He watched the lace drop to the carpet, realized he couldn't look at her front if he wanted to finish this. "Stay." Gripping her hips until he was sure she understood, he stepped away to look at the graceful curve of her back, but he couldn't look and not touch. He ran one hand down the expanse of skin he intended to kiss inch by inch.

"I was overambitious," he said when she arched toward him. "I don't think I'll be able to explore all of you before my control snaps."

"We can do it again." A shy, sensual glance back at him before she faced forward once more. "As many times as we like."

Vasic's fingers stilled on her skin as he realized the import of her words. Before Ivy, he'd never been given anything he wanted without fighting for it. Most times it had been a stolen moment of peace in a calm place. All with a time limit. This didn't have one.

His eye fell on the gauntlet.

Forcing his mind away from that darkness and to the pleasure of this instant when he was with a woman who denied him nothing, he ran both hands down her sides and around to her front to flick open the b.u.t.ton of her jeans. "Tug down the zipper," he murmured against her ear, nibbling at the curve of it simply because he wanted to.

Ivy moaned, her body soft and warm in the curve of his as she did as he asked. Then, not waiting for his request, she pushed the jeans down her thighs and to the floor. Releasing her so she could tug off the material, he wrapped one arm around her waist again as soon as she finished the task, the fingers of his other hand exploring the tiny bows of yellow ribbon at the sides of her lace panties. There'd been one on her bra, too, he remembered, in the center.

Tugging at a bow, he was disappointed to discover it was only for show. "I'm going to buy you panties with ribbons that unlace." He knew such things existed, had seen them in shop windows and on advertising images.

Ivy's skin turned a silky hot shade that made him want to stroke, kiss, maybe even bite. "You can buy me anything you like," she whispered, melting back into him. "I'll wear it."

Vasic kissed the side of her neck. "You should be careful what you say to a starving man." Biting at her in playful warning when he hadn't known until Ivy that he could play, he luxuriated in her moan.

Then, pulse pounding, he slipped his hand around to her navel and under the lace of her panties to cup her flesh. "I read a book," he said when she jerked. "A s.e.x manual. Actually, I read two, downloaded another three for later." Arrows always did intensive research, and he'd followed up Judd's information with further investigation of his own. "I also watched certain recordings."

"When?" Ivy's voice was high, shocked.

"While you were asleep." He read extremely fast, a natural skill augmented by his Arrow training. "One of the manuals said that for women, s.e.xual pleasure is as much in the mind as in the body. It suggested that the male talk during s.e.x." Vasic didn't really talk except when he had something to say, but when Ivy whimpered, her body going even more damp against his palm, he decided this was a case where talking wasn't only warranted, it'd be foolish not to do it. "I like holding you like this."

Curving his fingers, he cupped her more firmly. "I like feeling you become wetter and hotter and impatient."

Her hands reached back to grasp at his thighs, her breathing harsh.

"According to the manuals, a woman's c.l.i.toris is extremely sensitive and can be caressed in a number of ways." Tightening his arm when she rose on her toes as if to escape his touch before pressing back down, he kissed the side of her throat again. "Apparently, there's also a place inside you that can give you incredible o.r.g.a.s.ms. I'm determined to find it."

b.r.e.a.s.t.s plump and flushed, Ivy reached up and back to clench her hand in his hair. "I didn't know we were supposed to read manuals," she complained, a little pout to her mouth that made him wish he was in front of her. But that would end this before it began, and there were so many things he wanted to do to and with Ivy.

He tilted the heel of his hand to put pressure on her c.l.i.toris. Back bowing, she shuddered. "I'm finding a manual, too," she gasped when the wave pa.s.sed, her eyes closed.

As a result, she missed the fact that they'd ended up in the desert again before he brought them back. "Wait until I can keep us in one place." He was already balanced on a razor-thin wire. If Ivy became expert at how to arouse his body, he'd probably take them into the heart of a volcano. "Do you like this?" He used his finger to circle the sensitive entrance to her body.

Ivy's back arched again, her skin shimmering. When she turned her head and looked up, he knew what she wanted, though she hadn't said a word. Gripping her jaw with his gauntleted hand, he kissed her at the same time that he reinitiated the pressure against her c.l.i.toris with the heel of his other hand. Crying out into the kiss only seconds later, Ivy melted all over his palm, her hands gripping at his upper arms and her eyes fluttering shut.

He watched her body ripple with pleasure, pleasure he'd created in her, and felt the wire snap. Only his protectiveness toward her had him remembering to shunt his energy to the water. Removing his hand from her panties to her murmured complaint, he swept her up in his arms and placed her on the bed.

It took mere seconds to pull off his jeans and underwear, another two to tug off her panties. Crumpling the damp lace in his fist, he knelt between her legs, his eyes on the delicate folds barely hidden by the soft hair at the juncture of her thighs. His mouth watered. Not giving her any warning, he dropped her panties to the bed and dipped his head to lave his tongue over her honeyed flesh.

"Vasic!" Her back lifted off the bed.

Licking one more time, he promised himself he'd return, taste her properly. Right now, he wanted only one thing. He rose up over her body to brace himself on his gauntleted arm, using the fingers of his other hand to brush back her hair. "This will likely hurt." He didn't like the idea, but it was a biological fact they couldn't escape.

Ivy wrapped her legs around his hips. "Love me, let me love you."

He gritted his teeth, guided himself to her, and began to push. She was slick and hot and so tightly stretched around him that he felt he'd rip her open. "Ivy."

Clutching at his shoulders, she gasped, "So . . . you're built in proportion, then."

The unexpected words gave him the breathing room he needed. Kissing her on that sweet, soft, generous mouth, he said, "Unfortunately."

A sensually feminine smile. "I have a feeling that won't be the correct description once we begin to do this on a regular basis."

That was it. Vasic stopped thinking, his only focus on being inside her and on not hurting her. The twin desires pounding within his skull, he moved as slowly as his body would permit, his Arrow training having given him superb muscle control . . . that would've collapsed at the first pulse of her body on his if he hadn't been worried about causing her pain.

Uttering a near-soundless cry, Ivy held on impossibly tighter but didn't ask him to stop.

He did so anyway. "Ivy-"

Her answer was a kiss on his biceps.

His chest feeling as if he had huge metal bellows inside him, pumping out air in great gulps, he dug the hand of his gauntleted arm into the pillow and continued the tortuous forward momentum . . . and then he was buried to the hilt in Ivy.

Tiny nails dug into his flesh, her body tense. "Give me," she breathed out, "a few seconds."

Sweat dripped down Vasic's temples, his jaw painful. Locking his every muscle in place, he tried to decide if this was self-inflicted torture or pleasure. Pleasure, he groaned internally when Ivy's body rippled on his, very definitely pleasure.

Then the woman who held him with such unhidden possessiveness, stroked his cheek. "You can move," she whispered. "I'm getting used to you." She lifted up her hips experimentally against him.

Vasic growled and took her mouth as he pulled out and stroked back in on pure instinct. He knew in the back of his mind that he was supposed to draw this out, make her o.r.g.a.s.m before he did, but rational thought was long gone. His body exploded on the second stroke, his spine arching and the desert shimmering around them, Ivy's arms and legs holding him close in an embrace that said he was home.

Finally, he was home.

a a a IVY had never felt so . . . She didn't have words for it. A silly smile on her face, she rubbed her cheek against the hot silk of Vasic's chest, luxuriating in the feel of him against the length of her, his hand in her hair in a way that had become familiar.

"This room is full of steam."

Ivy had noticed that, tiny beads of water condensing on her skin. But she was far more interested in other matters. Pressing a kiss to his pectoral, she wiggled up his body to look down at him. "So?"

Vasic ran his hand down her spine, back up. His face remained expressionless, but Ivy could feel his emotions with the senses she couldn't turn off, and they made her want to cuddle close and purr like she was a cat being stroked.

"I need to practice."

She giggled at his response, her heart about to burst with the intimacy of what had pa.s.sed between them. The s.e.x had been hot and beautiful and a little messy, and she couldn't wait to do it again. His touch, the feel of him so hard and strong inside her, the heavy weight of him in her arms as he tried to catch his breath, she'd loved it all. "Repet.i.tion, huh?" she teased. "Could get dull."

Silver frost eyes held hers. "Do you think you're in danger of getting bored?"

Ivy pretended to think about it. "Hmm-" She shrieked as they suddenly found themselves in an icy environment, only to blink back into the bedroom the next split second. "I can't believe you did that!"

"I lost control."

"Liar." She poked a finger at his side, delighted with him.

"No comment."

He closed his eyes as she ran her fingers through his hair, his pleasure in the simple touch bone deep. "You going to tell me why those men came for you?" she asked, because much as she wanted to ignore the world and spend the next week naked in bed with him, the world kept shoving itself back into their life.

"They were Ming's men," he told her without opening his eyes. "No emblems on their uniforms, but I recognized them." Lifting his hand, he opened it to show her the pressure injector he must've 'ported in. "It'll need to be tested to be certain, but I recognize the cobalt blue shade of the cartridge. It's Jax; a very high dosage."

Fury was an inferno in Ivy's blood. "b.a.s.t.a.r.d," she said, as Vasic returned the injector to wherever it was stored. "Why is he still alive?" She might hate violence, but she also understood evil on a visceral level, knew that some people found pleasure only in holding cruel power over others.

Vasic's answer made too much sense. "He might be a monster, but that monster is holding Europe together right now."

"What if he comes after you again?" she said, laying her head against his shoulder and nuzzling close so she could draw in the scent of him. "He sent three highly skilled Tks after you-that's serious."

Vasic squeezed her nape. "And all three Tks are now in Arrow custody. Ming knows how to do a cost-benefit a.n.a.lysis, and I've just tipped the scale to the wrong side by depriving him of three senior men."

Ivy nodded, made herself believe. This was Vasic's world, and he understood it far better than she did. "I hate that another man's l.u.s.t for power forced you into violence tonight."

Shifting her onto her back, Vasic caressed his hand down her side. "Before you, I would've handled the situation by withdrawing further into the numb state where nothing really impacted me." A lazy, possessive kiss. "I like working out the tension with a naked Ivy much, much better."

Her lips curved. She believed him; she was the one who was tense with anger right now. Vasic, by contrast, was lazily relaxed. "I so need a manual." Her lover-her lover-was proving to be lethal in a most delicious way. A woman had to have some weapons of her own.

That got her a kiss, his hand petting her breast. She would've melted right into him if she hadn't felt his gauntlet graze her shoulder. "Wait." Pushing at the muscled width of his own shoulders, she said, "What time is it? We have to go see Samuel Rain."

Chapter 51.

Should we stop him?

No. Repair any glitches when he's out of visual range but don't interfere.

Message stream between Haven Maintenance Team and Clara Alvarez SHOWERED AND CHANGED, they arrived at Haven two hours after the time they'd told Clara to expect them. Accepting their apologies with a quiet nod, the manager said, "Well, it appears you woke Samuel up at last."

Ivy caught the glint in the woman's rich brown eyes. "What did he do? Tell you all you were monkeys attempting to run an asylum?"

Ivy could've sworn laughter warmed Clara's gaze, but the manager's voice was even as she said, "No, but he rewired the entire complex in the s.p.a.ce of eight manic hours. We had a backup team checking his work, but they said he'd done things they didn't even know were possible, and we're running at fifty percent increased efficiency when it comes to our power usage."

"Is he still insisting he's brain damaged?" Ivy asked.

A nod. "He may well be right-we can't know if all the systems in his brain are functioning at full capacity. It's only as he attempts to use them that that will become clear." She looked at Ivy and Vasic both. "Please don't get your hopes up. If he senses it, then fails in helping, it could undo all the progress he's made."

"We'll be careful," Ivy promised, her fingers locked with Vasic's.

The first thing Samuel Rain did when they found him in the rose garden was to scowl and say, "Where's the dog?"

Ivy felt her heart clench. Placing one arm around her shoulders, Vasic hugged her close as he answered the engineer. "He was injured and is resting in the care of friends."

With Jaya and Abbot at the hospital, Vasic had left a peacefully sleeping Rabbit under the watchful eye of the Arrows at Central Command. Had Rabbit been healthy and happy, the idea of those deadly men and women taking care of a small, curious dog would've made Ivy smile, but right now, all she felt was a deep worry.

"Injured?" Samuel narrowed his eyes at Vasic. "Is he healing?"

"Yes. He'll make a full recovery."

Ivy knew the statement was as much for her as for Samuel. Holding the truth of it to her heart, she said, "Clara told us you've made some improvements to the complex."

"Yes. Come on." The engineer rubbed his hands.

They spent the next hour on a tour of the facility's power system. Samuel Rain didn't even glance at the gauntlet. Frustration gnawed at Ivy, but she held her silence. She could sense Samuel now, and below the excitement at his accomplishment was a bone-deep fear-as if the hard crust of a lake in winter had been sheared off to reveal the liquid beneath. It made her heart hurt.

The engineer, she realized, was aware enough to understand that he might not like what he found if he pushed himself. But he was far stronger than she'd guessed, because right at the end, while he was closing a maintenance panel, he said, "I need the prototype gauntlet the imbeciles who worked on you used to test the connections."

Vasic lifted his arm as the other man turned to face them. "This is the prototype."

Ivy thought Samuel Rain's head was going to explode. Literally tearing at his hair, he said, "Why didn't you just walk into a butcher's shop and have them hack you up?"

"Stop it," Ivy said, having had enough. "You don't get to talk to him like that."

Staring at her through his spectacles, the engineer said, "Are you doing something to me?"

"No."

Suspicion writ large on his features. "I wasn't like this before."

Ivy had the feeling Samuel Rain had always been high-strung and outside Silence, his genius intellect such that he'd been given a pa.s.s from the authorities-until one of the Councilors had apparently decided to make an example of him. Right after Rain turned down a job offer from the Councilor in question.

Aden had unearthed that fact yesterday. It was simply more evidence of the ugly hypocrisy and self-interest hidden in Silence, Ivy thought as she folded her arms and said, "I don't care if you dance naked at midnight, as long as you help Vasic."

A roll of his eyes. "It's cold at midnight," Rain said with exaggerated patience. "If I planned to dance naked in winter, I'd do it at noon."

Then he left, telling them not to follow.

Growling low in her throat, Ivy lifted her hands and made a squeezing motion. "I want to strangle him."

Vasic pressed a kiss to the top of her head, the affectionate act making her toes curl. "He's right, you know," he said, while she fought not to make a big deal of something that was a big deal. "The implant team should've never grafted the only prototype. I'll have to find the most detailed simulation files we have and send them to him."

"I don't care if he's right." She scowled. "No one is allowed to treat you that way." Hauling him down with her hands fisted in his jacket, she kissed him with all the pa.s.sion in her heart. His hand rose to cup her face, his body hardening against hers.

When their lips parted, she looked around to find he'd teleported them back to the apartment. "We should've told Clara we were leaving," she whispered, far more interested in shaping Vasic's chest with her hands.

He raised the gauntlet, tapped in a short message. "I've sent her a notification."

Arousal fading, she touched her hand to the carapace, slick and hard. "You'll miss it, won't you?" It was a fact she hadn't considered until now. "It's truly become a part of you."

He lifted both hands to her face, stroking her hair behind her ears. "I'll adapt. No piece of technology is worth losing time with you." Continuing to hold her face, he said, "You're sad, Ivy."

She went to protest, but he shook his head, said, "I'm not an empath, but I know you. You enjoyed the s.e.x-"