Ordinary Charm

by Anya Bast

  “It’s so pretty,” Cole murmured. He slipped his hands under her to cup her buttocks. “Like ripe fruit. I’m going pull those pretty pink pussy lips apart, baby, open you up and eat you out. I’m going to suck on your clit until you scream.” He lowered his mouth to it as though starving.

  Serena grasped the ties on either side of her, arched her back and cried out at the unexpected onslaught. There was no seduction this time, no soft kisses or caresses. This was full-out pussy eating.

  She groaned. And it was good, too.

  He licked up the length of her sex, stopping to pull her labia into his mouth and tease the entrance of her pussy. Then he moved up, circling her clit with the tip of his tongue and flicking at it. Pleasure rolled out from that point of her body, tingling through her. He made noises like she was the most wonderful woman he’d ever tasted, like he couldn’t get enough.

  “Cole,” she gasped.

  Her toes curled as he lifted her up from the bed and attacked her with renewed fervor. He slid his tongue into her pussy and thrust in and out just like how she wanted his cock. Her hips bucked involuntarily.

  “You made so much luscious cream for me, Serena. Are you excited, baby?” he queried from between her spread thighs.

  “You-you know I am,” she gasped.

  “You like my mouth on your pussy, Serena? What do you like best, hmmm? This?” He flicked the tip of his tongue around her clit and circled it until every muscle in her body went taut and she moaned. “Or do you like this better?” He dropped down and sucked her labia into his mouth, then slid his skillful tongue into her pussy and fucked her with it.

  The reflection in the wall of mirrors showed her face slack with ecstasy, her wrists bound and Cole’s head between her thighs. His powerful back muscles rippled as he moved. An orgasm flirted hard with her body. Watching him eat her out was more erotic than she ever imagined it could be. All she could do was tip her head back on a helpless moan.

  “I think you like both. I know I do,” said Cole.

  He let her ass settle back on the bed and moved his hands to her inner knees. With gentle exertion, he pushed down, bracing and pinning her legs to the bed. In this position, he had her completely at his mercy and spread wide. He lowered his mouth to her clit and sucked relentlessly at the aroused bit of flesh.

  “Cole!” she cried out as her climax steamrolled over her.

  He didn’t stop even when her body shuddered and bucked beneath his. Letting up a little on the pressure of his tongue on her clit, he gentled and cajoled her body straight into another state of high arousal.

  “I have to have you around my cock,” he said, rising over her. He pushed her knees up and took the other two ties from the bedside table. Each one he wound around her ankle and tied to the headboard near her wrists. She was now spread out completely to his gaze and touch. Her thighs were parted as far as they could go. Her sex was offered up to him as if on a platter.

  Now she really felt vulnerable.

  He made a purring sound deep in his throat and his eyes flashed green. He reached out and ran a finger though through her pubic hair, trailing lightly down over her plumped clit, to her pussy, and pushed in. “Ah, baby, you’re so warm, so tight. Silky.” He added a second thick finger to the first and fucked her with them.

  Considering her position, with her knees pretty much level with her chin, the thrusting motion was almost straight up and down. She could see his fingers sink in and pull out of her glistening, wet pussy. Her sex made a slick sound every time he pulled out as though it didn’t want to give up those thick digits.

  All she could do was make a whimpering noise. She wanted his cock.

  “Mmmm, that’s so good,” he murmured, “isn’t it? Tell me. Do you like it when I do this to you?”

  She bit her lip and let it go. “God, yes,” she breathed. She felt drugged from the pleasure.

  “I need more from you,” he growled.

  Yes, more…

  He pulled his fingers free from her body and rubbed her moisture over her sex. Swirling his wet finger around her clit made her hips jump. “You’re killing me,” she moaned.

  “You so eager for my cock, beautiful?”

  “Yes.”

  He rose up on his knees and set his cock to the entrance of her pussy. “Then take me,” he said as he thrust down, burying the thick length of his shaft within her. “Take all of me.” He drove into her, burying himself to the root of his cock within her hungry pussy.

  Serena sucked in a breath as the muscles of her sex closed around him tight as a fist. Her whole body tingled from having him connected to her so intimately, filling her…virtually an extension of her.

  Cole stilled, thrust within her to the hilt and grasped the headboard above her. His low, sexy groan filled the air. “Ah, Serena, you feel so good. God, so sweet.”

  He started to shaft her.

  Serena bit her bottom lip as she watched his cock glide in and out of her at a mind-blowingly slow pace. He seemed far too huge to be able to fit in her, but, oh, she was glad he could. He filled her so perfectly, stretched the muscles of her sex exquisitely far. At this angle, he sank into her much deeper than he had before.

  Serena looked up at him. His chest was starting to shine with perspiration and his muscles rippled and bunched with exertion as he labored above her. She closed her eyes as a wave of pure, unadulterated pleasure swept over her.

  “Oh, yeah, baby. God, that’s so good,” Cole groaned over her. “You feel so good around me.” He picked up the pace of his thrusts. “You’re creaming hard for me now. So wet. Watch me fuck you, beautiful.”

  She stared as the long, thick length of his shaft plunged into her faster and faster, stretching her pussy wide with every deep, hammering downward thrust. Her climax built, threatening to explode over her. “Oh, God…Cole!” she cried as it shattered through her body.

  He kept up the relentless piston-like pace up as the muscles of her pussy convulsed around him. She grabbed onto the ties that bound her as her body was racked with a delicious wave of ecstasy.

  Then she felt his hands on her bonds he freed her ankles, then her wrists. “Hold me, baby,” he murmured. “Touch me. Please. I need to feel your arms around me.”

  She wrapped her legs around his waist, put her hands on his back and massaged her way over the flexing and bunching muscles.

  He lowered his mouth to hers and took her in a possessive kiss. They bumped teeth, both trying to get further into the other’s mouth. Cole slammed into her pussy over and over, driving her ass into the mattress with every penetrating thrust, and then snapping his hips in a way that exerted pressure over her clit.

  He nipped her shoulder where he’d marked her in stag form, then bit gently. Serena felt his cock jump inside her as his own climax crashed into him. She cried out as another orgasm hit her full-force. She dug her fingernails into his back as she came. His come filled her pussy, mixing with her own cream.

  “Ah, baby, baby,” he groaned as he collapsed and then rolled to the side. “My God. You just feel better and better to me every single time.”

  Serena closed her eyes, breathing heavy. Cole had given her what she’d wanted—to be fucked senseless. To have all her worries thrust out of her as sure his cock thrust into her. But now that it was over, her concerns rushed back at her. Tears rolled down her face.

  “Hey,” said Cole softly. He drew her into his arms. “Hey, it’s okay,” he soothed.

  Meaningless platitudes. It was not okay.

  He held her against him and let her sob out all her fear and frustration until she finally cried herself to sleep.

  Sometime in the night, she awoke to darkness. She stilled, trying to figure out what it was that had pulled her from her slumber.

  The phone rang.

  Serena pulled herself free of the tangle of Cole’s embrace and lunged across the bed to grab the phone. “Hello?”

  “Serena?”

  “Rowan? Where are you? What happened?
Ohmygodareyouokay?”

  “I’m fine. I’m fine. Calm down, sis. I’m at home. I got this number from the police. Where are you anyway?”

  Why the hell did she sound like everything was perfectly normal? “What happened?” Serena shrieked into the phone.

  Silence on the other end.

  “Rowan?” Serena asked, calming down. “Are you still there?”

  “I’m here.”

  Cole sat up and drew closer to Serena. He ran his hand down her back and the touch comforted her. “Don’t pull this secretive crap with me, Rowan. Tell me what happened.”

  Rowan sighed. “I’ve been in a little trouble lately, okay? Someone, a man, was trying to protect me. He forced me to go with him because he believed I was in danger. I was fine the whole time, Rowan. He probably saved my life.”

  “You didn’t have a freaking phone where you were? I’ve been out of my mind with worry!”

  “No. There was no phone. I swear. He forgot his cell phone and we were way out…at a cabin. No electricity. No phone. I called the cops as soon as I got home, told them I’d gone of my own free will. Told them to call off the search party, or whatever. Honestly, I really didn’t think you’d even know what happened. I didn’t think anyone would know and then I came back and saw the local news—”

  “Who is this man who was protecting you and what kind of trouble are you in, exactly?”

  Silence.

  “Goddamn it, Rowan!”

  “It’s for your own good that I don’t tell you,” Rowan said softly. “You’ve protected me my whole life, now it’s my turn.”

  Click.

  Serena stared at the phone. “She hung up on me,” she exclaimed in disbelief. “I can’t believe it.”

  Cole took the phone from her and set it back in its cradle. “Is she okay?”

  “Yes.” She sighed in relief. “She’s fine.” Hopefully.

  “Good. Worry about the fact she hung up on you and that she’s withholding information later. Enjoy her well-being now.” He leaned back into the pillows and pulled her against him.

  She settled the crown of her head under his chin and relaxed into his chest. Ahhh…she could get used—

  “I could get used to having a mate,” Cole said.

  She stiffened.

  He rubbed his hand up and down her back “Why does the word ‘mate’ seem to strike terror in your soul, beautiful?”

  “Uh.” She swallowed hard. “I-I was married before.”

  The movement of his hand stilled.

  “We divorced about five years ago. Right after he, uh, tried to kill me.”

  He sat up. “What?”

  She rested on an elbow and looked up at him. “It was for the insurance money. He’d taken up with this woman he worked with, you see. They were having an affair, but I didn’t know it. One weekend they were supposed to attend a conference in a nearby city. That’s where I thought he was. Instead, he broke into the house like he was a burglar with the intention of ransacking the place and killing me.”

  Cole was quiet for a long moment. Green fire jumped once through his eyes. “He wanted to make it look like you’d caught a burglar in the act and the burglar murdered you.” It was more statement than question and was uttered in a low, angry voice.

  She looked down and swallowed hard. “His girlfriend was going to give him an alibi. Tell the cops she’d seen him at the conference. Once he collected the insurance money, they were going to start a faux courtship so it didn’t look too suspicious and eventually get married. That’s, uh, that’s what he told the court, anyway. He ended up confessing to everything.”

  “I see,” said Cole, in a strange, quiet voice. Serena was starting to understand that when Cole went quiet, it meant he was very riled up in some way and was trying to control it.

  “But I caught him in the act that night and, well, he was OtherKin, but my magick had always been a lot stronger than his, so I knocked him unconscious and called the cops.” She picked at the blanket with her thumb and forefinger.

  Those memories still made her nauseous. Brian had kissed her before he’d “left” for the conference. When he’d broken into her home, he’d been an entirely different person. He’d been someone she’d never known. She stopped picking at the blanket and looked up at Cole. “He’s going to be in jail for a long, long time,” she finished.

  Cole was quiet for a long time, his gaze searching her face. “You do know that if I ever meet him, I’m pounding the crap out of him.” He sounded fierce and protective. A man protecting his mate. A thrill of pleasure went through her.

  She laughed.

  * * * * *

  In the morning hour that lay just shy of dawn, the phone rang again. Cole roused, pulling himself from under Serena’s sleeping weight and picked up the phone. “Hello?”

  Silence.

  Cole sat up a little more. “Hello?”

  “The Cernunnos should keep his eyes open today. It’s time to play.”

  Click.

  Chapter Seven

  Serena turned over and asked sleepily, “Who was that?”

  “We need to get up, beautiful. I think Ashmodai wasn’t as crippled as I thought he’d be by the force of magick I threw at him.”

  She pushed the covers away and stood. Cole tried not to swallow his tongue at the sight of her standing there swathed only by the silver moonlight coming through his bedroom window. All he wanted to do was to press her back onto the mattress and make love to her slowly, show her everything he couldn’t say to her yet. He wanted to make love to her without Cernunnos riding him so hard, pushing him to extremes. Although, from the way she’d screamed the night before, he had a feeling Serena kind of enjoyed the extremes.

  “Who was that on the phone?” she asked.

  “The demon himself.”

  “Shit.”

  Cole stood and pushed a hand through his hair. “Pretty much my sentiment. We need to get back to the university and see if the prof’s got our translation.” He moved toward the bathroom to take a shower.

  “We need to get working on another spell, too. One that will call and hold the demon, but it’s got to be better than the last.”

  “Come on, Serena,” Cole said when he reached the bathroom doorway. “Come take a shower with me.”

  “Cole,” she said patiently. “We have other things we need get accomplished.”

  “Serena,” he said patiently right back. “You’re not going out of my sight for two seconds today. Not even long enough for you or I to take a shower. Not after what Ashmodai said yesterday. C’mere.”

  She followed him into the bathroom and they took a fast shower. How he wished they had more time. Cole vowed that once this was over, he’d take a long, hot shower with her…and take her up against the tiled wall while the hot water pounded against them. As it was, he could only allow himself one little groan at the feel of their bodies pressed together under the hot spray. He let his hands roam her soap-slicked body and tangle in her shampooed hair. He could do this for the rest of his life. Every single morning. They’d save money that way. Conserve water.

  He truly did feel mated.

  After they were dressed and had slammed down a bagel slathered with cream cheese apiece, they headed downstairs to go find out if the professor had made any headway on the translation and to go to Millicent’s to see if she’d made any headway on a stronger spell. They needed something that would hold Ashmodai for certain this time.

  They reached the university, parked in the ramp and trekked across campus to the ancient languages building. When they got there, it was to find the prof’s door ajar.

  Serena grabbed his wrist when he raised his hand to knock. “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?”

  He lowered his hand and raised an eyebrow. “Because there’s a demon on the loose that can possess people? I think that’d be enough to give anyone the heebie-jeebies. We still have to knock on the door, though.”

  “Yes. You’re right.” She drew
a breath. “Okay, fine, go ahead.”

  He knocked, but there was no response. He pushed the door open and it squeaked on rusty hinges.

  “Oh my god,” Serena breathed beside him and clutched his upper arm. “This is just like every damn horror movie I ever saw.”

  “Professor?” called Cole.

  The office appeared empty. The computer screen flickered and dust motes floated through the air, illuminated by the beams of morning sunlight coming through the window.

  “Wow,” Serena muttered as they entered. “Worse and worse—”

  “Cole?”

  Serena screamed and jumped toward the doorway, the direction from which the voice had come.

  Cole turned, recognizing the prof’s voice. “Professor Hardy.”

  “I didn’t mean to scare you, Serena,” said the professor.

  “I’m sorry,” answered Serena. “I’m a little jumpy this morning.” She extracted a tube of lip balm from her pocket and used it.

  “You’re both up bright and early. You caught me right before a class.” He walked into the room, set a plastic coffee container on the desk and sat down.

  Cole relaxed. Professor Hardy seemed fine. Psychically, he felt fine, too. “We just stopped to see if you’d made any progress on that translation.”

  Professor Hardy smiled, then turned around to his computer and pulled up a file. “I did. It kept me up all night. As usual, it was a very interesting text.” He hit print and handed the hard copy to Cole. “I saved the file to a disk for you, too.” He picked up a jewel case containing a CD that lay on his desk and gave it to Cole.

  Cole scanned the paper. It appeared the information they wanted was there. Relief flooded through him. “Thank you so much, Professor Hardy. You don’t know how grateful I am for this.”

  “It was my pleasure. But allow me to ask one question?”

  “Shoot.”

  Professor Hardy slid his hands behind his head and grinned. “What have you got against this Ashmodai creature that you’re going to do all those horrible things to it?” He paused. “In the context of the game you’re developing, I mean.”