“This has to do with her biological parents?”
“Yes.”
“Are you some kind of cop?”
“Not professionally.” Not for any authority in this world, anyway.
“Then how did you get involved?”
“I’m a friend of the family. They asked me to do what I could to help find their missing heiress.” That much was completely true, though not truly complete.
“Heiress?” Monroe’s dark eyes widened. “There’s money involved?”
Ric nodded curtly. “Money, land, power.”
“And somebody stands to lose if the missing heiress shows up.” He wasn’t stupid, Ric thought. For an artist, Monroe had a pretty quick grasp of the real world.
“That about sums it up.”
“Come on.” Monroe opened the door of the Jag, motioned Ric outside. “You two need to talk. I’ll make sure she lets you in the door.”
Ric followed, nodding his thanks.
“One last thing, Thornhill.” Right in front of Meagan’s door, Monroe halted. “Hurt her again, they won’t find enough parts to identify your body.”
Ric nodded. Oddly enough, he wasn’t offended. He’d have thought less of Jase if the artist hadn’t warned Ric off. “Understood.”
Monroe studied him for a moment, seeming to weigh his sincerity. He rang the bell. “You keep her safe, now. This is Detroit. I know enough people to make you disappear for good.”
Yeah, like George Novak alone. Though he bet Monroe didn’t know all of his new boyfriend’s secrets yet.
All levity fled the instant Meagan opened the door.
She’d been crying, he noticed immediately and he fought down the urge to skewer someone. The man who’d made her cry was him and that knowledge cut deeper than any sword.
Ric detected the surface layer of Monroe’s thoughts and knew he planned to stay and support Meagan during the upcoming conversation. He sent a small surge of magical energy toward Jase, a tiny compulsion. He didn’t need an audience and neither did Meagan.
“I found him pulling into your drive,” Monroe lied, jerking a thumb toward Ric. “Figured you two have some things you need to talk about.”
Meagan nodded and held open the screen door. “Come on in, Ric.”
Ric entered, nodding his thanks to Monroe, who turned and walked down the driveway toward the garage. Ric followed Meagan into her kitchen and took the seat she gestured to at the table, though he would have preferred to stand. He probably should be on his knees, he thought, struggling to control the unfamiliar sensation of guilt.
What was it about this woman that made him feel things he’d never before experienced?
He waited until she’d taken the seat across from him and looked up into her eyes. Their green depths brimmed with pain and distrust. “Where would you like me to start?”
She shrugged, obviously trying for a nonchalance she couldn’t quite achieve. “The beginning, I suppose.”
He expelled a short bark of laughter. “Hell, Meagan, even I’m not sure where this whole clusterfuck began.”
He raked his fingers through his hair. “Look, some of what I’m about to tell you is going to seem awfully farfetched. Please promise that you’ll listen first, hear me out, before you toss me out on my ass.”
She must have seen something in his face, felt some trace of his own roiling emotions, because she held up her hand. “Stop.”
He paused, grateful for the reprieve. He’d never had such a difficult time putting his thoughts into words in his life. All his bardic talents, training and magic deserted him as he looked into Meagan Kelly’s eyes.
“Before you say anything else, there is one thing, just one, that I really need to know. You can answer either way, as long as it’s the truth. No matter what, I’ll still listen to your story, but I need complete honesty on this one issue first.”
“Go on.” He tipped his chin, gritted his teeth, waited for the bomb to drop.
“When you kissed me, was that for real, or was it part of the job?”
He wondered if the heartbreak in her expression was mirrored in his own. That she could think so badly of him made his entrails clench and the ache in his chest was a greater pain than he’d known he was capable of feeling.
This time the words exploded from him before he could even consider the best response. “Goddess, no! I won’t claim to understand this mad attraction between us, Meagan, but I’ll swear on my life that it’s genuine.”
Then she did the one thing he’d never expected. Not in a thousand years. She leapt out of her chair and hurled herself into his arms.
Chapter Six
The chair tipped as she landed in his lap, but his strong arms wrapped around her even as his long legs steadied the chair and kept them both from crashing to the ground.
She followed her instincts and turned her face upward.
Her lips found his and they fused together in a mindaltering kiss.
Lost in the wonder of his long fingers digging into her waist while his mouth plundered hers, she forgot about all the reasons she was supposed to keep her distance. She only knew that when he’d looked into her eyes and vowed that the magic between them was real, she’d believed him with every fiber of her being. She wasn’t about to pass up what might be her last chance to be with Ric.
“This is not a good idea,” he gasped, pulling his mouth away from hers. From his ragged breathing, the way his fingers clamped her in place and the strength of the erection poking against her bottom, she decided his body thought otherwise.
“Don’t care,” she murmured back, rubbing her nose along his ear, inhaling the fragrance of strong coffee and the musky, spicy scent that was uniquely Ric. She wiggled her butt in his lap, making him groan.
“We really need to talk.” He was putting up a good fight, but he was nibbling her neck between the words.
“Later,” she commanded and nipped his ear, which had an adorable little point to it that she’d never noticed before. She ran her tongue around it, playing with the tip, enjoying the salty taste of his skin.
“Goddess!” She didn’t know if he was swearing, or calling her divine, but apparently his ears were really sensitive, judging by the way his hips began bucking as she nibbled and licked. “Later,” he rasped in agreement.
Then he shoved her shirt up out of the way and lowered his head to her nipple and every conscious thought in her head leaked out into a giant puddle on the floor.
The pleasure that shot through her body was stronger and sharper than anything she’d ever felt. She wasn’t a virgin or anything; she’d experimented in art school like everyone else, but she’d never been all that impressed.
Sure, sex was fun and the intimacy was nice enough, if you were with someone you cared about, but it had never been the earth-shattering experience she’d fantasized about as a teenager. Still fully clothed on a kitchen chair, Ric was proving that her previous experience was seriously lacking. His tongue and lips teased her already taut nipple into a rock-hard bead. He shifted her in his lap and switched to the other breast, while cupping the first in his hand.
Meagan could already feel the orgasm building, pulses of heat pounding through her abdomen and groin. She rubbed her wet, aching cleft against his leg, seeking pressure to fill the emptiness his touch was causing inside her, but careful not to move enough to dislodge his wonderfully talented mouth.
“So lovely,” he whispered between licks and she whimpered in reply. Then he opened his mouth wide and engulfed her, drawing her deep and suckling hard. Her whimper turned to a shriek as she tumbled over the edge and came. Her back arched into a bow, her legs squeezed together and her arms wrapped convulsively around his back, chair and all.
He kept kneading with one hand, still suckling until she was finished, his other hand holding her limp, boneless form secure in his lap.
“Better?” His lazy drawl couldn’t quite hide his own desire.
“Mmmm.” She opened her eyes and gazed at him.
“Nice hors d’oeuvres. Now I want you inside me.” When had she gotten all bold and demanding?
Ric didn’t seem to mind. “Oh, yeah.” He lifted her to the table and opened the button on her shorts. She lay on her back, knees hanging over the edge, her bottom wiggling in anticipation and her breath coming in short, heaving pants.
“Sorry I came without you,” she whispered, embarrassed but still so aroused. He smiled wickedly as he tugged her shorts and underwear down her legs and began working the button fly of his own jeans.
“Don’t be. I love how responsive you are. But I can’t wait any longer to get inside you. This time I’m going to feel you clench around me, milking me dry. Then later I’m going to use my mouth on you, watch your body twitch when you come all over my face.”
She didn’t have the heart to tell him she’d never managed multiple orgasms. Besides, with the way his words were turning her on all over again, making her thighs quiver and her inner muscles clench, she was beginning to believe that with Ric she might pull it off.
Ric shoved down his jeans and any underwear he might have been wearing went with them. He stood in front of her in his shirt, with his pants around his ankles.
He looked proud and glorious, with a lower body that should have been sculpted by Michelangelo and an erection that had her awed, maybe even frightened. A tiny pearl of moisture beaded at the tip, letting her know his desire was as urgent as her own.
He gently spread her legs, stepping up between them.
His beautiful voice cracked as he whispered, “I’m going to fit perfectly, love. I’d never hurt you.”
“I know.” And she did. She leaned back on her elbows and watched as he took his jutting cock in his left hand, while his right massaged her entrance, spreading out the slippery moisture that drenched her dark curls. They both forgot to breathe. He rubbed himself against her, briefly brushing her clit and she cried out, instinctively spreading herself wider, welcoming his invasion. “Take me. I feel like I’ve been waiting for this forever.”
He groaned and leaned over her with one hand bracing himself on the table. Then with one smooth, strong thrust, he slid home, filling her so completely she swore she could feel him in her fingertips. She was so stretched that it almost hurt, probably would tomorrow, yet nothing in her life had ever felt so right. She fell back against the tabletop, her arms coming up and around him, sliding underneath his shirt.
“I’m not going to last long,” he warned, his mouth finding her breast, nipping between words. “Sorry.”
She couldn’t form the words to reply; all that emerged from her throat were breathy moans.
He slid slowly out, pausing right as the broad head of his penis grazed her outer rim, then drove back in with enough force to scoot them both an inch or so up the table. She thrust back, meeting him stroke for stroke, her cries forming the word yes over and over as he pounded into her. His fingers stroked the place where the two of them were joined, tracing her stretched flesh before finding her clit and rubbing gently. She bucked harder, the added stimulus almost too much for her and dug her nails into the skin of his back.
The table was hard and cold against her back, but all it did was act as a contrast to Ric, hard and so hot above her, inside her. She wrapped her legs around his hips and heard a warm groan of appreciation as the altered angle allowed him even deeper. The added penetration, timed with a sharp tug of his teeth on her breast was enough and she tumbled over into the hardest, strongest, longest orgasm of her life. Her body seemed to turn itself inside out as the pulsing spasms racked her. Her back lifted off the table and she clung tightly to Ric as he shouted something she didn’t understand and joined her. The wet, hot spurt of his seed into her channel triggered another long series of shocks through her already overloaded system.
As the firestorm dwindled, their mouths found each other and clung, sharing long, wet kisses as they slowly came back to Earth. Ric was slumped over her, his weight pressing her into the wood, but it was welcome, felt right and she didn’t want him to move. Finally, though, he did, sliding out of her and off, still leaning heavily on the table for support.
Reluctantly, she opened her eyes. “Wow.”
He smiled, his amber eyes crinkling at the corners and the beauty of that smile made her stomach clench. He shoved his long tangled hair back from his face and captured her hand with his. “Yeah. Wow.”
She shifted on the table, finally noticing how her shoulder blades dug into the wood. With a concerned look, Ric helped her to her feet, holding her close against him when her knees wobbled. She snuggled into his chest, enjoying the fragrance of him that tickled her nostrils—
sweat and soap and pure masculinity. Then a brand-new sensation caused her eyes to fly open and had her swallowing hard. That wetness trickling down her thigh was semen. Holy hell, they hadn’t even used protection.
She shoved that thought aside. This moment was for pleasure. Terror could come later.
Ric lifted her into his arms and she cuddled against the soft silk of his polo shirt. He stepped out of the jeans that were still tangled around his ankles and moved with purposeful grace toward the stairs. Good. She wasn’t done with him yet and this time a bed would be nice. She nuzzled his throat while they moved, licking the salty dampness from his skin. Then she slid down his body to stand facing his chest when he stopped beside her bed.
“Too many clothes.” With one swift movement, Ric pulled the polo shirt off over his head. Then he reached out and gently removed her T-shirt as well.
“Mmm.” She buried her nose in the crisp golden curls on his chest. “You smell wonderful.” She couldn’t resist the urge to find out if he smelled that good all over.
Dropping to her knees, she trailed a line of soft, wet kisses down his chest and stomach. She’d never felt the urge to perform oral sex before, but right now she was pretty sure she wasn’t going to survive another moment without the taste of Ric in her mouth.
She was trying to kill him. Sixty seconds ago he would have sworn he didn’t have a thing left in him, but her soft words and gentle exploration had him hard all over again. When her hands and face drifted lower, following the line of hair down his belly, he groaned, widening his stance and bracing one arm against the carved oak bedpost to keep from falling. When she went down on her knees on the fluffy blue rug, he nearly wept with pleasure and anticipation.
“I’ve never done this before,” she whispered. “Let me know if I do something wrong. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You’re doing fine, love.” Major understatement.
Need pulsed through his cock, sending tremors up his spine. Did she know how much her words and actions turned him on? Probably not. Even he wouldn’t have believed it before meeting Meagan. Somehow she pushed buttons he’d never even known he had. Her tongue was making exploratory circles around his shaft and it took all of his concentration to remain standing. He buried his hands in her lustrous hair and hung on for dear life.
With one hand cradling his balls, testing their texture and the other clamped on his butt, probably for balance, she ran her lips up and down the length of him, tracing the ridge from root to tip. After a moment she paused, looked up at Ric with a serious expression in her beautiful green eyes. “I don’t think I can fit it all in my mouth.”
He closed his eyes, let out a short bark of laughter. “It doesn’t matter, love. Everything you do feels good.” Too damn good. He was likely to come, again, just from her playing. If she took him into her mouth, he’d probably implode on the spot.
And she did. Her warm, wet lips closed around his tip and she sucked in her breath as she slid down, her hand wrapped around the lower half.
Fireworks burst behind his eyelids as he fought the orgasm. It was too soon; he didn’t want this to end yet.
Forcing together all of his reserves, he lay his hands on her shoulders to guide her off him, up to her feet.
“Sorry,” she breathed, probably sure she’d done someth
ing wrong.
“You’re too damn good, Meagan,” he grunted, falling backward onto the bed, dragging her down on top of him.
A couple of slight movements later and she was astride him, lowering her hot, tight sheath onto his aching dick.
He cried out as her wet heat closed around him and he thought she called his name as well. Her inner muscles gripped him like a fist while her hips instinctively angled to meet his own.
He wasn’t going to last. Again. In over seven centuries of enjoying sex, he’d never met anyone who made him feel like she did. She had more magic in her than anyone he’d ever known, at least when it came to this.
“Ric!” She shrieked his name, riding him harder and faster. He reached up, pinched both her nipples and rolled them between his fingers. It hadn’t taken him long to discover that her breasts were unusually sensitive. Which made him a lucky man, since he didn’t think he’d ever get tired of fondling them, tasting them.
He canted his hips off the bed, driving his cock a bit farther inside. She was so small and tight, it felt like a whole-body hug wrapped around him and he pounded up into her for all he was worth, losing himself in the silken feel and citrus scent of her. When the tremors began in her body, she keened out his name again and that was all it took. Two more thrusts and Ric was joining her, shooting so hard and fast, he wasn’t sure he’d survive the experience.
Moments later she collapsed on his chest, weak and spent. Feeling the same, he nuzzled her hair, delighting in the fresh lemony fragrance of her shampoo, overlaid with the heady musk of sweat and sex. Not wanting to move, he cuddled her close, stroking one hand up and down the silky skin of her back.
“Thank you.” Her words were muffled against his chest, so at first he didn’t think he’d heard her correctly.
“Huh?” That was him, Mr. Eloquent. His bardic mentors would be horrified to hear him now, but Meagan reduced his brain to a puddle of mush.
She shifted sideways, rolling to her back but still pressed alongside him. One small, elegant hand cupped his chin. “I said thank you, Alaric Thornhill. That was—
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