Secrets (15 page)

“Most people would call that flaky talk.” Michelle flipped her hair. “You know, blond and flaky.”

He grabbed her close and pulled her up to stand with him—her feet inches off the ground. “I like flaky talk, too.”

His lips, inches from hers, beckoned for closeness. He loosened his grip around her and she slid down his body, sparking imaginatively delicious thoughts. He placed a soft kiss on her lush lips, and stayed, not lifting, but pressing harder.

She wrapped her hands around his head and demanded a long exploration of his tongue, his mouth. Compelling urges swept up and down her body as she languished on his lips and licked at the tip of his tongue. Through hazy eyes and slitted lids, she saw a reflection on his face to match her desires. Her breathing came in long pulls, and her beating heart pounded wildly against his chest.

He stroked her soft cheek and she allowed the desire and tension to bloom.

“Casey, don't leave,” Michelle pleaded. She felt his knowing. He knew full well what she meant. She was asking him to stay present in this moment, not raise his reserves and pull away.

She'd laid her vulnerability out there for him to match, or not. His tender heart and tremendous strength only drove her to want to be closer to him. The risks be damned.

He picked her up, a low growl rumbling in his chest, and carried her to her bedroom.

He stood her on the carpeted floor, his gaze never drifting from her eyes, and removed her clothing, one piece at a time, until she stood naked and pale in the darkness.

She reached to pull off his shirt, but he ripped it off first, then his pants, and lastly his boxers, all landing in a pool at his feet.

“Casey, your skin is so exquisite.” Michelle ran a hand across his muscled chest.

Her touch raised goose bumps on his skin, but the pure admiration in his eyes fed her soul like nothing else had before.

He took her hand and led her to the bathroom across the room. Quickly, he turned on the water. She was grateful it didn't take more than seconds for warm water to spill from the rain showerhead.

He stepped into the shower, leading her close behind, and gently shoved her under the spray. He stepped up, naked skin to naked skin, as the water spilled over them. “I thought you had questions,” he teased.

Michelle glared at him through strands of damp hair that fell across her face. “Not now.”

He chuckled, a carefree laughter that delighted her senses.

He kissed her right shoulder, then her left, then brushed soft kisses one by one, getting closer to her full breasts. “My god, Michelle, you're gorgeous.”

A moan rolled out from her throat, and she arched her head, taking in every atom of his kisses.

He dropped kiss after kiss on her breasts, then licked each taut tip, catching droplets as they gathered on her nipples.

She opened her eyes and ran both hands over his shoulders and down his body, grabbing his behind and rubbing it. “You have an amazing ass.”

She knelt on her knees, taking his hardness in her hands and caressing. She never wanted to stop. She dipped her head to catch water droplets that drizzled down his body from the shower. He dropped his head back and slammed his hands against the stall wall behind her. He gasped as she took him into her mouth. She allowed herself the intimacy of licking and sucking on him, as he stroked her head and moaned.

Suddenly he pulled on her shoulders and she stood, gliding up his body to meet his lips, fierceness to fierceness.

As Casey reached around her to turn off the water, he grabbed a large towel from the rack on the wall and wrapped it around her. He grabbed a matching one for himself, then took her hand, pulling her to the bed and opening the blankets for her. While she climbed in, he toweled off quickly, then slid in beside her.

The feel of his skin against her incited a powerful inclination to bring him inside of her.

But patience, excruciating patience, directed her. He looked down at her, his eyes glistening, and dipped his head to kiss her, hard.

Screw patience
.

When they each pulled back to breathe, Casey's eyes gleamed with passion. Her heart beat fast and spirited at the unabashed desire he shared. Sure, she'd had sex before, before she'd turned inside herself and away from passion. But this absolute senseless and driving thing with Casey was not merely sex. It was waves crashing on cliffs, drenching rain on pavement, brilliant sunlight sparkling on Lake Michigan.

She felt his restraint and tried to match it.

“I want to savor every nanosecond of this closeness with you,” he said, his voice dusky.

Slowly he moved down to worship each part of her with his kisses. Her shoulders, the swell of her breasts, her nipples, her abs.

She squirmed, frantic. “Casey, I, I—”

He silenced her with a deep kiss.

On a sudden urge, she shoved him on his back and lay on top of him, nuzzling his neck and running her fingers through his hair. Her eyes slitted, she traced the muscles of his body, winding down his chest, his abdomen, to his groin.

He flipped her on her back, his muscles flexing exquisitely. “Casey!” Her voice came out raw, eager. How much longer could she wait?

Gently, he moved her legs open and she complied without any hesitation. He kissed her femininity, waves of pleasure rippling from him.

She grabbed his head and pulled his face to her lips, exclaiming, “Casey, I'm going insane.” Her voice sounded throaty, breathless, but she was past trying to restrain herself. And she knew she wanted nothing more than to be with him, no holding back. She wanted him inside her.

He took a second for protection, then returned to her as though no time passed. A powerful shudder shook his body as he pressed against her, exploring her exterior feminine parts with his male counterparts. She wriggled unabashedly. A growl grumbled up from his chest. A glimpse of his raw nature echoed through her sensually. He pressed again, tantalizing her as she thrashed and whimpered.

The vigor of his desire drove her as she sensed him reaching the moment they both wanted. He entered her slowly, methodically.

“I want to make it last,” he whispered in her ear.

A smile lit in her heart. “You're driving me to the point of no return,” she managed to whisper back. “You feel so good.”

He pulled back and thrust harder. Michelle arched her back and trembled. “Casey,” she whispered hoarsely.

He thrust again. “Michelle.” He thrust deep, his eyes closed. His climax mirrored hers, like two beating hearts, they trembled and hollered together.

Casey brushed Michelle's lips with a delicate kiss. “You okay?” he whispered.

Michelle smiled, her eyes still closed. “Yes.”

Spent, content, she rolled from underneath him and snuggled under his arm. He tucked the sheet around her and kissed the top of her head.

He rolled sleepy eyes at her and smiled. “It's too early for bed.” His lids dropped.

“I'll make us dinner,” Michelle offered but didn't move. She wanted to hold this moment in her heart forever. Yes, it was sex and she was completely satisfied. But it was more. Casey had been himself with her. The intimate connection they'd introduced had blossomed. The special gift he'd given her bathed her in something she never wanted to go away.

She reached for him and kissed him gently, reverently. He lingered a moment, but restlessness stirred in him.

“I love you.”

She smiled, wondering. “Are you leaving?” She could ask him to stay as he'd promised. But the urgency hammering from him let her know he needed to take care of things.

“I'm sorry. I'll arrange for someone else to keep watch.” He pulled on his clothes and stared down at her. “There are things only I can do.”

She sat up in bed and pulled her knees up to her chest. “I understand. Take care of yourself.”

He bent to kiss her, igniting a glow inside her once again. “You, too. I'll answer all your questions soon.”

She watched him walk down the hall, pausing to rub the willing heads of several of her cats. “You're about to have company,” he called to her.

Casey changed into tight-fitting dark clothes and waited in his car until he saw Asher drive his car down the road into the field next to Michelle's house. He climbed out, knowing leaving his car here and jogging to his next destination made the most sense.

Asher walked toward him, so he waited, tapping his fingers against the roof of the car.

“You need me to take care of your girlfriend, huh? Happy to, Case.” Asher laced his words with innuendo. His charm came naturally, but left a bad taste in Casey's mouth.

“I'm not talking about a visit or some kind of Asher-designed interaction,” he growled. “This is business. I expect you to watch without being detected and take action only if harm shows up.”

“Sure. I know. All business tonight. But don't think it escaped me that you didn't deny Michelle is your girlfriend.”

Casey stared at him, silently. The bobcat could slither and slink with the best of them. His golden yellow eyes were keen, of course, and he had uncanny agility. His intellect was equally keen, an attribute that was useful in his line of work as a sportswriter and made him an asset to the colony. As a pure, Asher was prone to giving Casey a hard time. It was an arrogance that made Asher a pure pain in the butt.

But Asher knew when to submit to his leader. “Sure. I understand.”

Casey slung his small bag of tools over his shoulder and took off for the building next door. As a were-cat, Casey could take the two blocks stretch on foot to the building in minutes. In his dark clothing and on foot, he could slip through the darkness without detection.

As he reached the line of trees that protected the large building from prying eyes, he crouched low and sped across the lawn, keeping an eye on the surveillance cameras placed at various corners. When he reached the building, he crawled between the brick walls and the low bushes that lined the building.

But walls were no obstacle for him. He squinted and opened his sight to what there was to see behind the walls. Clinging close to the exterior of the building, he scanned while walking the perimeter.

The brisk autumn breeze whispered across his face and he raised his nose to pick up all the scents he could. The more intel he gathered the sicker he felt in his gut. He had to get inside to be sure, but he already had a pretty comprehensive picture of what this building was about. He felt dirty just being near it, but he had to get inside.

He placed his tool bag on the ground, unzipped it, and pulled out his glass cutter. Earlier, he'd hacked into the building's security system and knew he was up against a pretty stringent system. Quietly and swiftly, he picked a window that he could unlock from the inside and would give him a large enough opening to drop inside. He went to work, silently cutting a circle, then removing it with a suction tool, and carefully moved his hand inside to unlock the window, then pushed it open.

No time to waste, he had to disengage the alarm from the mainframe computer. With that done, he crept to the room he'd seen from outside.

Down the hall, to the left, then a right. The whole building fuzzied his mind. It stunk of ill intentions and evil.

He reached the door he wanted, pulled in a deep gulp of air, and let it out slowly.

He heard feet coming his way and saw behind the corner wall two people in lab coats. He cracked open the door and crept inside, searching around for a place to hide. His senses screaming, he ignored everything around him but the door he knew opened to a closet. He quickly pulled it open, stepped inside, then pulled the door closed behind him.

He breathed a sigh when he saw through the closet door that he'd just made it into hiding before the two lab coats entered the big room. The room was lined with cages and filled with cats.

As the coats walked from cage to cage, they filled water and food dishes. From his hiding place Casey counted twenty cats. All ages, all breeds. He could sense free floating confusion and anger from the cats. When the cage door on one young cat was opened he hissed and growled and hit the coat who'd tried to pick him up.

“Come on. They're fed and watered. Let's weigh them and get this over with,” one coat said to the other.

“Go ahead, you try with this one. He's always the tough one.”

“Grab him by the back of the neck and weigh him,” the other coat gritted out. “Tomorrow it gets serious here and some of these cats are going to be really angry tomorrow night.”

“The drug works that fast?”

“They're upping the dose. Something about moving faster because of the deaths. Something went wrong.”

“What's gone wrong?”

“I don't know. No one tells me anything. It's safer that way, anyway. Keep that in mind,” said the coat who seemed to be in charge. “You'll live longer.”

The two men turned off the lights as they walked out the door. Casey listened as their feet walked away, went through a door, and took some stairs to another door. He didn't hear them after that door closed, but he waited in the closet.

From the room came small cat vocals. Little meows from kittens. Low, throaty meows from adult cats. Distress sounds, to his ears. Anger swept through him, raising his pulse, gritting his teeth. He balled both fists, controlling his fierce reaction to the plight of these innocent cats. If he had his way he'd sweep them all, all twenty of them, up in his arms and take them away from this hostile atmosphere.

His fingers twitched. He could open all the doors and let the cats run free.
That would throw a wrench into things, I bet.

But first he had to find out more specifically about this place and its goings on, especially about the deaths the coats discussed. Didn't that take precedence?

Instinctively, he put his hand to his heart and bowed his head, thinking. The coats had referred to something happening tomorrow that would affect the cats. How could he step into the room and look into the cats' faces and leave them behind?