Rock Bottom (The Gifted Realm #4)

by Jillian Neal

  Dan was overwhelmed as he gazed at her. He cradled her face tenderly in his hand and brushed her hair behind her shoulders.

  “You are the most beautiful thing I have ever set eyes on, and no, that’s not a line or something I’ve ever said to any other woman, ever. The most amazing thing is that you’re even more beautiful inside than you are on the outside, and I know I’ll never deserve you.”

  “Dan, that’s not true.”

  He shook his head. He knew it was.

  “But I will do my damnedest to be everything you need me to be. Just know that I’m still not really the way I should be, but I’m trying.”

  “Dan, no one is the way we’re supposed to be. Life is kind of a journey, don’t you think?”

  “Maybe,” he allowed hopefully. She gave him his smile once again, and then a mischievous look sparkled in her eye.

  “Ok, enough tears. Let’s do something fun, and then, if you’ll let me, I’m going to teach you to surf, Officer Vindico.”

  “I thought you were going to the spa.” He didn’t want her to miss out on fun with her friends because he’d come unglued.

  “I am, but our appointments aren’t ‘til eleven. It’s barely seven.”

  “I’m sorry I woke you up last night,” he apologized again.

  “Dan, stop. Remember that thing that we both feel but that we’re not talking about yet? That means that if you can’t sleep, I can’t sleep either.”

  He didn’t want to argue with her, so he just leaned and kissed her cheek.

  “Ok, Miss Fionna Kalani Halia Styler,” he quoted just to hear her giggle again.

  “It gets really long if you have to write it down,” she continued her infectious laughter.

  “What ever you want to do, I’m game. You just show me the way.”

  Her entire body seemed to glow from her ethereal light, and he was mesmerized.

  “Ok, I get to ask you five rapid-fire questions, and you have to answer without thinking about it. Just say whatever pops into your head first,” she explained the rules of her game.

  “And then I get a turn,” Dan negotiated.

  “Ok,” she agreed after a moment of consideration. “Ready?”

  “Ready,” he chuckled at her exuberance.

  “Favorite thing to eat?”

  “Steak rare and potatoes with cheese and those little green onion things on them.”

  “Scallions,” she provided for him. He laughed and nodded his agreement.

  “Ok,” she considered. “If you had a day where you could do anything you wanted, what would you do?” she quizzed and then added, “If you say work, I will pinch you, and not in a fun way.”

  Dan guffawed.

  “Can I see the fun way first?” he smirked.

  She rolled her eyes.

  “Well, I think I would say up until a few days ago, my answer would most definitely have been work, but now, I’d spend it with you just trying to make you smile.”

  “Oh, Dan, that’s so sweet.”

  He gazed at her adoringly.

  Her smile turned naughty as she goaded, “Favorite sexual position?”

  He chuckled, smirked, and fired back, “Doggy-style,” instantaneously.

  “Figured,” Fionna sassed as he winked at her.

  “Ok, favorite lingerie?”

  “For me or you?” he teased her just to make her laugh.

  “Me,” she huffed sarcastically.

  “Hmm…”

  “No, just whatever pops into your head. No thinking.”

  “Ok, something dirty, black, lace, crotchless, that doesn’t cover much, with black stiletto heels.” He watched to see just what she thought of that.

  To his delight, a broad grin spread across her entire face. She was thrilled.

  “Ok, favorite kind of Scotch, and will you teach me to drink it?”

  “That’s two questions, sweetheart,” he harassed her to make her giggle.

  “You can punish me for breaking the rules later,” she came right back.

  “That a promise?” He thoroughly enjoyed watching the blush that was rising from her neck to color her cheeks. “Single malt Talisker 18, but it’s kind of expensive, so you don’t need to buy me any, and yes.”

  “Ok.” Fionna looked very pleased with all of his answers.

  “My turn.” He wasn’t letting her get away with not letting him play.

  After a begrudging eye-roll, she nodded.

  “All right, your turn.”

  He waggled his eyebrows. The first four are the same, honey.”

  “I was afraid of that,” she admitted. “Uh, my favorite thing to eat would probably be sushi, a day to do anything I wanted…?”

  “Uh, no thinking.”

  “Ok, I would wake up in your arms, and you would bring me coffee, and then spend the whole day with me shopping for shoes and lingerie, which are my two most favorite things to buy. See? You got extra information,” she sassed as he listened intently.

  “Then we would go back to my house, and cook a yummy dinner, and then you would do deliciously dirty things to me all night long,” she giggled delightedly.

  “Done,” his vow made her blush even more pronounced, but she very conveniently stopped talking. “Uh, Miss Styler, there were two more questions.”

  “I know,” she huffed, though she was still beaming. “I don’t know. I like them all. I can’t choose just one.”

  Dan laughed outright at her excuse.

  “I’ll take your top three then.” He reached and rubbed her thigh. He was unable to keep his hands off of her.

  “Ugh,” she huffed, still thoroughly embarrassed. “I don’t know all of their names,” was her next excuse. He raised an eyebrow and gave her a cocky grin.

  “Well, you could show me, or vividly describe them.” He tried not to enjoy how cute she was when she was embarrassed.

  “Fine; I like the one you said, only when I’m kind of laying on my stomach.” Dan chuckled and nodded his understanding “And last night was really hot, and the first time at my house. I don’t know; I just like being with you like that. It’s kind of incredible,” she finally admitted in a fretful huff.

  While feeling like a king, Dan beamed at her as elation filled his soul.

  “Well,” he leaned and kissed her overly-pink cheek, “we could try out a bunch of different ones and you just tell me what you like.

  “Ok, lingerie?”

  “Well, that’s really personal,” she continued, laughing at her own joke. I could sit and listen to her talk and laugh for the rest of my life. The truth welled from his soul. He kept his game face on.

  “Baby doll, I’ve seen it all and, believe me, your body drives me wild. You said lingerie was one of your favorite things to buy, so I assume you must enjoy wearing it. So, what’s your preference if, say, I should take it upon myself to buy you something just for the purpose of tearing it off of you?” He flirted as she wiggled beside him. She considered for a moment and then went on.

  “Ok, well, I really love the whole thigh-high stockings with the seams up the back, and a garter belt, with a thong, and a really sexy matching corset or bra, oh, and high heels, preferably Blahniks or Louboutins. And I also love waist-cinchers that are lacey and beautiful.”

  She used her hands to describe the pieces. She was thrilled by the thought of wearing it.

  “And no one has ever bought me lingerie before, so that would be wow.” She seemed unable to stop talking. “I guess I would have done really well, say, in the forties, when women wore stuff like that.”

  “Oh, I’d say you’d be pretty damn hot in them right now, and I would thoroughly enjoy seeing you in it all and then taking it all off of you, sweetheart.” Dan felt his boxers begin to tighten.

  Fionna looked delighted with his assessment, but then goaded, “Ok, but you have one more question, and then we’re going to surf. We’re missing the best swells.”

  “You understand I’ve never even held a surfboard,” he reminded
her hesitantly. Dan was mildly uncomfortable trying things he’d never done before, in front of her. Deep desire to impress her pulsed in his shield.

  “I’ll teach you. It’ll be so fun. I promise!”

  If it made her that happy, he’d attempt to walk the Pacific. After quickly deciding to let her off the hook, Dan used her hands to pull her to his body then he wrapped her up in his arms.

  “When’s your birthday, Fionna?” he asked as his final question. He felt her smile against him.

  “April 26th.”

  He memorized that information with a nod, then began wondering if she would mind delaying his surfing lesson for just a little while.

  He needed to feel her again. He needed to permeate her completely. He needed to share himself with the woman that had saved him.

  54

  All Your Secrets I Will Keep

  Dan used his chin to ease Fionna’s face to the side. He slid his stubble along the thin skin as he granted himself access to her neck. He began to kiss and huff hot breath as he moved upwards towards her ear.

  After brushing a tender kiss on her earlobe, he slid it gently between his teeth and began to suck. Her echoed, hungry moan made him smile.

  “There’s something I’d really like to do before my surfing lesson, baby doll,” his tone was rough from his emotion and his desire.

  He let his hands glide over her thighs. He grasped her hips as his need throbbed against her abdomen. With quick work, he loosened the few buttons of the shirt that she’d clasped.

  She began to pant and let her head fall back. She wanted more. He kissed along her collarbone as he let his hand slip from her waist to her backside. He spun his tongue in the hollow of her throat and grasped handfuls of her luscious ass. He kneaded her with greed.

  Her body trembled in his arms. She arched her back and grasped his biceps in aching desire.

  With sudden alacrity, Dan knew why he wanted to be with her again so suddenly. He needed her to feel it. He needed her to feel the love he couldn’t yet express in any other way. He knew it was there, and it was all for her.

  “I want you to feel it again, Fionna. I want you to feel how much I…” he halted. He was simply unable to say the words, though his mind and his body were drowning in the emotion.

  She lifted her head and gazed at him with a fiery storm in the depths of her sienna eyes. Her body writhed in hunger as she nodded heavily.

  “I want to feel it. It feels amazing. When your body is pressed against mine, when I can really feel how you feel, when you’re deep inside of me, it’s incredible,” she urged him onwards.

  A low, thundering groan echoed from deep within Dan’s chest as she pulled away from him and stood beside the bed. She had a naughty half-grin on her face, and her hair was tangled on her shoulders. Her lips were swollen ripe and flushed. They needed to be kissed. They tempted and begged him as he took her in. The fire in her eyes lit explosively. Her body was obscured slightly in his shirt. Her nipples were already strained and throbbing.

  Dan knew if he spread her legs and saw what she was hiding, that it would be swollen, the color of a rose against her beautiful, deep, olive complexion, and dripping wet for him.

  She looked every part of the sweet girl who wanted to play sex kitten for just a little while, and the effect nearly drove him over the edge.

  “Come back here to me, baby doll. I wasn’t near finished,” his commanding thrum made her moan excitedly.

  “I was just thinking I might go put on some heels.”

  He quickly stood beside her, wrapped his arms around her, and crushed her lips to his. He devoured her mouth. She wasn’t going anywhere except to his bed, and then into the depths of ecstasy at his hands, if he had any say at all.

  He slid his hand under the shirt once again. He grasped her backside, and massaged as he dipped his tongue into her mouth and sucked her bottom lip hungrily.

  “You don’t need heels, honey. I’ve got several plans for you, and heels are going to get in my way.”

  “Oh yes,” she panted. Her energy spiked hard, just like it did when he brought her to climax, but she fought it willfully. Her body shuddered with the effort as she pushed it away.

  Thus far, she’d clearly been playing with boys who were weak and indecisive. Boys who, Dan was certain, probably talked a big game to get her into bed, and then left her unfulfilled.

  Idiots who couldn’t see that getting a woman like Fionna Styler to take her clothes off was only a very small portion of the game.

  The way she moved, the way her body responded, everything about her was sensual. Desire swam in the very aura of her. No wonder she likes toys, Dan thought wryly. He laced his fingers in her hair and grasped it at the nape of her neck. He tugged, and watched as her head fell back while a heated moan came from her.

  He began working his lips and mouth down her neck. He sucked the thin skin, swirled his tongue over her, and inhaled deeply of her heady scent.

  He knew exactly what she wanted, though she’d never ask. He knew how to develop her fully and allow her to own the sexuality that brimmed so copiously there, just under the surface. It was just out of reach if you didn’t know how to access it.

  She needed a man who knew what he wanted and how to make her every fantasy and desire a reality. He planned to be that for her. Not an insipid fool who asked her what she wanted, how she wanted it, and if his anemic member was too much for her, in an effort to stroke his own ego as he lost it all before she’d even begun.

  Visions of nameless, faceless boys, who asked if she’d like to change position, almost made Dan laugh out loud. All of the virgin school boys who hadn’t even known what they held in their inexperienced hands, who couldn’t read a woman like Fionna if she’d inked what she needed across her luscious curves, could turn and walk away. She deserved more. She deserved better, and that’s precisely what he was going to give her.

  She was a woman, and Fionna Styler had sensuality, tenderness, desire, and femininity coursing through her veins and spilling from her pores. She needed someone who knew how to touch her, and where to kiss, and lick her, where to suck, and bite, and pull, and strike, if she was in the mood; to allow her the passion she craved, but was terrified to give in to.

  He continued to kiss and suck her neck as he took her hand. He slipped it through the slit in his boxers, and forced her to grab him as desperate moans quaked from her body.

  “Grab me, honey. Feel what you do to me. Feel me throb in your hands. That’s all you.”

  She spiked again. She grew frantic quickly as he continued to lathe her neck. She squeezed his length and caressed him. She ran her hands up and down his shaft and head. It drove him wild.

  She’d bared her soul to him; she’d shared her spirit and her energy. She was letting him in deeper with each conversation, and that was so much more than taking her clothes off.

  His body ached. His cells reverberated with the need to feel her, to permeate her, to suck and mark her, and to make her all his own.

  “Do it,” she begged in a heated whisper. He grasped her breast, and dragged his teeth over the delicate skin where her neck and shoulder joined. “Just do it. I want it, please,” she begged as her firm grip, the tenacious shield on her own erotic desires, began to slip away.

  Dan’s heart pounded. He could feel her desperation and her tentative shame.

  “You want to be marked, baby? You want people to know that you’ve been with me?” He knew precisely what she wanted.

  The low moan, in the tenor of a scream that echoed loudly from her, answered his questions.

  Fully confident of the fact that he could heal her when he was finished if she wasn’t quite ready to show off what she’d asked for to the rest of the world, Dan slid the shirt back and sucked the very top of her breast until he’d marked her.

  “That’s my good girl. You’re all mine.” He growled and then moved back to her neck as he sank his teeth in and sucked hungrily. She was all his, and he marked his territory
thoroughly.

  He let his fingers trace along the center of her backside, and then to the pulsing wet center of her. She went wild. She grasped and clawed his massive arms with her body, unable to remain still.

  He left her aching in desperation as he moved his hands and pulled his shirt off of her. He revealed all of her luscious curves. He picked her up, laid her back in their bed, and crawled over her.

  While bathing her body with his tongue, he sucked her nipples that were swollen and drawn so tightly she was desperate for relief.

  He moved down her body. She arched her back. Her hands grasped the sheets below her. She needed to hold on to something as he leaned her over slightly and kissed from her right breast down her side.

  He halted at the indentation where her side began to swell into the gorgeous curve of her backside, just above her hipbone, and he sucked again. He’d never heard her moan as loudly as she begged for more.

  After he’d left his bite there, he rolled her over and dragged his teeth over the top of her backside. She writhed, and evulsive, unending moans quaked from her.

  He sucked her here as well, until she was wearing his mark. Then he moved to her swollen, fevered lips and spread her legs. He continued to lick and suck. He used his tongue to give her the force and friction she begged for. Then he gently tugged her right lip with his teeth, and then soothed the exquisite pain he’d left.

  He growled loudly as she pulsed and spilled herself into his mouth. He drank the liquid form of her energy. He sucked every last drop, like a parched man offered life’s water on his deathbed.

  She writhed and bucked. She couldn’t contain the ecstasy. Her legs spread further as she thrust high. She was ready; she needed to be tamed.

  Dan let one hand trace from her breasts to her lips as he stacked several of the pillows beside her. When he finished, he grabbed her hand and sat her up.

  The wild, impetuous look in her eye had him aching to bury himself inside of her and make her take him, until she was screaming his name and begging him for another release.