Covert Craving (5 page)

Chloe paced her apartment, all thoughts of
cheesecake and a stained jacket forgotten. The sea of emergency workers
storming the bodega had made it easy to slip out the back door and down the
alley to retrieve her clothes.

The hurry had left her with three hours of nothing
to do but worry and gnaw on her nails. Frank saw her after Greiff grabbed her
and broke her concentration. Damn the man and his ridiculous concern over her. Unless
she took a bullet to the brain or heart, a gunshot wouldn’t kill her given a
good blood supply and time to heal. Even the knowledge she’d managed to remain
concealed despite not being against the wall didn’t excite her. A huge leap in ability
the Professor would no doubt force her to demonstrate over and over again.

Greiff didn’t know she could regenerate and heal
wounds. He’d have lost his shit if he’d known she’d been hit. The terror in his
eyes when he’d hugged her had almost stopped her heart. Then he’d yelled at
her.

She poked at the sore skin on her arm and sighed.
The laceration where the bullet had grazed her bicep was mostly closed now;
only a thin, red welt left behind. Thankfully, it hadn’t bled too much, and
she’d been able to hide it with one hand clamped over it on the walk back to
her place after getting dressed behind the store.

A low knock sounded on the door and she jumped. She’d
just made up her mind to go down the street and find out if the police were
still working on the crime scene. Heart in her throat, she crossed the room and
put her eye to the peep hole.

Greiff stood outside.

The worry and anxiety over his welfare turned into
panic that he was there to take her to jail—or even worse, reject her for being
a freak.

“Chloe, I know you’re in there. Right on the other
side of the door. I can smell you.” Exhaustion colored the words. She looked
again and he’d crumpled against the opposite wall, hands in the pockets of his
trousers. His tie was gone and an unlit cigarette hung from his lips.

She popped the deadbolt and yanked the door open.
“You are so not smoking that. Give it.”

She held her hand out, palm up, and he dropped the
offending item into it.

“You’re too easy. I borrowed that because I
figured you’d lose it if you saw it and open your door.” A tired smile quirked
the corners of his mouth. He moved across the threshold and stopped a few feet
away from her with his back to her. “So, Frank didn’t see you until I grabbed
you.”

“I know.” She shut the door with careful control
and turned around to find him facing her.

“What happened to your arm?” He wrapped his hand
around her wrist and coaxed until she relaxed enough for him examine the
healing wound.

The touch sent her heart on overdrive and she tamped
the surge of desire that rose from her core.

“I got shot.” She inhaled and held the breath,
counted to ten, and exhaled slowly. The mixture of his sweat, cologne, scotch, and
even the residual cigarette smoke calmed something inside her—while
simultaneously ramping up the yearning surging in her veins.

“They found a bullet buried in the back wall.
Totally demolished from drilling through food boxes and the brick. I don’t
think they’ll get any blood off it.” Blue eyes met hers, and she watched his
pupils dilate. He studied the puckered tissue on her arm once more, tugging at
her wrist until she stepped in close enough for their torsos to meld together.
She buried her nose in his solar plexus. “You can blend in with things and people
can’t see you. And this is healing in only a few hours.”

“Yes.” She reached up to play with the buttons on
his shirt, slipping the top one through the hole. “And yes. I can re-grow limbs
if I have to. Lost three fingers on my left hand once in a stupid kid accident.
You’re the first person who has ever been able to see me. Why do you think that
is?”

“I’m color blind. Maybe that has something to do
with it.” He placed her hand on his neck, released her wrist, and used both
hands to grab her ass in a possessive grip. He shrugged. “I don’t really know.
But I’m going to find out.”

Apprehension cooled her lust and she toed the
carpet. “Jake, these people are dangerous. If they aren’t aware of you, it’s
best to keep it that way.”

“Honey, I’m not the kind of guy who lets things
like this go. You mentioned having to leave the city. Frank couldn’t see you
even though I could. If someone did something to you or is threatening you, I’m
going to find out who they are.” Greiff cocked his head and lowered it until their
foreheads touched. “There’s something else I want to worry about now. You’re
the first woman I’ve ever seen in color naked.” He nibbled on her throat. “I
want to do it again.”

The crawling fear she harbored for him, at the
idea he’d go after the Professor diminished under the tingles spreading from
the rasp of his facial hair and teeth on her flesh. “Oh…that feels good. But
you really shouldn’t go after them.”

“Chloe, I have to. It’s who I am.” He buried his
hand in her hair and stroked her cheek with his thumb.

A detective. That’s who he was. And if they were
going to be together, she had to accept that her detective wouldn’t quit until
he got answers that satisfied him.
Her detective.
Here she was imaging a
future and getting possessive. God, she was stupid. But she couldn’t help it. “I’ve
just been really worried about you. All day.”

He smiled and the corners of his eyes crinkled up,
and he kissed the tip of her nose. “I’m fine sweetheart. But you can do a full
body inspection to make sure. If you want.”

“You’re incorrigible. I think I like it.”

He murmured something against her left collar bone
and kissed the hollow at the front of her neck. She went on tip-toe. A few more
buttons popped free under her nimble fingers. She pulled his shirt out of his
pants, slipped her hands underneath the material, and clasped them together
behind his back.

He moved to her breasts, and his cock swelled
between them. “Damn, Chloe, I don’t understand this. But I don’t want to stop. It’s
like my wanting you overrides everything else. Tell me now if I need to get the
hell out.”

“No. I don’t want to stop. And I know what you
mean. I can hardly think straight when you touch me.” He picked her up off the
floor; fingers burrowed into her ass cheeks, and licked his way from the top of
one breast to the other.

She gasped. “Bedroom, I have a roommate,
remember?”

She linked her hands behind his neck and twined
her legs around his waist. The heat of his shaft pulsed through his trousers
and straight into the juncture of her thighs. He started walking blindly toward
the hallway, all his attention fixed on shoving his tongue under the neckline
of her shirt.

Chloe’s head thumped into the wall and she
released his neck with one hand to rub the back of her skull. “Ow.”

“Sorry.” He bit the front of her top and snapped
it. “Take this off.”

“Watch where you’re going.” She whipped the tank
off. “Better?”

He zeroed in on her nipples and she covered them
with both hands. “Pay attention to where you’re walking.”

He grumbled under his breath and headed for the
doors opposite each other a few feet away. “Left or right?”

“Left.”

Clothes flew against the wall as he kicked a pile
of dirty laundry aside and then shoved the door closed behind them. He put one
knee, then the other on the bed, and lowered her to the mattress. He tossed his
jacket aside, popped the top buttons on his shirt, and then yanked it over his
head. She went to work on his belt buckle, then trouser button and zipper.

Her skin was on fire, pussy so wet and aching, she
was half out of her mind. After she shoved his pants over his hips, he took
them down to his ankles and she went to work on getting hers off as well. He
tore at her waistband and jerked once to free them. The stressed fabric released,
snapped, and hit him in the face.

She burst into laughter. He tried to take his
shoes off, got tangled in the trousers still around one ankle, and crashed to
the floor instead. She clutched her stomach and rolled onto her side. Tears
streamed down her cheeks.

A large hand gripped her ankle and he yanked her
off the bed to the floor, where she landed in a heap on his chest,
half-plastered over him. Her thigh collided with the thick length of his cock
still trapped behind the fabric of his boxers.

“Maybe you should take your pants off when you’re
already on the floor all the time.”

“Shush.” He cupped her face and kissed her until
she stopped laughing. The slow, teasing seduction of his tongue and lips
dissolved under the rising tide of need, and he rolled her underneath him. He
closed his mouth over her breast and sucked it while teasing the other nipple
with his thumb. She arched her back off the floor to get closer, and he ground
his groin against her center.

She gripped him through his underwear, and he
groaned. “Take these off.”

They both shoved their hands under the elastic
waistband, and she grabbed his ass with both hands. He canted back enough to
get the boxers over his thighs and pulled one leg, then the other free. With
both hands on her breasts he licked her from her pelvic bone to her cleavage,
the light rasp of his stubble adding to the sparks of pleasure flooding her. He
nipped at her throat and licked his way to her ear; the hard length of his cock
slid along her slick folds, and nudged her entrance.

Greiff retreated, dragging the head of his dick
over her clit. She used her thighs to grasp his hips and tried to pull him back
down.

“Condom.” He closed his mouth over her right
breast and she thrust up once more.

“In the drawer of the nightstand behind you.” Daisy
Mae had thrown a box at her about a month ago; otherwise there wouldn’t have
been any. The sharp sting of his teeth on her nipple zinged sparks of
excitement through her, and she panted. He went to his knees to retrieve a
rubber, his swollen cock standing out from his body. Oh man. It’d been awhile
since she’d had sex, and feeling his erection through clothes didn’t do it
justice. She closed her grip around it and stroked from base to tip.

He turned back to her with a condom in one hand
and grabbed her hand with his other one, increasing the pressure. A drop of
pre-cum appeared in the slit, and she used her thumb to rub it down the side of
his thick length, cupping his testicles in her other palm. She licked the head
and rolled her eyes up to gauge his reaction. He guided her hand up and down
his length, and she sucked him into her mouth, excited by the heave of his
chest. He balled his free hand into a fist.

“You gotta slow down, honey.” He reached down to
her pussy and slid two fingers between her lips to dip inside. Then he smeared
her wetness up and around her hood.

As a distraction technique, the move was quite
effective. She released his cock from her mouth and rode his hand. He passed
her the condom and brought her in closer for a hungry kiss. An intense craving
for more took hold, he breached her again and finger-fucked her until she
whimpered. The width of his fingers wasn’t enough. She needed to be filled with
his hard dick.

She ripped at the wrapper and broke away to roll
it down his length. “We can take our time later.”

She leaned back and locked her ankles behind his
back. He followed her down, breaching her in a single, slow thrust, not
stopping until the skin of his lower groin touched hers. In a few moments her
body stretched and adjusted to accommodate his thick cock.

“Yes.” God that was good. She licked his chest.
“More.”

He withdrew at the same measured pace, then
plunged back in, fast and rough. “Fuck, Chloe, you feel so damn good.”

He grasped her left thigh and moved the leg so her
calf rested on his shoulder. His cock rammed home again, brushing a spot inside
she’d never felt before. It intensified the friction, her muscles clenched
tighter each time his shaft stimulated it.

“Oh damn…Jake.”

“Feels good?” He studied her face, swept her body
with his gaze, and settled on her breasts as they bounced with each forward
surge.

“God, yes.”

Their bodies met with the heavy slap of flesh on
flesh.

His stare flicked up to meet hers, furrows creased
his forehead and lust darkened his eyes. “I want to see you touch yourself.
Play with your clit for me.”

She licked and suckled on her fingers, enjoying
the flare of his nostrils and the way he trapped his lip in between his teeth. She
spread her labia, moved her fingers in a slow circle around her clit.

Greiff tipped his head down to enjoy the view, put
his weight on one arm and held tight to her ankle with the other.

“That’s it, baby. Tease yourself.” He released her
leg, took her hand, and sucked her juices off it, then placed it back between
her thighs and joined his fingers with hers in teasing her hood. “Come for me.
I want to feel it. Show me how you make yourself come.”

Their gazes locked and formed a connection, secured
the lust into tiny, new seeds of love. He shoved himself into her three more
times, and she cried out from her orgasm. Tingles rippled through her tummy and
nipples, her clit pulsated. Her shoulders lifted from the floor, then went
back.

“Yes. Good.” Both of his palms hit the carpet next
to her head and he tensed with a groan, pumping into her, releasing his cum.

He buried his face in her neck, heavy, broken breaths
fanned over her skin.

“I have something to tell you,” he said.

“What? You’re not married are you?”

He chuckled in response to the question and the
sound dissipated her rising panic.

“No, not for five years. I have an ability too.”
He rolled to the side and looked at the ceiling. “I can smell things.”