Chapter Fourteen
Rising steam escaped the billowy blanket of bubbles, but the whirling surface of the spa was hidden beneath the froth. Silver pensively eyed the foam and twisted the faucet to the off position. The tub probably wouldn't overflow... as long as they refrained from making any sudden movements. He fervently hoped it didn't, because he could envision Ursula's reaction to a flood in the guest cottage that served as Silver's home when the band wasn't touring.
"Do you think you used enough bubble bath?" Hannah teased him with sleepy amusement. She reclined against the curved side, immersed to her delicately pointed chin. She wore nothing but a smile and a sheer negligee of bubbles. She looked as ethereal as a mermaid with her bright green eyes and the long locks of her wet hair swirling about her.
"It's the first time I've ever drawn a bubble bath. I may've overdone it." Silver slipped through the water and eased alongside her. His palm found the inviting curve of her breast. She was smaller than a handful, but firm and supple, and he redefined perfection with her as his standard.
Truth be told, he hadn't given bubble baths much thought before, one way or another, but he could get to be a huge fan. Hannah could come over and soak whenever she wanted. The offer sat on the tip of his tongue, but caution made him bite it back. This thing between them was too new and she had too many other pressing concerns. He'd pursue their future together after they settled their troubles.
"This is heavenly." Hannah arched into him with an appreciate purr. "I've missed being able to take bubble baths. My place only has a shower."
"You're heavenly." He plucked her nipple, teasing her to pertness. Thanks to the bubble bath, her intoxicating scent now included hints of lavender.
She giggled and rested her cheek against his shoulder. "How do I keep falling into these situations with you?"
Silver's ears pricked, picking up a note in her otherwise sleepy voice that struck him as significant. He tilted his face toward her. "You didn't fall into the tub. You eased in."
"That's not what I mean," Hannah said with a trace of frustration.
"What do you mean then?" Silver asked, going against his innate caution that urged him to let the matter rest while they were both exhausted. For whatever perverse reason, he jumped down that rabbit hole anyway.
"I don't know anything about you..."
"My mom's a drunk, my stepfather was an abusive asshole, and I ran away from home at fourteen. I survived on my own until a few years ago when I met Disco in a dive bar in Houston and he invited me to join the band. Back then, it was just Disco, Oz 'n' Ursula. I joined because it meant regular meals and a place to sleep. Before I met them, everything was about using people or being used. I spent months thinking I was scamming them, waiting for the day when they'd screw me over."
"What happened?" Hannah's hands closed around his clenched fist. She pried his fingers open and he allowed it, making a conscious effort to relax.
"We were passing through Wyoming on our way to a gig in Denver. Right outside of Cheyenne, we came across a body that'd been dumped on the side of the road..." Silver's voice roughened under the duress of the difficult recounting.
In his arms, Hannah tensed. "Cheyenne?"
"Yeah, he couldn't talk at first so we named him after where we found him and it stuck. Cheyenne had molten silver poured over his throat and chest. It'd hardened, bonded with his flesh, so he couldn't heal."
Hannah produced a small, sickened sound in the back of her throat. "That's horrible."
"He was all but dead, and he was a werewolf. I said he wasn't worth the bother and we should leave him. Disco looked at me with pure disgust on his face, and asked me where I'd be now if somehow had said I wasn't worth the bother."
"Oh, Silver..."
"I had it coming and it's what I needed to hear." Silver hushed her. "After that, I shut up and helped. We hauled Cheyenne into the back of the van. Ursula has some healing magic. It wasn't enough to cure him but she kept him alive until we reached an old medicine woman down in Santa Fe who could. Disco abandoned the gig and went out of his way to help a total stranger, and he did it without even a thought as to what he was getting out of it. That's when I realized not everything in life is about using or being used. That was when I decided I wanted to change, and I joined this band for real."
A long, profound moment followed, silent aside from the churning hum of the spa jets. Silver brooded, wallowing in anxiety and unease. She'd said she didn't know anything about him, so he'd given her something awful and intimate, a dirty secret he preferred no one know. The confession revealed the worst aspects of himself to scrutiny and opened him to judgement. He hung on a meat hook, awaiting Hannah's reaction.
When she cleared her throat, he closed his eyes and braced for the worst. Faltering, Hannah began, "I'm a hybrid. My mother was a full-blooded swan-shifter. She passed away years ago, but my Nana is a swan, too. My father is a fox..."
"Hannah, there's no shame in—" Silver tried to interrupt, but Hannah placed her fingers over his lips to silence him.
"Let me speak." She waited till he gave a little nod and then removed her hand. "My dad, Jack Kelly, is the smoothest-talking, most charismatic guy you can imagine. You know that old joke about a conman who could sell ice cubes to Arabs?"
"Eskimos," Silver croaked. Shit. Hannah was about to compare him to her old man, who sounded like a worthless jackass after just a few words. In desperation, he tried to harden himself against the coming insult which was bound to sting.
"Sorry?" Hannah lifted her chin to look up.
"You're mixing your metaphors."
She grunted in frustration and continued, "My point is my father is a royal douche. Growing up, he was never there for us. He missed every birthday, every school play, and special occasion. Hell, Fiona got hit by a car when we were ten and almost died, and he missed that, too."
"Who's Fiona?" Silver asked softly.
Hannah wound a strand of his wet hair around her finger and tugged. She delayed for some time before she finally answered. "Fiona is my twin sister. Swan-shifters tend to lay even numbers of eggs. Twins and even quadruplets are common. Bonita has a twin sister who lives somewhere back east. It's even more perfect because Fiona and I hatched in late June so we're Gemini, just like the sign."
Silver twisted hard enough to send a wave across the surface of the tub. "Are you telling me you hatched from an egg?"
"Yup." She offered him a wink. "Don't believe me, ask my Nana. Oh boy, Bonita loves to tell about how excited she and Mama were when that first crack appeared. They sat for hours watching that egg wobble. Then all the sudden, it split wide open and a little red fox burst out. That was me."
He narrowed his eyes and scrutinized Hannah's face, searching for even a hint of deception. Her big eyes and wide smile were as slick as oil on ice. Her game face was impeccable, arguably better than Silver's own acting ability. The contest went on for a while until finally he conceded defeat.
"You win. I can't tell whether you're pulling a fast one," Silver said with an easy laugh. He sort of loved the image of a newly hatched fox kit with an eggshell hat, though, so it was a story he was prepared to accept at face value.
"You're smiling again. That's what's important." Hannah stroked his cheek and her tone acquired a scolding edge. "You stopped touching me, and that's a problem."
"My bad. Let me get right on correcting that." Silver reached beneath Hannah and lifted her out of the water. He settled her with his chest to her back, his crotch to her tight ass, and her long legs atop his. The view from over her shoulder was breathtaking. Her wet skin shone like raw silk. Her perky breasts lifted out of the water, as pretty as any picture. He ached to kiss her nipples and wondered if she yearned for his mouth. The plane of her abdomen was flat and smooth.
By luck rather than design, his swollen cock got pinned beneath her... almost between her butt cheeks and angled upward toward her spine. Her weight put the squeeze on him, a sudden internal pressure he swore bu
gged out his eyeballs. He expelled a breath, hoping to alleviate it, but his situation didn't change except to make him lightheaded.
"And you're a tease." Hannah seized his wrist and drew his arm down. He caressed her stomach but resisted when she tried to take him lower.
"I'm not the tease here." Silver buried his knuckle in her navel and rocked his hips, rubbing his erection against her ass. The plan backfired. Hannah giggled and wriggled, enacting her own bit of revenge. The shake of her backside blinded him. All the sudden, his coyote surged to the surface, gaining ascendance over his humanity.
Silver’s snarl, a rolling growl torn from his throat, rumbled deep in his chest. Startled, Hannah stiffened. Her head jerked, and she stared up at him with wide eyes. Her regard held wariness, and she quivered on his lap. Foxes, though, were predators not prey. She hooded her emerald eyes and tilted her head back. Her pouty lips pulled back over pointy teeth; at the same time her throat was laid bare. She embodied peril and promise. Defiance and submission in one tidy present wrapped with a neat bow.
Fuck, she got him hard.
He bent and claimed her mouth, forced her lips apart. He risked having his tongue savaged, and thrust his tongue into her heat. She moaned and yielded, stretching her jaws to grant him complete access. He reached down with both hands, caressing the down-soft fur just above her cleft. She kept her pubes neat and short, and he loved that she wasn't waxed smooth.
Deepening the kiss, Silver probed the sweet recesses of her mouth. She was hot, wet, and willing... and all his. Hesitantly, Hannah slipped her arms around his neck. She clung to him, fingers interlaced, and hung on for dear life. Leaning forward, he almost folded them in half as he reached. He brought one leg over her thigh, pinning her, and hooked his elbow beneath the knee of her other leg. The maneuver allowed him to pry her apart.
Hannah uttered a surprised murmur against his lips, a muffled inquiry that never formulated into coherent words. He pressed against her, refusing to break the kiss. He pulled her legs further apart. She grunted a protest and her long legs grew taut. She trembled with the strain of resisting, but his strength surpassed hers, so she was slowly, surely, splayed. He held her like that—exposed and vulnerable. She squirmed, but his grip was too firm to break.
Silver shifted his hips, thrusting his swollen cock between her legs from behind. He rubbed against her slick pussy, loving the way her folds grabbed for him. She was an open invitation, his for the taking.
With a quick twist of her head, Hannah ended the kiss. "I'm still in heat. We can't have sex without protection."
"We won't. I promise. Trust me."
"Silver please. This is perverse." Hannah flushed a rosy shade of pink and shook with the force of her giggles. Fingers still interwoven, she tugged at the back of his neck.
"I know, and you love it." He parted her cleft, exposing her clit, stiff and swollen. Her inner folds were plump and succulent, a pretty shade of pink raspberry. His mouth watered for the taste of her, but their position didn't allow it. He settled for flicking her clit with his fingertip.
He rocked, rubbing his dick back and forth, fucking her without penetration. The heavenly sensation drove him mad, pushing the limits of his control. He throbbed with need, on the verge of exploding. One hard thrust and he could be inside of her without that stupid latex barrier between them.
He had to stop.
Without warning, Silver rose from the tub with Hannah in his arms. Mounds of bubbles clung to them both, and they shed a stream of sudsy water. He stepped over the side of the spa and set her down long enough to wrap her in a fluffy white towel. He used another to give himself a cursory pat down and then cast it aside. He picked her up and carried her to the other room.
Hannah murmured when he laid her on the bed. He shoved the sides of the towel aside, revealing her naked beauty for his perusal. She smiled up at him from beneath sleepy eyelids.
"What're you looking at?" she asked.
"The mermaid I caught in my net. She has damp red hair and emerald eyes and a shiny smile that's pearl white."
"Oh, a mermaid! I like that. Tell me more," she said with a throaty laugh.
"Her skin is still warm from the sea, and her breasts are the essence of perfection." Silver dipped his head to taste her skin. He covered her nipple with his mouth and sucked, first soft, then hard. Hannah moaned and dug her fingers into the mattress but otherwise remained passive, even when he paid equal attention to her other breast. He took his time and teased her until she arched off the bed, drawn as taut as a bowstring.
"Silver," Hannah imbued his name with a breathy neediness.
"Hold that thought." Silver slid off the mattress and went straight to the chest at the foot of the bed. He gave mental thanks for his nocturnal vision, which enabled him to root around inside it without having to turn on a mood-disruptive lamp. He found the tie downs, a toy, and a box of condoms.
Hannah curled on her side with her knees tucked. He placed the condoms on the nightstand but left the toy at the bottom of the bed, out of her sight. Soon, he'd find out whether his vixen liked surprises. Then, Silver caught her wrist and used a strap to secure her wrist to the bedpost. When he reached for her other arm, she confronted him with a dead-on stare.
"What are you doing?" She sank her upper teeth into her lower lip, worrying it to a plump ruddiness.
"Securing my mermaid, so I can have my way with her?" He coached the explanation so it was deliberately teasing, but left the question hanging on a high note. If she said no, he would stop. He'd be disappointed but not angry.
"I don't like pain," she said quietly.
"I don't either." The tension knot between his shoulder blades unraveled. Silver exhaled and guided her arm into position. Hannah cooperated while he secured the second tie down. Silver scooted down the mattress and wrapped his hand around her pretty ankle.
"Well, except..." Hannah hesitated.
"Except?" He froze again, as jumpy as a fox in a henhouse... a metaphor that inspired him to great heights of ironic inspiration, all things considered.
"I probably wouldn't mind being spanked," she drawled with a sultry resonance that seduced him. It inspired a breathtaking panoramic of naughty possibilities.
Silver barked with laughter and resumed securing her legs with the restraints. "I won't be spanking you. Not in this position anyway."
"Mmm, too bad," she snickered.
"Are you comfortable?"
"Yes."
"Any other rules?"
"No."
"Safe word?"
"You know I'll shift if you piss me off." She shot him an irritated glance.
"Maybe I'd rather not piss you off." He rubbed the back of his neck.
Hannah stilled. Kindness replaced her exasperation. "I don't like rules.''
"You sure? 'Cause I'm gonna make you beg," he taunted.
"Bring it on. I dare you." She sparked on defiance and barred her teeth in a feisty challenge. She was so damn beautiful his breath caught in his throat.
"You're going to beg me to stop," Silver added with a sinister smile.
Hannah lost her smirk. Her eyes rounded and her pulse leapt like a jackrabbit and then raced. She made no snappy comeback.
"Oh, baby, the things I'm going to do to you..." He checked the tie downs twice, ensuring there wasn't any extra slack in the ropes but that they weren't too tight, either.
Silver sat back on his haunches to survey his handiwork with a craftsman's satisfaction. Hannah rested on her back, spread-eagled with her arms and legs tied to the bedposts. She was bound... helpless... his for the taking. He intended to possess every gorgeous inch of her.
"Silver," Hannah moaned his name as a complaint. She thrashed her head, so her long tresses whipped around her face. As proof of her exertion, the muscles in her athletic limbs stood out beneath her skin. He got the impression she enjoyed the struggle... and losing it, too.
"Fuck, you're gorgeous. I've been fantasizing about this since the second I lai
d eyes on you. I don't even know where to start." Silver greeted her with the unrestrained joy of a kid in a candy store... and no adult supervision.
"Have you? Is this what you were thinking about when I had you handcuffed in that chair?" Hannah returned, mocking him.
"Naw, I wasn't thinking of anything then." He rubbed his hand across her abdomen, stroking her as he would his guitar. At his light caress, skin over muscle jumped in a cascade of spasms. "I've wanted you since the first time I saw you in the study of Malkin's estate. Your hair was a cascade of fire on your shoulders and I smelled music when I caught your scent. I was spellbound."
"Fuck, all this because I'm in heat?" she asked with a telltale hint of self-doubt, heart-wrenching vulnerability.
"No, Hannah," he crooned. He kissed her stomach, dipping his tongue into her navel, and inhaled her essence. "Don't sell yourself short. I wish you could see yourself the way I see you."
"How do you see me?" she asked, sounding desperate to know.
"You're fierce and ferocious and the most courageous woman I've ever met. I'm fascinated..." Silver crafted a flourish with his elegant fingers. "I'm so in love with you that I can't think straight."
"Silver, no." Her denial was ragged, but it was okay. He had prepared himself for the trial of having to prove himself to her. He would do whatever it took to earn her love.
"Yes. I love you." He caressed the sensitive inside of her thigh and slid his fingers across her sex, wetting them. He primed her with an experimental stroke, and when she groaned he cocked his head and listened, absorbing the resonance of her voice. Bits of melody, notes on five-line staves, floated before his mind's eye.
"Don't stop. Please?" She arched off the mattress toward him, begging for more. The cords that bound her tightened to the point he worried about bruising.
"Easy. I've got you." He positioned his paired fingers over her entrance and drove deep into her channel with a single thrust. He was cruel to be kind.
"Oh, fuck! That's it!" She gasped and rose to meet him, so he wound up embedded to the third knuckles. Her muscles compressed about him, triggering an answering spasm in his balls. He tugged and surged, spurting precum. When she moaned, he echoed her quite unintentionally. He'd be damned lucky if he didn't come on the sheets like an adolescent boy.
Outfoxed: A Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance: Gemini Page 14