Elite Metal-ARE-epub (81 page)

“I’ve seen all of them and I can’t let any of it touch you.”

Chapter Eight

She sat up on her bed, the moon shining through the window and leaned her head down on her knees. Rose’s head wouldn’t turn off. She was safe, free to leave if she wanted. Yet, she hadn’t lied to Elijah when she’d told him she didn’t want to leave him.

Maybe her conflict made her sick in the head

Stupid, foolish heart
.

Only now things made sense. The parts of Eli’s life which had always been distant—the bad dreams which were rare and potent, the insomnia which was much more common, the
I’m never going to talk about my past
attitude—all of it could finally be reconciled.

As she’d fallen in love with him she’d known deep in her heart there were going to be things she needed to learn about him before there could be a real future. Of course, she’d been in such la-la land in love she’d shoved it away from her day-to-day thoughts.

All of it made sense, at least to a point. She might never really understand it only she could try to work with the fact she finally understood the truth. He was a hero and given his proclamation about the threat after her having been eliminated she assumed he killed the person responsible.

How did a person live with taking another life when they were all alone in the dark?

She knew the answer to her own question. When he’d been with her, Elijah Jones, also known as Platinum, and apparently another name too, hadn’t slept very much at all. And when he did he endured nightmares.

She jumped to her feet and in a few seconds got dressed to make her way to his room. Kent was asleep down the hall from his father. The child was sleeping a lot. His behavior was probably normal. She needed to remember to ask about the psychologists. They’d find him some help. Funny, how she was already putting herself into his plan.

Rose really had no idea if Eli wanted her in his life that way or not. He’d not told her either way. In all the time he’d stood in front of her and told her about the things in the world which were frightening and scary, he’d never once said anything about how he felt about her.

Well, other than the remark about being tied up, which made her a lot hotter and bothered than it should considering she was determined not to be.

She scurried toward his room and knocked gently on the door.

“Yep.” He called out and she paused for half-a-second before she entered. There would be no going back after she did this. Her hand shook and she stepped through the doorway anyway. Being scared never worked for her.

Eli stared at her for a moment. “You okay?”

“No.” She spoke quickly, determined to only tell him the truth. “I’m not.”

He lay on the bed, his legs crossed in front of him. Eli wore only dark green pajama pants leaving him shirtless. She took a moment to stop and look at him. Undressed there were some obvious changes in him.

Elijah had always been fit. Lean and muscular. He’d run more daily than any other person she knew who wasn’t training for an Iron Man or a marathon. He looked more bulked up, as if he lifted weights.

“What’s wrong?” He raised his eyebrows in a questioning manner.

“You, Platinum.” Hell, she might go crazy changing around names. It all amounted to the confusing male sitting in his bed looking delicious and frustrating at the same time.

Caution be damned, she was still in love with the enigma of a man.

“What about me specifically?” He still hadn’t moved, he’d definitely gotten into the not-moving zone he frequented. It wasn’t as confusing as it used to be. When he got still, it was because he was a predator, ready to pounce if need be.

“I can’t pull you out of my head.” She cleared her throat. “Mostly because all the reasons why I shouldn’t be withstanding, I’m still in love with you. And so I need to find out, if leaving me to go save the world for me, changed your heart. You never did tell me you loved me. I thought you might have. I guess I’m asking you, Elijah should I stay or go and finally move on?”

And somehow she would. If all he wanted to do was tie her up because he liked to do so, she would take the new identity they told her she needed since she’d been compromised and she’d move on. They must need teachers wherever they relocated her. That part didn’t even frighten her. She had survived getting chased by a sniper. It had taught her she would always land on her feet.  It would take years to get over him and probably ten pounds put on from ice cream. Still, she would do it.
Somehow
.

“Am I in love with you?” He moved, rising to his knees and edging to the end of the bed, close enough she could feel the heat from his body. “Are you kidding?”

“No.” She grabbed a pillow and whacked him with it. “Can you answer? Outside of running for my life, coming in here tonight is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

“I’m so in love with you every bone in my body hurts when I’m away from you for too long. You’re on my mind the second I wake up and I fall asleep thinking of you. I love you so much I did something I’ve never considered doing before today so on the off chance you ever let me touch you again, I wouldn’t have torture on my hands.” He stood up and backed her up until she pressed against the wall. Her heart beat so fast it might explode. “I can never undo what happened. I have to earn your trust again. Don’t go. Let me show you I can be there for you.”

She threw her arms around him and he caught her, pulling her legs off the floor. Their lips fused together. She didn’t know who kissed who first just he was devouring her and she loved every single fucking moment of it. His hands roamed her body.

Rose didn’t fool herself. Tonight wasn’t going to make everything okay between them, not by a long shot. The heat between them was going to explode. She needed it and after his multiple confessions to her, it seemed he was in the same bad way.

Denying it only postponed what they both needed, each other.

He pulled back, letting her body slide down the front of his. She could feel his hard cock as she traveled the length of him until she hit the floor. Her mouth watered and Eli took her cheeks in his hands.

“Do you remember your signals?” They’d always talked about a safe word. Only, she’d liked the red, yellow, green directions. Since she hadn’t wanted to change it up, he hadn’t made her. They’d always stayed with their street light instructions.

“Not likely to forget them. I see them every time I’m in the car.”

He stroked his thumb down the side of her face. “You’re funny.”

“I know.” When he moved his finger over her mouth, she nipped it lightly and he hissed, which quickly turned into a groan and a hard press of his hips against her own. Moisture pooled on her panties. Yes...

Her body tingled with anticipation. “Do you have your rope?”

“What do you think?” He leaned in to kiss her again and she loved the way his mouth gentled against hers. She might never grasp exactly how much power he contained inside of him. All she could be sure about was the way his hands would never harm her.

Maybe she shouldn’t ask the question, it would spoil the mood. Only she didn’t want to keep things to herself anymore. They’d lived enough of those days. “Anyone else had those ropes around them since you took them from me?”

He stopped where he’d been making love to her neck. She missed the warmth even if she didn’t regret the question. “I hate you needed to ask me.”

“Not an answer.”

Elijah breathed against her neck. “No one. I can’t think about anyone else. Imagining you is the only way I can jerk off and still then it’s completely dissatisfying.”

“Well, that was vivid.”

He laughed and she felt it all the way to her toes. “You did ask.”

“True. I’m going to. I’m going to want answers.”

“Unless something is classified, I’ll always make sure you understand what’s going on.”

She supposed his response constituted the best she could ask for. “Fair enough.”

“What about you? Do I need to kill some bastard for having his hands on what is mine?”

“I think you’re only half kidding.”

“Sweetheart,” he held her gaze in his, “I’m not kidding at all.”

“
No one
.” And she’d never been so glad to be able to answer in the negative and really mean it.

He walked away from her to the closet and came back holding a purple rope. It had been her favorite, he’d bought it because she said she liked the color. The Eli she’d known was always doing things to make her happy.

Without a word, he took off her shirt, followed by her bra. Although his eyes gazed down for a moment with heat at her naked breasts, his attention was unsurprisingly elsewhere.

“Give me your wrists.”

She did as he asked and extended her hands in the way he’d shown her many times. He folded the rope in half. It had always impressed her how meticulous he became when he handled the rope.

“You’re so careful with it.”

“No.” He shook his head not looking at her when he spoke. “I’m careful with you. The more I pay attention the surer I can be you’re fine. You trust me.” He raised his eyes. “Don’t you? Color?”

They hadn’t done anything yet except look at the rope. “Green, tough guy, green.”

He smirked. “Good.”

Elijah continued on with his work, wrapping the rope around her wrist, twisting and turning it as if he was a man who knew what he was doing. She knew for a fact he did. He’d twisted it three times before he pulled it in the opposite direction to secure the rope.

His hands moved steadily. Was this way he handled his sniper rifle? Come to think of it she’d never watched him do anything he hadn’t completely invested in. Even making spaghetti.

Her man finally knotted it. She was fully secured. A calmness, she’d forgotten happened when he tied her, filled her up. Her toes tingled and she let herself take a deep breath.

“Color?”

She looked up at her face. He’d gone unreadable. Was he nervous? “Green, Eli.”

“Good.” He tugged her with the remaining length of the rope, bringing her over to the bed.

“Lay down, sweetheart. And close your eyes.”

As he’d instructed, she did. He finished undressing her and then she heard him removing his own clothing. It was weird laying there on his bed with her eyes closed. He’d not asked her to before.

Her face must have betrayed something she thought because he questioned her. “Color?”

“Green although I’ve never particularly liked anticipation.”

“Then I won’t make you wait any longer.” He kissed the top of her knee cap and she shivered. Who knew she was sensitive there? Well, Elijah apparently. “Usually when I tie up your hands, I strap them up to the headboard. I think we’ll try something else tonight.”

“Oh?”

“Good girl, keeping your eyes closed.”

She smiled. “You know me, I love to be compliant.”

“Sure. Ha.”

She shook her head. “Sarcasm, Elijah. It doesn’t become you.”

“Open your eyes.” She lifted lids. He lay on the bed next to her, completely naked in his masculine glory.

“You’re so muscular.”

He shrugged, showing off a muscle set. “Lots of sexual frustration. I’ve been spending a lot of time at the gym.”

With her hands tied by the wrists, she didn’t have motion with them even though her hands were free. She let herself touch his pecs. “Lots of hard work.”

“Climb on top of me, sweetheart.”

“What?” Did she miss a set of instructions because she’d been so preoccupied looking at the way his body looked sculpted?

Elijah put his hands under his head. “You. On top.”

“We’ve never done it with me on top.”

“I know.”

Her hands were tied, yet she could still move them. He wanted her to be on top? “What’s going on?”

“Trust.”

“Oh, I see.” She felt she actually did. Elijah was never out of control and this time he was giving it to her.

She reached him with her hands and although it was challenging with them tied, she stroked his hard cock. He groaned and closed his eyes. Knowing the chance to stroke him was a rarity she let herself indulge in it for a while. His hardness lengthened more and her mouth watered.

Eli opened an eye. “I’d really love to come inside of you. Too much more of any of your gentle torture and I’m going to be over before it gets really going.”

“How do you like the rope rubbing against you?”

“Seeing you in it is my kink. On my own skin, it’s an extension to how I feel about you.”

His words made sense. “Elijah?”

“Yes, sweetheart.”

He always asked her. It would be her turn. “Color?”

“Green, my Rose. Totally green.”

“Good.”

She climbed on top of him and rubbed his bare cock against the outside of her pussy. Shivers travelled through her but she wasn’t on the pill and they weren’t going to go there. “Condom?”

He leaned forward and grabbed a condom off the side table. In a few seconds he had himself sheathed.

With exquisite torture in mind, she moved over him slowly until she’d put him deep inside of her, balls to tip. “You’re going to kill me. Aren’t you?”

“Would be a great way to die.”

She moved, inch by inch until he was almost out of her, then she pressed back down. His hips danced with hers and before she knew it they’d started their hot caresses with his cock hitting her clit with each stroke sending pleasure surging through her body. He’d said it wouldn’t take much for him and she could feel him lengthening inside of her.

“Shit, baby. So good.” His words sounded strained. She looked down at his sweet face, the one she’d thought she’d lost forever, to see the muscles in his strong neck clenching.

Elijah was hanging on by a thread. She knew the feeling. Maybe it was seconds, or perhaps hours went by, and finally she came in a surge of heat and wetness as she never had before.

He called out her name, his hips rising and falling in a spasm of movement which extended her own pleasure further.

She collapsed on top of him and as the passion cooled, the tears she hadn’t known she held back fell from her eyes. Rose couldn’t have stopped them if she tried. Elijah wrapped his arms around her curled his body around hers in a protection of love and security. In seconds, he’d taken off the rope.