Tempting the Fire Read online

  And he knew he could make her come so hard she’d forget all of it for a short while, and so he concentrated on giving her pleasure.

  He sucked her stiff nipple harder. Her hands gripped his hair and then his shoulders as he made short work of her pants and thong. His free hand traveled between her legs to the heat of her center, a finger stroking her folds and making her shiver.

  “Wet for me,” he murmured against her breast.

  Her response was to grip him even more tightly. Moaning in satisfaction, he lifed her onto the desk and trailed his tongue downward and buried his face in her sex.

  God, he loved the way she tasted, would stay down here happily for a long time, swirling his tongue over the nub of her clit—until she nearly screamed, then caught herself with a hand over her mouth.

  Good thing, because the last thing they needed was Logan’s security escort barging in to check on Sela.

  Hey, at least her back was to the door. Fuck security.

  Her heels dug into his back as he continued to suckle and lave, to take her with his tongue and his fingers until she came in a shuddering rush against his mouth.

  He was only vaguely aware that she was murmuring something—moaning a little—because the blood was pounding between his ears and his legs and he couldn’t wait a second longer. Had to have her.

  He stood.

  “Sela …” It was all he could say. It was all he needed to.

  When he entered her, she gasped and then wound her body around his as though she’d never let go. He remained still while she adjusted to him, waited for her to begin moving against him, his face buried against her shoulder.

  And then she did move. Slowly, exquisitely, she began to grind against him, a rhythm that threatened to drive him out of his mind as her tight pussy milked him slowly.

  He needed faster. Harder. He grabbed her hips and pulled her into him, pistoning his cock into her in a way that made her bite his neck and hold him tighter.

  He was close, but she was closer, and when her orgasm hit, she pulled him along for the ride, contracting around him until he came in hot spurts inside her, a loud groan drumming up from the back of his throat.

  It might’ve been mere seconds, or minutes, or longer, when he felt her stir. But he didn’t want to return from orgasm-land, didn’t want to come back down from where his mind had floated.

  Mostly he didn’t want to let her go. Now. Ever. It was that simple—and for the past four years, nothing in his life had been that simple.

  Damn, it felt good.

  “Sela?” The voice on the intercom made them both jump. He pushed back and allowed her to get herself dressed again while he pulled his pants up.

  Sela pushed a button on her desk. “Yes.”

  “Dev wants to speak with you ASAP about Chance. He said it’s urgent to put the plans in motion.”

  “Tell him I’m on my way.” She clicked the intercom off and looked at Logan.

  They stood there, an awkward silence stretching between them. Logan cleared his throat. “Do you know where Chance is? No one has told me anything.”

  “He’s at medical,” she said, straightening her top, more for something to do with her hands than because it was disheveled. Which it was. Half the buttons were missing—she’d have to wear a coat until she could get home to change. “They’re working on a cure for him.”

  “What about Marlena?”

  Sela blinked. “What about her?”

  “Has she been to see him? Or was he just a job to her?”

  Sela ground her teeth. “Are we back to that?”

  “I get why I was a target,” he said gruffly. “But Chance wasn’t part of GWC.”

  “That’s not what happened.”

  “No?”

  She breathed out, resigning herself to answering his questions about this. He was a damned pit bull when he grabbed onto something. “You were there. You know he bonded with her without her consent. She’d had no intention of getting close to him.”

  “So what’s going to happen with them?”

  “I have no idea,” she said honestly. “Why is this so important to you anyway?”

  “He’s in this mess because of my company. Then we treated him like shit. I have a lot of apologizing to do. I want to make sure he’s treated well here and that Marlena isn’t going to fuck with him.”

  God, he was such a good man, and it had taken her far too long to see it. “Trust me, he’ll be treated very well. Haven’t you been?”

  “Yes,” he hedged, “but your boss has been pretty vague about a few things.”

  Dev was vague about everything, but she wondered what Logan was talking about. “Like what?”

  “Like what’s going to happen to me and my dad.”

  “Oh.” Sela wasn’t sure what role Richard would play in the GWC/ACRO deal, but she knew what Dev had planned otherwise, and it must have shown on her face.

  “Sela? What aren’t you telling me?”

  Panic squeezed her chest. Dev had asked her not to tell Logan anything about his plans for Caroline, either because Dev wanted to talk with Logan about it, or because he intended to go ahead with his plan and tell Logan afterward.

  “Nothing,” she said, turning to rearrange the papers on her desk.

  “Bullshit.” Logan brushed by her to tear open the door, but he paused, didn’t look at her as he said, “I’m sick of secrets and lies, Sela. I can’t live this way. So I’ll let you make a decision. Tell me what you know … or don’t.”

  A chill slid from her scalp to her feet. This was about Caroline. Well, it was, but it was about far more than that. It was about trust. Tell him what he wanted to know, and they started on new footing. Lie to him, or keep silent, and she’d be telling him that secrets and lies were okay … and he couldn’t live with that. Any hope for a relationship with him would die.

  And the truth was, he deserved to know. Dev had given her an order, but he didn’t know Logan like she did. Her boss also owed her.

  Which wouldn’t keep him from royally chewing her ass out.

  Taking a deep breath, she said, “Dev plans to have Caroline’s memories wiped.”

  Logan’s head snapped back. “He what?”

  “Listen,” she said, taking his hand, more to keep him from storming out of there than anything. Though it did feel good to be touching him again. “It’s for her own good. She’s been pretty traumatized—”

  “She’s strong. She can handle it. Your boss has no right to fuck with her head.”

  “Logan, trust me. The less she knows about ACRO and Itor, the safer she is. If she has all those memories in her head, she’s fair game for them to grab her again.”

  Logan closed his eyes. “Fuck.”

  “She won’t be harmed. I promise.”

  His eyes flew open, and he stared at her for a long moment. “I believe you,” he said softly. He turned back to the door. “But I’m going to go make sure she’s okay.”

  “And what about us? I know you can’t trust me, but—”

  “That’s the thing,” he broke in. “I do trust you. I know why you did what you did.”

  “But?”

  “But I need to think about the rest. Your job, my job … it’s all a jumble. Give me some time, distance. Can you do that?”

  Yeah, she could do that. But she knew from experience that distance didn’t always make things clearer. Sometimes, you got so far away from the situation, it all became a blur.

  “YOU’RE IN SUCH FUCKING TROUBLE” HAD BEEN ENDER’S LONE words before he had escorted Gabe from the tarmac to his quarters. His only others had been “I heard you saved Annika. Nice job” as he slammed the door in Gabe’s face, locking him in his room.

  All Gabe could do was report to his bunk and wait there until Devlin called him in for a debriefing.

  The jet ride home had been from hell. With Akbar’s death, grief and loss permeated the air. Stryker looked both stricken and stoic as he sat across from Gabe for the long flight.
r />   “You did good, kid. Devlin’s still going to kill you, but I’ll put in a good word,” he’d promised Gabe.

  It was more than Gabe could ask for. More than he deserved. And although he might’ve proven himself to Stryker—and maybe even slightly to Annika—there would still be hell to pay.

  Would you have done anything differently, knowing what you know now?

  He stared at the ceiling and realized he wouldn’t have. Amazing how a single trip to the Amazon could make him grow up in a way nothing else in his life ever had.

  He just wished it hadn’t taken an agent’s death to do so.

  He rolled to his side and checked the clock. Hours had passed since he’d deplaned and walked past Devlin, who’d merely ordered Ender to take Gabe to his quarters and then walked away. It was well beyond midnight and even though Devlin worked late into the night, Gabe knew the daily debriefings were over. Now it was a matter of figuring out what punishment best fit Gabe’s crimes. Maybe Devlin was even considering making him leave ACRO.

  Ironic that that’s all he’d wanted to do when he first arrived at ACRO. To leave. Now he couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

  Devlin. He pictured the man’s face—chiseled and perfect. Strong arms. Hands that had touched every part of Gabe, right down to his soul—and fuck, this hurt.

  He wondered if Dev was even thinking of him. Maybe he was engrossed in Akbar’s death—maybe his lover was in pain. Hurting, upset. All Gabe wanted to do was comfort him.

  He called to Devlin in his mind, hoping his lover was using his CRV to look at Gabe, to see what he was doing.

  Devlin, please, don’t shut me out. I fucked up … but I’ve learned my lesson. I get it now. I get it.

  Nothing. Except for the treadmill of his own thoughts, there was silence in Gabe’s mind. Sighing, he opened his eyes—and froze.

  He was no longer on his utilitarian bunk in his room on the ACRO compound.

  No, instead, he was on a king-sized bed with the familiar rich chocolate-colored comforter, next to Devlin.

  Next. To. Devlin. What the fuck?

  The man looked as shocked to see him as Gabe was to be there. Devlin threw his papers down and cocked his head to the side. Stared.

  “Gabriel, I’d have thought you understood the importance of not going where you’re not invited.”

  “Dev, look, I didn’t … I mean, I didn’t come here. Not on purpose. I didn’t do the invisibility thing.”

  Dev scowled. “What are you talking about?”

  “I was thinking about you. Missing you. Worried that I’d fucked everything up. I tried to talk to you but you didn’t answer. Then I ended up here.”

  Dev’s mouth dropped open. “Are you saying you … transported here?”

  “I guess. I don’t know what to call it. One minute, I was in my room. The next, I was here.” He ran a hand over his head. “Weird, huh?”

  Dev shook his head. “Not so weird. But we’ve got a lot of work to do on this. More testing. Because if you can transport …” He trailed off and Gabe wondered if this would help with the big plans Devlin supposedly had for him, the plans Akbar had mentioned the other day in Dev’s office.

  Whatever the challenge, Gabe would be ready. “I’m so sorry about Akbar.”

  “You’re going to need to see the ACRO psychologist,” Dev said in response. “You saw the whole thing happen, according to Stryker. Ani said you saved her life.” Dev’s gaze hardened. “After you put her in danger in the first place.”

  Gabe didn’t know what to say to that at first. And then, “I was such a fucking shit to all of them before this. They only wanted me to learn my job.”

  Dev sighed, and the angry light faded from his eyes. “You’re learning, Gabriel. None of this is easy. It’s not meant to be.”

  Never will be was the unspoken message. But when Devlin pulled Gabe into his arms, he knew that some things were meant to be.

  CHAPTER

  Twenty-six

  Creed’s motorcycle hummed along the highway leading to his newest job for ACRO, an overnight in a haunted restaurant thought to be inhabited by a demon.

  He hadn’t wanted to leave Ani alone so soon after they’d made up, hadn’t wanted to leave her at all, especially without her powers. But Devlin had promised he would send someone to stick with her like glue.

  Ani hated that arrangement, mainly because Devlin was sending Gabe. And so Creed promised he’d kick the demon’s ass and be back by her side ASAP.

  “Let me come with you,” she’d cajoled right before he left, standing in front of the doorway holding a giant bag of M&M’s that was half empty.

  He’d already pulled his black leathers on and shouldered his bag. Normally, he’d have loved nothing more than to work with Ani. But even Kat, a vocal advocate for keeping the couple together as much as possible, didn’t voice her approval over Ani’s wish. “Ani, you stay here and rest. You know as well as I do that these things are unpredictable. If you get knocked off your feet—”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. Nine months, baby machine, take it easy, blah, blah, blah,” she muttered. “You do know that, no matter what, this kid’s going to be as tough as nails.”

  He’d kissed her on the forehead. “Of course I know that. Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  And as he cruised, he let himself think about his impending fatherhood. And marriage. And forever.

  Maybe Ani was right and Oz had been fuzzy, or so caught up in the sacrifice he knew he’d have to make for Dev—trading his own life for the life of the man he loved—that he’d fucked up the prediction. Misinterpreted it.

  Except Oz never really did fuck up. Even the time Ani had mentioned to reassure him, about the accident Oz saw Devlin getting into, Dev had only told Annika he’d helped victims of an accident. He hadn’t wanted to upset her with the fact that he had indeed been the victim of a very serious car accident.

  Think about the baby. Pure and good.

  Oz, you’re going to have to protect this baby—and Ani and me. The way you did when I was a baby.

  He gave a quick glance up at the sky as he spoke to his brother and then continued down the highway with the wind at his back and his troubles hopefully behind him.

  CAROLINE’S MIND-WIPE HAD BEEN EXHAUSTING FOR LOGAN, but it had been just what his sister needed.

  He’d remained with her in the ACRO infirmary for a week—she needed to be strong and healed before they could work their magic. The doctors used some serums that accelerated her healing, because erasing the horror of her kidnapping wouldn’t do much good if her face and body still bore the bruises of the beating she’d taken.

  He’d apologized to her so many times, she’d finally told him to shut up. He took that as a good sign, although she continued to wear that same guarded look of fear. At the end of the week, he escorted her back to her school in Virginia, along with an ACRO psychic. Caroline needed to be in the place she was right before the kidnapping. And as she sat in the back of the van right across from the library path she’d been swiped from, Logan held her hand and watched the woman named Sam replace bad memories with good ones.

  Within half an hour, he had Caroline back. She now believed she’d left school because Logan was in trouble—a minor car accident, which explained his insignificant cuts and bruises. She thought she’d spent time with him, and that Sam was a GWC colleague. And Caroline told Logan he needed to come see her more often.

  Sometimes, ignorance really was bliss, he thought as he left her at her dorm, listening to her talking excitedly with her friends about the weekend of parties planned around campus.

  He’d never be able to forget the way she looked when he’d found her in the jungle. Which was why working for ACRO was the best choice he and his father could make—they could still do a lot of good with GWC, and Devlin would make sure they wouldn’t get into bed with the wrong players again.

  The jet had taken him and Sam back to ACRO late that night. He’d hung around Caroline’s campus fo
r hours, just in case something went wrong with the mind-sweep, until Sam gently convinced him that she had an excellent success rate with non-specials. Not that your sister’s not special, she’d said with a smile.

  He’d been back at ACRO for less than fourteen hours and already he was restless as hell. He figured he’d meet with Devlin tomorrow, map out the changes for GWC. Figure shit out.

  Dammit, he missed Sela.

  A knock on the door roused him from his reverie, and he heard Sela call his name softly from the other side of the door.

  He got up and opened it. She was leaning against the door-jamb, looking beautiful—strong and fragile at the same time. “Hey. I wanted to check to see how things went with your sister.”

  He stepped aside, motioned for her to come in. “It worked out really well. Caroline’s happy now.”

  “What about us?” She shook her head. “Sorry. I’m impatient, I know. But it’s been a long week without you.”

  He stuck his hands in the pockets of his BDUs. He’d missed the hell out of her, tossed and turned and paced the floors while he’d watched Caroline rest and recover and have her memories fixed on a trip to Virgina—and again since he’d gotten back here. “It’s okay. I was going to come see you. Sela, I can accept your past … it’s just, I don’t think I could handle it—no, I know I couldn’t handle it—if you continued working as a Seducer. I won’t share you, Sela.” His voice was fierce and his hand was on her waist, because he loved touching her. Loved being with her … loved feeling. “I don’t know how or why you make me feel, how you’ve managed to get in where no other woman has.”

  “Maybe it’s just the sex that makes you feel,” she whispered, her eyes filled with pain.

  But no, that wasn’t it.

  “It’s more than that, Sela. I feel you here”—he pointed to his head and then his heart—“and here. And I don’t want it to end.”

  “I haven’t worked as a Seducer in years, Logan. I wasn’t supposed to work as one on this mission either.”

  “Still, you tried to get information from me.”