Unintentional Addiction: Lotus Adaamas Series

by Stone, Layla

  The smile she tried to flash was sad. “I guess I know why I never beat Rannn. It was because he was unbeatable. He told me that only four survived after seven months in captivity. Four out of four hundred.”

  She looked away.

  “If you’re such a good fighter, how did your ex-husband beat you?”

  Her shoulders sagged. “With words. When I didn’t expect it, he would lock me in places. He was always angry. I was always wrong. Never did anything right. Was never pretty. He never let me believe he was married to me because he wanted to be. Always kept me home because he said I would embarrass him. When his friends came over, he told me to do things so I couldn’t interact with anyone. Or he locked me outside or upstairs. I had become so spiteful, that I once served spoiled food just so his guests would get sick and think less of him. I hated him.”

  Adelia moved her legs and crossed them. “He told my parents how awful I was, and they took his side, of course. He burned the three things I had from my birth mother, destroyed all the clothes he said made me look fat. It was day after day of yelling, screaming, and threats. Until I put him in a position where he was forced to let me go. But even on that day, I could tell that he wished he had kept me to pay me back.”

  Zane could picture it. All of it. Inside, Adelia was a volcano, sometimes sleeping and serene, and other times erupting. If there were ever a female who belonged on Adaamas, this was the one.

  “I think we both need a drink,” he announced.

  She dropped his hand and was halfway up when he told her, “I didn’t say that so you would jump up.”

  “I know where your stash is, and you have to stay here for Shine. I’ll be right back.”

  He was grateful, but he still persisted. “You’re limping for Seth’s sake.”

  She chuckled. “Why do you think I’m offering to get you a drink. I plan on stealing some of your cinder oil.”

  He stopped protesting. At least, she was being honest. “By all means, help yourself.” Watching her walk away, he turned towards his friend. Inside the container, he saw movement and realized that he had stopped looking and was focused mainly on Adelia while they talked.

  Shine’s jaw was healed, his bones grown back, but the skin was still red and healing.

  That’s when Z realized what he’d done to Adelia by putting her in the container. The reason she smelled so much more fragrant. The container had regenerated her removed glands. She was full Grach again. As in her touch, sex, and taste were all addictive.

  It was a conversation he doubted she would be happy about. Zane turned his hand, his palm facing up. Her scent was there, and he was sure her gramones had seeped into his skin because he felt calmer.

  Adelia was walking back towards him, her bruised cheek and limp gone.

  She handed him a glass and the bottle of Macallan whiskey he’d bought to replace the jubriaan. “I figured you might want the bottle, too.”

  “You were right.”

  She sat back down beside him and peered into the container. “He looks better. His skin isn’t as pale.”

  “Notice how his jaw horns grew back?”

  He waited as she looked and then he watched as she processed the information. Her jaw dropped, and she turned to him. “My glands. They grew back when you put me in there, didn’t they?”

  “Most likely, yes.”

  The volcano beside him didn’t burst in anger or blow smoke, it quietly remained still. “That’s why everyone has been saying I smell.”

  He had to correct that. “You don’t smell bad. It’s like being around someone who’s always wearing your favorite perfume.”

  She didn’t respond. Now that he had heard the way her ex had talked to her, she probably didn’t even know what to do with a compliment. This time, he didn’t take it personally. In fact, he decided to share a drink with her.

  He set the glass down, poured three fingers worth of whiskey into it, and handed her the tumbler. She shook her head. “I’m addictive.”

  “Take a drink and stop being so Grach.”

  She gave him a look, half amused and half offended. He moved the glass to her mouth. She took it and sipped.

  “This is…really good.” She took another drink.

  “Macallan one-eight. It’s very good.”

  He took the glass back and drank from the spot she’d drunk from on purpose to show her that it was fine.

  It wasn’t fine. Because by the end of the drink, he didn’t want sloppy seconds from the glass, he wanted her mouth. He wanted her taste, her passion, and he wanted it then.

  Zane set the glass down, grabbed her hand, and pulled her towards him. She seemed to know exactly what he was doing because she came willingly and settled in his lap, her mouth pressing against his.

  The tingling returned to his tongue. Her taste, her scent soaked into every part of him, and it was heaven. She was hungry for him in the same way he wanted her. Maybe even more. She pushed him back against the floor and followed him down.

  He ran his hands under her shirt and pulled it off. She let him. Her mouth back on his, her hips rocked on his sex.

  Good Seth of Stars, was she really about to ride him dry?

  She removed her bra. He thumbed her nipples as she devoured his mouth.

  He slipped his hands to the sides of her panties and pulled, snapping the strings, making it better for her if she was going to ride him.

  Her hips rocked harder. Her teeth caught his lip, and she bit gently before she sat up and looked down at him, her eyes dark and her breathing labored. “Can I?” she asked.

  Can she…what? “Anything you want.”

  To his surprise, she grabbed his hands and held them against her breast.

  She bowed her back, making him feel as if he were amazing.

  He noticed her hands were working on his belt, button, and zipper.

  Oh. That’s what she meant.

  She pulled down his pants, reached in, and grabbed his sex, wrapping her hand around it as if she owned it. She pumped once. Twice. Hot damn, volcano.

  He watched, amazed, stunned as she lifted her hips, using her knees to glide herself along his sex and glisten his tip with the slickness between her thighs. Then she lined him up and lowered herself. No warming up, just pulled him out and got on.

  His mouth fell open. Tight, wet, gloriously sexy as she took him in, inch by inch. Her eyebrows pinched, and he didn’t know why she was in such a rush, but he was glad for it.

  Bottoming out inside, she ground against him and exhaled as if she had been dying for just that.

  “Good Seth, you’re sexy as hell.”

  She did it again, looking for her own pleasure. He had to help. With one hand, he massaged her breast. He dropped his other and used his thumb to find her sweet little pod. He found it and circled lightly.

  Adelia was barely breathing, pushing up against his thumb. He reached around her neck and pulled her down to take her mouth. But he kept circling her clit.

  She lost her rhythm, opened her mouth, and stopped breathing.

  He felt her sheath quiver, but he didn’t stop rubbing her until she gasped in a hard breath.

  She came, and he loved it, but it was time to show her that he wasn’t just someone to get off on. He could bring her to a new level of pleasure she’d never experienced. He removed his thumb and brought her mouth back to his as he took over from underneath. He found the rhythm again and shot up into her in short, hard thrusts.

  She broke the kiss, put both hands on his chest, and lifted her hips to ride him in bursts of hard, fast, grinds.

  Good Seth!

  She was doing it again, riding him, taking what she wanted. Her lower lip fell open, her eyes closed. And he felt it. Her greedy little pussy was coming again.

  She mewled deep in her chest and took as much pleasure as she could. Then she leaned forward and jerked her hips like a rabbit, rocking into him hard and fast.

  He felt the tingles in minutes. He was going to lose himself. He g
rabbed her hips tightly, feeling her flesh give. She didn’t stop, just rode him until he broke and flooded her, his climax rushing over and through him.

  He felt another wave as more seed gushed out. He was curled forward. When he was finally done, he let his head fall back.

  Adelia stayed sitting up. He took her hand and pulled her so he could feel her body on his. He’d never known bliss like this. It was better than he ever knew.

  Her cheek against his chest, he wished he’d had the foresight to take off his shirt. He was fully clothed, and she was practically naked on top of him.

  Zane wasn’t ready for it to be over. Coaxing her to stay by rubbing her back, she calmed even more. Her breaths weren’t as harsh.

  Her quiet voice said, “That feels good.”

  Zane smiled, liking that his little volcano was satisfied. Though he wanted to lead next time—as soon as he got his strength back.

  Minutes later, she sat up, her eyes guarded. “Let me clean you up.” She removed her body from his. He didn’t like losing her warmth, but he was still feeling high. At peace. But something was nagging at him in the back of his mind.

  She took her skirt from the floor and wiped him down before she cleaned herself. It was the oddest thing. It was like she was thanking him for letting her use him. Or maybe he thought that because that’s how he treated most females after they blitzed.

  “I’m going to clean up. I’ll be back,” she told him before walking away, totally naked. He watched.

  Once she was out of sight, he stuffed himself back into his pants and refastened them. Looking at the container, he saw Shine’s eyes tightly shut, and his teeth biting his lip.

  Damn.

  He was awake.

  23

  Name Your Enemy

  Zane opened the container door, expecting a snide comment from his lifelong friend about having sex in front of him. Instead, Shine wrapped his arms around Z and held tight. “Saved my life. Saved my life when you bought this thing, Zane.”

  He hugged his friend back, not liking that he’d had no idea if Shine was ever going to wake up. “You got caught in a mess I made. Won’t ever happen again.”

  Shine let go, hitting Z on the upper arm. “It’s not your fault.”

  It was. He was the one who’d put the homner up for auction without warning anyone.

  Shine backed up and smiled, shaking his head. “But, next time, please do that in your office. I never want to see you blitzing.”

  Zane heard the words, and it hit him. She’d blitzed him, knowing he could cure himself. Knowing it could be a one-time thing.

  What she didn’t know, or what he hadn’t told her yet, was that he wanted more. Not a few times more, but forever more. He’d meant what he said at breakfast. He was interested.

  His blood was tingling, and he felt so good he could take on a Krant and win.

  The peace in his mind and his body was so good, he didn’t want to lose it. Not again. Which meant he had already made a decision that would change the rest of his life.

  Zane didn’t feel uneasy about it, though. Not that he ever did when he made up his mind. It was second nature to know a good thing when he saw it. Felt it. Shine needed to accept that. “It’s my warehouse, and you should probably call whenever you stop by from now on.”

  Shine caught on as Z had expected. “That’s gross. I’m not touching anything in here ever again.”

  Zane chuckled.

  Shine got serious then. “I know who Trent hooked up with. And I’ll give you one guess.”

  One guess for a person he either hated or didn’t trust to even breathe the same air. He went with someone he didn’t trust. “Karr.”

  “Close. Wrin.” The person Z hated.

  A female Roth Demon that owned a large portion of the jubriaan plantations. She had contacted him years ago, asking to work with him to use his contact list to sell her product and possibly grow it on other moons to make more profit.

  Zane had turned her down. He couldn’t trust her not to take his clients from him and cut him out of the deal. She had buried her other partners that way.

  “She invited you to her home. A year ago, right? Do you remember where the plantation is?”

  “I know where it is,” Zane said. His mind already busy with a plan, he told Shine, “How fast can you make another set of vibrant pistols?”

  Shine shook his head and then took a hand and tentatively ran his fingers along his jaw to thumb the exposed bones at the back.

  Zane was glad he never dreamed. He would never have to close his eyes and relive that nightmare.

  Shine said, “It will take too long to make another vibrant. I would have to order more manufactured liquid radioactive waste. I can add a few more Miska-charming into production, though.”

  “No, I used the prototype, and I didn’t like that they got to die with a smile.”

  “They still died. That’s the point.”

  Zane thought about other weapons that were right nasty. “What about the sugar plum pistol?”

  Shine rubbed a hand over his mouth. “Yeah, I think I have enough liquid nitrogen left. I will check to see if I have the additives to make the sugar-looking sparkles on the skin.”

  “And one banshee pistol.” For diversions.

  Shine raked his hand through his hair. “Yeah, okay, but that crap had my ears ringing for a month.”

  “Have you bothered to set up safety protocols yet?”

  Shine looked mildly offended. “I’m not baking cakes, Zane. I’m working with explosive and radioactive material. It’s going to be unsafe.”

  “We should just move the container to your place.”

  “I’ve asked you a thousand times to do that, and now you’re finally thinking about it?”

  Yep, he should have done it years ago. But he was rectifying that now. “Good, drop them off as soon as they’re ready.”

  “As in you’re planning to go alone? I don’t think so.”

  Zane didn’t bother to explain how it felt to see Shine cut up, limp, and basically dead. Didn’t bother to tell him how much he valued the years they had watched over each other and supported one another. “Our partnership has always been that I take care of the business end, and you build the pistols. This is me taking care of the business end. And this isn’t a discussion.”

  24

  We All Fall Down

  Zane and Shine exited the hall from the warehouse and moved to the adjoining building with his office. Shine still argued to go with him, but Zane pushed back against it.

  He gazed at the bathroom and noticed that the water was off. Zane debated going in. He and Adelia needed to talk.

  First, though, he needed to get rid of Shine and then figure out exactly what he needed to say to get her to agree to be with him. Permanently.

  “Just the Silk Demon I’ve been waiting to see,” Trent’s familiar voice called from the front reception area.

  Zane turned his head, instantly getting hit with a surge of alarm and adrenaline. Trent was holding a pixy pistol. Behind the traitor was Wrin and two male Night Demons.

  Shine cursed beside Z. Zane spit out the same words inwardly. Adelia was in the bathroom and naked. If those two Night Demons found her, saw her, smelled her, he didn’t know what they might do. Trent would recognize her and put two and two together. Would punish her for almost killing him.

  Trent smiled victoriously. “Didn’t think little unexperienced me could cripple the all-powerful Z, did you?”

  Shine snickered quietly and whispered, “All-powerful?”

  “Like a genie. That gives me an idea. We need a genie pistol,” Zane whispered back.

  “Is it going to grant three wishes?”

  “So long as those wishes are tears, pain, and death.”

  Trent bounced from pointing the pixy pistol at him and Shine as he said, “You two were the easiest Demons to trick.”

  “Are you going to kill him this time?” Shine asked.

  “As soon as
he’s done with his speech. You know how I enjoy a good speech.”

  Trent sneered. “I’m more Demon than you will ever be. My name will be a legend.”

  “Do we have to listen to this?”

  “I’m waiting for the climax. It’s my favorite part.”

  Trent clapped his hands together and pointed at the female Roth. “Wrin thinks we can talk you into coming to work for her. I told her you’re too stupid to take a great offer. Just like last time. But last time, she offered you four percent of her profits. This time, her deal is just letting you live.” Trent pulled the trigger, but nothing happened.

  Shine lifted his chin, his lips pursed. “Did you check the safety?”

  “He didn’t check the mag,” Zane commented.

  Trent tried to fire again. Nothing. His face got redder by the second.

  “Trent,” Wrin said lovingly. “Put the pistol down. We came here to talk.” She walked over to the male and touched his hand to push the pistol down to point at the floor. Trent gave in instantly.

  What a nip.

  Wrin moved forward in her sparkling silver spandex outfit and spiked boots. “Z,” she cooed. “I want you to think carefully about my offer. You and me.” She swayed her hips with every step until she was directly in front of him. With the extra five inches her heels gave her, she was taller than Zane. Her hair was dyed white, her skin blueish-green. She had long, black eyelashes and pouty lips.

  Trent’s wet dream.

  Not Zane’s.

  Her finger dipped under his chin and forced it up. “You and me are meant to be. We are the money-makers on this island. Partnering is the only rational thing to do. Here’s my offer. Join me, and we will put all our efforts together. One face for the company. That’s you because you put people at ease. But I do the finances, and all the royalties go to me. You get paid by me as an employee. And if you do well, I’ll give you a bonus.” She licked her lips, emphasizing what kind of bonus she was talking about.