The Exchange Part 1 (13 page)

“Yeah. You’re going to make me fuck you real hard,” I growl at her. Then I slam my
hips up and impale her deep, as hard as I promised, going all the way to the hilt.

Sapphire’s sexy little moans grow more frantic. Her orgasm ripples through me and
I groan, the pressure at my tip unbearable. “No one’s pussy ever felt this good. Fuck,
girl.”

My fingers sink farther into the wall. I go at her like a fucking madman, shafting
her tight cunt as it comes around me. The pressure pops inside me, semen jetting out
of my cock in a blinding, painful rush. I roar her name. My fingers rip out of the
wall and my arms wrap around her, holding her still for my pounding.

The pleasure obliterates my heart, and I almost can’t breathe through the tightness
of my chest. The last ripple leaves me twitching, my limbs weak as fuck. On the verge
of hyperventilating, I press my face to her neck.

She’s breathing just as hard as I am. Her arms clasp me against her. I groan as my
air supply gets cut off.

“Oops. Sorry.”

I stop her before she can let me go. “Don’t.” What I meant to say was
keep hugging me
, but the words won’t come out.

Actually, I’m afraid to speak right now. Won’t admit that out loud to anyone, either.

If I start talking, there’s no telling what I’ll say to her. What I’ll confess.

I don’t even understand half of what’s going through me right now. All I know is that
I need to keep hugging this girl more than I need my next breath.

Sapphire nuzzles my temple and places a soft kiss to my skin. I ignore how my throat
tightens and lift my head to stare at her.

Women usually look sexy-as-hell after sex. Lips swollen, skin glowing, hair a mess.
But Sapphire takes all that to another level.

Damn, what the hell’s stuck in my throat? It won’t freaking loosen. 

“Are you okay?” The smile on her face tells me that she’s more than okay, but I still
want to hear her say it.

“I’m perfectly fine.” Her voice is even sexier now. Hoarse from all her cries.

Fuck, I have to stop thinking about that before I end up giving her more reasons to
cry out for me. “I’m going to go to the bathroom and get something to clean you up.”

She nods at me, her eyes all sparkly, and it’s the kind of expression that would have
freaked me the hell out if it had been coming from any other girl.

But coming from her? My brain scrambles to find a million other ways to keep that
glow in her eyes.

I lift her off me and place her on the bed. “And when I’m done, we're sleeping together.”
Again, my mouth’s run away with me, saying things before I’ve even assimilated the
thought behind them.

Sapphire beams up at me and gives me another nod.

Fuck it. I want it. And when I want something, I take it. Enough of this over-analyzing
shit. I’ve never slept—as in
actual
sleep—with a woman before, and now that I want to, I’m going for it.

I step into the bathroom and find a washcloth on the shelf next to the sink. When
I return, Sapphire’s on the bed waiting for me. I make quick work of getting her cleaned
up, although I’m tempted to drop the washcloth and use my hand on her instead. Her
skin turns pink as I clean her, making it harder for me to keep myself in check.

“You sure you’re feeling okay?” I ask her.

“I’m perfect, told you. If this is what sex is like, I’m going to have to do it more
often.”

“With me,” I grunt, not even surprised when I hear myself say it. I can’t promise
her anything after today, but that doesn’t mean I have to like the idea of her with
another man.

“With you,” she agrees with a lazy smile.

I LISTEN TO THE SOUNDS of Sapphire moving around in the bathroom. We’re getting ready
to head out and search for the others. I tried reaching Gage using Sapphire's phone
four times since we woke up. Nothing. His phone keeps going straight to voicemail.

If we’re lucky, it’s dead. At worse, something’s happened to him.

Either way, we have to head out. If I can’t find the others, I have to find another
way to get Sapphire safely out of the country. Then I have other things to take care
of.

My course is set. I know what I have to do now.

And yet my hands are freezing cold. I’m sweating. I’ll protect Sapphire, kill anyone
I have to for her. It’s a given. It’s what comes with it that’s eating at me.

I’ll never find anyone like her.

I have to let her go.

She knows it, too. Whatever this is between us, it’s about to be put on a major pause.

I can’t forget the sad smile she gave me before heading into the bathroom. It was
her silent way of telling me she gets it. We’ll stay in contact after this, but it’ll
be different. I’ll be checking up on her, because there’s no way I’ll be able to handle
not
speaking to her at all. If I’m going to watch out for her, I’m going to at least talk
to her from time to time.

But there’s no possibility of anything more between us, and I… might want more.

It’s a sobering realization. I’m not saying I’d definitely pursue her in that sense,
but as things stand right now, there’s no way of anything happening. No choice for
me no matter what I decide. Some things have to be “readjusted” before I can contemplate
it further.

I don’t expect her to wait for me to figure things out. Doesn’t matter if she does,
either. She’s the reason I’m even pondering shit like this. If what I feel for her
doesn’t die, I’ll win her back. There’s no doubt in my mind. That girl has shaken
up everything.

I’ll rip her out of the arms of any fucker that dares to have her. Point blank. If
that makes me an asshole, so be it. I never said I was anything less.

Kind of erases the whole
if
in that theory, doesn’t it?

I laugh at myself, shaking my head. I’m grasping at straws, hoping that time and some
distance will change what I want.

My eyes drift back to the headboard. Decimated. The wall behind it is in an even more
pitiful state.

I’m going to have to punch through both just to hide the fact that it had been my
fingers
that did the damage. Then I’ll have to come up with an excuse as to why I wrecked
the wall. Consider me fucked-up, but I’m not interested in Gage finding out about
last night. What happened between me and Sapphire concerns me and her. That’s it.

With a sigh, I get up and crack my fingers. Not even a single mark remains of my wounds
from the night before. Aside from the whole knocking me out bullshit, I have to admit
that the nanobots are an amazing invention.

Luckily for them, I’m about to give them something else to heal.

I open my mouth to call out to Sapphire and warn her of what I’m about to do—

The doorknob turns behind me.

I whirl around and see the door opening. Fuck. We didn’t lock it?

Gage can’t come in here yet.

I reach the door, intent on slamming it shut in his face.

The door is pushed inward the rest of the way, and it hits
me
in the face. I freeze, eyes shut, trying to remind myself that I can’t glock Gage
right in the eye.

“Oh my God. Deimos. I’m sorry.”

My eyes fly open at the sound of that laughing voice.
No. Not right now.

The sunlight from outside glints off long, black hair that I know really well.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Noemi.

The rest of the team is here. She must have been called in without my knowing.

Shit.

“Are you ok—” Noemi stops two steps inside the room, her hazel eyes wide.

Frozen on the bed.

The wall behind it.

I see the deduction click into place. The burgeoning fury as her eyes move toward
me.

And I realize that she wanted more than what we’d agreed on. A lot more. Raw jealousy
flares in her eyes.

The bathroom door opens behind me. Noemi’s eyes bounce there next, and something in
me snaps. The intention in those blazing eyes is loud and clear.

“You listen to me,” I tell her in a calm, hard tone. “We’re going to be professional
about this—”

Noemi rears back, her expression disbelieving. “Professional?”

Gage steps into the room. I don’t look at him, but I know he just looked at the bed.
Now, I feel his glare as it lands on the side of my face.

“I can’t fucking believe you.”  Noemi shakes her head, glaring at Sapphire.

I’m horrified, straight-up horrified, when tears fill Noemi’s eyes. Listen, women
are rarely detached enough to handle a sex-only situation. I get that. But the amount
of pain in Noemi’s eyes goes way beyond a mere attachment.

She’s acting like she’s fucking in love with me, and because of that, she’s dangerous
to Sapphire.

I’m a fucking idiot for not catching onto something like this, but that doesn’t mean
I’m going to let Noemi hurt her. That’s what wounded females do: they lash out. “Listen
to me, Noemi. We can talk about this outside. Don’t make this worse than it has to
be.”

Noemi’s hand connects hard across my face. “You’re sleeping with me, but yet you sleep
with her. Your fucking charge?”

I hear Sapphire’s small gasp. Rage explodes inside me at the sound.
No one hurts her.
“You and I had an understanding,” I hiss out at Noemi through clenched teeth, “and
she was
necessary
.”

This time, Noemi gasps.

I don’t need to open my eyes and see Noemi’s expression to know that I’ve just broken
her heart completely. Three minutes ago, I would’ve cared, but Sapphire is hypersensitive
and she doesn’t need
—

“Sapphire? Are you okay?”

My head snaps around at Gage’s question. “Sapphire?”

She’s standing by the bathroom door, utterly still. Unseeing eyes are locked with
the wall in front of her. No movement. I call out her name again. No sign that she’s
even in there.

Gage and I snap to attention at the same time, but it’s me that gets to her first.
I scowl at him before grabbing her shoulders. “Sapphire… Sapphire?” I turn her toward
me, harder than I should have—there, a blink. “Sapphire, talk to me.”

Her stare is blank as she raises her eyes and looks at me. Then her mouth opens, and
what I hear makes me go cold everywhere.

It’s that voice. The flat, mechanical one that I heard in my head the night before.

“Emergency protocol one-nine-four loading.”

“What the fuck?” Gage snaps behind me.

I’m shaking. Can’t hold it back. Eyes wide, I cup her shoulders and bring her closer.

She lets me, still as a doll.

No, as a fucking
robot
.

“Sapphire… what—”

“Protocol one-nine-four activated. Dissociation software package integrated. Emotional
processing nullified.”