Grady's Awakening (22 page)

Silence held for a long moment while she thought about his words.

“I appreciate your honesty, Jim. Let’s just give it time, okay?”

“I’m not sure I can give you that, Gina.” He stepped close once more, his gaze pulling her in, his expression daring her to step into his arms, into his world. “I want you too much.”

“Dammit, Jim.” She shook her head, marveling at the way he could turn her head with just a few words. A fire erupted in her belly and though her mind told her no, her body was screaming yes, yes, yes!

“It doesn’t have to be complicated,” he coaxed. “I think you want me too. Don’t you, Gina?”

“You are the most infuriating man.”

“I think you like infuriating men. Particularly me. So how about it? Can we boil this down to the most basic things for the moment? You, me, desire and pleasure?”

“And let all the other stuff wait? It won’t go away, you know.”

“I know. It preys on my mind. But I can’t walk away from you. I can’t keep my distance. I stayed awake deep into the night, thinking about you. About this trip. About all the myriad possibilities. But what it all came down to was my desire—my need—for you. Am I wrong in thinking you want—and need—me too?”

“I—” She had to be honest. “I want to be with you. Right or wrong, heartache or happiness, I want more of what you showed me last night, Jim. And you should know I always had a crush on you. You might’ve watched me in my dad’s
dojo
, but I was watching you too.”

“No kidding?” A grin lit his face as heat blossomed in his eyes. He pulled her into his arms and shifted his weight from foot to foot, rocking her against his hard body. “Last night wasn’t supposed to be about sex, Gina. I didn’t mean to push you that far when I walked into the room with you. It was supposed to be a search, plain and simple, but the moment I touched you, all my good intentions went right out the door. I’m sorry for that.”

“I’m not.” She rubbed her cheek against his, breathing in his breath, reveling in his warmth as he drew her into his arms. “After I got over the shock, I liked what you did. It was exciting and probably the kinkiest thing ever to happen to me.” She laughed as he started, then gazed at her with open fire. “It shocked the heck out of me, but I liked the feeling. And I want to feel that again.”

“You ain’t seen nothing yet, baby.”

His hands went to the fastenings that held her top together, parting them expertly until she was bared to his gaze and his hands. He kissed her again, taking her lips with savage fury as his hands molded the roundness of her breasts. As his thumbs rubbed over the excited peaks, she gasped into his mouth. He broke away to trail his lips downward, capturing one tortured peak in the wetness and urgency of his mouth, rolling the other between thumb and forefinger, plucking gently. She cried out as his other hand delved beneath her waistband, seeking and finding the hot spot between her legs that cried out for his touch.

He wasted little time, sliding one long finger through the slick wetness of her arousal and pushing deep. She cried out as he began to rub that spot he’d discovered the night before. The tiny point deep inside that brought her so high, so fast.

She shuddered as he pushed her higher, his teeth raking over her skin gently, arousingly.

“Come for me, baby. Give it to me.”

She shuddered and shook in his arms as her sheath convulsed around his finger, a sound of indeterminate pleasure ripped from her throat.

“That’s it. You’re so hot, baby. You set me on fire.” He stroked her through the last of the shudders, stroking the flame to make her rise once again. It was so fast. She didn’t remember it ever happening this fast or this hot.

She leaned back against the rail that surrounded the console as he stripped off her pants, pushing his own down past his straining erection. He was built on the large side, as she’d guessed. As she’d hoped. His thighs were a work of art, muscle and sinew straining as he moved back to her, taking his place between her legs.

“I don’t have anything to protect you, Gina, but I’m safe from disease. How’s your cycle?”

“I’m on birth control. The
Zxerah
are careful about reproduction and I’m clean too, so it’s okay.”

“God, you don’t know how good it is to hear that. Damn, baby, I wasn’t thinking straight or I would’ve been prepared. I’ll take better care of you from now on, I promise.”

She stroked his sexy, stubbly cheek with one hand. “You take care of me just fine, Jim. Now
take care
of me some more.” She sent him her sexiest smile, her libido racing far ahead of its normal pace. This man brought out the siren in her, and she wanted him. She needed him. Now. “Come into me, Jim. I want to feel you inside me. I want it so bad.”

“Your wish…” he stepped up to her, pushing the large head of his cock between her slick thighs, “…is my command.” They both watched him push in, gaining entrance as she strained to take him. He was thick and long. She shimmied against him, seating herself on the railing, trusting him to hold her upper body so she wouldn’t fall off onto the electrified tracks. The danger only added to her excitement.

“Deeper, Jim,” she urged in a low voice. She was nearly incoherent with sensation as he slid home, hard and deep within her. “That’s it!” A cry wrenched from her depths, ripping out into the silence of the tunnel, echoing back to her.

“Damn, baby, you feel good around me. You’re tight and wet and hot. You were made for me.” He began to thrust, holding her shoulders tight, keeping her in place for his powerful thrusts. She gave control to him, trusting in his strength, his power.

His cock felt good against the sensitive walls of her sheath. The sensation stole her breath and made her want to moan in pleasure as he increased his pace. Her hands clenched his thickly muscled shoulders. His shirt was on, but she’d managed to undo a few of the buttons. She worked on the rest now. She had to feel his skin, see his abdomen rippling as he drove into her.

She achieved her goal only moments before the biggest wave yet hit her, sending her over into mindless pleasure as he pounded into her. She screamed then, and he followed not far behind her, jetting into her in hot waves of wet heat, sending another spiral of pleasure deep into her core.

Gina clutched his ribs, leaning heavily against his chest as he held her through the last of the spasms, the last echoes of incredible rapture. She’d never come so hard in her life. She’d never thought it was even possible.

No words could describe the whirlwind that had just taken her on the wildest ride of her life. She wasn’t even capable of speech at the moment and Jim didn’t seem inclined to break the silence either, for which she was grateful. He held her to him, rubbing her shoulders almost absently as he placed sporadic soft kisses on her hair and shoulder.

At length, he pulled out, lifting her off the railing and placing her gently on her feet. She wobbled and he steadied her, sparing her a smile of pure male satisfaction. She wondered what it did for his ego to know he’d fucked her dizzy.

“That was…” He seemed to search for words as he found her clothes and handed them back to her. “Baby, you blew me away.”

“Not yet.” She felt the desire to tease him. “But we can try that next if you like.”

He growled as he stalked closer, pulling her in for a quick hug and a nipping kiss. “You’re a vixen, Gina.”

“And you’re a stud. But I’m sure you knew that already.”

“Seriously?” he asked as he fastened his pants and she did the same. “I haven’t been with a woman in a long time. I wasn’t kidding when I said I protect the women in our community. Most are already involved with another man or are too old or too young to get involved with. It’s been a long time since I had the pleasure of spending time with an unattached female who wasn’t under my protection, and I don’t ever recall it being as explosive as we just were.”

“Me neither.” She had to be honest, though, her night with Grady had been explosive and exciting—just in a different way.

She continued dressing until she was presentable again and found him watching her with a strange, soft expression on his face.

“So are we good? I didn’t hurt you, right?”

“No, you didn’t hurt me.” She smiled at him, stepping into his arms to place a gentle kiss on his jaw. “And we’re definitely good.”

“You’re okay with this? I mean, you’re okay with the sex?”

“The sex was way more than just okay, Jim.” She blushed even as she teased him. “And I’m definitely okay with it. In fact, I’d like to do it again, whenever you’re up to it.”

“We’ll have things to settle when we get to the end of this road, Gina. Even the hottest sex I’ve ever had won’t make me take chances with people’s lives.”

“I never expected anything different,” she assured him. “Let’s take this one step at a time, Jim. We’ll get to know each other and maybe by the end of this trip you’ll be able to come to terms with things as they stand with the Alvians and me. All I ask is that you think about it. And the sex isn’t meant to coerce you. That’s strictly between you and me and has nothing to do with anyone or anything else. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

They walked together up the small ramp and into the pod. She was seated and the pod was accelerating before she remembered what he’d said and she couldn’t help but tease him.

“So, the hottest sex you’ve ever had, eh? I think I like the sound of that.”

Chapter Eleven

They got underway again, the pod speeding up as Jim tried to wrap his head around what had just happened. He’d lost control. Completely and utterly. He’d taken her like a savage, pushed up on a railing, leaning over certain death.

He should have been more careful with her. He should have at least waited for a safer place to screw her into the wall.

Jim was disgusted with himself.

Gina Hanson had always been a special girl, and he’d treated her worse than a low-rent prostitute. He’d been a barbarian.

Yet she smiled at him.

Every time he turned toward her as he checked over the equipment and settings, she gave him one of those sexy little grins that made his knees weak. She’d been a hellcat while he was fucking her, hotter than he ever would have suspected. She’d blown his mind, and he was already hard again just thinking about it.

Down boy.

The next time, he’d find a safer spot to have her. There was no going back now. Once he’d been inside her, he knew he wasn’t strong enough to resist the delicious temptation of her body anymore. He’d take her as often as she’d let him over the next few days while they traveled north. What would happen after that? He had no idea.

The future worried him, but not enough to deny himself the intense pleasure of making love to Gina Hanson. He’d wanted her for a long time and had even mourned her supposed death. During the upheaval of the cataclysm and after, Jim had dwelled for a long time on all he’d lost. He’d thought about the people he hadn’t been able to protect from something larger than politics, larger than international terrorism, larger than the planet itself. He and all the others who’d dedicated their lives to keeping the rest of the population safe hadn’t stood a chance against the crystal bombardment.

His helplessness in the face of that had caused deep depression. The utter devastation that followed brought grief the likes of which he hoped never to feel again. But it was the thought of all those people special to him that had been lost that had almost tipped him over the edge into insanity.

Jim had spent days—or maybe it had been weeks—thinking about the people who’d died. He’d found a church—one of the few structures still standing in the small mid-western town he’d sheltered in—and prayed for the first time in years for the souls of those killed in the cataclysm.

He’d remembered little Gina Hanson and her family.
Sensei
Hanson had been a father figure with incredible skill and the ability—the gift—of being able to pass it on. He’d been a teacher of martial arts, but also of life. Jim had learned much from the man both in class and from his example and the way he interacted with his children.

Jim had prayed for all the Hansons. He’d admired the
sensei
, but he was friends with Paolo, Peter, Bryan and Christopher Hanson, Gina’s brothers.

Now that he knew Gina had survived, there was a chance at least some of the other Hansons had too. The fact that they had psychic abilities in the family increased the likelihood that they’d been able to adapt to the changed world. Gina had gotten word to them to take cover, so more than likely they’d taken steps to protect themselves even before the bombardment started.

But they’d lived on the East Coast. Millions had died up and down every coastline in the world as the oceans stormed ashore. The big coastal cities had been decimated. Jim hoped the Hanson family homestead had been far enough inland to avoid the tsunami damage that had wiped out the cities, but he hadn’t heard anything from further east than Indiana in years. If anyone survived on what was left of the coast, he didn’t know about it.

Of course, human communication was severely limited. Telepathy only worked over short distances for most people. A few stronger telepaths could reach people farther away, but there weren’t many of them. Messengers passing over land the old-fashioned way were hampered by aliens who would chase and capture any humans they saw. So movement on the surface was limited and covert. No Pony Express could get messages from one place to another like in the Old West. No, nowadays, messages had to pass clandestinely and as slow as molasses while messengers avoided patrols and hid out as best they could.