Taming the Fire (35 page)

Gabriel rubbed his chin as he balanced himself over Dev's thighs, his balls and long, hard arousal brushing Dev's. “I'm here, aren't I?”

“Untie my hands.”

“No.”

“I won't read you,” Dev assured him.

“I'm not worried about that anymore. What more can you find out? I'm an open fucking book to you, whether you touch me or you read my file. No, I want your hands tied so you remember who's here with you. So you can't bury your head against my neck and think of another man. I want you to realize that this has nothing to do with Oz,” Gabriel said fiercely. “This is you and me—no ghosts.”

“No ghosts,” Dev repeated.

“Oz wasn't outside tonight,” Gabriel said. “I haven't seen him in days.”

To be fair, Dev's every waking thought hadn't been about Oz either—he'd been strangely free to think about other things, like the man currently on top of him. “Untie me, Gabriel. I want to touch you, do things to you that make you call out my name.”

Gabriel leaned against him, chest to chest, and finally did what Dev asked. While he worked the black ties, he kissed Dev's neck and shoulder, nipping the skin with his teeth. And when Dev's wrists were freed, he placed his hands on Gabe, who froze instantly despite his earlier speech.

“It's okay—it's just a touch.” Dev ran his palms along the man's smooth shoulders, down his arms and back up his chest. Gabriel shivered but remained still, until Dev's hand circled his erection. And then he let forth a groan that intensified as Dev's strokes did.

“Jesus… you need to… I'm going to…”

“Just come, Gabriel. It's not going to be the last time tonight, not by a long shot.”

Gabriel did, clutching Dev the entire time.

H
OURS LATER
, when both men were spent, Gabe stretched his lean, muscled form out on the bed, curling his arms around one of the pillows as his cheek rested on the soft white cotton.

Dev could kick him out now. Should.

Instead, he lay back and curled himself around Gabriel. The other man stiffened with surprise and doubt, until he felt Dev's erection. “I'm not ready for sleep.”

“But when you are?” Gabriel asked.

“You can stay.”

“Why now? What's changed? You still think I'm here because Oz sent me.”

Dev shook his head. “Oz believed in free will. He sent you here for a different reason. I just haven't figured it out yet.”

“Marlena told me…” Gabriel stopped for a second, no doubt figuring that Dev would stop him. But when he didn't, Gabe continued. “She said that Oz promised to send you someone.”

“And you think you're that someone?”

“No, I don't. I'm not the kind of guy you'd wish on anyone. So what you said about other reasons seems right on.”

“And you'll keep me company until the love of my life walks through the front door, then?” Dev asked sarcastically.

But Gabriel remained silent and so Dev put his arms around him tighter.

“I know who you are. I know who's in my bed.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I just needed… I needed to let him go. You let me do that.” Dev rolled onto his back. “You let me do that in a way no one else has.”

“You were together a long time.”

“Yeah, forever.” Dev turned to him. “That's not as long as it used to be. What else did Oz tell you?”

Gabe probably should've been freaked out once he realized that he'd been driven around by a ghost, but strangely enough, he wasn't. “He said… ah…”

“That I could be an asshole.”

“Yeah, there was that.”

Dev snorted. “I don't do apologies.”

“Because you're the boss?”

“Because I make amends for my fuckups in other ways.” Dev was back on him, straddling him, and for once Gabe didn't feel the familiar panic. “Trust me.”

“I do. I don't know why… but I do.”

Dev's hand trailed down his chest, farther, until he cupped Gabriel's balls. It didn't stop the man from speaking. “He said you liked taking care of people, but you needed someone who could take care of you right back. Someone who wasn't scared of your… bullshit.”

“And you fit that bill?”

“Like I said, I'm here, right?”

“I'm too fucking old to court someone, Gabriel.”

“Yeah, thirty-six is kind of ancient.”

Dev rolled him. “I'll show you ancient.”

Even with the young man's face buried in the pillow, Devlin could feel Gabriel's smile.

Marlena sat at her desk nervously. It had been nearly twelve hours since she'd brought Gabriel to Devlin's bed—if he was going to reprimand her, it wasn't too late.

But it
was
late—Dev rarely came into the office past six in the morning, and it was nearly nine now. She fielded calls and the questioning faces of agents who had morning appointments.

“He's fine,” she assured each and every one even as the butterflies in her stomach grew more intense.

“Gabe never showed up for our morning appointment and he's not in his room,” Annika announced loudly, and good thing they were the only two in the office at that moment. God, the woman could be so exasperating sometimes, speaking without thinking.

But before Marlena could say anything, Dev strolled in, his BDUs a little… well, wrinkled. Almost askew. And he ran a hand through his hair, which looked messier than usual. His face was flushed, and he smiled.

He never smiled in the morning.

Marlena instantly felt better, even as Annika narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms and stared between the two of them. “I think Gabriel's AWOL,” she said.

“Really?” Dev reached for his coffee mug, which Marlena had filled for him.

“Yes. And you don't seem all that concerned.”

Dev took a long slug of coffee. “I'm sure he'll turn up.”

Gabriel did, about two seconds later, looking as disheveled as Devlin, and Marlena tried to bite back a smile.

“Where the hell have you been?” Annika demanded.

“I was, um, running,” Gabe offered, and Dev turned away from him with a smirk of his own hidden inside his mug. “Sorry.”

“You're nowhere near sorry yet—but you will be,” Annika told him. “Let's go.”

Gabe followed Annika out, with a quick look back at Dev. Marlena watched the men's eyes meet and knew that, somewhere in the universe, Oz was smiling.

“Rik's working well with Kira,” she told him.

“I know. That's good.” He ran his hands through his hair and suddenly he was all business again.

Devlin wouldn't invite her into his bedroom again. Marlena had resigned herself to that the moment she'd brought Gabriel into Devlin's house last night. She was fulfilling Oz's final promise, to make sure Dev was happy.

“If anything happens to me, you need to make sure Dev finds happiness,” Oz had told her—again and again, and not only before his death. He'd been telling her that for years, even when he and Devlin weren't together. She felt a certain amount of peace at fulfilling his last wish, even as the sadness overtook her heart.

M
ARLENA LOCKED
her desk and stared at the smooth, bare mahogany surface. She ran her hands over the cool wood, and then, before she had any more regrets, she stood and went into Devlin's office, left the keys on top of his morning reports.

She'd e-mailed him her letter of intent to transfer departments. He would sign it because she requested it but he would hate having to do so.

She hated having to make him, but he didn't need to keep his promise to her any longer—not when he had his chance of real happiness with Gabriel. Oz understood the relationship between her and Devlin, didn't mind it, and she probably would've stayed doing what she was doing forever if Oz had lived.

But he hadn't… and maybe, in some small way, he'd saved her too. Even though she'd never be free from the curse her sister put on her, she'd find a way not to care. If nothing else, she'd devote her life to ACRO, to saving the world any way she could.

She walked across the compound until she came to the house that the Seducer trainees lived in. The guard let her in and she made her way to the main office, a large, luxurious room. If nothing else, the Seducers liked excess—their lives revolved around seduction twenty-four seven, they lived and breathed sex in all its various forms, saw it as more of a function of a power play than a form of love.

They were able to separate the emotions from the act. And maybe, in time, Marlena herself would be able to do the same. Or the ACRO scientists could create a pill or a mind block or something.

Lourdes, a tall, bronze-skinned woman who was the department head and one of Marlena's closest friends, lounged on one of the plush couches, reading a file. She looked up as Marlena entered, and smiled.

Marlena didn't. “I'm ready for training.”

Lourdes frowned and stood, dropping the paperwork. “Marlena, I thought you'd said… never. Dev said never.”

“Dev will say yes now. Train me.”

Lourdes wasn't convinced. Marlena couldn't blame her, as no one went against Devlin's wishes. “You need to trust me on this. Devlin will agree to it.”

“What about your curse—has that been lifted?”

“No.”

“So how can this work? You'll fall in love with every single man you seduce… and none of them will ever fall in love with you. You cannot do this job.”

“I'll never know until I try.”

“There must be something else for you to do here…”

“I have no special powers, other than my looks,” Marlena said. “I don't want to be support staff any longer. I need to figure out what I was meant to do.”

“And you're convinced it's giving away sex for intel?” Lourdes cocked an eyebrow. “This is one of the hardest jobs at ACRO. Do you know how many Seducers accidentally fall in love, especially when they're on an ongoing case? There are more broken hearts in this department than I care to think about.”

“Then I'll fit right in.” Marlena eyed her steadily. “You know I'd be an asset here.”

“And I know that a woman in love can spill her secrets to the wrong man,” Lourdes shot back.

“I would never—could never—betray ACRO. My pain is private. I've been hiding my broken heart from men for years. You can help me refine that ability.” Marlena sat in one of the leather chairs.

Lourdes was out of arguments for now, but Marlena knew the road wouldn't be easy. “I'll call Devlin. And then we can get started.”

It was time to meet the boss.

Devlin O'Malley had sent for Ulrika, and she had to admit her nerves were in knots. Trance had said she'd have to meet him eventually, but she'd been here only a week, and it seemed so soon to her.

But now she was standing just outside his office with Neema, and staring at the doorknob like it might bite.

“Go ahead,” the secretary, whom Neema had said was a new girl named Christine, said kindly. “He's waiting.”

Taking a deep breath, Rik entered. Mr. O'Malley was sitting at his desk, his spiky brown hair full of deep grooves that said he always had his fingers in it.

“Have a seat, Ms. Jaeger. Can I call you Ulrika?”

“Yes, of course.” She sank into the comfy leather chair. “Rik is fine too.”