Twisted Mercy (Red Team Book 4) (29 page)

“Is this all going to end okay?”

Mads watched her for a long minute, then dropped his gaze to his glass, silence his only answer. At least he didn’t lie.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought.” She frowned as she looked at him. “How do you do it? Stare at death like you do?”

He tilted his head as he looked at her. “Don’t go running ahead, Hope. Right here, right now, that’s all that’s real. I’m looking at a beautiful woman. Dinner smells delicious. We’re drinking wine.” He grinned. “And if I get you drunk enough, I just might get laid.” He sipped his wine. “You tell me what’s wrong with the here and now, ’cause from where I’m standing, it’s lookin’ goddamn fine.”

Hope shook her head. “I can’t do that. I can’t put blinders on and pretend everything’s okay.”

“Try it. Ease up on yourself for once. For a night. For tonight.”

He made it sound simple, going with the flow. Like dust drifting across a dirt road. Nothing was that easy. Nothing worthwhile, anyway.
 

“Look.” He held a pocketknife to his palm. Before she could look away, he’d pulled it across an inch of flesh. She hissed in a breath. He held up his bloody palm. “This is what you fear, right? Blood? Pain?”
 

He crossed the space between them in one step and reached for her hand. “No.” She yanked her hand away and tucked it behind her.

“My blood for yours. A pact.”

“No.”

His expression changed, darkened. He lowered his hand. “Then my blood for nothing. As usual.”
 

He looked…broken. What compelled her to lift her hand out to him, she couldn’t say. He gripped it and cut a small nick in her palm, then flicked the knife shut. He gripped her hand with his, squeezing their bloodied palms together.
 

“My blood for yours. My life for yours and your brother’s. I give you my word I will do everything in my power to keep both of you safe.”

Tears welled in her eyes as she looked at his big hand wrapped around hers. The cut he made barely registered beneath the weight of his words. “Do you make vows lightly, Mads?”

“I’ve never made one before in my life to a civilian.”

She looked up at him, into the brown and gold of his hazel eyes. “I’ve never shared a vow before. What do I do?”

He smiled. “There’s nothing you need to do. Our blood has spoken.”

“Mads, what does your wife think of what you do?” She’d asked that question out of the blue, testing him. He didn’t blink.

“I’m not married.”

She couldn't tell if he lied. Maybe he was married, maybe not. Maybe he made vows as easy as handing out candy on Halloween. Maybe he would do everything he could to keep them safe. And maybe there was nothing he could do.
 

Only time would tell what was true and what was not.
 

While their hands were still joined, she requested one more thing of him. “If there’s ever a choice between me and my brother, swear that you will save him.”

It was his turn to frown. “Hope, he’s been trained in guerrilla warfare. He’s no innocent.”

“He’s never had a chance to see life in the real world. He’s never had a chance to bloom, Mads.”

His brows lowered. “And you have?”

She nodded. “I’ve had the chance to make choices for myself. I’ve had my freedom. He hasn’t. So swear it.”

“No.”

“Swear it, Mads.”

He shook his head. He gripped the back of her head with his free hand, twisting his fingers in her hair as he bent near her. “I can’t sacrifice you for your brother.” His breath puffed against her mouth as he spoke.
 

She did the unthinkable then: she rose up to press closer to his face. “Let’s hope that situation never comes to pass.”

His eyes shut and his mouth was on hers. She released his bloodied hand, freeing hers to grip his face, hold him to her. He lifted her to the counter and pressed between her legs. She felt him tug at the bottom of her shirt, pull it upward. She leaned back and raised her arms so he could lift it over her head.

His gaze swept down over her chest. He sucked in a hissed breath, then he kissed her jaw, her neck. “You’re wearing my ring.” His arms wrapped around her as he scooped her up. She locked her legs around his waist as he walked out of the kitchen. He moved a hand up to her neck, bringing her mouth to his. He bent his head, fitting himself to her so he could thrust his tongue inside her mouth. The sensations as their tongues touched and stroked and battled filled her with heat. She rocked against him, moaning, hungering for more of him.

They paused at a bare stretch of wall outside the bedroom. He set her on her feet. “Take your jeans off,” he ordered in a gruff voice. While she unzipped her fly, his hands roamed her body, brushing over her shoulders, her chest. He cupped her breasts. She shoved her jeans and panties down her legs. He ripped off his tee, then looked at her and pushed his jeans and underwear down.

He was fully erect. She reached out and touched him, slipping her hand over him in a light stroke until she reached his blunt head. And his piercing. Her thumb and finger brushed over his apadravya. He bared his teeth and hissed. He pushed himself deeper into her hand.

“Does it hurt?” she asked, still holding the head of his cock.

He leaned over and braced himself against the wall behind her. “No.” He kissed her, his tongue circling her mouth. “It hurts not being in you.”

“Do you have a rubber?”

“Yeah. But we don’t need it yet. You aren’t ready.”

He lifted her up against the wall until her legs could wrap around his hips. He smiled at her, a slow, hot grin with heavy-lidded eyes. He hooked one arm beneath her knee, then did the same with the other one. The muscles in his arms bulged as he slowly pushed her higher up the wall.
 

“Take your bra off.”

Hope arched her back as she reached behind her to release the tiny hooks. He was holding her entire weight on his forearms. He palmed her butt, digging his fingertips into her soft flesh. He nuzzled up beneath a breast. “Goddamn, your skin is so sweet. I could eat all of you.”

He took her breast into his mouth, then looked up at her, showing her his teeth as he flicked her nipple with his tongue. Hope had no place to put her hands, nothing to hold on to. Mads was in complete control of the situation, her body, her passion. Her legs were wide open, draped over his arms.
 

He slid her farther up the wall, kissing between her breasts, her ribs, her navel. He moved his arms so that her legs now rested over his shoulders. She bent her legs beneath his arms, gripping his sides with her feet. With his arms braced against the wall, he leaned forward, burying his face at her core. Hope sucked in a sharp pull of air as his heated breath touched her tender flesh.
 

Her precarious position left her almost no range of motion. All she could do was fork her hand into his hair and balance herself against the wall with her other hand. The soft, moist stroke of his tongue was torture when she could barely move and had no control of the situation. It was worse than the restraints he’d used on her their first night.
 

He gently sucked on her clit, zigzagging his tongue over that sensitive flesh.

“Mads…I can’t take this.”

He licked her in a long stroke, then lifted his head enough to grin. “Doesn’t look like you got a choice.” He reached up a hand to palm her breast as his tongue entered her. Hope felt her entire body tighten, draw inward. Breathing was an almost impossible task.
 

“If I come like this…ah…oh God…I’ll break your neck.”

The hot puff of his laugh nearly set her off. “Do it. Let’s see what happens.” He turned his attention back to her clit. She hadn’t been aware of him moving his hand from her breast, but when two of his fingers entered her, her control snapped. She cried out and curved around his head. Her heels dug into his sides as she bounced and bucked with abandon. She’d never experienced anything quite like it. In the throes of the orgasm, she felt as if she were flying.
 

When her body calmed down, he slowly lowered her down the wall, back to her feet, holding her until her rubbery limbs turned back to bone and flesh. When she opened her eyes, his wide smile was all she saw. “That was wild,” he said. “We’ve got to do that again.”

He walked backwards, into the room, bringing her with him. When his knees hit the bed, he turned and settled her on it, then went back for his jeans. He fished a few rubbers out of a pocket. He dropped the jeans on the floor and crawled over her on the bed.

“You came prepared.”

“Not prepared. Just wishful thinking. Wasn’t sure how you’d react to me after this afternoon.”

“I’m still mad at you.”

“You should be. Let anger be your friend. It’ll fuel your caution and keep you alive.”

“I don’t believe anything you say now.”

“No?” He braced himself above her body. Leaning down, he nuzzled her neck, kissed her shoulder, the soft skin at the top of her breast. “Nothing? You don’t believe me when I say I can make your body sing?”

“That’s body-to-body communication. It’s hard to fake.”

“Body-to-body, hmm?” He gripped her breast, pointing its succulent flesh at his mouth. “What other types of communication are there?”

“Head-to-head. Heart-to-heart.”

He laid his body over hers, resting on his elbows so that his hands were free to roll her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers. “So you don’t believe what my head says or what my heart feels”—he bucked against her, rocking himself between her legs—“but what my body wants, you don’t doubt.”

Hope gripped Mads’ face. “You talk too much.”

He laughed. Straightening, he was about to cover himself when Hope sat up and took hold of his cock. Leaning over, she touched her tongue to the blunt crown, circling it. When she looked up at him, he was watching her with flared nostrils, an intent frown between his brows.

She took him in her mouth, turning her head sideways to fit his apadravya. His piercing made it difficult to take much of him in, so she focused on the area around his thick head, stroking it with her tongue, sucking him, stroking with her hand the length of him she couldn’t fit in her mouth.

Max groaned and rocked against her mouth, then stopped abruptly, afraid of chipping her teeth. “Wait. That feels too fucking good.” He slipped his fingers in her mouth, spreading her jaws, easing himself from her wet torture. He pulled the rubber over himself, then looked down at her, thinking of all the delicious ways he could take her.

He set a hand on her shoulder and pushed her back against the mattress. She didn’t stay flat, however. Instead, she braced herself on her elbows and watched as he fitted himself to her opening. He pushed forward, letting his apadravya rub against her hypersensitive G-spot. She folded her knees, bracing her legs on the mattress. He rocked into her, then slipped almost all the way out.
 

He had to fight the urge to slam all the way forward, or his time with Hope would be over too fast. He leaned his weight down over her body, supporting himself on his elbows as he looked into her face. She watched him with her big brown eyes, her gaze mesmerizing. He’d so rarely seen a true blond with eyes like hers. He kissed her mouth, letting himself slip inside of her a little more. No matter what it took, he wasn’t going to give in to his own release until she’d come at least once more.
 

Maybe even another dozen times.
 

He bent his head, resting his face against her neck and shoulder, feeling her jerk forward with his thrusts. He reached for her hand where it rested on his shoulder. He kissed her wrist, then threaded his fingers with hers. Still she watched him, her eyes so intent he wondered if she could see the shadows he kept hidden.
 

He changed his rhythm, pulling out all the way, then pushing in, then thrusting deep. Hope grabbed his face and kissed him as she climaxed. Her legs wrapped around him and her hands gripped his back. Her nails dug into his shoulders. And like that, he lost his control, jerking with the force of his release.

When he came to himself again, he was relieved to hear she was breathing as hard as he was. He rolled them to the side, staying inside of her. He held her in the circle of his arms, waiting for her to push away from him, dreading the moment she’d leave his side.

But she didn’t. Instead, she nestled closer to him, laying her cheek against his pec and running her hand through the hair of his chest. He was happy to hold her for as long as she wished. He kissed her forehead, stroked her back.
 

She touched the inside of his upper arm, as she had last night, feeling his scars. Three of them. Thick and wide. Jesus, he hoped she didn’t become the fourth line.
 

He didn’t want to think about that, so instead, he touched her face. “You are an amazing woman, Hope. Full of contrasts and surprises. A helluva mechanic, but with manicured nails. A civilian woman brave enough to face three groups of warriors—the WKB, Lion’s pride, and my team. A blond with brown eyes.” He looked into those eyes now. “I wish, I hope, when this is over, that we can continue exploring…us.”

"Will it ever be over?"

He touched her cheek. "Yes. Yes, it will."

Her stomach growled, interrupting their conversation. He laughed and put a hand on her soft belly. “I forgot to feed you.”

She set her hands over his. “I am hungry. Are you?”

“Mm-hmm.” He pulled her closer and kissed her shoulder. “For you. For fettuccini and chicken. And more you.”

She laughed and leaned away. “Are you ever satisfied?”

He slipped free from her body and rolled to his back. No. He never was. He’d never had an endless supply of a woman he wanted, never went to sleep with a woman he wanted to wake up with the next morning.
 

Until Hope. And she would never be his forever one. Not unless he could get her and her brother through the coming trouble unscathed.

He got off the bed and went into the bathroom to dispose of the rubber and use the facilities. His phone beeped when he came back into the room. He picked it up in time to catch the disappearing text from Greer.
Put your comm on.