Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

Harris

As the sun rose on another idyllic day on a ranch set in the picturesque Texas Hill Country,

Harris wondered how many more he’d be able to watch before his inevitable departure from his new family.

Each sunrise seemed more beautiful than the one before. This was the life he wanted his sister and the others to have, and he was betting his life on ensuring that it continued to happen. He would sorely miss it.

The damned Noah Project had a lot to answer for. For over three decades, a group of scientists and underground politicos, all of whom possessed an overinflated sense of self-importance with a we know better than everyone what the world needs attitude, undertook genetic manipulation of fetuses and babies in an attempt to make the perfect weapons.

When things went south, they attempted to make the project and the test subjects disappear in various ways. However, nothing stays a secret forever, and now a battle was being waged between those inside the Noah Group attempting to capture survivors and those who sought to protect them and their freedom.

As was the case with Harris and his sister, both were Noah experiments on the run and the Fire Lake Team—a group of retired Navy SEALs who had an elite private investigation firm and lived and worked out of a lake house on Fire Lake— made it their mission to protect the survivors, whose numbers were ever-growing. And the stronger the team became, the more threatened the Noah Group behaved, to the point of sending a bomb to the team’s home to take them out. Which, of course, pissed them off, causing them to redouble their efforts, and making Harris’s decision easier.

Strong arms wrapped around him from behind.

“ It’s early, come back to bed,” Woodley said.

His detective’s voice was so damn sexy when he first woke up, all rough and deep. The rest of him was equally as alluring: broad shoulders, washboard stomach, and a face that would tempt angels to sin. Especially those lips.

Detective Woodley, a survivor determined to make the Noah Group pay for his father’s death, had entered their lives when he was investigating the deaths of his father’s former colleagues, all of whom had sought to shut down the Noah Project, and paid the ultimate price. Now Woodley was part of their team. At least for the time being.

“ I will, but I didn’t want to miss this.”

“ I know how much you love seeing the sunrise.”

“ There’s nothing quite like it.”

“ There’s no one quite like you.”

Harris spun to face his lover. “You’re not turning into some lovesick poet on me, are you?”

“ Me? Never.” Woodley grinned before kissing Harris like a starving man about to feast.

Yeah, there’d be many things he’d sorely miss if his plan worked.

“ What’s got you all tied up in knots this morning?” Woodley asked as he led Harris back to bed.

What could he say? The truth? Not likely, so he went with distraction. Woodley’s lips parted as Harris reached down and cupped the man’s balls.

“ I was wondering what it would take to get my cock back in that gorgeous ass of yours.”

“ Again? You’re turning into a nympho on me?”

“ Turning into? Around you, I have to keep myself under control most of the time, or we’d never get out of bed.”

“ Bed? Since when has the availability of a bed ever stopped you?”

“ True, but not the point,” Harris said with a grin as he backed Woodley against the nearest wall. “Now, where were we?”

Before Woodley could ask anything else, Harris took his lips in a commanding kiss that left them both breathless. He’d never get enough of this amazing man, though their time together was drawing to an end. If he were a stronger man, Harris would never have started anything with Woodley, but the man had worked some kind of magic on him, and without much of a resistance, they’d fallen into bed together.

Was he sorry? Hell no.

Woodley took advantage of his momentary distraction and easily twisted Harris around, lifted him into a fireman’s carry, and headed for their bed. After unceremoniously dumping him onto the mattress, Woodley dove on top of Harris and pinned him down. The strong bastard had that sexy grin glued to his face, and Harris was well and truly under his spell.

If things could be different, Harris could imagine a lifetime of moments spent just like this, but that was a luxury he had no right to even entertain in his fucked-up thoughts. His path had been determined long ago in some damned petri dish.

“ Where’s the condoms and lube?” Harris asked.

Woodley leaned over, opened the side table drawer, and pulled out a strip of condoms and a bottle of lube.

“ Will these be enough?” Woodley teased.

“ For now,” Harris growled before flipping Woodley over and pressing him into the mattress. “My turn.”

Harris took the lube and wasted no time in preparing his lover while pushing any thoughts of the future to the back of his mind. Woodley’s needy moans drove Harris to the brink, but he was able to stave off coming with a quick pull on his balls. He’d never lost control, but the man underneath him pushed Harris further than anyone.

With a few practiced moves, Harris ripped the condom package open, rolled it down his hard cock, and applied more lube before lining up with Woodley’s hole and sliding deep. They both groaned as their bodies joined together, and Harris’s heart raced as the tight heat pulled him in. When he bottomed out, he watched Woodley closely to make sure his lover was comfortable before pulling back.

“ Fuck, you drive me crazy,” Harris groaned as he snapped his hips and set a furious pace.

“ You were already crazy before I arrived,” Woodley panted.

Harris laughed softly and increased his speed, pistoning in and out of Woodley like a man on a mission. Their lust-filled moans filled the bedroom, and the bed shook as their desire for each other took over, driving Harris closer to coming.

In a move fueled by need, Harris leaned forward and captured Woodley’s right nipple with his lips, sucking harder as his lover’s groans increased. With carefully measured pressure, Harris bit Woodley’s swollen nub before licking away the slight pain he’d caused.

That was all he took as his lover’s tight ass clamped down on Harris’s cock, making it almost impossible to move, and he groaned as Woodley’s cock exploded between them. A few moments passed, and Harris could no longer stop himself, coming hard before collapsing onto the muscled, gasping man under him.

Their ragged breathing was the only sound in the room as both struggled to calm their racing hearts. Feelings that would never be spoken or see the light of day rushed through Harris, but he quickly stamped them down—as he usually did. Emotions weren’t part of his genetic makeup.

“ Shower?” Harris asked.

“ That works,” Woodley agreed.

“ Take another condom,” Harris chuckled.

“ You’re fucking insatiable.” Woodley laughed as he left the bed and walked toward the bathroom. Harris noticed with a grin his lover had the necessary items in one hand.

Yes, there would be many aspects of this new life that Harris would miss. Woodley was high on the list.