Deadly Game (GhostWalkers, #5)(56)

Ken sat beside her, feeling the warmth of her body, the rush of electricity sparking along his skin. He had every good intention, had given himself a million lectures, but being with her night and day, watching the shadows chasing across her face, knowing what her life had been—what it would be again if Whitney had his way—made him feel less of a monster than he was. And that was dangerous.

“Ken.” There was an ache of longing in her voice. She reached up and touched his lips, tracing the outline with a light caress.

He shook his head. “You’re tempting the devil, Mari.”

“I don’t think of you as a devil.”

Ken framed her face with his hands, his fingers exploring, tracing the fine bone structure of her face and sliding down her chin to her neck. “You’re so delicate. How can you have so much strength packed into such a delicate little body?”

“No one’s ever called me that before.” She turned her face into his palm and rubbed like a cat. “You just have big hands.”

Ken found the way her face moved over his hand far too sensual for his liking. Her tongue darted out to taste his skin, a soft, heart-stopping curl along his thumb, sending erotic images into his head before he could censor. He needed Mari to feel safe with him, but she was naturally sexy, responding to their potent chemistry with little inhibition due to the drugs in her system. Her soft breasts pushed against his chest, sending an electric current through his body. “Maybe you should go back to sleep.”

“Why?”

“It’s just safer for you.”

“You mean safer for you,” she said, mocking him. “You’re such a baby.” She nuzzled his hand again, her tongue and teeth this time sliding up his wrist. Her lips were featherlight against his scars, tiny kisses designed to drive him crazy.

Ken cleared his throat, his heart racing. “I have no idea what kind of drugs Lily is giving you, but I’m sure it’s a potent combination.”

“It’s the drugs? I want you because Lily gave me drugs?” Her mouth engulfed his thumb and sucked hard, tongue fluttering suggestively. All the while her chocolate eyes remained locked with his.

His heart nearly stopped. His body reacted, blood pounding, filling his groin to bursting, centering awareness in one pulsing, throbbing ache. “Sweetheart, you just can’t do things like that. You’re playing with fire.”

Teeth scraped and teased the pad of his thumb. His cock jerked in response, anticipating the pleasure of teeth scraping along his scars, tongue and mouth tight and hot and oh so moist.

He slid his hand beneath her shirt, sliding over her bare stomach and up along her ribs to cover her breast. He took his time, giving her plenty of time to pull back, to stop him. She arced into him, pushing her nipple into his palm. It was already tight and erect, begging for attention.

“Tell me what your home is like. I’ve never been in a home.”

Ken laid his head on the pillow beside hers, fingers stroking gently. “Jack and I built a house in Montana. We have quite a few acres and the national forest surrounds our property on three sides, so we’re fairly isolated. We’re entirely self-sufficient. Jack made most of the furniture. We have a gold mine—never worked it, but there’s a vein there for certain.”

“Is it beautiful?”

He edged her shirt up, bunching the material little by little to reveal the smooth skin from her tummy and her tucked-in waist to her narrow rib cage, until he’d exposed the underside of her breasts. “I never thought a lot about it, but yes, the country is beautiful and the house is wide open with plenty of space for two families. The view from nearly every room is amazing.” His knuckles rubbed back and forth under her breast, savoring the soft, satiny skin. No one had her amazing skin.

Mari relaxed more, her body soft and pliant from the mesmerizing movement of his hand. The heat of his body warmed hers. “Do you have a fireplace? I always thought pictures of fireplaces were romantic and homey at the same time.”

“We have a fireplace in the great room, a common room shared by Jack and me. We both have our own wing of the house. He has two bedrooms and a couple of bathrooms and an office. We both have fireplaces in the bedroom. The house is large and very spread out, and we heat mainly with wood. It snows there, so it can get very cold at night.”

Her skin fascinated him. It was softer than anything he’d ever felt before. He had to admit, when it came down to sex, he liked rough and fast and plenty of it, but there was something magical in lying beside her simply savoring the feel of her skin. He enjoyed his rising temperature, the pounding of blood through his swollen cock. He felt alive and he felt—happy. He almost didn’t recognize the emotion.

“I grew up in the barracks. I have my own room now, but there’s nothing in it. Just the bunk and my locker. We aren’t really allowed personal items. There’s a television in the game room, but we’re watched all the time, and everything we do is recorded. Mostly we train and work on education and strengthening our psychic talents to make us better soldiers. Well, at least we did, until Whitney came up with his latest brilliant program.”

“What do you do when you have time off?”

“In the evenings? I like to read and listen to music. I love music.”

“What about vacation time? Did you travel?”

“We didn’t have vacation time. And the only traveling we’re allowed is when we’re on a mission.” Mari pressed against his hand. The sensations drifted through her like lazy smoke, until sexual awareness smoldered throughout her entire body. His fingers took the aches and pains and turned them into something altogether different. “Of course now, since he started his breeding program, all the women are virtually prisoners.”