As Cold As Ice (10 page)

Oh, God, that was so dumb. So dumb and so
juvenile, but she couldn't help herself.

The only hint of that shy Soren from before
was the fact that he didn't exactly shove his tongue into her
mouth.

It came forward slowly, carefully, testing
the waters. The tip of his tongue slowly slid over her lips before
gently dipping inside.

Jessica gripped the back of Soren's head,
his hairs clutched between her fingertips as she moaned and pressed
her lips around his tongue, trying with everything she had to
coerce him to move inside her.

It was just his tongue. It wasn't like she
had his cock in her hands yet, but this was just as important. More
so because it was happening in that moment, while Soren's palm
rubbed up and down against her clit. The fact that they weren't
skin to skin, that his hand wasn't on top of her without the denim
in the way, his fingers pushing inside of her, made her toes curl.
The tease was beautiful because it was still so damned good.

She pulled her mouth away from his long
enough to get one small thing out. "I could come just like this,"
she said, kissing him again.

His tongue came forward once more, quickly
that time, diving a little deeper into her mouth, a little faster
and a little more confidant. Then he pulled away, his face
remaining close enough that their noses still touched, his warm
breath ghosting over her.

"You haven't come in a while. You're going
to be sensitive."

He kissed her again before she could say
anything.

Not that she wanted to do
anymore talking just then, because he was right. He was
so
right. Being watched
and having men she was meant to fight and kill thrown at her had
put her body's needs on hold.

But Soren touching her like this—his hand
between her legs, stimulating pleasure with every firm forward
press, his warm, soft tongue slipping inside of her—made everything
vanish behind a heavy veil she couldn't see through.

She didn't
want
to see through it,
either. She could have been back home at her apartment, in her own
bed, Soren on top of her, teasing her, making her ache more so than
she already did, and that was absolutely perfect.

The shocks of pleasure returned, warming her
from her sex to the rest of her body. Jessica had this funny image
in her mind that Soren was stoking an actual fire, or trying to,
with the way the burning increased inside of her and spread.

Flames and electricity sizzled in her veins
and fought for control. The flames were exquisite, making her moan
and clutch at Soren so he would never stop. The electricity inside
of her did what all electricity did when it shocked a person—it
left parts of her body straining, yet paralyzed. Whenever she
listed her hips, pushing her clit harder against his hand, her butt
just stopped, immobilized in the air for a few seconds until she
regained control of her muscles. Her legs did the same thing, along
with her hands and fingers and toes. Sometimes, wherever the shocks
were the worst, she couldn’t move, and it was the best kind of
torture.

The hot ache, the building bubble inside of
her, got to be so powerful she couldn’t hold it back anymore. It
was pressing against her inner walls, demanding to be released.

Jessica barely managed to pull away from the
kiss she was still enjoying to give a forewarning about what was
going on inside of her. “S-Soren, I’m gonna come.”

“
Good,” he said. “That’s
what I want. I want you to come, get wet for me.”

She already was wet, but she assumed he
wanted more, so she didn’t argue.

There was no arguing about anything when she
opened her mouth, a harsh cry wracking her throat and echoing
throughout the large room.

Her shout was a lot more shrill, and the
sound was a shock even to her own ears. She didn’t care, though.
She was so beyond caring, especially since she wanted more.

The orgasm should have ended it for her.
That was why she’d wanted to warn Soren. Jessica didn’t usually
feel a need to orgasm, to have to do it or she’d go insane,
immediately after already coming once.

In fact, that never happened.

Soren’s hands were on her cheeks, his mouth
down on hers again, his tongue pressing inside of her mouth,
licking her deep. Almost like he was trying to taste the satisfied
yell she’d let out. His mouth was harsh and desperate, and Jessica
welcomed it. She loved it. She pushed her tongue back against his
own, fighting for dominance since he could give her the opportunity
to have some fun.

And he put up a good fight, moaning when she
gripped his hair tight, shocking him. When he opened his mouth in a
silent gasp from the pain, she pushed her tongue back into his
mouth.

It was wet and probably not so romantic to
watch, which was why she was glad there were no cameras. It was the
most passionate kiss she’d ever experienced in her entire life.

Jessica sat up as much as she could, and her
fingers moved against the buttons of his white jacket, pulling at
them, undoing them. Soren’s hands rushed to help her. His fingers
trembled and they had trouble keeping their mouths together, so
they didn’t, allowing Soren to stand straight and yank the coat off
his shoulders when all the buttons were taken care of.

Jessica immediately grabbed his belt. Her
body trembled as she struggled to loosen it, but it was worse than
having one of those rings filled with a thousand keys and being in
a hurry to unlock a door. Soren’s hands went to the back of her
head, touching her hair, and he moaned when Jessica finally pulled
open the belt. She thrust her hand quickly beneath the waist of his
pants, searching for his hard, warm cock. She gripped it tight, and
all those romance novel descriptions about velvet over a steel rod
and what have you were spot-on in that moment. She couldn’t think
of any other way to describe it, other than to add that the head
was enormous.

She wanted to free him, to put his cock in
her mouth, and the way his fingers laced through her hair told her
the same.

Jessica gripped his length, which was
slightly curved but pleasantly so, and used her other hand to work
the button and zipper of Soren’s pants. He moaned in
anticipation.

An obnoxious, long and drawn-out buzzer went
off. They both jumped and all but flew away from each other,
Jessica still on the table, Soren working to right his clothes.

“
Yes?” Soren asked, his
voice surprisingly calm, though Jessica could hear the slight
shiver inside of it, the thing he couldn’t quite hide as he spoke
to…whoever it was.

Charles, fucking Charles, answered. “Mr.
Layton wants to know how your tests with the prisoner are
going.”

Jessica searched around for
the source of the intercom, not able to breathe until she saw it,
and was able to note there wasn’t a monitor with it. Charles
couldn’t see what she and Soren had been preparing to do.
Thank God
. Probably
another safety precaution set up by Layton to keep some secretary
from accidentally turning it on and revealing what was down there,
especially if there were police or press on the other
side.

When her heart left her
sinuses and the panic cleared, Jessica was angry. She balled her
fists and shrieked furiously inside her head. Of all the fucking
times Charles had to scare the hell out of them with that noise and
buzz through an intercom, he chose
that
exact moment
?

Soren’s eyes widened, and he looked down at
Jessica. “The prisoner, yes, she’s doing well. Still getting some
exercise, but she’s used some of her power over cold on the
dummies. Things seem to be going well enough, though she shows some
struggle. Probably a result of post-traumatic stress after the
other paranormals were put into her cell with her.”

The more he spoke, the calmer his voice
sounded, and the more believable he was. Jessica almost believed
him, and she was the one he was talking about. His words were clear
and almost rehearsed.

Well, not so much rehearsed as repetitive.
With a sickening dread, Jessica recalled what he did for a living.
He probably had to drone on and on about test subjects and theories
and progress with paranormals all the time.

There was a light pause as Charles took that
in. “All right. Well, I’ll let Mr. Layton know. How much longer do
you need?”

“
An hour should be
fine.”

Jessica tensed. She didn’t believe an hour
was anywhere nearly enough time to do what she needed to do, what
she and Soren obviously wanted to do.

Charles must’ve been satisfied with the
answer, because the buzzer sounded again and the intercom went
off.

It was just the two of them once more.

Jessica turned her focus back to Soren,
taking in the look in his eyes, his body language as he wiped his
face with his hand, and how he didn’t seem to know where to
stand.

“
I take it this isn’t
happening anymore?”

He glanced at her. To his credit, he wasn’t
cold. He looked sorry, but that didn’t stop the lurch Jessica felt
in her heart when he shook his head. “No.”

Chapter Ten

Jessica wanted to jump up and yell at him.
She barely managed to contain herself enough to sit up calmly. The
warm wetness between her legs was starting to become uncomfortable
since the mood had been killed. “All right. Can I ask why?”

Soren’s face twisted as he turned away, as
if he’d seen or done something so horribly unforgivable that he
couldn’t look her in the eyes. “I shouldn’t have done that anyway.
I’m sorry for leading you on. That wasn’t my intent.”

“
No, your intent was to
have sex. As was mine, so I don’t know what’s going on with this
sudden change now.”

She really needed it, ached for it even more
than she had when she’d first come down here.

“
Charles just reminded me,
that’s all.”

“
Reminded you of
what?”

Soren finally looked at her, his blue eyes
hard and frostier than anything Jessica could’ve conjured herself.
“He reminded me that you’re a prisoner.”

Jessica would’ve fallen back a step if she’d
been standing. As it was, she felt like Soren had shoved her.

She swung her legs over the edge of the
stainless steel table and glared at him, long and hard. “I won’t be
a prisoner for long.”

Soren didn’t back down. “That doesn’t change
the fact that you are a prisoner. You’re only in this building
because hunters caught you and put you in shackles. It’s not right
for me to touch you like that. It’s borderline rape.”

That word really pissed her off. Jessica’s
fists clenched, and she struggled with everything inside of her to
not punch him in the eye.

“
You’re angry,” Soren
said.

“
Of course I’m fucking
angry!” Jessica snapped. She couldn’t contain it, and she wasn’t
trying to, either. “You’re seriously going to stand there and look
at me like I’m some kind of
victim
? I guess you forgot that I
was the one who kissed you first, who threatened to out you if you
didn’t help me. I’m not a victim, and you’re not taking advantage
of anything. I doubt you would even know how to!”

Her words didn’t seem to be making Soren see
the light so much as they were just making him uncomfortable, and
she didn’t want that, either. She didn’t know what to do about any
of this, and she hated it.

“
It was my choice all
along. I wanted to kiss you, I wanted you to touch me, and I wanted
the sex. You weren’t forcing anything on me.”

Soren shook his head but didn’t take his
eyes away from her that time. “I can’t, Jessica. It’s still
wrong.”

She threw her hands into
the air then slammed them down again. “I’m not going to
guilt
you into it! What
do you think I am?”

It felt just as bad that he
would not only
not
have sex with her, but think the entire point to her raging
was that she just wanted to force him into it.

“
I wasn’t thinking that,”
Soren said. There was no trace of the man who had been sorry for
what he’d done a minute before. His face turned into a blank mask,
his voice just as devoid of any emotion. His eyes changed a little,
however. They flashed gold before turning back to their normal
blue.

Jessica sucked in a breath, wondering if the
creature he was hiding on the inside was struggling to get out.

Unlike her, he wasn’t wearing any shackles.
She should probably stop trying to provoke him.

“
I’m sorry for the
misunderstanding, Jessica, and I also apologize for taking this as
far as it went. It wasn’t my intention to make things any harder
for you than they already were.”

“
Great.” She wished she had
something else to say other than that, but nothing came. Her
adrenaline was pumping and despite the anger inside of her, her
clit still throbbed, was still swollen, and still needed more of
his touch. She was frustrated. Her blood was still humming, and she
had half a mind to do something about it herself.

Jessica wasn’t an exhibitionist, and she
wasn’t about to start then. The worst part about this entire thing
was that she knew there was no way she would get the chance to do
something about this new ache, even when she was alone. Too many
cameras watching her, too many men she couldn’t see.

She was just going to have to deal with the
frustration of not being touched.

Soren approached her. Still cold, still
giving off that uncaring vibe that rubbed her in exactly the wrong
way, even though she was ninety-nine percent sure he was faking
it.