Lie to Me (27 page)

Kella shook her head. “All you think about is sex.”

He pinched her nipple just enough her breath hitched. “Not true. I’m distracted by selling your story to Regent Jones in”—he checked his black, bulky watch—“less than thirty minutes.” He shocked her when he shifted downward and kissed her nipple. Pushing to his feet, he shoved his hands into his pockets and stared down at her. “Tonight, Kella, I own your first climax.”

“Your arrogance is off putting. I’ll never allow you to get that far.” If only that was true she’d be sure of her ability to walk away from him at the end of the contract. After pulling her robe together, she sat up and selected undies from the pile on the bed beside her.

A rogue grin surfaced on his face. “Make that your mantra and maybe,
just maybe
, I won’t remind you of that lie when you’re crying my name later.”

Kella sniffed. “Maybe I should modify that your confidence is off putting. If I let you try tonight—”

“I
will
, no
if
about it.”

She gave a mental huff and modified what she’d been about to say. “All right. When I’m not impressed by your efforts, I’ll remind you of this conversation.”

Dismissing him to the point she didn’t even look at him, she pulled the bright-yellow panties up her legs. The silk a kiss of cool softness against her flesh. Standing, she turned her back to him and dropped the robe. She knew it was silly to hide her nudity from him when he’d already seen all of her body, but something about dressing in front of him felt intimate when nakedness hadn’t. After hooking the matching yellow bra—the one he said he preferred—she selected a casual, green top and the butter-soft, canyon-leather pants she’d originally declined, but coveted.

The sudden slither of her hair being shoved over her shoulder, baring her neck, surprised her. But not as much as the breathy kiss Stone placed against her nape. Kella hissed as the moist kiss turned into nibbles and his arms circled her waist from behind.

Sheesh, who knew something so minor would feel so good?

The power this one move gave him was startling. Angling her head so he had better landscape to work with, the clothes fell from her grip, and she covered his arms with hers. He cuffed her wrists with his hands, holding one over her belly, while directing the other down her stomach and between her legs.

Kella gasped, throwing her head back against his shoulder when he guided her index finger over her clit in slow, but firm circles. Her hips bucked against their joined hands, and she trembled in his embrace.

The longer the strokes went on, the more desperate her panting grew, and the wetter her panties got. With her eyes closed, the center of her universe focused on her core. A moment before she thought her world would implode, their movements halted.

Stone pressed his lips to her ear and whispered, “A small word of advice, sunshine.” His breath puffed against her ear in an erotic fashion, causing gooseflesh to abrade her skin. “Next time you’re pretending indifference to me, don’t react to my touch. It’s more believable that way.”

Realizing this tutorial had been a lesson only, she groaned her frustration as her eyelids flipped upward and caught him staring at her.

“Fucking hot as hell the way you respond.” Stone gave her a searing kiss, before releasing her. “Gotta run before I’m late.” Disappointed by his hasty retreat, she retrieved her shirt where it’d fallen on the floor.

His long strides were loud thuds against the floor. He paused at the door to glance at her over his shoulder. “Don’t go anywhere today. Not until Regent Jones understands the limits of what I’ll tolerate where you’re concerned.”

“I have things I need to do.” Something had to be done about the new Xeno, which required some form of connection with the X-Ds.

“Whatever it is can wait until tomorrow for you to kick up some hell.”

“I’m not a troublemaker, Stone,” she said while tugging the shirt over her head. “What’s the official story anyway? You never told me.”

“You were kidnapped, and somehow lost your memory in the abduction. You can’t remember all the details.”

“How convenient.”

“I thought you were dead until I received a lead from Mark Evans. Once I got here, seeing me snapped you out of your temporary amnesia, and you remembered everything.”

“Even more convenient. But you might want to tell Jones it all happened after my electrical whipping.” Since she’d denied knowing Kella in the presence of Jones.

Stone ignored her and continued. “Since you didn’t look like you, I didn’t believe you at first, but you knew things only
my
Kella would know.” Kella shivered at the ‘my Kella’ declaration. “That had us wondering if you’d been V-chipped.” The story was too convoluted, but she didn’t have anything better to offer. “I got an R-scanner and revealed your identity. I’m delighted to discover you’re alive, but I want to keep this on the lowdown. I suspect someone in my Quad—other than my mother of course—of being part of the plot, and since we’re discovering one another after eight years apart, that’s why we’re remaining here for the time being.”

Shaking out the pants, she frowned at him. “Sounds like a twenty-twenty soap opera they show reruns of in the city square.”

“The truth’s not an option. This is the most plausible story I could come up with given your residency here for eight years. That he knew your identity before your V-chip was deactivated is a secret between us for now, until I discover who told him and how long he’s known.”

“Sorry I’ve put you in this position.” She stepped into the pants, admitting he didn’t have to go through this trouble to keep her safe. Cutting his losses would be the easiest thing, but he went to bat for her instead.

“No you’re not.” Stupefied by his counter, she considered him, but didn’t detect any anger. He said, “You’re sorry I caught you.”

There was some truth in that, so she inclined her head. “I won’t be sorry if you uphold your end of the bargain and give me a divorce at the end of the contract.”

“Sunshine, by the time I’m finished with you, you’ll be begging to stay with me.”

“There’s that off-putting arrogance again,” she muttered, mocking him with a disgusted grimace.

He chuckled. “You always were fun to verbally spar with.”

Stone started to leave and she asked, “Where’s Reaper? Since I need to stay in today, I need him to do something for me.”

“With James. I’ll send him over.”

Running the X-Ds next moves through her head, Kella gave him a distracted nod as she fastened the waist of the leather pants.

“Later, Kella.” The dark promise in his voice jerked her from her thoughts of rescue, but he was gone by the time she looked up.

––––––––

T
he moment Stone departed the room, Kella dove into the strawberries, sighing over the explosive taste of the sweet fruit on her tongue. Eight years since she’d indulged in the berry, she intended to enjoy every single one of them in the dish.

Memories of the Xeno being paraded on the television set while the seamstress prattled about clothing skidded through her thoughts, sucking some of her joy of the fruit. Regent Jones’s pride in the girl’s genes, and his excitement at their first X-gene in a year ruined her mood.

The gall it took to think one had the privilege to indenture someone in any way confused and amazed her. It showed a complete lack of compassion for another. Kella didn’t care that society had been this way since the destruction of mankind, or that it’d originally started as all fertile women, but had altered to just the X-gene children.

The girl’s fear had been obvious in the way she darted her gaze about and trembled as she stood beside Regent Jones. Rage surged through Kella, and she tossed the half-eaten strawberry back into the bowl.

She walked to the desk where Stone’s computer sat, but couldn’t hack into the system. Not that she was surprised. Computers weren’t her thing, and he’d settle for no less than the best security.

She rummaged around in the office desk and located a clear sheet that was used to write on. After locating a light pen that’d activate the chemicals in the sheet, she made a vague list of things to do to strike back at the system.

A late, false positive would be the girl’s best chance at freedom. With any luck X-Diplomats’ hacker, Dutch, would be able to finagle the system so any subsequent tests would also return negative.

They needed to get the girl somewhere safe afterward and out of reach of spooners just in case some doubted the late negative or moved the testing to another clinic. They’d have to plan a strategic EMP blast on the clinic that offered its tech. It wasn’t a permanent fix, but the attack would remind others what happened when operational clinics aided the non-operational ones.

Kidnapping the girl like they had a few others remained an option. The part of that plan Kella hated the most was that the Xeno had to suffer through the actual auction. And if she was purchased by someone within the Quad and not moved by convoy to another Quad, they couldn’t risk exposing their inside person to snag the girl, so the success of that mission went down. Getting into an X-gene camp was like breaking into the Regent’s office...a suicide mission. The X-Ds’ ultimate gig remained to save every Xeno, not just a few at a time.

“Hello.”

Kella glanced up from her seated position to spy Reaper striding toward her. “I heard you fared okay and Stone offered you a job.”

He glanced around the room as if he looked for someone else. “Do I know you?”

It took her a moment, but she finally figured out his problem. “It’s me.”

His gaze narrowed. “Mack?”

“Yep.” She leaned back in her seat, twiddling with the light pen, and motioning to her face with her other hand. “The real me beneath the V-chip cover up.”

Reaper gave a sharp whistle. “Damn, girl. I thought the blonde you was cute, but the
real
you is hot. No wonder the cocky asshole thinks he’s keeping you.”

Heat hit her cheeks before she could shift her thoughts away from the shower and what had transpired on his bed. The promise he’d made for later burned her skin. “He’s definitely confident of stuff.”

Of course her friend caught her blush. “What stuff?”

Passing off the question as nothing, she slid the signed contract toward him. “We made a deal.”

Reaper perused the contract as she stood and moved back to the table of food. Using the pen, she stabbed a strawberry and chewed on the fruit as he followed her while perusing the document. She poured them both a mug of coffee, doused hers with creamer and sugar and waited. After a long moment, he set the agreement aside and met her gaze.

“Well, that puts a new spin on things.” He inhaled his brew, his eyes closing as if he’d been transported to paradise.

“Changes nothing. I
am
leaving him at the end of it.”

Contemplating that, he sipped his coffee. “This coffee is amazing, better than the shit I buy.”

“It’s real, not the fake shit you buy.” Waving her hand, she indicated the tray of food. “Eat something so it doesn’t go to waste.” God knew she couldn’t eat it all. “Maybe take the leftovers to the kids.” Feeding the kids on the streets something wholesome would give her some peace of mind since it’d mean none of the food would go to waste.

“Don’t be hasty about your decision. Remaining with Stone might be your best chance at happiness.”

What. The. Fuck
. “What’d he do to win you over? Doesn’t matter. We have Xenos to save. That’s what matters.”

Reaper slathered jelly on a piece of toast. “Mack, I agree with you on the Xeno stuff. You know I do, fuck I’m a terrorist with you, but—”

“I don’t want to hear you defend Stone.” That he’d always thought she should’ve given Stone a chance to explain his reasons for purchasing her rankled. Yeah, Reaper took her side, but to a point. What he couldn’t seem to understand was if she’d discovered Stone’s actions hadn’t been well intentioned, she’d have been stuck under his thumb, raped, and enslaved for the rest of her life.

“Your situation is different.”

“You’re wrong. He still owned me. No man should have the right to own a woman. Or any human being for that matter. Slavery was abolished once, doesn’t matter the good intentions of it this time, it should be eradicated again.”

“Agreed.” He refreshed his coffee and sat back in his chair, eyeing her with intensity. “But you could’ve worked out something. He already owned a piece of your heart.”

“I was a kid.”

“He deserved the benefit of the doubt, Mack.” His reasonableness irritated her, so she glared at him. He glared right back. “That
contract
tells me more about the man and his intentions than anything
you
or the scandal sheets have told me about him. You escaped him, left him thinking you were dead, carved out another life for yourself for eight years, and when he catches you, instead of fury, he sets you free, and offers you a reasonable deal.” He bit into the toast and moaned. “Real butter. Goddamn this is good. I could get used to indulging the way the other half lives.” After another bite and savoring the taste, he added, “Not sure I’d react the way your Regent currently is.”

“He’s no saint.”

“
Pfft
...the scandal sheets prove he’s not. But neither are you.”

“Touché.”

“Give him at least a half-hearted chance, Mack, or you’ll regret it.”

“I’ll regret it more if I stay with him.”

His eyebrows whipped upward as he topped off the jelly-smothered bread.

Kella explained, “I can’t be with him and a member of the X-Diplomats.”

“Share the strawberries.” He nodded toward the almost empty bowl of fruit.

“They’re mine, and if you try to pilfer one, I’ll stab you with this.” Kella picked up a fork and made stabbing motions with the utensil.

“One. Just give me one.”

“No.”

Reaper attempted a bratty pout, but instead it came across as pathetic. “Consider it payment for teaching you how to fight.”

“You don’t deserve payment. I lost to Stone, so your teaching skills suck ass.”