Second Sight (8 page)

Chapter 12

Late that night, Zach lay in bed, unable to sleep. He concentrated on the sounds around him, the sounds of the night.

Most people didn’t realize just how noisy the overnight hours could be as they rested, their dreams holding them in another realm of reality. Of course, he doubted most of the population possessed his enhanced hearing, either. Perhaps there existed a few other military personnel who had been the target of a government experiment, but the regular population … no, they had no idea.

An owl hooted in the distance, waiting for a callback that never came. Poor bastard must be alone for the night, just like him.

He thought about his day with Ella. They worked well together, and as the time had worn on, he’d become certain of one thing—he was in trouble.

Throughout his life, he’d loved women, especially when their soft curves met his hard body. He preferred them dark-haired, but he’d also had his fair share of blondes. He liked his women with a little meat on their bones; yet, he didn’t really have a specific body type that really got him going. Sure, he loved to bury his face between a good set of tits as much as the next guy, and he’d gotten hard walking behind a woman who nicely filled out a pair of jeans.

What turned him on the most, however, seemed to be intelligence, and right now, his body screamed to be fucked by Ella.

He’d looked it up once, and there actually existed a word to describe this:
sapiosexua
l
.

It sounded like some sort of disease, but it literally meant
one who finds intelligence the most sexually attractive feature.

He slid his hand down his stomach into his pajama bottoms and took his hard-on in his palm. A nurse. A computer hacker. Someone who spent her spare time either climbing, or
studying.
Good God, the woman loved to educate herself, and frankly, he didn’t come across
that
very often.

He stroked himself as he thought about her. Beautiful face, beautiful mind. A strong woman, one who’d closed herself off completely from society, afraid and alone, yet strong. When had she last had sex?

At times like these, he didn’t need his sight. His imagination took over, and he saw Ella stretched out on a bed in front of him, her dark hair fanned out on white, silk sheets. She motioned for him to approach, her pink nipples hard, little pebbles, her milky skin resembling white satin. A small patch of black curls sat at the top of her sex, and she outstretched her arms to him, a smile on her face.

His vision of Ella didn’t contain the scar she spoke of, and he wondered how bad it truly looked, and what the intimate details of that fateful night had been.

Lying down on top of her, he settled himself between her legs, the smell of her arousal engulfing him as the tip of his cock rested against her slick entrance.

He lowered his head and kissed her, her lips meeting his like soft pillows as she greedily accepted his tongue. Palming her breasts, he caressed her nipple, eliciting a guttural groan from her. She circled her legs around his hips, urging him forward with her heels against his ass.

He obliged, and slid into her hot, slick center, her walls gripping him as he eased in fully.

In this hallucination, no words needed to be spoken; the only sounds he heard consisted of her soft sighs as he kissed her neck and collarbone. They moved together as one, their bodies heating, a light coating of sweat forming between them.

His sac tightened as his palm moved faster, the delicious friction bringing him closer to the release he so desperately needed.

As Ella became undone, she arched her back, her tight channel milking him as she panted her way through her orgasm. He gazed down at her as her skin flushed, her mouth parted, her soft breath hitting his cheek. He felt and saw it all, as if it really happened, as if he had his vision.

With one last thrust into his hand, he found his completion.

As the sounds of Savannah’s soft snores and that annoying owl brought him back to reality, he sighed.

He wanted Ella with a desire that almost seemed primal and primitive, and he didn’t know what to do with it.

To him, it felt like a part of her had been broken somewhere along the way. He didn’t know who had been responsible, or why they’d done it. What he did know was that Ella had begun to trust him, to open up to him, and he appreciated that more than he could express. She had shown him her intelligence, which to him, also happened to be her true beauty.

Chapter 13

“Are you ready to get to work?”

“No.”

Ella stared at Zach, surprised by his answer. “Why not?”

They shared a bagel and coffee at the kitchen bar, and confusion tore through her.

“Because, I want to know more about you. I want to know the details of how you got that scar.”

Crap. She had never told another person about that night, and she’d never had any desire to. She absently pulled her hair over the angry mark, as if he would suddenly regain his sight and she didn’t want him to see it.

His lips were set in a firm line as he turned his head and looked her way.

“Why? Why do you want to know?”

“Because I do. I know that you’re beautiful; I know you’re intelligent. I know you like red wine, and that you hate seafood. I know you like to climb rocks, a dangerous pastime, but I think that’s what you enjoy about it. You smell like lilacs, and you have a fascination with history and love talking about it, as long as it isn’t your own. I also know you crack your knuckles when you’re working on the computer, and that you sigh about once an hour, mostly in frustration. What I don’t know is why that scar on your face is there, and why you hold on to the anger you’ve attached to it.”

Bile rose in her throat as she realized just how close she’d allowed Zach to get the past few days. Yet, a sort of freedom also took hold. She’d been confident in herself, knowing he couldn’t see her disfigurement.

“So, are you going to tell me why? I gave you a plateful of my dirty laundry, telling you how I became a freak of nature. You supposedly have this terrible scar on your face, something that not only affects the way you feel about yourself, but shoots your anger levels through the roof. Let’s hear it. Tell me why.”

She sat back, surprised at the forceful tone in his voice. “You’re being a little domineering at this point, Zach. Just because you told me—”

“You have no idea how domineering I want to be over you, Ella,” he whispered, leaning close to her, his mouth just a few inches from hers. “You have no idea.”

A shiver tore through her at his words. What was he saying? Did he mean sexually? He had to, because dominating her in any other way didn’t fit with his personality.

She stared at his lips, the yearning to lean in and kiss him there. Yet, something held her back. Well, many things held her back—uncertainty regarding what her advances would be met with, her low self-confidence due to her scar, and the emotional baggage that came with it.

He can’t
see
yo
u
.

It didn’t matter. It appeared as though he saw her heart, and that made her more vulnerable than the mark on her face.  However, It seemed she needed the connection they’d developed, and she found the words spilling from her lips.

“I was with Joe when I got it,” she whispered, her words rushed. “We were on the run. It was about a week after we went AWOL, and we were in a hotel in Kingston, Texas, trying to make a run for the border. Joe was in the bathroom, and I sat on the bed watching television. Suddenly, the door came crashing in, and a man stood in the middle of the room. I screamed for Joe and rushed the man. He took out a knife and stabbed me below my ribs, and then purposely sliced my face. Joe came out of the bathroom and saw what had happened. He turned as the man opened fire, taking two bullets to the spine.”

She exhaled slowly, feeling the relief at getting her story out into the open, to actually tell another human being what had transpired that night in April so many years ago.

“He left us for dead.”

“What happened, then?”

“I called 9-1-1, then passed out. When I woke, we were in a hospital in Austin. Our attacker had stolen our I.D.s, so we were listed as John and Jane Doe.

“What about your family? Didn’t you call them? Where are they now?”

She shook her head and studied her coffee cup. “I knew that if the government realized we were alive, they’d come after us again. I put obituaries in the paper for Joe and me in all the major cities so that my family would see it, and so would the government.”

“What did it say?”

“That we’d been victims of a violent crime. I didn’t change the details of what had happened, except the fact we were alive. I believe that bought us the time we needed for Joe to heal enough so we could get out of there.”

“What happened next?”

She met his gaze, seeing her reflection in his sunglasses, and stared at herself as she spoke.

“Joe got in touch with his wealthy uncle and began building his business. The rest is history.”

“That must have been terrifying for you.”

“You have no idea.”

He didn’t say anything for a long while. “So, Joe has this business, and you’re an employee without a life. It doesn’t seem like a fair deal to me.”

She shrugged. “Well, like I said, I’m alive.”

Shifting her weight, she realized how uncomfortable the situation made her, and the need to put space between her and Zach became imperative. “I’m going to the office. When you’re ready to get back to work, just come in.”

Chapter 14

Zach stood at the counter and finished his coffee, thinking about what Ella had told him. The situation must have been scary as hell, and he couldn’t believe the mistake the assassin had made. Never had he left a kill scene without making sure his target lay very, very dead. Perhaps the killer had been short on time, or had a witness to his crime and had needed to flee before he could check that his job had been completed.

He also couldn’t help but think there had to be more to the story, but he couldn’t for the life of him even gander a guess what that consisted of. Something didn’t add up, but he supposed he’d have to push those thoughts aside for now. They had work to do.

As he finished his coffee, he considered the list he’d seen in the mirror yesterday morning. He hadn’t seen it today—the preview had been very mundane. Savannah taking a crap, a garbage can that needed to be emptied, Ella shaking her head no, her arms crossed over her chest and her hair still covering the left side of her face. The only image that intrigued him had been one of a hot tub. He could really use a good soak, but unfortunately, it didn’t help their Group Nine puzzle in any way.

Group Nine had activated one of its members in California. Someone would die there, and he had to assume it would be someone important. Or, perhaps he should ask Joe to look into military that lived in the area. Maybe Group Nine needed to clean up one of their experiments.

It could be a possibility, but it didn’t feel right. His gut told him that list he’d seen had something to do with all of this, and after the explosion, he’d promised himself he’d never ignore those feelings again. They always proved right.

He made his way down to the office by himself, allowing Savannah to complete her morning nap in the living room.

“Ella,” he said once he reached the door. “Could you please write down this list of names for me?”

“Sure.”

The pen scratched on the paper as she jotted down the names he’d committed to memory from his vision—James Rockins, Suzette Dior, Ahmed Ahmadi, and Christopher Vistas.

“Who are they? These names match a partial list that I made yesterday while looking over event announcements in the
LA Times
.”

He shrugged. “I don’t have the faintest idea who they are.”

“Where did you get them?”

“I saw them in the mirror yesterday morning. Maybe you or Joe can run them through the database and see what pops up.”

“Good idea. I’ll get on it.”

As they waited for the database to hopefully spit something out, she studied him.

Sitting in the chair with his legs stretched out in front of him, his arms crossed over his chest, he seemed calm, self-assured, and sexy.

“Your gift is amazing,” she said.

He chuckled. “Yes, it’s an interesting gift. However, my body and tongue also hold quite a bit of talent.”

Her cheeks burned at his words. Was he flirting with her?

“Knock it off, Zach.” She gave a small, embarrassed laugh. “Quit with the sexual innuendos.”

Sitting forward, he placed his elbows on his knees and grinned. “Ella, I think you need to get your mind out of the gutter. I was going to say that I have double-jointed shoulders, and I can touch my tongue to my nose, which is something only approximately ten percent of the population can do.”

Certain her cheeks were on fire, humiliation rolled through her. “I-I’m sorry. I thought … I just assumed—”

He laughed for a long time. “You assumed that I was making some sexual play on words, correct?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I’m so embarrassed.”

“There’s no need to be. I found this quite funny.”

He stood and stretched his hands above his head, giving her a little glimpse at his flat, toned belly.

“I’m more direct than that, Ella. See, if I were going to say something sexual to you, I would tell you that my cock has pleased quite a few women in my time, and if that piques your interest, then I’d be more than happy to oblige.”

With that, he smiled at her and left the office.

Heat pooled in her core at his words. Although he could be cocky beyond anyone she’d ever met, she couldn’t deny she found his arrogance sexy.  It had been so long since she’d been with a man—just under seven years. She could barely remember the sensations of a man touching her, the feeling of his tongue on her breast, the way a cock filled her, and the ultimate pleasure the act could bring.

She did find Zach attractive; however, they were also supposed to be co-workers. In a few days’ time, Joe would assign him somewhere else, and she’d be left alone again.

Surprise overtook her embarrassment as she realized how much she disliked the thought.