Her pretty brown eyes sparkled, and a light flush covered her high cheekbones.
Deke gripped her harder, sheathed to the root, feeling as close to heaven as he’d ever get. “I won’t let you down,” he said softly, leaning over to brush his mouth across hers. Soft as petals, her lips opened under his, taking him. This petite woman had owned his heart since he was sixteen years old and a newcomer to her country, and she’d never given it back.
He pulled out and gently worked his way back inside her. Where he belonged.
She gasped, and her thighs trembled around his hips. He grinned and leaned down to suck one pink nipple into his mouth. Her curves had filled out in the years they’d been apart, but during the last few weeks, she’d lost weight from stress. As her husband, he’d do a much better job of taking care of her this time.
Steam rose around them in a cocoon of intimacy.
He licked down her shoulder and over her breasts again. The second he scraped a nipple, she rippled around his dick. His groan mingled with hers. She clasped him tighter with her legs, and he slid out and then back in. Harder this time.
Sharp nails scraped his chest, and sparks lit his balls.
There were so many things he needed to say to her, so many decisions to be made. But at the heart of it all was right now. He wanted the night, and he needed to make her his. For good this time, no matter what the future held. They’d been married, and while he’d aroused her by promising a consummation, the primal male deep inside him wanted that union. Proof that they were man and wife.
Her eyelids fluttered closed, and her head rested back on the tile. “Deacan,” she moaned.
The sound torpedoed right to his heart, blowing it wide open. For her. He thrust harder, holding her up, tilting her pelvis to take more of him. He’d tried. God, he’d tried to be somebody else. To have a quiet life and be a quiet man.
That was over, and he figured they both knew it. Even so, the words would come later.
Now he fully intended to claim her and go deep enough she’d never be free of him.
Electricity burned down his spine. He released her hair to flatten a hand against the tile by her head, hammering inside her, his mind blanking. Only here and now mattered. Only this woman forever.
Little ripples cascaded inside her, milking him. He pounded faster, and her body arched against his. She opened her mouth and cried out his name, vibrations moving through her to grab his cock and hold on tight.
He shoved hard, holding her to him, and exploded.
Chapter Fourteen
Morning light filled the office at the CDC, and Nora readjusted her weight on the chair and bit back a wince. The previous night had been wild, and they’d certainly consummated their marriage.
Three times. Enough that the soreness extended to places inside her she hadn’t realized could become sore.
Yet they hadn’t talked. The night had overcome them, and they’d run with it, finally succumbing to sleep. Deke had been called to the office early in the morning to update the White House, and he’d dropped her off at the CDC labs, which were nearly in lockdown.
Experts milled around the building, ranging from CDC health workers to FBI agents to MPD. The CDC was about to hold a press conference and announce the truth, finally.
At the moment, as they tried to contain the infection, the world seemed to be holding its breath.
Whether it knew it or not.
She glanced at the newest printout on her desk. Several of Zach’s local victims, including the first one, Mandy, had died from Scorpius. Her shoulders slumped.
Nora’s phone buzzed, and she picked it up. “Yes?”
“Nora? It’s Bobbi.”
Nora sighed. She’d taken over for Lynne as the head of infectious diseases and had left Bobbi in the lab cataloging results. “Hi, Bobbi. Have you finished with the new samples?” The test results from the previous week were dismal, so she’d kept systematically trying different methods and different materials for the nanoparticles. They’d also tried using several different catalysts to get antibiotics through Scorpius’s protein shell, and the results should be ready soon.
“Um, yeah, but well, we have a problem.”
Nora lifted her head. “Defineproblem.”
“Two vials of altered Scorpius, the new green strain, are gone. No record, no transfer . . . nothing.”
Nora’s breath caught. “I’ll be right there.” She hung up.
