Page 90 of Gates of Rapture
Grace’s brows rose.“HalfGreaves’s force?”
Leto nodded.“I just can’t seem to figure out a way to fold that many troops to safety without Greaves knowing.”
Grace wanted to help.It was a simple as that.She stared at her mug, wondering if obsidian flame could be of use to Leto.She had thought her involvement in the war would somehow mean physical battle.Yet as she sipped and pondered, her thoughts turned to Thorne and his aides bent over the grid tracking the enemy’s movements; to Marcus launching web PR all over the world about the attack on the Seattle Colony; to Leto’s training of the colonial militia.
Overt battle was only one facet of war preparation.Right now, the logistics of how to move a million warriors had become the focus.
He rounded the island, setting his cup down as he drew near.He sat on the stool next to her and rubbed his fingers over her arm.She could feel what that felt like to him, the softness of her skin beneath his fingers.She sighed again.And she felt grateful.
“You are a hard thinker, Grace.Even the muscles of your cheeks feel tense.”
She met his gaze and touched his face with her hands.He’d shaved, and his skin felt so smooth.She could feel how warm her fingers felt to him.“I’ve always been this way.You need to know that about me.I think about everything.”
“No problem,” he said, searching her eyes.“Just try not to shut me out.”
She frowned.“What do you mean?”She set her cup on the island and shifted toward him, one knee between his legs.
He tapped her forehead with his index finger.“Here.I suspect when you think this hard you believe you’ve spoken aloud, but you haven’t.”
“Oh.You may be right.”
“So…”
She blinked, and once more felt her brow furrow.Enlightenment dawned, however slowly.“I should share more.”Maybe that was part of her ghost ways: Her life was internal, and she rarely communicated her thoughts with anyone.
“Please.”But his eyes were lit with laughter so she did the only thing that made sense.She leaned into him and kissed him on the lips.As she drew back, he followed and captured her mouth, kissing her back and catching her around the waist.
She could feel his body light up.How quickly his maleness responded to touch, to sensation, to his tongue deep in her mouth.And because she could feel the pleasure riding him so quickly, she melted against him.In a way, his pleasure had become hers.
I feel your nipples against my chest and my chest against your nipples.This is so strange.Wonderful, but strange.
She drew back and planted a hand on his chest.How quickly sex could fire up between them.She kept her hand firmly in place and at the same time set up a quick succession of blocks to stop from feeling all that his body experienced.
“I’m feeling you very low,” he said.“How your body responds to me.”
“Hush,” she whispered.
“What’s wrong?”This time he frowned.
“Leto, I could so easily fall back into bed with you, but for the last hour I’ve been thinking about the doe that I saw on the villa lawn this morning.”
“You have?”
“Yes, because the moment I saw her, that was all I could see.She’s not the usual desert sight, a deer out in the open.I kept watching, completely distracted from everything.”Her obsidian flame power vibrated from deep in the earth.
Leto gasped and even looked down at the floor.“I don’t know if it’s because you have your hand on my chest, but I can feel that.”
She smiled.“I think it means I’m on the right track.”Chills chased up and down her arms.“I have an idea that might be exactly what’s needed.It would put pressure on Greaves on several fronts at the same time.”
He overlaid her hand with his own.His lips curved.“What’s on your mind?”
“Remember how, in Moscow Two, Greaves tried to have a military review?”
“Yes.Thorne and the Warriors of the Blood stopped it right in the middle.”
Grace nodded.“What if we had something similar, only featuring obsidian flame, a large very flamboyant spectacle event.We could demonstrate the triad’s power, we would give Marcus another PR tool for holding on to Endelle’s High Administrators… and… we could do some serious folding.”
His eyes widened.“The doe on the lawn.”
