ArousingMemories (4 page)

He shrugged. “I don’t think there’s such a thing as a good
time under the circumstances.” Man, did he sound pathetic. Whoever he was,
whatever he was, he didn’t like being an object of pity. Before his visitor
could reply, he amended his response. “Actually it’s a great time. I’m bored
shitless lying here. I appreciate the company, especially from someone who
isn’t going to stick something into me. You aren’t here to stick something into
me, are you?” he added belatedly.

It was meant to be amusing, but the look on the other guy’s
face told him he had said something decidedly unfunny. The man’s eyes flashed
open, and his large hands gripped the footboard. For a couple of seconds, their
gazes locked. Heat and intensity crossed the few feet that separated them. His
cock stirred enough to make him raise a leg to hide what was happening. He
thought the other man was going to say something.

The moment passed. Releasing the footboard, the guy walked
around to the side of the bed, his hands jammed inside his jeans front pockets.
Hiding his own erection? No, Noah’s injured brain had to be playing tricks on
him.

“I’m not a doctor or a nurse,” his visitor said, the voice
deep and powerful. “I’m Severin Blake. I’m a friend.” The last bit was added
with some hesitation.

Was it a lie? How could he know? He didn’t know squat. It
was frustrating, although somewhere deep inside, he knew this man was telling
the truth. He was a friend. Noah’s friend. It was important to remember his own
name. This other man had an odd name, though. “Severin Blake or Blake Severin?”
he couldn’t resist asking.

Smiling at the question, the man grabbed a chair and sat a
couple of feet from the bed. His long, muscular legs stretched out before him.
The tight jeans and formfitting t-shirt showed off his well-toned physique.
Again, something stirred deep within. He liked looking at this man, but he had
liked looking at Haley, too. Maybe he was a brain-injured nymphomaniac. If he
regained his memories, it might turn out he looked at everyone as a sexual
conquest. If he got his memories back. No, when he got them back. He had to hold
on to hope or he might break down and cry, and he didn’t want to do that in
front of anyone, let alone this man.

“Severin is my mother’s family name. Just my luck my
father’s family name sounds like a first name. I’ve been correcting people and
forms my whole life. I’ve always been a little envious of people like you. Noah
Turner. Everyone knows how your name goes, no problem.”

Except it was a problem for Noah because he couldn’t
remember. It was a fresh stab to his heart, this simple observation, and damn
it, the tears pricked at the back of his eyes after all. He had to look away,
his gaze unfocused as he tried to get himself under control.

“Hey,” Severin called out gently. “It’s going to be okay.
Give yourself some time. You’ll get back your memories.”

Noah looked at him. “Will I? How can you be so sure?”

Severin shrugged. “I’m an optimist.”

Something told him it wasn’t really true. “I don’t think
so,” Noah replied with a slow shake of his head. It still hurt like a bitch as
did the rest of his body, reminding him he had been in some kind of accident.
Haley had told him as much. That was all, though. No one wanted to explain
everything. There was some big mystery to all this. To his damaged mind, his
bedroom looked like a hotel room tricked out with hospital equipment. With the
curtains drawn shut, he couldn’t even see the building’s location. He was
isolated, adrift, lost in every possible way. It was lonely and frightening.
Maybe Severin would tell him something that would help. Even though there was no
clear thought in his head as to why, he knew he trusted the man.

“What the hell happened to me? I mean I’ve been told I was
in an accident, but not the specifics. Who and what am I that I would be in
this strange place anyway?”

Noah watched Severin wage some internal battle before
answering. “What the fuck? No one told me you can’t know the truth, so here it
is. Maybe knowing will help you fill in the blanks. You and I, Haley, all of us
here work for an international organization for counterterrorism.” Severin
looked at him sharply. “You understand what terrorism is?”

God, yes. Some things were as clear as day for him, and this
bit of knowledge unfortunately was one of them. “Assholes killing innocents in
the name of some bullshit sense of self-righteousness.”

Severin nodded once. “Close enough. Anyway, we work to stop
them. You’re Haley’s boy. She runs you in the field. Your team leader,” the man
explained. Good thing, too, because all Noah could think when told he was
Haley’s “boy” was toy, as in boy toy, as in wrestling around naked in bed with
the woman. And whoops, he was really starting to feel better because that
fleeting thought sent his somewhat-erect cock into full-mast position. It felt
good. It felt normal, and he really needed normal at the moment. What he didn’t
need, however, was Severin Blake seeing how happy he was at the thought of
being with Haley. Good thing his leg was up between them to hide his erection.
Or, at least he thought it was hidden. Given the way Severin was suddenly
looking at him with narrowed eyes, he wasn’t so sure.

“So, we fight terrorists?” Noah prodded the other man to
deflect any mention of his inappropriate condition.

A couple of seconds ticked by before his visitor answered.
“Yes. We go after the homegrown ones, too, including a charming group known as
The True Sons of America. These murderous freaks believe our country is being
run by all the wrong kinds of people, which means people other than those who
share their total bullshit bigoted view of the world. You infiltrated them and
learned they are planning an attack somewhere here in the Boston area just in
time for the Fourth of July.” He paused, swore briefly and softly before
continuing. “And you weren’t in an accident so much as tortured.”

Noah let the words sink in, as incredible as they were. His
body was riddled with cuts and bruises, pain seeped through the relatively
light medication they gave him at his insistence because he didn’t like his
brain foggier than it already was. He tried desperately to remember if anything
Severin said made sense to him. It didn’t and the effort made his head ache. He
brought his fingers up to press against his temples, his eyes closed to shut
out the light in the room. A hand, warm and comforting, descended on his raised
thigh. “Are you okay, Noah?”

The touch, even through the sheet, both electrified and
soothed. His nipples tingled, his balls pulled up tighter. His cock hardened to
a painful state. He wanted nothing more than to lean toward Severin and shift
the large hand from his thigh to the hard length beside it. He wanted those
strong fingers curled around his shaft, squeezing and pulling.

“Shit!” Noah jerked away from Severin instead, dislodging
the comforting hand and dismissing its owner. He didn’t dare do anything else. Maybe
he couldn’t remember his own name or the fact that he was some kind of super
cop, but he did remember how relatively rare men fucking other men was. He also
remembered a man who made unwelcome advances to another man could end up
getting hurt, as in having the crap beaten out of him. It’s not that he was
particularly worried about the latter bit, but he had a connection to this man
and didn’t want to jeopardize that by asking,
Hey, would you mind giving me
a hand job? And, when you’re done, could you crawl into bed with me and hold me
while I try to sleep because I feel so fucking alone and scared. And I’m afraid
of going to sleep because when I wake up I remember all over again that I can’t
remember?

No, in many ways he was back to living on a more primitive
survival mode. Instinct told him to play it safe and assume Severin Blake was a
straight as they come and not interested in playing with another man’s cock. So
he closed his eyes and said, “Sorry, my head hurts and I’m tired. Do you mind?”

Severin’s voice washed over him, soothing, understanding.
“It’s all right. I’m sorry if I upset you. It’s going to be all right, Noah.
You’re not alone.”

How had the guy even known what he was thinking and feeling?
Unable to trust his voice, Noah simply nodded. When he heard the bedroom door
open and close, he let the tears fall.

* * * * *

Haley stepped quietly up to the bed and looked down at a
sleeping Noah. It was late at night, and she had done all she could do for one
day. The list of primary targets and the assignments for recon were made. She’d
even managed to do it while sitting next to Severin. While her traitorous body
had yearned to touch him and be touched, her mind had stayed engaged on the
task at hand and on the plan for Noah. According to the doctor, his fever was
gone and he’d choked down some simple food. Now he slept again, but fitfully
from what she could tell in the darkness. His body jerked in apparent
agitation. He needed soothing. The question was, did she dare help him in the
way she’d been thinking about since the morning’s meeting?

For her own part, the answer was easy enough. Her body was
hot and aroused from Sev’s proximity. Whether she liked it or not, the man
called forth some pretty basic and strong memories from her body. Sleeping with
the man had always left her wrung dry yet eager for more. No one, not even the
young man lying before her, had left her in such a state. Too bad Sev had
turned out to be such a male chauvinist asshole. My woman, that’s what he’d
called her during the fight that ended it all, as in “my woman is not going out
in the field risking her life while our kids stay at home with a nanny”. She
had been his woman but he hadn’t been her man, not in the same way. Of course,
her man could go out in the field risking his life while his woman stayed home
raising their kids. Not the same thing at all, he’d shouted at her.

“Oh, yeah? Well, fuck you and the horse you road in on, you
Neanderthal,” she had shouted back. A master’s degree in criminology and it was
the best she could come up with. He had made her that mad and sad. She had
loved him and if she looked past her surface emotions, she loved him still.
Pathetic—her, not him. But none of it mattered right now, or ever again. She
needed to concentrate on Noah and help him remember.

Before her good sense could talk her out of it, Haley
stripped off her clothes. As she unclasped her bra, she rubbed her palms over
her taut nipples. Her clit pulsed in response. When she pulled down her pants,
she slipped a finger between her folds and found her pussy slick from her own
juices. She was more than ready for a good fucking, yet knew it was not in the
cards tonight. The last thing a recovering Noah needed was a hot and horny
woman jumping in his sickbed. She could tell, though, he needed comforting, so
that’s what she was going to give him.

Slowly pulling the sheet back from his body, Haley slipped
in beside him and wrapped her arm gingerly around his injured chest. He roused
immediately at the contact. “What?” he sputtered in confusion.

“Shh,” she soothed, her hand running lightly over his skin.
“It’s Haley.” She hesitated a moment before asking the necessary question. “Do
you mind?”

Noah placed his hand on hers and sighed. “No, not at all,
although I’m afraid I’m not in any condition right now to do much.”

Haley chuckled. “It’s okay. I’m not looking for anything
more than to hold you while we both sleep. How does that sound?”

“It sounds wonderful actually, although,” he said, twisting
toward her and moving his hand to cup her breast, “I haven’t forgotten that
there are far more interesting things to do with a naked woman than simply
holding her.”

His palm, rougher than her own, made her groan as he rubbed
it against her straining nipple. The folds between her legs became even wetter.
Without conscious thought, she brought her knee up between his legs and brushed
against his balls. Now it was his turn to groan. “Sorry,” she hissed, although
she wasn’t sure she really was. It was too good.

“No,” was his breathless reply. “This is great. It feels
great, and it feels familiar. We’ve done this before, haven’t we?”

Haley smiled into the darkness. “A time or two.” Even she
could hear her wistful tone.

“I’m sorry I don’t remember you.” There was a catch in his
voice and it tugged at her heart.

“Shh,” she soothed again, bringing her hand up to cup his
face. His cheeks were damp. Was he crying? Oh God. “Noah, it will be all
right.”

He turned his head and kissed her palm. “I hope so, but for
tonight, may I ask a favor?”

“I’m here for you,” she answered, knowing it was the truth.
Jogging Noah’s memories was critical to save lives. Nevertheless, part of
helping him to remember was to help him get his life back. To her mind, this
second reason was nearly as important as the first.

He shifted closer to her and spoke in almost a whisper. “I’m
having trouble sleeping and I don’t want any more drugs in me. My sense of
reality is shot as it is.” He paused. “Would you mind helping me relax?” As if
the meaning of his words was unclear, he shifted her hand with his own down
from his face to his cock. It was half hard already. “Would you mind?” he asked
in a tone that tugged hard at her heart. He was so vulnerable.

Wrapping her hand around his burgeoning erection, she leaned
in to place a soft kiss on his lips. “I love playing with your cock, Noah,” she
whispered. She took a firmer grip and pumped his shaft to full hardness. “Are
you sure you can handle this? You’re pretty beaten up.”

“Mmm,” he moaned. “This will chase the pain away better than
morphine.” The rest of his body went slack. He lay still and passive, very
unlike him, but testament to how hurt he was, as she settled into a steady
rhythm.

Sensing he would need more stimulation, Haley shifted her
body to free her other hand and switched it with the one clasping his cock.
This freed her first hand to cup his tightening balls. She rolled the soft
globes between thumb and fingers and was rewarded by another groan from Noah.
She pushed the taut skin of his cock up and down, while using her thumb to rub
the underside of his glans with every stroke upward.