Illicit Senses (Illicit Minds Book 1) Read online

  “There’s no need to be afraid of me in that respect. I’m not going to tattle. At least there’s no need for you to be afraid of me.” She glared at Tara, letting her eyes let the other woman know how afraid of her she’d like Tara to be. “I still want to kick your ass.”

  Tara’s eyes flared red, and the curtain that covered the window caught on fire.

  Addison gasped and shot to her feet. The others in the room looked bored.

  “Turn it off, Tara, and you’re explaining to Rhodes why I need new curtains.”

  The woman made a noise that was close to a harrumph, but the flames extinguished. “She threatened me.”

  “I tried to tell you several times that I was here with Spencer, and instead of listening, you sent him.” She pointed at Holland. “And he evidently screwed up my eyesight.”

  Her eyesight was improving every minute, but she wasn’t going to discuss that with them.

  “Good going, Tara. Really brilliant this time.”

  Tara looked down at the floor. “I’ll take the responsibility with Rhodes right after I tell him how I pay off the guards for you to get the backdoor open and what you’re doing with all those women to begin with.”

  The man she thought had been identified as Russell stepped forward. “If you do that, I’ll tell him what I caught you doing. You know, that thing you did that I found out about.”

  Russell had flaming red hair and brown eyes that didn’t match. Redheads were almost always blue or green-eyed. Outside on the street, she would think he dyed his hair, but in here… well hell, if Spencer’s swirl and Tara’s flame eyes were any indication, then nothing was as it was supposed to be.

  He reached out and touched her arm. His eyes were lust filled, and she didn’t like it. Pulling back a little, she fell onto the bed again.

  “Relax, pretty baby, I’m not going to hurt you. You’ll like what we do together.”

  “Russ, stop.” Jack stepped forward and pulled the other man back. “You know we don’t want you to do that. Sexual manipulation with your powers is akin to rape, and it’s not a line I want you to cross, not even to save our collective asses.”

  “You can sexually manipulate people with your brain?” Addison felt sick to her stomach.

  Russell’s cheeks got red. “I can make people feel however I want them to feel, usually. Only you didn’t respond to it right off the bat, and that’s a little bit odd.”

  Jack put his hand on her arm. “He’s not a bad guy. To my knowledge, he’s never done that before.”

  “Just so I’m clear, you were going to manipulate me sexually so I wouldn’t be mad about this whole thing and tell anyone?”

  “That was the general idea.”

  “Pretty dumb.”

  Addison heard a door slam and female screams. A roar, not animal but fully human and totally male, filled the room. Tara gasped as the door to the bedroom slammed open.

  With only one second to register it was Spencer making the almost maniacal yell, she felt herself wrenched out of Jack’s grip and pushed behind Spencer. Nearly falling over backward, she was saved from her descent by Roman’s quick reflexes as he followed his brother into the room.

  “Did you touch her, you sick bastard?” Spencer yelled as he ripped the gold wedding band out of Jack’s eyebrow.

  Jack hollered and pushed his hand up to stop the blood that poured down his face. “I didn’t touch her, Spencer.”

  “He didn’t touch me.” Her voice was little more than a squeak in the fray of screaming. Russell moved forward as if to grab Spencer, but Roman was faster. Letting go of Addison—she somehow managed not to fall—he tackled Russell to the floor.

  “Okay, I’ll stay out of it, Roman. I’ll stay out of it.” Russell’s voice was muffled by Roman’s body.

  Spencer kicked Jack in the stomach before using his upper body to knock the other man to the floor. “I swear, if you touched one hair on her head, I will destroy you.”

  “Spencer, he helped me. He was actually the one trying to help me.”

  He paused for a second as if registering the sound of Addison’s voice for the first time. Not lifting his upper body from Jack, he strained his head around to look at Addison. “Why did you need help?”

  “Because I was unconscious and I guess I didn’t wake up when I should have.”

  Spencer nodded his head and narrowed his eyes. “You.” He pointed at Holland. “That means you did something to her.” Jumping off Jack, he lunged for Holland.

  Roman grabbed Spencer. “Hold off, Brother. Let’s see what’s going on here.”

  Marisa ran to Jack, who was holding one hand over his eye to cover his eyebrow, which was still bleeding. He rocked back and forth, the other hand clutching his gut where Spencer had kicked him.

  “Are you calm?” Roman spoke again. “Okay. Maybe we should assess what went on here before you beat up everyone in the room.” Roman’s voice was low, but they were standing close enough to Addison that she could hear his suggestion to Spencer.

  Tom, Ben, Greg, and Andy moved like they wanted to exit the room. Spencer raised a hand. “I’ve seen all of you. If I find out any of you were involved in this, I’ll beat you to a pulp.”

  Needing no other instruction, the four men scampered away to the sound of delighted female gasps in the room next door. Evidently the women in there were impressed with the new offerings. Addison just wanted the whole nightmare to end.

  Moving forward, she touched Spencer lightly on the shoulder. “I followed her”—she pointed to Tara—“in here. I thought you had sent her. She wouldn’t listen to me. Holland came, I passed out, and I woke up here. Jack and Marisa were trying to take care of me. Once they found out who I was, they all got a little bit nervous. Then you came.” She stared at Russell across the room. She’d deliberately left out his attempt to manipulate her, both because she didn’t want Spencer to kill him, and because if she’d learned nothing else under her grandfather’s tutelage, she’d learned that it was often good to have powerful people owe you a favor. With that kind of ability, Russell was powerful. The other man nodded silently as if he understood.

  Spencer swore. “Tara, if I hit women, I would beat the hell out of you right now.”

  Tara’s already big eyes were huge as she ignored Spencer and stared at Roman. Noticing that, Addison looked back and forth between Roman and Spencer. Tara swallowed before she spoke. “How did he get here?” Considering the fact that Roman was a Fury, she was surprised more people in the room weren’t freaking out in silence the way Tara was.

  Spencer turned to Addison. “I have so much to tell you.” He sighed and shook his head. Pressed up against his arm, she could feel his body shaking. No one else seemed to have noticed Spencer’s physical reaction. “I’ve been looking for you for hours. I don’t even want to tell you what I thought had happened. Then I heard about this party. I couldn’t find its location, and I’ve been imagining the worst possible scenarios.”

  She stared deeply into his swirling eyes. Reaching out, she rubbed her hand against his cheek, wishing they were alone so she could say things she knew he wouldn’t want spoken with other ears around.

  “These assholes are so disgusting with these parties.”

  “Hey, dipshit.” Jack had sat up and was now holding a towel against his eyebrow. “Not all of us are so lucky as to get to leave this place and meet women who don’t live here, as you so evidently have.”

  Spencer swore again. She’d never heard that particular curse, and she didn’t think anyone’s body could actually do what he’d said. She stifled a grin.

  “All right, Jack, I owe you an apology. I jumped to conclusions, and I overreacted.”

  Silence filled the air around her.

  Tara finally spoke. “Did he apologize?”

  “Hey, Tara, if you don’t want to be dead, go get me Minnie, Gina and Laurel. We need to meet tonight, after dinner, so I can tell you all what I’ve uncovered. But just the people in this room and them. No one
else.”

  Roman cleared his throat. “It’s hours till dinner. Where are you going now?”

  “Out.”

  Without another word, he grabbed Addison’s hand and pulled her from the bedroom. At that moment, she would have followed him anywhere.

  Fifteen

  When they’d walked a sufficient distance from Jack’s quarters, which had evidently, at some point, become a place of ill repute, Spencer let himself start to really breathe again. She was okay. Holland had screwed with her mind—kind of unusual for the big guy to mess up like that—but she would be fine. He hoped. His breathing kicked up again. Maybe he should find a medic he trusted and get her checked out?

  As if he’d spoken aloud, she answered him. “I’m fine.” At his questioning look, she grinned. “You’re practically wearing your thoughts on your face. It was a nightmare that didn’t happen. I can assure you I wasn’t going to participate in the damn sex games.”

  “You’re right you weren’t. The only Conditioned guy you’re going to bed with here is me.”

  All the reasons not to become invested in her had flown out the window when he’d finally arrived at the door and she’d been gone. The well thought-out logic had ceased and all he’d been left with was sheer and utter panic that he’d lost her. There was sense, and then there was living the life you needed to live. He’d decided in half of a second that when behaving sensibly no longer made you happy, it was time to stop behaving that way. He needed Addison like he needed oxygen and food.

  “But I thought you said—”

  He interrupted her, pulling her into the building where he’d lived for the last ten years. He dragged her through the entranceway and up the three flights of stairs to his room.

  Addison fell silent, which he appreciated, and he was once again struck by how grateful he was that she was fine and that she was with him. After he pulled her into the room, he slammed the door behind them and pushed her against the doorframe.

  He pressed his body against her and leaned his forehead on hers. For a few moments, he just wanted to breathe with the scent and sight of her close to his heart. She closed her eyes for a beat before opening them. When she did, there were tears in them.

  “What’s wrong?” His pulse beat loudly in his ears. He hoped beyond reason she wasn’t actually going to cry. He had no idea what to do with women when they did that, and Addison’s tears might actually eat him from the inside out. “Where were you?”

  “God, Addison, I got held up and then I couldn’t find you at all.”

  Her eyes flared. “What delayed you?”

  Normally, he wouldn’t like the accusation in her voice, but after everything she’d been through, he deserved a little blame, and she needed to vent.

  “When I got into the building, I was hauled off to Rhodes’ office. Roman was sitting in there already.”

  He’d wanted to kill his brother. For someone who was supposed to be quasi-invisible most of the time, Roman had been around in abundance the past few days. “Mr. Can’t-Mind-His-Own-Business had already told Rhodes about Loretta being involved in Jeremy’s disappearance and the whole thing. I walked through the door ready to bypass my post-job interview altogether, and instead I found myself involved in an inquisition.” He took a deep breath. “I’m not proud of myself. I lost my temper and let Rhodes know exactly what I thought of his involving Roman and not telling me about what was going on. He got even angrier. I questioned his motives; he threw me out of the office.”

  “Sounds like a good time.”

  He laughed. No one could disarm him like Addison could. He shouldn’t even be breathing the same air as her, let alone depending on her for strength and sanity. “Just your usual day at Safe Dawn. I’ve never actually been this angry with him before. If I had any kind of threatening condition—meaning if I could do what Tara and Jack can do—he would have locked me up in the static room.”

  “What’s the static room?”

  “Static electricity in very high doses seems to affect our powers, dampen them. Did you really not know that?”

  “Not at all. Should I have?”

  “It was Wade Corporation that discovered that tiny little fact based on the tests they periodically run on us.”

  She reached out and touched the side of his face, gently rubbing his forehead as she stroked his profile. He shivered from the warmth she created wherever she touched him. “I’ve never known about anything that was done to hurt you guys here. If you want, I’ll put my hand on the Bible and swear to that.”

  “I don’t know that I put much faith in that book, but I don’t need anything other than you telling me you didn’t know. That will always be enough for me.” The weirdest thing was that he meant it. He never could have imagined feeling that way about anyone. Maybe it had to do with having been all but turned over by his mother, but he always doubted everyone. Except now, he had no doubt about Addison.

  “You have no faith in the Bible, but you’re obsessed with the idea that you’re going to Hell. Tell me how that contradiction works.” Her eyes stared into his with a mischievous glint. She challenged him, but he knew it was mostly teasing.

  “It doesn’t have to make sense; it’s just how I feel.”

  She would ask him the same questions as many times as he needed to hear it. “Am I going to Hell, too?”

  He shook his head. “Absolutely not.”

  “By your logic, all Conditioned people are doomed to the pit. Shouldn’t I be going, also?”

  The thought made his heart pound like he’d been running. “Nope. I won’t let it happen.”

  “Oh, you can control these things now? Are you also responsible for the Earth remaining on its axis?”

  He needed to get out of this minefield of a conversation. He was rapidly learning that he couldn’t win an argument with Addison, unless he had absolute conviction in his words or facts to back them up. In that way, she was just like her grandfather. She could probably start a small company and, through sheer force of will, build it up to be as impressive as her grandfather’s.

  Truth was, in some ways Addison was a scary woman

  “Anyway, I found one of the guards who owed me a favor. He opened the door for me but you weren’t there. I had five kinds of heart attack, and then I turned around and you can guess who was there again.”

  “We need to put a bell on Roman, or get you more attuned to hearing him sneak up on you.”

  “I guess it’s fair to say he got all the subtlety in the family and I got none.”

  “You do kind of wear all your thoughts on your face like a picture show.”

  He sighed. “I’ll work on that.”

  “Don’t you dare.”

  Grinning, he pulled her against him until her head rested on his shoulder. “He said he wanted to reassure me that he hadn’t told Rhodes about what you could do. He’s not going to say anything. I’m sure he has his reasons, but right now they match my own, so I’m fine with that. He was able to cover up the broken window incident, and he says if we can teach you to control yourself, then he sees no reason to tell anyone.”

  “Blackmail.”

  Was his brother really so low that he would resort to that? Spencer had no idea. “If he does that, I’m sure you have Wade ways to make it go away.” He inhaled to get a whiff of the aroma that was so intensely Addison. “Once he realized you were missing and I was searching for you, he decided to stay and help.”

  Addison pulled back to look into his face, and he was struck by the effortless beauty her features contained. Her eyes, which he’d thought of as cold when he’d first met her, were actually sanctuaries of heat, emotion, and fire. Her hair was like a gift of gold sent down from the sun to light the frigid Earth and make it joyful again. He reached out to stroke her cheekbones, rubbing them with his thumbs.

  “Addison, I… I don’t have the words.”

  “You don’t need them.” Her mouth touched his.

  For a second, he was stunned. His mind clouded o
ver. What did a man do when he got everything he’d ever wanted, but knew he could never keep?

  Life became nothing more than the sensation of her soft lips pressed against his. Her breath smelled sweet and warm. If he wanted to, he could pretend he was fighting for sanity, but he’d already made up his mind when he’d thought he’d lost her.

  He decided in one moment that her lips were made just for him. He could get addicted to their caress on his. She was so much smaller than he was—tiny, really. Second by second, he needed her more. He felt desperate to get them both naked so he could feel the heat of her bare skin against him.

  He wrenched his mouth from hers and heard her gasp, which gratified him in a purely masculine way. Her lips were already slightly swollen from his kisses. He leaned down as he kissed her neck. She shivered when he found her sensitive spot and he bit down lightly, loving the little squeal she gave at his attentions.

  With his tongue, he made love to her skin. Part of him felt like he was asking for permission to continue. If he could just show her how good it could be, maybe he’d be worthy of touching her, maybe she wouldn’t feel like she was involving herself with a doomed man who could never be seen with her in public.

  She laughed, a low, sultry sound. “You’re going to leave a mark.”

  “I know.” That was just what he wanted. If he couldn’t have her—not in any lasting sense of the word—then he could at least temporarily show the world that she belonged to him. His brand for a few days on her neck would be all he would get. It would have to be enough.

  Not that anything could be enough, ever. How was it possible that the more he touched her, the more he wanted? Addison was going to unman him just by the sheer ferocity of his need for her. It was dangerous to need what he couldn’t have.

  He traced a line from her chin down the center of her still-clothed body to her most sensitive core. Unable to resist, he cupped her mound through the fabric of her ridiculous gray slacks, aching for no barriers. He groaned his frustration. It was too much. He wanted her too intensely.