Izzy sighed. “Yes, so I was told. Now, you want to talk about what happened with Marko?”
Marie shrugged. “I guess. I need to get cleaned up though.”
Izzy nodded. “We can talk upstairs.” Her gaze shifted to Uriah. “Besides, Bain needs to speak with you.”
Uriah dipped his chin and left the room, following the bitter scent of coffee that floated from the kitchen.
Marie watched him leave before she pushed off the couch and headed upstairs with Izzy hot on her heels. Izzy closed the door behind them after entering her room. Marie made her way into the bathroom and started the shower. She pulled her sweater over her head and briefly held it to her face… it smelled like him. She couldn’t help but smile. Izzy cleared her throat, Marie folded the sweater, and set it on the counter.
“Want me to go toss that in the wash for you?” Izzy asked with a hint of sarcasm to her tone. She was picking up more than just powers while in the Middle World—she was picking up some of Bain’s personality. She couldn’t help but grin. She didn’t miss Marie’s eye roll.
“No, it doesn’t need to be washed.”
Izzy laughed. “So talk to me about what happened and how it led to you sleeping next to Uriah.”
Marie sighed. “Fine, but let me get in the shower, then you can come in and we can talk about it.” Izzy turned her back and closed the door, until Marie called out to let her know she could come back in.
Hopping up on the counter, Izzy sat and listened to all that had happened in the past twenty-four hours. Marko was a grade-A jerk, there was no question, but what struck Izzy was that Marie didn’t seem to care about Marko at all this morning. Mostly she talked about Uriah. Izzy didn’t even attempt to hide the smile that graced her face. Uriah was a good man and from what Marie was telling her, he’d stood up for her little sister. He’d helped her, and he’d comforted her when she needed it. The water shut off, and Izzy handed Marie a towel.
“So, what now?” Izzy asked as Marie stepped from the shower with the towel wrapped tightly around her.
“What do you mean, what now?”
“I mean, what are you going to do now? Is this a dive-in-headfirst situation?”
Marie shook her head. “Don’t ask that, Iz. All I really know is that I need a place to stay.”
Izzy smiled. “Well, I offered the house up to Uriah. However, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say he’s probably fine with you crashing here. But be gentle with his heart, Marie. He’s been through a lot.”
“Yeah I know, he told me his girlfriend died. What happened to her?”
Izzy shook her head. “It’s his story. Give him a chance and he will tell you. He’s one of the good ones, Marie.”
Marie smiled. “I know that… I might have a small crush on him.”
Izzy scoffed as she jumped down from the counter. “Small?”
****
“They’re giggling up there.” Bain smirked as he poured a mug of coffee and slid it across the island to Uriah.
Uriah’s gaze shifted to the ceiling as he cocked his head and caught the familiar sound of Marie’s laughter.
“It’s a good thing,” Bain commented as he leaned against the counter with his own mug of steaming coffee.
Uriah shrugged, but he couldn’t hide the smile stretching his lips behind the mug. “So what’s up? Why are you here?”
Bain sighed. “The snow is melting.”
Uriah flinched slightly.
“That was sort of what I expected, but you needed to know.”
Uriah forced out a deep breath. “So, she’s back with her sisters… It is really, truly over.”
Bain nodded. “Are you okay, man?”
Uriah nodded, an almost wistful smile on his lips. “I am. I truly did love her and part of me always will, but something was always off, and she’s where she was always meant to be. I’ll miss her, and I’ll miss seeing her. Still, I feel a sort of peace at the knowledge that she’s home.”
Bain smirked. “Does that have something to do with the woman upstairs?”
“That obvious?” Uriah asked.
“Uh, you have met me before, right? And you see what Izzy has done to me.”
Uriah chuckled. “She whipped you into shape.”
Bain shrugged. “I suppose you could call it that. The point is that the Moreno women have a certain charm, and Immortals seem to be their preferred prey.”
They both laughed and smiled as the women in question entered the kitchen with similar questioning looks on their faces. “What’s so funny?” Marie asked.
Bain and Uriah both shook their heads. “Nothing you need to worry about,” Bain assured her.
Izzy wrapped an arm around Uriah’s neck and hugged him. With her lips a breath away from his ear, she whispered, “Behave yourself.”
He nodded and kissed her cheek.
“Come on, Bain. We need to get back. I have a dinner date with Kyra.”
Bain slapped Uriah’s shoulder as he passed. “We’ll talk later, brother.”
Uriah nodded. “You got it.”
Marie watched them go, only turning back to Uriah after she heard the front door close and lock. “My ears are ringing.”
He smiled. “That’s a sign of high blood pressure.”
She huffed. “I don’t have high blood pressure. What were you and Bain talking about?”
“Work.”
She arched a brow. “And?”
“Maybe you… a little. You didn’t really think he wouldn’t have questions, did you?”
She shrugged. “No, I suppose not… What did you tell him?”
Uriah stalked towards her, a new confidence and desire pulling at his very soul. He stopped mere inches from her. Her breath hitched and her scent shifted. “I told him that I was not immune to your charms.”
“My charms?” she asked coyly.
Uriah’s hand moved to her cheek, his fingers grazing lightly over her soft skin. Her face was bare of makeup, aside from a thin layer of mascara lengthening her already thick, long lashes. “Yes, I find you quite charming in fact, and right now all I want to do is taste those pouty lips of yours, but I refuse to take advantage.”
“Mmm, you’re a sweet talker,” she murmured as she rose on the tips of her toes to get a little closer to his mouth. “You can’t take advantage of the willing.”
Chapter Ten
Her breath was coming fast as she fisted his shirt to pull him down to her. With the reckless abandon she was often accused of, she devoured his mouth. Her tongue swept across the crease that barred her entrance. His lips parted, and she moaned faintly as he captured her tongue and sucked softly. Diving in headfirst seemed to be on both of their minds as his hands slid down her back to cup her ass. He lifted her and turned to place her on the edge of the counter. Uriah slid his hands over her thighs to the backs of her knees, where he pulled them tight to his hips, urging her to wrap her legs around his waist.
Need suffused her. Something beyond words, deeper than she’d ever felt, flooded through her. Diving in with Uriah didn’t feel reckless at all… it felt like home. It was perfect. He was perfect.
Tipping his forehead to hers, Uriah broke the kiss, their equally heavy breath mixing in the small space that separated them.
“You’re not ready?” she said softly, disappointment lacing her words as she turned her head.
“For you, I am very much ready… but are you?” he asked. “Because for the first time in months, I know what I want.”
She turned to look into his molten-silver gaze. “Me?” she asked, her tone sultry and her lips tipped into a sensual smile.
Her smile was going to be his undoing. With a nod, he captured her mouth once more. Their tongues twisted in a heated dance of desire. She reached for the hem of his shirt, nearly clawing at the fabric as she pushed it over his chest, breaking the kiss to pull it over his head and toss it behind her. Before their lips could meet again, she caught sight of the vibrant ink decorating his chest. Her he
ad tilted and her fingers reached out to trace the fiery wings.
“What?” he questioned, looking down at his first piece of body art.
There was something shining in her eyes as she looked up at him. It was a look Uriah would give anything to see over and over again.
“It’s beautiful. How long have you had it?” she asked.
He smiled. “It’s pretty new.”
She nodded. “A new beginning kind of thing?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, I suppose so.”
She bit her lip as she studied the almost ethereal black bird with highlights of blue at its tail feathers that progressed to shades of red and orange, where flames appeared to dance behind him. Uriah watched her study the ink while all he wanted to do was occupy her mouth, but he reveled in the shiver that raced through him as her fingers continued to trace the bird.
When she looked back up from the tattoo she found him staring at her. “You wanna see mine? I think you might like it,” she said as she pulled her shirt over her head and reached back to unclasp her bra.
Pulling her hair over her shoulder with one hand, she stretched her other arm over her breast and turned to show him her back. Uriah’s breath caught as he took in the black-and-grey tattoo that covered nearly her entire back. Two feathered wings sprouted from her shoulder blades and draped down her back to curl along her side. The detail in the feathers was exquisite. His head cocked, and he noticed the hints of deep brown weaving into the detail of each individual feather. He was now tracing his fingers over the large wings.
“You like it?” she asked, looking over her shoulder at him.
“It’s stunning. What made you decide to add the brown detailing?”
She bit her lip. “I might sound crazy, but I figure my wings should sort of match my hair… I would think if they were real, they would.”
Uriah lifted his gaze to her and smiled. She had no idea how right she was. If she had wings, they would most definitely be the same color as her beautiful, coffee tresses.
“You think I’m crazy.” She sighed.
He shook his head. “Not at all. I think you’re perfect.”
She laughed softly. “I’m far from perfect, Uriah.”
Again, he shook his head as he lowered it to whisper in her ear. “That’s because you don’t see yourself the way I do.” He slid his fingers under the straps of her bra and pushed them down her bare arms. Marie let the fabric fall to the floor as his lips grazed down the column of her neck and over her shoulder, then continued to kiss the outer line of her tattoo. Dropping to his knees, he moved along her side, turning her to face him. Her gaze locked on his head of thick hair as he popped the button on her jeans to follow the tattoo to the very tip of the last feather that rested just beyond her hipbone.
She sucked in a deep breath as his fingers slid beneath the waistband of her panties. The thin lace left little of her scent and sweet flesh hidden from him. He lifted his gaze, searching for any sign that he should stop. Relief flooded his soul as he saw the want and need in her tanzanite pools. With his fingers hooked at her hips, he slid the sexy, white material down her toned, sleek legs. Lifting her feet one at a time, he quickly pulled her jeans and panties free of her body. Running one hand up her smooth calf, he stopped at her knee and lifted her leg over his shoulder.
Marie reached back and grasped the edge of the counter as Uriah struck out, taking his first taste of her sweet, glistening folds. Pushing past her lips, his tongue dipped deep to stroke over her sensitive flesh. Back arching and her head falling back, a small whimper escaped her.
She tasted better than her sweet citrus and honeysuckle scent. Uriah was lost to her. There would be no coming back from what she did to him.
Her hands flew to his thick hair and her hips ground softly against him as he focused his attention on her budded pearl. His hand snaked up her flat tummy to cup one breast. His finger worried her perked nipple while he slipped a single finger deep inside of her heated core, suckling her pearl between his lips. Her stomach contracted, and fire flooded her veins. A strained version of his name ripped through the air as her orgasm took over. Uriah’s tongue continued to stroke her through the last waves of her pleasure. He smiled as her whole body shook. Gently, he let her leg down and held her hips to keep her standing.
“Holy shit,” she breathed before pulling his hands from her hips to fall on her knees and take his face in her palms. “It’s not right that you are this hot and that damn good.”
She captured his mouth with hers. It was a general rule for her that she didn’t kiss a man after he’d just been down on her, but there was nothing that would keep her from kissing the man in front of her. Her heart thumped against her ribs as he lifted her from the ground and carried her into the living room, where he gently set her down and pulled away.
She arched a brow. “Where are you going?”
He smiled at her, his cock pressing hard against his zipper, aching to get to her. “I’m going to go make us some lunch.”
“Are you serious, right now?” she groaned.
He shrugged.
“I am sitting here naked, and you’re worried about food?”
He grinned. “You need to eat something.”
A Cheshire grin spread across her face. “Is it to fuel me for later?”
He laughed as he made his way to the kitchen.
God he wanted her. He wanted nothing more than to burry himself deep inside her heated body. To feel something other than pain and loss. Marie was life and warmth. And in the short time he’d spent with her, he craved her on a level deeper then he thought possible… he felt like an ass and guilt threatened to weaken him, but he was ready to move forward and now he couldn’t imagine moving without the beautiful dark-haired beauty that sat naked in the other room.
Chapter Eleven
Esperanza stared out the large window in Darion’s throne room. The world was monotone and dead around them. The feeling inside the palace walls wasn’t much better. Whatever Holly had been turned into, she was powerful. Darion was still feeling the effects of her magic. Esperanza nearly laughed at the thought that she had apparently bet on the wrong daughter. She sighed at her own cruelty. Rowan was dead at the hands of her lover.
“Lady Esperanza?” A low voice called her name from somewhere near the room’s entrance. She knew she was a terrifying mistress, but the weakness that filled those that graced the palace was pathetic.
“What is it, Jaeb?”
“The snow is beginning to melt.”
Esperanza’s eyes narrowed at the drifts of pure white below the window. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, My Lady, the seer says Jelena is back with her sisters.”
“And the child?”
Jaeb shifted uncomfortably. “The Immortal Makyle has him.”
Esperanza sneered as she turned on him. “Of course he has him. Where are they?”
“Headed to the Human World.”
“Then I suggest you get our warriors there as well,” she roared.
“Yes, My Lady,” he said, turning on his feet to scurry from the room.
“Oh and Jaeb?” she called after him.
“Yes, My Lady?”
“When you are finished, come to Lord Darion’s chambers… He needs to feed.”
“Yes, My Lady.”
Esperanza sighed and moved to the passages that would carry her unseen through the palace and back to Darion. Since Holly had thrown her dreadful magic at them, hurtling those who were still standing during the battle back to the Dark palace courtyard, Darion had been weak, sleeping and feeding on the sexual energy of all he could get his hands on. It was as if he were experiencing his frenzy, even though he’d found his true mate in her. Without the multiple feedings daily, he would have perished months ago. With a deep breath, she pushed the stone wall open and entered their chambers. She smiled at the once-handsome man, who now looked to be only a shadow of himself, and began undressing.
She slid into bed next to hi
m and cupped his face. “How are you feeling today?”
“Hungry,” he nearly growled before rolling on top of her to capture her mouth. She closed her eyes and hoped that Jaeb hurried. Darion was weakening her with every encounter.
****
“How about a movie?” Uriah asked as he stood from the couch.
Marie shrugged. “Sure.”
Uriah smirked. “I thought giving you something other than my profile to stare at would be appreciated.”
She laughed. “Hardly, you’re the perfect piece of eye candy… I could stare at you all day.”
Uriah shook his head. Marie sat up from her lounging position on the couch, where she had spent most of the past hour staring at him, her gaze flicking to the television every so often. It was taking all her control not to just lunge at him. After what had happened in the kitchen, she had reluctantly put her clothes back on when all she really wanted to do was strip him down and see all that hid beneath his jeans. She knew he wanted her too… if the hardness pressing against his zipper was any indication, but he had put distance between them. Forcing her to eat food instead of just letting her devour him.
Too fast, maybe it had all happened to fast. Somehow that thought hurt… it was that sharp, piercing pain in your heart when you lose something that truly matters. How he had become something that could cause that kind of pain so quickly was goddamn scary and downright stupid. Less than twenty-four hours ago, he was mourning. It was altogether possible she had just taken advantage of the gorgeous man in front of her.
“Actually, I’m gonna go to bed,” she said, pushing to her feet. She grabbed their plates, made her way to the kitchen to deposit them in the sink, and nearly ran into Uriah as she came back around the corner to head up the stairs.
She yelped. “Jesus, you move so fucking silently.”
“Sorry… I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
She sighed. “You didn’t frighten me. I just didn’t expect you to be standing here.”
Marie averted her eyes and attempted to step around him.
Immortal Rapture: Immortal Heart Page 6