“Her father wants her because of her magic. Without it, she would be of no use to him.”
“You guys sure do know how to make a girl feel loved,” Nikki muttered under her breath.
Mrs. Thyme glanced at her but then returned her focus to Mrs. Marrow. “We should let the matter rest for now, but pick it up again after Molly is safely back.”
Mrs. Marrow wasn’t ready to let it rest quite so easily, though. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity—”
“Do you want Molly back or do you want vengeance, Madame President?” Mrs. Thyme continued in a calm, level voice. “You can’t have both. Not today, at least.”
“Fine, the matter is tabled—for now. Isaac, you will bring Ms. Rathe before us again after Molly has been returned so we can give this matter more attention.”
“I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you, Madame President.” Isaac’s words held a promise Nikki wanted to believe.
“You will do as you are ordered.”
“No, not this time. This hearing is over.”
“You don’t get to decide that, Isaac,” Mrs. Marrow said.
“No, but we can.” Mr. Loag’s voice was tired. It made Nikki wonder how many times a day Madame President challenged the man. “I call for a dismissal of all charges against Isaac.” The others agreed in rapid succession. “And I move that these hearings be closed.” This time they all agreed except Mrs. Marrow. “Three of four carries it. You’re free to go. Do remember you will both be expected to stand in front of us again after Molly’s safety has been secured, though.”
Isaac sneered at the Council members as he turned to leave. Nikki however, didn’t have the energy left to give even a token protest. She was too numb.
She followed him out of the building and got into his car, still cocooned in the comfort of disbelief. “Can they make you do it?” She cursed her stupidity at as soon as the words were out. Of course they could. If they couldn’t, he wouldn’t be so pissed.
He started the car and drove out away from the building before answering, “My mother can. If she wants to push me hard enough.”
“She’s a compulsor?” It was the only ability that made sense with what little she knew about the woman.
“Yeah. She’s never pushed me before because she knows she’ll lose me in the process.”
“Like permanent brainwash?”
He chuckled softly and, as little comfort as it was, it did help to ease some of the tension. “No. Like never see me again, or any future grandchildren. Her hold doesn’t last long and once I came out of it, I’d never speak to her again.”
The thought of him having children made her chest hurt unexpectedly. Not that she was jealous of the future Mrs. Marrow. Even if Isaac was a decent enough person, he was the most stubborn man she’d ever met and his mother was going to be the mother-in-law from hell. The dull ache must be residual fear. “Will she do it this time? Am I worth jeopardizing her future with you?”
“I honestly don’t know. But even if she tries, it’ll be more than our family she’s gambling with.”
He didn’t elaborate and she refused to try to pry the information from him. Besides, she already had it worked out. She would simply slip away before the Council knew Molly was free. Nikki had left this world behind once before. She could do it again. And since his mother’s hold didn’t last long, Nikki wouldn’t have to worry about Isaac coming after her. As long as she never saw him again, she wouldn’t have to worry about what his mother could or couldn’t do.
As they turned into his drive, she noticed the pain that’d started in her chest had crept into her stomach. It wasn’t the idea of leaving again or the knowledge that Isaac wouldn’t come for her that hurt, though, she told herself. She was just concerned about what came next. Soon, she’d be going up against her father. And that man made Mrs. Marrow look like an upset kitten by comparison.
After he turned off the engine, she climbed out and started across the rocky driveway without noticing much but the house in front of her. She needed to focus on its solid walls in order to shut everything else out of her mind.
“Nikki?”
“Huh?” She didn’t dare turn to face him. She didn’t want to be able to read any emotions on his face, or worse, have him read any on hers.
“Why’d you lie to the Council?” His voice was so close it startled her, making her jump and almost trip. Fortunately, he wrapped a hand around her waist and settled her before she could fall. As soon as she was steady again, she meant to pull away from him. But when that time came, she found she simply didn’t want to. She liked being in his arms too much and, after the mess of today’s hearing, she needed the comfort.
“I know the smart answer would be, so we can get Molly out as quickly as possible. But the more honest one is, it was just fun to fuck with your mom.”
“That’s why you told them you wanted to stay bound to me?”
She forgot what she was about to say as his hand slipped to rest on her ass. It felt so good she nearly forgot everything but him being there with her right now. Wouldn’t it be great if life were that simple?
“Nikki?”
Jerked out of her thoughts, she took a deep breath to help her relax before asking, “Are you asking because you actually want me to answer, or is this yet another politely veiled attempt to tell me what I’m thinking and how I feel?” There was no sarcasm or anger in her voice. She honestly wanted to know.
“I don’t understand.”
“Obviously.” She tried to pull away from him, but he tightened his embrace. “Since I woke up in your house, you’ve been telling me how I feel about, well, everything. I’ve tried to talk to you, but you’ve either brushed off or shushed each of my attempts.”
He stopped and turned her to face him. “That’s not true. When we were about to….” A light blush rose over his face as if he were embarrassed. “You told me to stop. And I did.”
“After you gave me an order. Did you ever stop to think it was poor word choice on your part that slammed on the brakes that night?” At that memory and the memory of the frustrating nights that followed, she was quickly starting to feel a little irritated. And it felt kind of good after all the numbness the day had brought. Like the sun melting away the chill of a winter’s morning.
He shook his head defiantly as he took a step away from her. “That’s not possible.”
“You told me if I had even a moment of doubt I had to say stop. But you didn’t qualify the nature of the doubt.” She started to walk resolutely up the porch stairs hoping to get away from him, but he wouldn’t let her. He grabbed her hand and followed her up.
“If it wasn’t about me…”
She stopped at the door, but refused to look back at him as she said, “It was all about me.” Wanting to throw the door open for effect, she reached out and grabbed the handle only to find it locked. It wasn’t a huge surprise, but it was still disappointing. Crossing her arms over her chest, she turned to face him.
He slipped the key into the lock and the door opened effortlessly. “So, you wanted—”
“My head hitting your headboard as you fucked me?” She winked at him, sauntering into his house. “Yes, sir. I most certainly did.” She felt even better as the warmth of irritation slid into the burning heat of desire. Seemed the two emotions were tied together where Isaac Marrow was concerned.
His sharp intake of breath almost echoed in the silent house, but she refused to acknowledge him. Instead, she exaggerated the roll of her hips as she walked down the hall toward the stairway.
When she made it to the bottom stair, she looked back only to find him still standing in the opened doorway. “And I was telling the truth that time. I don’t want the bond removed. You can believe me or not, but I’d stay and help even if you released me. In the grand scheme of things, it kind of makes the bond a moot point. At least, it does in my mind.”
She started up the stairs, taking her time to allow him to catch up. And catch up he did
. By the time her foot hit the sixth stair, his arms were wrapped around her waist. He turned her effortlessly and pinned her against the wall.
“If you, for even a second—”
Unbelievable! He was about to issue another order. “So help me god, if you finish that sentence…”
“I couldn’t live with myself if I thought even for a second—”
“I didn’t want this?” She saw the concern in his eyes and softened. “I trust you Isaac—at least where this is concerned. You’re going to have to trust me.”
He started to argue with her, but she stopped him with a tentative kiss. She couldn’t remember the last time the thought of sex made her this nervous. Then again, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this honest with her partner. “I want you. Now,” she said, after breaking the kiss. “But if I want you to stop, I won’t have a problem telling you.”
His kiss was anything but tentative. Filled with longing and desire, it washed away her nervous energy—replacing it with pure heat.
She’d just surrendered to the kiss completely when it ended, though.
“What—”
Her question was interrupted by her own shriek of surprise as he lifted her in his arms and carried her up the remaining stairs.
“I like the idea of you in my bed. I would never make you hit that lovely head of yours on my headboard, though.”
Heat coursed through her, warming every inch of her body. Yes. This was how she was supposed to feel. So full of life and energy. She giggled as he threw open the door to his bedroom. And then, after just a few of his large strides, she was laying on his massive bed. “Would you like me to strip for you again?” she asked. “We could pick up where we left off. You know, before you bound me,” she teased.
“Huh, I seem to remember you holding me at knifepoint shortly thereafter,” he countered. “Not sure I want a repeat.”
“No knives this time. Bygones?”
“Most definitely.” All concern was gone from his eyes. It’d been replaced by a feral hunger that stroked her ego until it hummed.
“No family, no alliances.” It was meant as a reminder, but it came out so weak she wasn’t certain whom she was trying to remind, him or herself.
“Better off without them, anyway.” He slipped a hand up her skirt and then groaned. “You forgot something this morning.”
“I didn’t forget anything. It was intentional.” She arched toward the intense pleasure as he ran a finger over her sex and whimpered as the frustration of the past three days slammed into her. “Please.”
“Had I known you weren’t wearing anything under this lovely skirt, I might have taken you up on your offer at the hearing.”
“Then it’s a good thing you didn’t know.” Her breath caught as he slid a finger into her as his thumb caressed her clit.
“Damn, so hot,” he said through clenched teeth. “Want to take this slow.”
“Next time.”
He studied her for a second before losing whatever internal battle he was having. He stripped quickly and then pulled a foil package out of a drawer in his nightstand. Still standing, he rolled the condom over his very erect cock before wrapping a hand around her ankle and pulling her toward him until her ass rested on the edge of the bed.
When he finally pushed her skirt up around her waist, it hit her how insane this was. The heat, the desire—she was panting with it and he’d barely touched her. Even with the torture of the days of tension leading up to this, she should be more in control. She was always in control. Had to be to keep her magic under wraps.
But as he thrust into her all thoughts ceased.
Chapter Six
Heat rushed through him as he filled her. His cock was surrounded by the warmth of the tight muscles of her sex and, wanting to enjoy the sensation, he stilled for a moment.
“Isaac…” Nikki’s voice was sharp with hunger as she rocked against him, trying to force him to move. But he grabbed her hips and pinned her securely to the bed.
“Don’t rush.” He wasn’t sure what turn of fate had brought her into his bed or how long his favor with the universe was going to last, so he planned on savoring what time they had.
She struggled to move against him again, but he refused to let her. “I’m not a patient woman.” She arched her back, causing him to slide out of her just a fraction, but one quick tug on her hips brought him back into her depths. In this position, with him standing and her lying on the bed, he was in complete control.
“You will be by the time we’re done,” he promised. He pulled out until just the tip of his cock was still in her and then pressed back into her slowly. As he pulled out of her again, he released one hip so he could stroke her clit in slow circles.
She cried out in pleasure as she threw her head back against the bed and wrapped her legs around his waist. “Stop playing around. Fuck me already. Or I swear I’ll have you on your back and will be riding you like a goddamned cowboy.”
He reached around his back to unlock her legs and then positioned them so they were resting against his chest with her ass tucked snugly against his balls. Forget slow and sensual. She wanted it fast and hard, he could do that. “Was that a threat? ’Cause it sounded more like a reward to me.” He pulled out of her and then thrust back in with both force and speed.
She closed her eyes and moaned as he filled her. “God, yes. Harder. Please.” The raw need in her voice pushed him into a faster pace. And every time he was buried inside her he was rewarded with a quick wiggle of her hips, which rubbed her smooth ass against his thighs.
Every muscle in his body was tense, hovering on the brink of climax. But he refused to surrender to it. He wanted to feel her to come around his erection. Needed to watch her shatter into blissful release before he gave in to his. And she was so close. Her body was as tense as a violin string, and just as wonderful to stroke.
His name was whispered as both a blessing and a curse as she clenched the cover in her fists and her eyes were shut tight against the painfully intense pleasure he himself was fighting. But she met each of his thrusts with eager little moans and whimpers that made his balls tighten and heat gather at the base of his spine. He was dangerously close to losing control. And for one brief moment he worried he was going to climax before she did. But then she yelled his name and her muscles began milking his cock as she writhed in pleasure on the bed. He hadn’t come, not yet, but the intense pleasure racing through his body was unequaled to anything he’d ever experienced. His mind was such a fog of endorphins he felt almost drunk on them.
“My turn,” she said, after the inner walls of her sex had stopped clenching around him.
Before he could consider what she meant, she’d looped her legs around his waist again and, true to her earlier threat, had him flipped over on his back. His legs still hung over the side of the bed, but that didn’t seem to concern her as she sat up on him to take him into her fully.
As she began rocking on top of him, she let her hands trail over his chest and down to his waist. Her thighs flexed as she pulled herself up and then relaxed as she slid back down his length. God they were sexy thighs. He could stare at them for hours.
Only, then he wouldn’t see what those delightful hands of hers were doing. At some point she’d worked them up her own body and was currently pinching and rolling her nipples between her thumbs and fingers as her black hair swung free around her shoulders. Her gaze was heavy with renewed desire and her lips slightly parted. It was the sexiest image he’d ever seen and, not wanting to forget a single detail, he did his best to memorize it. But, too soon, he was lost to everything but the sensation of being inside her.
He gripped her hips tightly and pulled her down against him. She was an expert rider, but he wasn’t used to giving up control. She allowed him to guide their pace for a few more minutes but then she stopped playing with her beautiful nipples and braced her hands on his chest.
He was no innocent. He enjoyed sex and had thought he’d
experienced it all, but now he was realizing, until that very moment, he’d never truly been fucked by anyone. Her movements were quick but filled with power and confidence that demanded his surrender. It was a call he couldn’t deny for long.
Bursts of light began to dance behind his eyelids as his own orgasm started to build. He was right on the cusp, the pleasure so intense it was becoming unbearable. Wanting to see her—needing to watch the ocean of desire crashing in her eyes—he opened his. God she was beautiful. Wild and confident. So full of life. And that was all it took to push him over the brink, forcing him surrender to the bliss that engulfed him.
His body was aflame. He would’ve sworn he’d been turned to ash if he didn’t feel so alive. And the room was lost to a sudden flash of light that blinded him to everything but the perfect weight of her body on his.
Her movements slowed but didn’t stop. And, as sensitive as he was, he really needed her to stop. He tried to hold her hips to find some reprieve from the torment but, in his current haze, he wasn’t a match for her. By the time he found the strength to remove her, he was already hard again. She just felt so perfect wrapped around him. It was actually almost painful to lift her off him and sit her next to him on the bed, but he needed to dispose of the condom and clean up. It was, after all, the gentlemanly thing to do. “Hold that thought. I’ll be right back,” he promised as he took a step toward his bathroom.
“Better make it quick.”
“What? You going to start without me?”
She smiled as she encircled a nipple with her fingertip. “That’s a given. The real question is if I’ll finish without you.”
It was a warning he was happy to heed and, when he came back into the bedroom and found her running her fingers through the lips of her pussy, he was glad he had. It was a sight that caught him in the chest and made it hard from him to breathe. “Really not big on the whole patience thing, are you?”
“I did warn you.”
“I remember.” He pulled a pair of velvet-lined cuffs from his night stand and held them out to her. “It does have it perks, though. Wanna give it a shot?”
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