by Lana Ames
I held my own glass, turning over her words in my mind. Yes, I did understand what she meant, though I was not proud of the times when I had been so manipulative as to pretend a weakness I didn’t have, for strategic advantage. Of course it was better to be honest and straightforward, but it was the sad truth that life didn’t always allow that. “So…let me see if I’m getting this right,” I said at last.
She gazed over at me with a slight nod, indicating I should go on.
“If I complete the binding and create the cohort, I don’t have to then somehow defeat you and take over.”
She chuckled. “No, and if it is all the same to you, I would really rather that you did not try.”
I smiled softly. “And if I choose to walk out of here right now, I’m not sentencing you—and the whole household—to death. That was just something Max is afraid of?”
She paused a moment, clearly choosing her words. “You would absolutely not be sentencing us to certain death, no. What you would be doing is interrupting a momentum that is already in play, and that can have risks. I am strong—far more powerful than I have let on, to pretty much everyone—but I am not invincible, and your pulling out at this point would cost me. Of course, you are free to do whatever your heart tells you is the right choice. I will not compel you, nor even try to persuade you beyond telling you that you would put me in some difficulty if you walked out right now.”
“I see.” I took another sip of my brandy. It was interesting how my mind still felt sharp and alert even as the liquor caressed and warmed my belly. “Thank you for being honest with me.”
She nodded. “I will say only one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“If you do walk away now, without having communed with Max, that will underscore for him his sense of isolation and abandonment. It will confirm what he already fears: that he is not worthy, that no one will ever love him. He will feel justified in his belief that he cannot trust anyone.” Lady Periwinkle caught my gaze, her eyes now earnest and sincere. “Please know that I am not telling you this out of any wish for emotional manipulation or coercion. I know how it sounds, but it is simply the honest truth, and it should be considered in whatever decision you come to.”
“I understand.” And I did. I sat back in my chair, staring at the fire. “Max did seem…different than my first two men. He wanted to talk first, not jump straight into bed.”
The lady chuckled. “That’s our sensitive Max.”
“Doesn’t he feel the pull as strongly as I do—as strongly as the rest of the men do?”
“Oh, he most certainly does; perhaps even stronger. But he struggles to manage it. He wants to be master of himself, not slave to forces he has no control over.”
I shifted in my chair, suddenly uncomfortable. “I think we all want that.”
She smiled again. “Well, of course…but don’t we also want to be swept away on the wings of passion?” She turned to look at me intently. “Shouldn’t the carnal act be one of wanton delight, joy—release? You don’t seriously believe that lovemaking should be an intellectual exercise, cold and analytical, all the boxes checked and spreadsheets tallied.”
I shook my head. “There’s a difference between losing oneself in passion and being under some sort of magical compulsion.”
Lady Periwinkle raised an elegant eyebrow. “Is there?”
~*~*~*~
How long was I with the lady? When she left me, I shook my head in confusion. The rain had abated somewhat, though it was still dripping off the house’s eaves.
But it was nearly fully dark outside. How had so many hours passed?
Max must be beside himself. I’d squandered so much of his time…our time.
I hurried out of the grand gallery—now a cold and formal lobby-like space once more, the cozy parlor having fallen away when the lady left—and back to the staircase. When I reached the top floor, I could see very little light, just the flickering firelight and a small reading lamp by the barrister’s bookcase.
“Hello?” I called out. “Max?”
He did not answer…but I had the sense that he was in the room. I stepped inside, wondering what I was feeling as I let my eyes adjust to the dimness.
“Max?”
The feeling that he was here grew even stronger in me. I stopped in the center of the huge space, questing out…was this my magic? It was like the pull I felt to all my men—lust, heat, desire—coupled with an awareness that went beyond any of my other senses. I just…knew he was in the room. Closer with my every step.
He was in bed.
I walked over to the bed, my footsteps quiet on his plush carpets. And as I approached, my sense shifted and I knew more. He was asleep, and he was having an uncomfortable dream. I couldn’t read his mind or anything, nothing so clear as that; I got no details from the dream. I simply felt his discomfort, and knew that’s what was happening.
“Oh, Max,” I whispered. “I am so sorry.” I undressed quickly, dropping my clothes on the floor beside the bed, and crawled in beside him.
He slept with his back to me—to the room at large. So I snuggled up to him, spooning him from behind. He was naked, as was I; our bodies curved together like they’d been built as a matched set, even though he was so much larger than me.
Max sighed in his sleep, and I felt his dream shift. Again, without knowing any details, I somehow knew that he felt eased. Comforted. I held him close, thinking about everything we had talked about, and all that the lady had told me. I thought about taking care of this man. Healing him.
And it was not long before I fell asleep as well.
~*~*~*~
A delicious sensation woke me. The room was darker than before; the reading lamp was out, and the fire had died to embers. I was stretched out on my back…and the most marvelous thing was happening.
Between my legs.
“Mmm,” I purred, shifting and opening my legs a little wider as I reached a hand down to caress Max’s hair.
He lifted his head. “My apologies. I woke with your arms around me, and I…I just had to taste you.”
I gave his head a little nudge, urging it back downward again. “Never, ever apologize for such a thing. Only apologize for stopping.”
He chuckled, and lowered to his work once more. His tongue explored me, seeking and slipping inside, then back out to stroking my clit, then back inside. It was delectable; I rolled my hips, moving with him, trying to curb my impatience. Letting him take this at his speed, even if I wanted to gallop on to release.
My pleasure built, and built, and built. He licked and tasted me at an unhurried pace; not teasing, just taking his time. Getting to know me…without conversation.
As the heat grew, my breath began coming in shorter gasps. He increased his pace just a bit, now sucking my clit gently. The sensation almost undid me; I bucked my hips, reaching for him. “Oh, Max,” I sighed, between sharp inbreaths. “Oh, Max.”
He hummed against my clit as he plunged his tongue inside me, and I exploded in an orgasm that caught me by surprise. I knew it was coming…I didn’t know it was here. “Oh my god!” I screamed, reaching down and grabbing his head, holding him to me, on me, in me, even as I arched my back and rocked my hips. “Oh my god.”
The waves crashed through me harder than ever before, touching pieces of me that had never been touched… If each climax is going to be huger than the last, this magic business is going to kill me, I thought.
But what a way to go.
I don’t know how long I flew before I collapsed back onto the bed, panting, sated and depleted. “Wow,” I said, oh so cleverly. It was all I had.
“Was I all right?” he asked, looking up at me, his blue eyes puppy-dog sad, uncertain.
I gaped at him. “What? Come up here.” I reached down, putting my hands on his shoulders, as if I could manhandle him up to me.
He scooted up the bed and lay beside me. I rolled over to lie atop him, gazing down into those amazing eyes. “You were not all r
ight.” His face fell, and I could see the beginnings of an emotional shutdown. I immediately went on: “You were amazing. You were incredible. I have never been awakened like that, and I have never been given such amazing oral sex in my entire life.” Including from you, Justin, I added silently, though that had been spectacular. I felt that Justin would understand. This had an astonishing emotional content…or maybe even a magical one.
Max’s mouth tipped up into a fragile smile, and I again felt my heart break at how this man had been wounded. “Thank you. I just…I’ve never done that before either, but I woke up and…somehow, it seemed like the right thing to do.”
“It absolutely was.” I had been lying flat on top of him; I now moved to wrap my legs around his waist, straddling him. Feeling his hardness beneath me, pressing at me. “And don’t you dare apologize for that either,” I said, squeezing and pressing back at him. “I’ve got plans for that.”
His smile broadened, and he reached up to pull me close. His hands skimmed over my back, reaching down to my ass. Still tentative, still a bit unsure, but he was starting to relax.
There was really only one way to fully reassure him, I figured. I tipped my hips up just a bit, getting him positioned exactly right, and then sat down again, drawing his hard, eager cock inside me.
He shuddered and moaned, his hands squeezing hard on my ass as he pumped up into me, harder, deeper. I rocked back and forth, drawing him in and out, setting the pace—but he eagerly matched it. I felt the heat between us build and build, as magical as before but deeper now, that we were joined, that he was inside me.
I fucked him like I’d been fucking him all my life, like I knew his every moan and sigh, and what it meant. He clung to me, driving his hips upward as I claimed him.
And then the real magic started: I felt it in my chest, blossoming. It was the same sense I’d felt when I knew he was in the room but could not see or hear him; only this time it was deeper, far more profound. It emanated outward from my heart, spreading down through my belly and my core and down my legs, up and out through my arms and into my head. It was an astonishing sense of rightness, and delight, and connection, and power—but none of those words do it justice. I knew Max, I knew his heart and soul, and I knew how to heal and save him; the knowledge echoed back within me, and now I knew Finley and Justin the same way. How had I managed such amazing lovemaking with them when I hadn’t had this?
“You had it,” Max whispered, though I hadn’t said anything, I’m sure I hadn’t.
“I…what?” I opened my eyes and looked down at him. We were still connected, still thrusting, gasping and climbing, but also—connected at this other level. He had somehow heard my thoughts.
“Your magic,” he said, and then sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh god. I feel it, it’s pouring through me. It’s…it’s…”
He must not have had words either. I couldn’t talk any more; I drove down onto him, letting him fill me, demanding that he take me up, up, over the edge…
My climax melded the magic within me and between us with the physical sensation of his amazing cock in me. I screamed with release, with the astonishment at such ecstasy and the rightness of this bond. Max held me tight, shuddering as he came an instant after, holding me tight to him as if we could be one person, bound forever.
Because in a way, we would be.
“Oh. My. God.” My core clenched and clenched, draining every last bit of his essence, never wanting to let go…until I finally found my way back to my senses, my release at last finished. I mock-collapsed, tumbling off to lie beside him on the bed, yet rolling him with me so we stayed connected.
He was breathing as hard as I was. We just panted at one another for a long minute, grinning, and then I started giggling. I couldn’t help it: delighted laughter was the only possible response to such mind-blowing, world-changing sex.
Max looked momentarily puzzled, but my laughter was infectious and then he was laughing too, in between kissing me—on my neck, my ears, my face.
I finally got hold of myself, taking a deep breath and kissing him back. I pulled him closer to me, holding him tightly as I explored his mouth.
When we came up for air, he said, “We’re doing this all backwards.”
I giggled again. “Is there a guidebook I forgot to study?”
“I don’t know. Let’s write one.”
I pulled him close once more and kissed him deeply, tasting myself faintly in the mix.
Once again, he seemed to know my thoughts; he drew back, suddenly self-conscious. “Are you sure you want to kiss me, after…?” He glanced below, where we were still joined.
“Do I look like I have a problem with it?” I drew his mouth to mine again. “All I taste is us.”
We kissed, and kissed, and kissed some more. His bed was warm and dark and cozy, and I felt like we were floating on air. After a long while, I felt him slip out of me, though he still held me close.
“I have no idea what time it is,” I whispered.
“Late.” More kissing, lazy and snuggly. “I’m glad you came back. I wasn’t sure.”
“Of course I was coming back.” Again my heart ached for his vulnerability. “I spoke with the lady. She answered a lot of my questions.”
He pulled me closer. “I’m glad.”
Somehow, I had the sense that he knew all that had transpired between Lady Periwinkle and me…and that he was okay with it. Okay with me knowing how fragile he was, how he had loved unwisely, or at least rashly. I didn’t dare to speak of it, though; I couldn’t yet trust this magic in me. Feelings had deceived me in the past…I didn’t want to upset this newfound comfort and ease between us.
There would be plenty of time for more talking later.
Assuming we didn’t all get killed by a demon first.
Chapter Eleven
The storm blew over in the night; the morning dawned bright and beautiful once more. Max’s room had tall dormer windows uncovered by any curtains, but even so, it was late morning when I finally awoke.
He slept on beside me, snoring almost inaudibly. His dark hair was tousled against his pillow, and his gorgeous face looked utterly relaxed. I had never seen him look so comfortable.
I lay on my own pillow, watching him, feeling peace in my heart.
Well…mostly peace. I also felt yearning, deep underneath it all. I had satisfied three-quarters of the bond, and that new sense in me—that thing I was calling my magic—was already looking ahead to its final completion.
With Aiden.
How could I be thinking about another man, while I lay sated and fulfilled next to this one? Weirder still, how could this feel acceptable to me—even okay?
There was a lot I would still have to get used to, about this magical world I had entered.
I shifted in bed and Max sighed softly, shifting with me. He threw an arm over me, though he was still fast asleep. If I probed a little with my magical sense, I could even get a feel for his dream. It was a sexy one…again, no details, but I felt myself becoming aroused.
Hmm. This was giving me ideas…
I gently pried his arm off me and scooted down in the bed, kissing the lean length of his chest and stomach before finding his stirring cock. He was more than half-erect already. I took him in my hand, stroking him even more erect, then reached further down to cup his balls as I drew him into my mouth.
He was entirely hard at once; I had to breathe carefully around him. He moaned, and I knew he came awake even before his hand found my head, caressing my cheek and stroking my hair before clutching more tightly. I moved up and down his length, taking him deeply. He moaned again, and breathed my name. “Emma…”
I kept a steady rhythm and he held the back of my head, as if I would try to get away…as if this hadn’t been entirely my idea. Now his hips were moving, first gently, then thrusting with greater intensity until he was practically fucking my mouth. I still cupped and squeezed his balls as I sucked him, feeling them swell and pulse with his impending o
rgasm.
He was about to come when he suddenly hesitated. “I…can’t help…oh god Emma, I’m gonna…”
My only response was to pick up the pace, take him faster, deeper. He grabbed the back of my head and exploded into me, filling my mouth and throat with his cum. I swallowed, then swallowed again; his taste was divine, sweet and salty and bright and fresh. I felt myself soaking with desire, and pleasure, and even an echo of his own release.
“That was amazing,” he whispered, as he lay back in his pillow, still gasping for breath.
I smiled, giving his cock one last kiss before sliding back up to lay beside him. “Turnabout is fair play, don’t you think?”
“I do.” And he pulled me in for a deep kiss, tasting our mingled essences.
Despite what I’d told him in the night—despite how I felt about it—I was deeply moved by this, and not a little surprised. Not that I had been with all that many men, but I’d never been with one who was willing to kiss me after I’d sucked him off. Somehow, that seemed to be a boundary men didn’t like to cross.
But not Max.
If the blowjob, and his response to it, hadn’t gotten me hot already, the kissing would have amped me right up. As it was, I was writhing with desire by the time he started moving down my body. “And fair is fair, hmm?” he whispered against my nipple, sucking it briefly before continuing downward once more.
“Seems reasonable to me,” I sighed.
His mouth found my core. This time, he wasted no time with the slow and gentle lovemaking…he stuck in two fingers and began sucking my clit all in one smooth motion. I gasped and grabbed hold of the sheets so I didn’t fly off the face of the earth. He ate me so expertly, so lovingly, so thoroughly…I came within a minute, gasping and whimpering.
He gave me one final long kiss there, then rolled out of the bed.
“Where are you going?” I protested, though not too hard, because now I had a view of his tight ass, just below the strong muscles of his back and shoulders. An appreciative sigh slipped out of me.