He throws the pizza box on the small table in the corner near the bathroom and begins stalking back towards me. The sexual tension in the room grows heavy with each step he takes toward the bottom of the bed. “What’s your brilliant plan, Bianca?” he questions, easily taking over the role of predator.
Lust fills his eyes, completely wiping every thought from my mind. I walk as slowly as possible towards him, keeping my eyes locked on his. “I’ve completely forgotten,” I whisper.
His eyes flame like liquid fire as I grow nearer. I step up in front of him, the added height from the bed putting us chest to chest.
I throw myself onto him, locking my legs around his strong waist as his arms snake around my back, holding me firmly against his body.
My lips crash down on his as my arms twine around his neck, one hand winding up into his dark hair, the other grazing over the tight muscles of his back.
He steps over towards the wall and pushes me up against it, freeing his arms to do as they please. I pull away to catch my breath and he takes the opportunity to move his lips against the sensitive skin of my neck.
Feeling brave, my hand creeps down and I slide it back up under his shirt. I run my fingers over the deep ridges of his abs and up towards his broad chest. Needing more, I grab the hem of his shirt and raise it over his head, exposing his beautiful torso.
“You need to stop me if this goes too far,” he breathes into my neck.
Not going to happen.
I place my hands on the sides of his face and gently raise his head to meet my eyes. “I’m ready. I want this,” I whisper, wearing my heart on my sleeve. “I couldn’t imagine anything better for my first time.”
Rylan pulls back ever so slightly, looking deep into my eyes. “First time?” he questions. I nod and he instantly begins shaking his head. “No, we should wait. I can make it special for you. I want you to have it all, Bianca and some rundown motel in the middle of nowhere isn’t that.”
“Don’t you get it?” I murmur, refusing to let him step away. “Anytime I get alone with you is special. It doesn’t matter that it’s here in this shitty motel, we could be in the middle of a battlefield and I wouldn’t care because it’s you and me and that’s all that matters.”
Love shines so strongly in his eyes that it threatens to bring a tear to my own. “You’re sure?” he questions as the desire begins to pour out of him.
“I’ve never been so sure in my life.”
He brings his lips back down on mine with a new energy. Gone was the fierce, urgent need within me, now replaced with sweet, gentle, pure passion. He strips me of my shirt as his hands explore my body, I’m then lifted off the wall before he walks us over to the bed.
Rylan touches me as though I’m some sort of angel and a hint of nervous anticipation takes over. I’ve never done this before but I know he’s going to take care of me.
I lose my pants as Rylan hovers above me. He senses the nervousness within and buries my face into the crook of my neck as his hand slides down my bare thigh. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he murmurs against my skin.
I take a slow breath, letting the feel of his skin against mine overtake my emotions. I hook my leg over his, opening myself up to him as my hand trails down to his naked ass, feeling what’s mine. “I don’t think that’s possible.”
Rylan’s eyes meet mine only to find nothing but determination shining back at him. “Are you ready?”
I nod then raise my chin until my lips meet him. “Yeah,” I whisper. “I’m ready.”
----------
Laying here wearing nothing but my bullet chain, next to a man that I’m so deeply in love with…wow. Just, wow.
I had always thought I would be nervous and self-conscious, especially with Rylan considering his obvious experience and my lack thereof. But instead, I can’t imagine it gets much better than this. It was absolutely perfect, especially for my first time, though I didn’t realize it’d be quite so messy, and truth be told, it hurt more than I was expecting, but Rylan was patient with me. He waited until I was used to the feel of him inside of me and took it slow. He made me feel more woman than I’ve ever felt in my life. It was so much more than I could have asked for.
I am his and he is mine. Though I must admit, he wasn’t very impressed when he saw the size of the bruise covering my ribs.
I lay curled up in his arms as he traces small circles on my back. “I think the pizza’s gone cold,” I tell him.
“It’s better that way,” he murmurs.
I sit up and look down at this perfect man who’s only covered by the sheerest sheet across his lower waist, revealing his perfect ‘V’. I mask my features and manage to produce one of pure horror at his cold pizza comments. “Oh no. You’re one of those people? I’ve made a terrible mistake.”
“Shut up,” he laughs, pulling me back down on top of him.
I crawl up his body and plant a kiss on his lips. “I’m so in love with you,” I say, relieved to have the words come from my mouth again.
He smiles against my lips. “I love you, too,” he whispers.
“So, what are we going to do for the rest of the night?” I ask as I sit up on top of him, straddling his waist.
His eyes heat as he takes in my position. “Well, I have a few ideas,” he smirks. “But if you actually want to eat that pizza anytime soon, you’re going to have to get off me now.”
I smile at his bluntness and wiggle my hips as I climb off him. He groans as I sashay across the room, naked as the day I was born. I collect the pizza box and bring it back to bed, climbing under the sheets beside him.
We spend our night in absolute bliss and I fall asleep in his arms, dreading when this perfect moment will end.
I wake up in a tangle of Rylan’s arms and legs to find a dark pair of eyes looking down at me. “You know, some consider it creepy to watch a girl while she sleeps,” I murmur, rubbing my eyes as a yawn takes over.
He rolls his eyes and flashes me one of those sexy smiles before leaning down and giving me a kiss. “Good morning,” he says.
“Morning,” I whisper against his lips. “What time is it?”
“It’s time for you to get up, so I can feed you and get you back to the Academy before anyone realizes you’re gone.”
“Okay,” I grin. I grab the edge of the blanket and throw it off, earning myself another appreciative groan from Rylan. “I’m going to shower,” I say, looking back over my shoulder. I push open the bathroom door, pausing in the doorway as my eyes become hooded. “Are you coming?”
I step into the bathroom, not looking back to see if he has followed me in. I open the shower door and turn on the water, stepping in and closing my eyes as the warm water cascades over my body. Finally, warm arms circle my waist and I’m pulled against a hard body.
A smile graces my lips as he presses a kiss to my neck. “Do we really have to leave? I could stay here forever,” I tell him as I relax against him with his strong arms holding me up.
“Don’t give me ideas,” he murmurs.
We finish in the shower and get ourselves dressed before walking the two blocks to the garage to pick up the car.
“You still owe me a fight,” he says as we start our journey back to the Academy.
“You still owe me a target competition.”
“You’ll get your competition,” he says.
“And you’ll get your fight.”
----------
We arrive back at The Guard Academy all too soon and I sneak Rylan’s iPod out of his SUV with a promise to update it for him and I do what I can to get back to my dorm room without being caught.
“You better have a good explanation as to where the hell you’ve been?” Jacinta hisses as I sneak in through the window.
I cringe as I hold the small plastic bag out to her as a peace offering. “I bought you some chocolates.”
“Seriously, Bianca?” she screeches. “Chocolate is not going to make this okay. I thought something had happened t
o you. You were supposed to be back over twelve hours ago,” she says, grabbing the bag of chocolates anyway.
“I know, I’m sorry, but we kind of ran into a little bit of trouble,” I explain.
She narrows her eyes. “What do you mean you ‘ran into a little bit of trouble’?”
“Well, a vampire slashed all our tires while we were getting gas, so naturally, we went after him and Rylan totally kicked his ass. Anyway, do you know a car only comes with one spare tire?” I ask, getting off-topic. Jacinta raises an annoyed brow as she crosses her arms over her chest, impatiently. “Okay, okay,” I say getting back on track. “So, we called a tow truck to take the car to a garage, but the garage was closed until this morning, so we got stuck and had to spend the night in a motel.”
“Wait, what?” she smirks. “You spent the night with Rylan in a motel?”
I give her a slight nod as her mouth drops open in surprise. “Woah, holy crap. Tell me he was anything but a gentleman?” she asks.
I grin up at her, confirming her suspicions.
“And?” she prompts, wide-eyed.
“And it was amazing,” I smile with heat rushing into my cheeks at my fond memories as I flop down onto my bed with a sigh.
“Seriously? That’s all you’re giving me?” she asks.
“Yep.”
“Argh,” she cries in frustration. “Fine, whatever. But just so you know, our dorm matron popped in for a surprise inspection last night and I had to tell her you had a stomach bug and it was coming out both ends, so you were glued to the toilet,” she smirks.
“Oh, geez. I guess I deserved that,” I laugh.
“Yeah, you did, she was pretty worried about you, she even dropped off these natural oils that are supposed to help regulate everything,” she says, pointing towards the offending oils. “So, when she asks, which she will, be sure to let her know they were just magical.”
“Fine,” I grumble. “For the record, I wanted to text you, but I left my phone in the car.”
“It’s okay, just don’t do that to me again.”
“I won’t, I promise,” I say, getting up and wrapping my arms around her. “Thanks for covering for me.”
“What are best friends for?” she smiles. “Thanks for the chocolates.”
“My pleasure, but you know you’re sharing those with me, right?”
“Why? Did you work up your appetite with last night’s extra-curricular activities? I bet Mr. Badass Instructor gave you plenty of new moves to work on,” she laughs.
“Last night and this morning,” I smirk.
Her mouth drops open. “Far out, I’m jealous,” she whines. “Don’t get me wrong, I love Trey, but damn, Rylan is hot.” A grin spreads over my face as I nod in agreement.
We sit down and rifle through the bag of chocolates feasting on as much as we can until we start to feel sick. I tell Jacinta all about our visit with Kaylee as she fills me in on her day with Trey after Daniel got roped into the shopping trip with Nora.
“So, how are you coping with all this ‘brother’ stuff?” I ask.
“Half-brother,” she reminds me. “But I don’t know. I mean, it’s been a little weird between us and we’ve both been really busy preparing for mid-terms, so we haven’t really talked about it,” she says.
“I’m sure it will be fine. Daniel isn’t the type to make things awkward. I think you should just embrace each other.”
“Oh yeah, great idea. Give Nora another reason to want to tear me to shreds. I’m sure she will take it as another way that I’m trying to steal another guy that she likes. You know she’s crazy like that.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I laugh. “Have you heard anything from your dad?”
“Yes,” she groans. “He keeps calling and I keep ignoring,” she says. “He’s moved on to emails now, demanding I talk to him and threatening if Daniel or I say anything and word gets out to The Guard, he will take my trust fund away. But jokes on him, because I don’t want his dirty money.”
“It will work itself out,” I say as I give her a squeeze. “Has your mom reached out?”
“No, not yet, though after the way she so easily covered for him the other week, I’m kind of getting the feeling she already knows the whole story and is actually shallow enough to stay with him. You know my mom, it’s all about the reputation and the money. She puts on a good act, but who knows?”
“It’s okay, after graduation you can always come and live with me. We’ll get our own place, though I’ll be off saving the world the majority of the time, but we can make it work. Screw your weird parents.”
“Sounds like a solid plan, except the part where The Guard is going to take you away to be their Poster Girl and we’ll probably never see you again.”
“Ugh,” I groan. “Don’t bum me out. The Guard can’t have me unless it’s after graduation with an amazing assignment.”
“It will be,” she says. “I won’t let them have you.”
We give each other another long hug. “Hey, tell me about fey abilities,” I suddenly ask.
“Why?” she responds, probably confused because I’ve never asked about the fey before.
“Just answer the damn question,” I order.
Jacinta rolls her eyes. “Well, as you should already know,” she starts with attitude. “The fey can control natural elements such as water, air, earth, and fire. Which can either be extremely beautiful or extremely lethal.”
“So, how would they have used those powers in say, The Dark War?”
“What? Asking about the fey and The Dark War on the same day. Are you sick?” she asks.
“Shut it.”
“Okay, okay. So, the fey are able to manipulate these elements, say an earth user would be able to open a canyon in the ground and a water user would be able to smother you with water and drown you on your feet. Which is the kind of stuff they did during the war. Like I said, lethal.”
“So, how come I keep hearing that it would be suicide to take a war to them, but if we attack anywhere else, we might have a chance?”
“Because their powers are magnified in their own kingdom, so anyone entering the Fairy Kingdom is doomed, but as soon as the fey leave the confines of their world, their powers are muted, still there but not nearly as dangerous, giving their opponent an actual chance.”
“Wow. That explains a lot,” I say.
“Yep, now you want to explain why you’re asking?”
I let her know that I think she’s right, that The Guard is using me as a pawn to create an army to go up against the fey.
“Well, shit,” she says.
“Yup.”
Chapter 10
A heavy pounding shoots through my head at the sound of my alarm early on Monday morning. I groan as I pull back my sheets and force myself out of bed. I throw my clothes on and force myself out to the gym to meet with Rylan.
I take a sip of water trying to soothe the ache behind my eyes as I push through the door and come face to face with the beautiful man before me. Rylan gives me a knowing smile as I walk deeper into the gym. I do my best to ignore my feelings for him and concentrate solely on my training.
I begin my session with a quick stretch and am pleased that his very presence is enough to dull the ache that has been steadily growing behind my eyes. “Alright, that’s enough stretching,” he says, motioning for me to get up. “Let’s get on with it.”
I climb up and position myself in front of him as he goes through what we’ll be focusing on in today’s session and soon enough our training has started.
I launch myself into action, blocking and fighting against all his advances. My head grows dizzy the more I continue sparring, though I’m almost certain it’s just coming to that time of the month and a little lie down after training will put me right back on track.
I push through the dull ache, my body weakening quickly as my moves become sloppy. Rylan shoots his arm out, grabs me and throws me to the floor. I groan as the pounding increases.
Rylan, who’s been getting frustrated with my slack and sloppy moves, scowls down at me. “What the hell, Bianca? If I was a vampire, you’d be dead by now.”
“I know, I know, I’m trying,” I groan as I get to my feet. I grab a quick drink of water before bringing myself back to face off against a very unimpressed instructor.
He jumps at me and I do what I can to block his advance. “Come on, you can do better than this,” he scolds, as I miss yet another hit. He pushes me harder and harder and by the time the hour is up, my body is a mess.
“I don’t know what’s going on with you this morning, but you better get your shit together by this afternoon’s session,” he growls.
Anger bursts through me. Can’t a girl just have one bad day? I grab my drink bottle and let out a huff as I exit the gym without a word or a backward glance.
I head back up to my dorm room and take some pain-killers, immediately falling into a deep sleep. I’m jolted awake by Jacinta when she comes barreling into our room. “What’s going on? Have you been asleep this whole time? You’ve missed all your classes.”
Well…shit.
“Hurry, if you get up now, you’ll at least have some time for lunch before training,” I climb out of bed and mope around. My sleep doing nothing for the pounding in my head. I groan as I tidy my hair and put my shoes back on. We head to the cafeteria and sit down with Trey and Daniel who have already got some food ready for us.
“Thanks, guys,” I say as I flop down into the seat beside Daniel. I look down at my lunch and realize after my training session this morning, I still haven’t eaten and I really have no appetite to eat now. Damn. Stupid headache.
“What’s up? You’ve been gone all day,” Daniel comments as he reaches for the food I’ve ignored on my tray.
“Nothing, just a headache. I was sleeping it off. I didn’t realize I’d slept the whole morning away,” I cringe, hoping I haven’t got any detentions heading my way from skipping all morning.
“Did the sleep help?” he asks, concerned.
Heart and Revenge: Slayer Academy (Book 2) Page 9