Chapter 30
Electra
“I fucked everything up,” he says. He looks like he hasn’t slept well in days.
Her first instinct is to panic, but she reminds herself, This isn’t about you. He’s clearly been working very hard on something that didn’t go well. “Come,” she says, taking his hand. “Sit, and you can tell me as much or as little about it as you like.”
He seems to be in a daze as she walks him over to the couch and presses him down onto it.
He leans forward, burying his head in his hands.
She crawls next to him, getting on her knees for better access, and massages his shoulders, working her way up the tense, corded muscle of his neck. “You are incredibly tight.”
He groans as she digs into an especially firm knot. She does this for several minutes until her hands ache. Still, she keeps working his angry flesh. “You can’t hold everything in, Res6. If you keep bottling things up, one day you’re going to explode.”
He shakes his head. “I think I already did.”
She stops massaging as he turns to face her.
“I fired Lextr,” he says, shaking his head.
“Oh God, that must have been awful.” She waits as he stares blankly ahead.
“He betrayed my trust by stealing unregistered manupartners to rent out for some type of side gig. Openly leasing a manupartner from the company as an employee is one thing, but he knows we strictly prohibit the unauthorized use of company materials, not to mention unregistered manupartners are illegal and could get us fined or our license to operate revoked. That he did such a thing during an active investigation when missing samples could be discovered is highly risky. Granted, he did a decent job of covering his tracks. When I confronted him about it, he threw a bunch of stuff in my face. Then he called me a hypocrite, and I snapped.” His Adam’s apple bobs as he blinks back tears.
“Me?” she guesses. It wouldn’t surprise her, since the man clearly dislikes her, even refusing to call her by name. But firing Lextr can’t be what has him so upset. She wants to push but resolves to be patient.
“Among other things.” He leans back on the couch, melting into it.
Boneless, like all the fight has left him.
“The experiment I stayed in the office to work on . . . he failed. I got my hopes up.” His breath hitches, and he takes a moment to collect himself.
“He was growing perfectly, but I let my pride cloud my judgment. I missed the smallest marker. So fucking stupid. It worked, Electra. It finally worked, then . . .” He buries his head in his hands, muttering, “Then he didn’t. ”
Hold on. He usually calls manupartners it. Not him. It couldn’t be him, as in Jerme. That would explain why he’s so upset. Her heart stumbles. “Him?”
He glances up, his face agonized. “The manupartner . . . a prototype. It was male.”
Right. They discussed it, and he agreed that trying to bring back his brother would be a terrible idea.
Why did she even think that? She nods, trying to understand.
“The experiment clearly meant a lot to you. I’m sorry it failed.
I can’t believe that about Lextr. I’m definitely naming the villain in my next book after him. ”
His lips twitch like his smile can’t quite get there.
Without meaning to, she starts rubbing soothing circles on his chest. The fabric of his shirt is so thin that her fingertips absorb the heat of him and feel every defined ridge.
Her gaze lifts from her hand to his golden eyes, which are fixed on her.
“What would I do without you?” The desperation in his voice makes his words feel like a confession. “Since you’ve come into my life, everything is changing so fast. I’m unmoored.”
Not this again. She leans back, but he grabs her neck before she can retreat. “I wouldn’t trade a second of you, Electra Lynch. Knowing you’d be here when I returned was the one thing keeping me tethered.”
Her heart squeezes. “I’m glad I can be here for you.” Her voice is breathy, and he must notice it too, because his gaze drops to her lips.
“I’m a mess,” he says.
Something about his vulnerability is like an aphrodisiac. “My mess?” she dares, reaching up to run her fingers through the silky hair at his temple.
A sad grin plays across his lips. “All yours.”
He pulls her toward him. The kiss is desperate, as if he’s drinking her in. His desire, his vulnerability, the intentional way his lips move all stir something deep inside her. Something aching and terrifying, begging for her surrender.
Leaning her back on the couch, he hovers over her. “I . . . I need to get lost in you. Is this okay?”
She wraps her leg around his, running her bare foot up his calf as she reaches for his waist, fisting his shirt to pull him nearer. “Very okay. But I think you can do better.” She smirks as his eyes momentarily widen.
When he realizes she’s teasing him, a grin erupts—still laced with sorrow, but with a cocky edge to it, as if he’s accepting her challenge. “If you get bored, please let me know.”
She giggles, watching transfixed as he reaches behind himself and tugs his shirt over his head. Her mouth goes dry as she takes in his sculpted torso.
He smirks. “I’ve seen you looking. Touch if you like.”
There’s only a split second where she wonders if he’s pretending she’s a manupartner. He must sense it because he takes her hand, pressing it to his chest. “Get out of your head. Stay here with me. I need you right now.”
“I’m here.”
“Good,” he says, trailing her hand down over the firm muscles. “Because this is real.”
Swallowing, she lets her gaze drop, following the path of her hand, which he guides down his abdomen, then lower. He pauses. “Yes?”
“Yes,” she agrees.
He sucks in a sharp breath of air as he moves her hand over his straining erection, pressing her hand into him.
“I want you, Electra. Feel what you do to me.” He squeezes her hand, cupping it around his shaft, and she groans at the indecent way his hips roll, his lower abs flexing in a way that makes her mouth water.
“Can I have you? Will you let me make love to you?”