Oculus

by S. E. Akers

My teeth may have been covertly gritting their apologies, but you couldn’t tell from the amused stretch of my lips. “Djinn,” I corrected.

  Silas turned to the door, now empty handed, and headed out of the kitchen like he had a boulder the size of a pick-up truck strapped to his back.

  “Less than a week,” I heard him muttering. “Just less than a week.”

  I didn’t have the heart to tell him that Tanner had truly meant basically forever, nixing his fantasy of a reprieve. “Thank you,” I hollered to him, still grinning from ear-to-ear.

  “And clean up your mess!” Silas yelled from the hall. I found the bluster tied to his bellows amusing, particularly from someone claiming that I was the one being too noisy. Tanner could probably hear him all the way down in his private lagoon — even under the water.

  I was standing outside Tanner’s bedroom at a minute till six, cake propped in one hand and my other hovering in front of the door. A wave of insecurity rushed over me before my hand could muster its first strike. I was nervous—awkwardly nervous—despite our perfect evening. Maybe a part of me thought last night was a dream, and I was about to get some slap-in-the-face rude awaking? Was I being too forward? Seriously? Several rounds of making-out, dancing, and a dip in his lagoon had me running around the kitchen acting all whipped…and BAKING, of all things? Though admittedly, I didn’t think my near future held any surprise birthday cakes with Daddy no longer around. And besides, this was something I wanted to do for Tanner, sharing a personal tradition of my own, whether anything romantic had happened between us or not.

  I gave my sugary efforts one final appraisal, my eyes trailing every decorative line of icing. Of course the letters may not have been as curly…

  “Tanner?” I said and gave the door two stout knocks. I counted off ten seconds. When no response came, I rapped on the panel three more times and called for him again. He still didn’t answer.

  Crap… Now I REALLY feel stupid standing here. I lowered the plate as I turned around, only to run straight into the handsome Talisman — cake and all.

  My chest caved in as I pulled away what was left of my painstaking masterpiece. Well at least half of it was still on the daggone plate.

  Tanner couldn’t restrain his amusement. “Is that what I think it is?” he chuckled.

  “It was,” I confirmed, feeling as flat as the layer of icing and cake crumbs that now coated my front, neck to chest. And of course I happened to be wearing a white shirt, which made the sight even worse.

  “You shouldn’t have,” he grinned. With a pair of livened violet eyes, Tanner’s gaze fell on the top of my chest. “But does it taste as good as it looks?”

  My frame froze as he edged closer. The only thing stirring was my stomach, which shot straight into a weightless flip when his mouth descended upon my neck. Nervous flutters sent me scrambling to secure my grip on the plate when I felt his tongue slowly stroking out a long, decadent lick.

  Tanner leaned into my ear. “It does,” he whispered, lightly nuzzling my lobe. The delicate graze of his grin brushing against my cheek eased my parted lips straight into a smile. Thankfully it also helped bridle the aching pants I was desperately holding onto for dear life. Now I just needed a fire hose for the rest of me.

  The next thing I knew, his finger was gliding across the trench above my collarbone like a heated spark running a fuse — a dangerously short fuse at that. I kept my eyes locked on his as he lifted it to my mouth, hoping to tame the feeling searing my insides. Tanner coated my lips with several delicate sweeps. At that moment, I didn’t know what plagued me more: the uncontrollable desire I felt at his slightest touch or the building tension from my crumbling restraint. I could seriously claw out my eyes right now for sneaking that peek last night. What was I even thinking? Even after all of our intimate encounters yesterday, I’d never been this provocatively touched before or felt this susceptible to seduction. The reality of his gestures culminated while the icing melted against my lips. I was so inexperienced compared to him — hell, compared to a lot of people really. I simply needed to mentally reaffirm my parameters and figure out how far I was willing to let them bend. I wanted his attention, every blissfully arousing second of it, craving his touch like I needed it as much as air. But even I knew I couldn’t allow myself to get carried away this soon, especially after his lecture last night. The finest of lines lay between reciprocating desire and coming off like a weak and wanton slut. I was just going to have to count on those tingles to serve as my guidance-system and pray the little bitches didn’t trick me into full-on overdrive.

  With my next move affirmed, I slowly licked a little icing off his finger and let it linger on the edge of my mouth. I released it with a soft kiss and then peered into his eyes. One glimpse of the red-violet hue blazing back at me was all it took for the damn china plate to come to a shattering end on the floor. So much for any helpful warning alarms. We charged towards each other, lips crashing and arms thrusting together magnetically. You’d think neither of us had ever experienced a person’s touch before the way our exploring hands couldn’t stop their heated grabs or curling fingers. And I honestly didn’t think I could ever stop longing for his lips or the way he held me with his powerful grip. Who knew arms this strong could be this soft? I wanted to stay cocooned in them forever.

  A noticeably harsh throat clearing slowed our lips to a halt. We both turned to see Silas standing on the edge of the step clanging two forks together.

  “You forgot these,” the house steward announced. His stare shifted to the mess on the floor. “Though I should have known a more primal instrument wouldn’t elude either of you — especially with your resourcefulness, Professor Grey.”

  Tanner shot him a cavalier grin. “I’m taking that as a compliment,” he replied and then not a second later, he was on my neck again like butter on a biscuit.

  Silas’ judgmental eyes looked like two tiny green buttons staring back at me — buttons, of all things! Now I was really embarrassed. I pinched the nape of Tanner’s neck, hoping he would stop, but it didn’t seem to faze him a bit.

  “Shall I prepare breakfast?” the house steward posed, “or are we dining buffet-style right here in the hall?”

  Tanner stopped and threw him a sharp glance. “I’m taking Shiloh out to grab a bite.” And with that, he waved the house steward away and went straight back to devouring my neck.

  Silas shook his head. “Very well,” he replied and started marching up the stairs. “A more public setting may spare the rest of Ms. Wallace’s wardrobe. Cuts and rips can be patched, but laundry detergent will only do so much.”

  I finally had to dig my fingernails into his skin to get him off. Tanner lifted his head. “That hurts.”

  My mouth fell open. “He was standing right there,” I protested, imagining just how loud the term “harlot” was howling inside Silas’ head.

  The handsome Talisman gave my lips a light kiss. “I’m sorry. It’s the chocolate,” he whispered. His eyes danced a path across my chest. “That’s my other weakness.”

  My cheeks flushed. “Have you been downstairs all night?” I asked, needing to take my mind off my weakness — his rock-hard and rippling bare chest. Thankfully his pants were back on.

  “I couldn’t sleep,” he admitted. “How about you?”

  “Not a wink,” I replied positively wide-eyed, compliments of that green tourmaline. “But we don’t have to go out. I’m fine with breakfast here.”

  Tanner conjured a confident smile. “Well, I’m not . . . And besides, it’s my birthday.” He edged closer and cupped my face, angling it to his. “The rules clearly state that I can have or do anything I want today.”

  My eyes relaxed shamelessly. The way my insides were writhing right now, he probably could. If he allowed it, I harrumphed. Yep. The more I thought about his talk last night, the more I realized how controlled I truly felt. And as far as my feelings went, they were still sitting on the fence — I did and I didn’t like it. So right now, I cou
ldn’t predict as to which side of the yard my rear would eventually land.

  “I’ve suddenly got a fierce craving for something,” he rustled, gingerly sweeping the tips of his fingers down the length of my arms.

  My head lifted with anticipation. “For what?”

  “Pizza,” he replied.

  “Pizza?” I questioned. “At six in the morning?”

  Tanner pulled back and arched his brow. “You can eat pizza anytime.”

  “Well, yeah,” I agreed. “But I highly doubt we can find a place that’s open.”

  “We’ll see,” he muttered. “Where’s your hilt?”

  My new magical holster rematerialized as I lifted my leg. Though I’d taken a quick shower while the cake was cooling, I put it straight back where his hands had laid it around my thigh last night. I kind of liked the cling of that particular memory.

  “Good.” Tanner reached around my back and gave his doorknob a turn.

  The sound of dead silence following the bolt’s “pop” whirled my head back towards the bronze slab. To both my confusion and relief, the alarm bells that had rattled my head nonstop for weeks never came.

  Tanner noticed me staring back at the knob. “You can respell it if you want.”

  My gaze whipped to his like a shot. “You knew?”

  Tanner nodded immodestly, which sent my lips crashing into a pout.

  “For how long?” I asked.

  “Right after you enchanted it,” he admitted. “Why do you think I never instructed you on how to reverse it.”

  My eyes flared. “Do you know how aggravating it was having to hear those bells going off all the time?”

  “I’m sure they were.” Tanner roused a sly look in his eyes. “Sometimes I turned it on purpose just to mess with you a little,” he admitted.

  I smacked his chest. “That was dirty.”

  “No dirtier than your stalking,” he laughed. “In my own house, I might add.”

  My guilty red hands raised in a playful surrender, knowing he was right and relieved that the “crazy” hadn’t scared him off.

  Tanner slid his hands around my waist. “If it eases your conscience any, yours was spelled too,” he admitted.

  My lips pursed their amusement. Naturally…

  “But only after your first late-night walk,” he added. “It was that or put a bell on you. That was Silas’ suggestion.” Tanner’s face crinkled slightly. “And he may have muttered something about a tourmaline shock-collar.”

  I bet he did… A past suspicion crept to the forefront of my thoughts. “Did you suspend the spell when I was at Katie’s?” I asked after remembering I’d never heard the first “ding” the entire time I was there.

  “No.” His head tipped insightfully not a second after his admission. “I slept in my bedroom upstairs. I didn’t see any need to stay down here,” he added and then ran his fingers along the curve of my jaw. “You weren’t here.”

  “Oh,” I breathed, his words sweet-talking my cheeks straight back to crimson.

  Suddenly I sensed something lingering behind his heightened sultry stare. Whatever was hiding behind those seductive sparkles in his eyes made a precarious feeling course through my insides. And without my ruby, I knew he could sense every twinge of my edginess.

  Then with a rub so silken, he linked his fingers with mine and started leading me into his bedroom, the lure of his stare never releasing me for a second. The airy flutters smacking my chest were steadily turning into hammering pounds. Restlessly, my eyes broke away from his and began darting around the space. I’d never ventured so much as a peek into his manly across-the-hall retreat the entire time I’d been here and it was evident by my nervous stagger. For this not to be his actual bedroom, you sure couldn’t tell by its extensive furnishings and how luxuriously it had been decorated. The stirring scene hit me so strong that I found myself drinking in the room’s bold hues and masculine patterns like I was standing in front of a men’s fragrance counter in a department store. Everything about the room exemplified him in some way. The caramel-colored stucco walls that appeared both smooth and undeniably rugged… The rich and robust deposits of burly walnut meticulously placed throughout the space… Even the handsomely carved four-poster bed boldly commanded my attention like a crash of thunder, its presence just as powerful and suggestive as he was… And the seductive sweep of the paisley print on the tailored duvet added just the right amount of softness to the manly chamber, exuding the same soothing and impassioned undertones I felt kindling his heart. Though for the record, I did find it curious that a grand bed of this size only held three lonely shams.

  “Where are your nine-hundred pillows?” I asked, hoping to downplay the titillating nature of what from my perspective looked like the deep-end of the big-girl pool.

  Tanner yielded a grin as sinful as it was charming as he stepped beside me. “Those are the last things I want to contend with when I slide into bed.”

  My stare froze for a moment. On the surface, his statement could have fallen anywhere between the spectrum of innocent to ambiguous. However, the way his fingers had glided across the small of my back sent it careening toward lascivious.

  Oookay, I breathed silently, only for him to envelope me in his arms and tantalize my nape with a trail of warm, wet kisses. I couldn’t form a coherent syllable of protest out of my mouth, not for the life of me. I shouldn’t be in here, not wrestling with the thoughts that were running inescapably through my mind every time his lips latched on for another succulent hold. These were some seriously uncharted waters. What captain steers their vessel straight for the Rock of Gibraltar and lives to tell it?

  Where’s a gleaming lighthouse beacon to save my hormones now?

  “I think it’s time to get cleaned up,” Tanner whispered into my ear and then whirled me around with a quick & controlled whip, sending my heart rocketing through my chest. “You wouldn’t want to see me ravenous,” he added, his eyes stalking my lips.

  I stretched my smile as far as I could to visually conceal my nerves and then started towards the door — only for him to pull me back towards him.

  “Where are you going?” he asked.

  I pointed in the direction of my room. “I need to get cleaned up.”

  “I know,” he agreed and then threw a nod towards his bathroom straighter than a crow flies. “And I intend to see that you do.”

  Though my mouth had never moved, surely Tanner couldn’t have missed the “WHAT?” throbbing in my eyes before commencing with my slow and guided escort to his bathroom. Now I really wished he hadn’t caught me looking at him last night; I may have bit off a little more than I was truly ready to start chewing with that one.

  Tanner gave my hand a rousing squeeze when we hit the doorway, urging me on. I, however, remained as still as a statue and peered into the room like a virgin just before her last fateful step off a cliff. He flashed me a suggestive smile as he released my hand. My eyes followed his casual stroll over to a switch on the wall. After a quick flip, a waterfall came gushing out of a ledge above the massive white marble shower base. It may have seemed awfully wet on the surface, but it still looked like a daggone volcano to me.

  “Come on,” Tanner said with a free and easy wave.

  Climbing into a tub with me while my clothes were still on during a healing bath was one thing, but I wasn’t sure how ready I was for this much attention to what ailed me, despite how worked-up I was. All this just seemed too abrupt and so devil-may-care — and really soon, I might add. What happened to not rushing into to anything? Surely he wasn’t having a 180º change of heart after his die-hard proclamation last night? I’d kind of figured I would be greeted with a gift similar to my disappearing magical holster this morning — in the form of a round-the-clock chastity belt.

  Tanner bit his lip to stave off a growing grin. Though by the time it took for him to return to the doorway, he was unable to hide his amusement and broke out into a boisterous round of laughter.

  “Shilo
h, there’s no need to be nervous. I just wanted to tease you a little,” he insisted and gave my hand a playful squeeze. “Now you know what happens to curious little girls who look.”

  I breathed out a light sigh, hoping to tame the redness tinting my cheeks down to a pink. Ass… And yes, he could have been having his fun for that sole reason, but I suspected a little payback for using his phantom crystal was lurking in there somewhere right along with it. Plus, he’d just confirmed how spot-on his lecture from last had proven. I was simply glad he didn’t pop off an “I told you so” to the little girl who felt like she was standing here in her mother’s high-heel shoes anxiously waiting for the day they finally fit. Who knew it would be both a blessing and a curse?

  He couldn’t stop smiling. “You weren’t that nervous all summer.”

  “Don’t do that again,” I requested.

  “I can’t promise you that. You have no idea how thrilling it is to see those cheeks of yours ignite. Their flush is so irresistibly innocent, just like the feeling that stirs right along with it.”

  I should have marched a heated path back to my room for my ruby cuff right then and there — promise or no promise.

  With his joke now exposed, his humored gaze took a serious turn. “But don’t doubt for a second that there’s no place my lips don’t long to travel and that there’s not one inch of your skin my hands don’t want to touch.” Then with his amorous intentions baiting my breaths, he lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it as soulfully as he would my lips. “But I remain faithfully patient, I assure you,” he added, his eyes drowning in their heartfelt lavender hue.

  I fully expected my hand to be wafting tiny trails of steam when I glanced at it, just going off the warmth his touch had left smoldering inside me. Every word he’d uttered was genuine, though I honestly didn’t think his vow could keep me from burning a hole in the thighs of my jeans between now and then, not when my heart felt like a hot air balloon rising inside my chest. Something churning below had to be fueling the blaze that was making it float away.