Midlife Wish (Blackwell Djinn Book 1)

by Nikki Kardnov

  His tongue flicked out, teasing her. She ground against his hardness, driven by a sudden primal need to have him inside her.

  “Not yet, love.” He pulled her dress off her shoulders, baring her from the waist up. His hands moved to her back, and for some reason, feeling his fingers on a part of her that wasn’t immediately private, but still somehow intimate, sent a thrill down her spine like the roaring rush of a river carving through stone.

  She wanted him now. She was impatient and ravenous, and her entire body trembled with the need. She reached down and grabbed hold of him through his pants, causing him to suck in a breath and pause in his pursuit of her nipples.

  “I don’t do things like this.” She put a little pressure on his cock. “If you make me wait longer, I might change my mind.”

  It wasn’t a challenge or a threat. It was a fact. Who was she? How had she found herself in this moment and why did she not want it to end? She was simultaneously torn between wanting all of Dae, forever, and running away, back to the safety of her boring life.

  She was standing on the cliff’s edge ready to leap.

  Dae pulled back and looked at her. His lips were wet and swollen and his eyes were glowing red with his desire. His magic sung along her skin.

  “If you’re having doubts, love, we should stop.”

  “Absolutely not.”

  She threaded her fingers in his hair and crushed her mouth against his.

  If she stopped now, she would regret it for the rest of her life. Even if tomorrow morning, Dae Blackwell walked away from her and never spoke to her again, she wanted, no she fucking needed him inside of her.

  “Take me to your bed,” she said against his lips.

  She could feel the tease of a smile on his mouth as he replied. “Maybe I’ll make you wait.”

  “No.” A needy moan escaped her. “Please.”

  His fingers teased at the seam of her panties, just barely touching her. She arched against him. He grazed her again, sending an electric river through her center.

  “Dae.” She sucked in a breath as he slid a finger inside her, then another. He was slow and deliberate about it, and when she tried rocking against him, to quicken the momentum, he stopped all together, the flat of his palm against her mound, his other hand on her ass caging her in place.

  She squeezed her eyes shut against the raw need pulsing through her body.

  “Dae,” she whimpered again.

  In a blink, the cool press of night was gone, replaced with the hushed, warm darkness of a bedroom and the distant beat of jazz music one floor below. She jolted, caught off guard, but Dae tightened his hold around her.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  She tore off his shirt. The buttons plinked to the floor. When she shoved it off his shoulders, revealing all of his ink, she was momentarily sidelined by it. The crows on his chest, the wings twining around his shoulders. The forest on his left bicep, and the gypsy on his right. She wanted to trace all of the lines on his body, ink and muscle and bone.

  She wanted to see more of him. All of him.

  “Take it off,” she said. Of course, she’d meant his pants, but with a snap of his fingers, her dress was gone, balled up in some dark corner, leaving her topless and in nothing but her black lace panties.

  She moved to undo his belt, but he scooped her up before she could and dropped her on the king-sized bed. And when she snaked her legs around him, drawing him in, he wrenched her knees apart, tore her panties off and sunk into the V of her thighs.

  His breath teased at her clit as two of his fingers slipped inside her. Ashley arched, trying to press him into her. He would only give her his tongue, though, just a barely-there graze until Ashley was writhing beneath him.

  And then his mouth was on her, all of her, and he moaned against her sex like she was the best thing he’d tasted all day.

  Ashley bucked, her hand tangled in his wild hair. She did not want him to stop. No one had made her feel wanted in a very long time. Not like this, in this simple, primal way.

  “You taste so fucking good,” he said. She shivered as he went lower and plunged his tongue inside of her, fucking her with his mouth. He was merciful on her now, driving her pleasure closer and closer to the edge, his tongue moving between her opening and her clit. And just when she was about to fall over the edge of her pleasure, Dae pulled back and smiled down at her in a way that was not at all innocent or wholesome.

  “Please,” she moaned.

  His eyes lit red with hunger. “Please what?”

  “Please fuck me.”

  Dae grabbed her at the hips and spun her around, bending her over the side of the bed. He spread her legs apart, baring her and Ashley arched her back, pushing her ass toward him. She heard the sound of his belt clacking as he undid the clasp and her whole body reacted with a tremor, her arms buckling beneath her. When Dae grabbed her at the hips, hands pressing hard into her bones, and the head of his cock teased at her opening, she whined.

  Sex had never been like this before.

  Ever.

  And he hadn’t even entered her yet. She didn’t know she could glow like this, all of her, like a neon sign.

  Chapter 20

  DAE

  Dae could barely think straight.

  If he had been, maybe he would have stopped. Maybe he would have talked some sense into himself. Deals became more complicated when sex was involved. Not that he routinely turned it down. No, Dae didn’t mind mixing business with pleasure on most occasions, but he needed this deal, he needed a wish.

  Fucking Ashley would complicate things, but he couldn’t seem to override the hunger gnawing at his insides. There were half a dozen women downstairs who would easily turn over at the prospect of fucking a Blackwell, but he didn’t want them. He wanted this one. Every part of him was driving him to thrust himself inside Ashley right this fucking minute. He could see how wet she was in the moonlight, her pussy swollen and waiting.

  Well, he couldn’t take it anymore, goddamn it.

  And he suspected she couldn’t either.

  His cock grew harder as Ashley’s arousal built, lighting the air with the heady scent of her. She’d been wet for him all night. She’d been fighting against it and so had he.

  But he could fight no more.

  He thrust himself inside of her. Ashley cried out, a shiver rolling through her like a wave.

  God did she feel good.

  Tight and wet and throbbing around him.

  His magic built inside of him like water behind a dam, the pressure building and beating at his chest and in his balls.

  He felt hot and high and completely fucking mad.

  He needed her.

  He didn’t want to let her go.

  He needed to cum but he didn’t want it to end.

  Not yet.

  He pulled out, slipped his cock between her wet lips, drove his head against her swollen clit. She rocked against him, spine curved inward, her tight little ass pushed toward him. She reached down between her legs, her hand finding him as he slid against her.

  By the gods…

  Dae’s magic grew taut, feeling the build of Ashley’s own pleasure, an echo of his. He didn’t know how, but he felt her orgasm coming on, the force of it building.

  When she cried out, her body glowing with sweat and moonlight, Dae thrust deeper, feeling the walls of her insides pulsing around him, pulling him in.

  He gritted his teeth.

  He couldn’t have drawn it out any longer if he wanted to.

  Her body was quivering beneath him, so hot, so tight, as he went in hard and fast. With a gritted growl, his cock spurt cum deep inside of her as the crash of his own pleasure rocked through him.

  When he pulled out, Ashley collapsed, and he collapsed beside her, his entire body bright with something he could only name as euphoria. He felt like a fucking human. Like a panting dog.

  “Wow,” Ashley whispered. “I...I...wow.”

  “Yeah.” Dae cl
osed his eyes and dragged in a breath. Magic pulsed inside of him in a way it never had before. It was almost like the power of the deal had grown beneath the connection between him and Ashley.

  It was a foreign feeling and not at all unwelcomed even though he knew he’d crossed a line he shouldn’t have.

  Something was going to come of this, Dae was certain of it. But what, he didn’t know. All he wanted right now was to linger and keep this feeling running through his veins.

  “Did you...um...” Ashley raked her teeth over her bottom lip and rolled her head his way. “Did you use a condom?”

  He chuckled, still a little breathless. “You’re supposed to ask that before we have sex, love.”

  “I know.” She scrubbed at her face. “I guess I got caught up in it and completely forgot. I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t be. It’s my responsibility as much as it’s yours. If I were not djinn.”

  “What does that mean?”

  He looked over at her, at the moonlight playing along the side of her face painting her still wet lips in streaks of silver. “Djinn carry no diseases and it’s unusual for a djinn to be able to procreate with a human.”

  “Oh? But it does happen?”

  “It can. Especially if a human is a djinn’s caeli, though that is even rarer still.”

  “What is a caeli?”

  He slipped his arm beneath her and pulled her into him. She snuggled into the crook of him, her ear pressed against his chest. Could she hear the rapid beat of his heart?

  “Humans refer to them as soul mates. We call them Fated or caeli.”

  “What does caeli mean?”

  “My air.”

  “Oh I like that.” She was quiet for a second and then, “Do you…um…have a caeli?”

  “No. And I’m in no rush to have one.”

  She pulled away from him and propped her elbow up, her head in her hand. He missed the heat of her already. “Why not?”

  He wanted to tell her all of his reasons. That his mother and father had been Fated for each other and yet still did not love each other. That his mother later did find love only to sacrifice herself to it.

  He wanted to tell her his truth, but he did not want to turn the night to melancholy. So instead he turned to humor.

  “I’ve heard that having a wife is a tremendous amount of stress. You have to help with the housework and take her out to dinner and buy her flowers. That sounds dreadful.”

  “That is not true!” Ashley exclaimed, but she was laughing.

  “Oh? Is it not? You don’t like flowers? You do not want your husband to help with housework?”

  Using his bed sheet like a robe, she climbed from the bed and found her dress near the bathroom where his magic had tossed it.

  “In any good marriage,” she said over her shoulder, “a husband and wife are a team. You don’t do the dishes because you think she wants you to do the dishes. You do them because you love her.”

  There was still a cloying smile on her lips, but Dae suspected she was being completely serious. He did not understand these things. For one, he didn’t have to think about housework in any version of his life. He had servants for that. And he’d never had to consider a woman’s happiness. Only his own.

  “I’ll keep that in mind should I ever cross paths with my soul mate,” he said before pulling his shirt on.

  “Good,” she said and scooped up the rest of her clothing. “Someday she’ll thank me for setting you straight.” She disappeared inside his bathroom and shut the door behind her.

  Chapter 21

  ASHLEY

  Ashley wanted to squeal with delight.

  Holy shit.

  Had she just done what she thought she’d done? Had she really slept with Dae Blackwell?

  How was this her life?

  Oh no, was she spiraling? Was she acting out because of James and stupid Isla? Maybe she was. Maybe she was headed down a dangerous path and by this time next year, she’d be a homeless sex addict snorting crack in an alley.

  Okay, no.

  That was insane.

  She was a woman who didn’t realize until just now how much she’d been starving for the simple pleasures of her body. Ashely had thought that James was a good lover, but she was learning he took more than he gave.

  Sex with Dae had been mostly about her and he hadn’t even shoved his cock in her mouth like James usually did. James didn’t feel like sex was sex unless he was getting a blowjob at some point.

  Draping Dae’s bed sheet over a towel bar, Ashley caught her reflection in the giant mirror above his double vanity. She’d always avoided looking at herself. She didn’t hate her body. But she didn’t love it either. She’d always had a belly that was soft. Hips that were wide, but legs that were thin. James had never admonished her or her body, but he’d never exactly complimented her either.

  But now…feeling the ghost of Dae’s hands on her hips, dragging her into him like he couldn’t get enough…

  God. She was tingling again. His juices were practically running down her leg and it felt so incredibly hot.

  She didn’t know she could feel this way—sexy and wanted.

  She thought that was just a thing they only portrayed in the movies, but wasn’t actually real.

  How the hell was she supposed to return to a normal sex life after sleeping with Dae?

  Maybe she needed a drink. Calm her firing nerves. There were plenty of drinks to be had downstairs. And she needed to find Lola.

  She cleaned herself up quickly and dressed.

  In the mirror, she gave herself a once over just to be sure she looked okay. She didn’t want to come down the stairs looking like she’d just been rolling around in bed. Hopefully she could quietly slip back into the party and pretend her and Dae had been in the garden the whole time.

  Did the others attending the get together know that Dae could disappear and reappear on a whim? Like some phantom ghost?

  She hoped not.

  Dae was waiting for her in one of the leather chairs by the massive stone fireplace when she came out of the bathroom. “Ready?” he asked.

  “Yes.” She smoothed down the front of her dress. “Are you?”

  “Oh yes. Quite.” He held out his arm for her and she took it. He guided her from the room and down the cavernous hall. They passed marble busts on marble pedestals. Oil paintings that were several hundred years old, but in which several of the subjects looked coincidentally like Dae and his brothers.

  “That one,” Dae said and pointed at a stern-looking painting of him and Poe, “was painted by a famous 16th century portrait artist who thought we were vampires. Poe took the opportunity to spin the tale further and actually bit the man. He refused to come out in the daylight after that.”

  “That’s horrible!” Ashley said, but she was laughing too.

  “Don’t worry, love. We sent him an ancient elixir that cured him. He was fine afterward.”

  “What was this elixir?”

  “Ginger water.”

  Now she could barely control herself. She wanted to hear more. She wanted to hear all of Dae’s stories. About the centuries he’d lived, the places he’d watched change and expand and fall to decay. She wanted to know his favorite places and the places he missed the most that were now just stones buried beneath the earth.

  She realized in that moment that she never wanted to stop seeing Dae even if they weren’t sleeping together or fulfilling the terms of their deal. Could they be friends afterwards? Did Dae have friends that were mortal?

  If she had to guess, the majority of the people downstairs were human just like her, but it was highly debatable as to whether or not they were friends.

  “What else?” Ashley coaxed, wanting to take in all of his adventures just in case she lost him once this deal was done. “What was your favorite era?”

  “Oh, well....” He thought for a second as they rounded the corner. The volume of the party grew, unfiltered as it wended up the open, curved stairwel
l.

  Ashley’s stomach filled with butterflies. Her chest swelled with a funny, bubbly feeling.

  Was she…happy?

  God, she was.

  How long had it been since she had felt this way?

  She looked at Dae as he thought and smiled, and it was so big, so real, that she wondered if she was dreaming.

  And that’s when Ashley saw James.

  James.

  Coming up the stairs.

  His face red and angry.

  The look on Dae’s face immediately switched to match James’s anger.

  And then Ashley felt that distant tingling of magic, like the air was building with static electricity, like she was land and everything behind her the sea, a storm brewing above it, pulled in by her, to her.

  Ashley had never seen James furiously jealous. She thought she’d known him so well, but now he looked like someone else, like a man possessed.

  “What the hell are you doing?” James shouted. He looked her up and down now that he was at the top of the landing, his hand on the stone banister. Ashley’s arm was still linked with Dae’s and she shot away from him, embarrassed and ashamed, though she really had no reason for either.

  At the beginning of this whole thing she thought she wanted to win her husband back despite his insistence that it was over. But now…now she wasn’t so sure. Now she didn’t know what she wanted.

  “Ashley?” James barked.

  “I...I...Dae was showing me the family gallery and....”

  Dae stiffened beside her. “She owes you no explanation.”

  Ashley clamped her mouth shut.

  “She’s my wife,” James said, his teeth gritted. “You need to stay the hell away from her.” He marched forward, his wavy dark hair a mess around his face like he’d been running his hands through it over and over again. He did that when he was anxious and frustrated.

  He reached for Ashley, but she stepped away, fueled by something that felt like vengeance and courage knotted together. “I’m not going anywhere with you,” she said.