Dawn Endeavor 1: Fallon's Flame (16 page)

Olivia glanced with suspicion at the fruit. “Be careful. The banana spider is one of the most venomous in the world. They hide in the dark places of the plant.” Jesse bent down to inspect the fruit and stood with his palm out. “Like this one?”

“Don't move!”

“Relax. He couldn't bite me if he wanted to. Remember, honey, toughened skin.” He put the spider back down.

She watched it scuttle under some leaves and relaxed, and Gunnar grinned.

“Come on, Olivia. Why not get wet?” he asked, the smirk on his face making the question more suggestive than it should have been.

“Back off,” Jesse rumbled, deep in his throat, and Gunnar's smile faded. “
My
mate,
my
female.”

Gunnar looked as if he wanted to argue, but to her surprise, he didn't.

Before she could question that possession thing again, her beast took charge. “You're mine.

And he's mine, if and when I say so,” she growled. She tripped Jesse, who fell flat on his back.

Olivia refused to give him quarter. She followed him down and straddled his body. In seconds she spread her knees wider and took him deep inside her pussy.

“Olivia.” Jesse moaned and clutched her hips hard enough to leave bruises, even in
changed
form. “Yeah, that's it. Ride me.”

She didn't argue, didn't do much more than soothe the ache inside her. The void inside her womb needed to be filled. And as much as she wanted Gunnar to want her, to sink inside her, only Jesse's seed would take root in her belly. Her mate, her conditions.

“Fuck me. She's aggressive and hot as hell,” Gunnar whispered from just behind her.

When he would have approached, she snarled at him to stay back and slammed herself over her lover time and time again.

He groaned and came inside her, but she didn't let up. Hungry for more, she shared her sexual frustration, mixing her needs with his violent climax until his emotions followed whatever she dictated.

“I want you inside me when I come,” she said over her shoulder. “In my ass while my mate fills me again.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Gunnar teased and joined them on the ground.

What should have been awkward worked surprisingly well. Gunnar fit himself inside her, stretching into her flesh with his lubed cock. He worked her, pushing her, using her to fuck Jesse, and the erotic notion fueled her desire.

Jesse pinched her nipples and sucked on any part of her he could reach. His kiss set her ablaze, the promise of so much more than just sex with every swipe of his tongue and hands all over her body.

She arched against him, her clit full and deliciously sensitive while Gunnar and Jesse filled her body.

“Come all over me,” Jesse murmured. “Make me wet with cream, baby.” Gunnar bit down on her shoulder. “Give it to him. Suck him dry, just as I fill up your fine ass. So fucking good, Olivia. So tight, honey.” Gunnar fucked her harder, ramming inside her with a force that would have really hurt a normal woman.

Her beast was in heaven. Two powerfully strong men at her disposal. And she already had her mate's seed.

She stared down at him, losing herself in his gaze as Gunnar continued to pound into her, driving her tighter and harder against her mate.

A burst of love tore from Jesse and filled her with joy.

Olivia couldn't stop herself. She let out a breathless cry and clenched Jesse's cock with her tight walls. He swore and gripped her hard as he came again, his painful pleasure a thing of beauty. Then Gunnar stiffened behind her and shuddered, moaning his pleasure.

The emotional catharsis eased the tension that had been building all night and day, and thoroughly wrung out, Olivia slumped down over Jesse.

Gunnar groaned as he withdrew. He left them to clean himself in the water.

“It just keeps getting better,” Jesse murmured and stroked her hair. His long nails scraped against her scalp, his restrained strength incredibly appealing. “Nothing matters but getting inside you. And not just with my cock.” His crudity shocked her out of her floating bliss. “But with my head. When you come, you leave yourself open,” he said quietly. “I can read everything. Your hurts, your angers, your pleasures, and your needs. I can give you what you need, you know.”

She didn't want to talk about anything. Olivia wanted to bask in the afterglow. How the hell had life gotten so complicated? When a man wanted to talk and a woman just wanted to enjoy some physical relief?

She couldn't be sure, but Jesse looked as if he battled a smile.

“Jesse?”

Gunnar joined them, growing in size as Olivia watched. “Much as I wouldn't mind getting it on with you two again, company's coming.”

She scrambled off Jesse, wishing she'd at least had some time to clean up.

Jesse pushed her behind him.

She wanted to argue that she could take care of herself. But then he stretched out those glorious arms, and his claws actually lengthened. Deadly, fierce, and
hers.

“No playing around,” Jesse said to Gunnar. “Gut them, and let's move. No dicking around with Olivia's safety.”

“No fun, but okay.”

Two men with guns walked into the clearing. Right behind them followed Kisho and Jules.

Gunnar smiled, showing large white fangs. “Terrific. Playtime.” Jesse shifted and blocked her view. The sounds of fists meeting flesh sounded, then silence.

“Two down, fifteen to go,” Jules said. “The lab is gone. The mission's a bust, and we have not only Montaña's men to worry about, but we found rogues working on his security detail. We need to move.”

“Yeah. Time to get the hell back to the States before Montaña's men get their hands on Olivia,” Jesse agreed.

“You have my vote.” Kisho sounded calm.

“Fuck. No offense, Olivia. But you're putting a definite crimp in my style,” Gunnar complained.

“Sorry. But you can always fight Jesse or some annoying local back home, can't you?” she offered, both relieved yet sorry they had to leave without what they'd come for.

“I guess I'll have to,” Gunnar muttered.

Jesse clapped him on the shoulder. “Look on the bright side. I'm sure Ava's just dying to get her hooks into you. You left her a basket of laundry with a snide note.”

“
Snide
.” Gunnar snorted. “Dude, do you even know what snide means?” Olivia interrupted when she saw Jesse's hands ball into fists. “Um, Jules? I don't mean to put another crimp in anyone's style, but how are we supposed to go home looking like this?” She blushed and wondered if they could tell under her
changed
skin.

“Good point.” Jules cleared his throat. “Ah, Fallon? You and Olivia might want to rinse off before we head out, to dull her scent.”

“For God's sake,” she muttered, embarrassed at being compared to a breeding animal.

“It's natural, Olivia. Your beast needs to procreate. Circs are sexual, as you've already seen.” There was no scorn or condemnation in Jules's voice. “It's something you'll get used to.

Your scent is extremely enticing.”

She blushed again.

Kisho added, “And to answer your earlier question, when we scouted the lab, I found a cell phone. I made a few calls to discreet contacts. We'll be out of here,
changed
back, and dressed before noon. If we hurry.”

Olivia entered the stream and washed herself. She still had a hard time believing she'd been naked around four men for more than a day and barely flinched anymore. She glanced up, met Jesse's gaze, and shivered at the sensual study he gave her.

Definitely time to go home before I forget who I am. A woman who not only wears but likes
clothes
! She just hoped they made it home in one piece.

The trip home was anticlimactic. Olivia had anticipated danger, problems, more rogue Circs, or even Montaña's men. Instead they rode first-class back into Wilmington, where a rental van awaited them. An hour later she exited the vehicle and stared at the mansion she'd come to think of as home.

“This all feels like a dream.”

Gunnar nodded, sympathetic. “A nightmare. I know, honey. But that's why I think you should move into my room for the time being, because—” He oomphed the rest of his reply when Jesse elbowed him in the stomach.

“Get away from my woman. Dick.” Jesse took her by the arm and gently pulled her with him into the house. “Don't mind Frederik. He talks a mean game, but he and the others know you're mine.”

That possessive thing didn't irritate her anymore. Now it worried her. Had Gunnar spoken the truth before? Were her feelings for Jesse simply a matter of Circ survival? Was none of it real? “Why do you call him Frederik?” she asked to change the subject.

Jesse's lips quirked, but he didn't laugh. “Because his name is Frederik Gunnar Tersch.” Gunnar chose that moment to enter and scowled. “You just had to tell her. See if I protect any more of
your
secrets.” He stomped away, yelling for Ava.

Mrs. Sharpe hurried down the steps toward them. “I worried when you didn't call.” Jules entered behind them with Kisho in tow. “Sorry, Mrs. Sharpe. The Brazilian authorities tried to hold us up, but Kisho fixed things.”

“A calm head prevailed,” Kisho added. “I'll tell you about it later.” She nodded and turned her attention to Olivia and Jesse standing hand in hand. “So what's this?”

“Another long story,” Olivia said with a sigh. She pulled her hand from Jesse's but kissed his cheek to settle him down. Public displays of affection tended to ease her mate—
lover
—and she liked calming him. Affecting his moods gave her a sense of control she had worried she'd lost. It had nothing to do with making him happy, or so she kept telling herself.

He grinned like a little kid at Christmas and sauntered away with her bags. “I'll put them in
our
room.”

Mrs. Sharpe's eyes widened. “Oh. Like that, is it?”

“I have no idea what it's like. Apparently I'm a Circ, and Jesse and I have a
thing
going.

Yeah, go figure. I'm tired and hungry. We can discuss this later if you like.”
After I've had a
chance to figure out what all this means.

“Of course. I'll have Melissa fix supper while you all settle in. We'll debrief after dinner.

You and I can talk later.”

Summarily dismissed, Olivia turned and headed up the stairs. She entered her room, not ready to deal with Mr. “Ours,” and fell asleep.

She awakened to a warm mouth on her naked breast. Lips tugged, and teeth pulled. A thick finger entered her while another slid over her clit with exquisite slowness. The finger inside her became two, scissoring to stretch her. And then they disappeared, replaced by a long, thick cock.

Mint and lust filled the very air she breathed as Jesse kissed her. A leisurely exploration of tongue and lips and teeth, he worshipped her body as he brought her to orgasmic bliss and continued to make love to her.

“That's it. Again. Tell me what you want, baby,” he murmured and caged her face between his hands. He stared into her eyes while he fucked her, the emotional sea of sharing and love and pleasure like a drug she couldn't quit.

“That's it,” he said with satisfaction before ramping her up again.

He changed the angle of his thrust and grazed her clit as he rode her. The change also forced him to touch a very sensitive spot inside her, one that made her see stars and rainbows as he pounded into her with greater excitement.

She clenched him tight as he came, cradling him in her arms like the treasure he was turning out to be.

Finally spent, she sank into her bed and sighed.

“You like my cum inside you, don't you, Olivia?” Jesse murmured. “So hot in your pussy.

With as many times as I've shot inside you, won't be long, and we'll be making babies, hmm?”

“Babies,” she repeated. Little boys with his dark hair and eyes, mischievous toddlers who'd crawl all over him and her and—“
Babies
?”

He leaned on an elbow and studied her. “You don't want kids?”

“Yes, I do. But not now. I'm still young, and I wanted to travel, to do and see things…”

“Like Brazil?” he asked lazily, his smile wide. He palmed her stomach and rubbed with a tender touch. “Every time I come inside you, I feel like I've gone to heaven. And I can't help thinking about watching you nurse my son, to see your breasts swollen with milk to feed our daughter.”

She shivered at the intense longing in his voice. “You…ah…you mean that?”

“Never thought I would, but yeah. I'm an adrenaline junkie. Joined the navy and became a SEAL, then a Circ. But nothing would give me more pleasure than to get you pregnant.” He ran a finger over her nipple, arousing her anew. He leaned down and kissed it, sucking on the nub, which was growing hard, sensitive. “God, Olivia. We don't know each other well enough for this, but I can't help it. I want you. I fucking love you. And I can't explain it.” She froze. “Wh-what?”

“I know you want to leave and go back to Virginia, but to what? You're tired of your job.

Why not take a position here, working with us and Mrs. Sharpe? I know Tersch is a pain in the ass, but I'll make him behave. Jules is a great guy. Kisho likes you, and he's pretty particular.” He swallowed hard. “I know it doesn't seem like it, but I'm not really into sharing. It's just that as a Circ, we're sexual creatures. What's normal for other people isn't normal for us.”

“Like having sex with your team, orgies of orgasms.” She stared at him, wide-eyed, and wanted to see him go at it with his team again. She knew she had a sexual side, but this Circ thing made her feel perpetually horny. Hearing him say “I love you,” even “I fucking love you,” made her want to roll him over and make love to him all over again.

“Yeah, I guess. What I'm saying is that I'll give you whatever fantasies you can dream up.

We both know I can satisfy you.”

Did they ever
. “What are you trying to say, Jesse?” He swallowed loudly. “Olivia, will you m—”

Gunnar burst through the door. “Shit, guys, give it a rest already. Problem. Hayashi's missing. He went to return the van but never turned it in, and he's not answering his phone.” Jesse leaped out of bed and hurriedly dressed while she did the same. That Gunnar didn't leer or make any other comments about her body told her of his distress, even if he hadn't throbbed with worry on the psychic plane.