by K. F. Breene
I probably should’ve asked what he thought he was doing, or done more than slap at his hands as he went to lift my shirt over my head, but for one solid moment, I could do nothing but stare at the size of that bulge.
It wasn’t one of my finest moments. I blamed the deathly cold cocooning my thoughts.
“S-stop.” I slapped his hands from the bottom of my soaked shirt, hanging limply off me like a pliable ice cube. He’d already removed my cross-body purse and lowered it to the ground. There went any receipts I needed. “Wh-what are…you do-doing?”
“You need to get out of these wet clothes, Alexis. You can keep your underwear if you want, but the pants and shirt have to go.” He captured both of my wrists in one of his large hands before lifting them over my head and grabbing my shirt with the other hand.
I probably would’ve struggled if I weren’t so damn cold.
The sopping, freezing fabric on my face made me feel like I was being dunked again. It hadn’t warmed up in the least. Definitely magically treated.
It fell to the side in a wet glop.
My lacy bra with more holes than lace and very little support gave him an absolute eyeful, but if he noticed for more than a moment, he didn’t show it.
“Here.” He snatched his sweatshirt up off the ground and pulled it around my shoulders. “Tuck in.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I pushed my hands through the armholes and wrapped all that material around my torso. His smell permeated my senses. Clean cotton, masculine spice, and crisp ocean. I closed my eyes and breathed it in while swimming in the sweatshirt’s warmth.
Which was why I was late to the party when he unbuttoned my jeans and slid them down my wet thighs.
“Are those…poop emojis on your underwear? Is that a warning?” he asked.
“Oh my…” I bent in mortification and pulled down the sweatshirt, covering what I could. “They were free, okay? I wouldn’t have worn them if I’d thought they’d be seen.”
He chuckled darkly. “And to think, if I hadn’t chased you into the water, I never would’ve seen what you wear on a day-to-day basis. Step out.”
Still bending with the sweatshirt pulled to cover what I could, I braced a hand on his hard shoulder and jerkily lifted my legs out of the jeans.
“Here.” He ran to the wall, a blur of movement, and extracted sweats from a basket beside a rack of weights. Back in a moment, he bent and opened up the leg holes for me to step into them. “You’ll probably have to hold them up. They’re made to fit me.”
“I sure as h-hell hope I have to ho-hold them up.” I pulled the sweatshirt a little tighter as he brought up the sweats.
“I wouldn’t have hurt you,” he said softly as he bunched the sweats around my middle. His mostly nude body stood nearly pressed against mine, and his warm breath dusted my face. “Not in a way you didn’t like.”
Tingles raced the shivers across my skin. I fought from leaning in, craving the warmth I knew his body would provide.
“Don’t fear me, Alexis. Don’t ever fear me. I may hurt a lot of people before this is through, but never you. Do you understand?”
“Before what is through?” I asked, struggling to keep my teeth from chattering. “Helping your mother?”
He looked down at me for a moment, but didn’t answer. Instead, I felt one of his hands tighten into a fist, pulling the sweats around me that much tighter. His other hand slid upward until the heat of his touch burned across my lower back.
“Did you hear what I said? About your magic level?” he asked, stepping just a bit closer. His arms tightened around me, pulling my body flush with his. “About my plans for you?”
I could hardly breathe. His proximity vibrated through my body, his power drilling into me until it soaked deep down into my middle. His hand drifted a little lower on my back, and his grip on the pants loosened, his fingers dipping down into the waistband.
My whole world stilled in that moment. I let my eyes drift shut, feeling the glorious heat from his magic and body. I wanted his touch much, much lower. I wanted those shapely lips to skim my fevered skin as I moaned out his name.
I wanted to feel the rush of his size as it thrust into me.
“Please…” I meant to say “stop,” but the word wouldn’t come out. He was, quite possibly, the epitome of a bad idea, but I just wanted to throw caution to the wind and take him for a ride.
“You’re mine, Alexis,” he whispered next to my ear. His hand dipped lower, his fingertips brushing the top of my panty line.
And that was part of the reason he was the epitome of a bad idea.
I tried to reel away. To back up. But my body wouldn’t obey.
In a quick movement, he pulled his hand from my back and nudged my chin up.
His lips settled against mine, soft and full. He increased the pressure of his kiss as his first two fingers slid along my jaw, the touch light and teasing, making my insides dance. He sucked softly on my bottom lip before his tongue flitted in, teasing.
I fell into that kiss. That sinfully decadent kiss.
Fireworks went off in my middle and color exploded behind my closed eyes. Lightness filled my body until it felt like I was floating up off the ground. My skin felt alive, brimming with electricity. My core burned for his touch.
“Your magic feels…unbelievable.” His kiss deepened as his hand roamed down my chest.
My own hands betrayed me, loosening their grip on the sweatshirt to allow his hand to slip in and cup a breast.
I moaned, reaching out now and running my palms across his cut body. I’d been with a couple of lookers in my day, but no one who could even remotely compare to the perfection that was Kieran.
He pinched a nipple softly, and I gasped at the shock of pleasure that speared through my center and boiled in my core.
“I want to fuck you, Alexis,” he said against my lips, his hand moving faster now. It slid over my belly and down to my panties. His fingers traced along the edges before slipping in. I moaned. “I want to fuck you right now.”
33
Alexis
My brain buzzed with desire, blocking out all thought. All of the many reasons why this was a terrible idea.
Kieran’s tricky fingers slid along my wetness before dipping in, nearly buckling my legs and sending me to the floor. His thumb massaged my clit while his fingers plunged into me, starting up a rhythm, the perfect speed.
His other hand rubbed a nipple, the pleasure from all the stimulation pulsing within me.
I yanked on his neck with one hand, the kiss bruising now, while running my other palm along the hardness in those boxer briefs. His rigid length filled his underwear and then some, straining to get out. His fingers worked me higher, his skill with his digits just a glimpse of what was sure to come.
A soft buzzing wormed through my desperation to have him inside of me. A phone ringing somewhere.
A phone ringing!
Mine had been in my pocket when I’d fallen in the water. It was surely dead, which meant Mordecai wouldn’t be able to get a hold of me!
Panic blared, cutting through my passion-dizzied mind.
I yanked my hands up, leaned back, and then shoved with my palms, hitting Kieran square in the chest.
“No,” I said, taking a big step back before remembering the state of my borrowed sweats.
My feet caught on the fabric, but my weight continued to move backward. I staggered and then tipped, stupidly expecting to be saved and instead landing right on my tailbone.
The last traces of desire fled, and I blinked in the chill of the air, getting my bearings. The sweats were around my ankles and the sweatshirt lay wide open, exposing my mess of a bra and my nipples, still budded, sticking out through it.
“That’s embarrassing.” I yanked the sweatshirt closed and quickly zipped it up. I struggled to my feet, this time stupidly thinking I’d get a hand. Still a nope.
Kieran stood stock-still, looking confused, surprised, and wary, his large ha
rd-on raging against the confines of his briefs.
“That’s probably also embarrassing, given the change in our situation.” I brushed my wet hair out of my face before bending for my clothes. A pat and a few squeezes revealed empty pockets. No phone, dead or otherwise.
I glanced down at my sopping purse, but knew it had been in my pocket. I spun, looking back toward the pool, before hurrying that way.
“Alexis, wait…” Kieran’s voice was wispy, completely unlike him. He clearly wasn’t used to girls saying no when he’d gotten them that far.
“I shouldn’t have let him get me that far,” I quietly berated myself, stopping at the edge of the pool and looking down. The sweats slipped down to my thighs before I could grab them and haul them back up.
Water shimmered on the surface, distorting my view, but even still, a certain sleek black object that I’d worked very hard for could be seen at the very bottom.
My heart sank. It had been in there for a while now. I should’ve had Kieran fish it out before I’d shoved him away and shouted no in his face.
“Okay. Surely there has to be a net around here somewhere…”
“I’ve got it.” Kieran sauntered up like he owned the world, his hard-on still going strong. No embarrassment about that fact bled into his poise, gait, or expression. He didn’t even seem annoyed. It was business as usual for him, like the moment before hadn’t happened.
In a smooth motion, he dove into the freezing water, straight down to my phone. He grabbed it without hunting, turned, and kicked back to the surface, utterly at home in the water. Of course, he was a descendant of the god of the sea and the son of one of the sea’s creatures. He belonged in the water.
He grabbed the lip of the pool and pulled himself out. Without a word, he handed my phone over.
“Shit,” I breathed, taking it in hand, not even bothered when the sweats slipped down around my ankles again. “What if Mordecai was trying to get a hold of me?” I looked up at him. “Do you think my phone is dead forever?”
He studied me for a quiet moment before glancing at my phone. Without a word, he turned and strutted away.
A twinge of guilt pinched my gut. “I should probably apologize for how I handled that other thing,” I mumbled, watching his muscular backside as he moved away. “Then again…” I tore my gaze away and turned my phone over in my hands. “He’s the reason my phone is possibly dead, and that I might’ve missed a call from the medical office, and that my life has been turned upside down.” I lowered my eyebrows. “He deserved that harsh no. And maybe a kick to go along with it. Hopefully he takes the hint—”
“I have superhuman hearing, Alexis,” he called from the beginning of the obstacle course, interrupting my private conversation with myself. Rude. “You’re mine, and you just proved you feel it. I protect what’s mine.” I saw him bend for something, but couldn’t see what. Probably his phone. “We’ll talk soon about my job offer.”
I caught a glimpse of him stalking away before he turned a corner. The soft click of a door said he’d gone.
All I could do was stare in disbelief for a moment.
Between showing up to the appointment and this moment, I’d made my situation infinitely worse.
“Crap,” I said quietly, letting the silence soak into me. “Crap.”
After a few deep breaths, I worked my way back to my clothes, only to stop in confusion when all I saw was a wet stain. Confused, I glanced around the floor. Nothing beyond a few mats and a scrap of paper that had been discarded.
“He took my fucking clothes?” I put out my hands, opened my mouth, and dramatically turned in a circle. “What the…”
The guy was a lunatic. There was no other explanation. Power had gone to his head, cracked something vital, let sense and reality seep out, and left behind only a great face with a breathtaking body.
And now that great face and breathtaking body had my good jeans and non-stained shirt.
“What a royal dickface fucker. I hope I get the chance to kick him right in that huge dong of his.”
Muttering to myself, in between cursing the giant sweats that didn’t want to stay up, I made my way to the closest exit that everyone else had used. Double doors housed a sign warning people away from Demigod Kieran’s private fitness quarters.
“There’s more than one door, you bunch of nitwits,” I groused, shoving the doors open and leaving them that way.
Three steps out, a presence niggled at my awareness. Already annoyed, I stopped abruptly and spun around. A half-naked man crouched behind a fake plant, watching me with a straight face.
It was the blond guy with still-damp hair. And now that he was closer, I saw that he was the same guy who’d been standing guard over my car after the freak show.
“Hello, Magoo,” he said nonchalantly, his smile large and beautiful and about to get a foot in it.
“Fantastic.” I didn’t know what else to say about that nickname.
I clutched the large sweats a little tighter, holding my wet purse out a little farther from my body, as I turned away. “You didn’t even bother to put on a shirt before starting your detail, huh?”
I started walking. He was big, toned, and moved like he was lethal. If he intended to follow me around, there wasn’t a lot I could do about it besides get home as soon as possible.
I needed to come up with a plan.
“I worked hard on this body. Why not show it off?” he said, drifting behind me.
Obviously that wasn’t the reason why he wasn’t wearing a shirt, but I didn’t bother commenting.
At the stairs to the second floor, I glanced back as I walked around the banister and onto the stairs. With a start, I realized he was gone. Somewhere along the way, he’d drifted out of sight again without my knowing.
I didn’t know if that was good or bad.
The waiting room was empty but for the guy at the check-in desk with a phone to his ear. Something told me he’d dialed my number and was hoping I would pick up.
“Hey,” I said, hurrying up to him. “Sorry I’m late. I dropped my phone in the pool.”
“Ah.” He beamed at me and lowered the phone to its cradle. “We were starting to lose hope. I’ll just bring him up for you.”
A few moments later, the door in the corner of the room opened and a desperately drained Mordecai trudged out, leaning heavily on an orderly.
“Oh my God, what did they do to you?” I asked as I rushed forward, my heart in my throat.
“It’s fine…” Mordecai blinked at my outfit. “Where are your clothes?”
“Do you want help, ma’am?” the orderly asked.
“No. I got it.” I ducked into Mordecai’s outstretched arm and slung my arm around his middle without thinking.
I’d let go of my sweats.
“Crap.” I grabbed at them with my other hand, slapping the wet purse against my leg. “Shoot.”
“Ma’am—”
“What is going on?” Mordecai asked, a smirk fighting the concern in his eyes.
“Ma’am, do you need—”
“I’m fine,” I yelled at the orderly, because I needed to take out my humiliation turned aggression on someone, and it couldn’t be a sick teenager. “Just…give me a minute.”
“Would a stapler do?” Mr. Smart Guy at the front desk asked, returning.
“Maybe,” I muttered.
A few helpful staff, a lot of staples, and a host of safety pins later, I was ready for the road.
“So…” Mordecai leaned against me, his shoulders bowing heavily. “Where are your clothes, again?”
Trying to tamp down my fear for him, I swallowed my rage and frustration over the situation with Kieran. Mordecai didn’t need to bear the burden of my shitty problems.
“Never mind. It’s nothing.”
“Your underwear is leaking…hopefully water through huge gray sweats, your hair is dripping, and your bag has been dunked. It’s nothing?”
He was so nice that he didn’t even men
tion my failure to answer the office’s texts and phone calls.
“Let’s save it for when we get home. I don’t want to repeat myself for Daisy.”
I helped him out of the room and turned toward the stairs. A moment later, though, he stiffened and slowed. He glanced behind him, his fingers digging into my back.
“What?” I asked, stopping to turn around.
“Keep going,” he whispered.
“What?” I repeated, whispering now, at the head of the stairs.
“Someone is…back there. They seem…dangerous.”
“Wow, look at you. Your shifter senses are blossoming. Can you see anyone?”
“No. Come on—what are you waiting for?”
I searched the hall, not letting him turn me around. A girl of about Mordecai’s age waited next to a small alcove, her fingers picking at the big plastic buttons on her shirt and her face lowered, as if she didn’t want people to see her. Shy, probably. On her right hung an oil painting of the running of the bulls in Spain with a man flying through the air, propelled by a horn gouging his butt. A metal-looking tree climbed the wall beside it, its branches hanging down to give the girl’s nook some cover.
“Hey,” I called, not worrying about my volume. This was a magical place. Hopefully I wasn’t the weirdest person around.
The girl started and her head snapped up. Her gaze zeroed in on Mordecai and me before sweeping the hall in front of us, looking for the person I was addressing. When she didn’t see anyone, I thought her gaze would return to us.
Instead, it drifted upward, toward the branches of the tree crawling across the ceiling.
“No…way.” I followed her gaze and found widened eyes in a partially strained face. “You’re an odd-looking banana, sir.”
34
Alexis
The guy with the huge arms from Kieran’s posse clung to the branches of the metallic tree, which did not look strong enough to hold him. Those incredible arms probably comprised most of his weight, but his legs were active, too, holding his lower half.