by Editor
“Did you ever hear of David and Goliath, you big oaf? Did you just attempt to spank me?” Serina squirmed unsuccessfully.
“I will if you want me to.” Lucian secured her legs and whipped her around to his chest so she lay in his arms.
He gave her a brilliant grin, one she wanted to knock off his face if she could just get free. He proceeded to toss her flat on her back and cover her with his two hundred-forty pounds of dead weight.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Lucian,” she warned. Lucian’s mirth only enraged her more. “I mean it. Let me go.” Serina began to cry. “Please, I don’t want you…” She never got the chance to finish her sentence, like this, drunk.
Lucian covered her mouth with his hand. “Shush! You don’t mean that.” About to cover her lips with his, Lucian stopped and studied her two heads and four wild, ferocious eyes. “I would never hurt you. I just want to kiss you. Trust me...that’s all that could happen right now. I only want to tell you I am sorry I left you last night. I wanted you to want me for me. Pity was plastered all over your pretty little face.”
Serina pushed at his chest, grunting. “Get off me! I need to find Raven.”
“She’s with Duncan at Molly’s. Whatever you did to her helped. She’s back to her old chipper self and spry as the kitten in your kitchen playing with the mouse. Nor did she try to kill herself. Seems she reached for the soap and the blade fell from the window sill and since she doesn’t get on well with blood she passed out.”
“Please get off me? I can’t breathe.” She lied through clenched teeth.
“Not so fast.” He dipped his head towards her, testing the waters. If she truly didn’t want him, he’d know soon enough, when she clobbered him. “Serina?” From behind sealed eyes, tiny water droplets ran off her cheeks. Drops he’d caused. “I’m going to kiss you, just once, and then I’m pretty certain I’m going to pass out.”
“As you wish, m’lord.” Serina was finished fighting both him and her head. Her heart would win this round. Being stubborn was one thing. Being stupid was not an option. When his lips covered hers all her anger, self-doubt and lack of self-esteem disappeared. He moved her to unchartered territories. She’d never lay beneath a man before, and she found this divine until his tongue dragged across her cheek and left behind a slippery cold trail. Then his head bumped into hers, and she heard him snoring—that fast.
“Oh bloody hell. He’s got me pinned beneath him. This is not happening.” Serina took in slow, deliberate breaths of air. With only her fingertips free to move, she twirled them in an upward motion and envisioned a gentle wind to lift and carry Lucian to the other side of her bed. Short of breath and anxious when nothing happened, she spit out, “Any day now!”
Lucian’s snoring intensified, sounding like tiger purring in her ear.
Swearing and thoroughly upset she tried a second time. “Winds of change, pick up your pace. Place Lucian St. James into outer space.”
Everything happened so fast Serina didn’t have time to react. She blinked and Lucian spun horizontally above her, in a cyclic fashion. First, his head whipped past her, then his feet, then his head again, and he kept going like her Victrola at nauseating speed.
Fully awake, he screamed for his life, “M’lady, I beg of you, stop this,” as he grasped at air.
“There’s a slight problem, Lucian,” Serina yelled, “I’ve never done this incantation before. They rarely work as they should. Case in point, of course, being you.” She tried to duck seeing him coming directly towards her.
Lucian latched onto Serina as he circled. Now they were both caught in the windstorm within her bedroom. Lucian’s feet slammed into Serina’s coat-rack. Splintered. Serina’s nightdress caught her oil lamp and tore it from the dresser. There would be no more flicker from the shattered rubble.
“You have to stop this,” he screamed petrified.
Without giving it another thought Serina spit out, “The eye of the storm, a twist of fate, land us inside my garden gate.”
Inside one second, outside the next, and falling fast towards thousands of thorns and roses. “Hammock,” Serina bellowed a split second before they ruined her precious flowers. Never mind looking like a pincushion, the flowers came first. Serina had her priorities.
Serina shoved back her hair from her eyes and caught her breath. “Wow! I’ve never done anything quite like this before. What do you think, Lucian?” Serina asked exhilarated. “Lucian?” She tapped his cheek.
Lucian attempted to focus.
“I can explain,” she said. “You’re not hurt, right?”
Lucian stared in disbelief. He did however, find he fancied the position in which they landed. Serina was buried under him for a second time this morning with her legs spread to both sides of him, and her nightdress scrunched beneath her hips.
“Do you want me to tell you what happened?”
“Serina, after the past two days there’s nothing—absolutely nothing you could say that would surprise me. The cat’s out of the bag. I tried with the ignorance card pretending not to notice a few things, like the way Raven miraculously stopped bleeding last night or this feeling I can’t shake that you were—are still inside of me. And the funny thing—I’m quite sober now, thank you. I can’t even blame this on the wine or the whiskey or the scotch I got into last night thinking my sister attempted suicide after we were both attacked by vampires. This little excursion through the air was fun. We’ll have to get a magic carpet the next time though. Duncan told me I should, by all rights, be popping up daisies, yet here I lie! Not that I mind this position.” Serina opened her mouth to speak, but he placed his fingers to her lips. “Just tell me I haven’t lost my mind. We’ll go slow. I’ll swallow one dose of your reality at a time, Dr. Spencer. Fair enough?”
Serina nodded. “Fair enough. Can we go inside and sit down?”
Lucian bumped noses with her. “Just don’t point at me or say anything that rhymes.” He winked, but he was dead serious.
Pushing his leg off to one side of the hammock to get up, Lucian trapped his foot in between the crocheted knots and lost his balance. They went into second spin. One second he was on top of Serina and the next she lay atop him on the ground hysterical with laughter.
“You are truly something else,” he said as he reached up to brush her hair from her face.
Serina straddled him. Her new perch, she found empowered her. She also found out very fast that this was the direct route to relieve the itchy, tingling between her thighs. She rocked her pelvis over his groin, trying to be inconspicuous. Seems she wasn’t the only one that liked their new position.
He returned her not-so-inconspicuous thrust with one of his one. “What’s up?” he asked, his voice low and seductive.
“I am.” Serina jumped, her face flushed. “I’m going inside. I can’t do this here.”
“Do what?” he teased.
“This—outside.”
“Oh, but you could do it inside?”
“What was that name your sister calls you every chance she gets?”
“Imbecile. Touché,” Lucian answered with a nod of his head.
“Yes, that’s it. You coming in or sitting here alone?”
“I’m up too,” he announced as he brought up the rear.
Seeing a significant rise in his trousers she thought, that you are. “I’ll be right back. I need to change.”
****
“Where to begin?” Serina made herself comfy on her couch next to Lucian. “As you’ve witnessed, I was able to heal you and Raven because of special powers. I can also read people’s minds. I read all four of you.”
Lucian couldn’t help it, he fell more in love with her as the day went on. Every move she made stole his breath, like the way her lips curled higher on one side or the ever-present twinkle her eyes held. His favorite was the way she nibbled on her lower lip when she looked at him as she did now. “You’re a nosey little witch aren’t you?”
“There’s more…”
>
He sighed. “Isn’t there always!”
With her lips slightly parted and her eyebrow arched, she finished, “Anyway, with the three of us doing blood exchanges we are all now connected to one another. I can hear you if you call to me and vice versa.”
Lucian couldn’t focus on anything other than how the sleeveless, black, lace blouse Serina wore accentuated her breasts. With each breath she took he watched, mesmerized by the rise and fall of her creamy flesh. Oh, what his tongue could do for her if strategically placed on or around her nipples.
“Remember, m’lord, I can read your mind.”
A coy smile swept across his face. Nabbed! “You’re not the only one, Serina, albeit it’s different for me. Raven and I and our cousin, André have always had a special way to communicate with one another. Ever since we were children we’ve been able to read one another’s thoughts. André’s mum was our mum’s twin. Runs in the family I guess.” Lucian took her hand in his and stroked her fingers.
“Lucian, see if you can read my mind right now.”
Her voice was a siren’s sonnet that settled right in his groin, but then, wasn’t that the whole point of the seductress?
Serina stifled a grin as he strained not to blink. “Don’t look at me as if you’re going to burn a hole through me, just try to feel with your mind and heart at the same time.” She scooted closer and began a slow lazy stretch of her arms over her head, with every intention of nudging her endowment forward. An invitation she hoped he’d accept.
He blurted, “Your desire shall be your death if you don’t kiss me soon.” Lucian puckered up and leaned into the lady. His advances were halted when Serina placed a firm hand to his chest..
“Not so fast, sir.” She winked.
“All right, my desire shall be my death if I do not feel the promise of dreams your lips offer.” Lucian returned the wink. With one swift move, he grasped her arms, pulled her across his lap, and turned her on her back.
The mischievous twinkle in her eye defined who she was: swift, cunning, sexy, loyal, and spirited beyond the norm. She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen and to have her in his arms was far more than he deserved. Lucian tucked one arm behind her back to cradle her head, while his other hand held her chin.
“Can you read my mind now?” he asked. Serina began to lift her head to kiss him when he stopped her in her tracks. He grinned. “Not so fast, m’lady.” He dipped his head to greet her, his mouth finding solace on hers. He pulled away licking his lips. “God, woman, you’re so sweet, I feel as if I may lose myself in you, and I’ve only just kissed you. Is this part of your magic?”
“Lucian if I held that force, I’d have men knocking down my door all the time, yet you, sir—” She nodded towards the remains of her front door. “―seem to be the only man intent on doing just that!” Serina wrapped her arms around him. “Kiss me again?”
“Where are my manners?” He moved a breath away from her. “You’ll never have to ask again.” He snuggled beside her, crossed one leg over her legs, propped himself up on an elbow and gazed into her eyes. He began fidgeting with the buttons on her shirt, loosening them one at a time, waiting in between each one to see if a protest of sorts came. When none came, he advanced higher to the next button. Lucian left the last few buttons closed, more for her modesty. He found no corset beneath the shirt and silently thanked the Gods. He’d seen the torturous devices hanging in the wash room and knew if he were to ever have to remove one, well, the woman would be years older by the time he figured its secrets out. He slid his fingers across her ribs and abdomen and beneath him she shivered and tiny goose bumps formed.
“Chilly, my wild rose?” He blew a warm breath over her tummy.
Her thought went to him. Quite the opposite, m’lord.
“I got that, m’lady. Life is going to be interesting between us. I am most flattered and shall continue to fulfill your desires.”
“You’re a cocky SOB.”
“You’ll find out soon enough just how cocky.” Lucian bent his head toward Serina’s stomach and with the swirl his tongue inched his way across her sweet flesh. When he got to the last button he nibbled at it. Surprising them both, the button flew across the room leaving Serina baring all and laughing. “Oops. I’ll stitch that back for you later.” Lucian never took his eyes from Serina’s face as he took her breast into his mouth, teasing her with his tongue, first with a quick flick then a light graze of teeth.
Opening her mouth to speak, Serina found her vocabulary reduced to moans, unable to form coherent thoughts from the pleasures he bestowed upon her. She caressed his cheek with her finger as his tongue caressed her breast. She loved the way his mouth feathered over her skin, and caused a deep, warm need between her thighs. She tried to relax, to just breathe, to enjoy these new sensations but she needed an outlet.
Serina went to work exploring Lucian. She ran her hands through the silken texture of his hair, then marched her fingers up and down his back, to her final destination, his scrumptious derriere.
That one gesture caused Lucian to change positions. He slid across her stomach and covered her with the weight of his hips.
She wiggled impatient. She needed his heated desire once more pressed hard against her mons either to relieve the incessant itch or rub her raw before she lost what was left of her sanity. This lust or hunger now awake within her, screamed for his undivided attention. Luscious little sensations reached well into her private lips and struck a chord. She ached to have his fingers, his mouth or the silky-smooth shaft she’d held in the carriage, buried within her to dance and resonate deep inside her.
Being this close to her, Lucian had to regain some control or this, his first time, would well be over before it began. Serina made him feel like a man for the first time in his life, made him feel things he’d only overheard others brag about in their conquests. This was no conquest. He was giving his heart to the woman.
“Can you read my thoughts now, m’lady?” He pressed his hips into her and gave a wiggle back and forth spreading her legs further apart until he nestled comfortably between them, and hit that one spot she itched to have scratched. He kissed her neck, lightly at first and then harder as he lost himself. Her delicate skin and the fragrance of blooming roses, intoxicated him. He thrilled listening to the small sounds of pleasure she made. This, without a doubt, he could get used to.
Everything Serina felt at that moment intensified tenfold as his lips ravaged her. She found out fast, her neck had a direct path to the deepest part of her body, where all her wants, desires, and dreams lay secretly locked away and his lush lips were the key. Serina returned a slow swivel of her hips. With all the movement between them the black skirt she wore ended up well up past her hips. She didn’t remember how it got there only that she wanted it gone. Her satin drawers and his trousers were all that separated her from her dreams.
“Lucian,” Serina asked. “Would you make love to me, now? Here? P—”
Lucian closed his lips over Serina’s, silencing her pleas. His kiss was deep and long as passion drove his instincts. He broke away to see a smile on her lips. “I already told you, you’d never have to ask me again. I meant that. Are you sure here and now? I mean don’t get me wrong, m’lady, I’m willing and able, but I want you to be positive.”
“I’ve waited my entire life for you. My heart and head tell me I’m right. And trust me they rarely agree on anything. I’ve had dreams and desires that I’ve never thought I’d experience until I met you. I know you feel the same way. And not just because of this.” Serina met the firmness of his erection when she pulled him closer.
With her fingertip, she traced the outline of his lips. “I fancy your lips kissing me here.” Serina pointed to her mouth. She kissed him lightly. “And here.” She pointed to her neck. She gave him another light playful kiss. “And here.” Again, she covered his mouth with hers and delivered one deep, luring kiss, then she broke away, and she made a trail with her fingertip down between he
r breasts. “And definitely here.” She slipped her fingers across her nipples watching him with a curious anticipation as he followed her finger. With a slight shift of hand, Serina grabbed Lucian’s chin. With her eyes closed she met his mouth, hers slightly open, and slid her tongue to his and began the mating dance.
By this time, Lucian had Serina’s drawers down, well past her hips, and on their way to their final destination, the floor. His disappeared just as quickly.
“I want to see you. I want to touch you, to make love with you, Lucian. And I want you to do the same to me.” Serina was in no way embarrassed by her words. Confidence ruled her.
He stood before her, firm, lean muscles everywhere. “You are incredibly beautiful,” she said staring in awe at his penis. She swiftly lifted her gaze before he caught her being so bold.
“You failed to mention one minor detail, m’lady.” Lucian slid his hand over the length of his erection to give Serina a show of what he had to offer her.
Serina licked her lips. The length and breadth alone would not disappear inside her without a fight. Half of a grin worked onto her lips. The fight would be well worth the effort.
“That’s not minor, luv,” she teased as she wrapped her fingers around him and squeezed.
Lucian’s body quivered.
Serina climbed from the couch and slid the blouse from her shoulders. It fell to the floor. The skirt vanished as well.
Lucian’s intention? To ravish every inch of the woman from her thick, auburn hair, to her sparkling eyes, and those full, firm creamy breasts! And her mind. He loved her mind. She was brilliant, caring, compassionate, witty, desirable…
He closed the distance. His hands on her face, he tilted her chin to gaze into her eyes. He ran his fingers through her silken locks, and tugged her head back, exposing the luscious line of her neck. With only the warmth from his lips on her neck, her body stiffened with anticipation. The pulse beneath her skin raced as he kissed her. Had he not been so intrigued with every aspect of making love to this woman, the idea of her pulse should have bothered him. He’d touch on that subject later.