Authors: Lauren Dane
Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Erotic fiction, #General, #Adult, #Erotica, #Mercenary troops
Mesmerized (26 page)
It was Andrei’s hand on her arm, the gentle way he shook her and said her name that brought her free of the fear holding her. She surfaced to find him close, worry on his face.
“Bad dream?” He brushed fingertips over her jaw.
“Yeah. I’m all right.” She straightened and took a good look at him. “You look much better.”
“Feel much better.”
The dead of night had passed, speeding toward the first sunrise. They’d both slept for nine hours. She felt it. Felt refreshed.
“Good.”
He hugged her tight, and they swayed for long moments. Just readjusting to each other. They remained silent for some time before Andrei stood and headed back. “I’m hungry. Would you like a meal?”
“Let me get you something. I had a lot of time on my hands while you were being treated, so Julian worked with me on target practice, and then I made a stew. The doctor said you needed protein, so this should do the trick. Come on and let me get you some.”
He ate the meal she’d made, feeling better than he had since the fire fight earlier. The gel had done its work, along with the massive infusion of antibiotics and immune boosters to speed healing.
The skin was taut, healing. Another good sign, he knew. New cell growth was exactly what he needed to heal. It made him antsy though, to feel less than totally at full speed and strength. He couldn’t protect her as well as he liked.
Still, as always, simply being with her calmed him.
She moved about the galley as he read through the new briefing materials.
“Andrei?”
He looked up as she put a bowl of thick stew before him. “Yes?”
“How long will we be here, do you think?” She sat, near enough for him to touch her. “I’m fine with however long it is, as long as I’m with you. I just wanted to keep Kenner and Taryn apprised of where I am and for how long. Taryn worries.”
“He should. It’s not safe around me, Piper.”
“It’s way safer around you than not. You’ve saved my life a few times now.”
“Yes, and how many times did your life need saving before I walked back into it?”
“It doesn’t matter, because you weren’t in it.” She handed him a piece of bread, slathered in butter. “Stop being so determined to be villainous. I told you already, you’re not.”
The way she was so affectionate used to knock him off balance, but he’d quickly gotten used to it, and now he was pretty sure he’d hate it if she stopped.
“Piper.” He licked his lips, determined to forge ahead. “I just wanted to tell you thank you.” He looked to her, into her eyes. In the gel he was under, but he did a lot of dreaming and thinking. Of her. Of them. It was vivid when he’d been brought out, enough that he knew he needed to tell her how he felt.
“For what?”
“For everything.”
He shoveled the stew into his mouth. He owed her more than seduction talk. More than platitudes. She’d given him so much, had saved him from that yawning darkness his job drew him closer to every day.
“Of course. Everything I am, everything I have is yours. I love you, Andrei.” She took his hand, her fingers intertwined with his.
“Before I came to Asphodel, things were . . . not bad necessarily, but just, well they just were. I did my job. My friends, the few I trust, are all connected to the job in one way or another. It’s hard to do what I do and to walk away without feeling—”
She said nothing, simply letting him find the words he needed.
“Feeling like it contaminated everyone around me. Being with the others in Phantom Corps is easy enough; they carry the same darkness inside them.”
She stayed silent, but her frown telegraphed everything she felt. She thought it was bullshit, and it made him feel better.
“I know I don’t flatter you all the time. You deserve that.”
Her grin was quick, and his own was pulled to his lips in response. “I don’t need flattery. I could have that if I wanted it. You’re with me. You protect me. I don’t need the words. I need the deeds.”
Inside, her belly was warm and her heart overflowing.
“You don’t need them, but you do need to hear them from me. I’m not good at this.”
This hardened warrior actually blushed, and she couldn’t resist leaning in for a kiss.
“When I walk into a room, you’re all I see.” He sat back, drinking tea.
Stunned by the way this man who barely spoke had opened up to her this way, she was also worried about his back, so she moved closer, watching his face for signs of pain. He cocked his head, watching her, knowing exactly what she was doing, and he smiled again. “Look at you. How did you happen to me?”
Gods, she was going to cry if he kept this up.
“I just . . . there’s no one else. Ever. It’s you until I no longer draw breath.”
Yep, going to cry
.
.
She hugged him, trying to be gentle. But he surprised her by grabbing her and pulling her into his lap, facing him. “You make me feel like I could do anything.”
“You can.” A line dug into his forehead between his eyes. “Why are you crying? Did I upset you?”
“Didn’t I just tell you about happy tears not too long ago?” She smiled as he thumbed the tears away.
“I think I might be able to make you even happier.”
That pulse of thick, hot desire spread through her, making her limbs heavy.
Not that he seemed to notice when he stood, bringing her with him, putting her on the table in front of them.
“You’re injured.” Even to her own ears it sounded totally feeble.
“Don’t hit me in the back with a pike, and I should be all right.” He said it as he made quick work of her shirt and bra, leaving her upper body bare, her nipples so hard they throbbed at his attention.
He kissed her neck. The underside of her jaw just at her ears where he made her tremble. He tasted, drew it out, little touches, hot and wet as he nibbled on her shoulder, licked down the valley between her breasts, his hands all over her. Often his lovemaking was hard and fierce, urgent. But just then, he sampled. Meandered, dropping kisses and licks.
She struggled to get closer to the leg he had wedged between hers, brushing against it, enjoying the sensation.
As if he read her thoughts, he pressed his thigh against her harder, adjusting her body so she rocked against him.
“Take your pleasure,” he murmured around her nipple.
The roar of white noise subsided as she began to rock against his thigh. His hard, muscular thigh. She knew she acted like a wanton, and she didn’t care. She could be anything with him. Demand her pleasure and know he’d give it to her without hesitation. Without judgment.
Even better, he seemed to enjoy it when she fully engaged with him sexually and emotionally. It was the one place he was free with her. The one time he seemed to give himself to her in the most unvarnished way. And how could anyone remain unmoved by that?
Her breath came shorter as her climax drew near. She was wet, so wet the friction against his thigh was delicious.
He straightened and brought her closer, embracing her as she continued to stroke her pussy against his thigh, needing it, needing to come as his mouth sealed over hers, stealing her breath.
The kiss was sweet and hot as he took his time, sampling her lips and tongue. Seducing her with that small thing as she held on to his upper arms for purchase, to keep herself from floating away when he rolled and pinched her nipples. It was too good, and she gave over to it, orgasm rolling through her in a welcome rush of heat.
He laid her back gently, pulling her boots and pants off as he stood above her. His hair tickled the skin of her belly as he moved.
Sliding his palms up her thighs, he grabbed her panties and pulled them away from her body, leaving her totally naked while he was still totally dressed. She didn’t know why, but the sight of him there that way while she was bare did something to her at an elemental level. It shook her with the intensity of sensation. With the way she felt totally owned and bound to him in all the best ways.
He fisted the cock he’d freed from his pants. She licked her lips and widened her thighs, needing him in her.
“Please fuck me,” she whispered, not wanting to wait to beg. Needing him right then.
He pressed slowly into her body as her inner muscles stretched and fluttered all around the invasion. On and on it went as he tortured her inch by inch until he was seated fully within her body.
“So good.”
Beyond words, she nodded her agreement.
Hands everywhere, caressing, soothing, inflaming and pleasuring, he continued to fuck her hard and torturously slow. He touched her as if she were fine and delicate. It brought the sting of tears—the happy kind—to her eyes. This hardened man who’d seen so much showed her nothing but gentleness and love. Oh, she knew he thought the hard and fast fucking wasn’t as loving, but that was just silly.
Hard, fast, slow, sweet or with teeth and nails, he always touched her with love.
Little ground tremors of climax shuddered through her over and over, leaving her a boneless mass of pleasured female. Unable to take her gaze from him, from the way his pale blue eyes darkened when he was inside her. The brush of his hair against her skin like a caress. The way he was so big and battle hardened, a feast for her eyes. So fierce and beautiful, her Andrei.
“I need you to come inside me,” she managed to whisper through suddenly dry lips. She arched and he groaned. She tightened herself around him, and he groaned again. She used the table to get some balance and rolled her hips to meet his thrusts, putting her legs around his waist, a favorite no matter the position because it took him even deeper, the head of his cock brushing over her sweet spot repeatedly until he reached down to flick a fingertip over her clit and she rocketed off, orgasm surrounding her as she cried out his name.
He watched her, keeping slow and deep as she writhed against him. Once she’d relaxed, he bent to kiss her and then sped up. Fucking so hard and deep her breasts bounced and she had to reach behind herself to grab the edge of the table to keep from sliding off.
“Yes.” A snarl from him as he grabbed her hips and held her, his cock jerking as he came deep within her.
He sighed and pulled out carefully, helping her to her feet.
“Off to clean up, and then we begin the second round. We’ll be flying later today, so I’ll need to get my fill of you before then or I’ll be distracted all day. And, Piper?”
She paused before heading into the bathing suite.
“I’m going to fuck your ass very soon.”
A shiver ran through her at the way he said it. Commanding. In charge.
She swallowed hard. “O-okay.”
The bathing area was as sleek and full of delightful tech as the rest of what she’d seen. Enough water to clean up, nice and warm, with the added benefits of the decontamination lights and the ultrasonic embedded in the water to get even cleaner.
“Andrei, come in here so I can help you,” she called out.
She plugged the large tub in the corner of the room and began to fill it with hot water.
He stalked through the doorway, naked. She paused to take him in. Unbelievable, still, that he was hers.
“Shameless with that body,” she teased. “Come on and let me get your hair. I’m sure raising your hands up to do it yourself will be uncomfortable.”
“I was trying to stay away so I didn’t ravish you again for a little while.”
“Here, sit in the tub. Hair first.” She knelt behind him, using the removable sprayer to get his hair wet enough and then poured the aromatic soap into her palm.
He groaned when she began to wash his hair, massaging his scalp and the back of his neck. Ministering to a man who had made a career of taking care of everyone else. He relaxed fully, moaning occasionally, his eyes closed as she washed and then rinsed his hair. Which, granted, took a while because he had so much of it.
The time was lovely, just the two of them. Quiet but for soft breath and his occasional sound of pleasure.
“Why did you grow it so long?” She squeezed the excess water from it with a drying cloth.
“Because I could, mainly.”
She took the wash cloth and the soap and moved to where his feet were, massaging them as she cleaned. “Knowing you, that makes sense. I like it. I didn’t recognize you at first that day. You came from the smoke and dust like a ghost. An avenging spirit, more like.”
“I’ve had to—oh gods, that feels good—cut it from time to time. Luckily most of my work is solo and covert enough that I can tuck it into my collar or change the color, and it’s enough.”
His personal piece of rebellion.
She kneaded the muscles in his calves and then up his thighs. So complicated, her man. Even in his job—and special ops or not, the military demanded a certain type of rigidity and order—he had his own spin on duty. He wasn’t one to be up every day at the trumpet song, wearing the same thing his neighbor wore, having the same hair to the exact specifications. At the same time, he sought out the order, clearly having some need filled by it. Fascinating. She could happily spend the rest of her life just thinking about him and why he did what he did.
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