just sex when he tilted her back onto the bed and worked his way down her body with soft kisses mixed with softer bites, a combination that made her yank his hair and gasp his name like a curse, especially when he reached his destination.
He told himself it was just sex as he spread her thighs wide and let her ride his tongue, the jerky, desperate lift of her hips providing primal, necessary proof that he held some of the power here. That he could make her writhe and whimper and even beg when he added his fingers and twisted her second orgasm into an abrupt, brutal third, her body clenching wildly as he drove her to the edge of sanity.
He told himself it was just sex when he crawled up her body, indulging himself by lingering over her breasts and licking her nipples until her fingernails broke the skin of his shoulders and her gasps turned to husky, implacable command.
He told himself it was just sex until he was inside her, each thrust a reckless display of enhanced strength that she met with strength of her own. She scratched and bit and wrapped her sleekly muscled limbs around him, reminding him with every moan, every sigh, every whisper for more that she could equal him. Match him. Take him.
When she came around his dick the final time, shuddering, and then closed her teeth over the hammering pulse in his throat with a growl of possession that shot straight to the base of his spine, Knox stopped telling himself it was just sex.
This was heaven and hell. A tormenting glimpse of the life he could have had, the life he could never have now. All because he’d brought her here, to this dump of a town to swim through the grime of his past with betrayal in his heart. He could never deserve the way she softly stroked his cheeks and murmured his name in that pleasure-drunk voice.
He came with a wrenching cry, and the pleasure hurt. Not just because nothing this bad should feel so good. Not just because he knew this should be the last time.
It hurt because in that moment, staring down into her flushed cheeks and tender eyes, his muscles trembling with the strength it took not to collapse into her arms, he realized the truth.
Knox didn’t think he could betray her, after all.
And he had no idea what the fuck he was going to do.
* * *
TECHCORPS PROPRIETARY DATA, L1 SECURITY CLEARANCE
All attempts to replicate 55–312’s resistance to pain have met with failure. We reached the suggested mortality threshold of 80.7 percent this morning. If you wish for the experiments to proceed, I’ll need an administrative override and access to a fresh batch of test subjects.
Recruit Analysis, June 2078
* * *
SIXTEEN
Light had just begun to stream through the cracks in the crooked blinds when Nina slipped out of Knox’s bed. Just like the night before, he stirred, his fists clenching around nothing, but didn’t open his eyes.
He looked so young when he slept. Unguarded, like the world didn’t weigh on him as much. She wanted to sink back into his arms and kiss him awake, keep kissing him as the sun clawed its way into the sky, until necessity and hunger drove them from the bed.
And that was exactly why she had to leave. So she dressed in the darkness and slipped out into the still, misty morning, closing the door silently behind her.
The covered walkway that led to the other wing of the motel was deserted except for the birds that chirped from the nests they’d built in the corners of the awning. Nina surveyed the storm damage as she walked—a few fallen branches, some debris scattered about the cracked parking lot, and leaves stuck to the sides of the cars.
Minimal. Good.
Shivering, she rubbed at her bare arms. The rain had washed away the worst of the oppressive heat, and a cool breeze teased at her hair. Goose bumps rose on her flesh, but she welcomed them. After spending several sweltering days wishing desperately for this respite, she wasn’t about to take it for granted.
When she reached the room she was sharing with her team, Nina dragged the old-fashioned key from her pocket. It stuck in the lock, and she had to finesse it open.
Maya was alone inside, seated on the rumpled covers in her shorts and a bra, her hair still covered by her silk sleeping scarf. She had her legs crossed, her