Accused (Ganzfield) (19 page)

Standing across the front drive and staring down armed federal agents? It sounded like a dangerous game of “Red Rover” to me, but I didn’t write that out to Drew.

“So, how long are you two out of commission from the frikkin’ kryptonite darts?” He sounded awed.

Trevor finished chewing and swallowed before responding. “At least the next few days. We need the antagonist out of our systems before dodecamine will work on us again.”

“Kryptonite darts.” Drew shook his head and whistled.

After Drew left, we curled up together and watched a movie I’d downloaded. It was a funny, romantic comedy, but not too much of a chick flick.

A good “date movie.”

Huh. We’d never been on a dinner-and-a-movie kind of date. Was Trevor setting something like that up for us? No, that kind of thing was too dangerous for people under federal surveillance, especially now that the Feds were shooting darts at us. I sighed.

Maybe someday.

I changed into my t-shirt and PJ-pants in the bathroom. Trevor ducked in for his turn as I finished. I stopped a few paces into the sanctuary and stared at the king-sized bed. Tears pricked at my eyes and my hand covered my mouth.

“Maddie?” Trevor’s steps faltered behind me. “What’s wrong?”

I tried to swallow the tingling knot that seemed intent on keeping me from breathing. How could I write down how I felt? I’d dreamed of us being able to sleep in each other’s arms all night, and this might be our only chance.

Ever.

I wiped my tears away and smiled—seize the day, and all.

He hesitated as I started to pull him with me. A resurgence of his earlier concerns flashed across his face, clearly enough that even I could read it.

I grabbed the post-it pad yet again.

I get to sleep in your arms tonight.

“Sleep?” He raised a skeptical eyebrow at me.

Don’t worry. I promise not to ravish you.

“I hope I can promise you the same.” He looked away and wrapped his arms around his chest.

“Tttt… tok.”

Trevor’s face twisted in confusion.

I pantomimed a flapping duck’s beak with my hand by my mouth, and then tapped my finger against my temple.

“You want me to tell you what I’m thinking?”

“Yesss.”

He flushed and glanced at me sideways with a shy smile.
Ooh, what had gone through his mind to cause that reaction?
He studied me for a moment, and then let out a sigh as he joined me in bed. “I can’t stop thinking about… about making love to you. I need to do the right thing here, but I just want to… “

Just want to what? I really wanted him to finish that thought.

“But yesterday, when we—I… I hurt you.” His voice broke. “And what we have is so special—so important to me. I don’t want to do anything to ruin it. I want to do things the right way. I want to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you. I want to do these things with you without regret or guilt.”

I debated my next move. Should I hold back or rip his shirt off? I probably had at least an even chance of convincing him that life without guilt was overrated. He put his hands on my shoulders and I couldn’t tell if he was going to hold me back or pull me closer.

“And in about three days, we’re going to be in the same room with Williamson and your mother—and they’re going to know exactly what we’ve been up to.”

I winced. Ouch. No fair. That mental paper-cut sliced into my thoughts and the erotic feelings melted away.

So no sex tonight.

“No sex tonight.” He pulled me into his arms. I stroked his face and kissed him tenderly, and we cuddled close until we fell asleep intertwined.

I woke to the feeling of warmth along my side and imprinted across my waist. Trevor’s hand rested on the bare skin where my t-shirt had ridden up. My eyes opened to his warm, chocolate-brown ones, and my soul expanded at the sight of him.

So close.

There were many things I loved about us being G-positives, but I really wished I could wake up in Trevor’s arms like this every morning. I sighed and snuggled closer with a sleepy smile, savoring the moment.

Of course, my brain wouldn’t let me get away with that for long. For the first time since we’d returned, I thought about our aborted mission to take down Belinda. I supposed that, after our dangerous failure and Hunter’s attack, Williamson would consider it too risky to send a team out again.

I knew the Feds thought they were protecting the country from us and all, but people would actually be a lot safer if we could take care of messes like Belinda ourselves. What was she doing now? Taking her down would have to wait until we could safely leave Ganzfield—once we’d dealt with the people outside the gates.

Speaking of, how did Hunter’s people develop the antagonist in those darts? It seemed a safe bet they’d need to know about dodecamine to do it. My tongue worried a sore spot on my cheek. How did they know? I didn’t remember that in the information Isaiah had sent out, but where else could it have come from?

Nausea snaked through my gut and squeezed. Dammit! Hunter could’ve killed us with those crash-inducing spikes in the road! And shooting us up with some untested drug… who knows what the effects could’ve been?

My eyes narrowed. Hunter was lucky I was out of commission right now.

I took a shower after our breakfast of coffee and dry cereal. As I came back out, Trevor startled and closed the computer screen, looking impishly guilty again.

I grinned. He was so cute when he was trying to… okay, he was always cute.

What are you doing?
I was getting low on post-its. Maybe I should get one of those erasable whiteboards to carry around, or maybe a cell phone with a little keyboard or something so I could show people the screen.
One never knew when the a dart full of kryptonite might be shot into one’s butt, after all.

“It’s a surprise.”

Getting shot in the butt?
It took me a second to realize he had meant what he was doing, but his words had synched up strangely with my thoughts. I hated being out of the loop.

Trevor pulled me down into his embrace and ran a soothing hand across the wrinkles on my forehead. “Humor me, Maddie. I never get to surprise you. This might be my only chance.”

Okay, this was his silver lining for having me off the meds: I got to sleep in his arms and he got to surprise me. If it was going to make Trevor happy, I could live with not knowing.

For now, at least.

Trevor studied my face. “It really bothers you, doesn’t it? Not knowing everything.”

I feel cut off. Not good.

“Maybe I need to distract you.” Trevor’s hands migrated to my shoulders. I closed my eyes with a blissful groan. I loved having my shoulders rubbed. Good distraction.
Yeah, the off-button for my stress is around there somewhere. Just keep feeling around like that ‘til you find it.
I leaned against Trevor’s chest and just breathed. His actual hands massaged me, warmer and gentler than his invisible ones. Crap—his ability was gone, too. I really should be more sensitive about that. Did he miss it? Did he feel like he’d had some limbs cut off? Had he ever been off dodecamine before? He hadn’t complained about it, but he never complained. I wished I could talk or think to him, but I was too comfortable at the moment to start writing anything.

“Do you want me to stop?”

“Nnn… uh.”

Trevor slid his hands under the collar of my shirt, caressing my neck. I flashed back to our drugged experience, remembering the feel of his bare skin. My pulse shot up and something flip-flopped in my gut. His breathing quickened against me and he suddenly dropped his hands and pulled back.

Was he thinking what I was thinking? I started to laugh. “Yesss?”

He grinned back. “Give me a minute.”

My lips twitched into a wicked smile. Why should I? I didn’t want that single, drugged accident to be the sum total of our sexual experience.

Desire flared in his eyes as he read my face. He took a shuddering breath then shook his head ruefully. “You’re worth waiting for. And besides, it’s really just another two days.”

I felt a flash of confusion, and then realized what he meant. Once we were on dodecamine again, we’d soulmate before things got too far. Temptation removed… but not for another two days.

So I’m allowed to try and seduce you?

Trevor met my eyes and, for just a second, I felt a breathless tingle of attraction from him that left me dizzy. I guess unenhanced flashes like that meant that the antagonist was pretty much out of my system.

“I’ve been thinking about that. Three ground rules, okay?”

My eyebrows rose.
Ground rules?

“First, we need to be sober.”

I nodded. Fair enough. Good ground rule.

“Second, we need to be safe.” My thoughts flickered to the box of condoms Matilda had given me—they were now in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom.

I nodded again.

“Third, no shielding between us.”

My lips twitched. That one would make it difficult. He met my gaze with dancing eyes. He knew me so well! Trevor understood that shielding might keep us from soulmating when things got too intense between us, but it wasn’t fair to him if I shielded. I’d still feel all of the sensations and emotions coming from him as we—ooh, just the thought of it made my breath catch and sent caffeinated butterflies of anticipation down to my—

“Or is that too much of a challenge for you?” He raised a teasing eyebrow.

Of all the things to say to me! I felt something unfurl deep within my chest as my eyes narrowed.
Grrr. Game on!
I got out my post-its.

DO-OVER Ground Rules

1: Sober

2: Safe

3: Shieldless

I decided to go alliterative—three Ss. I held them up, asking the question with my eyes. Trevor looked at them, met my gaze, and nodded. I placed the post-it pad in his hand, and then used my pen to put a slow, dramatic checkmark next to “Sober.”

He tilted his head. “Huh?”

A tingle of energy—which I currently couldn’t see—flowed over my skin as I got up. I pulled the red box—Rubicon Brand—from the medicine cabinet. I came back to the bed and held one of the little foil squares up for him to see.

His eyes widened. “Where did you get that?”

I put a second slow, heavy checkmark next to “Safe.”

Trevor groaned. I gazed deeply into his eyes as I put a third check mark on the post-it, hopefully somewhere near the word “Shieldless.” Was that even a real word? At the moment, I didn’t care.

Check. And… mate?

My gut clenched and my hand got damp around the little foil square. Had I really meant to do that? I knew Trevor wanted to wait. Did I want to push him against his principles? Would he resent that?

Trevor’s gaze was still locked with mine. His hands pulled into fists around the sheet. I had another flash as his desire splashed into me, catching my breath and dragging it out to sea.
He wanted to. He wanted me. But I could tell his craving warred with his sense of duty—his sense of honor.

The wind of anticipation billowed out of me.
I wanted him unreservedly, wholeheartedly, and completely. I didn’t want to start hearing his thoughts again and find them filled with guilt and self-loathing over something so intense and intimate between us. I pulled off the checked post-it and slowly tore it in half then grabbed my pen again.

Rain check?

Trevor’s laugh rumbled against me as he pulled me into a tender kiss. I’d never regret it—because he wouldn’t. The kiss deepened, and it was more than enough.

For now, at least.

Yay!

I’d never been so delighted to get my period. I usually regarded it as a rather gross monthly component of adult life. Now, it was our ticket back to superpowers. And it was a day earlier than I’d expected, too.
Bonus.
It was nearly 8 p.m. on Tuesday night. I wrote
Call Matilda
on one of the last three post-its and slid into Trevor’s lap to show it to him.

“No little superbabies?” he asked, understanding.

I smiled and shook my head. “Nnnuh.”

Matilda showed up with her medical bag. We had our shots of dodecamine within a minute. “Call me if anything strange happens, or if your abilities haven’t re-manifested by morning.” Just as she was about to leave, she stopped and dug through her bag again. “Trevor, were you expecting a package? This came for you today. Express Mail.”

Trevor nearly pounced in his eagerness. He bundled the package off into the annex as Matilda left. Trevor wanted to surprise me so I was going to do my best not to think about the little box of whatever. The package had been small—about the same size as the one in which my checks had arrived. That reminded me—I needed to get in touch with Coleman’s office and see if the Feds had finally unfrozen my accounts. I used one of the last two post-its to make a note to myself. Then I wrote on the final one.

Buy more post-its.

I felt Trevor’s thoughts coming into focus after nearly a half-hour, during which we’d propped ourselves up against his headboard and watched another movie on my laptop. The movie was completely unmemorable, particularly when Trevor’s mind was once more an open book to me—and I was reading a particularly steamy chapter. My heartbeat thudded in my ears and heat curled low within me. In his mind, he touched me, more than touched me, and our clothes were gone, and—

Her breath’s gotten shaky.
“What are you thinking about?”

I’m thinking about what you’re thinking about. Wow. I think I’ll take that rain-check now.

A big grin lit his face.
Welcome back, snookums.

Thanks, sweet-cheeks
. His memories of going all the way seemed to make mine more vivid—in a good way. Things didn’t seem as real to me anymore, unless I knew how Trevor had experienced them. He held me close and we closed our eyes and drifted in his memory for a while. Definitely better in the re-run, at least for me. Scarlet energy crackled between us and our hearts pounded.