Dark Steel

by Fable Gray

  “That's because you don't have any.”

  “I thought you said you were going to take care of things.”

  He stepped up to me, still blissfully naked as well. “I believe I said that you wouldn’t need any clothes this weekend. I got you here so that I could do whatever I wanted with you. No clothes necessary.”

  I considered this. “I’m fine eating my meals naked and fine talking with you naked. But what if I want to go outside? Are you okay with that? If we just happen to run into a burly mountain man fly fishing down the river somewhere—”

  “Royal,” he growled, eyes on fire. “No one else sees you like this but me.”

  The possessiveness and ferocity of his voice thrilled me. “Then I suppose one of your T-shirts will do for now.”

  He frowned but passed over one of his T-shirts. It was white, with a pocket that was still too sheer to completely cover what was underneath. And it barely covered my ass.

  I could tell Declan was pleased. “You’re right. That’ll do for now,” he said.

  I narrowed my gaze on him. “Did you really not pick up anything of mine to wear?”

  “Pancakes,” he said with a grin. “I want pancakes for breakfast.”

  “I see. Dodging the question.”

  Still smiling, he scooped me up into his arms. I instantly clung to him, afraid he was going to do one of his speed racing routines to get us to the kitchen.

  But instead, he surprised me by walking slowly, purposefully.

  “I don’t want to make you sick before breakfast,” he told me.

  “That’s very considerate of you.” I reached out and snagged my cell phone off the dresser as he passed and tried to forget that his was still on the counter in the bathroom.

  I peered at the screen while he walked.

  “Anything interesting?” he asked.

  “My dad texted. He said the papers I brought were really interesting and that Xander found something new, something that we probably want to hear. He asked me to call him.”

  It might have been my imagination, but I felt Declan tense just slightly. “Everything okay?”

  “I’m interested to hear what he has to say. But it’s a lot of information. And I’m not entirely sure what to do with it.”

  He didn’t elaborate, and I let it go for now. We’d talk later, probably after we heard what my dad had to say.

  “Let’s have breakfast first,” Declan suggested. “And then we can call him.”

  “Since your metabolism is so fast, you probably burn a lot of calories. That means you’re hungrier than normal right?”

  Declan stopped in front of the breakfast bar and nodded. “That was another thing I noticed in the beginning. I thought it was because I had more energy and I was burning more calories. Turned out all of that was true.”

  He set me on the counter, and I gasped at how cold it was against my butt. “Underwear would be nice,” I grumbled.

  He only gave me a patient smile. “That’s just one more layer of clothing I’d have to get through numerous times today. Might as well save time.”

  The phrase numerous times today made a delectable chill travel through my body. I considered that a challenge. I hadn’t taken advantage of his ability to make love over and over again yet.

  “Are you going to back that up?” I asked him with a smile. “Or were those just words?”

  With a growl, his mouth was on mine. I spread my thighs so that he could get closer. He only wore a simple T-shirt and boxers, so it was easy to feel the heat of his skin against mine. My nipples hardened and into peaks through the thin material, making Declan groan.

  It surprised me when he pushed me back on the cool surface. My head was so close to the edge that my hair hung off the other side of the counter. Then Declan yanked my legs, pulling my ass closer.

  I gasped as his warm tongue found my center. Shit. He really was going to make good on his word. How in the world was I going to keep up with him?

  I lost myself in the pleasure of his tongue and fingers driving me to yet another climax. I almost expected him to pick me up and bring me back to bed. But he only rubbed his fingers on my cheek and then straightened.

  “Your eyes are still blurry,” he murmured.

  I stayed where I was a moment to catch my breath. “Is this what you have planned today? Make me come in every room of your house?”

  He nodded seriously. “That was the plan. And we’re going to have to hurry.” He flashed a smile. “It’s a big house and you woke up late.”

  I sat up and slapped his arm. When I moved to get off the counter, he blocked my way.

  “Stay there while I cook. I want you to take it easy today.” He kissed my cheek. “Don’t want you getting too tired or too sore before we really get started.”

  I squirmed in anticipation. It was a real possibility if we kept at it the whole weekend. And Declan didn’t show any signs of slowing down.

  Declan started preparing the pancakes and I took the opportunity to try to get him to open up. To try to get him to spill any other secrets he had—including who he was talking to last night.

  But he answered every question I had with something logical or something I couldn’t continue to question. Dammit, he was smooth.

  I gave up by the time he’d finished the pancakes.

  “This looks delicious,” I said instead.

  “My specialty.” He set the plates on the other side of the breakfast bar, where two stools sat next to each other. “Coffee?”

  I angled my head. “You have orange juice? I’ll probably save the coffee for this afternoon when I need more energy to keep up with you.”

  His lips curved. “Good idea.”

  Declan scooped me up and brought me to the stool, his muscles flexing when he set me down.

  We ate together in companionable silence for a few minutes. Then, when my thoughts got the better of me again, I glanced over at him. “So…is this weird? It seems like you work a lot and now you’re taking off the whole weekend to be with me.”

  I was fishing once again, but maybe it would get him to open up to me about last night.

  Declan nodded. “Weird, kind of. But appreciated. I’ve worked hard the last several years to make sure that there are people who know what they're doing in this company. When my dad was in charge, he handled a lot of it on his own, and I remember he rarely took time off even when his wife was still alive. I swore to myself I wouldn’t be like that when I got older.”

  I smiled. “Older? You’re still very young.”

  “Let me rephrase that,” he said, staring at his plate. “I swore to myself I wouldn’t be like that when I was ready to settle down and have a family.”

  My stomach jumped. Settle down? Have a family? Was that where he was at in his life?

  I didn’t know how to respond, and for the millionth time, he’d caught me off guard. I completely forgot what I’d been fishing for and instead fumbled around in my head with what I was supposed to say.

  Declan reached out and set his hand on my thigh. “I know how that came out. I just meant that I knew I was getting to a point in my life when work wasn’t the most important thing. And then I met you…” He shrugged. “I realized that there would come a time, maybe not so far in the future, that I’d want to make sure those words were the truth.”

  I exhaled. It made sense. He wasn’t specifically talking about me, he was talking in general. And I got it. It was something my dad had talked to me about, saying you had to make time for family as well as work because work didn’t last forever, but family did.

  Another text came through on my phone, distracting me. I glanced at it and saw it was from my father.

  Anyone home? it asked.

  I held it up and showed it to Declan. “I guess he has something he really wants to tell us.”

  “Better give him a call then.”

  I pressed my dad’s name and the call button, eating another bite while it rang through.

  “Royal,
” he said, sounding relieved. “I was about to call the police. Where have you been?”

  I could hear a voice in the background that sounded like Xander. He said, “I told him you were probably with the boss.”

  I grimaced when I heard my dad grumble. Yeah, he probably didn’t want that picture in his head.

  “I’m fine. I’m sorry, I probably should have texted back when I’ve got your first message.” But I was too preoccupied with having sex.

  I glanced at Declan and saw his satisfied smirk. Of course he knew exactly what I was thinking.

  I shot him a look. I reached out to push his shoulder, but he only caught my hand and pressed a kiss to my fingers.

  Crap. Declan was ruining me for all other men. He was a little too perfect. Too caring. Too considerate. I hated that it gave me doubts.

  “Hi, Xander,” I said. “How was the sleepover?”

  “I’m putting you on speaker,” my dad said.

  “Me too.”

  I set the phone down between me and Declan so he could hear what my father had to say.

  Xander’s voice came over the phone. “The sleepover was productive. You wouldn’t believe the kinds of lives these scientists lead.” He paused. “I’m assuming Declan’s sitting right there, and I just want to remind him that he gave me permission to look up all this information.”

  Declan smiled. “I did. And after this, I’ll pretend I have no clue how you figured it out.”

  “Good.”

  My dad’s voice came back on the line. “I went through everything that you found that was in the serum, and I feel like we might be missing something. Between that and the notes—”

  “Notes?” I asked.

  “So, you narrowed it down to those few scientists as the ones who worked on the serum with your father,” Xander said. “Your dad mentioned that they had to log time at the lab and the equipment used. Two of them had a time that was out of place, meaning they were there after hours. And that was right around the time that Declan said his father had talked to him about the serum. Well, several months before. But the timeline lines up.”

  “Right.” Declan’s eyes were riveted on the screen. He’d finished most of his pancakes, but the rest sat getting cold as he absorbed the information. “What did you find?”

  “Other ingredients in their notes. Even though the system had been wiped, I was able to pull up the lost notes. I knew there had to be some sort of record of what they had done.”

  “So, what did you get from all that?” I asked, forgetting my breakfast too.

  “There are variations on the serum,” my father said. “And they made several doses.”

  “You said so before. Like, maybe they gave some doses to someone else.”

  My father made a noise of agreement. “Yes, I assumed that might have been a possibility before. But not different variations on this serum. Variations that would…”

  “What?” Declan asked.

  “Well, it’s really unbelievable. I mean, I don’t know what the intended purpose of the original serum was, but in the scientists' notes, there were all sorts of wild theories.”

  I leaned in closer to the phone, encouraging my father to get to the point. “What kinds of theories?”

  “Uh…things like teleportation and—and—”

  “Invisibility,” Xander provided. “Telekinesis, super speed, super strength, and more…”

  I looked at Declan when he mentioned those last few. Some of those abilities were what Declan had, but my father didn’t know. And from the sound of it, Xander hadn’t told him either. I appreciated him waiting for us to do it.

  Declan looked stunned. He looked just like I felt. And like my father sounded.

  “I don’t know…” My father cleared his throat, gathering himself. “I don’t know ultimately how many doses were made and how many different variations there were. We’re still trying to uncover more notes. But anyone who took any of this serum would have to see a change in themselves by now. And who knows what that change would look like.”

  I held Declan’s gaze, waiting for him to say something to my father. He only shook his head and whispered, “Not over the phone.”

  I understood immediately. It was already bad enough that we had discussed this on my phone instead of in person. It made sense to finish the conversation at another time.

  “We still have more to go through but we’ll let you know if we find something else,” my dad said.

  “Okay, thanks. I’ll call you tomorrow and we’ll probably stop by to talk.”

  “Sounds good. Love you, Royal.”

  “I love you too.”

  I pushed the button to end the call and then stared at Declan. “What does this mean?” I whispered.

  His gaze held mine but he only shook his head. “I have no idea.”

  Chapter 31

  After the conversation with my dad, Declan was quiet as we cleaned up the dishes from breakfast. It felt like he was retreating from me, disappearing into his own head. I wondered if it had anything to do with the phone call last night. But now everything was making me question that phone call.

  I tried to bring a little levity into the situation. “You know, I haven’t even seen the rest of your house. I’ve only been in a few rooms.”

  “That’s not true,” he said, his voice lighter, even though he didn’t look up from the sink. “Kitchen, dining room, bedroom, bathroom, living room.”

  “You can't tell me that's all. From the looks of it outside, there are several more rooms.”

  He grabbed a dish towel and wiped his hands. Then he stepped over to kiss me on the cheek. “I need to get some air. I thought I’d go outside for a few minutes.” I was about to suggest I come with him when he continued, “You’re welcome to take a look around. Or when I come back, I can give you a tour.”

  “Oh.” I swallowed back disappointment. “Sure. Of course. I’ll take a look around.”

  I forced a smile that I hoped came off sincere. I understood if he needed some space. After all, this situation changed everything he knew about his father—and maybe even himself. And I was just this woman who had come along in the middle of it all. It was a lot to process.

  Declan gave a brief smile and then walked from the room.

  Trying to give him his space, I wandered around the house. I stopped in the master bedroom first and found a pair of socks for my feet. I also peered in the closet and found a robe to chase away the cold. It smelled like him and warmed me like it did when his arms were around me.

  Then, because I couldn’t help my curiosity, I went to the bathroom again only to find his phone wasn’t there. He must have picked it up at some point—maybe even right before he went outside. He could have done it in a split second and I never would have known.

  But still, I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. We were still navigating something new to both of us here. It made sense that he might need time to think everything through.

  So I continued my tour. I walked through probably a dozen rooms. Spare bedrooms, bathrooms, and an office that looked like Declan used fairly regularly, a home theater with plush reclining seats. It was a beautiful house. But it would have been more beautiful if I had been able to see it through Declan’s eyes. If he’d been able to tell me where he’d come up with the concept, or if he had just bought it on a whim. If he’d decorated it himself or had help. I had so many questions, not just about the secrets he was keeping.

  I walked back to the living room and looked through the windows at the back of the house toward the mountains. Heavy clouds still clung to the peaks, and this time it looked like it was going to rain in earnest.

  Movement caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. Declan was on the deck, pacing back and forth. He pulled out his phone, peered at the screen, then typed something before returning his phone to his pocket. At some point, he’d donned a simple set of jeans and a T-shirt, but his feet were bare.

  It was his face, however, that cau
ght my attention the most. He looked…vulnerable. Concerned. And everything in me just wanted to comfort him, even if I had questions.

  I wanted to give him a little bit of what he’d given me the last several days.

  I bit my lip and debated. I didn’t want to bother him, but it had been nearly an hour since he’d stepped away.

  I opened the door slowly and stepped outside. The slight chill in the air made me snuggle deeper into his robe. I padded across the deck in his thick socks. Declan turned and saw me, and he froze.

  His expression went from vulnerable, to surprised, to completely blank. I came out here to comfort him or to let him know I’d listen, whatever he needed. But now, it just looked like he wanted his space.

  “I’m sorry,” I told him. “I just thought…never mind, I’ll leave you alone.”

  I turned back to the house, but then felt a flutter of air behind me. Suddenly Declan’s arms were around me.

  “You don’t have to go,” he murmured in my ear.

  “You look like you still need some space.”

  “Not from you.”

  I tried to turn his grasp, to see his face, but his whole body tightened. He kept one arm around my waist and the other dipped into the slightly parted robe to press against my belly, holding me against him. Even through the thickness of the robe and his jeans, I could feel how hard he was and I could feel the heat radiating from everywhere else.

  It was tempting to give in, knowing that intimacy would take away some of the distance between us, but I couldn’t. Not right now.

  “I should probably call my dad,” I said softly. “Or maybe go back and spend some more time with him.”

  “I thought we were going to go tomorrow,” he said, voice gruff.

  But you don’t seem to want me here anymore, I almost said.

  “Talk to me, Royal,” Declan murmured.

  “You’re not talking to me,” I ground out, my voice betraying hurt that I’d tried to keep tucked away. “I thought we were being honest with each other.”

  He’d told me the truth about his abilities and I’d told him the truth about my past and how insecure that relationship had made me feel. And we were both still here, still invested.