By the time dawn came, a fever broke out and rendered Robin shaking from head to foot. He gave her another sponge wash and redressed her wounds, then used his body warmth to keep her warmer. She turned to him in the morning, murmuring his name, and he felt his heart leap at the progress. Then, when it was obvious that she was still going to keep sleeping, he finally gave in to his sleepiness and closed his eyes, pulling her close to him as he did so.
Then he slept like a log.
*****
When Simon woke up, it was to the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling…and the scent of pizza. He sat up right away, looking at the empty spot on the bed beside him before cocking his ears towards the bathroom, where the sound of water was running. His nose then zoned in on the pizza box on the nearby table, and unable to resist, Simon went to open it along with all the other boxes that contained everything from fried rice to doughnuts. His mouth watered.
“Good morning.”
Simon looked up to find Robin stepping out of the bathroom, looking fresh and squeaky clean in jeans and a plain white shirt. Her hair was wet and still uncombed, and those big green eyes gave him a once-over—a professional one, as she tried to determine his condition. But he didn’t miss the longing that flashed in her eyes before she tamped it down.
Lust shot up inside him, shaking him on his feet. He forgot all about the food as he eyed her back, trying to get the right words out of his mouth.
Finally, he settled for the simplest one.
“Are you okay? Is your energy back?” he asked.
Robin nodded, giving him a tentative smile. He didn’t smile back, which only had worry crossing her face. “Are you okay?”
Simon nodded back. He cleared his throat. “Can you perform some kind of magic to make my mouth minty?”
She shot him a puzzled look, then shrugged. Simon kept still as she moved closer and closed her eyes, placing her thumb on his lower lip. He felt magic slip in, tender and warm. When she opened her eyes, she tried a smile again.
“You’re all good.”
“Good,” he murmured.
“Now you can—”
“Kiss you,” he finished.
Her eyes widened, then flared. Simon didn’t give her any leeway to step back as he took hold of her waist and yanked her against him, pressing his mouth against hers in a kiss that was hard and deep and going all out. He poured everything into it, all the frustration and ache he felt when she left without a word, along with the relief that she was now alright and awake. He half-expected her to push him away and get some of her control back, and he was prepared to fight her for it, to tell her to do what she really wanted at this moment and not what was expected.
Instead, she pressed her body closer and kissed him back.
And Simon was lost.
*****
They made love day and night, over and over again to purge the passion for one another that was trapped in their souls. He took her on the bed, against the wall, and on the floor, making her scream and moan and claw at him as they both lost control. But it didn’t purge anything for Simon. If anything, it only strengthened his want for her, an intoxicating addiction that he wasn’t quite sure how he was going to get rid of.
After that second night, they slept through their next bout of exhaustion and made love one more time at dawn, and there was an urgency there and an unspoken agreement that this was going to be the last. He licked her in her pleasure spots, and she took his cock into her mouth, sucking until he was almost shooting out his load. Then she went on all fours, and he went hard on her until they were both exploding.
In the morning, Robin was the first to get dressed, and Simon watched her as she did so, his mind trying to catch up with the thought of her finally leaving.
She needed to report back to Red, and he needed to report back to Dylan. They needed to get back to their separate lives, do more missions, and give each other time to forget before they could be friends again.
They checked out. They stood on the street, and Robin smiled as she looked around.
“I guess today’s not a vacation day, either,” she muttered. “I plan to come back here in a few months. Maybe in a year. Want to come with me?”
“Of course,” he replied. Then he didn’t know what to say anymore, and he didn’t want to say goodbye. So Simon waited until Robin’s smiling expression cleared, and she finally nodded.
“Well, I guess this is it.” There was hesitation in her voice as if she wanted to say something else. She smiled. “I hope you find…your happiness. That shifter girl you want to marry. You deserve everything you want.”
His throat was too dry, and he had no response to that. All Simon could do was pull her into a tight hug, filling himself with her scent once more. Then he pulled back.
“I’ll see you around,” he managed to say.
He watched as she turned around and walked away first. He watched as she rounded the corner, her hair flying behind her as she broke into a quick pace. He kept watching the empty street, feeling his heart grow painful at the thought of not seeing her for weeks. Months.
Years.
Everything cleared—the clouds, the path, his mind. His heart. Then he was running after her and shouting her name, not caring that bystanders were looking. He caught her at the corner of another street, where she paused to look back at him with a puzzled expression.
“I don’t want to marry some goddamn shifter,” he blurted out.
Robin blinked.
“I want to marry a witch. I want to take her and make her scream my name. Then I want to mate her. She’s my happiness. I’m so crazy about her.”
Her eyes widened.
“I want to touch her right now, too,” he murmured, stepping closer.
Robin did not take a step back. She took a step forward, and Simon reached out for her, fully expecting her to come into his arms. She had to. He didn’t know how he was going to let her go now, and—
Pain hit him on the arm. Simon stared in shock as Robin hit him again—then a third time, glaring at him in the process. Sparks came out of her fingers, those familiar red and gold ones.
“You’re an idiot, and you took your damn time,” she snapped at him. “I loved you since that moment in the cave, maybe even earlier, but you were too dense, and I just couldn’t do anything and—”
He didn’t hear anything besides the word love.
She loved him.
She loved him.
He broke into a grin. He watched as her scolding trailed off. When it did, her breath was heaving, and her anger left her, and all that was left was a vulnerability and love that was simply there. She was right—he was an idiot for not seeing it.
But she was also one for not telling him.
Maybe they both were.
Simon pulled her into his arms, planting a kiss on her forehead—then, her mouth, because it was one he couldn’t resist. She sank into him and kissed him back, and they just stood there, savoring each other.
He may have been an idiot, but he wasn’t going to be one now.
“We’ll report to both of them,” Simon said. “Then we’ll take our goddamn vacation.”
Robin’s serious face broke into a grin, and his heart fell all the more. Jesus. She was going to kill him with that smile.
“You cursed,” she said happily.
She was so, so strange.
In response, he pulled her closer.
“I love you, too,” he replied.
They both laughed and kissed again.
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CHAPTER ONE
Valley Joy was the kind of sleepy town that didn’t really bring much excitement about, considering its main hobbies involved the following: too little population where everyone knew everyone, gossiping between neighbors being a common thing, and no fun places to go to at night
.
Erik O’Riley wasn’t a fan of the first, because he couldn’t be as invisible as he wanted to be. Cities and crowds were much better for the likes of him, where he could move without too much detection.
He didn’t really like the second, because what if one of the neighbors found out his true nature by accident? It would be all over town in less than a day, and they’d probably hold pitchforks while demanding to burn him at the stake.
He definitely wasn’t a fan of the last because…well, where were you supposed to drink and pick up women willing to heat up the sheets with you?
But Erik had a job to do—and unfortunately, that job included going to Valley Joy.
It was late afternoon by the time he arrived in town, and he headed straight to the police station and looked for the town sheriff right off. Erik waited in the station’s tiny waiting room, trying to ignore the young blonde secretary gawking at him. He’d give it five hours, tops. He was pretty sure his appearance would be described a couple times over as gossip was passed around regarding the new neighbor.
Ten minutes later, he was ushered into the sheriff’s room and finally met the man.
John Malone was as robust as the day Erik had met him ten years ago in the city—but the man looked somewhat happier now, he had lost that sour expression he wore all the time. They exchanged pleasantries for a bit, with Erik politely asking about John’s family and kids. He didn’t miss the way the sheriff’s face lit up when he answered.
Then John got right down to business. Without preamble, he pulled out a folder and slid it on the desk towards Erik, who picked it up without a word and began reading. There were pictures along with the files of victims and the nature in which they died—each eerily similar, each more violent than the last.
John didn’t interrupt, waiting patiently and as still as a cat. It gave away his true nature, though no ordinary man would have figured it out.
When Erik was done, he looked John in the eye.
“So these happened in other towns?”
John nodded. “Neighboring towns. Started further away near the border and steadily drew closer. The last few victims were in the town nearest to ours, a week ago. Then it stopped.”
“Hmm. Did someone warn you? Gave you these reports?”
“The sheriff in the neighboring town did. We all look out for each other.”
Erik looked at the file again, his attention riveted on the bite marks of whatever was left of the victims. They were a combination of violet and black, with yellowish bubbles forming at the sides. Odd.
“Any clues as to what we’re after here?”
John shook his head. “It’s not a shifter. I can’t identify the marks.”
“Doesn’t look vampire, either,” Erik murmured.
“No. Can you stop this from happening in Valley Joy?”
“I’m the man for the job.”
“Great,” John said with a sigh. “I could help, but I want to keep up my human appearances and not disappear when we get victims. I need to reassure the townspeople with my presence.”
Erik nodded, opting not to say that a cat shifter wouldn’t be much help, anyway—not when the victims were torn apart like this. John went on to explain that the attackers didn’t stay in the same town for too long—either they got tired of staying in once place easily, or just didn’t want to draw too much attention.
When they were done discussing, they both stood up and shook hands.
“I’ll take care of this problem for you, Sheriff.”
That was, after all, what he came here for. Shifters like his kind were meant to protect—with the right incentive and motive.
“Great. Let me show you where you’ll live in the meantime. There is plenty of food and honey in stock.”
Wonderful. A sheriff after Erik’s heart.
The sheriff led the way out of his office. With one last glance at the folder, Erik followed.
*****
He hadn’t been lounging in his new house—a one-story suburban style place with a bedroom and the basic appliances needed—for more than an hour when he saw lights turn on at the house next door, and voices carrying through. He was standing in the kitchen, eating a juicy steak and contemplating dessert when his sensitive ears picked up the male and female tones.
Quietly, Erik moved towards the living room, not turning any of his own lights on. Through the window, he saw the man—an affable looking fellow who seemed to be trying his hardest to make the woman laugh. Erik noted that his tone was verging on desperate, and wondered how long until the woman cracked.
Erik couldn’t see the woman with the way the porch arch was blocking her from sight, but it was obvious from her tone that she was being painfully polite…and putting him in the friend zone. Erik couldn’t help his grin when the persistent date finally got the picture as she didn’t invite him inside for coffee and practically slammed the door in his face.
“Call me when you can!” the man shouted hopefully before dejectedly shuffling away.
Erik chuckled, then shook his head. He went back to the kitchen to take care of the dishes, the neighbor forgotten as he got lost in his own thoughts. It was too early to shift and scout the area, especially with someone his size—he would need to do that later when everyone was asleep. Valley Joy had lots of forest areas, but it would be best to start securing the houses nearby first before venturing there. In this case, he only had two neighbors in this particularly area, so that was going to be a cinch.
He placed the dishes in the dishwasher, then decided that dessert would be a good idea right now. A light turned on in front of the kitchen window beside his sink. Erik looked up.
He froze.
The polite woman from earlier was now in his field of vision—clearly so. She’d turned on the lights in her kitchen, where a wide window gave him a view of her going to the fridge to pour herself a glass of white wine.
But that wasn’t the only thing she was doing.
Erik watched as the woman drank the wine in one huge gulp, then took out the bottle again and started drinking from there. Two gulps, before she placed it back.
He watched as she began removing her dress, right there in plain view, shimmying it down until he was treated to the sight of creamy skin, a perky butt and a handful of breasts encased in tight, tight underwear. Her hands went to remove her hair from its chignon, and brown hair cascaded down her slender shoulders. He could see her face—not gorgeous, but arresting enough to catch his attention as he took in her long lashes and dark-colored eyes.
Pink lips made for kissing.
Then the woman turned around and bent over to pick up something she’d dropped.
And what had been passing interest for Erik suddenly shifted to full blown desire.
He imagined that ass on his hands, where he molded them as he pressed his front against her back and kissed that soft-looking spot at the nape of her neck. Then he imagined sucking on it before he turned her around to face him and kissed her mouth instead, her soft moan urging him on as he began sliding her underwear off. Then his fingers would be there, slipping inside her. Then his fingers would be replaced by his cock as he thrust inside her wet heat…
The fantasy was so vivid, Erik had to take a physical step back as he felt his blood pound and his erection strain against his pants. Then he reined in his control, telling himself to get a grip. This wasn’t the time to be a horny bastard, not when he had a job to do.
But Jesus, it had been a few months since he’d last slept with a woman.
Still, this was wrong. He shouldn’t be peeping on an innocent woman, because that just made him an asshole.
He glanced through her kitchen once more, and to his relief, she was no longer there. But where were her curtains? Why were her windows all open?
And why the hell was she undressing just for anyone out there to see?
Arousal changed to irritation. Erik shook his head, deciding it was none of his business—for about five minutes.
&nb
sp; What if her desperate date came back and did more than look?
Erik growled at the thought. Then he was marching out of his house and striding towards hers before he could even think about it.
Someone needed to be lectured about the importance of safety and not undressing for the world to see.
CHAPTER TWO
That had to be one of the worst dates of her life.
Charlotte tried not to let the frustration of the night get to her as she went to her bedroom to don a robe before going back to the kitchen. She took out ingredients from her cupboards, intent on baking some gooey brownies and drinking wine for the rest of the night.
The evening had started pretty well. George had been nice and well-educated, and they got along well chatting over dinner. But then he started to hint about after dinner, and maybe she’d have considered it—if he had allowed the first date to stay as it was and asked her out for a second one.
But no. Nice George turned into persistent George as he insisted that she needed to come to his apartment and see his new stereo. Then persistent George began to turn into desperate George as he then insisted to take her home, where he proceeded to give her a kiss before inviting himself inside for coffee.
No, thank you.
And that had to be the most unrequited kiss ever.
She was done with men for now. None of the guys in town were just worth it anymore—though, if she was to be more honest with herself, perhaps the problem lay with her. It seemed like she couldn’t feel anything with any of the guys she’d gone out with, no matter how charming or handsome or well-mannered they were. The kiss with George didn’t even feel good—it felt like she was kissing her brother, and Lord knew that wasn’t exciting at all.
As for sex? Charlotte opened a package of chocolate chips almost viciously. It wasn’t anything home to write about, either.
She was about to measure all the ingredients when the ding on her bell sounded. She groaned.
Oh, lord. Did George come back?
Simon (The Clan Legacy Series) Page 10