But he had told Cait.
It had felt right to tell her, to share the secret with her and lift some of the weight from his shoulders. His magic had always weighed heavily on him, because it had always forced him to keep his distance from everyone. It had forced him to live alone, partly because he had believed he would have to continue to keep that secret from whomever he chose to share his life with, and partly out of fear that if that person discovered his power, it would come between them and drive them apart.
And then that person would tell the world.
He had grown weary of holding such an important part of himself back though, locking it away where no one could see it, afraid that he would become a weapon should anyone learn of it.
His family were gone and he was clinging to a ridiculous fear.
And he was tired.
And falling in love with a beautiful woman, one he didn’t want to have secrets from, because secrets were dangerous and he didn’t want to lose her because he had been too afraid to take the risk and trust her. He didn’t want to bring her into his life only for her to discover what he was several years down the line and hate him for never telling her.
She deserved to know everything about him, because she had been honest and open about herself.
She took another step towards him, her blue eyes softening as they searched his. Her rosy lips parted as she stepped closer, narrowing the gap between them, and tilted her head back to keep her gaze on his.
He swallowed hard, a feeble attempt to settle his nerves, and his eyebrows furrowed as he stared down into her eyes, willing her to say something.
She didn’t speak.
She slowly lifted her right hand and cupped his cheek, her expression shifting to mirror his, her fine dark eyebrows furrowing as she gazed upon him with warmth, understanding and a flicker of gratitude in her eyes.
When she finally found her voice, her words snatched the piece of his heart he had offered to her and left him feeling it was in good hands.
“You’ve bewitched me too, Owen Nightingale… and I’m not sure there’s a cure for how you make me feel… I’m not sure I would want it even if there was.” She smiled when he lowered his head, leaning into her warm palm, stealing every drop of reassurance she was offering him. “I’ve never met a man like you… I’ve never met someone who makes me feel like you do.”
Owen narrowed his gaze on her and exhaled hard, his nostrils flaring as he caught the heat in her gaze, the desire that burned fiercely in his heart too, born of an attraction that ran deeper than blood and bone. It filled his soul and told him to seize hold of her and never let her go.
She had been made for him.
He felt certain of that.
This beautiful woman standing before him, her blue eyes overflowing with warmth and passion, and honesty, had been created solely for him.
She was the one he had been waiting his entire existence to meet.
The only one he would surrender his heart to.
He claimed her bare hips with his hands and pulled her closer to him, his gaze fixed on hers, his breathing coming quicker as she pressed her hands to his chest. His heart pounded against them, a frantic and wild beat that had his blood thundering in his veins, on fire with a deep need of her.
She tilted her head back, her lips parting in an invitation he was quick to take, dropping his head and seizing them in a fierce kiss that softened as he gathered her into his arms. Her bare skin was warm beneath his palms as he wrapped his arms around her and clutched her ribs, pinning her against him. His body stirred again, the fire of his passion for her roaring back into life as he kissed her and she melted into him, giving control over to him.
Owen groaned when she ran her hands up his chest, clutched the black material of his shirt, and rubbed herself against him. She broke away from his lips, each soft puff of her breath across his face filling him with a powerful urge to lay claim to them again, stoking his hunger for her higher, until he burned so hot he couldn’t think straight. He could only feel.
Cait stroked her hands over his chest and then shoved them upwards, grabbing his shoulders and then his neck, dragging him back down to her. She kissed him hard and then broke away again, panting against his lips.
“Please say you have a bedroom in this place.”
Heck, he didn’t need a bedroom for what he had planned, but his beautiful little kitty was asking for one and he would give her anything she wanted.
He bent at the knee and scooped her up into his arms, one beneath her knees and the other around her back. She mewled and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him again, shattering his focus. He walked straight into one of his armchairs and grunted as his left knee struck it hard. Cait giggled.
Owen scowled at her but she showed no sign of repenting.
She kissed him again, softer this time, each brief caress stirring heat and light inside him, until he felt sure he was floating across the room rather than walking.
He finally reached the door to his bedroom and kicked it open, breaking the latch. He swallowed Cait’s gasp in a kiss as he carried her inside the small bedroom and refused to let her break away from him as she pressed her palms against his chest. He gathered her closer, kissing her deeper until he had crossed the short distance to the double bed.
He would thank Julianna later for keeping everything in his place in good shape, sparing him from having to break his moment with Cait to beat the dust off the deep crimson bedclothes. It would hardly have been romantic and definitely would have spoiled the mood.
Owen pressed one knee into the mattress and kept kissing Cait as he lowered her onto the bed, covering her with his body. She rubbed her hands over his back as he held his weight off her, balancing on his elbows, and made a short noise of frustration. She tugged at his black shirt.
He was about to break away to remove it for her when the sound of cotton ripping filled the quiet room, her claws making fast work of destroying his best shirt. He frowned as he pulled back and she smiled, an apologetic edge to it that he couldn’t bring himself to believe because only mischief shone in her blue eyes.
She tugged at the remains of his shirt, yanking it off him and tossing it away. He went to dip to kiss her again but she ran her hands over his chest, her eyes darkening as she followed each move they made. He groaned and held himself above her on his palms, enjoying her slow exploration and how she looked ready to devour him. The desire in her eyes was enough to send his male pride soaring and he wanted to have her looking at him like that, as if he was gorgeous and she couldn’t get enough of him, when he was naked.
Owen rose onto his knees and dropped onto his feet at the edge of the bed.
Cait pushed herself up onto her elbows, her hungry gaze roaming over his body, slowly drifting down it towards his hips. The soft pink tip of her tongue poked out and she ran it across her lower lip, her gaze turning hooded as he reached for his belt.
“Slowly,” she whispered, a wicked murmur that made his cock jerk in his black jeans.
Heck, he would do whatever she wanted, was a slave to her as she lay on his bed, naked and beautiful and looking as hungry as he was.
He had never intentionally stripped for anyone before, and he couldn’t help wondering how many more firsts Cait was going to steal from him.
He slowly unbuckled his black leather belt, clutched one end and pulled it from the loops of his jeans. Her eyes followed it, the sultry edge to them speaking of wicked thoughts and stirring his imagination. He had never been one for kinky, but fuck he could do kinky for her. He had an undeniable urge to use the belt to secure her somehow, but feared how she would react, his mind darting back over everything she had said to him about hellcat males believing the females were there to service them.
The last thing he wanted was her believing he was like them, liable to try to confine and control her. Her spirit and wildness was part of her allure for him and he had no interest in taming her.
She held her left han
d out to him, palm up, her eyes on his.
Owen placed his belt into it and his heart thudded as she eyed it and then him.
If she wanted restraints, he could knock up something using magic, but it would probably take a while and he didn’t want the moment to fade away, the mood to disappear as he worked.
“Not this time, Little Kitty,” he purred and popped the first button on his black jeans.
Her left hand fell, the belt forgotten as her eyes leaped back to him, locked with intent on his hands. She devoured everything he gave to her, each slow slide of a button through a hole and each inch further his fly opened. Her throat worked on a hard swallow when he went to part his fly and reveal himself, and she scowled when he didn’t, closing it again and ensuring she didn’t get a glimpse.
“You’re a tease, Owen Nightingale.” She huffed and he toed his boots off, taking his time about it even when he wanted to rush.
She had told him to undress slowly after all.
He kicked his boots aside and moved his hands back to his jeans, regaining her attention. Her pupils expanded, gobbling up the bright blue of her irises as they began to glow around their centres. He was coming to love it when her eyes did that, burning with cold fire that made him hot all over.
He slowly inched his jeans down his hips and she moaned as his cock sprang free, her gaze fixing on it and darkening, filling with need that echoed within him too. He groaned when she moved on the bed, getting onto her hands and knees and crawling towards him. His gaze drifted down the line of her spine to her bare buttocks, watching them as they shifted with alluring and sensual grace. He groaned again and dragged his eyes back up, settling them on her face.
Cait’s blue eyes leaped up to his and then back to his length.
She stopped at the edge of the bed, hooked her fingers into the pockets of his jeans where they hung around his thighs, and tugged him towards her. He stumbled forwards and could only throw his head back and unleash the moan that burned up his throat as she ran her tongue up the length of his cock.
He jerked when she shoved his jeans down to his knees and moaned when she skimmed her hands up his thighs, pressing her fingers in at times, a brief glimpse of her strength that thrilled him.
Owen felt her gaze on him, burning into his face. He dropped his head and looked down at her, the sight of her kneeling before him, her face level with his shaft, ripping another moan from his throat and making his length kick with eagerness. She smiled wickedly and slowly lowered her gaze to it, her attention only making the need within him spiral higher, until he wasn’t sure he could take any more.
“Touch me,” he whispered, a plea that he couldn’t hold back.
She ran her right hand up his thigh and he shuddered as she cupped his balls, his hips thrusting involuntarily. She moaned and his breath hitched as she leaned in, bringing her sweet lips close to his cock. She teased him, hovering close, her warm moist breath skating over his sensitive flesh.
Heck, he could probably come from just that if she did it for much longer.
Pressure built inside him, an unstoppable force that tore at his control. He ran his left hand over her sleek dark hair, twisted the black strands into his fist, and guided her downwards. Her eyes remained locked on his as she parted her lips and took him inside her mouth, the most erotic thing he had ever seen. He couldn’t breathe as she took hold of his length in her right hand, clutching it tightly, and moved on him, taking him deep into her warm, wet mouth before shifting back, sucking as she withdrew. Her tongue swirled around the blunt head, fluttering and teasing before pressing harder against the slit.
His breath left him in a rush and his thighs trembled as she went to war, tearing down his defences, alternating between sucking him and teasing the head, her eyes constantly on his.
He couldn’t take it.
He wanted to explode in her mouth, but he needed to be inside her even more than that.
He needed to hear her cry his name as he gave her the release she craved.
His little kitty needed.
He would give her everything she desired.
CHAPTER 9
Cait mewled as Owen tightened his grip on her hair and moved her away from him. She tried to get closer to him again, filled with an overwhelming need to stroke his cock with her tongue, to pleasure him until his legs gave out and he couldn’t walk. He refused, his free hand clamping down on her shoulder.
“Next time.”
He kept saying that. He kept making her wait, and each time he did, it increased her desire to do whatever he had denied her.
Right now, she wanted to flip him onto his back, tie him to the wooden railings of his headboard, and suck him until he exploded and shouted her name loud enough that everyone in the fae town would know where they were.
He had other ideas.
Ones she could definitely go along with.
He kicked off his black jeans, pushed her onto her back and crawled onto the bed, looming over her, his length jerking between them. She went to run her hand down it but he caught her wrist and pinned it to the crimson covers above her head. The dark look in his eyes sent a hot shiver through her and she melted beneath him, surrendering with only the slightest of struggles, just enough to fire him up and fire her up with him.
She wriggled¸ pretending to fight his hold, and his green gaze darkened two more shades, the black chasms of his pupils speaking of his arousal as much as the hard heavy length between them.
She reached for it with her other hand.
Owen scowled and caught that hand too, pinning it above her head with the other one. The action forced him down into contact with her and he hissed, his face screwing up in pleasure as she rocked against him, rubbing his shaft.
He breathed harder as she kept up her rubbing, pushing him to see what he would do. She could sense the battle in him, the internal war he waged, torn between letting her grind against him and dragging himself away. He was close, she knew that, had felt it when she had been sucking him. Would he win the battle and find the strength to pull away, or would he surrender and spill onto her stomach?
He was stronger than she had thought.
He grunted and shoved back, bringing his knees up between her thighs to lift him beyond her reach. She moaned and tried to reach him anyway, angling her body and pressing her feet into the mattress to raise her hips off the bed.
He evaded her, a wicked smile on his profane lips.
“Need me there?” he husked, his deep voice thick with desire, arousal that shone in his hooded green eyes as he looked down at her.
She nodded. “Gods, yes.”
He grinned, a cocksure one that made her heart leap even when she knew it shouldn’t. There was male pride in that smile, masculine satisfaction that she found strangely alluring. She liked seeing Owen like this, sure of himself, filled with confidence and strength. She liked that she was the one who made him feel that way.
Because he made her feel that way too.
Being with him, catching the way he gazed at her whenever he thought she wasn’t looking, as if she was the centre of the universe and made it spin for him, and the way he looked at her when he knew she was looking, as if he would die if he didn’t get a taste of her and thought she was beautiful, filled her with strength and confidence.
It filled her with the feeling that she could let her guard down around him and place her trust in him, and he would never do anything to make her regret it.
He lowered his head and kissed her, a brief hard clash of their lips that lasted barely a few seconds before he was moving on. His hands claimed her hips and he pushed her upwards across the dark red covers as he moved downwards, kissing a trail down her chest. She moaned and arched into him as he wrapped his lips around her left nipple, tugging the aching bead into his mouth, sending sparks skittering across her skin.
He thumbed her other nipple, causing the fiery sparks to sweep outwards from that one too. They collided above her heart and filled it with fire that
drifted downwards in time with Owen, heading towards her belly. He trailed his lips over her skin, kissing the underside of her breast before moving on, placing wet open mouth kisses down the centre of her stomach. She moaned and wriggled, eager for him to head to where she needed him, just as he had promised.
His hands tightened against her hips again and he pushed her further up, until her head almost came off the edge of the bed. He placed a kiss on the triangle of curls that covered her mound and then eased her thighs apart. His moan filled the room and sent another scorching wave of heat through her. She couldn’t stop herself from looking at him, driven to see the expression on his face as he stared down at her hips. There was such hunger in it, such fierce passion and need.
“Owen,” she whispered, breathless with need herself.
The right corner of his mouth quirked and he lowered his head, closed his eyes and gave her what she wanted.
She cried out with the first stroke of his tongue over her sensitive flesh and shuddered in bliss with the second, the fire in her belly igniting into an inferno he stoked by skimming his fingers down the length of her. She threw her arms above her head, clutched the covers that hung over the side of the bed, and arched off the mattress as he slid two fingers into her, a prelude that only made her want the main act even more.
She craved the feel of him inside her, filling and stretching her, completing her in a way that she would never stop needing.
He pumped her slowly with his fingers, rubbing the flats of them over her sweet spot as he stroked her with his tongue, teasing her nub and sending waves of blistering fire burning through her. She tossed her head to one side and bit her lip as she moaned, his assault too much to bear, pushing her too swiftly to the edge. She fought it, wanting to draw out the pleasure of his mouth on her and his fingers thrusting into her core.
Her body had other ideas, flexing around his fingers, clenching him as it overrode her head and sought release.
Owen groaned and licked her harder before suckling her, drawing her aroused bead into his mouth and wreaking havoc on her.
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