Forever Wicked (Castle of Dark Dreams)

by Nina Bangs

  “You’re almost there, sweetheart.” He leaned across her desk. “His office is empty. And no one would have the guts to go in there without permission.” His smile said they were all spineless toads. “You have classes right after work, so we may as well have your party now.”

  “I don’t know…”

  “Live up to your necklace.” He walked around to the back of her chair so he could fasten the chain. Then he pushed her hair aside to whisper in her ear. “Wicked is the perfect spice. It makes everything taste better.”

  His warm breath against her skin scattered her thoughts and fueled anticipation. Still, she hesitated. Of course, wicked for her had a really low threshold. It meant not following rules. Her parents had raised her to be good. But “good” more and more had a lot of gray edges. She turned her head to gaze, mesmerized, at his face so close she could reach his lips without exerting anything. All six feet plus of him was a delicious temptation, a Viking in a suit and tie—long blond hair, ice-blue eyes, and sensual lips she’d tasted many times in the last three weeks. He had a face carved from light and shadow, from I’d-never-do-that to what-the-hell. And right now she was in a what-the-hell mood. She rose to follow him.

  He stood aside to allow her to walk in first. He closed the door behind her. Her gaze settled on the chair behind her boss’s desk, the one that looked like a throne. “I’ve never had the nerve to ask why he has a throne for a chair.” Okay, maybe she got it. The boss was an egoist, the royal dude in his little world.

  Lucas smiled and her world tilted.

  “It’s an antique. It once belonged to an evil man who believed if you wanted to be a king you had to act like one. Hence the throne. The boss says the chair has a rep for revving up the wicked in anyone who sits on it. Hey, look at the boss. He’s carved a bloody trail through the business world, so I guess the chair works.” His smile widened. “How about giving it a test run?”

  She knew her eyes were wide and disbelieving. “He really thinks the previous owner’s evil still lives in the chair?” Some people were so gullible.

  “Oh, you’d be surprised how much of their owners still remain in lots of objects.” He winked at her.

  He wasn’t giving her the reassurance she wanted. “That’s ridiculous.”

  Lucas shrugged and offered her a sly smile before walking around the desk. He pulled the chair to the front of the desk then sat and beckoned to her.

  A war raged inside her. This was wrong. The boss or someone else could show up at any moment. This. Was. Wrong. On the other hand, today was her birthday and she wanted him. That felt right. And his pounces were always memorable, moments to treasure for the rest of her life. That felt… Oh, what the hell. She lifted her chin before striding to him. If she was going to do this, she’d do it right, without any hand-wringing.

  She’d had a chance to make love with him before, and she’d blown it. Her courage had dribbled away, something she’d regretted ever since. No way was Emily going to make that mistake again. Lucas was wicked, but maybe it was time she crawled from her safe little box and explored the dark side.

  Emily narrowed her eyes to slits of delicious anticipation. Lucas would be a big dish of creamy ice cream. Her first mouthful would shock her so much her teeth would hurt, but oh god, he’d taste good.

  When she reached him, he tapped his knee. She settled on to him, and if she accidentally brushed against his cock, well, she hadn’t meant to. Emily gave him her innocent “oops” look.

  He lowered his lids and then watched her from beneath them. His smile was slow and evil. “So what qualifications do you have to be my secretary?”

  She leaned toward him, gripped his tie, and then pulled him close until their lips almost touched. “I can be very creative in…the office. Of course, I’ll be in charge of getting your daily schedule to you each day. I guarantee it’ll be filled with stimulating events. I don’t do boring.”

  “I wait with bated breath. I hope we have something innovative planned for today.” His murmur was a sensual invitation.

  “Mmm. I—” Emily stopped. Was that a noise outside the door? Gasping, she prepared to leap off his knee.

  He laughed as he wrapped his arm around her waist. “No one is out there. You’re too jumpy. Calm down. Allow the essence of the chair to do its thing.

  Emily listened but didn’t hear anything else. This was ridiculous. She wouldn’t allow her second chance with Lucas to escape her. An army of CEOs could march through this office. She wouldn’t care. “I’m fine, and I’m channeling the chair.” She renewed her grip on his tie. “Make me forget everything outside this office.”

  He cupped the back of her head and drew her to him. She wiggled a few inches until she nestled in his lap.

  He groaned. “You’re killing me, woman.”

  Emily smiled. Her first evil smile. She gave an extra wiggle just to watch him suffer. Now she understood how the chair worked. It was insidious, sending its wicked tendrils into her in tiny increments—first urging her to flout time-honored office etiquette and then suggesting that small tortures could be fun.

  But she forgot all about the chair as he slanted his lips across hers. The magic of those lips turned her into something boneless and slightly mushy. They were firm but just soft enough. He slid his tongue across her bottom lip and she sighed against his mouth. The scent of him worked its magic. Nothing phony about him. He was heat and arousal and dark sensual places.

  When the pressure of his lips increased, she opened to him. She explored his mouth, warm and welcoming, tasting of all the things she had ever wanted. And when he broke the kiss, she whimpered her disappointment. Her heart pounded so hard she almost didn’t hear his murmur.

  “Feeling wicked yet?” He punctuated his question by kissing a path across her jaw and down her neck. Then he licked the base of her throat where her pulse beat hard and fast.

  She swallowed hard at the flicker of heat right there, at that exact spot where his tongue touched. “I’m getting there.” She fumbled with his tie. “Get. This. Off. Get it all off. Now.”

  His soft laugh washed over her. “I love an impatient woman.”

  She kicked off her red heels—she’d enshrine them under glass—as he tugged her top over her head. Then he reached for her bra. Wait. “Hey, what about you? I gave you the take-it-off order first.”

  “So you did.” Without warning, he slipped his hands under her bottom and stood, taking her with him. Then he set her on the chair in his place.

  Aah, yes. Emily could feel the chair’s bad seeping into her. First, she’d get comfy. Reaching around, she unhooked her bra, then slowly allowed it to slide through her fingers. Next, she crossed her legs. She approved of the way her skirt rode high on her thighs. Emily glanced up at him through her lashes. She smiled.

  He paused in the act of flinging his tie to the floor. His gaze followed the path of her fingertip as she circled one bare breast. “You learn quickly.”

  Triumph bloomed gold and silver in her. She’d gotten the same feeling when she’d bought the red shoes even though she knew her mother would drive her crazy with her preaching about how “impractical” they were. Well, maybe not exactly the same feeling. This was a little more intense. She raised one brow—wow, she didn’t know she could do that—and asked, “So, when does the show begin?”

  Lucas recovered quickly. “First a short lesson on the different degrees of wickedness.”

  “Don’t you think the time for talking is done?” I want you naked against me, inside me.

  He ignored her question. “Right now we’re in the middle of playful wickedness.” He paused to raise the blinds. Light poured in from the floor to ceiling window behind him. “The apartment building across the street is for senior citizens.”

  Emily leaned to one side so she could see past him. “There’s a woman looking out a window. She has binoculars.”

  “That’s Mrs. Graves. She’s a bird watcher.”

  Emily had her doubts about that.r />
  With his back to the window, he methodically stripped off his coat and then his shirt. His broad muscular chest narrowed down to ridged stomach muscles that narrowed down to…

  He got rid of his shoes, skimmed his pants down over strong thighs and… No. Underwear. The awesomeness of his bared body left her breathless. The sunlight shining through the window outlined him in every delicious detail. Her gaze slipped and slid down his body until… She glanced away. Primitive lust warred with her mind’s need to catalogue and store data for future enjoyment. Primitive lust was into the homestretch with her mind eating dust far behind.

  Speaking of sunlight… Emily leaned to the side again to glance past him. “There’re five women in the window now. They all have binoculars. And unless there’s an ivory-billed woodpecker perched on your ledge, I’d say those women are zeroed in on your butt.”

  Without breaking eye contact with Emily, he reached behind him to lower the blinds. “End of playful wickedness.”

  Good. She didn’t want a Greek chorus for what would come next. But she did sort of want to know, “What comes after playful wickedness?”

  His lips tipped up in a sly smirk. “Cruel wickedness.”

  “The difference?”

  “I would’ve turned around,”—meaningful pause—“and then I would’ve lowered the blinds. But I’m skipping past the cruel stuff and going right to serious wickedness.”

  “Oh.” Emily didn’t get anything else out because he’d reached her in two strides.

  He loomed over her. “Words create a mood, but touch seals the deal.” He tapped her nipple with the tip of his finger.

  She gasped. All the clever sexy comments she’d lined up disappeared in a cloud of sensual awareness.

  He knelt in front of her. “Uncross your legs, Emily. I can’t get your skirt past them in that position.”

  As though in a dream, she obeyed him. This was really happening. She tried to remember. When had they met? He was so familiar, but then he wasn’t. Frustrated, she gave up. She refused to think about it anymore as he reached for her waist.

  Lucas worked fast. Before she even realized it, she was propping her hands on the arm of the throne so he could slide her skirt and panties off. She blinked at him.

  He smiled back. “My naked queen.” Still kneeling, he leaned closer so he could run his hands the length of her bare body. “How about giving me a few commands?”

  The slide of his fingers over her breasts, her stomach, and her thighs was heat and joy and an erotic awakening. She wanted those hands everywhere. Without thinking, she spread her legs wide, an unspoken invitation.

  Lucas looked up at her, his eyes dark with passion. “This is where you belong, bathing in everything that’s sexual with an evil twist. I’ve known that about you since the first time we met.”

  Emily tried to focus. How had he known? She couldn’t even remember when they first met. But then all thought disappeared as he bent to kiss a path along her inner thigh. She swore that the heated press of his mouth on her flesh would leave a permanent imprint of his lips as he drew closer to and closer to and… Her whole body clenched around the promise at trip’s end. She scooted forward in her seat to give him easier access.

  Then he stopped. He freaking stopped! Emily lined up curses to heave at his head. “Is this your idea of cruel wickedness? Because if it is, I’ll cruelly lop off your head within, oh I don’t know, the next ten seconds.”

  He laughed. “Not stopping. Just moving to someplace where I can reach all of you better.”

  Sounded a little breathless to Emily. That was a good thing. She didn’t want to be the only one running low on oxygen.

  Once again, he stood then scooped her up. This time he lowered her to the boss’s very expensive silk rug. Lucas had excellent taste.

  For just a moment, she lay on the rug and stared up at him. His hair fell tangled around his Viking face. His eyes glowed amber. Wait, weren’t his eyes blue? Emily blinked. Didn’t matter. She could see layers of emotions there. She wondered what her eyes showed.

  Holding his gaze, she slid one finger across her breast, over her stomach, and then hovered over the target area. Wanton. A weird choice of word, an old word. Not one she’d ever used. Or had she? She shrugged the thought away. It felt right. Maybe she was cut out to be wicked. Only with Lucas. Somehow she knew this was true.

  She beckoned as she spread her legs.

  He dropped to his knees between her thighs then leaned forward.

  She reached up to grip his strong shoulders, then slid her hands down his muscular arms. His skin was warm beneath her touch. She was determined to remember the warmth, the smooth texture of his body, for future cold nights. Then she pulled him down to her.

  Emily’s thoughts flickered and faded in and out, short-circuited by an overload of input by her senses—the soft slide of the rug beneath her, the sound of his quickened breathing, and the scent of dark forests filled with hungry predators. Okay, so that last one was a bit much, but whatever soap Lucas had used made her want to go play with the wild things.

  He placed his hands on either side of her face and held her still. “We could be wicked together forever.”

  With her two still-functioning brain cells, she wondered at the strangeness of that comment. She had to really focus to get her question out because now he was whispering in her ear, telling her all the delicious things he would do to her. To punctuate those promises, he kissed the sensitive skin behind her ear. She shivered. His words quickened her heartbeat, and she had to take a deep breath to steady herself. Right. Ask the damn question before you lose the power to speak.

  “Who are you?” Did it matter? And where had the question come from anyway? He was messing with her mind as well as seducing her body and soul.

  He reared back to look at her. “What?”

  Lucas sounded surprised, but something in his eyes didn’t look surprised at all.

  He chuckled, but it came out sounding forced. “Are we playing games now? Okay, deal me in. I’m Lucas Delaney. I’m head of accounting.” He lowered his lids, hiding the expression in his eyes. “Guess I don’t seem like the accounting type.” He shrugged. “Truth? I don’t feel like the accounting type. Never even thought about that until now. Strange.”

  Lucas transferred his attention to her lips, leaning into her to trace them with the tip of his tongue before deepening the kiss. She welcomed him, savoring the familiar taste of him. Familiar? No, that had to be wrong.

  That was her last thought before everything became right.

  Finally, they broke the kiss. Emily gulped in air, trying to clear her head of the sensuality overload that was Lucas.

  He sat back on his heels, staring at her. “Woman, you’ve always driven me crazy. Don’t ever go away. You’re…” Words seemed to desert him, as he leaned toward her again to brush strands of hair from her face.

  “Go away? Where would I go? Besides, you don’t even know me.” Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered right now except skin-on-skin contact. She touched his nipple with tip of her finger.

  He shuddered. “I’ve always known you.” His voice was barely a whisper.

  Emily believed him. Right now she’d believe anything he said. She raised her head so she could slide her tongue across that tempting nipple.

  He sucked in his breath as he grabbed her hair and forced her head back until she stared into his eyes. “This will end very quickly if you continue to touch me like that.”

  Emily saw the heat in his eyes and smiled her triumph. “Then we’ll burn hot for the time we’ve got.”

  She growled, she freaking growled as he laughed before he lowered his head to swirl his tongue around her nipple. So she wouldn’t feel deprived, he rolled her other nipple between his thumb and forefinger. She clutched his hair as though it could keep her anchored to Earth. But when he drew her nipple into his mouth and gently nipped it, she knew his hair wouldn’t help her.

  Emily arched her back as he kissed a pat
h over her stomach while he skimmed her inner thighs with his fingertips. But each time, his fingers stopped just short of…there.

  There became the pot of gold at the end of her orgasmic rainbow.

  “Don’t creep, Lucas. If you want something, go directly to it and then take it. Like this.” She reached between his legs to wrap her fingers around his cock. The direct approach had its drawbacks, though. Heat pooled low in her stomach along with an aching heaviness. She groaned. Emily wanted to draw him to her, to put her mouth on him, to… She settled for sliding her thumb across the head, back and forth, back and forth until she felt each stroke there. She clenched around the exquisite sensation.

  “Direct approach. Cancel the foreplay, and go right for the prize. Got it.” His voice was raspy, and his breathing hard and fast. “I’m glad you said that, because it’s tough holding onto the sensual and sensitive guy thing when I’m losing my mind for wanting you.”

  Those words sounded like someone she knew… Her thoughts scattered as he slid his hands beneath her bottom and lifted her to meet his mouth. Oh. My. God! His tongue. It flicked across her most sensitive nub and lit a blaze that up till now was just smoldering. Then he delved deep with his magic tongue, and she came off the rug with a scream. Somewhere in the wild maze that was her mind, the wicked chair cheered.

  Gripping his shoulders, she dug in with her nails. Because if she didn’t hold onto something, she’d explode and the boss would return to find bits of her all over his in-box.

  As she tried to catch her breath and hear past the drumroll of her heart, he straightened and then eased his cock into her. She closed her eyes on a moan as he stretched and filled her. Deeper, deeper, and still deeper. Emily swore she felt him touch her heart.

  She wasn’t sure at what point he lowered her to the rug again. Emily’s whole world lived within the thrust and withdrawal, her body clenching around him, trying to hold him there forever, knowing forever wasn’t possible. Because no human heart could stand the intense feel of him inside her, touching her in ways no one ever had before.