Page 70 of Run

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Every muscle in Elle’s body coiled tight under the barrage of sensation racing through it. Her fingers grasped handfuls of David’s hair; whether to keep him in place or pull him away, she didn’t know. It was too much pleasure. Her head spun, and her breaths were little more than desperate gasps for air. She was about to scream. She knew it, and she couldn’t stop it.

But she had to. She had to be quiet. She didn’t want her team rushing in to save her from this. And she didn’t want them to turn something precious to her into teasing jokes.

“I can’t,” she gasped. “I can’t keep quiet. I’m going to scream. David?”

His magical ministrations halted. “Use the pillow.”

Blank. Her mind was blank. Nothing he said made sense. Suddenly, a pillow appeared on her chest, and her arms wrapped around it.

“Scream into the pillow,” he told her before kissing her belly and then moving lower.

Her hands grasped fists of pillow as he licked and nibbled and teased. Too much. It was all too much. Her thighs clenched; only David’s hold kept them apart. Her back bowed. Her neck arched. She brought the pillow to her mouth and bit it hard as she screamed into it.

The world was an explosion of color and light. Elle’s limbs shook with the strain of release as her insides clenched to the point of pain. Over. And over. And over. Until she thought it might never pass—this wonderful, torturous, long agony of pleasure that held her in its grip.

The room spun and shifted. The pillow fell to her side. Through a daze of ecstasy, she felt hands and lips caressing her body. Her bra loosened and slid down her arms. Warm hands massaged her breasts before lips followed their path.

A deep voice whispered words to her in a language she didn’t understand, yet hearing it made her soul ache. Elle floated in the aftermath of her climax, her body boneless as David stroked and kissed it. Each touch felt like a word. Joining together to make long, beautiful sentences that spoke of adoration, caring, and possibly of love.

She reveled in his touch. Soaking it up like a desert flower straining for rain. It seeped into her, renewing the dry, dark areas she kept hidden, acting as a balm to her wounds of grief and loss. Making her feel whole for the first time in her life.

As though he had all the time in the world, David lavished her with sensation after sensation, driving her body out of languid satiation and into rabid need. There were no demands this time, no teasing words. She was lost in a maelstrom of sensual intent, where thought and speech were unimportant. All that mattered was what they could express with their hands, their mouths, and their bodies. It was a sensual dance. Bodies entwined. Moving together until it was difficult to tell where one ended and the other began.

Slick and ready, Elle lifted her hips in wanton invitation and wasn’t denied. As the warm, hard length of his shaft slowly entered her, she wrapped her arms tight around him and clutched him to her. She gasped as he filled her. Seeking his mouth in a desperate kiss. Breathing in each other’s desire as he rocked his body against hers.

Her small frame tight against him, her mind swimming in pleasure, she let him take her to the precipice of release. And as they fell together, all Elle could think was,So this is love.

Spent and breathless, David toppled to her side and held her close. They lay there, tangled limbs and sweat-slick bodies, petting each other with the gentle caresses of a couple still drugged from lovemaking. It wasn’t long before Elle fell asleep, lying as close to David as she could get.

* * *

The next time Elle woke,she found herself draped across David’s chest, her ear pressed to the steady beat of his heart. The small clock on the dresser told her it was still before dawn, and the silence of the house told her the team had yet to wake. As was so often the case, as soon as her eyes opened, her brain started working. And this time, it wasn’t dulled with the fog of grief.

Thoughts swam through her mind, floating to the top in no particular pattern or order. David’s touch whisking her away from everything. Abasi’s goodbye. The care and support of her friends, her team. Marcus lying bloody and discarded on the steps of Benson Security. David holding her while she wept. Ryan feeding her junk food. Abasi giving her his necklace…

Elle rode the waves of emotion that accompanied each memory, embracing both agony and joy, knowing they were all evidence that she lived when Marcus couldn’t. It was a bittersweet agony, having felt like she’d gotten him back after saying goodbye so very long ago. She wished they’d had more time together, but truth be told, she wasn’t sure she’d have liked what she found if they had.

The brother she’d known as a child had morphed into a man capable of horrendous acts. She wasn’t naïve. Her brother hadn’t grown into a good man. Nor had he been evil. Perhaps he’d just been cornered, trying to make the best of the only options available, clinging on to what honor he had left by protecting his sister. She’d never know why he hadn’t escaped from his life when he was able. There had to have been plenty of opportunities over the years. Maybe he’d truly believed he needed to be close to Tommy to save her. Or maybe he’d become so entrenched in the darkness that he couldn’t see a way out.

Either way, one thing she knew for certain, her brother had loved her, and he’d died to protect her.

As the faint glow of the orange streetlights cast soft shadows over the characterless bedroom, her eyes fell on the necklace Abasi had given her. Dog tags. Military identification. Strange, when neither Abasi nor Marcus had ever been in the armed forces. She stretched out her hand to hook the chain and brought the tags closer.

There was no engraving. They were nothing more than two blank metallic rectangles with rounded corners. She held a tag between thumb and forefinger; it was thicker than she’d expected. Running her finger along the edge, she felt an indentation.

Her heart jumped.

Very carefully, Elle pressed the tip of her fingernail into the indentation and pushed—and a concealed flash drive connection popped out of the bottom of the tag.

Holy Hidden Data, Batman!

David rumbled beneath her as she examined the hidden flash drive.

“Sleep,” he grumbled.

“Bathroom,” she replied, pressing a kiss to his jaw before climbing over him and out of bed.