Chapter 28
F or now?
Did that mean before her arguments fell apart? There were only two that could unravel. That he was doing this because she was a job, which was most certainly not the case, but he wasn’t about to tell her that, and that they didn’t love each other. Did she plan on falling in love with him? That idea didn’t work with his serve first, love later life strategy, but since they’d met, that plan had been sliding like an avalanche, stone by stone.
Her hungry gaze zeroed in on his waist. “Take your jeans off so I can see what makes you so super.”
Stepping back, he pulled off his T-shirt and tossed it behind him. Her salacious grin, devoid of the soul-deep trepidation he’d seen earlier, curled his lips up so high they hurt. “I’ve never shown my leg to any woman.”
She slowly shook her head. “I don’t believe for a minute that you’ve been celibate for over a year.”
“I didn’t say that. Since I’ve gotten this…” He brushed his hand down his thigh. She wasn’t the first wh o wanted to see his steel, but she was the first he wanted to share his scars and his enhancement with. Until he’d met Beth, he’d never wanted to impart what he’d tragically lost and miraculously gained. Didn’t want to answer painful questions, and he’d never wanted to scare anyone. He thought his deadly super leg was cool as all hell but feared everyone might not have the same opinion. “Well, let’s just say I’ve gotten the job done in the dark with my pants down but not off.”
The gold flecks in her eyes blazed like the fire burning deep in his core.
“The lights are still on, cowboy. Are you okay with performing in these conditions?”
He flicked open the snap on his jeans. His cock cheered at the imminent action. His mind balked at the lies he told to finally commence it. “It’s my mission to make sure any service I provide you is satisfactory.” He edged the zipper down tooth by tooth. “And I mean in every, every way.”
She licked her lips. “I appreciate a man who can get a job done thoroughly.”
“You have no idea how thoroughly.” He hooked his fingers into the waistband of his pants and smirked. The muscles in his abs coiled in anticipation. “But I’m about to show you.”
“Please.”
“Nervous, sugarplum?”
“No.”
Her husky denial skated across his skin and bit into his eager cock. “Impatient? Excited, perhaps?”
With a hard yank on her hair, she dragged her palms down her breasts, her belly to her thighs, her thumbs pressing inward to the sweet bundle of nerves he couldn’t wait to play with again.
“For the love of God, Kane, just give me all of you. ”
Slowly, he pushed his jeans past his hips, ready to give her everything. “I’m all yours, sugarplum. Come and get me.”
“Dear Lord.” Air, words, and any and all sounds paused in Beth’s lungs. Kane, in all his super glory, was that beautiful. That breathtaking.
The sleek, black prostheses with an inlaid hexagonal pattern melded to his hip in an oddly foreign yet perfectly natural union of science and nature. The curves, the lean muscle size, even the perfect human shape right down to his toes that contracted into the carpet were an anatomical carbon copy of his flesh-and-bone leg.
Holding her breath, as if he might vanish if she touched him, she reached out and touched the spot where man met machine.
He hissed her name.
She smiled but didn’t look up, too mesmerized by the feel of the corded skin under her fingertips. A hexagonal pattern-shaped tattoo camouflaged the scarring. The beautiful artwork seemed to bleed from the unyielding steel and into his sensitive flesh.
Slowly, she traced the ink. With each hard ridge under her fingers, her heart broke from what he’d been through. As he pursed his full lips as if granting her time to explore the gift of his body took a monumental effort, she marveled at what Project VIPER had created. Kane wasn’t just a super soldier. He wasn’t just a scientific and technological miracle. He’d been transformed into a glorious creature with unnatural, deadly secrets only a select few knew about.
And he’d trusted her, chosen her, to share the part he kept under wraps .
He sucked air through his teeth as she pressed her lips to the thickest of the scarring.
“Does this thing come with a user’s manual?” The scientist in her wanted to know how it worked. The woman in her wanted to feel it pressed against her body, pinning her in place while he used his voodoo magic to fuck the curse out of her mind and into a dark abyss.
“I’m an experiment in progress.”
Thank God VIPER had chosen him to be a subject. No, not a subject. A survivor. A real-life action hero brought back to life.
My hero.
She pulled her hands away. The warrior who stood before her was so mesmerizing, so surreal, she feared losing herself in his wondrous immensity. Like whatever powers he’d used last night to take down the bad guys would burn her if she got too close, leaving a mark, changing her forever.
But knowing him had already changed her. “You’re incredible.”
He didn’t answer, but a proud, not arrogant look, like he was still in awe of himself, crossed his features. Her gaze fixed on his erect cock. She licked her lips as she stared at his hot-blooded appendage that looked as super as his leg. “Did VIPER enhance that too?”
His dimples framed his cocky-as-hell smile.
“That’s one-hundred-percent me, darlin’. And yes, I know how to use it. No manual needed, but hands-on exploration is encouraged.” He grabbed her wrist and placed her palm against his leg where skin met steel. “You can start here and work your way to the center.”
Scooting off the bed, she fell to her knees in front of him. “It’s so smooth.” She glided her hand from his hip to his thigh in a slow, hard stroke, surprised she couldn’t feel the hexagonal pattern under her fingers. “Can you feel that? ”
“Yes. Not like I can feel you on the rest of my body, but yes.”
She continued her exploration lower and lightly pressed her fingers into the back of his knee. His joint flexed in response. “That’s amazing. Does it hurt? Not when I touch you. I mean, does it still hurt from the trauma and the surgeries? I know you said the aches come and go, but does it hurt after diving to the ground with me in your arms?”
And not even the reminder that she needed protecting—and that he could die doing it—could stop her from discovering the wonders of this magnificent man. She rose on her knees and explored her way back up his leg.
“No, it doesn’t hurt.” He shifted his hip slightly. “But something in that vicinity aches.”
She ignored his not-so-subtle hint and her own body’s response to kneeling before this godlike man and thoroughly explored the inked seam where metal met flesh. “The work on this tattoo is incredible.”
His body jerked under her touch. “We all have them to cover the scarring.”
She pressed her fingers deeper into the pattern. “It’s beautiful, tragic, and scary all at the same time. How can that be?”
“Like you, sugarplum. Beautiful and tragic.”
She looked up at him. “And scary?”
He brushed hair out of her eyes. “When you order me around? That’s scary sexy.”
She blinked away sudden tears. “This puts you at an even greater risk of dying.”
“Ain’t going to happen anytime soon.” He wiped her worry away with his thumb. “I gave the Grim Reaper the finger last time and he’s too afraid to come back for more. If anything, it makes me more likely to survive. Some black widow curse made up by a bunch of gossips is no match for me. I’m not going anywhere but deep inside your tight, sweet body, understand?”
He didn’t give her time to answer. Grabbing her shoulders, he pulled her flush against him and slammed his mouth to hers.
She stroked his steel thigh with one hand and palmed his thick length that felt just as hard with the other. “I’m so thankful God spared this.”
“So fucking thankful,” he murmured into her mouth as he wrapped his hand around the nape of her neck and deepened the kiss.
In a clash of teeth and tongues amid a litany of pleas and moans, he kissed her as if she were the key to his survival. With one hand on his leg, the other on his cock, she reveled in the contrast of smooth steel and silky skin, both with a core of unyielding strength.
Shifting her hand to the base of his erection, she squeezed. His animalistic hiss snaked through her veins. The intense hunger in that incoherent sound rocketed excitement through her blood and fear in her heart. She wanted his cock so deep inside her they’d become merged like his steel and flesh, but falling for him had the potential to destroy her.
Without breaking the kiss, he yanked her panties down. “Are you on birth control?”
“Yes. And I had a physical last month. I’m clean. And I haven’t been with anyone since I met you.”
“Same here.” He shifted his hand between their bodies and slid his fingers against her wet clit. “Is the reason you haven’t been with anyone else because you’ve been thinking about me?”
She didn’t answer. Instead, she pulled his lip between her teeth and wiggled her hips closer to his hand .
He bit the shell of her ear. “Answer me.”
“Yes.” As he slipped a finger in her tight pussy and crooked it against her slick walls, all thoughts other than the pleasure Kane could incite fled. “Do it. Now, please.”
“The sound of you begging might be my favorite Christmas carol, sugarplum.” He added a second digit and danced them inside of her.
“I wasn’t begging.” She panted. “That was an order.”
“There’s that scary, sexy side I was talking about. Wrap your legs around my waist.”
Hooking his hands under her knees, he picked her up and carried her to the bed. “Ready for your Christmas present?”
He laid her down and eased inside her before she could respond. Stars rioted in her head as he stretched her to the point of pain. She panted as her body adjusted to the welcome intrusion that quickly spiraled into hot pleasure. Grasping his shoulder, she dug her fingers into his skin. Her other hand clasped warm, smooth steel at his hip.
He pulled his hips back, his cock still teasing, his arms securely around her.
She held him tighter. “Kane.”
“I’ve got you, sugarplum.”
“I know.” She’d never felt more secure in her life, but she was falling anyway and powerless to stop the plunge. “More, Kane. Give me all of you.” There was still space between their bodies. She wanted nothing between them.
No curse.
No secrets.
Not even air.
He pressed his mouth to hers, the tip of his cock hovering just inside her pussy. “Ready for me?”
She pressed her heels into his hard ass. Biting his lower lip, she groaned into his mouth. “Show me those superpowers, soldier.”
The bed shook as he slammed into her. Her savage scream and his primordial grunt echoed in her brain as he covered her with his body and filled her completely.
He stilled. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” She shifted her hands to his ass cheeks and squeezed.
He took the blatant hint. The slap of flesh on flesh on one side and flesh on steel on the other filled the small room as he set a punishing rhythm. He never pulled out completely, as if he couldn’t bear to lose this intimate, erotic contact as he played her pussy like it was a fiddle and his cock was the bow.
And damn, did they make wild, beautiful music together.
Helpless, she clung to him and savored each stroke, each curse from his lips. As he raised his head, she relished the vicious need in his eyes.
For two years, she’d felt out of control. But pinned under his unyielding body, unable to move except to hold on tight and whimper his name as her orgasm built and built, she’d never felt more in charge of her life.
Her choices.
Her heart.
In this moment, there were no doubts. No curses. Just her and her super soldier, and damn if he didn’t live up to her lofty expectations.
He snuck his hand between them and squeezed her clit. “Come for me, sugarplum.”
At his command, her orgasm spiraled into a twister. She whimpered his name. Another squeeze, another reminder he controlled her pleasure, and she burst into a million glowing pieces. His name ripped from her lips. A desperate plea for him to come with her followed so they could experience the supernatural together.
She rode out her orgasm and held on like he’d disappear if she let go. As he reached the pinnacle with an unearthly roar, she couldn’t stop the words strangling her heart from leaving her lips.
“Don’t you dare die on me, Kane.”