Madison

It was the massage that was making her feel this way. It had to be. The constant rubbing of his soothingly warm hands across her back; the way he worked her muscles constantly without failure—massaging them until they were forced to relax—despite her best efforts to tense up again unintentionally.

There was no other reason to explain the fuzzy warmth that had spread from her stomach into her chest and then her mind. It was through that pleasant sensation that she’d responded to his questions in a flirtatious manner. Now though, she’d opened herself up to further exploration of the connection that was building between them.

She’d first felt it when they’d been going back and forth inside the hotel room. The banter had been enjoyable, though she knew Kean might not see it that way…yet. But in hindsight he would recognize that that had been her way of flirting with him. Not that Madison had meant to do it, but she’d found herself doing it nonetheless, and hadn’t stopped.

Like now.

He was, she had to admit, a pretty good kisser. That unplanned moment hadn’t been all acting on her part. In fact, if she was honest, it had ceased to be acting the moment he’d begun to return the kiss. His lips…she almost blushed as she recalled the way she’d immediately envisioned what it would feel like to have his full, plump mouth kiss her…elsewhere.

“Mostly an ego thing,” Kean replied, interrupting her thoughts.

“Mostly?” she echoed.

“Yeah.”

He didn’t elaborate.

Madison grabbed the sheet to her body and sat up, pinning it to her chest as Kean straightened. He was so tall that even on his knees on the edge of the bed, he was nearly at her head height as she sat upon it.

“That doesn’t mean much,” she told him with a stern eye, very aware of the fact that he could easily see the outlines of her breasts through the thin material. “Just because you’re a good spontaneous kisser doesn’t automatically make you a good kisser when the pressure is on. When you know it’s coming, who knows, maybe you crawl into a little ball and wilt under the strain. Maybe you use too much tongue in an effort to impress.” She frowned as a particular unpleasant memory came to her unbidden. “Or maybe you bite down on her lower lip too hard and she gets bruised from it.”

‘Speaking from experience?” Kean asked, noting the look on her face.

“Unfortunately,” she admitted. “Don’t ask.”

“Wasn’t planning on it. Not that at least,” he added.

“Oh?”

“Well, I mean…” Kean said, leaning in somewhat close to her.

Madison felt the room heat as he came into her personal space some more.

“You mean what?” she asked, her voice barely audible.

“You can’t just throw out an accusation like that,” Kean said, tilting his head until it came within a few inches of hers, just hanging there, tantalizingly close, and yet far enough that she couldn’t quite just lean forward to reach him.

“I can’t?” she asked innocently.

“No,” he replied. “Not without giving me a chance to refute it at least.”

“Hmmm,” she said, pretending to think it over. “What do you suggest we do?”

“I think,” he said, his eyes boring into hers as he drifted closer. “The only real option is to give me a chance to prove you wrong.”

“Oh,” she said breathlessly as heat from his body reached out and brushed against her skin, raising goosebumps all across her back and arms simply from his proximity. “You do, do you?”

“Mm-hmm,” Kean rumbled, closing the already minute gap just a little more. His lips were practically touching hers now. All she had to do to kiss him was tilt her head forward a fraction of a degree.

“I don’t know,” she said halfheartedly.

The rational, focused part of her was screaming at Madison to stop what she was doing, put her clothes on, and get back to work. There were other things she could be doing to track down Raven while she waited for the data to unlock.

The rest of her though, the rest of her was screaming to lean forward. He’d come more than ninety percent of the distance to her. It was time she went the rest of the way.

Her moist tongue flicked out, wetting her lips nervously as she stared back at Kean. His hazel eyes were focused on her, his pupils wide with adrenaline as she was sure her own were. This was it, this was the moment of a first kiss.

“I think it’s only fair,” Kean told her, pushing gently against the little barrier she’d erected with her words.

It crumbled.

“Yes,” she replied, swallowing hard. “Fair.” The last word was a whisper so quiet she was surprised he’d heard it at all.

Her head tilted forward. Kean swayed toward her. Her hands reached out and around his neck. They touched hesitantly at first—gentle, exploratory things, making sure that the other was okay with it.

More accurately, Kean was holding back, making sure she didn’t change her mind at the last minute.

“Come here,” she ordered as they broke part slightly.

Her arms tightened around his neck and she pulled him in to her. Kean didn’t hesitate that time. His hands ran up her bare back, over her shoulders, and one of them slid up her neck to cup her chin. As he moved in closer he tilted her head upward slightly, rising to his feet, until he could come sit on the bed next to her.

The entire time they remained lip-locked, breathing heavily as they gave in to some of the chemicals running through their minds.

“You’re not bad at all,” she commented as he leaned in close.

“Neither are you,” he replied with a grin.

One of his hands left her back and rested on her knees. They were currently up at her chest, and starting to get in the way as they began to writhe against one another ever so gently. He pushed on them, but not hard.

Madison almost fought, but in the end, she let him push them down. The side effect of that was that there was no longer anything to hold the sheets to her chest. The white material fell down, exposing her breasts to him. Kean took a long look, drinking in the sight, before he returned to kissing her.

Only this time his hand ran up her side and cupped her breast as he came close to her, his fingers lightly circling around her nipple, teasing it to full hardness. She moaned softly, arching her back slightly to press more of herself into his hand.

He was so warm.

She parted her lips as they kissed, letting him explore her ever so gently, completely at odds with the power she knew was contained within him. The tenderness with which he touched her, stroked her, caressed her, and held her tight against him was like a drug. She wanted more, more, more. There could never be enough of it. When he leaned into her, she practically molded herself to the contour of his body, desperate for his touch.

A discreet cough preceded the squeaking on the floor as someone tried to delicately announce their presence.

Madison jerked away from Kean, abruptly aware of what they had been doing, the cold stark reality of it all setting in. Then she realized her breasts were exposed. Frantically she yanked the sheets up, desperate to try and preserve some semblance of modesty. She was supposed to be testing these shifters, making sure they were trustworthy. Not walking around letting them see her half-naked.

Kean was sitting up straight, his eyes darting around the room, focusing anywhere and everywhere, as long as it wasn’t on her.

“Hi,” Pierce said jovially from the hallway, either completely oblivious to what was going on, or just not caring at all about it.

A quick glance through the open doorway to see his face told her that it was absolutely the latter. The shit-eating grin he was sporting made it clear he was, in fact, taking great joy in having interrupted, making them both feel uncomfortable as all hell as they realized what they’d just about done.

“Don’t worry,” Pierce said with a wave. “I didn’t see anything.”

Kean growled and launched himself out of the room after his little brother, who burst out laughing as he fled from the cabin just ahead of him.

Mila appeared, walking by the room. She just offered Madison a knowing smile. “The walls are really thin,” was all she said, before disappearing back into the rest of the cabin.

Great. Now they all think I’m banging Kean.

The thing was, she likely would have if they hadn’t been interrupted. His touch had awoken something within her that she’d let die, a hunger that had burned bright for a long time, but had served to do little more than get in the way while she fought the Institute. So Madison had buried her desires deep inside of her, only acknowledging them when they became too great, and she had to do something to relieve the pressure.

She hadn’t been anywhere near that point. Not until Kean’s lips first brushed against hers. Ever since they’d kissed in the hallway of the hotel, she’d felt the fire growing. Madison had tried to ignore it, to pretend like it didn’t exist, but she couldn’t. The continued close proximity to him and forced working relationship had meant she’d gotten to know him better and better.

And as she did, she’d found herself more intrigued by the possibility of kissing him some more. After all, if he was as good at other things as he was at kissing, well…

She blushed and reached for her bra. There was nothing more she could do now. Word would spread. She’d just have to tackle it straight on with a focus.

Like she did with everything else in her life.