Predatory Game (GhostWalkers #6)(78)
Author: Christine Feehan

Saber slowly, reluctantly untangled her body from his. Jess’s hand cupped the side of her face, pushed wet strands of raven hair from her cheek. She couldn’t look at him, couldn’t believe she had behaved so wantonly, couldn’t understand how her body could have felt so much pleasure in such a savage act. She stared down at her bare toes. She was totally nude, no robe, no clothes, in the shower with Jess. His wheelchair was dripping wet, a faint smear of mud being washed away from where her feet had touched the back. His terry cloth robe was soaked and scrunched around his bare thighs and back.

Saber blushed, not quite believing the evidence of their wild, abandoned behavior. Jess caught her chin firmly, his smile infinitely gentle.

“Loving,” he whispered, his thumbs caressing her fragile jaw, openly reading her thoughts. He kissed her forehead, skimmed his mouth over hers. “I was loving you.”

Chapter 16

Jess stared down at Saber’s face. She lay curled up, sound asleep, exhausted, one hand flung out toward his pillow-and him, he hoped. The small lamp beside the bed spilled light across her face. Her skin was soft and luminous, her lashes long, lying like fans against her skin. He held her close, his body around hers, his hand under her breast, his c**k pressed tight against her bu**ocks. And God help him, he was as hard as a rock.

He laughed softly, the tightness in his chest finally easing. Patsy was in a hospital being taken care of and Saber was in his bed where she belonged. He bent his head to brush a kiss in her hair before shifting to slide from the bed to his wheelchair. Saber needed the sleep and he needed to get busy and finish the investigation.

He and Logan had tried to recover the data on the recorder and hadn’t been successful, but Neil should have been able to do something with it. There were a few GhostWalkers who were very good with sound and Neil should have managed the recovery. Hopefully there was a message waiting from him.

More importantly, for the first time, he had a positive direction in which to take his investigation. The men who had come after him were definitely army. Ryland Miller and his team would want to know. They were conducting the investigation into their handler, General Rainer. Once they all had the same direction, Jess was positive, they’d make progress.

And he had to do something about the bionics. If he couldn’t get his legs moving, he would have to consider the idea of wearing the external pack. Even if he could walk part of the time, he couldn’t ever rely on his legs, so they were useless to him in their current state.

“Jesse.” Saber turned over, her lashes lifting, her gaze meeting his.

“I’m here, baby. Go back to sleep, I’m going to work for a little while. You’re exhausted.” And the bruise on her face stood out starkly against her pale skin. He had discovered a few others on her body as well, one particularly bad one on her hip from where she’d been kicked. Every time he thought about the jeopardy he’d inadvertently placed his sister and Saber in, he felt sick inside.

She pulled the sheet closer around her shoulders and smiled at him. “I love the way you look, Jesse.”

Her voice was so drowsy and sexy, he felt it vibrate through his body, heating his blood, stirring his senses.

“Go to sleep. I’ll come wake you in a few hours.”

“You’d better. I have to go to work tonight.” She yawned and then smiled at him, her lashes already drifting down. “Or my boss might fire me.”

Her boss was already thinking about firing her. He was altogether certain he could not survive her going to work, not after what had been done to Patsy. “A couple of the guys will be over, so don’t come walking out in my shirt and nothing else.”

“Good tip.” Amusement tinged her voice, a slight smile curved her mouth, but she didn’t open her eyes.

Jess left her to sleep, showering and dressing, using his racing chair rather than the heavier electric one to take him into the office. It took twenty minutes for Logan and Neil to show up, and he could tell by their faces Neil had managed to extract something from the recorder.

“You’re going to hate this,” Neil greeted.

Logan glanced around. “Where is she?”

“She?” Jess frowned at him. “You mean Saber? Do you really want to piss me off, Max? Because I just spent a couple of hours looking at the bruises on her face and body. I saw her lying in the fetal position on the ground, from the psychic backlash after firing a gun and killing a man-for me, for Patsy. I wasn’t close enough to draw the energy away and you and I both know without an anchor, even a shield won’t help. She knew it too, but she still did it.”

Logan poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot on the desk. “I’m going to look out for you whether you like it or not.”

“Then let’s get this over. Tell me how she’s different. Eric Lambert has the same objection to her, but he isn’t a GhostWalker. You can kill. I can. All of us do kill. Does it really make a difference how we do it? You have no problems with Mari or Briony.”

Logan sighed. “Mari is a soldier and Briony doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.”

Neil cleared his throat. “What about the other women? Flame and Dahlia?”

Logan swept a hand through his hair. “I know Dahlia. That’s different. To be honest, I didn’t trust her at first. And Flame-she can kill with sound. So yeah, she makes me a little nervous too.”

“I can kill with sound,” Neil pointed out.

“It isn’t the same thing.”

“Why?”

“Because women don’t belong in combat. They shouldn’t be running around killing people. They’re supposed to be the gentle sex. We take care of them. They should be having babies and cooking dinner not killing people. What the hell is going on in the world when we think it’s okay for women to have guns?”

“Flame, Dahlia, and Saber don’t need nor want guns, bro,” Neil pointed out.

“Well that’s just a f**king great relief to me,” Logan snapped.

There was a stunned silence and then both Neil and Jess burst out laughing.

“I suppose they shouldn’t be allowed to vote either,” Neil said.

“Would you like her better if I told you she can cook?” Jess asked.

Logan glared at them. “Go ahead and laugh. It isn’t right.”

“Good God, Max. You’re a f**kin’ male chauvinist,” Jess said.

“So what if I am? What about you? Don’t pretend it doesn’t freak you out just a little that that woman can kill with one touch. What if she’s on her period? You ever see a woman with full-blown PMS? My mom used to lose her mind. I’d go to a friend’s house for a week until she’d call and say it was safe to come home.”