Seduced by Magic

by Stephanie Julian

  He waited for something. Something she knew she shouldn’t give. But she didn’t want him to stop.

  And when she didn’t shake her head or move away, that gorgeous mouth of his curved in a grin before he dipped his head and nuzzled his nose into her mound.

  “You smell like the forest.” His words were muffled but understandable. “Like earth and trees and wind.”

  Then he lapped at her with his tongue—long, slow sweeps that felt like a massage. The nip on her clitoris was unexpected and sent a short, sharp orgasm rolling through her.

  Before the last spasm ended, he stiffened his tongue and pushed inside her, making her every muscle tense. With her hips tight in his hands, he held her still when she wanted to move, needed to move. The loss of control both thrilled and terrified her.

  Especially when she realized her hands tugged at him, urged him to shove inside her and take her again. Her hips arched off the bed as he forced her knees apart with his thighs and slammed his cock into her in one smooth motion.

  The sensation made her breath catch in her throat and he stole her remaining breath with the kiss he slanted over her lips.

  Blessed Goddess, his tongue slid into her mouth in the same rhythm as his cock slid into her sex. It set off a slow burn in the pit of her stomach and made her ache for him to do her harder.

  She rubbed her hands down his back until she had his ass under her palms, encouraging him to ride her faster. He let his body answer her unspoken demand, his hips thrusting harder until she had to wrap her legs around his waist to anchor herself to him. And to keep him from getting away.

  This time, their joining held power. She could feel it surround them like a living blanket, a fog of sensual magic.

  And that’s when she realized she was in more trouble than she’d ever imagined.

  Chapter Four

  “What’s your name?”

  Justin spoke against the smooth skin of her neck, his cock still pulsing inside her. He’d come so hard that last time he was afraid he might’ve blacked out. Luckily she’d come before him so at least he hadn’t embarrassed himself completely.

  But she hadn’t said a word since and he had no idea what to think—except, he’d just done it with a folletta. Again. He couldn’t stop grinning. Hot damn, he’d just had sex with a myth.

  She was living, breathing proof that his dad had been right, that there were races other than humans sharing the world. That he, Justin, wasn’t an idiot geek who’d played a little too much Dungeons and Dragons as a kid. Or did a few too many drugs in college.

  He wanted to know everything about her, starting with her name. He began to open his mouth but she finally spoke.

  “My name,” her voice came slowly and a little breathlessly, “is Scarlata.”

  He rolled to the side but kept an arm around her waist to pull her close. He didn’t want her to get away. He wanted to hold her as close as possible.

  She lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling. Refusing to look at him, he figured. Still, she’d told him her name and he didn’t want her to clam up now.

  “My name’s Justin, in case you’re wondering. You have to know you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” He stroked his hand along her hip, trying to put her at ease. The stiffness had crept back into her body. “Does it hurt to lie on your wings?”

  Her mouth twisted in feminine pique and he held back a smile. “Of course not, or I wouldn’t be lying on them.”

  “Can you really fly?”

  This time she rolled her eyes. “They’re not just for show, ceffo.”

  Okay, she could call him that—even though he suspected it wasn’t complimentary—until the cows came home if she used that accent. Hell, her haughty tone made him hard. Or would have if he hadn’t just come for the second time.

  “I used to dream about meeting…someone like you.” He stared at her, willing her to return his gaze, but hers stayed fastened on the ceiling. “I knew there was magic in the world. I’ve always known, even if I could never prove it. My father…he knew too. He used to tell me stories about the fai—sorry, folletta, right?”

  She sighed as if bored but she hadn’t moved away from him yet. “Yes. I am folletti of the Etruscan Fata. You are an etera, a human.” She made the word sound like a curse. “We are similar creatures in most aspects.” Her mouth twisted in a sarcastic grimace. “Of course, eteri have no magic.”

  “And you’ve got wings because you’re folletti?”

  She shrugged. “That is the way I am made. Some Fata have hooves. Some Enu become wolves. Eteri are much more generic. Even though you have different skin tones, you all have five toes on each of your feet.”

  That made him glance at her feet and his mouth dropped open. She had three toes on each foot, vaguely reminding him of a deer’s hoof.

  Whoa.

  It took him several seconds to ask his next question. “So how do your wings work?”

  Now she did look at him and her raised brows made his heart pound. “I thought you were a smart man.”

  His short bark of laughter lifted her brows even higher.

  “You know, I always considered myself a smart man. I thought I knew things about the world others didn’t. Obviously I don’t know as much as I thought. So you were born in Italy?”

  “I was born in 1698 in Toscana. My parents were killed in the purge of 1758 and I left for America shortly after that.”

  Holy shit! 1698? What the hell? Then he processed what else she’d said. “The what? The purge?”

  Now she turned her head to look at him, her wide eyes narrowed. “Why do you care? Why do you need to know the answers to all these questions?”

  He shrugged, trying to strike a balance between fascinated and stunned. She was more than three hundred years old. And she didn’t look a day over twenty-five. Jeez, the things she must have seen in that time. He was only twenty-eight. He wondered how she saw him.

  Finally he remembered to answer her question. “I’m a researcher. I watch and study, record what I find. Then I make conclusions.”

  “And what are you studying here if not me?”

  He felt almost foolish admitting it now. “I guess you could say I was looking for you.”

  She sat up in bed. “Ha! So you did know I was out here?”

  “No!” He scrambled up and straddled her lap, forcing her back against the headboard, his hands on either side of her head so she couldn’t get away. “No, I didn’t. Not for sure. I was sent here to study the hawks but I was told this might be a place where I could find…what I was looking for.”

  The other research geeks at BD Enterprises had considered this a crappy assignment, isolated and tedious, but he’d jumped at the chance.

  As a child, his father had told him this place was special, that fairies lived here.

  He’d never expected to find one. Not really. He’d hoped and prayed since he was a child that one day he would prove his dad right. Prove he hadn’t been crazy.

  That magic did exist.

  And here she sat, magic personified, from her wings to the feel of her skin under his.

  He lifted a hand to cup her cheek, looking deeply into those grass-green eyes.

  She blinked once. “And did you?”

  “Did I what?”

  “Find what you were looking for?”

  Hell, yes. He’d found exactly what he’d been searching for all his life.

  Justin stared into her eyes with an intensity that burned. Scarlata had never experienced the sensation of another person trying to see inside her before. To see into her soul and discover truths about herself she’d rather keep hidden.

  This was not good.

  Panic made her slap his arms away so she could jump out of bed, wings emerging to curl around her shoulders in defense.

  “This is madness!” Nothing had gone the way she’d thought it would. Not only had they had sex—really great sex, but she wasn’t going to think about that right now—but he seemed to be immune
to her spells. The only magic was the magic sparking between the two of them.

  And that was really not good.

  Just for the hell of it, she cast another spell.

  And stamped her foot in frustration when he did not turn into a frog.

  “Argh!” She screamed at him, arms waving. “Who are you?”

  His eyes widened in shock then he started to laugh. “You just tried to curse me again, didn’t you? And you’re pissed because it didn’t turn me into what…a dog? Sorry but I’d rather not be any furrier than I already am.”

  “The spell was for a frog, ceffo. And I do not understand what’s going on here. Why are you immune to my magic? Who are you?”

  He spread his hands in front of his bare chest as if in supplication. She could stare at that chest all day but forced her gaze back to his face. She found his expression anything but apologetic.

  “I’m Justin Johannson, son of Barbara and the late Michael Johannson. I have a baby sister named Fiorella and I could live on Italian food for the rest of my life. I think professional ice hockey is the only real man’s sport. I’ve never been married because I’m too much of a workaholic and women who know me tend to think I’m missing a few marbles because I believe in magic.”

  She couldn’t tear her gaze away from the bluest eyes she’d ever seen on a man. As bright as the sky on a clear autumn day. That gaze encouraged her to believe everything he said. She found herself waiting for him to say something more in that harsh rumble he called a voice.

  “I’ve been chasing a dream for the last ten years of my life and now that the dream is real, I can’t even get worked up over the fact that you want to turn me into a frog.”

  He rose from the bed to stand before her and she stood her ground, spine straightening, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of backing away. At least that’s what she told herself. It was not because she wanted to breathe in his scent when he got close enough to touch.

  “I’ve just met the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life,” he continued. “I’ve just had the most incredible sex and I want to know everything about you and then I want to take you back to bed.”

  Which was exactly where she wanted to be…

  “No!” She backpedaled before he could touch her again. “This isn’t right. I must leave. But I must do something about you first.”

  Justin realized her “something” wasn’t going to be as pleasurable as sex. And if he didn’t want his time with her to end anytime soon, he’d have to do something fast.

  Sex always served as a good distraction, so he smiled, letting all the desire he felt for her show. He’d been told by several women over the years that this particular smile could melt a woman’s icy heart and soak her panties.

  “Well, now I have a few ideas.” He moved close enough to touch but kept a few scant inches between them. “What happened earlier blew me away. Think how much better it could be if we really put our minds to it.”

  Her eyes narrowed and he knew she wasn’t taken in by that smile. A challenge. He loved a challenge.

  “Your pitiful attempts to stall are grating on my nerves.” Her head cocked to the side and he didn’t trust her thoughtful expression. “I can’t allow you to keep the memories you have of this night.”

  That definitely didn’t sound good. Still, she wasn’t talking about killing him exactly. Just—what? Wiping his memories? Could she do that?

  “Did you know sex can power very strong magic, Justin?”

  He groaned as she grabbed his cock in one silky smooth hand and pumped him from root to tip. His blood surged, making him rock-hard, as if he hadn’t just come twice in the last two hours.

  “Whoa, baby.” Though it pained him, he took a step back, away from her hands. “Let’s slow down a little.”

  Slow down, hell. In reality, he wanted to rev up, already missed the feel of her hand on his rapidly hardening dick. But she was up to something and he probably wasn’t going to like whatever it was. That comment about sex magic made him reconsider his sex-as-a-distraction plan.

  She tilted her head to the side and all those silky red curls slid over her bare shoulder. Some of the strands fell across her breast, caressing the nipple. He wanted to fasten his teeth to it again. He clamped down on the urge before she realized how she affected him.

  He had to get them out of this bedroom if he was going to get his head clear enough to think. And steer her away from any more attempts to put a spell on him. He really didn’t want to end up with a tail but he didn’t want her to leave either.

  “So are you hungry, Red?” The nickname rolled off his tongue much easier than her name. Much more intimate. “How about some food?”

  She continued to stare at him, unblinking for a few seconds before nodding thoughtfully. “Yes, we’ll have some food. You’ll need to refuel for what I have in mind.”

  He reached for the cargo shorts he’d dropped on the chair before he’d gone to bed. He really should get clean ones out of the drawer but that seemed like too much trouble. Pulling them up his bare legs, he kept one eye on her.

  “And what do you have in mind?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “You’re right. I’m hungry. Let’s eat.”

  Without another word, she walked out of the room.

  He zipped up the shorts, tripping over his sandals and the towel he’d used after his shower last night. Damn, he needed to clean up. The cabin looked like it’d been hit by a tornado.

  Then again, he was a guy. He lived alone up here and hadn’t had a visitor since he’d arrived.

  Still, he didn’t want her to think he was a slob.

  Shit, who the hell was he kidding? He was a slob.

  Luckily, he did have some clean clothes. He grabbed a t-shirt from the clean pile.

  He found her in the kitchen staring into the open refrigerator. What did he have in there? Not a lot, since he hadn’t had a food delivery in more than a week. Maybe longer. The freezer was stocked with meat though. He’d arrived with enough for a six-month stay. He was a carnivore and proud of it.

  He stared at her slim, naked body. With his luck, she was probably a vegetarian.

  “Do you eat nothing but meat?” she asked as she closed the fridge and turned to look at him.

  Oh yeah. Definitely a vegetarian.

  And way too naked for his peace of mind.

  He held out the shirt to her.

  She stared at it then back to him, her eyebrows raised.

  “It’s clean. And, uh, you’re a little distracting in your birthday suit.”

  Now her eyes narrowed. But she took the shirt and pulled it over her head.

  He wanted to tell her to take it off immediately.

  “Um, I haven’t been to the store for a while.” He opened cupboards, looking for anything that might appeal to a vegetarian fai—folletta. He needed to remember that or she’d try to zap him with another curse. And really, how long could his luck hold before one of her spells worked and he wound up with a tail?

  “Hey, how about peanut butter and jelly?” He pulled the jars out of the cabinet, stalling for time. He needed to think. “That sounds good for a midnight—uh, two a.m. snack.” Did he have bread? Yeah, he had a loaf in the freezer. He fished it out and threw it on the counter. At least he knew that would be fresh.

  She stepped away and let him bang through the kitchen, getting plates and cups and a knife. Then he stuck the bread in the microwave to defrost.

  When the machine beeped, he made the sandwiches and poured milk then took the plates to the small table along the wall of the kitchen area. As he pushed the papers off to one side, he was relieved to find she’d followed him with the glasses.

  They snacked in silence. She ate with a dainty precision that made him salivate every time she licked a crumb from her lips. He couldn’t remember eating but knew he must have because his sandwich was gone by the time she finished her milk. He watched her tilt the cup back, watched the play of her throat as she swallowed.
>
  And he still didn’t have a clue what to do next.

  “Now.” She spoke so quietly, he almost wasn’t sure she’d spoken at all. “What am I going to do with you?”

  He’d been thinking the exact same thing as her green gaze snagged his, holding him in place.

  “I’m sure you know I can’t have you wandering around telling the rest of the eteri there are magical creatures in the world. Still, I need to find out who sent you here.” She smiled so naturally he couldn’t help but be awed. “You do want to tell me, don’t you?”

  Hell, at this point, what did it matter? It wasn’t like she was going to challenge them at a zoning hearing board. And maybe the truth would earn her trust.

  “I work for BD Enterprises,” he said. “I really am here to study the migration patterns of the hawks. The company wants to buy a tract of land to the north to build a research facility and they want data to support their claims that it will have no impact on Hawk Mountain sanctuary. Personally I think that’s a load of crap. Any development in rural areas affects the surrounding environment. But they’re paying me to spend a few weeks in the woods, out of the lab. So I’m not complaining.”

  He stared at her, his heart pounding. God, she was beautiful. Her eyes, that brilliant shade of green he’d never seen on another living being, looked almost…hypnotizing.

  Justin shook his head, trying to straighten his thoughts, which were getting a little fuzzy. “I love it out here. When I was little, my dad used to tell me stories about the fairies that lived on the mountain. Woodland spirits who took care of the trees and the birds and all the animals that lived here.”

  His dad had been one hell of a storyteller. “I didn’t realize until I was older he hadn’t been telling tales. They were the truth.”

  His eyes felt heavy. Sleep called to him but he didn’t want to sleep. If he fell asleep, he was afraid he’d wake to find this had all been a dream. He shook his head, attempting to clear some of the fog. “We used to hike here when I was a kid. In the summer, we’d come a couple times a month.

  “My dad smoked until the day he died. But my mom,” he smiled, “she wouldn’t let him smoke in the house. He had to go out on the porch or in the backyard. But he never smoked on the mountains. Not once.”