Strategic Vulnerability

by Mandy M. Roth

  “Wil?”

  “This way,” he said, stepping through the archway.

  Kim stared around in shock. The cellar was anything but a basement. It was more like a trendy underground restaurant. It had a domed shape, and tables lined the sides of it. Much to her surprise, the entire restaurant looked to be empty.

  Wilson grinned as he bent and kissed her cheek. “I figured we were under the watch of enough eyes when we first met. This, here and now, will be just the two of us.” He shrugged as a waiter approached. “Well, and him, but that’s all.”

  “You bought the place out for the night?”

  “Do you like it?” he asked, sounding hopeful.

  She waited until they were seated and the waiter had gone off to get her glass of water and Wilson’s wine before commenting. “This is all too much. It’s wonderful, don’t get me wrong, but none of this was necessary. Just getting to see you again was enough.”

  Reaching across the table, he took her hand in his. “I want you to have everything your heart desires.”

  She stared around and then at him. “This is nice, but I don’t expect or want this all the time. If you think I’m this high maintenance, then you really don’t know me at all.”

  “But your father is a member of the—”

  Knowing where he was headed with this, Kim put her hand up and stopped him. “Wil, just because I’m the daughter of a rich and powerful man doesn’t mean I was raised with a silver spoon in my mouth. Is this what you like? Are you this high maintenance?”

  He snorted. “Uh, no. I just sort of go with the flow most of the time.”

  She rubbed her fingers over the back of his hand. “What do you do for fun?”

  “We should change the subject,” he said, looking nervous.

  Kim nodded, sensing the reason he didn’t want to talk about it. “You’re one of those guys. The kind who spends his free time romancing women.”

  “I was one of those guys, Kim. I’m not now and I haven’t been that way in over six months.” He took a sip of water, looking warm. “How about you? What do you do for fun?”

  Deciding to allow him to change the subject for now, she tipped her head. “As of late I seem to sit around in my pajamas crying nonstop.” She forced a smile to her face. “But I used to like to read anything I could get my hands on, I love to study plants and love anything to do with science, I like to run, swim, anything really.”

  He grinned. “Great, it’s painfully clear I need to get used to the fact you’re smarter than me.”

  She knew he was joking, and she also sensed he was a hell of a lot smarter than he let on.

  The waiter approached and inclined his head, speaking in French.

  Much to Kim’s surprise, Wilson answered, taking a moment to ask her what she wanted and what she didn’t think would make her stomach upset. She selected a light pasta dish and apple juice. When Wilson relayed her order, the waiter arched a brow at the apple juice.

  She blushed. “I can’t help that I crave apple juice almost all the time.”

  Wilson put his hand over hers. “Nothing wrong with that. I’m betting it’s a hell of a lot better for the baby than other things you could be craving.”

  The waiter left them, and Kim tried and failed to stop staring at Wilson.

  He smiled. “Something wrong?”

  “I just can’t believe you’re here and that you’re safe and well.”

  “I did promise to meet Ike, so I thought it best to hold up to that commitment,” he said with a twinkle in his brown eyes.

  Covering her face, Kim realized why he’d been so open to the idea of her pet rat. She laughed. “Wow. Ike really will be jealous of you. But,” she peeked out at him, “can you change colors with your mood? Ike can.”

  “You have a mood rat?” Wilson flashed a bad boy smile. “Woman, you were so meant to be mine.”

  She blushed and reached out, taking his hand in hers. “This is nice, Wil. Having you here.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Wilson choked back the emotions rising in his throat. Gods, Kim was even more beautiful than he’d remembered. He’d actually been in town for close to three days now, watching her from afar, unsure of the reception she would give him. He’d been unable to hold back anymore when she was at the mall. It was entirely too cute when she’d run into him and not recognized him. He didn’t expect she would. He was surprised when she turned down the obvious advances of the other man. The guy was good-looking and seemed like the type of guy girls like Kim would go for. He was also the type of guy Wilson wanted to throttle for daring to try to be with his woman.

  My woman.

  He smiled at the knowledge she was indeed his mate. Even her father agreed. It had taken a while to win over Culann, but Wilson was persistent if he was anything. Culann had even proved himself to be a valuable ally during the planning of the weekend Wilson had in store for Kim.

  Absently, he slid his free hand over his right jacket pocket, touching the small box there. He wanted the woman before him to be his wife in every way possible—human, Fae, and shifter.

  Kim tipped her head slightly, her green eyes soaking him in. “It’s strange, don’t you think?”

  “What’s strange?”

  “The way I feel about you when we really don’t know each other. Is it the mate thing? I’ve asked my father about it and he filled in some blanks, but since he’s not a shifter, he’s not entirely sure how this all works.” She closed her eyes a moment. “He just knows I care about you deeply.” When she looked up at him again, her expression said she more than cared.

  Wilson lifted their joined hands and planted a kiss on the back of hers. He wanted to tell her that he cared for her too—that he loved her despite the short amount of time they’d been together. That wasn’t what fell out. “Yes, the mating energy between us is kind of all-consuming. It’s nature’s way of assuring the reproduction of our species continues. Lust times ten,” he said with a nervous laugh.

  Kim stiffened and pulled her hand free of his. “Lust,” she repeated, seeming to stew on the word.

  He cringed, knowing he’d opened his mouth and inserted his foot. “Kim, I…”

  The waiter arrived with their food, and Kim went out of her way to focus on her plate, not him. Shoving his foot in his mouth was a syndrome he’d suffered from all his life. It was hardly new. That being said, he hoped the evening would go over without a hitch. That he’d give his mate a romantic evening she’d never forget.

  *

  Kim stabbed at her food, still mulling over Wilson’s use of the word “lust.” He continued to stare at her and she ignored him, forcing her focus to the food before her, rather than the hunky man. It was hard.

  Her tummy fluttered and she stopped and put a hand on it, knowing the baby was sensing her stress. She exhaled slowly. “I promise not to stab Daddy,” she said in a soft voice.

  Wilson chuckled and touched her other hand. “What if Daddy lets you stab him? Would that make you smile again?”

  Unable to help herself, she grinned. “Maybe.”

  “Kim,” he said, touching her cheek. “I’m a little nervous about freaking you out.”

  “What do you mean?”

  I mean that I feel a hell of a lot more for you than lust, woman.

  His voice echoed in her head, and she narrowed her gaze on him, his lips having never moved. Her chest was tight and her eyes moist as his words hit home. Nodding, she had to swallow several times before she could speak.

  “I feel that way too.” She cleared her throat. “More than lust, that is.”

  Wilson lifted her fork and took over feeding her as if she were a child. Though he managed to make it sexy. As her lips eased around the fork, Wilson moaned. She laughed and touched his wrist, leaning closer to him.

  Dinner went the rest of the way without any more hiccups, and she couldn’t remember a time when she’d laughed more. Wilson was naturally funny, to the point she had to beg him to stop for fear she�
��d be sick from laughing so much.

  The walk back to the hotel room was as magikal as the dinner. Wilson held her hand, his gaze remaining almost entirely locked upon her all the way to the room. Kim wrapped her arms around his neck and tugged, forcing him to bend a bit so she could kiss him. He did and their lips met. She closed her eyes and savored the taste of him. His tongue slid around hers artfully and her body heated.

  “Mmm, Kim,” he said softly against her lips. “We’re stopping here long enough for me to grab something, and then I have more planned. Do you need a wrap for outside? Will you be chilly?”

  He opened the door to the room and eased her in gently.

  She tugged on him, jerking him against her. “Stop avoiding being close to me.”

  “I have to,” he confessed. “If I don’t, I’ll end up buried in you.”

  She smiled. “I know.”

  “Kim.”

  “Wil.”

  He grunted. “I want to do this right. I want to make everything perfect.”

  “If you don’t hurry up and give me what I want, I will hit you with so much magik you too will change color with your mood.”

  *

  He lifted her gently and walked her toward the bed. Kim laughed and ran her hands over his chest. Wilson laid her out on the bed and savored the sight of her spread out before him. Kim tugged down the top of her dress, revealing her ample breasts to him. Her nipples were slightly darker than he remembered, and he wondered if it had something to do with the baby.

  He bent, taking one of her pert nipples into his mouth while he caught the other between his thumb and forefinger. Kim moaned and arched her back to him. He sucked gently, his cock throbbing to be free of his dress pants and buried in her. He switched, sucking on the other nipple. Kim melted under his touch and ground her hips up against him.

  “Wilson, please.”

  A sly smile covered his lips as he kissed a line down her belly. When he reached her lower stomach, he found the start of a swell. His child grew within her. The thought made him soar. Wilson fumbled with her dress, trying to figure out how to free her from it before surrendering and hiking it up and over her hips. It was bunched at her waist, revealing a tiny brown thong. Kim reached to try to undo the dress but Wilson liked seeing her like that—partially undone and ready for him.

  He caught her wrists and planted his face into her thong-covered mound. The scent of her arousal made him growl with pleasure as he nudged the material aside with his chin. Releasing her wrists, he set his attention on her sweet pussy. A tiny thatch of black hair covered the mound and the rest was clean-shaven. He spread her folds and inhaled deeply, never wanting the moment to end.

  Pressing his face into her wet cleft, Wilson growled and licked a line down her. Kim jerked and rubbed her body against his face. He flicked his tongue over her clit, pleased at how responsive she was to him. Each swipe of his tongue made her body arch and her breath catch. He thrust a finger into her, surprised at just how tight she was. Her pussy clenched his finger as she moaned. He began thrusting it in and out, gently at first, easing her channel open little by little. He licked her clit, moving his face back and forth, stimulating her body more and more.

  Kim opened her legs wide and then clamped them together on the sides of his head, holding him in place as her orgasm crashed over her. Wilson laughed into her pussy, lapping up her cream, proud to have given her pleasure. When she finally released her hold on his head, he stood slowly, staring down at her gorgeous body. “Woman, you need to be very aware of the fact that I’m going to spend eternity fucking you.”

  “I’d be happy if you spent the next hour doing it. I want you in me so bad, Wil.”

  Grinning, he undressed, tossing articles of clothing haphazardly around the room. He crawled up and over her, his body skimming hers. Never had being above a woman felt so right. So meant to be.

  “Spread your legs for me, hon,” he said, kissing her lips softly.

  She obeyed.

  He pushed into her, slow at first, her pussy gripping him. His jaw went slack at the tightness of her cunt. He gritted his teeth, every muscle in his body straining with the urge to ram into her. To pummel her until he spent his seed in her.

  He refrained, wanting to savor the experience for as long as he could.

  So perfect.

  So wet.

  So warm.

  So welcoming.

  Kim slipped her arms around his neck, drawing his head downward, her mouth capturing his. He lost himself in the moment, unable to restrain himself from taking her like a depraved man any longer. He drilled into her, a long, slow hiss coming from him as her cunt grasped at his cock, demanding it stay buried deep within her womb.

  “Wilson,” Kim whispered, a cross between a moan and a cry. “Yes. There. Right there.”

  His gums burned and pain flashed through them. He had only a second to think upon what would cause his mouth to shift before instincts took over and he slammed his mouth down upon the tender flesh of her exposed breast. He bit at the same second his cock jetted seed out and into her. As his shaft filled her with the proof of his release, her blood filled his mouth. He swallowed down the rich, coppery fluid before drawing his mouth from her bosom. He licked the wound, the healing agents in his saliva acting quickly.

  Staring down at her through the eyes of a predator, he panted, still locked deep in her. “Mine.”

  Kim’s eyes were closed and pleasure was a wash over her face. She nodded. “Yes. Yours.”

  Power slammed into him, catching him off guard. When Kim gasped, he realized it happened to her as well. The walls of her pussy responded, quivering around his cock as she came. She stared up at him, shock evident.

  The tiniest of threads seemed to weave between them, linking them more, cementing their shared bond.

  His claim.

  Making her officially his mate.

  His shoulders heaved as he took deep breaths.

  “Are you hyperventilating now that I’m really your wife?” she asked, a half-assed grin at the ready. “Way to get the cold feet a hair too late.”

  “Oh, hon,” he whispered, kissing her passionately. “It’s not that. I’m the happiest man alive right now.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “My body feels like it’s going to rip apart.”

  She winked. “You ripped me apart in the best way possible. You should do it again. Now.”

  He would have, but he was serious. Something was wrong. His back pinched and his arms felt as if they were on fire. Panting, he rolled off Kim and went to his feet, raking his hands over his face.

  Lifting his hands, he noticed them shaking oddly. He put one out and the picture on the hotel wall burst into flames. He rushed for the bathroom and water. Kim sat up, reached out suddenly and the fire died away. She looked at him and arched a brow.

  “We’re going to need to work on your ability to wield magik before you burn the place down.”

  He blinked. “I did that?”

  “Yep. Looks like you’re a little like Ike. When he bit my dad, he picked up Fae traits. Since you already had some and you’re a supernatural…”

  It hit Wilson then. “I now have more Fae traits.”

  “Yes, baby, you do. And you’re clearly a danger until we get you trained.”

  He smiled wide. “Will you carry a whip? Please say yes.”

  She tipped to the side and tossed a pillow at him. “Oy.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Wilson stared at the monitor, his hand locked with Kim’s as Green continued with the ultrasound. “He is a big boy. Her doctor is right,” Green said.

  “He’s healthy, right?” Wilson questioned, his emotions threatening to run free on him.

  Kim winked up at him, all smiles. “Of course he’s healthy. Green, what about the other tests you ran? The ones to check his genetic makeup?”

  “He still worrying nonstop if the little guy carries the DNA of a rat?” Green asked Kim, totally ignoring W
ilson.

  “Hey, I’m allowed to worry. The last thing I want to do is pass on—”

  Kim sat up as much as she could, given the fact she was nearly five months pregnant. “Everything about you that I absolutely adore?”

  He opened his mouth to protest.

  Green shook his head. “A wise man would shut up now.”

  “You’re not saying Wilson is a wise man, are you?” Jon asked, entering the exam room.

  “Look who is here,” Kim said, patting her stomach. “It’s your godfather.”

  Wilson grinned at his friend. “Look,” he said, pointing to the screen. “That’s my boy.”

  “Our boy,” Kim corrected.

  “Yes, our boy.”

  She took a deep breath. “What about Krauss and his goons? What if they come for the baby?”

  Wilson kissed her temple. “Let us worry about Krauss, hon. You just worry about keeping our son from destroying department stores again. And worry about keeping your dad from skinning me alive when I tell him I want at least three more boys, okay?”

  “Three more boys?” Kim gulped. “My father is the least you have to worry about, bucko. I’m likely to skin you myself before then.”

  THE END

  Tactical Magik (Immortal Ops Series)

  Book Five in the Immortal Ops Series.

  Eadan Daly has thrown himself into the role of the sixth Immortal Ops team member, even though it wasn’t supposed to be a permanent position, and has forged a brotherhood of sorts with the other men. When he’s asked to go on a solo mission for the Paranormal Security and Intelligence Branch—PSI, for short—he’s not so sure he wants his old job back.

  Inara Nash is a survivor, doing what she must to get by. On the run for years from an organization she doesn’t fully understand, she tries to stay under the radar. When a blond hunk arrives and claims he’s her savior, she suspects her luck might have finally run out. Sure, he’s hot and looks like he’d be good in bed, but there is something almost magikal about him that defies reality. And if there is one thing she’s learned during her life in the paranormal underground, it’s that you never trust a magik.