to the apartment.

  My lips were still buzzing from Declan’s kiss, my cheeks flushed from the memory of his mouth on other parts of my body when I stepped inside and Xander started to yell at me.

  “I swear, I was just about to call the police! Do you know how many years you shaved off my life? Royal, you—”

  “I know. I’m sorry,” I said, holding up my hands. “Please. Just let me sit down first and then you can keep yelling at me.”

  He folded his arms, waiting for me to seat myself on the couch. Once I kicked off my shoes and pulled my legs up to get comfortable, he started again.

  “I can’t believe you didn’t call me back! What the hell were you thinking?” Xander asked.

  Uh… I couldn’t very well tell him I’d been distracted with sex. Though, under any other circumstance, Xander would want all the details.

  “I was distracted,” I said. “I found Declan’s house and then I went in there—”

  “You went in there? Are you crazy? What happened? Did he come after you with a knife or just—”

  “No,” I said, choking on a laugh. Xander’s eyes widened. “Sorry, I know that’s not funny, but if Declan really wanted to hurt me, he could snap me like a twig.”

  His eyes narrowed. “That doesn’t make me feel better. But that’s also interesting.”

  “It really is,” I told him, pointing to the couch. “If you can forgive me, I’ll give you all the details—or what I know for now.”

  He glanced to the kitchen and his frown softened. “I guess I could open a bottle of wine.”

  I checked my phone. “It’s only three in the afternoon.”

  “Yeah, in real people time. We were both up early and I’ve spent the last several hours worrying about you. So in adult, stressed people time, it’s well after five and the perfect time for wine.”

  “Good point.”

  “So,” he called from the kitchen. “What’s his house like? Ostentatious?”

  I smiled, remembering the cozy fireplaces and plush fabrics in his rooms. “Not quite. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s huge. But it’s comfortable. Beautiful.”

  “And his bedroom?” Xander asked, returning with two glasses and the bottle of wine, which he set on the coffee table.

  My mouth dropped open. “Xander!”

  “I dare you to tell me I’m wrong—that he didn’t try to get you in the sheets. I saw how he looked at you—that first day in the building. And the last day…”

  After he’d kissed me senseless against the door to his office, his manhood straining against his slacks.

  I skirted the question. “Speaking of that first day…”

  “What?”

  “Declan already knew who I was. Before I ever came in there and thought I was being sneaky.”

  “How the hell did he know?”

  I sipped my wine, still sort of reeling over the information myself. “He saw me at the hospital when he went to visit my dad. He saw me more than once.”

  I left out the part about how he’d told me he was falling in love with me. That seemed…unreal. Despite everything that had happened and our romp in the sheets, I still couldn’t believe it was more than a fling. Or something to release some stress.

  “Cheater,” Xander said. “We were sneaky. There’s no way he could have figured it out otherwise. So, did he threaten you? I mean, he knows who you are.”

  “I know who he is, too,” I reminded Xander. “But no, he didn’t threaten me. He was going to tell me anyway.”

  Xander leaned in, eager to hear the truth. “Who is he then?”

  I explained his sickness when he’d been younger, which Xander said he’d already read about, and then the serum his father had injected him with as a young man.

  “Serum?” Xander asked. “Is that what we’re calling it?”

  My scientist brain automatically dissected the word. “Well, technically it’s not a serum, although—” I angled my head. “I wonder if his father did get samples of his blood and then used that to—”

  Xander waved his hand, trying to get me to stop. “Let’s just call it serum for now. It’s a word I can pronounce, and it did help him heal, right?”

  “Well, the surgery fixed his condition. But the serum…” I nodded. “It did more than that. Not just healing but regenerating powers. He doesn’t get sick, he doesn’t stay hurt for long if something happens—”

  “Like the cut from the glass—”

  “Right. And he’s…strong. Strong and so fast, I just…” I shook my head. I could hardly believe it.

  “Oh my God,” Xander breathed. He lifted the bottle of wine and filled both our glasses. “Can you imagine? Never getting sick? Probably having endless energy? Can he even get hurt at all? Because all superheroes have weaknesses.”

  I grimaced. I didn’t want to think about Declan being hurt. He’d already gone through a lot in his life, including losing a mother as I had. But that brought to mind a dozen more questions.

  Questions I wanted the answers to. I couldn’t deny I was fascinated by the science of it all, but I also wanted to know the man.

  I wanted Declan, plain and simple—and it had nothing to do with his abilities.

  I considered this. Did that mean I was willing to give us a try?

  If not, why was I fighting this so hard? He was sexy as hell and I was attracted to him in such an overwhelming way, it undid me when I even thought about it too long.

  But me and relationships weren’t exactly simpatico. The last time I’d fallen for someone, I’d made of fool of myself, and I still hadn’t gotten over it.

  Xander made an amused noise in his throat. “So you did get a little glimpse of his bedroom at his house.”

  I choked on my wine. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’ve only seen that look on your face once before,” he said.

  “It’s not the same,” I murmured, my cheeks heating. I knew exactly what he was talking about—or more like who. Tate Booth.

  “Oh, really?” Xander asked. “Because that’s the same face you wore for about three months while you and he were…” He shrugged. “Whatever that was. Doing the dirty.”

  I had to laugh at that, even though the memory of it all made my stomach twist. “Doing the dirty. How romantic.”

  “According to you, it was. Every time you’d talk to him or come home from his house, you’d have that dreamy smile on your face.”

  “It’s not the same,” I told him again.

  He nodded. “I would hope not. You’re older and wiser. Which means if you’re making a face like that for a man, it’s got to mean something. Don’t deny it.”

  “I’m not denying anything.”

  Though I kind of was by arguing with him and making it seem like what Declan and I had was casual—that we hadn’t even hooked up. It
was so much more than that, and that was precisely why I was denying it.

  Xander reached over and patted my leg, the humor fading from his face. “It’s okay to have feelings for someone.”

  I gave him an incredulous look to counteract the way his words had just rocked me. “I just told you that Declan is a superhero and you’re more interested in our relationship.”

  “Is that confirmation that you have a relationship?”

  I stood and carried my wine with me to the kitchen. “How about dinner? I can cook us up something and then we can pretend like the world doesn’t exist for a bit?”

  Xander followed me, coming to stand on the opposite side of the breakfast bar. “Ro. I thought we promised to be honest with each other.”

  My heart clutched. We had. After I’d finally dumped Tate for good and wallowed in misery for about a month, I’d made a pact with Xander. We’d tell each other the truth so that we’d always have perspective. So that we wouldn’t hide our feelings. And so that we’d have someone to commiserate with when life didn’t work out.

  “I’m trying,” I whispered. “It’s just…not fair.”

  “What’s not fair?”

  “Declan’s known me longer. He said he used to listen to me when I talked with my dad. His feelings are further along than mine and…”

  “And it’s scary,” Xander surmised. He walked around the counter and hugged me.

  I snuggled into the warmth of his oversized sweatshirt and the way he smelled. Clean, familiar. Like home. “It’s scary,” I confirmed.

  Admitting that I was feeling more for Declan felt like rushing my feelings, and I didn’t want that. Not again.

  “This is different,” Xander said, easing back to see my face. “You said so yourself. Just remember that. Don’t compare it to before.”

  I swallowed and nodded.

  He squeezed my shoulder. “So. I didn’t eat lunch. An early dinner sounds good.”

  “Then I can tell you about my dad.”

  That seemed to distract him enough to get him off the topic of Declan. It was what I needed right now. To settle back into the real world so I didn’t get swept away by a fairytale.