Rafi catches up with us and passes me a bottle of champagne. I take a swig, laughing as it froths at my lips.
“We’re getting as far away from that madness as possible,” Luisa says, heading to the woods surrounding the house. “I’ve done enough work for one day.”
I want to tell her about my mother’s conversation with Salvador. His cryptic words irk me, settling uncomfortably in the back of my mind like a pebble in a shoe. What did my mother mean by I need my reputation unsullied, I can’t afford another scandal? What scandal is she referring to? And why is Salvador so desperate to marry her?
“MA rituals are exhausting,” Rafi says, rubbing his hands together. I notice they look sore.
“Especially Mage funerals,” Luisa adds.
“I wouldn’t know, I’ve never been to one.” Saying it out loud carves a hollow into me. My father didn’t have a funeral. I don’t say the last bit, I don’t want to dampen the mood. “But I did grow up with all that ritual bullshit. Some families have Sunday night dinners, we had Sunday night séances.”
“Sometimes I’m grateful my parents weren’t Witches,” Rafi replies. “At least my life was normal growing up.”
Ping.
It’s amazing how quickly people forget I’m a Verity Witch, or maybe everyone is just used to lying to themselves all the time. No way was Rafi happy about having grown up in a non-magical family, but I don’t rat him out. Everyone’s entitled to a couple of lies when it comes to family.
We slow down at a mosaic-covered wall and I sigh at the view. Even at night, there’s enough light to make out what is what. The sea in the distance, Montjuic mountain to the right where the ball was held, and Gaudí’s most famous creation – La Sagrada Familia cathedral, lit up and jutting out from the center like a giant crown. It was only half-finished when he died, and although new parts are added to it every year, the MA secretly ensures it will never be finished. A homage to his Mage legacy.
Luisa wraps her arms around my waist and kisses the back of my neck.
“You smell so good,” she whispers.
I’m used to Shifters telling me I smell like shit, and Vamps telling me I’m poison to them, so having Luisa enjoy her lips on my skin gives me an extra thrill of pleasure.
I turn my head and Luisa finds my mouth, kissing me deeply.
Rafi shifts uncomfortably beside us.
“You two need to get a room,” he mumbles.
“Cabró, we had a room yesterday,” Luisa says. “But…”
“Great, you’re never going to let me live that down.”
Rafi turns on his heels and marches back to the woods. “Come on, then!” he shouts over his shoulder, the bottle of champagne swinging by his side.
I look at Luisa and she shrugs, her lips twitching into a smile. We follow, Luisa having to hold me up as my heels sink into the pine needle-covered ground. Where the fuck’s he taking us? We venture deeper and deeper into the woods, him marching furiously and Luisa and I hand in hand holding back giggles.
“OK,” he announces. “It’s quiet here. This will do.”
Luisa’s eyes widen. “Do for what?”
He raises his hand and sweeps it over a nearby tree. The park is filled with a mix of palm trees, pines, and a bunch of simple-looking green trees, the kind with spindly branches and budding lime-colored leaves. It’s these he’s pointing at. I don’t know what he’s doing at first until I notice the branches are beginning to move and grow.
What the hell?
The trees slowly bend towards one another, their branches interconnecting and weaving together over our heads.
“Think of me as your personal Maleficent,” he says with a wink. “Now you have a room. Accept my humblest of apologies and enjoy.”
He holds his champagne bottle up in a toast, blows us a kiss, and walks away.
I whistle. “Did Rafi just build us a fucking tree cocoon?”
Hand-in-hand, our faces frozen in wonder, we stand back and watch the Elemental magic take shape. The trees are still moving, an entire wall already formed out of threaded twigs and leaves. We remain rooted to the spot as a roof grows over his giant creation and a doorway appears. We duck inside. It’s big enough to stand in.
My cheeks grow hot, thankful Luisa can’t tell in the dusky light.
“Rafi, the old romantic,” I say.
“Yeah, he’s a good guy.” She turns me around and kisses my bottom lip, whispering against my skin. “We really should make the most of his gift.”
“Absolutely,” I murmur, pressing my lips to hers and kissing her cupid’s bow. “It would be ungrateful if we didn’t.”
Leaves are growing over the opening, giving us a way out but ensuring privacy. The light turns from shadows to light greens to shafts of pale moonlight as leaves and branches keep moving overhead.
Luisa’s hand slides down the length of my dress and cups my ass through my gown, pulling me closer. Her tongue traces a soft line over my collarbone until she reaches the strap of my dress. She tugs it down with her teeth, reminding me of her moves in the studio. I let out an involuntary moan, licking the hollow of her throat and unzipping the back of her dress slowly. It slips off one shoulder, making more room for my mouth.
Moving my hair to one side she kisses up my neck, running her teeth lightly behind my ear. I shudder and she smiles, her grin widening as she looks over my shoulder.
“He really went all out.”
Flower buds are sprouting between the thin branches over our heads and beneath our feet. Petals are everywhere, the floor now a carpet of silken pink.
Luisa plucks a flower, and it blooms in her hand.
“Sakura,” she whispers. Cherry blossoms.
Deliciously slowly, she runs the delicate petals down the other side of my neck and across the skin exposed by my décolleté.
Her gaze is swirling fire. Want and need flood her darkened eyes as they lock on mine. She plucks the other strap of my dress, pulling the fabric lower until I feel it graze my breasts. Mouth taunting mine, Luisa reaches behind me and unhooks my bra. Torturously, she slides it off, exposing my peaked nipples to the night’s chill.
There’s a wicked glint in her eye.
“Oops,” she says, throwing the lacy piece aside.
Witch goddess, spare me.
Luisa runs her hands across my hips and pulls me closer, anchoring my core to hers. I bend and glide my tongue along her neck once, then bite her.
Luisa moans, and I feel the same familiar ache from the art studio build between my thighs. My toes curl in my heels and I step out of them and she does the same. My feet sink into the soft floor as I yank her forward and we collide in a mess of mouths and teeth and tongues. As we kiss, Luisa grazes her fingertips against my nipple. Then she does it again, clamping down lightly. I whimper.
I can’t take it anymore. I want to devour her whole.
“I want you, Bruixa,” I say. And with my eyes trained on hers, I sink to my knees.
The petal-littered floor is soft as it meets my skin. I linger for a moment, making sure the sight of me at her feet, ready to worship her, has sunk in. Her hooded eyes and wide pupils confirm everything I need to know.
She runs a thumb across my lips, and I take it into my mouth, sucking on her hungrily.
Running my fingers along the edge of her hem, I push the fabric up slowly. Inch by inch, I release her from the tight dress until her lace-trimmed panties are inches from me, her clothes gathered around her waist.
Luisa’s tongue runs along her top lip.
“Saskia,” she says, as quiet as a wish.
Looking up, I give her a half-smile. Then, with my hands on her behind, I pull her closer, kissing the inner dip of her exposed thigh. She moans. I run my hand beneath her underwear and cup her bare ass, pulling her into me harder, licking the inside of her thigh, higher and higher, until my lips graze the sheer fabric over her mound. With a flick of my tongue, I trace the point where fabric meets flesh, feeling her shudder in the
palm of my hands.
Her eyes darken. “Please,” she says, more urgent this time.
Hooking my fingers beneath the edge of the lace, I pull it to one side and take her into my mouth, tongue coaxing her in long strokes. The sweet scent of pollen around us combines with her warm musk and I’m heady with longing, deepening my caress, savoring the taste of her. Luisa puts her hand on the back of my head, and I'm lost in oblivion. My knees ache as I worship her, inch for inch, relishing the pain, pushing against it.
With a final flick of my tongue, Luisa’s knees buckle and she sinks to the ground before me. I look up and her mouth clashes against mine, one hand gripping hard to my hair while the other pulls me closer. Still kissing, we roll along the edge of the wooded cocoon, thorns and thin branches jabbing and scratching our bare flesh.
I flip her onto her back and sit astride her, hiking her skirt higher as she lays in a sea of petals. I kiss her stomach, feeling her abs quiver against my mouth. Then I work my way along her ribcage and the curve of her waist, inching my way up her body.
Luisa’s breasts are dappled with shadows from the leaves surrounding us. I roll her nipple gently between my thumb and fingers, enjoying her groans of pleasure. She parts her thighs and I position myself between them, pressing my knee into her center. Her head lolls back against the branches, her hair catching on the thorns. One of the flowers behind her starts to bloom, a large white stargazer lily, filling the air with sweet perfume.
I place a finger in my mouth, then rub it over the erect peak of her breast again, before licking a path from her collar bone to behind her ear. The taste of her perfume mingles with the taste of her in my mouth.
She sits up, her hands traveling up the back of my knees, resting on my behind and pulling me closer. I part my thighs and she nudges her leg between mine, pushing against my throbbing center, the sweet ache filling me up with heat.
“More,” she moans, as I move my tongue down her neck and to her chest, the tip of my tongue tracing the curve of her pert nipple. She bunches my hair in a fist as I suck hungrily on her, writhing against her leg and making the fabric of my underwear damp.
My hand is trapped between our bodies and I inch my fingers lower, stroking the line of her groin and smiling as she moans into my mouth.
She breaks away, holding my gaze, her pupils so dilated her eyes are black as night.
“Don’t stop,” she says as I slide two fingers beneath the hem of her underwear, pushing them slowly inside of her and feeling her tighten against me.
My arousal mounts as my hand becomes slick with the touch of her, moving my fingers in and out, my eyes locked on hers. Placing my thumb over her clit I move it in slow lazy circles. She starts to pant heavily, her chest rising to meet mine.
The hunger inside me is a ravaging burn. A midnight wildfire.
“Moan for me,” I whisper, and she obeys as my fingers quicken inside her. Biting down on her nipple, I let my hand cup her other breast as her breath comes in ragged whimpers.
I can’t take this anymore. The friction between my thighs is making my legs tremble, building into an unbearably sweet desire.
I blink, refocusing hungrily on her. Moving faster still. Again and again, I worship her with my mouth, tongue, and fingers until Luisa finally clasps my head in both her hands and cries out, shuddering against me.
I keep my hand between her legs as her breaths ease to normal and her eyes flutter open.
The wooded space has filled with the honeyed scent of roses, orchids, and lilies blooming through the branches and exploding open in a cacophony of color. A soft rain of Sakura flutters down on us, tickling my bare skin.
Luisa looks around her, suddenly realizing our makeshift room is now covered in bright flowers.
“Per déu! It’s like we’re standing in the middle of a Georgia O'Keeffe painting,” she says with a smirk. “You know what her art symbolizes, right?”
The sight of Luisa’s naked body covered in petals is too much. I struggle to find the right words, but I don’t have time to answer anyway before she’s flipping me on my back, pulling my dress off entirely so I’m in nothing but my thong. Kneeling beside me she takes me in, every inch of me, her eyes clouding over.
“My turn,” she says with a feral grin.
Stretching one arm over my head, I tease at the lacy rim of my underwear, moving them aside invitingly. She curses softly in Catalan, before cuffing my hands in hers and holding them over my head. In a torturous tease, she marks a trail of kisses down my temples, cheekbones, jaw, and throat. Her fingers glide down the length of me as she keeps kissing downwards until her head is bobbing between my legs. She nudges at the inside of my damp parted thighs, tracing her tongue along its apex.
“Holy hell,” I moan loudly, tipping my head to the ceiling of the cocoon.
One solitary petal floats down, landing on her hair, and she smiles up at me from beneath her thick lashes.
I can’t take it anymore. Greedily, I clasp her head and push her into me. She laughs against my skin, enjoying my weakness. Then her mouth is upon me, tongue entering me, pushing my thighs back. Gaining speed she moves inside me, the pressure building. At the heat of her tongue running through my center, I let out a guttural gasp, raking my fingers through her short hair while my other hand crushes pink petals inside my fist. I push her head harder against me as her tongue circles my clit, lapping inside me deeper and deeper. She pulls at my underwear and I arch my back, letting her peel them off. Her hand on the base of my ass she coaxes me closer, her fingers moving in slow circles without entering, teasing me, her mouth wrapping around me.
I feel my center coiling, tighter and tighter, my back arching and my body bucking against her mouth. I drink her in, the dimple on her cheek and the green flecks in her hazel eyes.
I can’t take this anymore. I sit up.
“Use your magic,” I beg, my voice hoarse with pleasure. “Please.”
She stops moving against me. “What?”
“I want you to use your magic on me. Use it to make me cum.”
She shakes her head slowly, nuzzling against my thigh. My center coils harder, unbearably tight.
“I’m not sure you’ll be able to handle it.”
“Please. I’ve never experienced sex magic before. It’s never felt safe, but now…” I place her hand between my legs. “I trust you, Luisa.”
With those words, Luisa is unleashed. She kisses me feverishly, guiding her fingers between my legs.
“Do it,” I say in Catalan, grinding against her and holding her hand in place. “I want to feel all of you.”
She pushes me back down onto the velvety floor, and with a mischievous smile, she parts my legs.
Slowly, so slowly, she runs a fingertip up my thighs. I’m totally exposed, my entire body craving her touch. She remains kneeling between my legs, watching me, waiting.
My heart starts beating so violently all I can hear is the rustle of the petals beneath me and my breath getting faster and faster.
“All of you,” I whisper.
With a final nod, she places her hand flat between my legs and a wave of ecstasy runs through me. I can’t see, I can’t hear. The world has gone still. Every inch of me is trembling. I’m falling, then I’m floating, then a riot of color erupts behind my eyelids as the pleasure mounts. I hear myself crying out, long and primal, as I twist on the ground. The pleasure courses through me, wave after wave, crashing against me like it will never end. Finally, my eyes snap open and all I see is her, Luisa, glowing like she’s the moon goddess herself.
I try to speak but I can’t. I swallow and she winks at me.
The world finally stops spinning. My mind clears and I slowly sink into the bed of cherry blossoms, relishing their cooling dew against my skin.
Luisa curls up beside me, but I can’t move, I can’t speak, I’m spent.
“That was, I mean…”
She laughs softly. “I know.”
With a light kiss on my cheek, sh
e wraps her arms around me, and slowly we drift off to sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I wake with a start. A light breeze is blowing over my bare skin and it takes me a moment to remember where I am. There’s that noise again. Luisa’s phone is buzzing urgently, three messages in a row.
She groans and snuggles her body closer to mine, her head in the crook of my neck.
“Make it stop,” she says sleepily. “Who the fuck is messaging me in the middle of the night, anyway?”
“It might be important,” I mumble, the mix of magical sex and the scent of flowers making me feel a little hungover.
Luisa glances at her phone then sits up with a start. I do the same. Flower petals fly off us both, but she’s already on her feet picking them off her butt and thighs.
“It’s Beatriz,” she says, pulling on her dress. “Something’s happened to Xavi.”
I squeeze my arms tighter around Luisa’s waist as Barcelona twinkles past me in a blur of black, yellow, and grey. Luisa speeds up, flying over winding cobblestones and banking down dark swirling streets, gravel ricocheting from her moped’s wheels with a sharp hiss. We are at the MA HQ in no time, my hair sticking to my neck as I pull off the helmet.
The moon is round and white above our heads, the air hot, and my heart is thumping like a rabbit’s foot against my chest. Not just because of Luisa’s death-wish moped ride, but because of Beatriz's text.
Something’s happened to Xavi.
I look up at the Palau Güell where Beatriz told us to meet her.
Luisa tries the door.
“Merda!” She kicks at it. “Xavi must have let her in but now it’s locked again.”
She pulls out her phone and dials a number. “Alba, Alba, pick up… There you are. Come open the front door, please. Now!”
There’s silence as she listens.
“Fuck protocol, Alba, this is an emergency!” she screeches into the phone before hanging up.
A minute later Alba is at the door, tugging it open in her white nightgown.
“You know I’m not allowed to…” she starts, but we don’t wait for her to finish as we rush past her and sprint up the grand staircase towards the roof.
Witches of Barcelona: A Dark, Funny & Sexy Urban Paranormal Romance Series (Blood Web Chronicles Book 2) Page 18