He tossed his obviously expensive jacket onto one of the dusty hooks and undid his tie. By the time he was peeling off his shirt, I was walking to get us rakes. I did not need to see Forge shirtless right now. Not when I’d been spending far too much time imagining him in Scotland, circling Cade, his muscles flexing.
“Rake,” he called, then deftly caught the one I threw. “Where do you want to start?”
“I don’t think it matters,” I answered, which was how we spent five hours, side by side, turning over malt in the barn. When we were done, and completely covered in dust, I grinned as I reached up and flicked a chunk of barley from his cheek. My fingers skimmed his skin, as smooth and cool as marble.
Before I could react, he snagged my wrist, stopping me in my tracks. For a second, we stayed frozen like that, his grip tightening as desire gleamed in his eyes.
“Forge…”
I didn’t know what I was going to say. Maybe a joke to lighten the mood. Maybe a smart-ass retort about Mr. Fancy Pants raking barley.
Forge pulled me into him, and this time there was no awkwardness as we collided.
Our lips snagged on each other’s, then Forge’s hand went to my lower back and crushed me against him as he kissed me, his tongue slipping between my lips. Between the heady sweetness of the barley and my brain spinning at how good Forge tasted, I got lost in the moment.
Damn, but Forge could kiss, exploring my mouth with a thoroughness I truly admired. Practice makes perfect. When the thought popped into my head, I pulled away slightly. “Forge…” I said again, with as much luck as before, and he sucked my lower lip between his teeth. I felt the slight prick of fangs, and my knees almost gave out.
Fuck it. I’m tired of playing around.
I clasped his neck, pulling him back down to me. This time I was the aggressor, my tongue tangling with his as the kiss went on forever. I heard Forge’s laughter in my head, and his other hand wrapped around my nape as he bent me backward.
I’ve been waiting for weeks for you to say those words.
I might have argued, but I couldn’t focus on anything right now except Forge’s tongue in my mouth, the feel of his corded, sweaty body pressed against me, the strength of his hands steadying me, and the fact that he’d just helped me rake barley.
It was stupid, but after working beside him tonight, Bastian Forge had changed in my eyes. No longer the legendary vampire, no longer a myth, but someone who enjoyed—and valued—the same things as I did.
Something between us solidified, something more than even this kiss, which was so delicious that I never wanted it to end.
25
We fell into the Range Rover, still dust-covered and sweaty, our hands going everywhere at once. After a couple of tries, I managed to start the vehicle, while Forge slid a hand under my coveralls and found my breast. I yanked him to my mouth, not caring about security cameras. Or anything else, for that matter.
For the first time in my life, I felt wanton, sexy…desired.
“We’ll never get home if you keep that up,” I said, pushing him away with a sigh. “You navigate and I’ll drive.”
Easier said than done. Forge didn’t stop touching me until we finally arrived back at home and I threw the vehicle into park. “Home,” I said, then our mouths crashed together once more. Something about kissing Forge had my thoughts all tangled up, and it was several more minutes before we stumbled from the car hand in hand and giggling.
I’m not giggling.
You are so. Like a little girl.
I dropped his hand and raced up the steps, only to have him intercept me before I reached the door, folding his arms around me.
How did you do that?
I moved from one place to another. Instantaneously.
He grinned, his fangs glinting in the moonlight. I was about to call him a show-off, but asked instead, “If you can dematerialize, then why am I driving you everywhere?”
“Because I find it more enjoyable to drive into work with you. It gives us more time together.”
If Selena only knew what she looked like right now…
She’d forgotten to mask her emotions, and I watched them play across her face. Desire. Wonder. Delight, as my words registered with her. They were true. I’d driven into work with her because she was more talkative when she was driving. She told me things she wouldn’t have otherwise, and I did the same. In fact, the drives were something I looked forward to, even though I could have been at the distillery in mere seconds.
I slid my fingers across her face, pushing a curl behind her ear.
Shower?
Hmm. We are very, very dirty.
My cock was hard already, but with her words, it pressed against the zipper almost painfully. I took the opportunity to tip her head back and take her mouth again, her lips opening wide to allow my tongue entrance. She tasted like honeyed peaches, and the more I tasted, the more I wanted. With effort, I broke away from her mouth, running my thumb over her lips.
“Selena, we can slow this down…” She stopped me by slapping her hand to my chest, where a cloud of white dust issued. “Or…we can continue on.” I smiled down at her, taking in her lust-clouded eyes, pink cheeks, her puffy lips slightly apart. “I believe we were talking about getting cleaned up.”
I ran my fingertips down her throat to the top of the ugly coveralls she was wearing, the shapeless gear completely obscuring her curves.
“But first, we really should get you undressed.”
We left a trail of discarded clothes up the staircase, down the hallway to my room and into the bath. I had on my trousers and nothing else, and she was outfitted in a pair of panties and a thin bra. My hands roamed over her while hers explored my body, every featherlight touch making my cock jump. Fused to her lips, I turned on the water, hearing the pipes rattle slightly as the water made its way upstairs.
As the steam rose around us, I lifted Selena up and set her on top of me, then stripped off her bra. I lathered up my hands and scrubbed them up and down her back, the slippery friction raising goosebumps, her arms around my neck as she slowly explored my mouth, before pausing when she reached my fangs. I opened wider as she tentatively touched the tip of one with her tongue, then pushed against it, flooding my mouth with her blood.
I sucked her tongue into my mouth, drawing out her sweetness. I couldn’t get enough. Even though I’d recently fed, I was ravenous for her, my synapses going wild as the taste of her hit my gut. She moaned and slid down into my lap, straddling my hips, and when her core settled onto my cock, she slid along the length of it, her eyes closed, head thrown back and shallow breaths coming fast.
I was sitting in Forge’s lap, surrounded by steam, our bodies sliding against each other as we vied for a good position. He was kissing me as if he were a dying man and I was water, and I was rubbing against his cock, trying to generate enough friction to get myself off. Normally, I’d be appalled at my actions, my total lack of control.
Sex had never felt like this—not this heady, reckless, wild feeling that made me want more and more until I was limp and satisfied. Apparently, Forge was a drug and I was addicted. And we hadn’t actually even had sex yet. Part of me was panting for him to be inside me; the other part was thoroughly enjoying this slippery make-out session. Besides, the sooner we had sex, the sooner this would be over, and I didn’t want it to end.
I dimly realized I still had my panties on, and they were the only thing standing between us.
Forge slid his finger beneath the band. “Lean back, Selena,” he said, then wiggled them off, his hands sliding down my legs. Without my grip around his neck, I tilted back, then fell backward into the tub, water sloshing over the edge.
“Oh shit, I can’t believe I just did that.” I pushed my wet hair out of my face and found Forge grinning at me, his face completely unguarded. If I’d thought him handsome before, now he was breathtaking. I forgot all about the water on the floor and cupped his face in my hands, sliding back into his lap. As I
rocked slightly against him, his fingers danced up and down my back, and we kissed again, slower this time, deeper as his hands slid down even further and cupped my ass.
Forge stood, taking me with him, and, spraying water all over everything, strode into his bedroom.
I’d missed it on entry, but now, looking over his shoulder as he threw me on the bed, I took in the room, and the massive bed I’d landed on. “Holy crap. Why isn’t my room like this?” Thick Turkish rugs carpeted the floor, while above me rose a huge four-poster bed, the tops of the posts carved to look like trees, their branches interwoven above us. I sank deeper into the velvet throw, the softness caressing my naked skin.
Forge crawled up and straddled me, his arms braced on either side of my head. “You can still back out, Selena. We can call it a night if this is too much.”
I ran my hands down over his chest, the wide plane of his pecs, before my fingers bumped down along his ribbed abdomen. When I wrapped my hand around his cock, his face changed. It became harder, his eyes glittering in the darkness.
“No backing out. Not tonight,” I told him, stroking him up and down, marveling at how soft the skin was, and how hard the steel underneath. With an almost inaudible groan, he pulled away, but still loomed over top me.
“Where should I start?” he teased, dipping his head to catch my nipple between his teeth while my body jerked. “These are nice,” he said before switching to the other one, his tongue smoothing over the little nip of pain. “But I think I want to start a little bit lower.” His mouth traced a path down to my belly button. When he moved even lower, I moved to cover myself up.
“I don’t know if I can do that,” I whispered, dropping my eyes. It wasn’t that I hadn’t imagined oral sex—it was more that I’d only imagined it, having never had anyone go down on me before.
“That’s your call,” he said, his tongue doing circles around my belly button. He lifted his eyes and met mine. “I’d be happy to oblige either way.”
He wasn’t pushing me, so why was I hesitating? With Forge, I felt safe. I trusted him and knew he’d take care of me. This odd reluctance made no sense.
“I want to taste you,” Forge said, maybe seeing my doubt, cupping me between the legs, his thumb finding my clit and rubbing a slow, deliberate circle. A shudder rippled through me, my core tightening.
If this is what Forge can do with his thumb, just imagine what his tongue can do.
“Okay,” I said, somewhat doubtful about the whole thing. I propped myself up on my elbows, watching his face as he planted a kiss on my stomach. As his tongue swirled around my belly button again, I discovered that I couldn’t take my eyes from him.
I fully expected him to dive in, but instead he moved down my body and ran his hands up and down my calves, stroking me soothingly, going slightly higher each time, until my body was tensed up, and I silently urged him higher. I didn’t know what kind of magic Forge was wielding tonight, but I welcomed it. I’d never felt this good before. Every time I reached a new high, he pushed me even higher.
He gently ran his hands up the insides of my thighs, planting kisses along the way. Pressing my legs apart, he slid his arms beneath my knees, then lifted them over his shoulders. I should have been horrified, but instead I was completely caught up in how I felt, and the look on Forge’s face. He looked entranced as he leaned in and flicked my clit with his tongue.
My arms gave out and I fell back onto the bed, overtaken by the sensations rippling through me with every stroke of his tongue. As many times as I’d imagined this, Forge took it to a whole new level. I’d never thought I’d beg for release, but as Forge’s name flew from my mouth, along with utter gibberish, everything I knew about sex went out the window.
“Selena?” he growled, moving back up my body, licking his lips. His face looked pained as he murmured hoarsely, “I don’t think I can stop. Please…”
“Yes,” I told him, arching my back and widening my hips for him.
He hung his head, then positioned himself, sliding the head of his shaft along my pussy, until he pushed in. Just a little, testing me. He was huge. Even though I’d held him in my hand a few minutes ago, he felt enormous. Inch by inch he pushed in, his eyes closed as he stretched me to bursting, blowing out a breath when he was fully seated.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly. I nodded, my hands on his shoulders, feeling the bunching of his muscles as he slowly pulled out. With a groan, he pushed back in, until he was embedded to the hilt.
Every nerve in my body was tingling, every part of me focused on how he tightly fit inside me, the heat as he slid in and out, the escalating response of my body to his, while we moved in tandem. I was close, so close, but my orgasm kept flitting out of reach.
Then he pushed me down into the bed and hooked my leg under his arm before slamming into me. The angle was perfect, and he drove in deeper than before. I squeezed my eyes shut, determined to feel nothing except Forge inside me. My muscles locked up, then quivered as my climax broke free, the sensation roaring through me, my core tightening up, my back arching off the bed, my fingernails digging into Forge’s shoulders.
He laughed in my ear, low and sensual, before pulling out and slamming home a final time, his guttural groan as he came making my toes curl up.
Weeks, Selena, he murmured in my head as he collapsed beside me and gathered me up. I’ve been waiting weeks for this.
Selena was sound asleep when I left her in bed, tugging on a pair of sweats.
I materialized in the library, rounding the desk as the monitor came to life. I’d been too distracted on the drive home to be a hundred percent focused on our surroundings, and wanted to confirm we didn’t have any undead intruders tonight.
A quick scan of the video footage told me we’d made it through another night untouched, then I navigated over to the program I’d had running in the background for days. Human financial institutions were easy enough to hack into these days, especially since the Society had come up with a program to research potential prospects. Pages of financial records cascaded on the screen, but there was only one I was interested in.
As I saw the name on the top of the screen, I blew out a deep breath.
An offshore account, with lots of recent activity, mostly withdrawals.
Selena had done a good job of shielding herself from hurt. Fuck knows there’d been enough of it in her life.
But this was going to break her damn heart, and I only had a couple of hours to decide how I was going to tell her.
26
As I coasted down the dark driveway in neutral, I congratulated myself on sneaking out of the house without Forge noticing. A small but significant accomplishment, when your opponent seemingly knew everything.
“Not this morning, Forge. This morning, I’m going to surprise you for once.”
There was a bakery less than a mile away, and thoughts of fresh cinnamon rolls and coffee danced in my head as I made the turn onto the main road, starting the engine as I did.
Since I’d woken up all alone, I was salty enough to not leave a note, figuring if he’d wanted to see me this morning, he should have stayed in bed.
Last night had been…
Well, last night had been the best ever, but with Forge, I’d learned not to get too comfortable, since life with him always seemed prone to change. But damn, that man could kiss. As well as several other skills I’d like to repeat. Just to make sure last night wasn’t a fluke.
Truthfully, I didn’t know what to make of the two of us. In a matter of weeks, Forge had wormed his way into my bed. Into my heart, damn it.
It was so early that no one was on the roads, and when I pulled into the bakery, the streetlights were just turning off. Forge and I had stopped here before for coffee on our way into work, and I was dying for a huge cinnamon roll dripping in frosting.
It occurred to me that if Forge and I spent our nights tangled up in each other, I’d probably burn off enough calories to have sweets whenever I wanted. A total
win, in my opinion.
I dropped the keys into my pocket and pulled on the door. Locked.
“Well, it is early,” I told myself, turning to get back in the car, but then my feet stopped moving completely, and the keys fell from my hand. What I was seeing couldn’t be real. I blinked to make sure, and still saw the same thing. It just couldn’t be.
Brandon—my dead brother—was leaning back on the hood of the Rover, arms crossed over his chest, a gloating expression on his face.
“Ah, there she is, the good Langston. Been a while, Selena.”
That conceited, self-congratulatory look was the last thing I saw as I was grabbed from behind and a hood was thrown over my head.
27
Brandon was an asshole, but he was a chatty asshole.
He and I had never developed the usual brother-sister bond that siblings have, mostly because he was either in jail, or on the run during my formative years. The few times I’d seen him, he’d come looking for Dad to bail him out, or, when that failed, breaking into the safe at work and taking whatever he needed.
Right now, he was detailing his latest scam. Namely, kidnapping me for the Elder.
“…then all I had to do was disappear for a few years. Piece of cake.”
One more thing: my brother had been born without a conscience. Its absence was especially apparent to me as he described how much money he’d be making off me, without a care of what would happen to me in the process.
People who said blood was thicker than water had never met Brandon Langston.
Since my hands were bound behind me and I had a hood over my head, I had no choice but to listen to his verbal diarrhea, although I made it a point to kick out every so often, happy when I finally heard him grunt in pain.
Devil's Cut: Immortal Keeper Vampire Paranormal Romance Series Page 14