“It must have been hard for her to raise a child alone.”
He started laughing. “Yeah, well my father was from a really wealthy family. When he died, my mother got his entire trust fund, so I didn't really have a hard life. I was privileged enough to attend some great colleges and get a career in the medical field.”
She grinned. “I’m glad. Do you ever see the other part of your family?”
“No. When I came out here, my mother followed. She doesn’t assimilate well either. It may be hereditary,” he added, trying to not give away too much. There was a definite reason why she stood out, but he didn't think telling Cyra would make her want to be with him. Right now, he needed time to get her attached to the idea of being in his life.
Then he’d drop the bomb.
“Really?”
When she continued to press, he needed to give her something. “My mom’s eclectic. We’re kind of the outcasts of the family. Her mostly, but I’m the offspring from her and my father’s union.”
Cyra couldn’t understand why. Here was a sexy, handsome, and smart man. How that could even be considered something unappealing, was surprising.
“Why a cop?” he asked her, refocusing the conversation.
“I believe in justice. I hate to see the underdog get the crap kicked out of them. I always tried to be the mediator between my brother and sister.”
“Are you close?”
“Cannon lives within walking distance from my house. Chelsea is about a mile away. My brother is in charge of house sitting while I’m out of town.”
“What do they do for a living?”
“My brother is this high priced lawyer that wears suits and ties and my sister is a mom. To make our lives even more entertaining, my brother works to get criminals out of jail. Our big family joke is that we each picked a profession and cancelled the other out.”
Chris laughed. “Don’t tell the boss lady. She hates defense attorneys. We’ve all had to face down a few vicious ones.”
“Good to know,” she answered laughing.
God, he loved her smile. It warmed up the room and immediately made him relax.
“Why did you choose to be medical examiner?” she asked as she finished her beer. “You went to medical school, so why not a surgeon or ER doctor?”
“I like puzzles. What I don’t like is being rushed through them. With the dead, you get time to solve them, and if it takes three hours, you don’t have to worry about killing someone in the process. You may have noticed that I’m not really good at guessing. It drives the directors crazy, but I like to be one hundred percent certain with every answer.”
“That is very logical, Christopher.”
When she called him that, it made his heart skip. “Well, that and corpses are easier to handle and malpractice insurance isn’t a bitch.”
Cyra found that funny.
“Does my job creep you out?” he asked, knowing a lot of women liked the idea of being with a doctor, but not the kind that he had chosen in life.
“As in, could I do it every day of the week myself? No. I’m a little freaked out at the way you take off the top of someone’s head and play in the brains.”
She immediately saw the rejection.
“Does it mean that I can’t watch you do it, and then make out with you afterwards? No, I’m good with it,” she answered laughing. “You kiss so well that I can overlook just about anything, including brains.”
Did he? That shocked the hell out of him. No one had ever told him that before.
Cyra continued, “I think what you do is amazing. There are a million things that can kill a person, and you have hours to figure it out by digging through remains. That’s far harder than what I have to do. I at least get to ask people questions to solve my part of the mystery.”
Her words helped him relax. “The first few are hard. After about one thousand, you stop thinking about it and just move on autopilot. I don’t even have to think about it anymore.”
She found that funny. “I find that hard to believe. I’ve seen some of the bodies that you’ve had to autopsy.”
“It’s like you and your gun. It’s just there and you know how to use it. You don’t have to aim anymore, you pull and shoot. It’s a lot like that. I just see something off and know what it was that started the end of that person’s life.”
“I think that you’re a very strong person, Christopher,” she said honestly. In fact, it was probably the sexiest thing about him. When she was with him, she could just let go and let him take care of everything.
He watched her with unblinking eyes.
“What are you thinking about now?” Cyra asked, getting nervous at the way he was staring at her.
“That not going home with you after the Christmas party was the biggest mistake of my life, and despite my IQ, I’m quite possibly the biggest moron that ever walked on the face of the planet.”
She started laughing. “I don’t think then was the right time,” Cyra reassured. “It wasn’t meant to be at that moment. I had to go off to certification and spend the next four months away from you.”
He couldn’t imagine letting her leave his side ever again. There was something cathartic about being with her.
“I’m just glad we’re getting another chance now.” Boy was she ever. The anticipation was ready to kill her. It was taking everything that she had not to jump on the man and assault him with her hands and mouth. God, she prayed aggressive women didn't scare the hell out of him.
“I will do anything to make this work.” What he wanted to tell her was that he already knew that they were going to get married. He was certain that there was going to be a wedding and kids in their future. He just couldn’t tell her the truth. How did one broach the topic of his mom seeing it in her tarot cards two days before he ever met her?
“I don’t foresee you having to work that hard at it.” Cyra was already crazy about him. It was moving at the speed of light, and she never wanted it to stop. Before he arrived, Cyra actually believed that they were progressing slowly, but now she saw the truth. She was crazy about him, and they had yet to even consummate their relationship.
Chris knew that he had to get some answers before they even went further. His life wasn’t cookie cutter, and the woman that he chose to share it with was going to have to be fairly strong. “I have to ask you one question.”
She stared at him and became worried at the tone in his voice. “Okay, ask.”
“How easily are you freaked out by things that aren’t normally the same for everyone else?”
A million things went through her mind, most of them having to do with his lower anatomy and some sort of sexual fetishes. It showed where her mind was hanging out.
Welcome to the gutter.
Finally, she spoke, “Like what, Christopher? Can I at least have an example?”
He pondered how to phrase it. “Say…really old houses that look like haunted mausoleums?”
Cyra started laughing as relief flooded her body. “I’m fine with things like that. Why?” she inquired.
He didn't even reply.
Chris Leonard had his answer and attacked.
~ Chapter Seven ~
Cyra didn't know what hit her. At first, he was asking her a question and then the man was pressed to her body. The heat and fire that was exploding from him above her was something that she had never felt before in her life. He was so full of exuberance and energy, that it took her along for the ride. When his palms slid up her rib cage and caressed her heated flesh, she moaned in pleasure.
It only drove him wilder.
Chris couldn’t believe that he was finally getting to put his hands all over this woman. The feel and the taste of her skin beneath his lips was maddening. She was everything he’d always wanted in life and never believed he would find. Cyra reminded him of all the good things that existed. The ones that you wanted to submerge yourself in every day to forget the shadows that filled your life.
“I�
�m dying to see you naked and beneath me,” he whispered in her ear as his mouth did wicked things to her throat.
There was no doubt that he absolutely was going to die if he didn't get to consummate their relationship.
Moving away from him, she stood beside the bed. “I’ll get naked if you do,” she offered, grinning seductively.
He started laughing like a lunatic. “If this is a dream, I hope it never ends,” he replied as he dropped his boxers. “This is usually the part where I wake up.”
Cyra didn't hear a word he said. She was too busy watching him in awe. His body was amazing, and she couldn’t wait to run her hands all over him. Pulling her tank top over her head, she watched his face as he appreciatively admired her body.
“God, Cyra, you’re amazing,” he whispered as she slipped the rest of her clothing off, and then proceeded to crawl across the bed towards him. He’d seen her in a tiny little stripper outfit in ‘The Pussy Cat Club’, but this exceeded every one of his dreams. Her breasts were perfect, and her hips were the ideal curve. If anything, the woman was everything he had always wanted. Cyra was exceptionally hot. To a geek like him, this was the stuff masturbatory fantasies were made of in life.
When Cyra reached him, she went into his arms, and locked her mouth to his once more. Her body rested against his and her hands wandered, explored, and teased. The second Cyra’s fingers wrapped around his erection, he moaned and arched into her stroking.
“I want to taste you, Chris,” she whispered as she slid down his body until she was in position.
He watched her with wide eyes and prayed that he would survive it all by the time she was done. When she licked him in one long stroke, he shook. After he found himself in the warmth of her mouth, he knew it was going to be beyond anything he ever experienced before in his life.
This was pure bliss, and she was the cause of it. If she wanted, he’d write her sonnets, love songs and anything else she requested.
His hand found her blonde hair and sunk into the silkiness, as she bobbed up and down his erection.
Her mouth was incredible.
“Sweetheart, you’re killing me,” he muttered. His brain was torn between screaming ‘halleluiah’ and praying to not lose it right then and there. It had been a long time since he had participated in sex. He’d been waiting for her since the Christmas party.
Cyra broke away from his body and moved up his torso, kissing a path to his chest. When she found his nipples, she flicked them with her tongue and moved right to his ear where she played with it with her teeth.
“God,” he hissed as he tried to stay in control. It wasn’t easy when there was a sexy woman climbing all over the front of you.
“Break free for me, Christopher. I want to see you be wild and out of control,” she whispered in his ear. “I want to see the real you.”
Chris stopped moving as he analyzed her words. He wondered if it was indeed okay to be himself. When she stroked him again, he wanted to feel himself repeatedly buried in her body.
“I’m waiting, Christopher.”
Well, that took care of him remaining in control. At her urgings, he lost it.
Rolling across the bed, he placed her beneath him. The kiss was so hot that the room actually felt like it was going up in flames. He dove in and allowed need and lust to take over. Chris wanted everything that she had to offer, and he was going to finally get it.
When he was satiated with kissing her, Chris headed lower to what he craved the most. Teasing the most sensitive part of Cyra’s body, she bowed under his mouth and whispered his name.
It made him crazy to hear it on her lips. It drove him to the point of frenetic wildness. If possible, he wanted her so much more, and he couldn’t help himself. It was as if he was drowning and she was his only chance of survival. Chris shoved her off the precipice. When she shattered beneath his lips and tongue, he knew that he didn't want to stop. There’d never be enough of this feeling. As he began to explore more, she shook around his fingers.
“Chris!” she shouted as he found the perfect spot and stroked it like a master. Once more, she exploded into little shards as he worked his magic on her body.
When she was finally able to focus, he was above her, staring down into her eyes. “I want you so damn bad, Cyra.”
She wrapped her legs around his hips. “I want you inside me, Chris. I want to feel you,” she purred, running her fingers down his chest as she waited for him.
He couldn’t hold back any longer. With one quick motion, he was buried deep in her body.
Both moaned in ecstasy as he found his way home.
It took him a second to regain control, and as soon as he did, he began the long strokes to fill her and give them each so much pleasure.
“Oh Chris,” she whispered as she arched into his body. The emotion flooded through her. It was as if he filled her mind, body and soul. “God, yes!” she shouted.
This was the most amazing experience of his life. He knew he was so close to losing it. Leaning down, he teased her nipple and it tore a gasp from her lips as he shoved her once more into the bliss.
Her body called to his, as it tightened down around him and lured Chris to the edge. With Cyra’s name on his lips, he willingly tumbled headlong into the warmth of the woman beneath him.
The peace settled over him as it replaced the ecstasy.
Chris had no doubt that he had finally found his other half.
This was the one thing that his life had been missing. How his mother had been right was a mystery, but one thing remained true.
Cyra Austin was the love of his life.
Silence surrounded them as the room finally stopped spinning, and their breathing calmed. Chris had moved off her body and pulled her against his side. Her head was on his shoulder, and she was cuddling against the man and enjoying every damn second of it.
“Cyra, sweetheart. Are you on birth control?” he asked, not really bothered if she said no. Something about that spoke volumes to what was going on in his heart and brain. Normally, he was an advocate of safe sex, but since this was the woman he was going to marry, it didn't really matter one way or another.
He already knew it was only a matter of time.
“Mmmmm hmmmm, the pill,” she replied, as she pulled the blanket up over them.
“Can I stay with you tonight?” he asked, hoping she’d say yes. He wasn’t even close to being done with her.
“I never want you to go,” she offered, being completely honest with him.
Chris wanted to have one big party at that moment. “As in never? Really? Because I can probably…”
She laughed and placed her hand over his mouth. “Stop thinking, Doctor Leonard, and just go with it.”
He decided to take her advice as he let sleep overtake him. The last thing on his mind was her words, and what exactly they meant for their future together.
It was hard to not wonder if they were only said in the heat of the moment.
Or was it possible that she too, knew the truth?
That they were meant to be together.
* * *
He had her bound and at his feet once more. The altar was set, and he was ready to begin. There were only so many days left until the sacred holiday. It was the day that he’d make the ultimate sacrifice to the Lord of Darkness.
Time was slowly ticking away, and it would be upon him soon.
Staring down at the woman, he knew she was the perfect victim. She was just like the others- weak and a lamb. There was no doubt that she was useless in her beliefs. At one time, he was just like her, believing in the ignorance of a Goddess who had no power. Now, he knew the truth, as he was placed on the correct path in life.
A woman gave him that, and eventually he would repay her tenfold.
In life, there could be only one path to travel, and he was now on it.
Calling the elements, he invited them into the ritual space. Working the powers, he blessed himself and called to the only God who he wo
uld ever obey. As he lifted his hands above his head, he could hear the voice as it filled him.
The Demon powder that he had purchased online was working. He was able to hear his Lord call to him.
“Yes master, what is it that you desire?” he replied, pausing to listen to a voice that only he could hear.
There could be no regret.
“I will offer her up on the altar for you. She is as pure as you requested. I have not touched her,” he replied. Yes, he had desperately wanted to participate in the sex ritual, but he’d taken a vow.
Again, he waited for more direction.
“I will only touch the last one, as I steal her soul. I promise to make her beg for your mercy as she dies in her own blood.”
Laughing, the night was filled with some sick joke that only he was privy to hearing.
The bound woman struggled to get away from him. Her eyes were filled with horror, as she knew what was planned for her. The man was insane. She’d seen him before many times. Now, he was showing his true colors. Who knew that he was worshiping Satan?
Oh Goddess, was this to be her end?
When he finished his ritual, he stared down at her. This one was going to be different. It was time to switch it up to keep the FBI and Elizabeth Blackhawk off balance. It seemed appropriate and necessary. The master would forgive him for his errors.
Lifting her up, she squirmed in his arms. He carefully held her tightly to his body as she fought to escape. When she flung her arms up and grabbed his hair, he screamed in pain and frustration. Slamming her head down against the slab, all the fire in her was extinguished. He took the lull in her movements to finally restrain her. He used the same position as the last one, as that’s how the voice liked it.
Striking her across the face, he finally got her to wake up. “It’s time, witch.”
She screamed into the tape as she fought hard to escape.
This time he decided to stand behind her head. He would make the slice there to avoid the spray.
Devil Hath Come (an FBI/Romance Thriller ~book 7) Page 19