MADNESS: Book One of The Shadow-Keepers Series

by Jas T. Ward

  Reno blinked and lifted his eyes to meet Emma’s beautiful green ones and opened his mouth to speak. To say something eloquent, charming and full of flare like Jess would do. But all that came out was a stuttered sound as she came to stand in front of him and said softly, “Walk me home?”

  His jaw went slack as he stared at her. How could she possibly want to be with him? Seen with him? Be with him after how he just embarrassed her? How he just fumbled the first, and probably the last date he would get a chance to have?

  Nodding, he looked down as she wrapped her hand around his bicep and then looked up at him and smiled. “It’s a nice night. And I can’t think of a better way to spend it than walking home with you.”

  Reno’s eyes snapped over to stare at her as he froze, as if he was cemented to the pavement. Did she really mean all that? His eyes went to her lips as if the words spoken could be some indicator of truth. As his gaze slid from those lips to come to rest on her eyes he was shaken by what he saw there to some part that he didn’t even know he had. Or what it was for.

  Understanding.

  Tenderness.

  Concern.

  It rattled him so badly he actually thought he had forgotten how to walk, or the fear of his spark getting disconnected from his body had manifested itself.

  Emma gave him a smile and he felt that tingling that joined the rest of the sensations he didn’t understand. But then his legs remembered what they were attached to his hips for and soon they were walking down the sidewalk.

  “Sorry I pushed you.”

  Her voice was soft and gentle as he nodded with no reply, letting his eyes focus on his boots as they took one step after another.

  Soon they were in front of her brownstone by the bay and part of him hated the fact she didn’t live across town so they could spend more time together. Reno loved how warm her hand felt on his arm and how, as they got closer, she had rested her head on his bicep as they walked; he almost faltered in his steps as the sweet scent of her hair drifted up to fill his sense of smell.

  “It’s okay. I mean. It’s not that I don’t want to talk about my past. I just...” He stopped to look down at her as they stood on the sidewalk in front of her house. “Don’t have one of my own. It’s weird. I know. But it’s the way it is.”

  His eyes trailed to her lips and he stepped closer to bring his free hand up to brush hair that gently swayed in freedom from her ponytail and against her jaw. “Not very interesting, huh?” His eyes slid back up to meet hers and once again searched those emerald depths for signs she was on to him, or trying to trick him.

  Emma smiled and pressed her cheek into his hand, rubbing it against his palm. Something about Reno’s touch seemed so comforting; like Emma finding her favorite sweater on a cold, dreary day.

  She brought her hand up to press over his, finding the soft gasp that whispered out of Reno’s lips at that touch the most precious thing in the world to her.

  “Actually Reno, I find you very interesting. And I really didn’t want to. But there is just something about you and I don’t understand it. I don’t get it. And it scares me. But I can’t seem to make myself stop wanting to understand you.”

  Emma’s breath quickened, followed by her heart as he seemed to look into her soul with those too-bright blue eyes looking down into hers. Her eyes went down to his lips and she pushed up on her toes as if drawn to them like it was the most natural thing she had ever wanted to do.

  Reno didn’t mean to step back as he brought his hands up to wrap his fingers gently around her arms. His actions were driven by pure fear wrapped around survival instinct.

  “Emma. I...” This was wrong. He knew that this was such a bad idea for more reasons than he had fingers or toes. “I don’t want to hurt you.” His voice was choked, edged with aching need mixed with desperation. “It would kill me to hurt you. We just can’t do this. Even though I want to. So bad that I ache.”

  To say Emma was hurt as well as confused didn’t even sum it up. She blinked and stepped back. “No. You’re probably right. I mean...” She felt tears threaten to fall and that too just confused her more. Why did it matter? She didn’t even know Reno. Not really. But his rejection felt so painful she had the urge to run into the house, throw herself on the bed and cry for days if not weeks.

  “Emma...It’s hard to explain. Please. I...” she went to pull away and he knew he couldn’t let her do that as he grabbed her hand to stop her.

  Screw it.

  “No! Do not screw it. Her. Do not screw. You hear me? Abort screwing. All screwing! Oh god, did I just say that?”

  Before Sundown or Emma could say another word, Reno pulled Emma against him and captured her mouth with his. Her taste sent his head someplace he was never able to put it on his own. Some place quiet and peaceful without voices or humming of painful need. Emma tasted sweet as any treat he had ever tasted. More sinful than the best candy he had ever had, and he got lost in it. Soon her body seemed to melt against him. He brought his hand up to twist his fingers in Emma’s silken hair and pull her head back to change the angle of his mouth to kiss deeper when her tongue came out to greet his. He knew, there was no turning back.

  And he didn’t care.

  Emma had never been kissed with such claiming heat, so much raw passion and yet such tenderness. The night dissolved around them. The cars passing by on the street didn’t exist. Only Reno’s tongue against hers, lips pressing hers and his demand for all she had to give in a kiss.

  Her hand came up to press over his heart and found it to be racing as much as hers. Her hips were pulled tight against his with his hand splayed on her back to press into her and she knew he wanted more than just this branding meshing of lips by the hardness she felt against her stomach.

  As their kiss ended with both of them breathless, Emma met Reno’s eyes and whispered, “Come inside with me? Stay the night?” Now it was Emma’s eyes that searched his and found the desire that he put in his kiss? Was nothing compared to the strength of arousal she found in those azure depths.

  Reno knew he should say no, should put on the brakes to what would turn into a bad ride he was giving the go-gear to, but before he could even try to put the smoking stop gear to his thoughts, they were kissing again in complete abandonment of what was right.

  How they made it up the stairs of her house he had not a clue. Even more amazing was how they somehow accomplished the flight of stairs from her shop on the bottom floor to the living space above it without breaking a limb, considering they were kissing the whole way.

  Reno tripped over the hall rug and Emma helped him balance with a smile only to step back to tug the dress off her shoulders before wrapping her arms around his neck to kiss him deep and hot again, with her hands going under his shirt, needing to feel his skin. Emma wanted to feel what she had only gotten a glimpse of before when he had been shot.

  Reno kissed her as he yanked the shirt free, sending buttons shooting all over the room and shucked it off his shoulders to then shake it off his arms, dropping it to the floor. He then was talented enough to trip on that too and kicked it away from his clumsy feet.

  Oh good god, Reno thought. Please don’t let me fall. Considering the pain behind his fly, falling would be a really bad thing at this moment.

  It was when Emma pulled away that he realized she was without that red dress. His breath locked up in his chest as his heart beat so hard he felt like it had to be the thing in the way of his air. She was absolutely stunning.

  The lights were off except for the soft light coming in from the windows and he wanted to see more. Reaching over, Reno turned on a lamp by the couch and his breath came back in a rush as the pale soft light touched her body. His blood on the other hand was rushing to his hardening length, straining, as if it wanted to see too.

  Emma’s breasts were fuller than he remembered and he liked them this way. Same for her hips and soft belly; they were perfect. The red of her bra and panties seemed to be his prime enemy at the moment, from
keeping him from seeing what he really wanted to see.

  Stepping up slowly as he met her eyes, he flicked out his knife and brought his mouth back to hers as he slashed through the front of her strapless bra then trailed the blade down her belly to slice through both sides of her panties.

  Emma gasped as he tugged the silk away and the cool air touched her heated flesh.

  Reno pulled his lips away from hers yet staying a mere shared panting space from hers. His eyes once again searched hers as he whispered out, “Do you trust me to never hurt you?”

  Emma has never been more consumed by erotic fire than she was at this moment. She thought her skin wherever he touched would break out in flames. Even as she felt that cold steel of his blade against her skin, she should have been scared. But she wasn’t. This was Reno. Why that seemed like such a clear and assuring thought made no more sense than the rest about him. They were barely more than strangers. But calling Reno a stranger seemed more of a lie than a truth.

  Emma nodded as she stepped up to press herself against him, hands grazing over his chiseled chest, the bands of muscles in his abs, feeling each raised scar, loving how they felt beneath her touch as his skin quivered like a wild beast rarely given the gift of such a simple thing like touch.

  “I do. Totally.”

  Reno bent down to pick her up with his arm behind her knees and the other supporting her neck, lowering his head to kiss her deeply as he walked over to the thick rug in front of the fireplace to lower her down and then follow to cover her body with his.

  The only skills he had in love, Emma had given him. But she didn’t know that.

  The only art of making love she had painted in his heart, not knowing that she had held the brush and made a masterpiece for life.

  And the only heartbeat he had ever felt beneath his own was hers. Even before he had one to do so.

  “Right answer, Witch.”

  Emma frowned at the name he called her but before she could give it any more focus, his lips were trailing down her neck, fangs making the most delicious scrap path against her skin to make their way to her breasts. She arched up with a groan as Reno’s lips claimed one pearled tip, his hand coming up to claim the other. Her breathing became a moaned pant as she reached out to grab the sofa edge near her head with one hand and a handful of his hair fisted with the other.

  Reno’s eyes lifted to watch her face and wanted to halt time to capture it so he could revel in it. The pleasure and lust he saw bloom under her skin to color her cheeks had to be the most beautiful sight he had ever seen in his short existence. But when her body writhed beneath his hands, sweetened with aroused dew on her skin, he knew he wanted to explore every delicious span of skin as he looked at her. To dip and lick in all its hollows and rises in order to taste with his flicking tongue what delicious treats her body held. He remembered how she tasted even after all this time because he had never stopped craving it. He had been a fool to think he ever would.

  Holding himself up on his arms, he kissed his way down Emma’s quivering belly, nipping at the indentation of her bellybutton and loving how she tried to hold back a little giggle. The first, last and only time they had made love he had spent what seemed like hours lavishing and feeding on her most private and sweetest spot. Licking, sucking, nibbling, and that was another craving that had never gone away.

  Settling between Emma’s thighs as he placed them on his shoulders, he claimed her most intimate part with his mouth as he let out a deep sigh of pleasure as her nectar coated his tongue and washed his mouth in sweetness.

  Emma was lost. Completely. Totally lost.

  It was as if every cell that was glued to her DNA to make her whole had been scattered with each flick of his tongue and each agonizingly blissful touch of his fangs on her folds. She couldn’t breathe as the air hissed out of her lungs to compete for the right to rob air from her moans.

  She arched as he feasted, her nails digging into his scalp and wasn’t even aware she was begging for more. And oh god, did he give her so much more.

  In the back of Emma’s mind, barely seen, was another night and for a brief second she was going to give it more of a mental prod in comparison. But then Reno’s fingers joined his mouth and Emma was brain numbed to forming any thoughts. Only the sounds and movements of being consumed by need and want.

  Her climax hit her so fast she had not a chance to warn as her body bowed up and she let out a loud scream to thrash under Reno’s relentless thirsting mouth.

  As the wave crashed over her she writhed and thrust her hips, her hands coming up to cup her breasts in hopes to ease the ache that only Reno could give her.

  “Please. Now. Need. You.”

  Reno smiled as he reached out to lap up the honey of her release before kissing his way up. Emma’s hand grabbed at his shoulders to hurry him, nails cutting into his skin which made him harder in the pain, for it, mixed with pleasure, fed him. And with Emma, making love to her, he knew he would never go hungry again.

  As he made his way to reach her neck, he planted kisses against her pulse as her fingers wove into his sweat damp hair to tug him towards her full, panting lips.

  Reno stopped to stare down at her and whispered out with a voice thick with desire, hoarse with restraint, “Say my name.”

  Emma’s eyes flickered open as confusion hinted in the rapture of her gaze as she met his eyes. Any other time she would have found that rather clichéd at a time like this and amusing.

  Until she met his eyes.

  Yes, in those blue depths there was desire and need. But mixed with that? A desperation she wasn’t sure she understood.

  Bringing a hand up to cup his face Emma whispered back panting for breath as she ground her hips seeking what she needed more than the air.

  “Reno. But you haven’t told me your last name.”

  He searched her eyes once again, a habit he was more than aware of doing often, only to repeat his request as he settled his hips between her legs. “Say it again.” He dropped his head to kiss Emma’s neck with fangs nipping. “Please. Just say my name again.”

  Emma frowned more, feeling like there was something he wasn’t telling her. But the pleading in his voice told her that it was something he needed. Something he was desperate to hear that his tone was so small and afraid; Emma knew she could never deny him.

  Pressing her lips against his ear, she whispered over and over. “Reno, Reno. Your name is Reno. Reno. My Reno.”

  Emma could have said the most erotic words in the world and none would have inflamed him such as his name on her lips as they were making love. With a roar he thrust inside and she arched up against him to make him go deeper. Their hips moved as one, as if lovers made from the same mold; puzzle pieces lost, but found to fit together perfectly.

  She continued to scream his name with each thrust and he groaned out hers. She was tight, wet and perfect and he knew he could never deny himself this ever again.

  Emma felt tears and she knew they were hers and she knew exactly why as she was claimed in every way.

  That magic.

  The magic from that night years ago was reborn in this man. As she screamed out his name it was to not only send him higher in pleasure but to somehow brand it on her soul.

  Reno. Reno. Reno.

  Never had she felt like someone belonged to her as much as this beautiful thrusting lover taking her as she had only been taken once before. Her mind no longer dared to acknowledge that he was a stranger. Her heart knew him. Her heart had been waiting and as they both reached climax, she realized his tears were mixing with hers, she knew that tonight.

  It wasn’t magic.

  It didn’t make any sense.

  It was crazy and it was wild.

  But above all that, she knew... It was love.

  Chapter Twelve

  What’s Your Name?

  It was a small giggle that woke Reno up. He was sprawled in Emma’s living room as they have never made it upstairs to the bedroom. He was lying on
his stomach, an afghan tucked around him and the plush carpet threads under his cheek were tickling his nose. Or so he thought.

  Opening one eye when something touched his nose, Reno blinked with a frown creasing his brow. A little girl was squatted down next to him and she kept reaching out to lightly poke with a fingertip on his nose. She giggled each time and he cracked a smile. The kid was completely adorable.

  Hair of curly dark locks with a heart-shaped face and cupid bow lips. She had a bit too pointy chin and big wide brown eyes under dark brows. She giggled again and whispered, “Hi.”

  Reno’s smile spread as he whispered back. “Hi.”

  She giggled once more and said softly in a whisper, “What’s yous name?”

  He opened his mouth to respond but suddenly he heard Witch calling her from what he thought might be the kitchen. “Sophia!”

  The little girl, whose name apparently was Sophia, smacked a hand over her lips, and then with one last giggle was running out of the living room.

  Twisting and making sure to keep the deep red afghan around his hips, Reno got to his feet and stretched. He felt sore and that was such a good thing to feel when it wasn’t from fighting, the thought made him smile even more.

  Following the sound of Emma and the little girl, he found his way to the kitchen and leaned against the doorway. Emma had been Breaker courteous to pull all the light filtering shades over the windows and that simple act just reinforced how wonderful he knew she was.

  She was standing at the breakfast bar filling up plates with scrambled eggs and bacon as the little girl Sophia just babbled away.

  He cleared his throat with a grin and they both stopped talking, turning their heads to look towards his direction.

  Sophia gave a big missing tooth grin as Emma smiled softly with the most delicious blush spreading across her cheeks. She was dressed in a fluffy robe with her hair tousled and messy loose with no make up on her beautiful face and to Reno, she couldn’t be lovelier.