Opposition (Lux #5)(18)
Author: J. Lynn

“I think trusting anyone makes us all a little crazy.”

I watched him move around the room, stopping in front of the dresser and inspecting what was inside, then moving to the desk. He raised a hand and rubbed his fingers through the mess of dark brown waves. Each step was filled with strain.

Knowing that his thoughts must be with his sister, I felt an ache in my chest for him. I knew how it felt to lose someone who was actually still around. Not an hour went by that I didn’t think of my mom. “We’ll get Dee back. I don’t know how yet, but we will.”

He slowly lowered his hand, but his shoulders tensed as he turned to me. “If we really are safe here, you’d leave this to go into a nest of vipers to get my sister out?”

“Do you really have to ask that question? You know I would.”

Daemon walked to where I sat. “I wouldn’t want you to put yourself in danger.”

“I’m sure as hell not staying behind if you run off to go find her.”

One side of his lips kicked up, and it was amazing how a simple half smile could twist my insides. “I didn’t think you would, and I wouldn’t leave you here. Where I go, you go, and vice versa. You’re not getting rid of me for any length of time that easily.”

“Glad we actually agree on that.” Not too long ago, Daemon would’ve tried to shelter me, but I think he’d learned that didn’t work out very well.

This was the first time in days that we were together and could speak openly with each other, and as I watched him, I knew there was something beyond his sister on his mind. With as many things as we had to stress over, it would be like looking for an apple in a pile of apples.

“What?” I asked.

Our gazes collided and held, and I drew in an unsteady breath. Those emerald eyes, which were such a bright, unreal green, never failed to catch my attention. Daemon was beautiful in a way that didn’t seem possible, but that beauty ran deep, beyond the skin that really wasn’t his true form, and into the very core of his being. When I first met him, I hadn’t believed that. Now I knew better.

His thick lashes lowered. “Just thinking about what Nancy said about the serum—about us.”

“About us not being connected like we thought we were?”

“Yeah.”

“This is good, though.” I smiled when he looked up. I didn’t know what to think, other than that our lives really not being joined together had to be good news and that it didn’t change anything between us. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m ticked that Nancy lied to us, that she tested something so volatile on me, but it’s . . . it’s okay. I know I can kick some butt and tap into the Source, but you are stronger than me. I’m the weaker—”

“You’re not weak, Kitten. You’ve never been weak, before or after the mutation.”

“Thanks for that, but you know what I mean. Let’s be realistic. I’m a liability to an extent when it comes to fighting. I can only go for so long before I tucker out. You really don’t.”

“I get it.” He thrust his hands through his hair again, frowning.

I searched his face. “Then, what?”

“It’s just that . . .” Daemon knelt down in front of me, his brows knitting together. He reached out and draped his hands over my knees. “It’s just that since the moment I realized what healing you meant, or what I thought it meant, I never thought I’d face a day without you. That I’d never have to worry about going on if you weren’t there. And I’m not trying to make this into some kind of Romeo and Juliet bullshit, but now I know there’s a chance of that and it . . . it f**king terrifies me, Kat. It really does.”

I blinked back a sudden rush of tears as I cupped his cheeks. The slight stubble tickled my thumbs. “The idea of you not being there terrifies me, too.”

He leaned in and pressed his forehead against mine. “I know it’s good news, and I know it’s stupid. I should be more scared of dying in general than not, but—”

“I know.” I closed my eyes and pressed my lips against his. “Let’s just not die on each other, okay?”

Daemon’s chuckle teased my lips. “I like that plan.”

“You won’t let anything happen to me,” I told him, resting my hands on his shoulders as I drew back. “And I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“That’s my Kitten,” he murmured as he looked me over. “Speaking of not letting anything happen, how are you feeling?”

“Tired. Some sugar would be nice.” For some reason, eating sugar helped after using the Source. It always reminded me of Harry Potter.

“I’ll make sure Archer grabs some of that when he comes back.” He stood and then climbed on the bed so he was sitting behind me. “But for now . . .”

He grabbed my h*ps and tugged me back against his chest.

“What are you doing?” When his right hand slid onto my upper thigh, my breath caught. “Oh.”

His deep laugh rumbled through me. “Believe it or not, I’m not thinking inappropriate thoughts.”

I turned my head to look back at him, eyebrow raised.

The wicked half grin turned my heart to mush. “Okay. Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the time I am thinking something that would turn the tips of your ears pink.”

“And you’re not now?”

His lips pursed. “Yeah, all right. A hundred percent of the time, but I actually do have totally appropriate reasons for touching you.”

“Uh-huh.” I rested my head against his cheek. And then I felt his hand slide over the top of my right thigh. “What are you doing?”

“Taking care of you.”

Heat from his fingers radiated out over my thigh. “You don’t need to do this. It’s just a scratch.”

“More like a flesh wound, and you’ve been limping around since it happened. I should’ve done it while we were in the helicopter, but I was too busy keeping you from throwing yourself into the cockpit.”

“I wasn’t that bad.” A small smile pulled at my lips. “But thank you for that. I was afraid I’d hurl all over you.”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” he replied drily.

Once the dull ache in my thigh eased until it was nothing but a memory, I started to pull away, because healing me could take its toll on him, but instead of letting me go, he scooted off the bed with me in front of him. The moment his feet hit the floor, he scooped me up in his arms.

I let out a startled yelp as I swung wide eyes on him. “Whoa. What are you doing now?”

“Still taking care of you.” He started toward the bathroom, his eyes heavily hooded, but there was a mischievous tilt to his lips. “I’ve just realized we both could clean up.”

That was the truth. Once again, I was spotted with grime and dried blood, and so was Daemon.

He took us into a surprisingly large bathroom, gently putting me down in front of a tub. It wasn’t as big as the one back in the mayor’s mansion, but it still seemed abnormally large.

Flicking on the low lights, he turned to me, wiggling his fingers. I stepped toward him. He grinned. “Closer.”

I made it another foot.

“Lift your arms.”

Telling him I was capable of undressing myself was on the tip of my tongue, but nervousness swallowed the words. I lifted my arms and he pulled off the ruined sweater, stopping to ease my hair out before dropping it onto the floor. He didn’t speak as he flicked the tiny pearl button on the pants and then tugged them off.

I placed my hand on his shoulder to balance myself as I snagged a leg free. A flush swept from my cheeks down my entire body. No matter all that we’d shared together, I was still shy around him. Not sure why, but maybe it was because he didn’t seem to have a single flaw while I had a very human body full of them.

The last remaining piece of clothing also hit the floor, and then I was standing there completely in the buff, with him fully dressed. I folded my arms across my chest as he reached around me, turning on the water.

Warm steam immediately poured into the bathroom. As he straightened, his lips brushed the curve of my cheek, sending a shiver down my spine.

I’d never seen a guy get undressed as quickly as Daemon, and before I knew it, I was face-to-face with his corded pecs. My gaze drifted down tightly rolled abs and then it moved lower—

Two fingertips pressed under my chin, guiding my gaze up to a pair of startling green eyes that seemed to carry a sheen of white behind them. “Eyes up here, or I’ll start feeling like man candy.”

My cheeks heated, but I laughed. “Whatever.”

He winked after he drew back the curtain. “After you.”

I’d never showered with a guy before. Obviously. But even if I had, I don’t think it would even remotely touch showering with Daemon Black.

My hands trembled as I stepped under the hot spray of water. A second later, he was in the tub, too, and it suddenly didn’t feel very big at all.

His hands were gentle, the pressure barely there as he turned me so my back was against the spray. Drawing in a stuttered breath, I lifted my head. I expected him to kiss me and do something that would most definitely make my knees go weak, but that’s not what he did.

His eyes locked with mine, and he carefully scooped the soaked strands of my hair over my shoulders. Then, his hands skimmed up my upper arms and coasted over my back.

His arms folded around me, drawing me against his chest, sealing our bodies together. I squeezed my eyes shut as a different kind of need slammed into me. The rising swell of emotion went beyond the physical, and as he held me so tightly that there was no space between us at all, I knew it was the same for him.

I don’t know how long we stood like that, just holding each other as the water beat down on us, but there was something intensely powerful between us that transcended words.

My knees went weak when he dropped his cheek to the top of my head and somehow managed to hold me closer.

God, I loved Daemon. I was in love with him as much as I had been the very first time I recognized what that burning sensation was, what that almost electric shock every time we touched meant.

It was hard looking back and thinking about all the time we’d wasted fighting what was between us, fighting each other, especially when the future looked appallingly short, but I couldn’t focus on that now, because we were together. It didn’t matter how many hours, days, months, or years we had stretched out in front of us; we’d always be together.

This kind of love was the real deal, stronger than a whole planet full of psycho aliens and an entire government.

We stood together for a long time, wrapped around each other, before we actually made good use of the shower—good, appropriate use of the shower. But bathing with Daemon was like . . . well, bathing with Daemon. We finally climbed out, dried off, and changed into the sweats and oversize cotton shirts, which weren’t so oversized on Daemon. The white shirt stretched taut over his shoulders, followed each dip of his abs. My skin was overly sensitive even though there’d been no shenanigans going down in the bathroom.

I’d found a comb and sat in the middle of the bed untangling all the knots, while Daemon turned on the TV, settling on a news station. Tossing the remote onto the foot of the bed, he sat behind me.

He took the comb from my fingers. “Let me do this.”

I made a face but sat still as he started to work the comb through my hair. I glanced at the TV, saw another city in ruins, and then looked away. I didn’t want to think about that, because I didn’t know where my mom was or how my friends back home were faring during all of this.

Daemon was surprisingly apt at combing out the knots. “Is there anything you can’t do?” I asked.

He laughed. “You know the answer to that.”

I grinned.

Once he was finished with my hair, I felt the edge of the comb poke me in the lower back. Brows raised, I glanced over my shoulder at him. “What?”

He leaned in, kissing me softly. The edges of his damp hair brushed my cheeks as he slanted his head, deepening the kiss until my heart was pounding.

I placed my hand over his chest, above his heart, and felt it match the rhythm of my own. My gaze lifted, and our eyes met. Somehow we ended up stretched out across the bed, my back curled against his front.

“I’m not finished healing you,” he said, voice gruff. His fingers trailed around a tender spot along my temple.

I closed my eyes, letting him do what he wanted. After all, it made him feel better. But the healing warmth slowly turned into something else when the tips of his fingers slipped down my arm, under my shirt, and across my stomach. There was nothing between his skin and mine.

“You’ve been using the Source a lot.” His hand flattened against my lower stomach, his pinkie finding a way under the loose band on my sweats. “It’s had to have worn you out.”