LustAfterDeath (8 page)

His lips met her mouth right as his cock found her center.
Bane kissed her deep as his tip nudged at her opening. She shifted and moaned,
making it near impossible for him to resist shoving forward, but he penetrated
slowly. Chest hard against hers, he pushed only so far before retreating. Her
shouts hitched in her chest every time he bore into her, and at his every
retreat, she dug her heels into the back of his thighs.

Josie’s senses and thoughts bombarded his consciousness. Her
legs and hips dragged him deep, her arms tugged at his neck, urging him to
plunder her mouth with his tongue.

He streamed pictures and ideas back to her, and Josie’s
breath quickened with every shared thought. His body undulated within her
without his conscious direction.

They panted in time, into each others’ mouths, and at some
point his eyes opened to watch her. Her glassy gaze peered back, held him
captive. He lifted her up in his arms, so that her behind rested on his thighs.
His hands cupped the swells of her rear end and he fed into her, slow and deep.

Josie screamed at the first spasm of release, and his body
clenched in response. Bane answered each grip of her climax with a skyward
thrust and a shout of his own. Her body wrung out his orgasm and they clutched
each other and shouted in time until they collapsed onto their pallet, his cock
still shooting long jets into her warm, waiting depths.

Josie’s every nerve tingled where she touched Bane’s skin,
and her soft internal places quivered against his hardness. She pressed a kiss
to his trembling lips. When Bane lifted his body from hers, Josie cupped his
face in her hands. “I like you so much.” She felt a shy blush climb her cheeks.
“You’re a much better husband than Adam.”

He chuckled above her, each bounce of his body tickling and
bringing forth her own giggles. Bane shifted so he slipped from her center,
breaking the connection between them. “I should hope so.” His lips curved into
a smile, melting her heart. He pecked a kiss on her nose. Then Bane rolled onto
his back and tugged Josie into his side.

Tendrils of worry wove through her, though she wasn’t sure
why. Josie pressed her cheek into his damp skin.

“And when we get back, I’ll tell Frank to put something in
our new programming to hint we should get together.” He kissed her forehead,
and then breathed the scent of her hair.

Doubts and irritation niggled at her buoyant mood, that
sense of unease growing. “What do you mean?”

Bane spoke into her neck as he continued to nuzzle. “Well,
if he programs us too tightly we’ll fight it. I’ve seen that before. Everyone
resists commands.” He planted a long smooch on her shoulder. “Especially you.”

A gust of wind rolled over the tent, sending a chill through
their little cave and setting the tiny hairs on her arms on end. Suddenly
hyperaware of her nakedness, Josie pulled away. “What if I don’t want to get
re-programmed?”

Bane lifted himself to sitting and, with a hand at her rib
cage, tried to shift her onto his lap, but Josie scooted back to sit
cross-legged facing him. Feeling dampness creep from her center, she scanned
around the tent looking for something with which to clean herself.
Embarrassment and hurt mixed in a pungent cocktail, and hot wetness filled her
eyes.

“Listen.” Bane handed her a wad of tissues from his pack.
“Maybe I should have mentioned this before, but I’m undergoing a re-set when we
get back too.” His eyes held sympathy, but not a smidge of the understanding
she wanted. “You won’t be the only one.”

Her hand swiping between her legs, Josie pinned him with her
stare. “Why would you do that?”

He scooted back a fraction. “It’s a long story. But I’ve
planned this for a long time. I need it.” He looked away, like he didn’t want
to meet her eyes. “I’ve been needing it for a long time.”

Bane eased forward and smiled—that darn sympathy clogging his
handsome features. “You’ll have to teach me everything we just did all over
again,” he teased as he reached for her upper arm. “I hope I’m a fast learner.”

Josie jerked away from his touch. “No.” She looked around
the tent, anywhere but at him.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his arms go up as he
gestured. “I’ll be better. A better person. I’ll be the type of guy you
deserve.”

Josie pinched her eyes closed on her tears. Without meeting
his stare, she pulled his t-shirt over her head and shoved her feet in his
oversized boots. “I need to pee.”

He didn’t reply as she opened the tent’s flap and climbed
out into the cool morning air. She stalked a distance into the woods, feeling
as though metal poured into her spine. Josie stood taller, her chin lifting.
She would get this re-program Bane kept talking about. And she would ask this
Frank guy to program her never to speak to new Bane. Not ever.

And he could waste away missing her.

Her head so filled with anger-fueled power, Josie didn’t
hear the footsteps until it was too late. Arms like steel bands wrapped around
her from behind, and Josie lurched forward. A familiar scent filled her
nostrils, slightly sour, and a voice spoke in her ear. “Come with me, Josie.”

She stilled in Adam’s arms. Fear screamed through her
sinews. Adam steadied her with his hands on her shoulders, and then spun her
around. His black gaze bore into hers, drinking her in with an expression she
knew to be love.

Chapter Eight

Bane crashed through the branches, barking into the phone. “Dammit,
Q, you couldn’t have told me this sooner?” He slung a rifle across his back and
clutched a revolver in his other hand.

“I didn’t intercept the message ’til this morning. And
hey—why weren’t you watching? You should have seen them coming.”

Bane considered calling him a whiny little bitch, but Q was
right. He should have been out protecting Josie, not fucking her. “Whatever.
I’ll take them out soon enough.” He clicked the phone shut and leapt over a
fallen log. He hoped Josie wouldn’t get too scared when she got back to the
tent and he wasn’t there. He crossed the hilltop and from the vantage point at
the crest of the island he saw a forty-two-foot speedboat docked directly
behind his Sea Sport.

He hid behind a tree to assess the scene, listening for footsteps
and hearing none. Josie’s voice met his ears.

“Bane?” She didn’t sound scared, only sad.

He crouched low, and stepped in the direction of the sound.
“You okay, babe? Where are you?” He spoke quietly to calm her, hoping she
wouldn’t leap out at him or shout.

“Right here, Bane.” The voice sounded a little farther away,
and he hurried toward it. She might not know enough to tell his location.

“Just stay where you are.” He walked a few more steps, and
Josie came around the edge of a Douglas fir.

He crossed to her and tucked her body into his side. “We’ve
got to get out of here.” His eyes scanned the perimeter and he planned the best
vantage points to pick off the Synaviv operatives.

Josie touched his face, her lip quivering. “Why do you want
to leave me?” Her face accused him of all kinds of wrong.

Mouth open, Bane stared at her before swallowing and
clearing his throat. “It’s not that I don’t…”

The metallic click of cocking guns filled the clearing, and
Bane’s head snapped up to find five Synaviv operatives surrounding them. His
hand snaked around his hip to his holster. “When I tell you to…run.”

“I doubt she will.” Adam walked out from behind a tree, all
greasy hair, too-thick glasses and simpering smile. “Josie, come here, please.”
Bane felt bile rise in his throat as he watched Josie toddle in her maker’s
direction.

A chorus of cold hands wrapped around Bane’s arms, pulling
them behind his back. His gaze never left Josie as her wooden walk drew her
away. When she reached her maker’s side, she turned and observed him, tears
overflowing her black-brown eyes.

* * * * *

The motorboat launched over the water, bouncing on the tops
of waves. Droplets of salt water stung Josie’s eyes. She tried to hold still so
as to not brush her leg into Bane’s. She hadn’t looked him in the eye since
Adam and the others loaded them in the back of the boat, but Josie knew he was
angry. The muscles of his thigh looked bunched under his pant leg.

“Bane, I…”

He shook his head. “Hey, I know,” he whispered low enough
that the motor’s noise covered his voice. “You weren’t in control. I shouldn’t
have let you go off like that.” He finished by observing her with sympathetic
eyes.

The feeling started as a ping, some discomfort she couldn’t
quite put her finger on. Josie watched the waves, the gray sky bouncing in her
field of vision. Her fists clenched on her knees. “I was… You were…” She racked
her mind for the right words, sifting through the dictionary full of vocabulary
planted by Adam. Then she switched to the universe of words she’d learned from
Bane. “You were a stupid fuck.”

Josie saw his stifled laugh and felt her anger billow until
it felt as if it would overflow her body. “We…” She wasn’t sure how to describe
it. “And then you…”

Bane’s gaze hardened under her scrutiny. “Listen, babe,
you’re not experienced enough to understand this yet, but not everything you
want is going to be good for you.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I see that.”

He flinched and his lips pinched into a hard line, but then
he let out a little huff of laughter. Though Bane recovered quickly enough,
Josie knew she’d hurt him. She wondered why that didn’t make her feel better.

From the open cabin, Adam’s head jerked in their direction.
His lips twisted into a wry smile and he broke from the knot of men and strode
toward them.

Bane shifted his body in front of her. Despite the handcuffs
locked behind his back, he planted his feet on the fiberglass floor and leaned
forward as if readying for an attack. She didn’t want to forgive him, resented
the surge of emotion coursing through her. But there was no denying Josie felt
grateful for his protection.

“Ana?” Adam called over his shoulder. “We may need to sedate
him.”

A female voice carried from inside the cabin. “Not yet.” A
small female with short, dark hair and grayish skin walked toward them flanked
by a wide-set male. The unknown man ventured closer to them, and Bane leaned to
the ball of one foot, and then the other, as if he wasn’t sure who posed the
greatest danger.

“The infamous Bane Connor.” The female spoke in a high-pitched
trill.

Josie watched Bane shift his attention from the bulky man to
her. “Should I know you?”

The female spoke from behind her guard. “No, but we know
you. You’re programmed to kill humans. Lifers, you call them, correct?” The
huge male stalked a wide arch around the benches at the rear of the boat.

Josie watched Bane shrug in his bonds. “Yeah, so? I bet
Synaviv has built a hundred like me since I left.” His eyes darted between the
team surveying him.

The female smiled. “You know perfectly well the Department
of Health’s 2057 Human Remains Re-animation Guidelines prohibited building
steins that can kill humans.”

Josie yelped as the bodyguard’s fist swung at Bane, a pistol
in his hand adding weight to the backhanded punch. Bane’s jaw crunched to the
side and his body stumbled chest-first to the ground.

The woman pulled a syringe from her pocket. “It was not
necessary to hurt him, 402. I would like you to undergo a scan when you
return.” She marched past and laid a hand between Bane’s shoulders. Then she
injected Bane in the forearm and he collapsed to the floor of the boat.

Josie’s mind raced, but she stared straight ahead. Ana
called to the others and lifted Bane onto a stretcher. Adam’s grip swept under
her shoulders and lifted her to her feet.

“I’m so sorry you had to see that, my love. But it’s
important for you to know that the mean man won’t be coming back.” Adam shot a
meaningful glance at Bane’s supine and bound body. Then he dragged Josie with
him into the cabin, past the steering wheel and white upholstered chairs, and
down a set of metal stairs into the interior of the boat.

At the base of the stairs a narrow hall led toward the bow
and sliding doors lined both sides. Adam led her by the wrist to one door and
slid the locking mechanism to the side. He pushed her into the close space and
Josie landed on top of a bed. Her gaze swung wildly, taking in the drawers
along one side of the room, a door leading off to a tiny bathroom.

Adam wore clothes similar to what he’d worn at his house,
except now he had a gun in a holster at his hip. He unfastened the top button
of his shirt. “I have missed you so much, my love.”

Panic rode up Josie’s spine and she shuffled to the back of
the bed, but a knock sounded on the door.

“Adam. We need your help.” The voice belonged to the woman
from before, and to Josie’s surprise Adam snapped to attention.

“I’ll be right there, Ana.” He buttoned his shirt up again
and spared a single glance in Josie’s direction. “I’ll be back as soon as I
can, my love.” In the doorway, he turned to observe her. “And we will finish
what we’ve started.”

He slid the door closed and Josie heard the lock click shut
on the other side. She pressed her lips tight to contain her scream and pounded
her hand into the mattress. Josie tore open the drawer by the bedside then the
cabinets of the room, searching for a key, a weapon, anything. All she found
was a pad of paper and a pen. Given she didn’t know how to write, Josie
discarded them on the nightstand and closed her eyes, searching every corner of
her knowledge for a solution.

Something rough, like a cat’s tongue, stroked up against her
consciousness. It felt firm and warm, and smelled like sweat and man.
Bane!
She sat up on the bed and closed her eyes, and then breathed slow and deep
through her nose. In her mind’s eye, Josie chased his signature until she found
her way into Bane’s thoughts.