PoisonedPen (4 page)

Her giggle was lost on a moan as he stroked a hand down her thighs to her knees, sliding the silk to one side before he reversed direction toward her sex. She held perfectly still until he flicked his tongue into her mouth again. She pulled her lips from his and pressed kisses to his neck and jawline. It would keep her from biting him when he touched her.

When he stroked her heated folds and parted her sex, she bit his neck. He let out a deep hiss and his fingers stroked against her in slow, even pulses.

Her jaw worked at his skin, and she forced herself to release him. “Sorry.”

He chuckled. “Don’t be. My skin is thicker than it looks and that felt amazing. How does this feel?”

His fingers slid into her and his thumb stroked her clit. She bit him again and squirmed, trying to widen her thighs.

Chuck helped her, and she was soon straddling him, his fingers inside her as her hips rocked against him, riding his hand. She pressed her forehead to his shoulder and gasped with every shift of her body.

His hand moved with her, teasing her until she was on the edge. She began to shudder, and to her shock, he bit her shoulder, fangs out. She screamed and bit him in return as the burning pain translated into pleasure. She bucked hard against his hand, her inner muscles clutching at his fingers until she rocked to a halt with a groan. She released his shoulder and pressed her forehead against his shoulder again.

She was panting, and sweat was coating her body.

Chuck ran his hands down her sweaty spine, and she heard him murmuring to her in a low hiss. He put two fingers under her chin and lifted her face. “So, not screwed up?”

She smiled shyly. “Doing good so far.”

He grinned, and she leaned up to meet him halfway in a kiss that ended up with a twist and her on her back. Her giggles died the moment that he stroked her through the silk, rubbing at her breasts and working his way down to her thighs. “As soft as this silk is, I think your skin is softer.”

He skimmed it up and over her hips, pulling her into a sitting position to whisk it over her head. His fingers immediately stroked her neck, and she twisted her head from side to side, wincing as she pulled on the site of his previous bite.

He paused. “I am sorry. Does it hurt much?”

She smiled. “It aches, but there is another ache that is getting worse. It wouldn’t have taken days to wear off, would it?”

He blushed and buried his face against her neck. “Hours. I fibbed.”

She caressed his head and encouraged him to move lower. “That’s okay. I am not that gullible.”

He looked up at her with surprise and then tackled her back to the sheets.

“Is it just me or is the bed warm?”

He grinned. “I am a serpent, I like the heat.”

She chuckled as he pinned her arms above her head and flickered his tongue over her neck. She arched against him and sighed. “You seem to know precisely where to touch.”

“I have done some research on the subject, and the way you twist to offer your neck to me, there can be only two possible reasons. The first is that being a swan, you are proud of your neck. The second is that it is sensitive and you enjoy being caressed there. I am opting for the second.”

She blushed and blinked. “Well, it seems you are very attuned to what is going on.”

“I am. May I continue my explorations, or shall I continue a running monologue of your reactions?”

She snickered. “You are in danger of screwing this up.”

“Fair enough. I shall contain any comments until you request them.” He kissed her swiftly and then worked his way down her body, using his forked tongue to taste his path until he rested between her thighs.

Squealing would have been undignified, but the sound she made couldn’t have been described as anything but. Chuck slipped and slid his tongue around her entrance before delving inside with a hypnotic undulation.

She tried to move away from him, but he gripped her thighs with a growl. She grabbed the sheets next to her hips, and she twisted against him until her orgasm wound tight in her belly.

Ivy whimpered when he pulled away, but he moved up her body and surged into her with a swift thrust of his hips. With his green slit eyes staring into her own, she watched his features as they approached release together.

She struck gold before he did, arching and clutching his sides as her body tightened around his, holding him tight. She let out a low groan, and she heard his hiss.

His tongue flicked out, thin and serpentine, as he thrust into her with savagery that culminated in a low grunt of his own.

He slumped against her, slowly covering her body with his. She kissed his ear and jaw, stroking her hands down his sweat-covered spine in mimicry of his earlier gesture to her.

She smiled and held him close. “If this shows up in a book, I am going to make you into a belt.”

She felt his smile against her neck. “Yes, Ivy.”

Being woken by caresses and kisses along her spine was a novel thing for Ivy. Her previous romantic liaisons had left her within an hour of their encounter. She preferred it that way.

On the other hand, she could get used to the delicate care with which he trailed designs over her back.

She shivered, and he gently eased her onto her stomach. He spread her thighs and pressed into her with slow deliberation.

Pressed into the sheets, she made fists and pushed back against him as he rocked into her slowly with the lazy beat of an ocean tide.

She sighed happily as pleasure rose slowly in her, breaking in waves against her heart until her mind shattered apart in bright and glittering shards.

Ivy sighed and relaxed as Chuck thrust into her, holding his hips to her buttocks. He echoed her sigh as his muscles jerked and his thighs clenched.

Still inside her, he placed a hand on her belly and rolled to the side. He wrapped himself around her, and he did an amazing job for a snake in human form. She felt warm, protected and desired. Now, if he would take her to the pond in the morning, she would have the perfect man.

He hissed low and slow against her ear, and she fell asleep again with her living blanket surrounding her.

Ivy woke up alone in the bed. She pulled a sheet to her chest and looked around for a mirror to check her hair. There weren’t any.

Chuck came through the door with a tray complete with a blush pink rose. He was dressed in a white button-down shirt and blue jeans.

“Are you also a butler?”

He was shy again. “I have never had a mate in my bed before. I want to make a good impression.”

She scooted up in the bed and rested against the headboard. She patted her thighs, and he settled the tray on her lap.

She viewed the tray of fruit, pancakes and sausages complete with coffee and what turned out to be a Crossroads-colada. “Congratulations, Chuck.”

Ivy took a slice of strawberry and pressed it to his lips. When he took it, she said, “You didn’t screw it up.”

His relieved smile was genuine joy as he sat next to her and nibbled off her plate. “You have some pretty good moves yourself.”

She winked and ate her breakfast and drank her private juice blend. “So, when do you have to go in to work?”

He shrugged. “Whenever I like. Jim and Lee will fill in for me while we get to know each other. So, do you think you can live here?”

She looked into his eyes and saw the fear there. Fear that she would leave him. “I can do my job anywhere as long as I can occasionally go home for family stuff. They will like you.”

He was surprised. “They will?”

“Of course. You are my mate. That is all that they ever wanted for me.” She grinned. “I have to say that your tattoos will make them think twice about ambushing any of my cousins with a trip to the Crossroads.”

Chuck grimaced. “I know they can be a little much, but I was in the circus as a snake boy for most of my early life. They enhanced my alien appearance.”

She trailed her fingers over his shirt, pressing the white fabric against the black ink etched in his skin. “I like them. I hope that every one of them has a fun story, but if not, I will simply make one up for it. I suck as a writer, but I have a very good imagination.”

He smiled. “I think we are going to make an interesting team. I will write and you will edit me into a coma.”

She laughed. “I think that might work. What is your current project?”

He groaned and rubbed his face. “That is the problem. Sure, Charlotte Penrose has let me get into a writing rhythm, but I want to do more than bodice rippers. If I have to write one more fainting female, I am going to start yanking out my eyebrows one by one.”

Ivy sighed. “Well, let me get dressed, and I will join you at the computer. I can run over what you have so far.”

He grimaced. “That is just it, I can’t seem to get started. I have a thousand ideas in my mind, but they won’t get into any kind of organized pattern.”

“Would you care to go for a walk?”

He grinned. “You want to walk? In public? With me?”

She chuckled. “You are my mate. I will wear you proudly. I think it is time you saw the other me since you showed me yours.”

His eyes twinkled with amusement, “Of course.”

“Good. Let me get dressed, and you will see the other me.”

“Why not here?”

“Because swans look goofy on land.” Ivy grinned. “I don’t have the dignity of a half-shift under normal conditions.”

He laughed outright. “Fair enough.”

He took the tray, and she waddled to the room he had first dropped her in. Her thighs refused to take on their normal distance until she forced them, and the sticky residue made a shower a key point on her schedule.

Ivy grabbed her clothing and found the bathroom, quickly showering away the remains of the previous evening and the early morning. She had a flickering thought of birth control, but it never worked well for shifters. Life always found away.

The child of a serpent and a swan could be anything. Sometimes, she thought that it was the only reason for the ability to cross breed when few shifter clans, flocks or herds were in favour of it. It took an act of desperation for a clan to authorize a cross-species breeding, and fortunately, for Ivy, her flock had been just that desperate.

Clean, dressed and in need of a hairbrush, she left the bathroom and smiled up at the waiting snake. “Hello, dear heart. Hisser. Pookie?”

He held up his hands. “I will answer to anything but Pookie.”

She grinned and patted his cheek. “Pookie it is.”

He sighed as she moved past him, down the stairs and to the door. “I am not going to answer to it.”

“Pookie?”

He grumbled. “What?”

She grinned as she opened the door. “Damn, you are easy to train, Chuck. I will contain my enthusiasm for pet names.”

They started their walk back toward the Crossroads, and Ivy took his arm.

“Thank you, Ivy. I am sure that we will revisit this at a later time.”

She grinned. “One day and you are already showing remarkable insight into my motivations.”

He sighed. “You would make a marvelous character. Maybe in a space opera.”

She laughed. “Naw, I am more the superhero type.”

They made a slow promenade to the pond, and Ivy kept her head high and a smile on her face. Several members of local businesses stepped out and looked at them with startled expressions on their features.

Chuck puffed himself up with every one of his friends that saw him walking with his mate. Ivy could almost hear the joy swelling inside him until he couldn’t contain it.

“How long have you been here?” Ivy tried to keep her tone casual.

“Over fifteen years. Time moves slower here, so it could be longer.”

Fifteen years watching couples pair up and move on, exposed to every available female in the Crossroads and none of the women chose him, it must have been very hard to deal with.

“Chuck, I have to ask, why choose me? Out of all the women who have passed you by, there must have been a few who rang your bell, so to speak.”

He smiled down at her. “I am a bit of a romantic, as you may have guessed. Despite the fact that I can create a romance with a formula, I wanted more for myself. I have to say that with you, I never know what will happen next and I like it.”

She laughed. “I am glad I can surprise you. That may pale with time.”

“Then, I will look at the shadow and remember the light.”

She froze in place. “That is beautiful.”

Chuck blushed. “I plan to use it in my book. I just don’t know where.”

They walked down the path and emerged at the pond. Ivy released his arm, kissed his cheek and quickly stripped, folding her clothing in the order she would need to get dressed.

Naked, she walked into the water and dove under, coming up as her swan self.

He sat on the bank and watched her.

She arched her neck, dove, came up, and then, she lifted her wings, flapping and building speed to take off.

Once she gained the air, she worked hard to acquire altitude until she could see the whole Crossroads from her vantage point. She turned on her wing point and dove for the pond. She folded her wings in and dive-bombed the water, surfacing with a pop and a flutter.

Perhaps she shouldn’t have crashed, because Chuck was out of his clothing and half-shifted when she surfaced and shook the droplets free.

She paddled her way over to him and set her dignity aside. Ivy climbed out of the water on her gangly legs, and she waddled over to him, hissing at him in an effort to speak.

He looked down at her, scales covering his features. “Back in the water, stork. I can swim too.”

She hissed and squawked at him before she waddled back to the pond, wiggling her tail feathers at him.

When the twenty-foot anaconda joined her for her swim it was a little startling, but they eventually found a rhythm that had them meeting their heads in the traditional swan mating arches while their necks rubbed together. Snakes had some advantages as a mate to a swan after all.

After hours in their shifted shapes, they crawled back onto the shore and Ivy had to wait while Chuck claimed the privilege of dressing her.