Some Like it Wicked (3 page)

“Cup your breasts.”

She snapped her eyes open, realizing he’d stopped touching
her, and her knees felt weak. After a long breath to gather herself, she did as
he asked. With her hands squeezing her breasts, Zeke wrapped the new corset
around her front, just under her hands. While he had touched her, he also
hadn’t looked at her breasts and it surprised her he didn’t try to—he was a
demon, after all.

With the same precision he had used in removing the corset,
he laced her into the new one. She appreciated that he focused on the job
instead of sliding his fingers over her flesh, giving her a chance to collect
herself.

What in the elements was wrong with her? Was she on the
prowl for a rebound fuck? She’d never been so ready to pounce on anyone and
certainly not a demon. Though with his smokin’ hot looks and heated touches,
she began to forget his heritage.

When the corset finally tightened around her waist, Zeke
gave another tug, finishing with the knot at the bottom. “All set.”

“Thank you.” Turning around, she avoided his gaze and
approached the mirror against the far wall. The corset was stunning, the
crimson color a beautiful contrast against the black, and her small breasts sat
perfectly in the top, showing off cleavage.

She tilted her head and she ran her hands over her corset—so
exquisite. It could make someone as plain as her stand out. “What do you
think?”

Looking at Zeke in the mirror, she found him standing a
little straighter and his dark eyes stared intently into hers. “Beautiful.”

She smiled, then looked back at herself, trailing her
fingers over the boning. “I know, isn’t it so beautiful?”

A low groan sounded behind her. “Would you mind not touching
yourself like that?”

When she glanced at him in the mirror again, he was striding
toward her with a hard look. She turned around just as he closed in on her,
offering her a black chiffon skirt. “I need to wait outside.”

Without so much as a second look at her, he left the fitting
room and strode back to the front of the store. It was glaringly obvious this
little event had aroused him as much as it did her, but that didn’t shock her.
What did surprise her was what he whispered when he left.

“It’s not the corset that’s beautiful; it’s what’s in it.”

Chapter Three

A couple hours later, Bryanna exited Magic Wand Real Estate,
smiling and shaking a set of keys at him. “I found a place to rent on Fae Lane.
Mind showing me the way?”

Zeke didn’t mind one bit. If he had his way, this witch
would be naked and beneath him sooner than later. Yet he waited for her to give
him a sign more than her rosy cheeks, even if he loved causing that reaction in
her. She appeared reserved and he found her innocence enchanting. Perhaps even
a little tempting, since he’d enjoy tarnishing her purity.

“Inviting me back to your house, are you?” At the deep blush
of her cheeks, he chuckled. “Come on. I’ll show you the way.”

She matched his stride and settled in next to him along the
sidewalk. While she’d been dealing with finding a new home, he had returned to
his house and he’d purposely left his car behind so they’d have to walk. He
welcomed more time with her.

After they crossed the street, heading west, he noticed her
hand dangling near his. At the sudden urge to wrap his hand around hers, he
instantly clenched his fist. That wasn’t the reaction of a demon wanting
no-strings-attached sex with a witch. No, that was something he couldn’t even
begin to understand, since he hardly knew her.

He never cared about intimate contact with a woman. He only
had an interest in burying himself deep inside a warm, wet pussy. He was a
demon, after all. His lust was powerful and he had never denied himself,
especially if it held as much strength as it did with Bryanna.

Over the years, women had told him that he was an unselfish
lover, but they were wrong. Watching them lose control under his touch fueled
his power and selfish wants brought him between a woman’s silky thighs.

Turning onto Fae Lane, he noticed the afternoon heat wave
had diminished and early evening settled in. He glanced next to him and spotted
Bryanna walking with her head down. He didn’t like how she hid from the world
around her. “Tell me, Bryanna, this ex of yours, I suspect he doesn’t know
where you’ve gone?”

She shook her head, continuing to look at her new black
boots with sexy heels as they passed over the sidewalk. “If I had no money, I
doubt he’d even try to find me. But…” She hesitated, drew in a very long breath
and finally looked at him with pained eyes. “I’m not quite sure what he’ll do
when he finds out I’m gone.”

Zeke stopped dead in his tracks. He had assumed she’d been
mistreated in some way or another and clearly had her heart broken, considering
she’d left in such a hurry with no belongings, but this he hadn’t expected. “He
was with you for your money?”

“Not at first.” She walked down the street again, gazing
down at the sidewalk. “But I should have known better.”

Zeke quickly caught up with her, pondering her statement.
Why would someone only be interested in her money? Hell, he hadn’t even known
her for half a day and she had him chasing after her tail. “Explain that.”

She turned up to him, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. “Why
do you want to know?”

“I’m curious about you,” he countered.

She hesitated, then finally repeated, “Why?”

He wondered if her caution around him was his demonic
heritage or damage from her past. Instead of pressing that matter, he kept
things light to keep her talking. “Is it a crime to want to get to know you?”

“But I mean…” she stopped walking, looked down the street
ahead of her, then looked over his shoulder before she leaned in toward him,
“if I tell you things, are you going to tell the whole town? How do I know I
can trust you?”

“You can’t.”

She jerked away as if he burned her and glared. He hurried
to correct her immediate response of thinking the worst of him. “What I mean to
say is, from what I’ve learned of you thus far, you have no reason to trust
me.” At her long look, he added, “How about this, if I break my promise to you,
I’ll let you cut off a finger.”

She snorted. “Yeah, right.”

A couple of pixies strode by them giggling and nodding a
hello, which he returned before he turned back to Bryanna. “A demon always
stands by his offer.” He held up his index finger and wiggled it. “You can have
this one if I spread a bad word about you.”

He offered his hand to seal his agreement, but she tilted
her head and regarded him. After a short pause, she chuckled and shook his
hand. “Say a word and I’ll use your finger as a stir stick for my tea.”

“Agreed,” he replied on a firm nod. “Now tell me.”

“Well, I grew up normally, like most witches do, but things
changed on my eighteenth birthday. My parents called it
growing up.
In
actuality, they were saying goodbye.” She sighed and walked down the sidewalk
again. “When most witches get a present on their birthday, my father handed me
a check. He told me that the amount was enough to fulfill his obligation to me
as a parent. I haven’t seen or heard from them since.”

Zeke was damn sure he wasn’t going to like where this story
was headed, but he couldn’t hold back. “Why would you parents say goodbye to
you?”

She pointed to herself, lifting her eyebrows. “Flawed,
remember?” Then she stared out in front of her and heaved another sigh. “I
never knew they were embarrassed of my magic until that day.”

Zeke’s fists tightened at his sides. Bryanna wasn’t flawed
by any stretch of the imagination and he’d like to introduce his fist to anyone
who said otherwise, but he doubted she’d believe him if he told her that.

He remained silent as she went on, “Just like every witch,
the Shreveport coven gave me a job. Since my element is earth, I should’ve
joined the Earth Witches and assisted in earthly duties.”

“Earthly duties?”

She nodded. “Normal magic stuff, creating new earth spells
and such, but as you’ve seen, my magic doesn’t quite come out right.”

“All perception.”

She gave him a sweet smile. “Wanting clothes and conjuring a
skin cream is all perception?” At his firm nod, she chuckled before her smile
faded. “Anyways, the coven gave me an office job.” Waving over herself, she
scrunched her nose. “For obvious reasons, they thought my magic would only harm
someone and I agreed with them. My magic is too unpredictable and pointless.
Besides, I didn’t mind the job.”

Zeke clenched his jaw to refrain from spitting out a few
curses. What kind of witches treated one of their own so poorly and hadn’t
found a way to make her magic useful? No wonder Bryanna felt so withdrawn.

He restrained his wrath. “You did well with what you were
given—that doesn’t sound all that bad to me.”

“That part wasn’t.” She shrugged, glancing both ways before
they crossed a street. “Through my years of working there, I had a few
boyfriends, and at the time, I thought they liked me. Later I found out they
only wanted to, you know…”

He waited for her to continue, but when she didn’t, he urged
her on. “No, I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”

“Get with the freak.”

Trapped in her troubled eyes, anger rushed through his veins
as hot as lava. He would enjoy finding every one of the men who used her for
their pleasures as if she were nothing more than a play toy. While he loved
women and the time he spent in their beds, he had never mistreated such
beautiful creatures. “Go on.”

She hesitated a moment, gazing at the house on her right,
then finally said to him, “But all that changed when Layton came into my life.
He had told me it didn’t matter to him what I was or how I did things. And he
made me feel,” sadness tinged her voice, “special.”

Special
.

That word didn’t do her justice—he simply saw perfection.
Her beauty and kind heart were clearly things she couldn’t see within herself.
“So what changed with Layton?”

Raw pain seeped into her expression. “A month ago, I was at
the coven working and I heard a few of the witches laughing at me. One of them
was making a joke that Layton was only with me for my money. Of course, I
didn’t believe it. I thought they were conniving bitches.”

She hesitated, shutting her eyes on a long exhale before
opening them again. “What they said stuck with me. After a while, I started to
notice things and see his lies. He would tell me things and I would listen like
a lovesick puppy dog and never questioned him.”

Part of Zeke wanted to stop her now. He didn’t want to hear
any more of this disgusting story and the cruelness she endured, but he
wouldn’t dare interrupt her. He kept his mouth shut as she continued, “A few
days ago, Layton sat me down and said he thought it was best if I quit my job
and stayed home. He said
his woman
shouldn’t have to work.” She snorted,
shaking her head. “Before, I would have agreed, but it was in that moment
reality hit me.”

At the tears welling in her eyes, Zeke shoved his hands into
his pockets, fighting off his desire to hunt Layton and rip him apart. “What
did you realize?”

She wiped the moisture off her cheek. “He didn’t want me out
in public anymore. My flawed magic embarrassed him. Just as my parents wanted
no association with me, he wanted to hide me away too.”

Now Bryanna made perfect sense to him. Every piece of the
puzzle fitted into place and explained what led her to be such a wounded witch.
“So you ran?”

She gave a firm nod. “Yes, I got in the car and never looked
back.”

Zeke didn’t know what to say. No words could erase the
damage that had been done. For the first time in his immortal life, he believed
in the existence of a horror far worse than a demon stealing a soul.

An innocent soul crushed and buried by deceit was the
cruelest of all evils.

“Oh, wow,” she said, snapping him away from his thoughts.
“This must be it.”

He glanced toward the stone house that had captured her
attention. Wanting nothing more than to protect her from those who had harmed
her, he looked back at her. “Yes, this is now your home.”

Bryanna gazed over the brick house that looked like a little
piece of heaven tucked in between thick trees and her breath caught in her
throat. Round stone blocks made up the exterior, but vines had grown over the
tops. No grass covered the lawn and instead the grounds were filled with every
flower she knew of and even some she didn’t, all rich in bright colors.

At the nudge of Zeke’s hand on her back, she inhaled and the
sweet scents from the wild flowers made her smile. Moments ago, emptiness had
filled her over memories of the past. Now with the beautiful home in front of
her, she wouldn’t spoil the moment with a somber mood. “This is really mine?”

Zeke nodded with a gentle grin. “All yours.”

While the inside of the house tempted her, another part of
the home held more importance. “Can we check out the backyard first?”

“This is your house.” He urged her on with a gentle push on
her back. “Go wherever you please.”

Right, why did she ask his permission?

An old habit she clearly needed to break. With a little
stomp to her step, enjoying the freedom, she marched along the flat rocks that
marked the path to the backyard. When the path ended to a wooden gate, she
unlatched it and stepped through, then she gasped.

A small path made of limestone wove its way through the
garden of dahlias, freesia and orchids, to name a few. The wooden fence
surrounding the house was well over ten feet high, and so overgrown with
flowers and vines, she’d swear she was in witch heaven.

“You’re happy?” Zeke asked softly.

Could happiness describe what she experienced now? No,
certainly not; her emotions lingered on euphoric. Either a fae or another Earth
Witch had resided at the home before her, because only a creature who loved
earth would go to such lengths to build this sanctuary.

“This is…it’s…” She drew in a deep breath. “I couldn’t want
for anything more.” At Zeke’s smile, she turned back to the square garden.
Weaving her way through the grounds, she scanned over the flowers, leaning down
every once in a while to sniff one. As the garden curved, she noticed an old
wrought iron swing, creaking and swaying in the light breeze.

Once she reached the swing, she sat down on the
cream-colored cushion.
This is all mine?
She’d never experience anything
quite like this—so serene. As she lifted her gaze from the garden, she noticed
something else that made this moment a little more special.

Zeke strode toward her along the path and trailed his
fingers from flower to flower with a soft touch, wearing a grin holding so much
mystery. Following his every step, she gazed over his fingers, wondering if
they’d be as gentle along her skin, cupping her breasts and caressing her clit.
Would he touch her as carefully as he did the flowers?

He plucked a fuchsia dahlia out from the garden and she
lifted her attention to his face. With a slowness nearly paining her to watch,
he raised the flower to his nose and drew in a long breath. His eyes closed and
the furrow in his brow suggested the scent overwhelmed him.

By the elements, she’d never seen anything so sexy in her
life and she’d seen a man smell a flower before. But when Zeke drew in the
aroma from the flower, the move appeared so sensual that she could only grip
the cushion below her and gulp.

When his eyes opened, he caught her gaze and she couldn’t
hide her arousal. He might be a demon, but right now, she didn’t care. Besides,
she deserved a little fun after what she’d been through these past days, didn’t
she? She’d had casual sex before and using him as an outlet to bring some
happiness into her life wasn’t something she would feel bad about.

Lowering the flower from his nose, his head tilted as he
regarded her, then he gave her a knee-wobbling smile. In only a few strides, he
closed the distance between them, knelt down in front of the swing and raised
the dahlia. “You know, I’ve never been one for roses. Nothing feels as sensual
as a dahlia.” He trailed the flower over the back of her hand and she
shuddered. “The petals feel like gentle fingertips along your skin.”