Page 16 of He Is Jensen: Part One

Chapter eleven

Layla

Finally, I’m fully dressed,pulling my clothing on under the towel until I’m able to toss it aside. I dry my hair to a silky sheet, and it’s clean for what feels like the first time in days when it’s only been a single day—I think, I hope. It’s really hard to know at this point.

I find Jensen at the kitchen table with files piled on the surface, one open in front of him. The moment he realizes my presence, he’s standing, shirtless, and all kinds of gorgeous. The man’s body is stunning—a work of art, a masterpiece of science—with defined muscle and rippling abs. And he was between my legs, licking me, his fingers inside me. My cheeks heat with the idea of it and with the reality of it. I barely know him, and all I could think about was him inside me.

I still am.

What is going on with me?

Is it the drug or just a lifeline addiction that reaches beyond ICE to him?

“Feel better?”

“Yes,” I say. “I felt dirty for all kinds of reasons.” Realizing how that sounds, I quickly hold up my hands. “All about them, not you. And—cancer.” That confession falls from my lips without the intention of actually speaking the words. “Sorry. I just—”

“Don’t say you’re sorry,” he says, rounding the table and closing the space between us, and it’s telling that I feel no need to back away. In fact, I’m on fire, anticipating his touch.

His hands settle on my shoulders, warm with a mix of comfort and intimacy that steals my breath. “It’s gone. I can feel it. I can see it when I look at you.”

I swallow hard, emotions burrowing deep and threatening to erupt. “You could see the cancer in me?” My voice cracks.

“I didn’t realize it until now, but yes. You were dying.”

“I think I still am. It’s just hidden behind a temporary cure.”

“You don’t know that. The serum wasn’t temporary for me. This might not be temporary for you. Either way, it’s a curse and a gift, baby. And you might have the chance to find a cure for cancer.” His thumb strokes my cheek, his eyes tender. “There’s a lot of data in those files. I’ll leave you to them and go shower.” He pulls me close and kisses me. “Now I feel dirty,” he says. “I have no blood on me. I really don’t want to know who had their fucking hands on me to clean me up.” He releases me and says, “Lord, help me if it was, Tad.”

I laugh and say, “He is rather obsessed with you.”

“Don’t even say that shit, baby. You’ll make me scrub my skin off.” He steps around me and heads into the bathroom, but he doesn’t shut the door.

By the time I’m at the table, sitting down and eyeing a stack of files, the shower is on, and I’m imagining him in there naked. I’m in so much trouble right now, but the part that involves Jensen might actually be rather exciting. The rest of the trouble—well, that might just get us both killed. It probably will, but if I can somehow help innocent people in the process, I will.

I start reading.

Chapter twelve

Layla

I’m buried in reading,lost in research, incredulous over the risks that have been taken with alien organisms, but no less enthralled by what I’m reading when I realize that Jensen is sitting across from me. “Hey,” I say softly, noting the stretch of his black tee over his impressive chest and the way his damp hair highlights his striking cheekbones.

And when my eyes meet his, my lips part in shock at the blackness of his eyes, which weren’t black before but rather green. “Oh, my God. Your eyes…”

“I took out the contacts I had on to shower and saw no reason to put them back in.” He slides a file in front of me. “GETCHs have black eyes to everyone but their mates.”

“Mates?”

“Yes. It’s not a well-understood process, but it’s a bit like permanent marriage, with Mother Nature making the choice, and less important than ICE right now. We wear contacts to blend in with humans.”

“Humans,” I say softly. “You really don’t consider yourself human?”

“I’m not human anymore, Layla, and one of the reasons I left out my contacts is so you know this.”

“I think…Does everyone here have black eyes? But I was too sick and drugged to realize it?”

“They do. And I think it’s important I remind them I’m not human. I’m not easily pushed around. And I won’t let anything happen to you.”

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