The Decaying Empire (The Vanishing Girl Series Book 2) (8 page)

What he hadn’t said was that I was also frailer than what we both remembered. Now, when my body’s ability to run and fight was more important than ever.

Caden ran his hands along my legs, his face awed. He made a satisfying sound low in his throat. “I can’t get over how your skin feels against mine.”

I watched him, enraptured. Where I saw weakness, he saw something to be cherished.

I reached for him, not liking that while he’d been reacquainting himself with my legs, I’d been left bereft.

The corner of Caden’s mouth curled. “Is my Ember impatient?”

Whatever expression I wore amused Caden, and I was rewarded with a laugh. The sound curved my own lips into a smile.

Caden’s torso slid up my body, his fingers hooking underneath my shirt. “That better, angel?” he breathed, his face directly above mine. Close enough for me to notice that his hair had more sun streaks in it.

I nodded, reaching up to finger a lock of his golden hair. He was a sun god, the American dream, and he was staring at me like I was his whole world.

Something this good was bound to end terribly. It was karma evening the score—you get a gorgeous man in return for your tragic life and early death. Not a happily-ever-after. That was for movies and romance novels.

I lifted my shoulders as Caden pulled my shirt up over my head. He threw the garment aside and stared at my stomach. At my new scars.

Reflexively my hands went to cover them.

“No,” he said, catching my arms and placing them at my sides.

My entire body tensed as his gaze moved over the discolored, distorted skin. The last time we’d been intimate, I’d been scar free, toned, and my skin had a healthy glow to it. Now it was a different story.

He released my hands, his eyes warning me to leave my arms where they were. I bit my lip, but I didn’t move.

With his fingertips Caden traced my scars. I had to lock my jaw and clench my fists to keep from squirming under his inspection. And then he did the strangest thing of all: he leaned down and pressed a kiss to my scarred stomach.

“Beautiful,” he murmured.

I stilled at the word. “How can you say that?”

Caden drew away slightly. “This is what kept you alive,” he said. “And it’s proof that you’re real.”

He glanced up at me to read my expression. “You thought I’d find them ugly?”

I shrugged. “Yes.” My mouth tripped over the word, giving away just how vulnerable I felt.

“Oh, Ember,” Caden said, his lips instantly back on mine. “Never,” he whispered into my mouth.

Without thinking I wrapped my arms around him. He grinned as he kissed me, clearly enjoying the way I clung to him.

He pulled away long enough to remove the rest of his clothes, and then he draped himself over me again. I sighed at the feel of his skin against mine. Softly his fingers stroked my skin, over and over. Drawing his head back, he stared at me. Raw, aching love, with all its gritty edges filled his expression.

“Whatever happens you’ll stay with me through it?” I asked. My words were intentionally vague in case the government had audio set up in the room. Considering what we were about to do, I sincerely hoped no one was listening in.

Still, I could tell by the way Caden gazed down at me that he knew I was asking about surviving—and eventually leaving—this place.

He propped himself up on an elbow. “Do you remember that day in the woods when you confessed to me about stealing those files?”

I nodded.

Caden took my hand and placed it over his heart. “And I told you this was yours?”

Again I nodded.

“Well, it still is, and I still mean every word I said that day. We’re together in this, okay? Everything else might fall apart, but you’ll always have me. Always.”

I drew in a shaky breath.

He rolled back on me and kissed me gently, his hips rocking against mine. My hips met his. Still not close enough.

“Caden . . .” My voice sounded breathless.

His dimples emerged. “Still impatient, I see.”

As if he was one to talk. His hardness pressed against my belly, igniting a slew of emotions. Lust. Connection. Affection. Love.

The playfulness drained from his face. “We shouldn’t . . .”

“We
should
,” I insisted.

His brows tilted. “Are you sure?”

I kissed him by way of answer. He groaned and gave in. “Okay, I get it,” he murmured against my mouth. “You want me.”

Some comments did not deserve a response.

When we broke apart, he reached between my legs and stroked a thumb down my opening.

His eyebrows rose at my wetness, and a smile that was pure male smugness lit up his face. “My, my, someone
has
missed me.”

I rolled my eyes, but a grin tugged at the corners of my mouth.

Caden grabbed a condom from the drawer in his bedside table, then hesitated. He swore, flipping the package over.

I propped myself up. “What is it?”

“I don’t know if these are still good. They’ve sat here since . . .”

My eyes widened.
Oh
. Ten months had passed and Caden, who seemed like the promiscuous type, had been celibate the entire time. Unless he used alternate forms of protection—or none at all
. . .
I pushed those thoughts from my mind. The past was the past.

Gently I took the condom from Caden and read the expiration date. “It’s still good,” I said, my hand trembling slightly.

I tore the package open and slid the condom onto him. My eyes lingering on the V of Caden’s torso.

He dipped his head, nuzzling my neck and kissing the skin there. “I fucking missed you,” he said. Despite the lightness in his voice, I could tell this moment was affecting him on a deep level.

I fell back onto the bed, and he followed. Our chests grazed as he leaned on his forearms, his face just above my own. So close yet still apart.

We stared at each other as he entered me agonizingly slow. Intensity gripped his face, and I couldn’t bring myself to look away. When he was fully inside me, his eyes squeezed closed and his brow pinched together.

“Caden?” I ran a hand through his hair. This wasn’t exactly the initial reaction I’d been expecting. He looked like he was in pain, his chest heaving, his throat working.

“Give me
. . .
a minute,” he said, not opening his eyes.

“Okay.” It came out as little more than a whisper. Was the party over before it even got started?

He pulled away and thrust against me. My head fell back at the sensation. He did it again, and a breathy sigh came out of me.

When Caden finally opened his eyes, they gleamed with unshed tears. And I realized I’d assumed incorrectly Caden’s reasons for starting slow.

He didn’t try to explain what had happened, but he didn’t have to. He’d almost broken down. Caden might be vulnerable around me, but there were still some lines he didn’t want to cross. Like weeping while banging.

I understood. Or I didn’t. But hey, I hadn’t experienced loss like he had. So I’d pretend everything was okay
. . .
until it was.

Still, as Caden thrust in and out of me, trailing kisses over my body and stroking my skin as it were fine silk, I couldn’t help but feel
. . .
cherished
. Not that I’d ever been lacking in that department when it came to him. But the whole resurrection thing? Yeah, it came with a few perks.

Like I said before, a girl could get used to this.

We’d spent the rest of the day in Caden’s bed, reacquainting ourselves with one another. Both he and I were knowingly putting off the real world. Because let’s face it, the real world sort of sucked at the moment.

I lay with my head on Caden’s chest, my body draped half on him, half off.

He held me against him, one of his arms wrapped around my waist. With his other hand, he languidly stroked my tattoo.

“My angel,” he murmured, brushing a kiss along my forehead.

“No more princess?” I asked, glancing up at him. I’d been meaning to ask this since he’d started using the new nickname.

He shook his head. “A princess needs saving. An angel
. . .
saves.”
Saves me.
He hadn’t said it, but the thought lingered in the air between of us.

“Ah.”

“Plus you have angel wings tattooed on your back. It was about damn time for a nickname change.”

“You could just call me
Ember
. That works too.”

Caden snorted. “Not going to happen, angel. Just be happy I don’t call you puss-puss, or honey, or some other name that would make you want to kill yourself slowly.”

My lips curled into a smile. “Puss-puss? Do I even want to know where you came up with—”

“Hell no, you don’t—so don’t ask.”

I bit my lip. “I still can’t believe you even said the words
puss-puss
.”

Caden raised an eyebrow. The expression said,
Challenge accepted
. “I like your puss-p—”

I slapped a hand over his mouth before he could finish. “Yeah, say that again and you won’t be getting any for a while.”

Beneath me Caden’s body shook, and it took me a moment to realize it was from his deep, rumbly laughter. After a moment I joined in. I couldn’t help it; his laughter was contagious.

This was what life was worth living for.

An alarm blared, and I winced. I couldn’t have slept more than a few hours last night.

An arm hooked around me and dragged me back down into bed. “Mmm, let’s sleep in, angel.” Caden’s voice was husky with sleep. He reached over me and hit the “Snooze” button on top of the alarm clock, and the blaring cut out.

The past several days came rushing back to me. Woken. Escaped. Captured. Sedated. Woken again. Back at the facility.

Back at the facility.

Suddenly I couldn’t sit still. My legs jittered with the need to run—to escape. Yesterday was a welcome vacation from my life, but I couldn’t pretend things were all peaches and cream.

I scrambled out of bed. Caden groaned in protest and then rolled over.

I headed for his dresser, realizing even as I opened the top drawer that I wouldn’t find my own clothing in it.

Only I did.

Bras, underpants, socks—the whole shebang. I opened another drawer, and chills skittered down my back. My shirts were all in there, all accounted for.

I opened the remaining drawers and noticed that the ones I’d left empty were now filled with Caden’s clothing. He’d been cohabitating with a ghost while I was gone.

“I couldn’t get rid of them.” I jumped at the sound of Caden’s voice. He stood a few feet behind me, arms crossed. He wore a defiant look on his sleepy face, daring me to call him out on keeping my things in here for ten months.

“I
. . .
can see that.”

He ran his hands through his hair. “Don’t give me that look, not until you lose someone who means the world to you.”

I turned back to the clothes. “But why would you even want these near you? Wouldn’t the reminder . . . ?”

“Eat me up from the inside out?” he finished for me. “Yes.” Caden closed the distance between us until I had to tilt my head to look up at him. His hands cupped my upper arms. “But I left them there, hoping one day you’d show up, just like the other teleporters who’d survived splicing.”

Others had survived splicing? That was news to me

As much as I wanted to pump Caden for information on this, I had something more important on my mind.

“I thought that you didn’t believe me,” I said.

Caden stared at me for a long time, then glanced away. “I told you I had a lot of theories. Too many.” He shook his head. “What I believed never mattered anyway. Hope trumped it all.”