Being Emerald (11 page)

He was her incentive.

Today she’d gotten an eyeful of the area between his belly button and the waistband of his pants. The skin was tight over defined muscle that came to a luscious vee somewhere underneath the damn clothes he insisted on wearing all the time. The man was ripped. The thought of being able to finally see everything made her stomach dance.

Now he wanted her to not look at it. Yeah, right.

He cleared his throat, capturing her attention, and raised an eyebrow.

When she complied with his wishes, she got an added bonus, his emotion. Pleasure washed over her as his peace and happiness surged. She guessed it had been a long time since he’d experienced those emotions, and she wanted to be the person to give them to him.

With a hand on each of her biceps, he walked her backward into the shower stall. She kept her eyes focused and locked with his as he washed her. The experience was terribly intimate, as if he saw her soul.

When she was clean, he began washing himself.

“Can I do you?” She felt his satisfaction at her question.

“No. Stay with me.” He gave her the eye contact signal again.

She about died when his hands lowered out of her peripheral vision. He was hard. She knew it without having to look directly at it. She just knew.

She realized he had not moved on. His eyes were locked with hers, and he was stroking himself.

“Oh God,” she whispered. Suddenly, she could barely catch her breath.

“Stay with me, peanut,” he repeated. His words were deep, guttural. “You can do this.”

The entire situation sent her reeling. She wanted to beg him for just a glimpse and she was sure he read it in her face.

The seconds were interminable. All she could do was think about what she didn’t have, what she couldn’t do. She was frustrated, provoked, and every cell in her body wanted to defy his command.

“Relax your muscles.”

She consciously made her muscles grow limp.

“Breathe,” he whispered.

She did so, slowly.

In.

Out.

In.

She followed his direction until it wasn’t just their gazes that were connected.
They
were connected. It was as if she’d fallen into his eyes and landed in his soul. Nothing else existed. She opened herself fully to his feelings. Warmth and affection, happiness, love—they were all there. They overwhelmed her.

Moved her.

Aroused her.

Never had she wanted to freeze a moment and live there forever, until then. This feeling of being plugged into him filled her up, made her whole. It was bliss.

She experienced his release through their connection. His feelings rushed at her, only arousing her more.

She heard herself gasp and saw the change in his gaze. The moment was broken, but it was an experience she wanted more of. It filled up all the empty Swiss cheese holes formed by the loneliness she’d experienced in the last five years. Alleviated the anger left by prejudice. Eased the regret.

The experience was intense and profound. The rest of their shower was a blur. And when it was over, the disconnect between them weighed down her mood. She was quiet, pensive for the rest of the evening. What amazed her most was that he let her be that way, as if he knew she needed it. Maybe because he needed it, too.

At bedtime, they lay holding hands, their heads on the bed where their feet should be, taking in the moon and the vast landscape of stars through the high windows that met the vaulted ceiling.

Laila snuggled close, putting her head on his chest. His chest hair tickled her cheek and the tip of her nose caressed his sternum as he swept his fingers through her hair, letting it fall to her back when he got to the ends.

She peered up at him. His eyes were closed. He was content tonight, almost light. She felt the same. Playfully, she opened and closed her eyes in rapid succession, fluttering her eyelashes against his pectoral, trying to tickle him. He chuckled.

She did it again.

“Laila.” This time, there was a clear warning in his tone. He pulled her in tight so her eyelashes smooshed against his chest.

“What’s the matter? Afraid if you have fun I won’t think you’re Superman?”

“I’m fun,” he muttered.

She giggled.

Rock loosened his bear hug and tilted his head to meet her gaze. “What?”

“Rock Rodgers. Sorta sounds like the name of a super hero.”

He flashed a wry expression. “Okay, Laila Lewis.”

“What?”

“You don’t see the similarity between Laila Lewis and Lois Lane?”

“Who’s Lois Lane?”

“She’s—”

Laila flashed her brightest smile at him. “I’m teasing you, Superman.”

While they snuggled in silence, Rock resumed his caresses through her hair, starting at her scalp. The tips of his fingers touched the back of her head and neck, and ticklish sensations zinged down her spine.

It was fun, teasing him. She wondered how far she could go before he cracked.

Laila adjusted her position, peeked her tongue through her lips and licked a damp trail on his neck.

“Would you quit? You’re making me crazy,” he rumbled.

“Sorry,” The whispered sentiment was disingenuous, and still she moved her hands daringly over his skin.

“Laila.”

She looked up at his face, trying to make a connection and gauge his mood. He showed her nothing, but she felt his arousal mingling with hers.

She ran the pad of her index finger over the ultra-fine hairs that were like peach-fuzz on the outer shell of his ear.

He hissed in a breath.

She suppressed a giggle then scooted up his body a little. His face was expressionless. But he wasn’t fooling her. He was hard, and just to make her point, she leaned into him, pressing his cock into the softness of her belly.

“Laila.”

“Okay, okay. I’m going to sleep now.” She could barely say the words with a straight face as she slithered over him in order to lay her head on her pillow. She flashed her most evil smile as her body rubbed suggestively against him.

“That’s it.” He swatted her ass, his big hand connecting with the bare skin below the hem of her panties. Then, quite quickly, he wrapped his arms around her, pinning her arms at her sides. In a quick roll and turn, he was spooned behind her. “Go to sleep.”

She wiggled her ass against his groin. “Why not?”

“You haven’t earned it.”

She wiggled again and the play atmosphere between them shifted.

He moved fast, rolled her onto her belly, going with her, until his weight pressed her into the mattress. His hard-on was wedged obscenely between them, and his lips landed next to her ear.

“Listen up, sugar. You’re trying to open a can of worms that’s been closed for a long time. Let me be clear. I’ll watch your pretty little ass. And, I’ll like doin’ it. And yes, I’m an Amber and I’ll never turn you away when you need to be held or taken care of, and I’ll keep you safe from everyone.

“But, peanut, have you stopped to ask yourself who’s going to keep you safe from me?”

A shiver ran down her spine as wisps of air from his words hit the back of her neck.

“I am not a gentle lover. I’m rough and demanding with my women. It’s not for everyone. You need to think long and hard on that. I need both of us to be doubly sure we want to go down this road because once we’ve started the journey, turning back is not an option.”

He tucked her tightly into him. “Now, go to sleep.”

She had a hard time trying to ignore the raging hard-on pressed against her rear. This ban on fucking was pissing her off. She didn’t understand. “Is this about Journey? Are you not fucking me because you’re hung up on her?”

“No.”

God she hated his one-word answers. “Then tell me why. I deserve to know.”

“I told you. You haven’t earned it.”

“I have to earn sex?”

“Goodnight, Laila.”

She humphed, knowing she wouldn’t get anything more out of him. “Goodnight.”

When she rounded a corner inside the main building of OZ and face-planted right into Rock’s chest, Laila’s adrenaline spiked. She hadn’t held her position as told, and she’d almost been caught tucked away in a dark corner with Garret.

With no time to hide her fluster, Rock asked her what she’d been doing.

“Uh, nothing.” He eyed her, then took two steps and looked around the corner in the direction she’d come.

His expression didn’t change as he took in the view.. She opened herself to him. His emotional grid didn’t explode. Garret wasn’t standing there anymore, but her relief was short lived. Rock was suspicious and examined her pupils and breathing, as if with x-ray eyes. His anger intensified, and the energy it took to control his emotions made his eyes glitter. There was no doubt in Laila’s mind Rock knew she’d just lied to his face, and as if to confirm, his anger expanded. As he stood there, suspicions growing, his anger hemorrhaged, boiled, bombarding her with his wrath.

He wrapped his hand around her forearm and her ability to feel his fury doubled. Her own gasp took her by surprise.

“What’s happening?”

“You’re so angry.” Trying to gain some distance between herself and the storm swirling around him, Laila caught another breath and stepped away from him.

His expression mellowed. His anger diminished “I would never hurt you, Laila.”

She swallowed through a dry throat, uneasy about the trajectory of their current conversation. “I know.”

“Then why are you trying to get away from me?”

She felt the blood drain from her cheeks. This was as good an opening as she’d get to tell him everything. The realization had her spooked. Her heart thumped hard as she gulped air. She had to tell him her secret. She’d wanted to tell him. But here? She looked around to make sure they were alone.

“What are you afraid of?”

This is it. Do it now.

He stepped closer, and she stepped back.

She’d never told a soul her secret. So many times, she’d wanted to tell someone. As a child, growing up in the Amber Zone, surrounded by love and acceptance, she’d never sensed the perpetual dangers inherent to New Atlanta. The terrifying stories her mother told to deter her from chatting about her ability to anyone who’d listen worked especially well, even all these years later. She’d be taken away. She’d be an experiment in the Gov’s genetic labs. Her life as she knew it would be gone. Those constant reminders were enough for Laila to never tell a soul.

“What the fuck am I missing here?” Rock’s tone was grim.

She looked around again. “Nothing,” she lied. Another one he saw through.

He dragged her to his truck, tucked her into the passenger seat and stormed to the driver’s side. She jumped when he slammed the driver’s door. “What is going on?” he asked as he pulled out of his space.

Stalling, thinking, she licked her chapped lips. “I’ve been meaning to tell you. It’s just—” Covering her face with her hands, she shook her head. “I’ve never told a soul. And I’m not sure I can,” she said, more to herself than to him.

He waited silently, proving himself to be exceptional at gauging when to push her and when not to.

Finally she lowered her hands and glanced at him.

“Do it like a Band-Aid. Just let it rip.” He didn’t look at her, somehow knowing she was a reflex away from bolting out of the moving vehicle. “You have to know by now, your secret’s safe with me.” His seemingly calm demeanor didn’t match the chaotic feelings brewing beneath the surface.

She took a deep, calming breath and let it fly. “I’m an empath. I feel what others are feeling.”

Rock’s mask faltered as he drilled her with a look of disbelief then returned his gaze to the road. His hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly, his knuckles were white. He shook his head, a slow motion that highlighted his speechlessness.

“Say something.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed. Now, it was Rock who stalled. “I knew someone else who had the same gift. She kept it a secret, too.”

Dread crept up her spine. “
Had
the same gift?”

“She’s dead now.”

Laila watched the nearly deserted streets of the Emerald Zone whiz by while she digested the ominous information. She knew the answer to her next question but asked it anyway. “Did the Gov get her?”

“Yes.” He raked his hand through his hair. “In a way.”

“How?”

He remained silent, shaking his head. An undertone of sadness permeated the air. “She talked about it with me. I think I was the only person other than her parents who knew. She said it was all about vibrations. That some people are sensitive enough to pick up the vibration a person’s emotions give off.” He had a far-off look. “She said we clicked because our vibrations liked each other.” He cleared his throat. “Said it was akin to having chemistry.” He frowned. “You’ve kept this from me all this time?”

* * * *

He was sick, unsteady in his own skin, and headed home instead of returning to OZ. He considered calling it a day, but the weeks were passing quickly, and they didn’t live in a world safe enough for him to allow that to happen. He’d continue with his plan for the evening despite the fact everything seemed different after Laila’s revelation. What were the odds he’d be paired with another woman who had the same gift as Emily? Miniscule. It unsettled him, roused his suspicions.

She waited on the edge of the tub while he walked over to the shower stall and turned on the water.

He’d been anxious to see how she would react to tonight’s change. He peeled her clothes off and widened her stance. His attention was colored by his anger and doubt. It was ironic the lesson he’d planned for them this afternoon would crumble more of the personal barriers remaining between them.

“Rock, I—”

“Shh.” He put a finger to her lips. She stood, her face raised toward him, rapt, waiting for his next command. His heart softened and cock hardened simultaneously. If Laila was a trap, then let him be trapped. The noose was already tight around his neck.

He looked into her enormous brown eyes and a revelation hit like a comet falling to earth, shaking up his whole existence. He was absolutely and utterly in love. He brushed her hair away from her face and smoothed his thumb over her lush lower lip.