16. Chapter 16
Warmth cocooned Kate. Raz held her close as the sentimental waves of finding oneself died down. The linking of their spirit energies was unlike anything she’d felt before. And the worried thickness of her tongue warned her that she might have gone too far.
But she couldn’t resist the pull between them.
The need to belong was a beautiful painting in her head waiting to be stolen, and if there was a chance to have Raz after all this was over—she had to take it.
She’d always wanted a place to belong—an honorable person who wanted her for who she was.
And she had finally found that someone. She was being terrible and selfish, but fuck—the way he looked at her like he accepted all the darkness.
The way he made her feel strong and capable.
She couldn’t give that up, even knowing she’d probably break his heart.
Raz kissed her slowly, dragging her attention to the present.
She wrapped her arms around his neck. Something moved under his skin, like heat sweeping from one part of him to the next.
Not again. She didn’t know if she could take more of that too-happy-to-contain-oneself sensation like that back-to-back.
“Raz…” She barely made the murmur before he nibbled on her lip, and that intense fire latched onto her again.
Their energies collided and raced over her skin like rough hands down her breasts toward her sensitive flesh.
Not quite an orgasm, but the second link tore her from reality and into a cloud of warmth and breathtaking happiness.
She was home with the feeling of Raz so close to her—under her flesh.
Her spirit coiled and snapped, reshaping with Raz’s being—again—deeper. Brighter.
Strength left her. Weightlessness ensued, followed by tangling limbs as they fell to the floor in a heap.
Minutes passed in a euphoria as if she’d shot up, a happy numbness seeping throughout her muscles. The haze in her brain cleared, and she blinked. Her head bobbed from lying on his heaving chest, his heart thrumming against her ear.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” she breathed. Soulmates…that’s what he said. If it came with similar moments…she wanted more.
He chuckled. “Me either. I don’t think I should have connected us twice so quickly.”
She strummed the connection between them with her mind, inspecting the blue energy strand connecting his Spirit Cavity to hers.
“Hmm…” His chest rumbled, a smile spreading across his stubbled face.
“Did you feel that?” she asked.
“Yeah. I can feel you.”
She felt him, too. His happiness. His arousal. Though a calm dragon slept in his mind. What could he feel from her? Could he feel her lies about what they’d find in that submarine?
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
The desire to have someone who cared and potentially have a family with had blinded her to making any other decision. She hadn’t thought of what ‘deeper’ than sex meant, but a literal tie to each other’s minds?
Panic kicked her in the abdomen. He can’t find out. She jerked up. “I’m going to take a shower.”
He grabbed her hand, stilling her from leaving. “Kate, are you all right?”
She turned toward him. The moment was not lost on her as he had run to take a shower after the last time they had sex.
But this time, he could probably feel every confusing emotion rolling through her.
She smiled and pressed a kiss to his lips.
“About this…about us? Yes. But I can’t keep the mission from my mind.
I just want a shower before I pass out. Can you let the guys know we’ll meet up with them tomorrow as discussed? ”
“All right,” he drawled, lying fully clothed, arm bent behind his head. “I’m ordering room service. Want anything?”
Sexy, considerate, and all mine.
Until he learns the truth.
The story he’d told her earlier echoed in her mind.
His best friend used him and destroyed his clan.
His conviction of not leaving anyone behind made sense to her now.
He would be livid to know she was using him and had betrayed her friend, leaving her behind to save her own skin.
Even if it was the only option, she believed she had to save Naomi and herself—Raz wouldn’t see it that way.
Nor would he get over the lengths she had to go through to correct that wrong, including lying to him.
Especially when the person she was trying to save had murdered someone he knew.
She swallowed, guilt weakening her bones, and said, “You’re still hungry after the Chinese?”
He popped an eye open. “What can I say…I have an appetite.”
“Get me something sweet.”
“Sure thing.”
She walked to the bathroom and closed the door to turn on the shower. Dropping the seat carefully on the toilet so as not to make noise, she plopped down on its surface. Her eyes burned with hot tears, and she sank her face into her palms.
Concentrating within herself, she gathered any darkness from her mind. The lies. The parts she needed to contain. For now, at least. And she shoved them away from their connection, barricading it from that shining beacon of hope.
Only after she believed he wouldn’t have access to that part of her did she strip and shower.
Afterward, she combed her hair out with her fingers and tried not to mull over the worry gnawing at her stomach.
A new thread crept up on her as she wondered if he had linked them on purpose—to find her truths.
But she pushed that thought away easily.
He wasn’t like Matsuda. Whatever the link truly meant for them, she couldn’t think about it until after the mission.
When she exited the bathroom only in a towel, her duffel bags rested on the couch in the sitting area. What a gentleman. Raz lay on the bed with his eyes closed, shoes off, and face turned into the pillow.
From the gentle cadence of his breath, he was asleep.
She didn’t blame him. Exhaustion weighed on her eyes. Along the link, she felt his dragon curled into a peaceful ball. With deft feet, she rushed to her bags. Dropping the towel, she slipped into a pair of boy shorts and a flimsy pajama top with nothing on underneath.
Chocolate wafted past her nostrils. At the desk, she found a food tray. Raz seemed to have eaten something like breakfast. A large slice of German chocolate cake called her name. She sat and took the sweet pieces in one gloriously flavored bite at a time.
“You trying to go into a sugar coma?” Raz’s scratchy voice called out.
“Using my abilities costs my human body calories, so I need the energy. Luckily, it comes with a delicious taste.” She drank a swig of water to wash the last of the sticky caramel down.
“Well, when you’re done charging up, do you want to join me?”
She smiled and ran toward the bed. Raz tensed.
Diving over his legs, she slid to his opposite side.
He laughed while she scooted over to him.
He turned over and wrapped his arm around her.
She bunched his warm shirt into her hand and rested her forehead against his collar.
Inhaling, she took in his mint and pine scent.
Surrounded by his protection and acceptance, her tongue tingled with the truth.
“What’s on your mind?” he mumbled, seeming half asleep again.
“I…”
His breathing deepened, becoming more relaxed.
Her gut wrenched. He won’t look at you the same if you tell him. “I’m worried about the heist.”
“I’m not,” he said into her hair. “I’ve seen your success rate.”
Her grin didn’t quite reach her lips. But none of those mattered as much as this one.
Kate woke as the sun’s rays chased the darkened night sky away.
Still tangled in Raz’s arms, she allowed herself a few moments to sink into the warmth and comfort of this loyal and protective man next to her and in her mind along the link.
With a sigh, she freed herself and grabbed her laptop.
Placing it at the bed’s end, she lay on her stomach with her feet swaying in the air as she inspected her coding and closed the sequence Sid had found.
Time and space escaped her while she worked tirelessly on the array of letters and numbers. When a hand clutched her ankle, she stopped swaying but didn’t turn back to Raz. She had one more code to complete.
A sharp tickling sensation ran up the instep as he grazed his finger over her skin there. She jerked, trying to free herself. Raz held on strongly.
“What are you doing back there, big guy?” she asked.
“Punishing the woman with that pert ass in front of my face.” A soft brush of his lips against the bottom of her foot had her toes curling.
“You could look the other way.” She twisted, wanting to see him as he continued kissing her, sending vibrations up her leg.
His copper eyes lanced with a feverish need that heated her soul. Her breath shook.
“I’m already seduced,” he said and nipped her big toe. The little tingles shot straight to the apex between her thighs, and she shivered. “Oh, you like that?”
“Raz…please…” The protest became a gasp as he sucked her big toe into his mouth. The sensation shocked her clit and moved up further to her breasts. She licked her lips, gazing down at him. Her legs parted, desperately needing touch. How was her toe that sensitive?
He released her foot, grinning, and kissed up her calf, climbing up her body.
She watched him advance, transfixed by the masculine sexuality.
Lips at the back of her thighs, he tugged at her boy shorts until he had them down past her knees.
Pushing one of her thighs forward, he let the air licked at the wetness between her legs. Please just…
He descended upon her, and his tongue swept hard from her clit to her entrance. Yes!
Lying between her thighs, he grasped her hips in his hands, lifted them, and gave no mercy. Her nub throbbed, her wanton body sweating. She shoved her face into the covers, small giggles escaping her from the pure delight of it all. Him. That damn forceful tongue. She squirmed from the onslaught.
He pumped two fingers into her, curling them toward the bed, brushing against her inner spot, again—and again—and again—until—
Muscles clamped as release swept through her in potent droves. She hollered, and hoarse giggles of delight followed.
He lapped at her, prolonging the rockets of her orgasm.
She wiggled, trying to get away from him.
He chuckled and lifted, kissing his way up her back.
Breathing heavily, she pressed her cheek against the bed.
When he kissed her neck, he thrust his cock against her wet entrance. She moaned, toes curling.
Against her ear, he whispered, “Will you turn your hair hot pink for me? I couldn’t get it out of my head after you showed me your Influence.”
His hips circled, his dick pressing oh so teasingly against her. He wanted to fuck the Bubblegum Bandit, a criminal and all? Her heart collapsed under the acceptance of his words, and she turned to kiss him.
Manipulating the energy at her scalp with a simple thought and push, she infused her hair with imagined Influence, black turning to hot pink strands. He gasped and thrust into her balls deep. Each of his heavy thrusts slammed her into the bed, stretching and filling her.
“Raz…yes…make me cum again,” she said, edge building.
He tugged her hair, holding her in place as he drove in deep.
She wedged her finger between them, giving herself that extra stimulation against her clit.
A second short but intense orgasm ripped through her being.
His pace slowed, and he kissed her shoulder as she floated back to reality.
“Your hair…was glowing.” He released his fingers from the pink strands.
“Hmm…you make it…” She tried to catch her breath. “…very hard…to concentrate. Let me…” She moaned when he thrust hard and deep.
“Let you…what?”
“Fuck you. I want to fuck you.”
He rested his sweaty head against her shoulder and groaned. Pressing a tender kiss to her spine, he pulled out of her. She whimpered at the loss of that full feeling. Raz slumped back, and she lifted onto all fours and stretched out like a cat, presenting her ass to him.
“You better get over here before I change my mind,” he growled.
Grinning, she crawled to him. He sat against the headboard, his glistening dick straining upward, veins protruding erotically. He looked delicious.
She positioned herself over him, and giving him a kiss, she slid onto his cock. She hissed, bursts of sensation throbbing from her sensitive inner walls. Raz’s head slammed back into the headboard, but he watched her. Patient and slow, she moved up and down, and the rockets went haywire.
He met her gaze, and she lost herself in those coppery depths. No judgment existed, and he held nothing back from her. Trusting her with his soul.
She choked on a rush of guilt and sadness. I’m going to lose him.
Ducking her forehead into the crook of his neck, she continued to move. All the while blinking to keep the tears from falling. Don’t cry…don’t cry…
Raz grabbed her hips, stilling her. “What’s wrong?”
Her throat burned, and she shook her head. “Nothing. Distract me. I need this.” Never to end.
Raz hugged her to him and pressed his lips to her temple. As he held her close, she moved again, slamming onto him with each downward motion.
“Fuck me, Raz. Please.”
He took over and pounded into her without inhibition, bellowing his release. The rawness of the moment broke through her and ripped the tears from her fragile grasp.