by Cassie Wild
Suria shrugged the question away. “I can sleep when this is over,” she said softly.
She turned back to me, and I held out a hand for her.
As she came to me, Mom met my gaze over her head. “Take care of her.”
I just nodded.
As the two of us walked back to my car, Mom drew her gardening gloves back on and went back to work on her roses and rhododendrons.
Sixteen
Suria
I fell asleep.
I don’t remember much more than pulling out of the parking facility across the street from Tamara’s condo building, then it was light’s out.
The dull vibration of the car and the rhythmic movement were as effective as a child’s lullaby, and I closed my eyes, thinking to rest them for just a minute.
The next thing I knew, Kian was shaking me awake.
Rubbing at bleary eyes, I looked around. Disoriented didn’t even touch on what I was feeling. Finally, I locked in on the house in front of us. His home. “Why are we here?”
“I thought maybe you could get some rest, take a shower. We both need to eat too.”
My stomach gurgled at his last words, and I blushed, covering my belly with my hand. “Food would be nice.”
He grinned at me and reached over, brushing my hair aside. “Come on, Sleeping Beauty. Let’s go inside.”
My belly did funny little flips at the tender look he gave me, and I turned my face away so he wouldn’t pick up on anything in my eyes. Just one touch from him was enough to undo me right now. My emotions were burning just below the surface, and I didn’t think I could control them worth shit.
Once we were inside, he nodded toward the steps that led upstairs to his room. “There are a couple of bathrooms, but I’m renovating so the only one that’s usable is mine. You can take a shower or soak in the tub while I figure out dinner.”
“Okay.” I plucked at my clothes, wishing I’d thought to pack something to wear in my purse, but then again, I hadn’t expected things to end with me on the run.
“I’ll find you a t-shirt and some sweats to wear,” Kian said, clearly picking up on what I was thinking.
I made a face at him. “I can’t fit my hips or ass into anything you own.”
“Hey…” He snaked an arm around my waist and pulled me up tight against him. One big hand cupped my hip as he dipped his head to press his mouth to my neck, just below my ear. “I love your hips and ass. So, watch it.”
“I’m just…” He bit me, and my voice broke. “Stating the facts.”
“So am I. You’ve got an excellent ass and amazing hips.” He held one of those supposedly amazing hips and rocked against me, a movement that sent shivers of delight racing through me.
But he broke away without doing anything else. “I’ll find you something,” he reiterated. “You go on upstairs.”
I might have protested, but the idea of a hot shower was too good of an idea to pass up, so I turned and padded up the steps.
Once I was in his bathroom, though, taking in the deep tub with jets, I decided I wasn’t in the mood for a shower, but a soak. I’d never have the luxury of soaking in a jacuzzi tub, and I wasn’t going to pass that chance up.
I’d barely had the chance to get the water running when he knocked on the door. “Come in,” I called out.
He did, holding a small stack of clothes. “T-shirt and sweats.” His eyes skipped from my face to the tub. “I like the thought of you sitting naked in my bathtub.”
I blushed as I accepted his clothes. “Want to join me?”
“Yes. But I want to feed you more. You’ve been running on adrenaline for so long, you’re going to crash soon. I want you to have food first.” He caught me by the back of the neck and hauled me in close. After a quick, wet kiss, he let me go.
I staggered a little, bracing myself with a hand on the sink counter as he turned to go. “I’ll let you know when we’ve got food,” he told me.
I nodded, because my tongue didn’t want to work yet.
I sat in the tub long enough for my toes to prune up, and I was just debating on whether to add more hot water when Kian knocked. “Yes?”
“We’ve got food,” he called through the door. “You ready to get out?”
I wasn’t, but my belly was. “Yes. I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
My purse sat off to the side of the sink, and after I dried off, I dug out a tube of lotion I liberated from a hotel I’d once stayed in. As I did so, I caught sight of the envelope of cash I’d meant to give to Tamara. I’d give it to Kian. He could pay her back. Maybe that was a little cowardly, but I’d sucked it up and apologized, right? This was just returning the money. That was the easy part.
Kian’s sweatpants were baggy enough that they fit me okay in the hips. They were a little snug in the butt, but the t-shirt was long enough to cover that flaw. I debated between wearing the black bra and finally decided the material was thick enough that I didn’t need it.
I left my hair to dry on its own and gathered up my clothes and purse before heading downstairs.
Kian was waiting for me at the end of the long hallway.
I hadn’t seen much of the house the night before, and the sight of his kitchen was enough to make my mouth drop open. It looked like something out of a magazine. “Wow.”
Shiny blue appliances gleamed against pristine white counters and cabinets while early afternoon sunshine shown in through large panes of glass. A kitchen island stood in the middle of the room, a rack of pots and pans hanging down over it.
“This is some kitchen,” I said softly.
“You like to cook?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I do when I have the time to enjoy it,” I allowed. “But that’s not very often.”
“Maybe you’ll cook for me sometime.”
I offered him a weak smile, because I didn’t know what to say. He’d promised to help me with Joelle, and I understood that maybe he felt some responsibility – there were some people who just had that inherent do-gooder streak. Maybe that was Kian. But once Joelle was safe, what happened next?
I didn’t know.
Kian passed me an empty plate then led me over to a counter. I hadn’t noticed the take-out boxes. “I don’t mind cooking, but I like to eat more. Chinese,” he said with a flourish of his hand. “I didn’t know what you liked so I ordered a little of almost everything.”
“So I see.” Bemused, I studied the boxes, counting ten of them.
I settled on General Tsao’s chicken and beef and broccoli with some steamed white rice. I think Kian took a little of everything he’d ordered. He also dumped egg rolls on my plate. I grimaced as I stared at the overflowing plate. “I won’t eat everything I have.”
“Try.” He gave me a slow smile. “I plan on making you use some energy later.”
The heated smile sent a rush of warmth racing through me, and my heart kicked up a few beats.
We sat down to eat, and he offered me a beer. It was…odd, having a man waiting on me. Papa wanted us to wait on him, and while I’d finally gotten him to see that I wasn’t going to do it, Joelle still did. She wanted to please everybody. She still believed if she did what he wanted, he’d love her.
I tried to imagine my father getting a woman a beer to drink with the food he’d gotten for her, and my mind wouldn’t even form the picture. Shaking my head, I focused on the food, and before I knew it, I’d cleaned my plate.
“I thought you wouldn’t be able to eat it all,” Kian said teasingly.
In response, I stole the eggroll off his plate.
I’d just finished washing the last of the dishes we’d used when Kian came up behind me.
His hands slid under my borrowed shirt as he pressed his lips to my ear. “I had a bet with myself…let’s see if I win…oh, yeah. I win.”
I gasped as he cupped the weight of my breasts in his hands. “What was the bet?” I asked even as I pushed myself deeper into his hands.
“I had a feeling you
were naked under this shirt. And you are.” He raked his teeth down the arch of my neck, sending another rush of sensation through me.
I gasped as he tweaked my nipples, tugging on them before plumping my breasts together. At the same time, he started to rock against my butt, and I clenched my thighs together to ease the empty ache taking up residence there.
“You’re whimpering. Do you want me, Suri?” he asked.
“All the time.”
He slid his hands to my hips and turned me around to face him, one hand cradling my face. He angled my head back as he lowered his, his lips brushing over mine. Once, twice, three times. I opened for him on a moan, greedy for the taste of him.
When he finally gave me his tongue, I sucked on him and bit him, loving the way his long, lean body shuddered against mine. He boosted me up onto the counter, and I curled my legs around him, working myself against the heavy ridge of his cock.
I was already wet and ready for him. I could feel how wet I was, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he could feel it too.
He stripped the t-shirt away. I sagged without the support of his hands, falling backward until my shoulders bumped into the cabinet behind me. Bracing my palms against the counter, I arched closer to him and was rewarded when he closed his mouth around my right nipple. Heat arrowed between that point and my clitoris, pulsing between my legs.
Kian cupped me and lightly ground his hand against me. I tightened my thighs around him, riding him as I moved closer and closer to orgasm.
He seemed to sense it because he withdrew his hand. “Not without me, Suri. Not this time.”
I moaned.
He laughed against my lips as he reached for the waistband of my pants. We fumbled them out of the way, me lifting my hips while he tried to drag them down. Finally, they were tangled around one ankle, and that was good enough. I hooked both of them around his waist as he tucked the head of his cock against my entrance. With a groan, he thrust deep. With a moan, I arched up.
Having him inside me was the sweetest torture ever.
He withdrew, and I sank my nails into his shoulders, hating it when he left me. But at the same time, the friction as he came back inside was so delicious.
“Look at me, Suria,” he said, voice raw.
I opened my eyes to find him watching me with a naked, hungry gaze. He brushed my hair back, fisting it at the nape of my neck as he stared at me. He dipped his head to rub his mouth over mine, and even then, he didn’t look away from me.
I shuddered as my breasts rubbed against his chest, the cotton shirt a barrier I could hardly stand. But I didn’t want to stop touching him to pull it off.
Lashes fluttering down, I arched in closer to him.
“Look at me!” It was a harsh command.
I didn’t even question him. Opening my eyes, I stared at him.
“Don’t look away,” he whispered.
So, I didn’t. Not when he kissed me. Not when he pulled back and hooked my elbows under my thighs. Not even when I started to come.
But as he collapsed against me, breathing hard and burying his face against my neck, it was only then that I closed my eyes. I didn’t want him to pull away and see the truth.
I was in so much trouble with him.
I’d gone and done the unthinkable.
I’d fallen for this guy, and I’d fallen hard.
Seventeen
Suria
I finally did use the big, walk-in shower in Kian’s bathroom.
And he joined me.
While there were some antics of the erotic kind, we kept it mostly businesslike, or as businesslike as it could be when two people who were attracted to each other showered together.
While I’d never regret intimacy with Kian, sometime during the past thirty minutes, my brain had kicked on. Maybe it was the food. Maybe it was the brief nap or even the hot bath. I didn’t know.
But we needed to move.
Kian seemed to sense my urgency, and while his eyes would lazily roam over my figure, he behaved himself while we finished up showering, and even mostly behaved himself as we dried off.
That was all good because my brain was hard at work.
I had to make plans.
I had to think.
Joelle would be at the house tonight. I knew she would be. It was a custom in my clan for the older women to come to a bride’s house in the early morning to help her prepare. If the wedding was tomorrow – and my gut said it would be – then tomorrow morning, women would descend upon the house for Joelle.
She had to be at the house.
Gypsies didn’t part with customs easily.
It was considered bad luck and even my idiot father didn’t want to court bad luck.
More, Ephraim’s family wouldn’t want to, and Papa wouldn’t want to run afoul of them. Ephraim’s mother and his two sisters would be part of the party that came to ‘prepare’ Joelle.
We’d have to get her tonight. After that, it would be too late.
“What are you thinking about?” Kian asked as I pulled the borrowed sweats up over my hips.
“Plans,” I said vaguely. I didn’t have anything concrete yet. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. I checked the time and calculated how long it would take him if he’d come to help. It would work, I thought. It would have to. “Can I use your phone?”
Nicco answered the phone.
To my surprise, he recognized my voice immediately. “Suria. How are you? We’ve been thinking about you a lot. Are you well?”
The concern was almost my undoing, but I braced myself and managed a level reply. “I’m hanging in there, Nicco. I need to ask you…you offered to help with Joelle before. Are you still willing?”
“Anything you need,” he said without hesitation.
I sucked in a breath and tipped my head back, staring up at the ceiling. Kian had let me use his home office, leaving to give me some privacy, but now I wished he was in there. I could use a hand to hold.
“Papa came and got Joelle,” I said in a tight voice. “She called to talk to our cousin and Papa overheard. He was able to find out where she was, and he came and got her, forced her to go back. I have to get her out of the house before the wedding happens. I need help.”
He was quiet a moment, clearly thinking. “He got her after you came to see me?”
“Yes.”
“The wedding is likely to be tomorrow then. They’d need the time to get everything ready,” Nicco said.
“Yes,” I responded, more than a little stunned at his insider knowledge.
“Don’t sound so surprised.” Nicco laughed a little. “I don’t belong to a clan, but I’m half Romany, Suria. I’ve done what I can to know about that part of myself. I’ve made a study of it.”
“I see.” I didn’t, not really. He got out. Why would he want to know anything about this life if he was able to get out? But that wasn’t anything that mattered now.
Joelle was what mattered.
“Are you in LA now?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“It will take me about five hours to get there if I leave now – and I can. Do you have any sort of plan?”
I laughed weakly. “Nothing serious. We go in, we get her out. That’s about it.”
“So…we’re winging it. Is it just you and me?”
“No.” Clearing my throat, I said, “I’ve got a friend. Kian. He’s helping us too.”
“Okay. I’m going to get on the road. I’ll call you soon, and we’ll start to plan things out.” He paused a moment, then said, “We’ll get her out, Suria. Okay?”
I found Kian standing by the big, plate-glass window that had fascinated me so much last night. The view was as beautiful as I’d expected it would be, and for a few moments, we just stood there, staring out at the mountains in silence.
“I called my brother,” I said softly.
Kian looked down at me. I could sense his surprise.
“I didn’t know you had a brother.”
Weakly, I
laughed. “Neither did I until a few days ago. I met him after Joelle and I ran away. He wanted to help us then. I should have let him. Maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”
Kian covered my shoulder with his hand, squeezing gently. “You can’t blame yourself, baby. You’re doing everything you can to help her.”
But it hasn’t been good enough.
I didn’t say it out loud though, just offered him a tight smile. Turning into his body, I leaned against him and felt some of the bands around my chest loosen as his arms came around. Just having him here made things easier to handle. Since when had that happened? Since when had I let myself rely on anybody other than myself?
I didn’t know, but it felt…good.
“Nicco is coming to help us. He’s going to help us get Joelle out,” I told him.
Kian stroked a hand up my back, then down. “Then maybe we had better come up with a plan.”
Eighteen
Kian
I didn’t know that I could call what we had in mind a real plan.
It had been Nicco’s idea, tossed out over speakerphone. Suria had thought it through and finally said with a shrug, “It could work. Papa is arrogant enough.”
Nicco was going to play the sacrificial – or rather the distracting – lamb while Suria and I got Joelle out.
His father hadn’t seen him in over twenty years, and Nicco was going to play up a bit on discovering his roots and how he just found out how his mother ran away with him. “He’ll jump on it,” Suria admitted. “Papa loves to play the victim.”
Now, as Nicco walked to the front door, Suria and I crouched in the hedge on the side of the house. She’d told me that Joelle probably wouldn’t be in the room the two of them shared. It was too easy to get to. We’d have to get around the fence and get into the backyard. There was a window there that opened into her father’s room, and she suspected that was where we’d find Joelle.