Page 29 of Delta: Retribution

He slammed into her, deep and destructive. Orgasm built while she clung to his body. His name moaned out of her mouth. The sound of flesh slapping flesh in the humid bathroom, mixed with the intensity of his body pushing into hers, pushed her over the edge. She came hard, climaxing and feeling the ripple of her internal muscles coaxing him to come with her.

He did, straining. Groaning. Pinning her to the wall, calling her name into her ear, catching her earlobe between his teeth.

Their labored breaths tangled into a lip-lock. She went lax, and he held her off the ground, letting her stay in his protective hold.

“You should know.” His face inched away. “I’ve fallen for you too.”

***

Trace pinched his eyes closed, loving the weight of her body in his arms. “But I’m a lost cause.”

Her face fell, and he wanted to kick himself. But it was the truth. Doing right by her meant not leading her on.

“I really am sorry, Mar. It’s just… I’m damaged goods.”

She laughed. The sarcastic bite echoed in the bathroom. “Unreal.”

“What?”

Pushing out of his arms, she wrapped herself in a purple robe that looked as soft as she did. “If it’s not one extreme, it’s the other. My dad always said no one would stoop to the level of being with me. That I’m not worthy. I’m really sick of people defining me, making my decisions for me.”

“I’m not making a decision for you.”

“No. You’re just telling me what’s not an option. Same difference.”

He dropped his head back, staring at the ceiling and feeling like a dick. “Look…”

“I’m looking.” She brushed her hair and stared at him in a misty mirror. The nonchalance killed him. “Let me tell you about me. I made up a fake name because I was working on a classified project, and I had no idea what else to do to keep myself safe.” She shrugged. “I mean, I could walk around with a gun.”

“You own a gun?”

“No.”

“I don’t get it.”

She slumped against the sink. “I wrote a paper on biological weapons that was picked up by a journal. Some super special government person saw it and sweet-talked me into working with them. Made me feel so… smart. They capitalized on it. On me. The whole thing scares me. Before I was taken, I could see how I was vulnerable. They didn’t care. No one cared. Except my stupid father, who laughed and said my intelligence would kill me. He said that I was weak.”

A boulder cropped up in his throat. “I’d never call you weak.”

“But you do call me fairy-tale names because I—”

He shook his head. “Because you leave me when I least want you to.”

She shrank in on herself. “I don’t believe you.”

“That’s your problem.”

She scowled at him in the mirror.

He continued, “I think you’re trying so hard to fix what your dad thought about you, to convince yourself that you’re strong, that you failed to realize you kick ass.”

Marlena scoffed. “Now who’s crazy?”

“Why did you go to my hotel room in Germany?”

Her brow furrowed. “Because you’re hot.”

That made him smile, but it wasn’t the truth. At least, not the whole truth. “Tell me.”

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