Page 6 of Too Guarded to Love (Project VIPER #3)

N ic held his breath as he waited for Olivia to make the next move. Surprise and something stronger he couldn’t define had flashed in her eyes when she’d noticed his arm. Awe had struck her speechless.

Most women squealed and giggled when they noticed his futuristic accessory.

“Oh my God, are you a superhero?” kinds of questions usually followed.

But something he couldn’t identify parted Olivia’s lips as she stood inches from him, motionless and silent, her coastal-blue gaze as charged as the electricity zapping between them.

“What do you want me to be? Tell me.”

She didn’t flinch at his command. He never employed that tone with a woman, no matter how dominant she asked him to be. But he’d never met a real-life mermaid with a siren’s song strong enough to lure him from the depths of misery and into a scalding sea of arousal.

“Quiet.” She touched a finger to his lips. “I want you to be quiet.”

Nic opened his mouth. No words came out. He always had a charming comeback for anything a gorgeous woman said, but not tonight.

He searched Olivia’s freckled features for any hint of coyness.

Blatant curiosity, as charged as the air between them, zapped from her eyes.

If she wanted silence, he’d indulge her.

No flirting. No teasing. No making the first move.

If he could help her gain some sense of control after her tumultuous experience, he’d let her lead now that he’d gotten her to safety.

And then send her and her shadows safely on their way.

With a nod, as if she understood his thoughts, she extended her hand toward his wrist. The retreating storm rumbled a distant goodbye.

Fascination and curiosity crackled through her gaze as she stilled her graceful fingers centimeters from his steel.

She cocked her head, her wild curls highlighted by the fire, as if to ask permission to touch him.

He nodded.

Biting her lip, she reached for his hand and turned it palm up as she drew him closer to the flames.

The firelight lapped at her skin, the contrast against the dark shine of his arm stark and surreal.

With sure, firm strokes, she traced the joints in each finger, flexing each one as she moved from one digit to the next. “Incredible.”

Yeah, the power and capabilities built into his bionic arm were fucking fantastic. So was the reverence in her voice and her steady, almost clinical, touch that seemed to appreciate, if not fully comprehend, the technological magic VIPER engineered into him.

Her fingers pressed into his wrist where his pulse didn’t beat. A low sigh brushed from his lips. Thanks to “voodoo magic,” as Kane’s fiancée called the technology networked through their bodies, he could sense firm pressure from her touch and warmth radiating from her skin.

She continued her exploration up his forearm. “You can feel that.”

It wasn’t a question. He didn’t answer, but his soft sigh confirmed her assessment.

He didn’t have a problem with flaunting his enhancements to catch a woman’s attention, but he closely guarded the story about how he’d lost his arm and leg.

He’d mastered the art of deflecting inquiries with humor and charm to control a situation.

The ability wasn’t just handy. It was a survival skill he’d honed to an asset.

The less of him he gave, the easier to protect himself.

Holding his breath, he watched her face as she cradled his elbow and flexed it like Patience did when she examined him back at headquarters. VIPER’s lead surgeon was gorgeous and funny, but she’d never sent warm tingles zipping up and down his arm.

Olivia continued her proficient exploration up his bicep. “What is this made of?”

If she were any other woman, he’d say something like, “That’s classified, baby, but if you’re good, I’ll show you something even more exciting.”

Instead of a one-liner to redirect her toward his God-given flesh, he watched the play of emotions on her face.

With every inch she studied, speculations about what procedures and techniques were used to attach his arm to his shoulder flowed from her heart-shaped lips in staccato phrases.

Curiosity and wonder, along with challenge, rang in her voice, like she’d been presented with a jigsaw puzzle and didn’t want help fitting the pieces together.

“This is…” Dipping her head, she leaned in for a closer look at the spot where his skin and bone merged with VIPER-made steel. “It’s miraculous, but God, it must have been agony.”

His memories from the day of the ambush took a time-out. The constant ache in his shoulder soothed under her warm breath. Her throaty praise and the brush of her breasts against his arm blazed a path to his cock. Gritting his teeth, he bit back a curse and clung to his restraint.

He never expected her to lead him here. And he never expected to relinquish this much control. He controlled situations. In the bedroom. On the battlefield, and everywhere in between. Right now, he’d let her lead him into the fire if it meant she’d continue exploring every inch of his body.

She touched the tattoo that camouflaged the scarring on his shoulder. With slow strokes of her fingertips, she traced the ink bleeding into his steel.

“It’s the same, isn’t it?” She nudged his arm closer to the firelight. “The tattoo and the pattern on your arm. Both a network of hexagons.”

He nodded, afraid if he spoke, let alone pulled her against his chest, the spell she’d woven around them would crash like a tidal wave.

“It’s brilliant.” She trailed her fingers up his neck and lightly touched his pulse point, as if reassuring herself he was human and not some otherworldly creature. “Simply incredible.”

The charms on her bracelet chimed a magnetic song in his ears.

He wasn’t sure if her amazement was for the surgeons who put him back together or for the man they’d made him into.

He hoped it was both. If VIPER hadn’t recruited him, he’d be as lost as he’d been in foster care.

Except this time, he’d not only be minus an arm and a leg, but the program that had saved his life.

If Olivia didn’t move her hand from his steel to his flesh, he wouldn’t survive another moment. Her brief touches were like the drugs he’d managed to avoid as a teen, yet still had gotten him into trouble. One hit, hell, just a glance, and you were hooked.

One touch from her and he’d be sucked under, yet he couldn’t stop himself from taking a dip.

He wrapped his fingers around hers and guided them to his chest, relishing the scrape of her nails against his skin. She’d said to be quiet, but she hadn’t said anything about action.

As their gazes locked, she pressed her fingers into the VIPER logo tattooed on his chest. He hissed like the snake curled around the triangle that represented past, present, and future.

The something he’d seen in her eyes earlier that he couldn’t define zapped again like a lightning bolt.

For a moment, he swam in her vibrant blue depths until the light brush of her fingers against his skin coaxed him to the surface.

Unlike most women, she didn’t ask why he’d gotten the tattoo.

She just touched it, touched him, like she understood the artwork on his skin embodied the purpose that kept his heart beating.

The urge to answer her questions and then some, simply because she hadn’t asked for explanations, bubbled in his throat.

He swallowed and focused on one purpose.

Stand here and let this beautiful, inquisitive woman examine his body as if he were a supernatural being she’d stumbled upon.

And then she’d be on her way, and she’d be a sweet memory.

She traced the circular snake with the edge of her nail. “Beautiful.”

Chancing action instead of words again, he raised an eyebrow and smirked.

She smiled in answer to his challenge as she placed both palms on his chest.

He cast his eyes down and gently gripped her elbows.

With a small tug, he guided her slender fingers with the pretty pink nail polish matching her sundress over the ridges of his abs.

Satisfaction blasted through his body as she took her time traversing each dip and valley.

His breathing sped up with hers in a natural rhythm.

VIPER instructed them to use caution and discretion when revealing their super limbs to the public.

He’d never met a woman who made him want to deviate from the “look, don’t ask” policy, but the thought of sharing all the parts that made him exceptional soared his adrenaline higher than a helicopter.

With a not-so-gentle push, he guided her hand to his steel thigh.

Her eyes widened. “Oh.”

Her slight twang deepened as she drew out the word. Each nuance she exaggerated pressed his hard cock against his pants.

A look of delight crossed her features, as if she’d uncovered a two-for-one deal at her favorite store. She gripped his waistband. “Let me see.”

The command in her voice rippled through his core.

Slowly, making her wait because he enjoyed the play of emotions in her eyes, he brushed her hand away and obeyed her command.

A log in the hearth cracked behind them.

The fire fizzed as the balance of control shifted.

She tensed, still and silent for the first time since she’d come out of the bathroom.

Pausing, he gripped the elastic waistband of his pants at the juncture where his bionic leg attached to his hip and held his breath.

She grazed his wrist with her fingers. “Please. Show me.”

Sucking in air to calm his rioting body, he yanked his pants to his thighs and pulled his boxers down just enough to reveal what she begged for.

“Thank you.” She lowered herself to her knees.

His gut dropped to the floorboards along with her desperate gratitude as he flung his head back. “ Sirena .”

She spread one hand on his stomach and touched his steel with the other. “Hush.”