Predatory Game (29 page)

Okay, now her temper was kicking in. She smacked the surface of the water before she could stop herself, sending a plume right at his face.

The water stopped in midair, hung there, and dropped back into the Jacuzzi. There was a small silence while she just stared at him.

“Holy crap, Jesse.” There was genuine awe in her voice. “Why couldn’t I get to do something like that? That’s just awesome.”

“It isn’t nearly as useful as you’d think. It takes too much concentration. If anything else had been going on I wouldn’t have been able to do it.”

“Besides being an anchor, you’re a shielder too, aren’t you?”

He raised an eyebrow. “We’re getting a little off the subject, don’t you think?”

She shrugged as casually as she could. “What’s the point? I’m obviously not going to convince you, so anything I say is suspect, isn’t it? Because, you know, it makes so much sense that Whitney sent an assassin to spy on you. That’s not a waste of a serious weapon, is it?”

Jess could see the raw hurt in her eyes and no matter how hard he tried not to let it get to him, his heart was in serious jeopardy. He swore under his breath as he suddenly comprehended the implication of her question. “Saber,
you’re
a shielder. That’s why in all the months you lived here, I never felt a rise in energy.” He hit his forehead with his hand. “How can you shield, but not anchor?”

She cleared her throat. “He said his masterpiece was flawed.”

His fists closed and he kept his hands out of sight. It made more sense to him now, the way she could kill and not suffer immediate and severe repercussions. A shielder was rare. They could keep an entire team from detection. They could shield areas from weapons attacks for a short period of time. Whitney wouldn’t want her dead. But if he thought she was flawed…“He’d want another one, to work with,” Jess murmured aloud.

Saber’s fingers curled around the edge of the Jacuzzi, as if she might bolt, but she remained where she was, looking smaller than usual, but her eyes were defiant and her chin looked stubborn and set.

Jess shook his head and raked his fingers through his hair again. “He sent you to me because he wants another one. He arranged for an opening at the radio station and waited for you to take the bait.”

Saber shrugged. “You’re not telling me anything we haven’t already suspected.”

“He has a breeding program, Saber. He wants babies. I’m a shielder and an anchor, and although you aren’t an anchor, you
are
a shielder too. He knows we’ll be physically attracted because when he was busy adding to our genetic code and bumping up our psychic abilities, he made certain of it. He’s busy playing God again.”

Beneath the bubbling water, Saber pressed a hand to her stomach as if feeling for a child. “I’m not certain what you’re trying to say.”

“I’m saying you’re right, he wouldn’t want to get you back, not without you being pregnant.”

“He wants me to have a baby?”

“
My
baby. He wants you to have my baby. He has to be convinced that our traits are going to show up in the child, possibly stronger than in us.”

She pressed her hand harder. “We didn’t use protection, Jesse. I didn’t even think about it. How totally irresponsible is that?”

She sounded so close to panic, Jess reached for her and pulled her back to him. “I thought about it, I just didn’t care. If you have my baby, I’m fine with it.”

Saber shook her head. “This is crazy. Do you see what he’s done? He’s taking away all our choices. I don’t want to get pregnant and worry every second that he’s going to take my child away from me.”

“He’s always going to be hovering around the edges of our lives, Saber. Whitney isn’t going to go away because we want him to, no matter whether we’re together or whether we choose to have children.”

Jess wrapped his arms around her. She was trembling and he needed to comfort her even as he was telling her the truth as he saw it. “He’s there, and he’ll always be there until he’s dead. And even after that there could be others working with him we don’t even know about.”

She let out a strangled gasp, and he nuzzled the top of her head.

“And that brings me back to the files in his office. Why would he plant something in his office for you to find when he knew he was sending you to me? Because if it wasn’t coded, Saber, it was there for you to find and read. Whitney doesn’t ever make amateur mistakes. He
wanted
you to read those files.”

“On bionics? I could type it all out for you, every single detail in both files, but I have no idea why he would want to give me medical information.”

“Unless he knew I was going to be having the operation and needed to get information to me.”

“What are you saying, Jesse? That you think he was trying to help? And that would mean he knew months ago that you were going to have the operation. How would he know something like that?”

She sounded frightened and his heart lurched. She was beneath the water, her breasts floating invitingly, her eyes almost violet in her alarm. His hands slipped to her upper arms. “Come here, baby.”

He wanted to hold her, comfort her, take the fear from her eyes and replace it with desire. He kissed the side of her neck, bit gently at her shoulder, slid his hand down her arm to try to bring her around in front of him.

Saber’s blue eyes darkened. Heated. She moistened her lower lip. “Jess. We have to think about what we’re doing here. We’re caught in the middle of some giant spiderweb. I’m really afraid.”

“Come here.” He tugged on her arms to bring her closer.

This time she came to him, a little reluctant, but she moved to stand in front of him. Water pushed between them, the bubbles ferocious, fizzing against his skin, adding to the slow buildup of heat spreading through his body. Keeping her gaze captive, he pushed her legs apart and drew her over him, so she was straddling his lap. She braced herself, using her hands on his shoulders as he cupped her bottom to bring her over his body.

“I know you’re afraid of Whitney, angel face, but in the end, only we matter. He’s always going to be our bogeyman, but we can’t let him stop us from leading our lives. That’s our choice. We don’t let him rule us or make us afraid to live life.”

Her lips trembled and he leaned in to kiss her, capturing her bottom lip between his teeth and playfully nipping and tugging. All the while his hands cupped her bottom, massaging and kneading while the bubbles burst against her bare skin. She rocked her hips, back and forth, a deliberate or compulsive motion that rubbed over the broad head of his cock. Each time she slid over the sensitive head, his body jerked and hardened more.

Jess leaned forward and nibbled on her neck and then teased her earlobe. “I want you to sit on me, Saber, and wrap your legs around my waist.” His voice was husky, almost hoarse. The need for her swept over him fast and furious, a vicious fist of lust that only seemed to build as he watched the bubbles fizz and break around her body. He kissed his way down her neck and the slope of her breast. Her body shuddered as he licked the side of her breast and traced the curve with his tongue.

All the while her hips moved in that slow steady rhythm that kept pushing heat through his body. Her breath caught in her lungs and her fingers tightened on his shoulders as her legs threatened to give out.

Jess pulled back to lock eyes with her. He wanted her until he couldn’t think straight, couldn’t find air enough to breathe. The need had risen sharp and fast when he should have been sated already. Her skin was so soft, all bare, glistening as if the morning had covered her in dewdrops like rose petals. Still keeping her gaze locked with his, he leaned forward and licked at her scented skin, breathing her in even as the pads of his fingers began to explore.

Saber gasped and trembled beneath the stroking caresses. He had to go slow, not simply devour her as he wanted to do. She was all woman, yet this was a new experience and, although she responded eagerly, there was a hesitance that told him she was a little frightened. He had never felt such a fever of absolute need. She tore him up inside with wanting her. For the first time in his life, he actually considered that his control was in jeopardy. His gaze dropped to her nipples, the hard pink tips. He blew out his breath and licked his lips in anticipation.

Saber’s body reacted with a convulsive jerk. Her stomach muscles bunched, hands tightened on his shoulders, and once more her hips rocked, sliding the warm, wet entrance over the broad head of his cock. He shuddered, his heart pounding in reaction. That had never happened either, that entire consuming chain reaction of body, mind, and heart dissolving into one single desire so sharp and piercing it became such a physical pain he was desperate for relief. He’d never been so hard, so ready to burst.

Her body was flushed, the creamy mounds of her breasts inviting. He leaned forward until his face brushed against the soft swell, until he could taste with a lap of his tongue. She gasped, a soft moan of pleasure escaping, shredding his control even further. His tongue curled over the nipple in a lapping rasp before his mouth covered her and began to suckle, using his teeth to tug and scrape gently until her fingers bit deep and she threw back her head, arching into him.

His hand slid up her thigh under the churning water. Her gaze, cloudy now with arousal, jumped to his face. He switched his attention to her other breast, interspersing teasing nips with the laving of long, curling strokes. His hand covered her hot, waiting mound and she jumped, her eyes going dark with lust, a soft cry escaping.

“Look at me, baby,” he whispered when her lashes swept down to cover her expression. He didn’t want that—wouldn’t have it. He needed to see her pleasure, needed to see her desire.

He waited, his hand pushed into her heat, his mouth at her breast until she opened her eyes and locked her gaze with his. He slid his finger into her tight depths. She cried out again, eyes glazing over. He curled a second finger inside her, exploring the soft heat, circling her most sensitive spot while her hips pushed hard against his hand. He pushed deeper and her muscles clenched around his fingers, her small, gasping cry sending pulses of fire shooting through his body straight to his groin.

She was in so much trouble. She recognized Jess was binding her body to his. She was in danger of becoming an addict, obsessed with the need for his touch. Pleasure swept through her, and her body grew tight and hungry.

Jess caught her hips and held her directly over his hard shaft. She could feel the broad head lodged in her tight entrance. Fire raced down her thighs and back up into her feminine sheath. Every muscle contracted. He held her still.

“I love how responsive your body is to mine. You love this, don’t you?”

How could she not? It didn’t seem to matter what he did, where he led, she was going to follow, because she wanted it all—wanted him and the burning pleasure he could give her. She hadn’t even known it existed, but now, every time she looked at him, her body was going to flood with heat and need.

Holding her still, he filled her slowly, pushing through the tight, velvet-soft muscles, the fiery channel that gripped him until she had a stranglehold on him. She tried to move, tried to force him to fill her, but he held her firmly and took his time, watching her face and the dazed pleasure flushing her delicate features.

“Do you know how many times, how many ways I’ve fantasized about having you like this?” he asked, his voice husky, nearly hoarse with desire. “I want to sleep wrapped around your body, my fingers inside of you, my mouth on your breast. When you’re in the kitchen in the morning wearing nothing but my shirt, I want to sit you on the counter and devour all that honey simmering hot and spicy just waiting for me.”

Her head fell back, a soft groan escaping, his erotic images springing clearly into her mind while he ground himself deep into her, lodging against her womb. Her muscles tightened even more, her womb clenching, her body fighting hard for the freedom to ride him hard and fast. All the while the bubbles fizzed like tiny tongues licking at her sensitive bare skin.

Jess leaned forward and took her nipple into his mouth with a gentle bite, sending waves of heat crashing through her. A small scream escaped, and her nails bit deep. She flooded his cock with liquid fire. Holding her locked in position, he lifted her and then drove her body down while he thrust upward, hard. She gasped as he filled her, his shaft pushing through soft, tight folds, the friction creating a fiery tango of sensation in the sensitive knot of nerves.

She could barely breathe as her body tightened and clenched, every part of her on fire. “I don’t know what to do.” Because she had to do something or she was going to go crazy.

“Ride me, baby, just like this.” His hands urged her into a rhythm. He lifted her hips to let her feel his cock, hard and hot, sliding like so much steel, cutting through velvet folds. His breath came out in a rush and the muscles of his thighs bunched under the onslaught of pure feeling. “Oh, yeah, you’re getting it,” he encouraged, stopping her just before they were separated. “Does that feel good?”

It was amazing how he stretched her, filling her completely as she moved in a slow downward glide. She moaned softly as she impaled herself on his thick shaft in a long, languorous rocking motion, inducing such pleasure she nearly screamed. His hands came up to tug at her nipples while he drove again and again through her silken heat. Each time was harder and deeper, sending streaks of fire racing through her body.

“You like it hard like this?” His eyes glittered at her, dark with a mixture of lust and unmistakable love. She could see his muscles bunched, his teeth set as he fought for control, fought to keep the pace slow and leisurely while she learned how to pleasure herself with his body.

She could only nod while her hips rose, her muscles gripping and squeezing around him. He was going to shatter her, take her apart before he was done. She lowered herself again while he thrust upward, another slow inch by excruciating inch, killing them both with a riot of sensations pouring into them. She’d never felt so wanton as she arched her body to get a different angle, to feel the thick length of him, as hard as steel, pressed against her throbbing clit.