The Moon, the Madness, and the Magic (12 page)

Despite the frown on his face, the sight of him made the breath catch in her chest. He’d showered. Beads of water sparkled in spots on his forehead, indicating he’d rushed when he’d found her missing. The little hitch in her heart warmed her when she realized that.

Sniffing the air, she noticed he’d used the woodsy-scented soap. Although he’d tied his hair back, it was still damp and shiny in the light. She hadn’t thought he could look any better than he did naked, but she was wrong. He looked equally fantastic in or out of clothes. With his chest bare, he wore only his bathing suit hanging low on his narrow hips, hugging his sturdy thighs like a second skin. She decided she liked the overall effect, right down to his bare feet. She smiled. Bare feet confirmed haste.

Coming after her in bare feet seemed like an act of desperation. The fact that the thought pleased her said so much more than she wanted to acknowledge about her feelings for him.

She’d accepted her destiny with him, but she wanted him to desire her, needed that badly, and she planned to kick herself for wanting it later.

He dropped down beside her, and his quiet question sounded like a reprimand. “Why did you leave me?”

Lust ran rampant through her from just the sight of him, especially after having experienced all of his charms firsthand. And yet looking at his bare feet next to hers struck her as staggeringly more intimate than everything else that had gone before. Her insides flamed.

She forced herself to look away from him to hide her raging desire.

“Is it because I bit you and drew blood? I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately, but I couldn’t stop.”

“No! No, that was okay. I remembered the safe word.”

“But it was your first time.” He seemed distracted when he ran his hand across his chest. “Damn it, I shouldn’t have gotten so rough.”

“No, it’s not that at all, really.” She touched a hand to her neck where he’d bitten her. The spot ached with the same needy sensation she felt between her thighs. “I needed some alone time.”

“You’re sure?” His brow knit with concern. “But we weren’t finished.”

His concern touched her. “That’s all. Time.” It was hard enough not to admit to herself how much the sight of him affected her. She didn’t want to spill her guts to him and give him so much more power over her. “It’s nothing like you think.”

She decided to be honest. “You know, Rourke, you were right about the first time. About my feelings, I mean. The connection. I just needed some space to sort through my emotions. I was feeling overwhelmed.” She didn’t like admitting it, but she did think he would understand this one thing.

He gave her a crooked grin. “If that’s all it is,” he said, pulling her toward him, “you can have space later. You won’t feel any different about it forty years from now. Your first is always your first.”

That endearing smile of his hit her like a freight train. He kissed her neck and sent flames shooting through to her core. Her pussy clenched. The corners of his eyes crinkled when he smiled at her. She could handle anything but that. The man proved more disarming by the second.

Twisting her into his arms, he slammed her back against his body, trapping her against him. He was already hard, maybe still from before. As far she knew, maybe he was always hard. She hadn't seen him any other way since the first time she’d set eyes on him.

Her body responded quickly when he spread her legs with his knee, pressing his erection insistently against her ass. Rourke nuzzled her hair, inhaling deeply, releasing a slight moan against her neck. She whimpered when his lips touched her ear and his teeth nibbled. Her hips shifted back, responding to the sensation of having his cock so close to where she wanted it.

Move it a little to the right,
her succubus screamed.
Stick it in. Fill me. Fuck me. Now!

The sexual tension building inside her made her want to strip and bend over for him. Her skin tightened, and she felt her canines extend inside her mouth. The shift threatened. The wolf in her instinctively recognized his scent now that he’d marked her. It was her turn to mark him.

This kind of blood bonding was risky if he didn’t really care for her, yet despite knowing all she knew, her traitorous hair responded to him, whipping around in the light breeze and ensnaring him to her. And the tattooed wings rippled beneath the skin across her back. She had to get herself under control or give herself away and chance exposing too much too soon.

He held both of her hands with one of his, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a line of foil wrappers. Dangling them in front of her face, he said, “We forgot to use the damn condoms.”

His complaint, nothing but grumbled words against her skin, seemed halfhearted. The sound of his deep voice reverberated through her chest, making it more difficult to hold back her wolf.

“I know,” she whispered, “but you’ll be okay.” She shook her head, willing him to leave her, but she returned to the comfort of his arms.

“No, I won’t.” He was adamant. There was a hint of frustration in his voice, but he looked dazed and sounded astonished when he added, “Something happened to me. I came inside you.”

“I’m disease-free and not fertile. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Really? How do you know
I
don’t have something?”

Oh, you have something, all right.
“Do you?” she snapped.

“No. I’ve never had unprotected sex before.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what got into me.”

“Good, then there’s nothing to—”

He jerked her against him and pressed his body more firmly to hers, his breath a whisper against her cheek. “I’d planned on using the whole box with you before we were done.”

His words had her succubus cheering and her heart hoping. Having him so close, feeling his hard, muscled body trembling for control overpowered her defenses. She wanted him as much as he wanted her, maybe more.

“Now we don’t need to worry about it. Do we?” she asked.

He simply agreed. “You’re right.”

The feeling of his shaft pressing firmly between her thighs, pressing against her clit, made her want to smile. She couldn’t help wanting him again, couldn’t help being pleased at his response to her.

Her nails grew longer, digging into the palms of her hands where she’d fisted them. And even though his half-grin melted her insides, she refused to give in. She stood up, and he rose, too, winding his arms around her.

“I have to go.” There was no way she was ready to reveal what she was or deal with his innate ability to bring her to her knees.

When she tried to step away, he gripped her tighter and tugged the bikini top’s string with his teeth.

“I had plans for today,” she explained. Any excuse would do.

“So do I. Mine are better than yours, and I promise, we’re not finished by a long shot.” His voice was deep, his words a warning. When he cupped her naked breast his smile conveyed the promise

She sighed. “Really, Rourke—”

“You’re hiding something.” He slipped his hand inside her bathing suit bottom. “Oh, darlin’, I’m so ready to be inside you.” He pulled her T-back down her thighs and off. “Turn around. Open up.”

She couldn’t answer, couldn’t breathe as his words set her insides on fire. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, and when his hand touched her naked mound, she collapsed against him, her back to his chest. She hoped she could tap down her secret while she did as he commanded.

His hand slowly circled her abdomen, lowering her back down to the ground. He groaned in her ear, the sound of his desire mixed with satisfaction. “I want to drive deeper inside you this time. I want to touch your very core.”

As his words wove magic, his fingers probed the cleft at the juncture between her thighs, and the blaze consumed her. She let her head fall forward and her eyes roll closed, embracing the guilty pleasure riding over her.

“You’re so hot and wet. I want to be inside you right now.” His words sounded gruff with passion. “I can’t wait to fuck you again.”

She wanted him to want her, but she wanted it to really be
him
truly wanting
her
. If this was all just damn fate, it wouldn’t be enough. Not for her. Certainly never for him. He was right when he told her she wouldn’t walk away from the man who first took her—not without caring. Yet somehow, she knew it wouldn’t have mattered. Deep in her heart, she believed it was the fact that the first man had been Rourke. That was what made her care.

He sniffed her neck and slid one finger inside her. She arched her back, leaning into his one hand as his other crept up her body, cupping her breast and fondling her nipple. “What is it, Celeste? What makes me crazy for you after just one time? You’re creamy fire in my hands, and I know you want this as much as I do.”

He
wanted
her
. She hoped it wasn’t the binding making him feel that way
.
She touched her lips to his. She needed the truth. A sharp nip to the corner of his lips made him wild with desire. As she sucked droplets of his rich blood, his cock nudged harder into her soft flesh, and he licked his own blood from her mouth.

She sensed the aching sexual need rise up in him, and her succubus responded, begging for release.
Let me pleasure him this time. You had him last time.

Celeste rolled on top of Rourke, allowing her fae succubus free for the first time. She hoped she could handle a virgin succubus, and if she couldn’t, she had to believe Rourke could.

“Let yourself go, Rourke. Enjoy the moment. You know how much joy you give me with your body. Allow me to return the favor, at least this one time.”

“How many men are going to turn down an offer like that?”

“You might. I know how you like to be the one in control.”

With a shimmer, her glamour surrounded them. The luminous light dazzled him, and faery dust swirled like a tornado.

“Well, baby. I’m all yours this time. Give it your best shot, because I’m taking back control after this and not ever giving it back.”

“We’ll see about that.”

He’d taken her blood without really realizing what he had done, and now she would have to take more of his. She hated doing it this way, but she had to enthrall him before binding him to her with his blood.

“Pzshwiest!” A whispered magical word in his ear, one he’d never be able to pronounce, would have him thinking this was a dream. The wings on her back popped free as she lowered herself onto his cock. They wrapped around Rourke much as her arms and her hair did, caressing him.

“God, you feel wonderful. I take it back. You can take control like this anytime.” His hands explored her crevices while she tried to please him with every trick her succubus knew.

“I really love your hair. It feels like the tendrils are embracing me, touching me like butterfly wings, stroking my skin.”

“Oh, Rourke, are you waxing poetic on me? I’ll never be able to resist that. The fae love a poet’s soul.”

He grunted a response she didn’t hear when he touched her clit and rubbed. She reared back and gasped as he mumbled, “Fae? I thought you were a succubus.”

All conscious thought flew away. So much for control.

She licked her lip again and tried to probe his mind. She was a succubus for crying out loud, and the man was seducing her again. She needed an idea of what he liked. Her fae magic should be able to work when his guard was down.

She slipped through his mental blocks, and Celeste scrolled through sexual images from his mind until she found the ones that turned him on most. Her body burned with desire as she imagined being with him in all those ways. She moaned. “Your hands are so hot, I need you to—” What, what did she need?

“Tell me, what do you need, baby? I want to give it to you.”

“This.” She impaled herself on his rock-hard erection and sighed as she slid down his length to the base. He groaned. Her eyes closed and rolled open with pleasure when she was fully seated.

Rourke grinned up at her, oblivious to her wings, too mesmerized by the myriad of colors and variety of sensations she created for his pleasure. Once in his head, she had pulled out more of his favorite fantasies, and now she fed them back to him.

Lost in the moment of ecstasy, Rourke only managed a low mumble as he threw his head back, arching up, driving his cock deeper inside her. She felt him nudge her womb.

“Oh, baby, do you have fingers in there? I feel like a thousand tiny fingers are caressing my cock while you squeeze, hot, slippery, and tight around me.”

The feeling of attachment to him shocked her. Every part of her nature wanted to keep him. She hoped taking his blood wasn’t a betrayal, but the sight of his masculine, corded throat sent a rush of desire to her core. His hot, thick blood coursing through his veins beneath the pulse beating in his throat sparked a sensation, a dark desire Celeste hadn’t experienced before. The
bloodlust.

He moaned as she rode him. Her hunger called to her, refusing to be denied. Celeste’s sharp, pointed canines caught against her tongue as she tried to ignore her bloodlust. The temptation was too great to resist.

She lowered her mouth to his throat and bit him, drawing on him as he came, and then as the taste of his blood filled her mouth her orgasm exploded. This time, she cried out his name as he yelled out hers, and the sound of their satisfied pleasure echoed through the fae forest.