Insatiable (23 page)

That’s when he sucked her clit, in and out, in and out, and she tripped into an orgasm so hard and deep she was sure she’d never felt anything so exquisitely pleasurable. She barely even registered it when he rolled her over and put a pillow under her hips. And then his cock was back, pressing deep, firing up another wave of pleasure, prolonging her climax.

“Gods, so fucking tight and wet. You’re the most perfect thing in creation,” he said into her neck as he began to thrust harder and faster. The heat of him blanketed her back.

She managed to get her ass higher, up to her knees, her nails dug into the blankets until with a guttural groan of her name, he came.

When he rolled off, he kissed her hip and then the small of her back.

“I like it that way,” she said, meaning from behind. “Now I can sleep.” She grinned and turned over to look at him better.

He shook his head as he got out of bed to clean up. “I’ve been told I’m better than warm milk.”

“I’m quite certain I don’t want to know who said that. In any case, I certainly have more fun with you than I ever did with a mug of warm milk,” she said as he got back in bed. She snuggled against him before getting up to clean up and get dressed herself. Being naked with Daniel was one of her favorite things, but it was too cold for that just then.

“What’s your mother like?”

“She runs a bakery. She’s a nice woman, a good woman who loves her children and has terrible taste in men.”

She got back in with him, pulling the blankets up and gluing herself to his body. “Four children, that’s a big group.”

“We’re all pretty good. I knew . . . well, we all stuck together and tried to keep things calm.”

She pressed her head into him until he finally turned over so she could see his face when he spoke. “I had a dog once who did that. Butted me with his gargantuan head until I paid attention to him.” He raised one brow at her.

“Are you saying I have a gargantuan head?”

He heaved a sigh, and she couldn’t hold back her laughter. “I’m sorry, you’re just so very fun to tweak. Now, back to our topic. You started to say something else. You knew. You knew what?”

He dragged a breath into his lungs. “She was fragile for a large part of my early childhood. Sick a lot. She has an immune disorder that she can treat, but the heat and dryness of the outback sapped most everything from her. She was just worn down.”

His voice was quiet, filled with emotion, and she hugged him tighter.

“I knew she had enough to deal with in my father, who was,
is
a giant, selfish, cheating prick. I just never wanted to be the reason she looked sad, I guess. So Abbie and I, that’s one of my sisters, we just sort of kept everything running. We didn’t really have much of a chance to get into trouble.”

What a man he was.

“Is she still ill? You said she owns a bakery.”

“She got very bad, so bad I thought she would die. My father, he didn’t really care. He’d stopped coming home, and when he did, he often brought his little protégés with him. She’d cry and cry. When I was small, they were so close, always laughing together, kissing and touching. He barely looked at her, didn’t care that she was fading. So I confronted him and demanded we go. I’d have gone anyway; she needed to be away. He gave in, and we moved to the capital. The neighborhood was not a dream come true. We were freezing cold for part of the year, sweltering for another part. But she got better. She got better and put her life together.”

“I’m glad to hear that. It sounds a lot like my mother’s situation. Except my father has a second wife. My mother probably wouldn’t leave him, even knowing what he is. My gods, my little brother. I’d forgotten until this moment.”

Not that he’d died; she never forgot that. But how. Her father was a monster. A murderous bastard who would be the end of everything if left unchecked. Simply because he could.

“He has to be stopped,” she murmured against his chest.

“I know.” He didn’t apologize, didn’t say more, and that’s what she needed.

“Tell me about your sisters.”

“You should sleep.”

“I will.”

“I’m the oldest of the four as I’ve said. One of my sisters runs a café, she’s in business with my mother. The other is a pain in the ass.” He grinned, and she laughed.

“Do tell.”

“She’s a barrister and a rabble rouser. Has to
know
everything. My gods, the questions she asks. She’s also strong, intelligent, funny.” He angled his head to look at her. “A lot like you that way.”

She sighed happily. “Is she married? Does she have children? Do you live near each other? Your family, that is?”

“Speaking of endless questions. She is married, yes, and she’s pregnant with her first child. She lives in the city, we all do. I see them all, including my youngest brother, who is
also
a professional rabble rouser, regularly when I’m home. You’ll like my brother. At first glance he seems shallow and pretty, but after you know him, you realize he’s got immense talent with people because he’s insightful and brilliant. He’s been told he’s stupid for so long by our father that it’s only recently that he’s accepting just how amazing he is.”

It warmed her to hear so much love in his voice. “I’m very excited to meet them. Not your father so much, but the rest.” She paused. “I will, won’t I?”

“What are you asking exactly?”

She leaned closer, pressing her lips to his ear. “When we arrive, will you be with me? I mean, not just physically, but romantically, relationship-wise?”

“I’m so wrong for you,” he whispered. They’d been keeping their voices low; even with the jammer, she knew he didn’t want to risk anything.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” she said vehemently. Men were so dumb sometimes.

He snorted. “Indeed you will. I have no doubt you’ll do what you want. It’s part of your charm.”

“Don’t think I don’t understand sarcasm,
Neil.
”

“Good night, sweet.”

She leaned up and kissed him, meaning to be quick, but he caught her, holding her in place while he kissed her, took over, devoured and devastated. She surrendered to it, giving herself to him until he was satisfied, pulling back with a feral sound, holding her close. Now
that
could put a girl into happy dreams all dark long.

 

 

D
aniel lay there in the dark as the fabric of space-time hugged the transport, creaking and humming, creating a sort of lullaby he’d heard more than once in his life. These private transports weren’t as luxurious and silent as the ones that carried passengers from ’Verse to ’Verse via the official portals, but he always felt that estranged people from the wonder of just how the portals worked.

He couldn’t quite believe he’d told her all that about his family. But she’d asked, and he’d liked sharing it with her. Maybe it was the fact that he’d lived in a state of anonymity as a member of Phantom Corps, but being known by someone other than family or coworkers meant something to him. It meant something to him that she pursued him, that she wanted him as more than just a man to keep her safe and teach her a few things about sex. She understood him in a way most people never did.

It was that, he thought, that touched him the most. She was interested in all parts of him. There was no subterfuge with her, which was funny, given the state of their situation, but she wanted the real Daniel. He was not just the sexy special ops solider, though she did seem to enjoy that, too. She looked at him and saw more. Very few people did, which he hadn’t really known bothered him until he’d met her.

The rest, what he’d do when they got back and the reality of their different social status made itself clear, he didn’t know, nor did he plan to waste any time worrying about it. It would be whatever it would be, and there was no use working himself into upset over it. Until then, she was his, and he’d keep her safe, teach her about sex and enjoy her for the wonderful woman she was. If he’d been a better man, he’d have stayed away from her, would have created a gulf of anger between them so she’d keep those sweet, soft thighs closed. But he wasn’t a good man; he was a man who did what it took to get the job done.

Enough of that. He needed to keep his focus on the mission. He didn’t like the looks on some of the faces of those mercenaries back in the glade. He didn’t like it that a few times, he’d seen speculation in the eyes of people he’d seen on the transport either.

He knew cowards pretty well. Anyone who’d turn someone in for credits was a coward. But cowards did desperate things, and that made them dangerous. No one would make a move while they were traveling; it was too dangerous to the transport and to the others on board. He and Andrei would need to be sure their departure was done right.

It was at times like this one that he wished they’d opted for the implants some of the other special forces operatives had. Mental communication between team members would be really helpful right about then, but his people already had enough distrust of the system, and so many of them had refused or voiced fear, that he’d put it off.

Now, when he got back, he’d have Ash Walker or Sera Pela come to speak to them about it. They used the implants on their three-person team with a lot of success. He figured his people would better understand what it did and didn’t do from people like them, people they felt closer to rather than the scientist who’d created the implant.

“You’re thinking about work,” she murmured against his back. Sleep lay heavy in her voice, and he smiled in the dark.

“How’d you know that?”

“You were relaxed, and then you began to tense up more and more. I’ve noticed you must run through a mental list of things you have to do at night. It’s part of your routine.”

She knew him better than she could understand. “It helps me to start each day when I’m prepared. I work through the things I need to do.”

The arms she wrapped around him brought him back to her, back to her body against his in the quiet of night, the scent of sex on the air. In a short span of time, he’d gotten very used to her body against his each night. It felt good to be with her. It eased him.

“All right.” She kissed him between the shoulder blades. “I trust you’ll share if you need help.”

C
arina awoke to an empty bed, but not an empty room. Daniel was already up and getting dressed. She watched, content to simply soak in how handsome he was, even as she wondered about each and every scar he bore.

“What’s your favorite memory?” he asked, turning around.

She smiled at the sight of his face. “You’re good. How did you know I was awake?

“Your breathing changed. You make a lovely—very feminine, of course—snuffle when you’re sleeping.”

“Are you saying I snore?”

“Of course not.” He grinned and strode to her, dropping a kiss on her mouth. “I said you snuffled.”

Hmpf. She sat, drawing the blankets about herself as he went back to grooming his beard. The one she’d asked him to grow.

“My favorite memory is the first time you, we, well you know.”

He laughed. “That’s one of my favorites, too. How about one that doesn’t involve me?”

He had no idea how deeply she felt for him, silly man. All her favorite memories were of him.

“Let’s see. My grandmother used to sneak me into the kitchen and let me roll dough with her. It was far more that she let me into her world than the treat part, though, of course, who doesn’t like treats? She was a good person, a lot of fun. She and my brother, my older brother, were very close. I don’t think she trusted my father, but she adored us and always took up for us, even when she couldn’t win.”

Even when it got her disappeared.

“Another time, one warm season, we left home and went to Duim. There’s a great sea there, have you visited?”

He shook his head. “I haven’t. But I’ve heard that it’s beautiful.”

“It is. Overfished, sadly, so now there are bans against any netting at all. The economy has been destroyed by itself. They do expect it to rebound. Anyway, the beaches are beautiful. We played and played, swam, had picnics each day. It was the last time we were all together as a family before my older brother . . . died. I can still smell the air, so crisp and clean.”

“It sounds like a good memory. I’m glad for that. And you don’t know that he’s dead, he’s just gone. He could have survived if people helped him. Don’t lose hope.”

She sat up, well aware of the constraints of just how much she could say. “I suppose you’re right. I always felt like if he was truly dead, I’d know it. But then I told myself that was silly.”

“Sometimes, you need to listen to that inner voice.”

He’d just told her Vincenz was alive, hadn’t he? The excitement of it built. She hadn’t really accepted that he’d died, but believing him alive was one thing,
truly
believing it, bringing it from a silly hope she harbored deep inside to reality was something totally different.

It meant she had family on the other side; she belonged to something larger than herself, and that made a difference to her.

He dried his face and turned to her. “Are you hungry? Would you like to get dressed and get something to eat? I have plans for you later today.” She smiled, getting to her knees, and he laughed. “Not those kind of plans, though I’m certainly always open to those kind of activities with you.”

“Oh. Well, all right then.” She got out of bed and cleaned up quickly with barely tepid water.

“Wakes you up, doesn’t it?” He winked, and she snorted. He was very cheerful just then, and she wasn’t sure why.

Andrei knocked on the door just moments later, and they walked to get a meal. The cantina was crowded, so they managed to find a place to sit and eat just outside where a small common area existed.

Her attention immediately snagged on a group of children. Children who should have been in school or at the very least supervised by an adult or two.