LustAfterDeath Read online

  Josie watched him with an expression so admiring Bane’s chest hurt. “You’re beautiful.” She smoothed her hands up his legs and then to his belly.

  “You might not want to…”

  Her fingertips passed through the puddle of cum, and she lifted it to her mouth. Bane gulped at the sensuality of her lips closing over her glistening finger.

  Her face pinched. Her nose wrinkled.

  He chuckled, though he tried to pass it off as a cough. “Oh babe, I’m pretty sure it’s an acquired taste.”

  * * * * *

  A light shone down a long tunnel. Adam opened his eyes and saw orbs, white and blinding, suspended overhead. He tried to raise his head, but straps held him down. He thrashed and realized he’d been tied to a gurney.

  “Relax, Adam,” a woman’s voice whispered in his ear. “Your chip is re-integrating your old personality. So smart of you to keep it on file for us.”

  Images bombarded his mind like an avalanche. The surface beneath him rocked and shook as he responded to the onslaught. The heads of several men appeared in his line of sight, their eyes glazed.

  His mind flashed on a single image, Josie. Her hair and eyes were so dark they were almost black, and her skin was white like milk. She belonged to him. Someone had stolen her away

  “Good boy,” the female’s voice crooned. He felt the straps loosen on his thighs and hips then the weight on his chest was released. A hand fell on his shoulder and the men moved away. A face swept before him, that of a tiny cherub with harsh eyes.

  “Welcome to Synaviv. I’m Ana.” Images clicked through his mind of a group, a network, all connected and working together, and this tiny female at the helm.

  He opened his mouth to speak, but his tongue felt dry and hung limp in his mouth. The sound that came out was, “Laaarg.”

  More gentle pats landed on his shoulder, though none of the hands he felt were Ana’s. It was as if she touched him through the lifeless men. “There, there. Rest for now. We’ll need your help soon.”

  His thoughts skimmed to a man, blond and gaunt. He was the one who stole her.

  The female laughed. “That’s Bane Connor you’re seeing.” Adam would have lifted his head to see her better, but he couldn’t move. “You’re going to help us find him.”

  * * * * *

  Josie woke to the sound of Bane shouting. Blood and dead bodies flashed in her mind. She shook him until he convulsed and the pictures stopped scrolling.

  He flinched, wild and panicked. When he saw her, Bane scurried backward to the edge of the tent.

  “Are you okay?” She spoke in low tones, as she might to a frightened wild animal. In the low morning light Josie noticed the dark circles under his eyes.

  He combed a hand through his rumpled hair. “Yeah, babe.” He chuckled, but Josie heard the nerves in his breath. “Just a bad dream.”

  “Does that happen a lot?”

  “Eh, sometimes.” His shoulder hitched and he wiped a hand across his face and nose and Josie wondered if there’d been wetness there. “But not for much longer,” he muttered. He took a deep breath and lay back down next to her in the dark.

  Josie inched closer to him, not leaving the safety of her sleeping bag. In slow increments, Bane seemed to relax. He yawned and rolled over a few times, but gave up when it seemed neither of them would fall back asleep.

  After a few more minutes, Bane unzipped his sleeping bag and pressed his legs out long and his arms wide, filling the tight space in an ostentatiously male display. A smug smile played on his face, and he looped a hand behind her waist and tugged her half on top of him.

  Her fingers twined through the crinkly hair on his chest. Sparks of heat lit inside her. She breathed in his musky, wild smell and allowed her eyes to trace the scars along his torso down to where they ended right above his shorts. The material there tented and she skimmed her finger along the protuberance, knowing what male flesh lay beneath. Josie smiled a secret smile against the skin of his shoulder. “What’s it called?” She blushed and hid her face.

  His body bounced beneath hers as he laughed. “Um, you mean…” He raised his head to look down his body at the pole holding up his shorts. She nodded against his arm and he reached to tuck into a different angle.

  More bouncing, though this time his chuckle seemed nervous. “Well, the official word is penis, I guess. Though most people say cock, or dick… Or trouser snake, one-eyed monster.”

  Josie thought about the expressions at her disposal and lifted her head a bit to regard his groin. His underwear jerked as if it noticed her staring. She placed a hand atop it, petting it. She would call it his cock. That was the term that seemed to slide easiest from his tongue. Still, Josie couldn’t quite imagine saying it aloud. Her leg wrapped over his and she squeezed his thigh between hers.

  “Ah, babe.” He rolled onto his side and nipped at her lips, then kissed her with a soft assurance that made her giddy.

  She rubbed her core on the firm muscles of his thigh and tightened her grip on his…cock until he swelled thicker in her hand. “Do you want to try doing that thing you thought about?”

  His lips nuzzled down her neck, then over her collarbone and to her breast. Through her shirt, he took her nipple into his mouth and drew on it in a sucking motion. Pleasure coursed through her, making her melt. The space between her legs thrummed with anticipation.

  “Which thing?” he asked against her taut bud, and then pinched it between his teeth. Josie’s back arched and she wondered how she would ever bring herself to leave the tent.

  “You know!” She gave him a teasing nudge.

  Bane rolled on top of her, so that his hips settled into the cradle of hers. He curled his body, surging his cloth-covered groin into her bare one. The rough pressure felt exquisite, and Josie tilted her hips, inviting him to rub harder.

  He plucked her bottom lip between his teeth and suckled it. “How about this?” A stream of pictures flitted through her mind—Bane and her naked and entwined, face-to-face, her lips parted as she gasped at climax.

  Josie nodded.

  “You are so hot.” Bane’s laughter rumbled low in his chest.

  She smiled up at him and ran her hands along his ribs. Her legs wrapped around his lower back. “So are you.” She lifted her head and pressed her lips to his chest, then ran her tongue over his flat, pink nipple. His sharp inhalation told her he liked it, so she lapped at him again, giggling when he tensed in her arms.

  Bane ducked his head to her chest and licked her back, a teasing smile playing on those shapely lips. Her fingers stroked higher on his sides, into the fluffy, light-brown splay of fur under his arms. He wrestled her arms away and grasped both her wrists into one of his hands.

  A grin stretched across his face, wide open like a sun-filled sky. “And now I have you at my mercy,” he growled, right before snaking his fingertips under her arms and tickling her until she screamed with laughter.

  Chapter Seven

  Josie rubbed her breasts against him and kicked her legs. He weakened his hold, letting her think she was winning, so that she rolled over on top of him and straddled his thighs. She wiggled her hips on his, smiling with her victory.

  Cupping a hand behind her head to protect her skull, Bane flipped Josie onto her back. Then he wrestled her face down and gripped her forearms in his hand above her head. Bane spread his knees, one on either side of her buttocks. Then he swept her hair across her creamy nape and nuzzled where her jumping muscles met her shoulder.

  Josie sighed. She lifted her hips and wiggled on his cock with absolutely no fear.

  A picture flashed in Bane’s mind of Josie taking him doggy-style. It was like something he would fantasize, but re-imagined from her point of view. He hadn’t realized their mental communication worked both ways. A knot rose in his throat. He wanted more—more of her thoughts, her pictures, the things she thought about when she got turned-on.

  With a hand under one of her hips, Bane shifted Josie onto her back. He
pressed a line of kisses down her body, starting below her breast and over the slight swell of her belly to nuzzle the curls at her groin.

  His tongue darted out and she angled up to meet him, spreading her legs like a flower blooming. She threw her arms over her head and arched her back. Her tiny feet pressed between his shoulder blades.

  Bane flattened his tongue at her opening and swiped a path to her clitoris. He didn’t know which reward was greater—the fragrance of her lust exploding around him, or the sound of her shouting his name like a conquering hero. Colors and images danced in his mind and he knew they streamed from her. He pressed two fingers close together and spread her in a firm push. She shuddered and screamed and he felt her orgasm as if it were his own.

  Bane shoved his boxers to his ankles. His underwear still hanging from one foot, he crawled up the length of her body, nipping every bit of skin he could find. He’d vowed to tell Frank to insert something in his post-wipe programming about finding Josie and worshipping her with every ounce of his wholesome-and-new self.

  His lips met her mouth right as his cock found her center. Bane kissed her deep as his tip nudged at her opening. She shifted and moaned, making it near impossible for him to resist shoving forward, but he penetrated slowly. Chest hard against hers, he pushed only so far before retreating. Her shouts hitched in her chest every time he bore into her, and at his every retreat, she dug her heels into the back of his thighs.

  Josie’s senses and thoughts bombarded his consciousness. Her legs and hips dragged him deep, her arms tugged at his neck, urging him to plunder her mouth with his tongue.

  He streamed pictures and ideas back to her, and Josie’s breath quickened with every shared thought. His body undulated within her without his conscious direction.

  They panted in time, into each others’ mouths, and at some point his eyes opened to watch her. Her glassy gaze peered back, held him captive. He lifted her up in his arms, so that her behind rested on his thighs. His hands cupped the swells of her rear end and he fed into her, slow and deep.

  Josie screamed at the first spasm of release, and his body clenched in response. Bane answered each grip of her climax with a skyward thrust and a shout of his own. Her body wrung out his orgasm and they clutched each other and shouted in time until they collapsed onto their pallet, his cock still shooting long jets into her warm, waiting depths.

  Josie’s every nerve tingled where she touched Bane’s skin, and her soft internal places quivered against his hardness. She pressed a kiss to his trembling lips. When Bane lifted his body from hers, Josie cupped his face in her hands. “I like you so much.” She felt a shy blush climb her cheeks. “You’re a much better husband than Adam.”

  He chuckled above her, each bounce of his body tickling and bringing forth her own giggles. Bane shifted so he slipped from her center, breaking the connection between them. “I should hope so.” His lips curved into a smile, melting her heart. He pecked a kiss on her nose. Then Bane rolled onto his back and tugged Josie into his side.

  Tendrils of worry wove through her, though she wasn’t sure why. Josie pressed her cheek into his damp skin.

  “And when we get back, I’ll tell Frank to put something in our new programming to hint we should get together.” He kissed her forehead, and then breathed the scent of her hair.

  Doubts and irritation niggled at her buoyant mood, that sense of unease growing. “What do you mean?”

  Bane spoke into her neck as he continued to nuzzle. “Well, if he programs us too tightly we’ll fight it. I’ve seen that before. Everyone resists commands.” He planted a long smooch on her shoulder. “Especially you.”

  A gust of wind rolled over the tent, sending a chill through their little cave and setting the tiny hairs on her arms on end. Suddenly hyperaware of her nakedness, Josie pulled away. “What if I don’t want to get re-programmed?”

  Bane lifted himself to sitting and, with a hand at her rib cage, tried to shift her onto his lap, but Josie scooted back to sit cross-legged facing him. Feeling dampness creep from her center, she scanned around the tent looking for something with which to clean herself. Embarrassment and hurt mixed in a pungent cocktail, and hot wetness filled her eyes.

  “Listen.” Bane handed her a wad of tissues from his pack. “Maybe I should have mentioned this before, but I’m undergoing a re-set when we get back too.” His eyes held sympathy, but not a smidge of the understanding she wanted. “You won’t be the only one.”

  Her hand swiping between her legs, Josie pinned him with her stare. “Why would you do that?”

  He scooted back a fraction. “It’s a long story. But I’ve planned this for a long time. I need it.” He looked away, like he didn’t want to meet her eyes. “I’ve been needing it for a long time.”

  Bane eased forward and smiled—that darn sympathy clogging his handsome features. “You’ll have to teach me everything we just did all over again,” he teased as he reached for her upper arm. “I hope I’m a fast learner.”

  Josie jerked away from his touch. “No.” She looked around the tent, anywhere but at him.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his arms go up as he gestured. “I’ll be better. A better person. I’ll be the type of guy you deserve.”

  Josie pinched her eyes closed on her tears. Without meeting his stare, she pulled his t-shirt over her head and shoved her feet in his oversized boots. “I need to pee.”

  He didn’t reply as she opened the tent’s flap and climbed out into the cool morning air. She stalked a distance into the woods, feeling as though metal poured into her spine. Josie stood taller, her chin lifting. She would get this re-program Bane kept talking about. And she would ask this Frank guy to program her never to speak to new Bane. Not ever.

  And he could waste away missing her.

  Her head so filled with anger-fueled power, Josie didn’t hear the footsteps until it was too late. Arms like steel bands wrapped around her from behind, and Josie lurched forward. A familiar scent filled her nostrils, slightly sour, and a voice spoke in her ear. “Come with me, Josie.”

  She stilled in Adam’s arms. Fear screamed through her sinews. Adam steadied her with his hands on her shoulders, and then spun her around. His black gaze bore into hers, drinking her in with an expression she knew to be love.

  Chapter Eight

  Bane crashed through the branches, barking into the phone. “Dammit, Q, you couldn’t have told me this sooner?” He slung a rifle across his back and clutched a revolver in his other hand.

  “I didn’t intercept the message ’til this morning. And hey—why weren’t you watching? You should have seen them coming.”

  Bane considered calling him a whiny little bitch, but Q was right. He should have been out protecting Josie, not fucking her. “Whatever. I’ll take them out soon enough.” He clicked the phone shut and leapt over a fallen log. He hoped Josie wouldn’t get too scared when she got back to the tent and he wasn’t there. He crossed the hilltop and from the vantage point at the crest of the island he saw a forty-two-foot speedboat docked directly behind his Sea Sport.

  He hid behind a tree to assess the scene, listening for footsteps and hearing none. Josie’s voice met his ears.

  “Bane?” She didn’t sound scared, only sad.

  He crouched low, and stepped in the direction of the sound. “You okay, babe? Where are you?” He spoke quietly to calm her, hoping she wouldn’t leap out at him or shout.

  “Right here, Bane.” The voice sounded a little farther away, and he hurried toward it. She might not know enough to tell his location.

  “Just stay where you are.” He walked a few more steps, and Josie came around the edge of a Douglas fir.

  He crossed to her and tucked her body into his side. “We’ve got to get out of here.” His eyes scanned the perimeter and he planned the best vantage points to pick off the Synaviv operatives.

  Josie touched his face, her lip quivering. “Why do you want to leave me?” Her face accused him of all kinds of wron
g.

  Mouth open, Bane stared at her before swallowing and clearing his throat. “It’s not that I don’t…”

  The metallic click of cocking guns filled the clearing, and Bane’s head snapped up to find five Synaviv operatives surrounding them. His hand snaked around his hip to his holster. “When I tell you to…run.”

  “I doubt she will.” Adam walked out from behind a tree, all greasy hair, too-thick glasses and simpering smile. “Josie, come here, please.” Bane felt bile rise in his throat as he watched Josie toddle in her maker’s direction.

  A chorus of cold hands wrapped around Bane’s arms, pulling them behind his back. His gaze never left Josie as her wooden walk drew her away. When she reached her maker’s side, she turned and observed him, tears overflowing her black-brown eyes.

  * * * * *

  The motorboat launched over the water, bouncing on the tops of waves. Droplets of salt water stung Josie’s eyes. She tried to hold still so as to not brush her leg into Bane’s. She hadn’t looked him in the eye since Adam and the others loaded them in the back of the boat, but Josie knew he was angry. The muscles of his thigh looked bunched under his pant leg.

  “Bane, I…”

  He shook his head. “Hey, I know,” he whispered low enough that the motor’s noise covered his voice. “You weren’t in control. I shouldn’t have let you go off like that.” He finished by observing her with sympathetic eyes.

  The feeling started as a ping, some discomfort she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Josie watched the waves, the gray sky bouncing in her field of vision. Her fists clenched on her knees. “I was… You were…” She racked her mind for the right words, sifting through the dictionary full of vocabulary planted by Adam. Then she switched to the universe of words she’d learned from Bane. “You were a stupid fuck.”

  Josie saw his stifled laugh and felt her anger billow until it felt as if it would overflow her body. “We…” She wasn’t sure how to describe it. “And then you…”