The Zombie Billionaire's Virgin Witch (Zombie Category Romance)

by Joely Sue Burkhart

  She hadn’t even had to drug them with Death by Chocolate Cake.

  All too soon, the evening was over. My last night with Clare.

  He hadn’t decided how to do it yet, but after giving her the ring, he’d go off somewhere and do the honorable thing. Maybe she’d make him one last piece of cake, and he’d sprinkle it with cyanide or something equally deadly.

  Yet he couldn’t completely ignore the doubt niggling in the back of his mind. If he was turning into a zombie, could he even die? Or would he simply roam around like a mindless nightmare? His hands shook, his heart thundering so loudly he was afraid he might pass out.

  She cupped his cheek, the cool press of her palm against his skin a balm that helped bring him back under control. “What is it?”

  He rubbed his face deeper into her caress, inviting her to touch him as much as she wanted. One last time, sweetheart. He couldn’t find his voice, though. It’d lodged somewhere inside his melting heart.

  She leaned up on tiptoes and pressed her mouth softly to his. Lightly, she nibbled at his lips, mingling their breath, and it was all he could do not to break apart into a thousand pieces.

  Taking his hand, she used the electronic card to unlock her door. She stepped inside and tugged on him playfully, but his feet were rooted to the spot. He was too raw and wild to trust himself to resist the sweet allure of her siren call tonight. He couldn’t risk her, no matter how much he yearned to hold her just once.

  “Come inside,” she said in that gentle voice that made him want to close his eyes and bask in her glow for eternity.

  “Impossible,” he finally forced out, his voice as harsh and tight as though he’d tossed the ring and the zombie mouth couldn’t get the word out of dried up lips.

  “I want you.”

  He shuddered, squeezing his eyes shut against the inviting heat in her eyes. “I can’t, Clare. I can’t control myself. I’d love to kiss and hold you through the night, but I won’t be able to stop.”

  One last time, trying to make up for everything we’ve lost, the hopes and dreams we can never share. Because in my arrogance, I was determined to wrest the one thing I couldn’t have from your father.

  Oh, the irony tasted so bitter on his tongue. Now there was something else he wanted so badly he couldn’t live without her… Yet he couldn’t have her, either.

  “I love you.”

  His heart crumbled to dust and his knees weakened, almost tumbling him headfirst into her waiting arms. Where’s my pride, my determination to save her? All he wanted was to bury himself in her willing body, wrap her love around him, and forget. But that would destroy her, and if he hurt her…

  I can’t live like this for the rest of my life.

  At least she let go of his hand, leaving him standing mute and frozen in her open door. She backed away, dropping her gaze, while her hands reached behind her. The soft glide of the zipper sent a surge of visceral lust through him so sharp that he listed sideways and had to grab the doorframe to keep his balance.

  In slow motion, the gown slithered down her body, baring her full breasts, the creamy curve of her stomach, and her hips wrapped in the silk panties he’d bought for her a week or more ago.

  He stared at her, his tongue plastered to the roof of his mouth. He’d known she would be gorgeous, but this… She was a goddess, lush and full-curved, vibrant and glowing with health and vitality.

  Compared to my withering body. How can I even think to touch her with these cursed hands?

  “It’s all right now.” She lifted his hand in hers, inviting him to touch her. “I have a plan.”

  He couldn’t think. Magic leapt from her skin. His fingers brushed the swell of her breast and she made a low sound of pleasure that went straight to his head. She might as well have hit him over the head with a whole ton of chocolate cakes oozing her decadent magic.

  “Shut the door, Yiorgos.”

  And so he did.

  Clare didn’t really know how to seduce a man beyond what she’d read in books, but her body knew all too easily how to entice him into giving her the pleasure she yearned to experience.

  He went to his knees and buried his face between her breasts. “I can’t bear to destroy you like this. I’d rather destroy myself.”

  She ran her fingers through his hair, holding him close. “I think I can heal you.”

  “I don’t care. Not if it means you’ll lose your magic.”

  “You already said you were giving me the ring, right? If this works, the curse will be lifted. The ring should enable me to become the formal head of my family and my magic will be returned to me.”

  “You already had the ring on your hand and it didn’t work.”

  Damn, she’d been hoping he wouldn’t remember that. “Maybe the curse is interfering with the magic in the stone. It should work, once you’re free.”

  “I’m not willing to risk your magnificent gift on should or maybe, Clare.”

  “I am.” She tightened her fingers in his hair so he’d feel her determination. “If there’s anything in my power that I can do to break the curse, this is it. Besides, I want you. I’ve been dreaming of this for years.”

  “But you only came to Remy’s a few weeks ago.”

  He raised his head, staring up at her so intently that she blushed and shrugged sheepishly. “I’ve had a bit of a crush on you for years. Who wouldn’t? I never thought in a million years that you’d even look at me, let alone…”

  His breath ghosted across her skin, raising goose bumps and the tingling promise of magic. “Then I was a fool.”

  Her breasts tightened in response, swollen and tender. Her knees trembled, and she was terribly certain she’d already ruined her beautiful new lingerie. His fingertips flitted over her skin like gossamer butterfly wings, while he nuzzled and kissed the tops of her breasts with painful politeness.

  Nice, definitely, but she’d dreamed of so much more.

  He knows I’m a virgin, so he’s going to be hesitant and careful. But if I don’t tell him…

  I may never get another chance to have everything I’ve dreamed.

  “Yiorgos?”

  He murmured against her breast, letting his lips brush her in a gentle caress. “Don’t be afraid, baby. I’m going to make all your dreams come true. I promise.”

  “This isn’t my dream.”

  Pausing, he raised a narrowed gaze to search her face, the familiar arrogant scowl furrowing his brow. She trailed her fingers over his face, rubbing the frown lines away until his stare wasn’t quite so fierce.

  “You’re my dream,” she amended, dropping her fingers against his lips when he started to speak. “But not this way. Not all slow and gentle and…civilized. I should be on my knees, not you.”

  His dark eyes slitted even more. “You can’t possibly understand what you’re asking for.”

  “You think I’m ignorant about sex because I’m a virgin? In this day and age? I might have remained physically chaste out of necessity, but I assure you, I’ve read thousands of steamy books from historicals to family sagas, from vampires to aliens to filthy rich, arrogant tycoon alphaholes, but most of them were only pleasantly enjoyable. They certainly didn’t make it to my keeper shelf.”

  Evidently he didn’t much care to be lumped into the pleasant or enjoyable. He stood slowly, unfolding to his full impressive height. His eyes glittered and his voice roughened into a low growl, making her heartbeat skip a beat. “Which ones made it to that shelf, Clare?”

  She tipped her chin up and arched a brow at him in challenge. “Guess.”

  “All right.” Grimly calm, he headed for the armchair opposite the bed while stripping out of his coat. He laid it out on the chair and silently worked on his cuff links. Then his tie. All while watching her with dark, intent eyes.

  Standing mostly nude in the center of the room, Clare began to feel like an idiot. A chilly idiot. She started to cross her arms over her chest, but he shook his head in a warning. Feeling more mortified by
the moment that she’d actually dared to put a stop to his sweet, slow seduction, she clamped her arms tighter over her breasts with a mulish look that hopefully hid the tremor in her chin.

  He smiled, not with warmth but cold, hard amusement. “You started this game, sweetheart. Are you already waving the white flag?”

  “No. But that doesn’t mean I’ll blindly obey your commands, either.”

  “Oh, I think it does,” he said in a silky voice that sent chills screaming down her spine. “You said you ought to be on your knees instead of me. I’m also remembering the night I kissed you outside Remy’s. How I pinned you against the wall in my anger and frustration, but you kissed me back eagerly, even though you’d just sucker punched me. All the times I was deliberately growly and mean but my aggression didn’t deter you in the slightest. In fact, the bossier I became, the more you stood up to me, meeting me toe to toe.”

  He sat down in the chair, stretching his long legs out before him, the epitome of casual elegance. The lone lamp by the bed left most of his face in shadow. The distant, reserved way he watched her made him seem like a stranger.

  A delicious stranger.

  “That makes me think the books on your keeper shelf had to do with dominance and submission, Clare. I think you want me to conquer you.”

  Her cheeks burned but she didn’t drop her gaze. She swallowed hard, the sound of her heartbeat reverberating through her skull. “Yes, I do.”

  “So perhaps you should call me Sir.”

  His voice remained soft but she shuddered both with dread and anticipation. How could he convey such menace with just a few words, without raising his voice at all? And why did her body have to love that sound so very much?

  She reached up and pulled the pins out of her hair, tossing her head so her hair tumbled down about her shoulders. Then she planted her hands on her hips. “Only if you can make me.”

  If I have to die tonight, at least I’ll spend a few hours in heaven first.

  In all the sweaty dreams he’d had of tumbling Clare into his bed, he’d never dared imagine she’d not only allow him to unleash his dominance, but that she’d demand it. After she’d impressed him over and over with her courage, it shouldn’t surprise him now that she’d stand up to him yet again, revealing a new complexity he ached to explore.

  If anything goes wrong tonight… If she can’t break the curse and loses her magic… because of me…

  The thought made him close his eyes, his breath catching in his chest on a violent constriction that shook him to his core.

  “Never mind,” she whispered, wrapping her hands around his on the arm of the chair. “I just want you, Yiorgos. However you’ll take me.”

  He opened his eyes. She knelt beside the chair, her chocolate warm eyes shimmering with tears and longing. Cupping her cheek, he stroked his thumb across her lush lips. “You misunderstand me, sweetheart. I don’t want this night to ever end.”

  She pulled his hand down enough to press a kiss to his palm. “One night may be all we have. If this doesn’t work…”

  “It’ll work,” he ground out. “I refuse to accept any other alternative.”

  Her lips quirked against his skin. “There’s the alphahole I love.”

  Letting his eyes go heavy with lust, he wrapped his fingers in her hair. Slowly, he tightened his grip, winding the long locks around his fingers and watching her face to see what she thought of small pain.

  Her eyes fluttered shut, her breath slipping out of those full lips on a long, shaking sigh that made his cock swell to uncomfortable portions in his pants. He twisted his fingers deeper, until he gripped her skull, her hair tangled around his fist.

  Her pulse throbbed in her neck. Her skin gleamed, heated silk warm and flush with desire. She opened her eyes and no fear darkened her gaze. “Sir.”

  He breathed deeply, forcing himself to go slowly. “I don’t normally let this side of me out to play.”

  She looked at him like he’d just admitted he secretly hated to eat. “Why not?”

  “I’ve never had a woman who could deal with me at my worst. No one even wanted to, despite the lure of what my money could buy. Most women aren’t as brave as you.”

  She let out a husky laugh. “Then you haven’t been playing with the right women. Which makes me very glad to be here with you now, tonight.”

  “Not just tonight, Clare. Every night.” He tugged on her hair a little, encouraging her to slide into his lap. She curled against him with a luxurious sigh, her face settling against his neck. Lowering his mouth to her ear, he brushed his lips against her. “What do you want, sweetheart?”

  “Everything.”

  “Clare…”

  “I mean it.” She lifted her face, her eyes solemn and deep, sucking him down for all eternity. “I’m feeling as greedy about you as you do about having another piece of my chocolate cake.”

  He groaned at the thought. “No cake, not tonight. I won’t be able to keep my head. This is my night to please you, to introduce you to all the wonderful ways we can make love. I want to do this right, Clare. We’ll never have another first night like this. The last thing I want to do is be an overbearing asshole that you grow to hate.”

  He refused to admit they might never have another night. Period. Not if she couldn’t break the curse.

  “I happen to like the overbearing asshole.” She slithered lower on his body, slipping between his knees to the floor. He could have prevented it—if he’d cared to pull out a handful of her hair—but he allowed the silky strands to unwind. Running her hands down his chest to settle her fingers on the bulge in his pants, she lifted her gaze back to his face. “I want to have you in my mouth. I want to feast on you, taste you, revel in your strength and power. I want to be on my knees while I bring you to your knees.”

  He leaned down, letting the darkness her words stirred reflect in his gaze. “And then I’m going to toss you into my bed and make you come so many times you’ll beg me to stop. But that will just be the beginning, Clare.”

  TWELVE

  Her fingers trembled as she unbuttoned his pants and pushed the layers of clothing away. It wasn’t fear that made her shake, not even the nerves of a virgin. No, it felt she’d slugged an entire pot of his fully-leaded coffee. Her heart raced so fast she felt lightheaded and she couldn’t seem to catch her breath. He was potent, exhilarating, and one-hundred-percent as aggressive and commanding as she’d always suspected.

  The most perfectly dangerous and sexy man alive.

  So many years she’d been fantasizing about this man. This moment. After losing the family ring, she’d resigned herself that something like this would never happen. Let alone with him.

  Freed, his erection burned in her hand, so thick her fingers didn’t meet.

  Heat washed over her, searing her cheeks. Her eyes burned fever-hot. Her fingers involuntarily tightened, drawing a low groan from him.

  All her insecurities blazed away in that fiery heat. Where before she’d felt stupid and cold and awkward standing naked before him, now she burned. She might be on her knees before him, but she didn’t feel weak, not at all. I feel so powerful right now I could probably take on the entire Wizard Council.

  And win.

  The ruby on his hand sparked in the low light, glowing like a red-hot coal. Power pulsed through her, radiating from her bones out to her skin, as if she’d start to glow, too. Hope swelled within her, cresting on the rising power.

  This is how to break the curse. I know it. It feels too right to stop.

  Gripping him tighter, she rubbed her cheek against the head of his cock. She’d never known the skin would be so soft, even while he was like steel in her hand. Words and fantasy, that’s all she’d had for so long, nothing that could compare to the reality.

  The real Yiorgos.

  The real Clare.

  She rubbed her face and hair on him, teasing until he gripped the back of her head in warning. Peeking up at him to watch his reaction, she opened her mout
h and wrapped her lips around him.

  His head tipped back against the chair, the planes of his face shifting in the shadows. Harsh and remote, his expression remained locked under his formidable control, but his eyes blazed with the same heat that filled her. Glittering obsidian caught and reflected the jagged fire from the ring.

  She pushed deeper, taking as much of him into her mouth as she could. Her jaws ached, her lips stretching to accommodate him. She couldn’t take his full length into her mouth, so she kept her fingers wrapped around the base and tightened her mouth as she slowly pulled back.

  “Harder.” The raw graveled tone of his voice made her squirm. “I’m not going to break.”

  Squeezing harder as he’d ordered, she took him deep again. Then she sucked as hard as she could, keeping her mouth and lips tight as she pulled back.

  His other hand fisted in her hair. “God, yes.”

  This time when she took him deep, he tightened his grip, holding her steady while he thrust ever so slightly. He pushed against the natural constriction of her throat. Not enough to make her gag, but almost. Almost too deep. Almost too big. He hovered on the edge of too much, making her totter there with him, unable to breathe or move.

  Until he lets me.

  She closed her eyes and held that feeling of ultimate surrender as tightly as she gripped his cock in her mouth.

  He set a slow rhythm, each time pushing slightly deeper. The ache spread from her mouth down her entire body until she was throbbing with need. Need for him to touch her and ease that pressure before she exploded.

  She tried to tell him with low garbled moans that didn’t sound like words. Red starbursts flared in her mind and she suddenly tasted him. He pulsed in her mouth, his body shuddering beneath her, his hands clamped on her head. The hairs on her arms and the nape of her neck rose, electrified by the power flowing from him.