Keep Me Close

by Elizabeth Cole

  Her eyelids only fluttered up briefly when he shook her. She was losing the battle she was fighting against the spell. That gold necklace was the magical equivalent of snake venom, and he needed an antidote, fast.

  Running water was the best antidote he had right now. He hauled Vin out of the car, carrying her to the river. At the water’s edge, he paused, then walked into the freezing, fast-flowing water.

  With every step, the water rose around him, till he was waist deep and ten feet from the shore. Despite being summer, the water was icy. No sane person would walk in here fully clothed. No wonder they were the only people around. Which was good, since he was about to cast a spell.

  “Listen, Vin, I’m going to almost put you under the water. I’ll watch you, okay?”

  No response, not even a flicker in the eyes.

  Dom had to risk it. He slipped one arm around her shoulders to support her as best he could. Her head rolled back a bit.

  God damn, this water was cold. Pure freaking snowmelt from the Cascades or wherever. Dom had to work fast, or the cure would kill Vinny.

  With the other hand, he got his knife out. Speaking well-known words, he touched the tip of the blade to the pendant, channeling all the energy he could summon down to the point of contact. The metal of the pendant should shatter.

  But it didn’t. Dom recited the words again, a little louder. This spell was so familiar he could work it in his sleep.

  The pendant remained whole, though Vinny’s skin began to turn pink, either from the rush of magical energy, or from the intense cold of the water.

  Dom flipped the knife away, afraid that another attempt would harm Vinny’s flesh. But though her chest was turning pink, her lips looked blueish.

  “Vinny, breathe!” he yelled, hoping his voice got through to her unconscious mind.

  He had to get the necklace off her, but he couldn’t destroy the object. It was too powerful, even against this glacial river full of its own power.

  Wait. He didn’t need to break the curse itself. He only needed to separate it from Vinny.

  He pulled out his silver knife again, this time laying the edge of the blade against the chain, working it between the metal and her skin. There was no established spell for this process. He had to wing it. He had to trust whatever words and actions came to him in the moment. That was his one true skill, the innate connection to the magic that was always flowing though the world.

  “Lavinia Rose Wellington Wake belongs to me,” he said, in English, not sure what words he would say until a moment before he spoke each one. “I claim her. Take your curse elsewhere. I release her with silver and water and—” he broke off.

  Just say it, wuss. This is life or death.

  He took a breath. “I release her with silver and water and love.” Three of the most potent forces in magic.

  He drew the knife blade against the chain. Aided by the rushing water, the silver was stronger, and two links of the chain snapped. The tip of the blade caught a bit of skin at Vinny’s neck, and blood beaded up before the river took it away.

  Dom grabbed the necklace just as the current seized it. He stuffed it in his shirt pocket.

  Then Vinny gasped, her whole body convulsing with the removal of the cursed item. “Dom!” she screamed hoarsely.

  “I got you,” he said, pulling her body tight against him.

  “So cold,” she gasped.

  “I know. We’re getting out.” He carried her to the bank, the water keeping her buoyant. When the water went down to his waist, he tipped her to her feet. “You can walk, Vin. It’s okay.”

  She put her feet down with a splash. “So cold,” she muttered again.

  “Keep walking. Get out of the river,” he said. “We’re done. It’s over. You can come out. You’re soaked and you’re going to get sick if you don’t get dry.”

  Vinny just stared at him, her eyes gigantic. “I couldn’t talk, Dom. It was like I was screaming and nothing came out…”

  He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her toward him, walking them both out of the river.

  “It’s okay now. It’s over.” The effort of the spell had him a little shaky too, but he was much better off than Vin.

  She was shivering from the cold and the shock. He needed to get her dry. No help from the sun—it was already close to setting, and the river gorge was completely in shadow. He opened the trunk of the car. By pure dead luck, there was a bag full of beach gear, plus a blanket. He grabbed everything and rushed back to her.

  “Vin, you have to help me out here. If you stay in those clothes, you’ll never warm up.”

  “What about you? You’re all wet too.”

  “Yeah, but I wasn’t also choking to death. You first.”

  She yanked at the hem of her shirt, trying to pull it over her head, but the sopping wet fabric just clung to her body.

  Dom peeled it off. “Put your arms up,” he said. He got the shirt off and pulled the blanket around her shoulders. “Good girl. Halfway there.”

  “You’ve…been…waiting for this,” Vinny got out between her chattering teeth. He saw that she was trying to smile.

  He grinned back to show her things were all right. “You got me. I was just waiting for you to get cursed so I could get your pants off.”

  “Your lucky…day,” she said, her teeth still chattering. Then she worked at her belt and unzipped her jeans. The tight jeans were even more molded to her skin than the shirt, and they weren’t coming off easily.

  “Okay, babe. Lie down. I know you’ve been hoping I’d say that.”

  Vinny laughed, or tried to. Dom pulled the blanket off her shoulders to put it on the ground, then Vinny lay down. He knelt in front of her, peeling the jeans off inch by inch, so finally Vinny was only wearing her bra and panties. Both were wet, but she was better off than before. He folded the top of the blanket over her. “Dry off. Then you’ll warm up.”

  “Help me,” she said.

  “Help you get dry?”

  “Warm me up.” Vinny reached for him. “Please.”

  He took off his jacket and stretched out beside her, and before he could say a word, Vinny rolled the blanket and herself on top of him. She bent down to kiss him. “Warm me up,” she said, her voice rough. She was pulling at his shirt, getting it over his head in no time.

  “Vin, this isn’t the best—” he began, then had to stop because Vin was kissing him, biting him, pawing at him. And holy hell, did he like it. Maybe it was the best.

  “No one’s here,” she said in a hiss. “We’re alone.” She reached down for his belt.

  Dom had a sudden and very bad thought. He rolled so Vinny was on her back again, and pinned her arms with his hands. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Vin, but are you damn sure you’re feeling like yourself?”

  Vinny didn’t struggle, or get angry. She looked at him with very shy eyes. “I’m me, Dom. Lavinia Rose Wellington Wake. And I’m not always very good at going after what I want, but I really want you. Please don’t turn me down. Not now.”

  He kissed her, and felt her whole body relax and then tense again as he deepened the kiss. He took a breath, then said, “You got me, Vin.”

  Chapter 22

  Vinny sighed when she sensed him give in. At last.

  She knew something unreal had just happened, and she couldn’t face it at the moment. What she could face was her need to be as close as possible to the one person who stuck by her while whatever weirdness took over. The one person she wanted to be with.

  He started running his hands all up and down her body. She was still cold from the river, and that felt amazingly good. She said so.

  “Good,” Dom muttered. “If we’re going to get all naked, I need to know you’re not going to die of hypothermia.”

  She laughed, the sound coming out husky from the ache still lingering in her throat. “You’re so sexy when you talk first aid.” She slid her hands down his chest, all the way to his waist. “Can I take your jeans off now?” she asked
. “I’m not possessed, just really into you.”

  He was too intent on warming her up to laugh. “You do whatever you want, Vin. Whatever makes you happy.”

  “Actually, can you do it?” she asked. “Turns out my fingers are numb. The river was freaking cold.”

  He got his jeans off without getting out from under the blanket, then covered her with his body. She felt how hard he was already. But he reached to take one hand, kissing her cold fingers, then sucking one at time.

  “You’re warming me right up,” Vinny whispered.

  “Tell me how to get you from warm to hot.”

  “You know already,” she said. “Each time we started something, the way you handled me, I was dying for you…until you walked away.”

  “I’ll make it up to you,” he said. Then he lowered his head to kiss her chest, and her breasts. He sucked both nipples through the thin fabric of the bra until Vinny was moaning. “Keep going,” she urged. “Touch me.”

  He slid one hand down, under her panties. Vinny stretched her whole body against his. “Yes. Keep going. Please.”

  He slipped one finger inside her. She was wet, instantly and insanely wet. Then she had a bad thought.

  “Oh, no,” she moaned. “I don’t have any protection with me.”

  “You can reach my jacket,” he said, not moving. “Inside pocket has a condom.”

  “Mother of Christ, thank you.”

  “Is that really the best person to direct thanks to?” he asked, choking back a laugh.

  “Now is not the time to talk about it.” Vinny worked to get the condom out of the jacket. The task was made more difficult because Dom didn’t stop touching her, and she was crazy with desire. At last she had the condom packet in her hand.

  “Let me put it on you,” she said.

  “Whatever you say.”

  She was still shaky, not from cold anymore, but from excitement. She reached down, and wrapped one hand around him.

  Dom closed his eyes. “That’s good.”

  “You’re so hard,” she said, stroking him. “I could get you off this way, if you want.”

  “Next time, Vin,” he said, opening his eyes again. “Unless you’re having second thoughts?”

  She shook her head. “No way. You?”

  “I want you so bad, Vin, you have no idea.”

  “Then let’s get this party started.” At the moment, she had zero interest in foreplay. She ripped the packet open and got the condom out. She rolled it on, making it a game, playing with him the whole time. She could tell he liked it by the way he teased her back, slipping another finger into her body and making her squirm.

  Then he moved back a bit, pulling his hand away from her, sliding her panties down her legs till they were gone gone gone. She got her bra off just as fast.

  He was obviously stoked at her enthusiasm, settling his body between her legs the second she lay back down.

  She put her hands on his shoulders, smiling up at him, loving how his hair hung down nearly to his eyes. “What’s keeping you?”

  “So,” he said cautiously, “I just had an idea. And you can say no, because this is a thing that definitely won’t work unless you want it to.”

  “Go ahead. I’ve heard plenty of kink. You won’t surprise me.”

  “I want to cast a spell.”

  Vinny bit her lip. “Forget what I said about not surprising me. You’re serious? What is it? A sex spell?”

  He looked very serious. “Sort of. A protection spell. Sex is powerful, and it creates some pretty amazing energy.”

  “I’m listening.” Hell yes, she was listening.

  “I can cast a spell to harness some of the energy to help protect you from, well, let’s just say evil. Which you probably could use, considering what just happened to you.”

  “A sexy protection spell,” she said, to make sure she was getting it right.

  “Yeah. Essentially. It’s just words. And I’ll trace some symbols on you—not visible ones. But mostly sex…and it’ll work best if you, um, enjoy it, so there’s that.”

  “Well, when you put it that way, how could I say no?”

  “You can always say no,” said Dom. “Magic isn’t for everyone, and you did just get free of a pretty nasty spell. Maybe you don’t want more magic in your life.”

  “But you really want to protect me?” she asked, touched more than she dared to think about.

  Dom nodded. “Any way you’ll let me.”

  “Then I want you to do it,” she said decisively. “Cast your spell.”

  He kissed her. “You don’t have to do anything special. Just relax.”

  “Wait. Will it hurt?”

  “Absolutely not,” he said with a smile. “Just the opposite.”

  Dom kissed her again, murmured something in what sounded like Latin and then her name, then drew on her skin with his finger, just over her heart. Then he repeated the kiss and the words, drawing on her forehead. He did it again, drawing on her belly, and then her back. His expression was calm, and a little distant, and intriguing as hell. She’d been wrong about skipping the foreplay. Vinny wanted him so much it almost made her faint.

  Finally, Dom whispered something else, said her full name again, then kissed her on the mouth. Vinny opened her mouth and let him in, wondering what spells tasted like.

  He tasted good.

  “Here’s the tricky part,” Dom said then.

  “What is?”

  “I need to fuck you so you come, and it’ll help if you love every second of it. So tell me what you need, Vin, because I want to make you delirious with joy and completely exhausted from feeling good. Whatever you want, just say it and I’ll make it happen.”

  That was a turn on. “Why not start with, um, well, I like to be bitten, actually. Not too hard.”

  “Guess that vamp would have had a good time with you,” Dom muttered.

  “Don’t be snarky,” Vin breathed. “Just be sweet.”

  He bit her shoulder gently, and pleasure washed through her.

  “Just like that,” she moaned.

  So Dom nibbled his way across her skin, every limb, and special attention to her neck. Vinny begged him to keep going even when she came, hard, when his teeth grazed on one nipple. “Oh. Wow.” She couldn’t remember ever being so wired.

  Then Vin gasped as he slid into her. She hadn’t done this in a while, and she’d almost forgotten how incredibly good it felt to be with a guy she liked, and maybe more than just liked. She contracted around him. “Mmmm,” she said. “I love this.”

  “You feel good,” he said in a low voice. “Really good.”

  Dom went slow, and he plainly enjoyed feeling her outside and in. Vin let him play with her, loving the feeling of him. She reached up, running her fingers through his hair.

  His eyes were locked on hers. God, he was intense. Shyness spread through her and she glanced away.

  “No,” he said. “Look at me.”

  He said that to her before. “Why’s that your thing?” she asked.

  “Because it makes it better. And I like your eyes.”

  “Really?” For some reason, him telling her he liked her eyes melted her almost as much as the sex.

  “Yeah. Really.” Then he worked a hand between their bodies to cup her breast. “You like this?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Vinny said, arching her back as she pressed closer to him. “Love it.”

  “Tell me another thing you like,” he said. “Please.”

  “I like to be on top,” she said. “I’ll be good,” she added. “I’ll go slow.”

  He rolled so she was on top. Vinny straddled him and sat up slowly, surveying the man under her, liking every inch. “That’s nice.”

  Dom watched her, because of course he did. “Do what you want,” he said.

  Vinny bent down, kissing the tattoos on his chest, then running her hands over his skin, following the dips and ridges of his muscles.

  “You look good,” she said, still feel
ing shy, despite everything.

  He didn’t say anything, but put his hands on her hips, and pushed her down a bit.

  Vinny gasped, feeling how hard he still was.

  “Can I get you off again?” he asked quietly. “Tell me how.”

  She took one of his hands and guided it right between her legs. “Touch me.”

  He took his spell casting seriously, Vinny thought as she felt him touch her and thrust in her. The pressure built fast, and she wanted desperately to come again, and come big. She put her hands on her breasts. “Can I do this?” she asked.

  “Hell, yes,” he said, his own breathing hard.

  She teased her nipples as Dom found the rhythm she needed, and Vin collapsed with another orgasm, letting her upper body lay on Dom. His arms went around her, and held her tighter against him.

  “I want you to come,” she murmured.

  “Don’t worry about me,” he promised her. “This is good.”

  “But I want you to come,” she repeated. “I mean that I’ll feel good when you come. I need to make you happy, too. I need it.”

  “You’re making me happy, Vin,” he said. “Being this close to you feels so good. I…” he hesitated. “I don’t want this to be the only time.”

  She lifted her head to look at him. “You mean that?”

  He said, “I don’t want to talk about this now, but just know…yeah.” He took an unsteady breath. “Now let’s get back to you. What can I do to make you feel good?”

  “You can fuck me till you come.”

  “I said don’t worry about…”

  “You want to know what, Dom? It’s my birthday tomorrow. And for my present from you, I want you to hurry up and use me. Understand?”

  “It’s your birthday?”

  “True story. Fuck me.”

  In a second, Vinny was on her back again. “Wrap your legs around me,” he ordered.

  As she’d asked, he put aside the slow approach, and fucked her, hard and fast. Vinny moaned each time he thrust.

  “That’s it,” she begged. “Don’t stop.”

  His breath was ragged, so was hers. Vinny felt the second when he stiffened and came, holding her tight. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, keeping him next to her. She whispered encouragement, ridiculous compliments that were absolutely true, and secrets she never thought she’d say out loud. He bit her neck, then licked her fevered skin, and Vinny closed her eyes as she felt a final, unexpected aftershock roll over her.