Jace looped his thumbs into his pants pockets. "Come now, you know very well what I'm talking about. I have a tracking spell on the fleece. Hand it over." His smug demeanor made her balk at his orders. As if she would do anything just because he said so. He hadn’t even said please.
Echo crossed her arms over her chest, not liking how comfortable he made himself against her tree, and yet enjoying the sensation of the magic against her at the same time. "Nothing that belongs to you is on my land." Perhaps if she refocused the subject she could deter him. Maybe a few sly glances, a few well-placed words, he'd be in her bed, and she could coax him out of her forest before he had time to figure out a plan. She was a nymph. Seducing men was part of her natural ability, gifted by the makers. Then Echo could use her magic abilities to cloak her home. She'd be sure he wouldn't find her again. "But if the use of hands is part of your agenda, I'm sure I have a use for you." Echo licked her bottom lip, shortening the distance between them to a less than a foot. Her arms nearly touched his chest. He glanced down—at her cleavage she was sure—and when he looked back up, he had a smirk dancing along his lips. Lips she suddenly wanted to taste.
Two heartbeats later, he grabbed a hold of her, and within seconds, twisted her around and pinned her to the oak tree with his body. The bark scratched along her back, but the thrill of his man handling made the uncomfortable position irrelevant. Her hands were pinned under his hard-muscular arms. She dared to look up at him as lust invaded her body—so strong she nearly rocked her hips into him. His dark gaze bore into her very being. Heat scorched a path straight to her core. Need clenched betwixt her legs. She tried to pull her hands away, but he held them trapped, which thrilled her more than she wanted to admit. Could she be so desperate that this man was seducing her instead of the other way around? He grabbed her wider-than-an-average-nymph hips and pulled her into him. His hard length was solid against the softness of her tummy. She swallowed as a zing of pleasure and want curled around her insides begging for more.
"You baiting me, little nymph?" He leaned into her, his mouth hovering before hers. So close and yet so far away. She need only tip her head toward him and she could taste those perfect, full lips of his.
"I would never..." She let her words fade, contemplating his use of the word “little.” Such a word was never used for someone like her. Voluptuous, yes; small had never been uttered in front of her. She was almost offended. If it weren’t for the hooded lust she found in his eyes, she might have called him out on it. Little indeed.
Jace closed the distance between them, stealing a kiss. Hard, ravage, intense lips covered hers, and she parted for him. His tongue darted in to explore her more fully. Echo let the waves of lust pour through her. His lips moving against hers felt wonderful. Her eyes nearly rolled to the back of her head at the taste of this immortal man. She couldn't wait to feel his length inside her, the pleasure Jace could bring as her equal...
It had been far too long.
He slowly pulled back, the absence of his lips a rush back to reality for her. His chest rose and fell at the same rhythm as hers, fast and full of want. She beamed at the idea he wanted her as much as she wanted him. Though her reaction to him took her by surprise. She didn't clamor for men, they chased her. Then he let her go and turned, walking toward her humble, but secluded cottage, carrying the mortal bag. The sunset casting shadows through the giant trees silhouetted Jace against the terrain. Surprised he left her standing there full of want, it took Echo a moment to gain control of herself. How could he just walk away?
"What are you doing?" Echo called after him, and she followed his lead. He'd just stopped in the middle of kissing her, and then instead of leaving, he was diving deeper into her personal area. By the gods, this man was relentless, and while she had no intention of telling him where to find the fleece, she found him challenging, which only turned her on more. How could he have resisted her? She was baffled by the plain fact he had let her go without fornicating. Was it possible there was something wrong with this immortal? His swollen member told her he enjoyed women, or at least her. Where did he find the strength to pull away from her seduction?
"I'm going to look for my fleece."
CHAPTER THREE
Jace slid the front screen door open. Quite the view lay inside with articulate wooden furnishings, wall designs, and a spacious kitchen. She lived sparser than he imagined a nymph’s home would be. Somehow, he thought there would be giant, fluffy silk pillows everywhere instead of a couch and basic human amenities. Did he have nymphs all wrong? Because this home was not the orgy kind of place.
He took a right and headed down the hall, intent on finding her bedroom, mainly to irritate her. He wasn't quite sure the exact location of the fleece, but it was here...somewhere. He knew Echo followed right at his heels because he heard the door shut and he liked it when women did what he wanted. Though he'd nearly lost himself with her against the tree. Pulling away from her took a lot of willpower.
The kiss was meant to lure her in, coax her, maybe even get to her a little. But if he had to be honest with himself, it affected him way more than it should have given she was a thief. He adjusted himself as he entered her spacious room. It was decorated in black, which was a stark contrast to the open and woodsy feel of what he'd already seen. Black satin sheets. Black lace curtains. This was more like a nymph's style. Which lead him to believe she'd have some other lacey things in her drawers. Sure it would rile her up, Jace headed for the ornate wooden dresser on the far wall. He pulled open the top drawer, barely sneaking a peek at the clothing inside.
Her hand slammed over his, keeping the drawer firmly shut. Other than the pressure of her skin against his, she'd done no harm. She kept the drawer forcefully closed.
"You can't just come into my home and go through my things. There's laws or something against invading another's home." Her eyes blazed such a bright green they nearly glowed. The sunset dancing in the window left a pinkish hue all over the room. In that small moment, she seemed so fierce, so unbelievably beautiful.
Jace grabbed Echo's hand, pulling it away from the drawer, and placed it on his chest, wanting to feel more of her skin. Her fingers flattened over the material of his shirt, and warmth spread through him. A lust had a hold of him, and he wasn't sure if it was his ram hormones or nymph magic, but he wanted to find out what kind of lace covered the sweet spot between her curvy thighs. He could grab a handful of ass and drag her right into him, but he refrained, barely keeping his amusement and hunger for her contained. "I'm not sure those human laws will apply to us, but, by all means, if you'd like to get the police involved, I'm sure they'd love to hear how my fleece ended up on your property."
Echo yanked her hand back. Anger lit up her face with a tinge of red hitting her cheeks. He was getting to her. Good. But he'd be damned if that anger didn’t make her even more appealing to him. He had to force himself to breathe normally instead of releasing the groans struggling to escape him. Images of her beneath him writhing in pleasure made talking or thinking difficult.
He had to keep probing and looking though her home until he figured out where and how the minx was hiding the fleece. Lust didn't outweigh duty. He would not be leaving her land without it. A tiny voice in the back of his head reminded him that fleece or no fleece, his curse would make him leave, but Jace pushed the thoughts aside. He had plenty of time, and what better way to kill it then with a perfectly gorgeous nymph.
"Do you have rocks in your ears? I told you what you seek is not here." She crossed her arms, watching him closely.
The barely showing cleavage of her breasts pushing up from those lovely crossed arms enticed Jace, and he let his gaze wander down to take in her full figure. His jeans had tightened to an uncomfortable level around his hips. He looked back up, straight into her eyes as he adjusted himself in front of her, blatantly letting her know he was aroused and willing.
He had complete control of the situation.
Just the way he liked it.
"I could use my magic and throw you out." The muscle in her jaw ticked.
"Go for it." Jace opened his arms wide. Her magic couldn't do him any harm. Most of it would come from the land, and the power she held as a nymph with lust magic. Was this why he found himself so drawn to her? Jace tried to remember how he’d felt about a nymph he bedded long ago but he didn't recall having such a strong desire. The chemistry between Jace and Echo could very well be a manufactured thing. He wasn't quite sure if that mattered to him or not. But she intrigued the hell out of him, and he wanted to see her try to make him leave.
Though if she succeeded, she could very well cloak the area, making it extremely difficult to find again. But in all her magics were parlor tricks to entertain humans. "You don't have anything I haven't seen before, sweetheart." Yet he couldn't wait to see what those curves looked like after he had her clothes on the floor.
Echo stomped her foot in an adorable huff. "Get out of my bedroom." She extended a delicate finger in the direction of the door.
Instead of doing what she asked, Jace headed for the queen-sized bed. He slung his bag off his shoulders to the floor, removed his boots, and slowly lay back on the bed upright against the pillows. The expression on her face gave him immense satisfaction. He patted the bed. "It's quite comfortable. You should join me." Jace wasn't sure if the look she gave him was actually surprise or shock, maybe a mix of both, but then she stomped over to his shoes, picked them up, and threw them at his face. He barely caught one before it hit his nose. Feisty little nymph.
"Out!" Her voice held the kind of pitch that told him he was on the verge of crossing a line with her. It was entirely possible he had her all wrong. He didn't see any trace of other men being here. Her home wasn't set up like he expected a nymph home would be. He thought maybe it would look more like an orgy den or something with giant pillows and opium. She was clearly into men, very into Jace. He was almost convinced she was some kind of one-off of her kind.
"All right. I'll get out of your room. But I'm not leaving. We both know you have what I want." Jace chose his words carefully, wanting the double meaning of his sentence to sink in. He enjoyed how her face changed, emotions played out in lovely expressions moving from anger to shock, and this current look was one of dawning realization, as if his blatant talk and playful flirtations might be a new thing to her. She would never be good at poker. He could have said the fleece was all he wanted, but he wanted her too. Even if just for some fun. Nymphs were almost insatiable in bed. He'd only been with one, a long damn time ago, so long he didn't even remember her name, plus there were so many of them around at the time, and their names tended to sound similar.
Not Echo.
She wasn't anything like the nymphs he remembered. He recalled lots of blondes. Lots of skinny, which wasn't exactly his taste. They all looked like they needed to put some meat on their bones. He liked to have something to hold on to while he found and gave pleasure. Thighs like Echo’s…now those a man could hold on to. The thought of pulling those glorious dark locks, wrapping his fingers around thick thighs…he mentally groaned. Jace slipped his shoes back on and stood, deliberately sliding his shoulder and arm along hers as he rose. They had chemistry. The earlier kiss proved it. Now he just needed to ignite that fire inside her. He liked a challenge. The pleasure and entertainment would last longer. He'd have to work for it, but so would she.
Echo wanted him. Her hooded eyes and quickening breath all but told him she desired him as much as he wanted her. And if he hadn't noticed any of her little signals, he couldn't ignore the sweet honey scent of her arousal. He may not have a good shifter sense of smell like a wolf might smell things, but his animal nose could most assuredly tell she was turned on. His nostrils flared at the scent, taking more in, and he tried not to close his eyes at the heady smell intoxicating him, seducing his ram. This was what nymphs did, creating a sense of desire, nothing more than lustful magic. A trick.
Jace smiled widely and walked out of her bedroom door. He glanced down at his ram tattoo, which still indicated the fleece was here. He just had to figure out where the minx would hide it. His gut told him it was either in the house or close to the house, though other than trees and the ground he wasn't sure where she might hide it outside of her home. Could she have cloaked the fleece? It had to be in here somewhere. Jace stood in the middle of the living room and scratched the stubble along his jaw. How was he going to find it or get her to reveal it?
"What gives you any right to stay in my home? I might not be able to make you leave my land technically, but you cannot stay in my personal space." Her soft voice came from behind him. Though anger seethed in the depths of her words.
He didn't bother to turn around. "That's fine. You have a couch. You take the bedroom. I'll be out of your hair just as soon as I have my property." Jace swaggered over to her two-seat sofa and slumped down onto the soft cushions. Echo was still behind the couch, probably gaping at him by now. He spread his legs out wide, staking a claim to his area, and put an arm around the back of the couch tapping his fingers, content to bug the hell out of her for the moment. If she wanted him out so badly, he'd just have to make sure he didn't leave until he had his fleece. He could trade his leaving for the fleece. Jace hoped she wouldn't make it too easy for him though, as the foreplay was tantalizing. He hadn't had a good run with a female in quite a while. "Or you could tell me where it is, I'll get out of your space, and you won't have to worry about it anymore." Not that he thought she would take the simple way out. She was trying too hard to make him believe she didn't have it. What would a nymph want the fleece so badly for anyway?
"Let me be perfectly clear, intruder. I. Don't. Have. Your. Fleece." She punctuated every word as if he should somehow believe them. But the magic didn't lie. Which meant she did.
CHAPTER FOUR
Echo glared at the back of Jace's head, hoping he could feel her anger. She swallowed the growl that tried to escape her lips. He was getting under her skin on purpose. She shouldn't let him get to her, but no one had shared her space like this in... well she didn't remember the last time she had someone actually staying with her. Thinking on it made her realize, other than when she was a child, she'd never shared her habitat with others. Her home was the one place she could be herself, where she didn't feel like she had to meet some silly nymph expectation. Other nymphs she had grown up with used their lust magic to get anything and everything they wanted, and many males would succumb to sudden death because of it. Echo didn't want to kill, and she could get things she wanted without a man. She could barely believe how abrupt Jace was, how could he just make himself comfortable on her couch?
And did he have to take up so much room?
No. She couldn't let him push her around. She was a nymph. Her very essence was of seduction. She was made to lure, to get what she desired. Men did as she wanted, even if she didn't always like it. That's how her magic worked.
Why didn't Jace do as she wanted him to? Could he be immune to her nymph charms?
Echo slipped around the couch and right onto his wide lap. Her white skirt flowed out, and his jeans scratched along her bare thighs, creating an erotic sensation with his erection so close to her core. She needed to catch him off guard if she was going to make him leave. She refused to let him get his hands on her fleece and she wouldn't be giving it up without a fight. She had to keep a hold of it, had to protect her trees and magic. She was certain she could use the fleece to extinguish Fahd, she just ha
d to figure out how before confronting the dark entity. There was no one else in the area to do it, and since she was tied to the white oak, she couldn't very well leave. She'd been on her own for so long, she didn't need more help anyway, just the fleece.
Echo smiled, batting her lashes at him. Her fingertips walked slow steps up his muscular chest. Barely gracing the silver chain along his neck below the collar of his shirt. Heat radiated off Jace and straight through Echo as her heart slammed in her chest. She couldn't mess this up; why was she so nervous? It wasn't as if she had never seduced a male before. Even one as attractive as Jace, or an immortal. She chalked her nerves up to feeling the magic draining ever so slowly from the land and thinking far too hard about the task at hand, seducing Jace. He was just another guy, a means to an end, only she didn't have to worry about killing him with her nymph seduction. He would and could handle it. So why in Hades did it feel like she was the one falling under his spell?
He smelled entirely too good for a man. The scent of woods and magic wafted off him, tickling her senses. It was a spicy, very male scent. He had to be giving off some kind of pheromone because what she really wanted to do was taste his flesh again. To run her tongue up his perfect tan neck, nibble at his delectable lips, and, by the gods, feel his tongue penetrate her. Waves of need thrummed over her. She had to resist because he wasn't giving in about the fleece, and she reminded herself of that fact. He didn't care why she might need it, only that he had a claim on it or something, and males had one track minds.
Echo only had one chance to make her plan work; she couldn't get distracted by sexual thoughts of her own right now and blow it. "You know, men usually do what I want." Her words came out in a flirty whisper. She let her fingers slide down the side of his stubbled cheek. His whiskers prickling along her sensitive skin. "I can see you have a strong will, and once you set your mind to something, it can't be undone easily." She used all the luring magic inside her to emphasize her words, wanting him to feel as if he were the only man in the world, wanting him to believe she only had eyes for him. Human men liked flattery, it didn't hurt to try with an immortal, right?
Ram Wild: A Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance (Aries Cursed Book 2) Page 2