Page 66 of Too Broken to Love

“Tell me you want me.”

“You, Hudson. I haven’t thought about anyone else since I saw your photo on the fridge.”

Releasing her, he slid his hands under her legs and lifted her ass off the bed. His ribs protested the effort, but he welcomed the pain that let him get deep inside the woman who wanted only him. “Hold onto my hips.”

As she held on tight, he thrust into her without mercy because she could take it.

Because he’d die if he didn’t give her what they both wanted.

He pounded into her, alternating dirty words about how good she took his cock, and how gorgeous, and strong, and brave she was.

How he couldn’t wait to get her home and fuck her on the beach and in every room of the mansion. He punctuated each promise with a thrust harder than the last. Tears gathered in her eyes again. Incoherent words, sprinkled with waves of moans and groans, rolled from her lips as her orgasm built.

As she gripped his ass with both hands and screamed about how she didn’t know it was possible to come that hard, he came too, harder than he ever had in his life.

Hours later, he watched the sunrise over D.C. with Tessa in his arms and cursed Pop for leaving him with no idea what the fuck to do now that he’d fallen in love with her.

Hudson closed the thin file detailing Project V. Jamming his lips into a hard line, he faced the two men across the conference table in the Pentagon conference room.

Admiral Edgar looked him in the eye. “What do you think, Dr. Langley?”

Hudson unclenched his teeth. “You asked me here to consider a groundbreaking opportunity, but all you’ve offered are high-level details. I deserve to know everything you’ve left out, considering Project V is the suspected reason my privacy was infiltrated.”

“Agreed.” The admiral pressed a button in the center of the table. A projector screen rolled down from the ceiling at the end of the room as the door opened.

An Army major walked in. Without a word, he leaned forward and fixed Hudson with a level stare. “You’re the one who saved Commander Daviani’s life.”

Hudson’s pulse kicked so hard it jarred his bones. “Yes, sir. Do you know where he is?”

“Of course I do. I’m Project VIPER’s director and Daviani is our first recruit.”

Edgar pressed another button on the console. A black fanged snake, its head and tail meeting to form a circle inlaid in a triangle, filled the white screen. The words “Project VIPER” cut across the center.

“VIPER stands for Veterans Integration Placement and Experimental Recovery program. We’re taking special forces amputees who lost their limbs while serving, outfitting them with bionic weaponized prosthetics, and training them to be the nation’s future generation of super soldiers. That future starts with Commander Daviani.”

Silence descended as Edgar toyed with his mustache. The director, Thompson according to his uniform, rubbed his bald head. Hudson waited for them to laugh and say, “Just kidding. We’re not making super soldiers. That’s impossible.”

They didn’t.

Edgar pushed a glass of water toward him. “You okay, son?”

“Yes, sir. Just…”

Thompson took a seat across from Hudson. “As of a week ago, Commander Daviani has two arms.” He slid a tablet across the table.

Hudson didn’t bother trying to remain calm and professional as he watched a video unfold. “Holy shit.”

Chris sat on an exam table. A female doctor in a white lab coat examined the prosthesis attached to his shoulder. The white bandages covering the attachment site stood out in stark contrast to the shiny metallic arm.

Hudson stared open-jawed as Chris raised his new limb to his face and touched a nearly healed wound on his forehead. The seamless harmony between man and machine shouldn’t have been possible, yet it was.

Hudson blinked against the burn behind his eyes. He couldn’t mask the emotion in his voice, though. “You really turned him into a⁠—”

“Super soldier.”

Staring back at the tablet, Hudson searched for traces of the haunted man he’d left in that hospital bed a week ago. He couldn’t find a single shred.

Rising from his seat, he turned his back to the room and stepped away. As he braced his palms on a sideboard, he pulled in a breath.