Burned: Black Cipher Files #3 (Black Cipher Files series) (28 page)

My womb clenched, arousal dripped, slicking the way for his invasion. “I want you.” I needed him inside me. I curled my fingers around his muscled ass and tugged, silently begging him when he continued to move slowly.

The granite was cold and hard beneath me, the ceiling fan turned lazily above. Zeke was propped up on his elbows, his expression fierce, and as I stared into his face, light speared through the slits in the blinds, and created a halo around his blond curls, darkened his eyes. His concentration was intense as he tunneled his fingers through my hair, and held my head.

“Wrap your legs around my hips,” he murmured against my mouth.

I lifted my hips and finally he slid all the way inside.

He was buried as far as he could go, and I felt his thick length from my cervix to my clit. He filled me, completed me as if he were the other half of my soul. That thought was so profound, I couldn’t breathe.

His cock pulsed against my g-spot and each beat of his blood caused an answering throb deep in my sex.

“You okay?” he asked huskily.

I nodded. Everything about the moment embedded in my brain and I knew I would take it out and relive it. Over and over again.

Then he started to move.

His knees between mine, he spread me wide and plundered.

The hair from his thighs rubbed against my softer inner thigh, the root of his cock pounded against my clit, and lightly fuzzed hair of his chest teased my nipples. His thumbs brushed against my cheeks as he devoured my mouth.

Each thrust pushed me to a new dimension. Sensations bombarded me. The swell of something, more than physical but I refused to name, built like a tidal wave until with one final thrust he jetted his come into the condom, the force of his orgasm triggered mine. And I soared off the cliff, freefalling into pleasure so intense that my vision went white.

My orgasm steamrolled through me, and everything arrowed down to where we joined. Love and endorphins swallowed up my body and I was made of pure light.

I convulsed around him holding on tightly. His hands in my hair, his body slick with sweat, we were connected from our knees to our heads.

Zeke bowed over me, his forehead against mine. His breath puffed against my neck, with each soft huff shivers raced down my spine. My heart pumped against his chest as I soothed my hands over the strong muscles of his back.

He lay atop me in what should have felt crushing, but instead I felt cherished, as if anyone would have to go through him to get to me. I could rest, secure in the knowledge that he would be there to protect me.

I clung to that feeling, knowing it couldn’t last, that nothing that good ever did. I wrapped my arms tight around his back and held on, wanting to prolong this moment for as long as possible.

Temporarily, endorphins had clouded my brain and I’d believed that I was destined for something new, something good. But as our heartbeats slowed, the hard uncompromising granite at my back and the bulk of him between my legs transformed into a prison of hope. Because even though I wanted that happiness, wanted that closeness with another person, that was not my lot in life.

Thirty-Three

Ping. Ping.

My tablet alarm sounded from inside my purse, reminding me it was time to call the message center to check on my mother. For a short while I’d forgotten my problems, mired in the complex labyrinth of Zeke Hawthorne’s life and how we intersected. The amazing sex, the sense of connecting with him on a plane so ephemeral that it seemed like an illusion, had let me forget. But all that was a mirage. A wish for a different life.

With that innocuous ping, all my problems came rushing back. Mama, Blue, the threat of John finding us. Again.

Because even with Zeke’s issues, my primary worry was John Stanley. And oh my Goddess, what had I just done? Besides the obvious sex on the kitchen island, we both had much bigger problems than satisfying our physical urges.

“I need to check in,” I said almost desperately.

Zeke pulled from my body, and my sex clenched resisting letting him go, trying to hold him inside. He brushed his hand over my hair gently. The caress was affectionate, charming.

He hopped down from the island and sauntered naked toward the little bathroom off the kitchen clearly unselfconscious about his nudity. Whereas I wanted to cover up as soon as possible. I rolled off the island and quickly snatched up my sweater. Then scrabbled around looking for the bikini bottom.

By the time he came out of the bathroom, I was dressed and had grabbed a new burner phone from the Target bags.

I activated the phone, dialed the answering service, and entered the numeric code to get access to the messages.

My mother’s voice, calm and…happy, reverberated in my ear as I listened to her message. She and Blue were on the move and hadn’t seen John. Which of course I knew since he’d been on the beach with me a little while ago.

They were headed north to San Francisco. Although she didn’t come out and say that’s where they were going, she referenced a coffee shop that we had visited last year, and a confusing mix of emotions tumbled through me. I was thrilled she was okay. But did she have to sound so happy without me?

In what felt like the blink of an eye, my entire world had shifted. My mother didn’t need me anymore. My previous joy for helping Zeke was overshadowed by the fact that I was superfluous now. Which was a little crazy. I should be pleased, thrilled. I’d been wishing for freedom for forever.

Hadn’t I just been thinking about how much I wanted independence? About how trapped I’d felt? Finally I had the chance to do something with my brain. To do something that I wanted. I wasn’t going to be constrained by my crazy stepfather anymore, I’d found my new beginning.

But after hearing her message, hearing the happiness in her voice, I was lost again.

Goddess, I was such a mess.

“How’s your mom?” Zeke asked quietly as if sensing my mood.

I was thankful we’d been able to skip all the post-sex awkwardness because we’d been interrupted. Again.

“Peachy,” I replied, tempering the sarcasm with an overlay of cheer. “They’re going north.”

“How far?”

“Sounds like San Francisco.” I smoothed a hand over my wrinkled skirt. The only good in that message was the fact that when my stepfather had asked on the beach, I hadn’t had any idea where my mother was. “Far away from John.”

She didn’t need me. Wasn’t that really what I wanted? A chance to be me. A chance to take control of my life and do what I wanted?

“Good thing she doesn’t need you because I do. Badly.” How had he narrowed in on what I was thinking? Was I that transparent?

Zeke began to backtrack. “Uh, for your brain. You know.”

I should be happy for my mother. I wasn’t about to sacrifice her happiness for my own crazy mixed up need to be needed. So if Mama was happy I wanted her to stay that way. And I would do whatever it took. She’d been my responsibility for so long. I couldn’t let go. And the only way to keep her happy and safe was to find a way to get rid of John Stanley for good.

As if he reached into my thoughts, Zeke said, “You know, since you’re helping me with my problem. I want to help you with yours.”

How did he even know my problem? I didn’t even know my problem, I was so messed up in the head from everything swirling around.

“How so?” I scrunched up my face.

“I need to find Susan Chen and get her to clear my name.”

“Not sure how that helps me, Zeke,” I snarked.

“What if, after we find Chen, we go after Stanley?” Zeke threw the idea out. “We control the time, the place, everything, we just set it up so that he thinks he’s found you again when in reality we’ve lead him right where we want him.”

My heart quickened, my pulse thudded in my ears, part anticipation, part fear. Mostly fear. I’d held my own in the altercation on the beach. But to actually go after the man who’d kept me prisoner, and really take control of my life. Seize my future.

Could I do it?

I didn’t know. But the desire to confront him was like a physical taste on my tongue. I could erase that bitterness he’d forced on me and replace it with the sweet ability to do what I wanted, go after my dreams. Find my true place.

Goddess, the temptation.

“I can see you like the idea,” Zeke teased.

I was practically vibrating with the need to do it now.

“How?” I paced around the kitchen, my mother forgotten as I tried to picture the confrontation and couldn’t see past the result. I stopped cold. And went back to his original statement. “What about your problems?”

“We’ll take care of my problem with Chen first. But it’s possible Stanley can help me too.” Zeke said seriously, “I can question him about who hired him. That person had to know that he married your mother, which would seem to be a serious breach of sleeper protocol.”

Was going after John Stanley the right move? But if I didn’t, I would never be free of him.

Zeke said, “Let’s jump.”

I threaded my fingers through his. “Together?”

We were both doing something scary, something that had the power to change the course of our lives.

“Together,” he said emphatically.

***

Zeke looked at the trust shining from her and hoped he wasn’t leading her down the wrong path.

His suggestion wasn’t just about helping her. He needed to help himself too. And trusting anyone was difficult. He finally figured out that he wasn’t going to be able to do this alone. He was going to need help. He was forcing himself to slough off his aloneness so he could save his career, and his life.

Now that Sunshine was on board, he needed to call Jamie and Lucas. He needed to proceed carefully so that Jamie didn’t have any blowback from helping him. And he wanted to confirm that if anything happened to him, Jamie would look out for Sunshine.

He definitely wouldn’t let Sunshine suffer because she’d helped him. He had to guarantee her safety. He refused to put her in additional jeopardy.

Zeke curved his arms around her waist. The same move that had led to the amazingly hot sex on the kitchen island.

He couldn’t help the little smirk that lifted his mouth.

“This is hardly a laughing matter.” But she smiled at him. “Geek Boy.”

He pressed a line of kisses along her jaw, happy that she was comfortable enough to tease him. He licked her upper lip, then pressed chaste kisses against the left, then right corner of her mouth. But instead of merely brushing her bottom lip, he sucked her lip into his mouth and nipped the plump flesh.

“I’ll never look at granite the same again, Granola Girl.”

A flush spread from the scoop neckline of her sweater past her collarbone and into her smiling cheeks.

Sunshine ducked her head. “Um, yeah.”

“I think we have some hair to cut.”

She whipped out the scissors far too quickly for his peace of mind.

Sunshine laughed at whatever was on his face. “Worried?”

“Should I be?”

“I’m wicked good with scissors,” she replied.

“Where do you want me?”

He realized the loaded nature of that question after it came out of his mouth.

She just grinned. “Bathroom. In the tub,” she commanded.

Sunshine grabbed some trash bags and cut them down the sides until they were spread open on the floor of the tub.

“You ready?” She held the scissors in her right hand. The hair clipper was on the vanity counter ready to go.

Trust. With a leap of faith, Zeke closed his eyes, and gave her a piece of his soul. “Do it.”

Thirty minutes later, his hair was gone. The mess had been wrapped up in the garbage bags and put in the kitchen trash.

Zeke rubbed the half inch of fuzz that covered his head. The air from the ceiling fan was cool against his nearly bald scalp. He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. It felt…weird.

His head was oddly light.

Sunshine stroked her palm over the top of his fuzzy head like he was a little kid. This reminded him of his childhood when his hair had either been a long, tangled, stiff with seawater mess, or he was bald as a cue ball because his dad or Grandpop would randomly decide to shave his head. The suddenness of the act had always been a disconnect with no time for him to get used to the idea of shaving off his hair.

“I should probably take a shower to get rid of all the bits of hair,” Zeke said. His mind immediately went to Sunshine naked. Water sluicing over her body and down her small breasts, her convex tummy, and her thatch of dark curls at the entrance to paradise.

Sunshine stretched, her sweater falling off one bare shoulder. “I would love to change clothes.”

“There’s a drought here.” He smiled slyly.

Sunshine flushed, quick to catch on. “Water conservation is always a concern in our little beach town.”

“I like to do my part for the environment.”

She giggled. The sound music to his ears. He knew from their earlier conversation that Sunshine had little joy in her life.

And he wished he could make it his life’s mission to make her laugh.

Thirty-Four

After their shower, Zeke got down to business with a smile on his face. Sunshine had grabbed a condom from the box before he could even presume and they’d gone for round two in the shower.

“We need to lay low.” Zeke had put on a Curious George t-shirt, and a pair of khaki shorts that he’d picked up at Target. “Which means we’ll have time to research.”

But they should stay out of sight.

“We can use my tablet,” she said.

Hopefully the house had wireless service. But if not, he could probably piggy back on another house’s internet service if needed.

No one should be able to trace the tablet back to them. Just to be safe, he would log on to a site that could divert their IP address so it bounced all over. Since they were doing simple research it was probably overkill but it never hurt to be extra cautious.

“Let’s go up to the loft.” From there they should be able to see the ocean.

The little room wasn’t much bigger than the king size bed that dominated the space. Sunshine flushed and Zeke pretended that he wasn’t thinking about other things when he sat on the side of the bed and plugged in the tablet.