1001 Dark Nights: Bundle Five

by Julie Kenner

  “C-Cassian!”

  I growl again. Rub fingers along the fabric’s center panel. “Wet panties, sweet Ella. They feel so fucking good.”

  “Mmmm,” she stutters. “I—I am glad you—ahhhh.” She jerks upward as I circle my fingers. I can feel her clit even through the barrier, trembling…hardening.

  “Tell me they’re white.”

  She shoots a confused stare. “Wh-what?”

  “Your panties,” I clarify. “So help me God, if we were in this airplane alone, I’d be hiking up your skirt to look for myself, but for now, you’ll have to let my imagination do the work.” I let my gaze grow heavy hoods while running fingers along the inner seams, never delighting in teasing a woman more. She’s slick with perspiration and arousal. She smells like tropical flowers and honey.

  The crown of my cock is wet now too.

  “Color,” I manage to command again. “Tell me the fucking color, Mishella.”

  She gulps again. “Wh-white.”

  I hiss, exposing my bliss. Knew it.

  “Ohhhh.” It’s the only option of a response I give her, working my fingers inward, against her bare flesh. “By the Creator. That is…that is so…”

  I watch it all take over her face—the wonder, the awe, the heat, the passion—in a transfixed state of my own. Though my cock throbs, damn near screaming for emancipation, it isn’t as important as the horizon to which I’m guiding her. “Yeah. It is, isn’t it?”

  “Cassian.” She sighs. “Oh…my…”

  “My gorgeous girl.” I swipe my thumb in, testing the taut bundle at her very center. She jolts then mewls, fisting my sweater. “You’re a virgin to this too, aren’t you? Nobody has ever touched you like this before…right here?”

  “Oh!” Her head snaps back. “Oh, by all the powers!”

  “Tell me, favori. Has anyone—any man—ever stroked you here? Made you this wet and hot?”

  “N-no,” she finally blurts. “Nobody, Cassian. Only you have touched me like this.”

  I kiss her softly, conveying my approval. “Now tell me…the naughty way. Tell me how you like my fingers in your pussy. How your wet, succulent clit likes my strokes. How you want me to play with the edges of your tight, virginal tunnel…like this.”

  “Yes!” It is more rasp than exclamation, though I’m still grateful Doyle has the bedroom door closed. But another part of me mourns the fact, wishing the ass could hear every note of her gasping arousal…wondering if he’d glare at me now for the crazy contract commitment. “I—I like your fingers there. Want you…stroking me…touching my clit…”

  “And playing with your entrance?”

  “And—and playing with my entrance.”

  “With my cock getting harder, as I think of fucking you there? Ella?” I charge it when her lips go still. She’s back to remembering the white panties instead of the gorgeous vixen beneath them. But finally she pulls in a harsh breath, squeezes her eyes shut, and forces the obedient words out.

  “Yes,” she blurts. “Yes—all right—I like it when you think a-about f-fucking me.” She breaks in on herself with a moan that has to be the most erotic sound I’ve ever heard. Curls my sweater tighter in her grip, using the hold as leverage for her whole body, shoving herself against my fingers. It’s completely unnecessary. Her fever has infected me too. I flick her erect pearl as fast as I can, snarling in satisfaction when her eyes reopen and her mouth drops in arousal.

  “Oh, I’m thinking of fucking you, Ella. Be sure of it.” I thrust up my hips until the swells of her ass embrace the head of my cock, and we groan together from the torturous friction. My boxers are soaked, a cruel reminder of how badly I want to be pumping like a heathen inside her tight core. “Hard and hot and deep. You’d be feeling me in your eye sockets. Screaming for me. Pleading to let you c—”

  She lurches her head up to deliver the kiss—or maybe yanks mine down, as if it matters—joining our mouths as our bodies crave, an unthinking collision of fire and fervor and flesh as she writhes toward a climax that has me breathing just as hard…needing just as much.

  “Let me come, Cassian. Oh, by the sweet fucking Creator, make me come now!”

  Chapter Six

  MISHELLA

  This is not me.

  It cannot be.

  These are not my words. Not my lips, rambling with these filthy, wanton things; certainly not my body, pulsing with desire I never dreamed possible…heat I never knew existed…

  It is all so good.

  Too good.

  Not me. Not me. Not me.

  Not true.

  For as Cassian swirls his thumb in then presses it there, punching the hot bundle at my core, I slam back into myself like a soul returned from the dead. I know all of myself, suddenly seeing the past and the present and even the future, for time ceases to exist or matter. Only sensation does, pure and perfect. As my sex screams with ecstasy, my blood is made of stars. My vision is made of light.

  My spirit is flown to completion.

  “Fuck! Yesssss!”

  I ride wave after wave of the silver-white miracle, now unable to utter a sound. Cassian carries me through with words in a baritone gone husky, keeping me from drowning with his strength and his touch. He is my rock…my haven…my all.

  The thought is like an icy tide.

  Too soon. It is much too soon.

  And yet, I cannot deny it.

  He bought me. For the next six months, everything I am is his.

  Yet every new moment with him brings me closer to…

  me.

  Whoever that is.

  Do I even know? Do I even want to? Will she be a woman I find, only to be forced to hide upon returning to Arcadia? Not being bound to an arranged marriage does not excuse the rest of Father and Mother’s proprieties…the remaining walls of their boxes.

  Even more terrifying: what if she is a person I do not like?

  Questions that must remain secrets. I ensure that by dragging my eyes shut as I lift my head, a rag doll in reverse—appropriate, since my body is now limp as one. Cassian assists the feeling by gently massaging my thigh while pulling out from beneath my skirt. His other hand duplicates the pressure along my shoulders. Soon, my head droops to his chest, my senses tempted back toward subconsciousness. I fight them, despite his disciplining growl.

  “Sleep, Ella. You need it, favori.”

  “Mmmm. Noooo.” I sound slurry and silly, the rag doll animated…sort of. “You,” I insist. “I need to…take care of…you.” Despite the lethargy, I am all too aware that his body is still the stiff opposite of mine—especially the part nestled right against my backside. And yes, even in my partial coma, I am aware of how deliciously good it feels.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “That is why you sound like a jungle snake is strangling you?”

  He grunts. “Why don’t you let me worry about the snakes?”

  I trump his sound with a giggle. “Or maybe one snake?”

  His laugh rumbles beneath my ear. “Dirty girl. Are you trying to corrupt me?”

  “Hmmphh? No…no corruption. Education.”

  “Ohhhh. Hmmm. Right. Education. I can…understand that.”

  “Have to know the differences between snakes, Cassian.” I nestle a little deeper against him. As a yawn takes over, so does a distant memory. Maybe not so distant. Was it just yesterday, about this time, that I sat drinking sun tea with Brooke and Vy, being subjected to my own lesson in corruption…and snakes?

  “Is that so?” His murmur is warm in my hair. “And what about them?”

  “Well, according to Brooke and Vy—”

  “But of course…”

  “Some are small and harmless,” I go on, disregarding his wry tone. “And others are anacondas.”

  “Huge and dangerous?”

  Little frown. “But you are not dangerous.”

  My dulled logic delays my mortified gasp, though not his chuckle. He tilts up my face, lowering a soft kiss on my nose befor
e murmuring, “Sleep, my little armeau. You have a bigger adventure ahead than you think. The anaconda agrees with me, whether he likes it or not.”

  His firm tone demands obedience—and I am too tired to push back anymore. But his sarcasm also dictates a laugh, and on that, I am unable to deliver. I am the one choked now—by a thrill that curls down to my toes.

  Armeau. He’s deliberately labeled me with another Arcadian word.

  It means…

  Gift.

  CASSIAN

  I’ve lived in New York for nearly ten of my twenty-eight years. Have taken this journey back into the city more times than I can count, gazing at the manmade forest across the Hudson before the Lincoln Tunnel makes the skyline disappear—but over the years, have come to think of those buildings as just collections of rooms with collections of people who have nothing but collections of meetings, contracts, conference calls, action plans, presentations, power plans…endless demands of me. Endless lists for me.

  The work that rescued me from grief four years ago has become my Manhattan cage.

  Until now.

  Until, through the eyes of Mishella Santelle, the forest has become magic again. And those eyes, huge as serving platters made from the blue quartz on her island, don’t miss a damn thing. Practically bouncing from one side of the limo to the other, scrambling over the bench seat we share to see it all, she is a conduit of enchantment—a sorceress given new powers, courtesy of New York City.

  “How do all those buildings fit?”

  “How many kinds of cars are there?”

  “What are the yellow ones called?”

  “Can we take a ride in one of those big ones with the seats on top?”

  “The horns are like music. So pretty.”

  “Wait. It is…a tunnel…under the water?”

  “So when the lights turn red, everyone just…stops? What if someone does not agree to that?”

  “All those people, moving together…they are like pods of dolphins, only on the land…”

  She trails into rapt silence after that one. Freezes in place, crouched like an awed kitten over my lap. I rip my gaze away from the perfect curves of her profile, following the line of her stare. It’s a quarter to six, so the crowds along 5th are still dominated by business suits and headphones, but she watches the scene as if memorizing every face she sees. I am filled with the same feeling, only my focus frames only one face. I need to remember this moment. Everything about it. The azure glitter in her eyes. The twilight breeze in her long curls. The way she’s yanked off my blinders and made me see the poetry in New York City crowds.

  Don’t forget this. Don’t forget this.

  Especially not now, as she angles her gaze back to me. Blushes a little, as if discerning exactly what I’ve been up to. “It is incredible, Cassian.”

  I don’t tear my stare from her. “It certainly is, Ella.”

  She laughs softly, and sucks in her bottom lip in that go-to move she has for awkward times. Little siren; she doesn’t realize that shit makes me yearn to replace her teeth with mine—and use that as only the first place I’ll bite her. Maybe one day, I will.

  Maybe right now I will.

  I reach a finger up. Tug at that strawberry-colored pillow, still caught beneath her teeth. Let my gaze dip there, fully informing her of my intention.

  I’m going to kiss her. Hard.

  “Welcome home, Mr. Court!”

  I refrain from lunging out of the car and driving a fist into Scott’s cheerful grin. The kid isn’t responsible for me losing all track of time and place; I should be grateful he didn’t yank open the door and get an eyeful of me lunging down Ella’s throat—and maybe up her skirt. Likely up her skirt.

  I clench my jaw, forcing a smile, before climbing out. “Thanks, Scott. Good to be home.”

  Things become more fun when his grin turns into curiosity, clearly wondering why I hang on to the back door instead of letting him close it. Scott’s love for the Jag XJL is no secret; he exploits every chance to caress his “car baby.” Inside five seconds, he’s actually a little antsy.

  Until I reach back inside, and help Mishella step out.

  And suppress a chuckle, witnessing the normally smooth college kid become a puddle of astonishment.

  If Ella notices the influx of Shar-Pei in his brow, she doesn’t show it. Instead, extending a hand with openness and grace, she says, “Bon sonar. I—uh—mean, good afternoon. My, what a lovely tie.”

  Scott runs a hand down the strip of navy-colored satin—and his puffed chest. “Well, thank you.” I throw a smug smirk from behind her. If he’s not going to mention the tie is part of his required uniform, neither will I.

  “Mishella, this is Scott Gaines. He’s usually around to drool over the car.” I cock a trenchant brow. “And not a lot of anything else.”

  Scott clicks from astonished to stunned. Plenty of women have disembarked from this car before—there’s no getting around that, especially with Scott—but to this day, I doubt if the guy knows any of their names. I’m irked with myself about that, until confronted with one irrefutable fact. None of them have stopped to compliment his tie, either.

  “So nice to meet you. I am—”

  “May I present Mishella Santelle, of the Island of Arcadia.” The caveman has stomped in, inspiring my interruption, but I’m not sorry. Handling the introduction allows me to answer the rest of the questions in Scott’s gaze. “She’ll be staying at Temptation for…a while.” Though I am the one who set it, the idea of a time limit on her stay is suddenly repellant—but I accept the twist in my gut. It’s likely the first of many to come.

  “Oh.” At first Scott’s response is pleasant. Why wouldn’t it be, when basking in the sun of this woman’s smile? A second later, my statement sinks in. “Oh. Really?”

  “Yeah.” I arch both brows now. “Really.” Translation: deal with it and behave yourself.

  “Well.” The guy bounces on his toes before swooping up Ella’s hand, then bowing low over it. “In that case, welcome to Temptation, and consider me at your service.”

  Mishella laughs. Giggles, really, though she is not a typical giggler. Even that girlish indulgence gets her musical infusion…the kind of harmony that shoots straight to a man’s cock, as he wonders how to incite it even more. “Merderim. Bennim honeur,” she murmurs back before translating, “Thank you. It is my honor.”

  I give Scott two seconds to be charmed by the Arcadian poetry. One. Two. Then I step back around, grasping her hand with open possessiveness. “All right, all right. I’ve got it from here, whelp.” Instant gloat, as the melody of a giggle again sprinkles the air—for me.

  Scott accepts the trounce with a good-natured bow. “Of course, Mr. Court. I’ll take care of the car now.”

  “I’m sure you will.”

  I say it while gathering Ella’s hand closer. Tucking it under my elbow, and resting her elegant fingers along my forearm. It feels so fucking good to have her there. So right. I guide her past the entrance door, set into the brick wall I had installed when renovating this place five years ago. The entrance disguises what lies beyond: a circular forecourt, also made of brick, leading to a marble staircase that swoops up to the mansion’s main entrance. Urns with modern lines counteract the gothic impact of it all—and the memories of the woman who loved this place because of that.

  Now, for the first time, I see the space through Mishella’s marveling gaze. It’s new again. Beautiful once more.

  My chest rips in conflict.

  In remembrance…

  I am glad when Mishella stops to peer around more. Use the chance to turn, fisting the center of my sternum. The cavity beneath has been so dark for so long, these new feelings are like a fucking heart attack.

  I’m sorry. I’m sorry, my blossom…

  but maybe it’s time for new memories.

  “Cassian?”

  I spin back around, probably looking as if a ghost has shown up. And maybe she has. Lily always did like bein
g the center of attention…

  “Hmmm?”

  Her eyes find mine—and just like that, my world is filled with nothing else again. The huge blue irises, evoking the sea and skies of her island, bathe me with more warmth and hope and completion than the first time we met. “This—is yours?”

  I smile. There’s nothing else to do in response to the pure amazement in her voice. “Yes. It is.”

  “The whole thing?”

  I can’t help a soft chuckle. “Well…yes.”

  “It’s like a palais!”

  “Not quite.”

  “It has,”—she pauses, her finger in the air, counting the floors—“six levels.” Her gaze returns to me, narrowing. “The palace in Sancti has only two more, including the beach and private residence.”

  I shrug. Instantly recognize the lame excuse of a move—but what other option do I have? “A lot it sits empty.” Fondness for the metaphors today, man? “I bought it to prove something, at a time in my life when I needed that. But the neighborhood is good, and the views of the Hudson are excellent from the turrets.” Not that I’d made the time for reflective moments lately.

  “There are turrets?” Her head rocks back as she searches the building once more. Watching her like that, hair tumbling down her back, creamy neck exposed, makes me instantly think of her inside one of those towers—hands fogging the windows as I pound into her from behind…

  “There are two.” I clear the croak from my throat. “They’re on the other side.”

  Her smile lights up her whole face. “Can we go in them?”

  “Of course.” I add hurriedly, “Well, one.” Force a casual shrug. “The other is used for storage. Probably a mess.”

  A mess. That’s a safe way of putting it.

  She pops her hands together, enough to serve as proxy for excited applause. “One is just as perfect.”

  “Then I am at your service.” I give Scott’s words a deliberately husky inflection. Her smile drops just enough that I know she’s heard…and comprehends.

  But first things first.