Fueled by Lust: Severus (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Celeste Prater

  Cassie winced and immediately started shuffling through the papers. “Crap! Sorry about that! I was about to do the exact same thing I’ve been harping on all morning.” When his hand reached up to take the papers, she noticed a thin, blue bracelet circling his wrist. “Hey, you one of those that pause for a cause?” When he returned a confused look, she nodded to the bracelet.

  Victor shrugged his shoulders, one finger rubbing lightly against the cheap rubber. “Oh yeah, I normally don’t wear something on my wrist other than a watch, but I’m doing this for my brother. He’s battling testicular cancer and it’s my way of, as you put it, pausing for his cause.”

  Cassie wanted the earth to open and swallow her up, right then and there. “Aw hell, I’m sorry, Drexler. Ignore me. My best friend tells me all the time that I have absolutely no filter from my brain to my mouth.”

  Victor flashed a panty-melting grin and said, “No worries, Cassie. I kind of like your sassy mouth.”

  Surprised at the flirtation, she just let out a relieved breath and ignored it. “That’s good then, because if you plan on working here for long, that will be the least unfiltered thing you might hear from me, so be forewarned.”

  His laughter was deep and genuine. “You’re all right, Cassie. I think we’re going to get along very nicely.”

  Smiling, she started for the door, but the concentrated look he was throwing her way made her pause. “What?”

  “I hope you don’t take this wrong, and by all means put me in my place if you do, but would you like to go to the law office party with me?”

  Cassie was startled. Damn, that came out of left field. For a fraction of a second she almost accepted just to help her exorcise a ghost, then just as quickly remembered her rule to never, ever date a coworker. Been there, done that, treated the ulcer. “Aw, that’s very nice of you to ask, Victor, but I’ve already accepted an invitation. I’m sorry.” Her inner conscience beat on her frontal lobe, screaming, “Liar, liar, pants on fire,” until she sent in her evil Cassie to drop-kick it in the ass.

  Victor clasped her free hand with his and squeezed. Just the perfect amount of embrace and right length of grasp before he dropped her hand. “I wish you would’ve slammed into me sooner and I could have beaten the other guy to the prize. Just my luck.” He gave her another award-winning smile, grabbed his coffee cup, and headed to the door. “You have a great day, Cassie.”

  “Yeah, you too, Victor.” She watched him walk off and wished that the damn ghost wasn’t still superimposed over his body.

  * * * *

  Cassie rested one arm over the top of the refrigerator door, the other braced against the wall as she glared into the cold box. Her eyes flipped from one square package to the other as if frozen pizza or low-fat Hot Pockets could morph into a rib-eye steak and save her the trouble of deciding.

  “Screw it! I don’t want either one of you.” She hadn’t been home for more than fifteen minutes and was ready to kill something. Slamming the door, she yanked a cabinet open and shook her head at the meager options. “Ramen Noodles or chicken broth, geez, let me think. They both look so enticing—Not!”

  Slamming that last door, she stalked out of the kitchen and practically threw herself onto the couch. Even within the throes of her petulant tirade, she knew full well it wasn’t the food that had her bent to hell and gone. A quick trip to the store would solve that problem. Nope, it was the lack of a phone call and especially the absence of a big body sitting on her stoop waiting for her to get home that had her panties in a wad. She was mad at herself for getting exactly what she had asked for. He was long gone and off to better things. She should be ecstatic, thrilled beyond giddy to be back in her daily grind, alone and independent, not relying on anyone but herself to—ring!

  “Thank fuck!” Diving for her purse, she groped around for the phone and, not finding it immediately in her grasp, proceeded to dump the contents on the floor. She chased the elusive equipment underneath the couch, clamped onto the little bastard, and flipped her body around like a Russian gymnast while hitting the “Send” key at the same time. She could have scored a gold medal on that back-breaking move alone.

  “Hello!” She cringed at her husky, out-of-breath greeting. She sounded like she’d just crawled away from a two hour romp in the sack.

  “Cassie? Is that you? You just get off the treadmill?”

  Okay, only Lina would think it was a solo workout. “Hey, girl! No, sorry. Dropped the phone and was recovering from a mad scramble. What up?”

  “If you don’t have plans, you want to come by and eat with us? I’m showing Drusus how to make lasagna, so he needs a witness and an impartial taste tester. He thinks I’ll say it’s good no matter what. I need you front and center for judge duty. You up to it?”

  “Hell yes! I was just staring in my fridge and thinking about slamming my head in the door, so you’ve basically saved my life. When you need me?”

  “Start on over now. It’ll give you some wine and wind-down time before the big unveiling.”

  “On my way.”

  * * * *

  Cassie always loved the moment the elevator doors opened into Drusus’s penthouse—uh, correction, Drusus and Lina’s home. The place ranked up there with the homes of the rich and famous, but this one was far from glossy, sterile, or fake. Their love for each other filled that big space as a living, breathing entity and with no additional room to flow, it immediately wrapped its arms around her and welcomed her in like a long-lost friend. That fantastic view didn’t hurt one damn bit either.

  As with every visit, her feet refused to go elsewhere but over to the expansive floor-to-ceiling windows. No matter how many times she had stood there, her heart would beat rapidly as her eyes tried to take in everything at once. The sky was just starting to darken. Wispy clouds stuck around to show off their purple bellies and yellow tops and every building carried a soft, golden sheen from the sun even though it had already sunk below the horizon. Any minute she would see millions of twinkling lights popping up across the landscape, brightening the river with a multitude of color. She watched as thousands of car headlights scurried to-and-fro, taking people home from a hard day’s work or to a local hotspot to slough off the dredge of the work week. Craning her head to the side to see more of the river, she caught a slight movement to her right. Her eyes locked onto Severus and she forgot how to breathe.

  Chapter 8

  Severus had wanted to stay mad. In fact, he had even entertained the idea of just walking past her and straight to the elevator as he watched Cassie hightail it to the windows as soon as she stepped out of the elevator. But, his body refused to budge. He hung there in suspended animation as he took in her visage. She had been putting on extra weight since he had made that remark at her door about being too skinny. He smiled as he remembered her flying up in his face with righteous indignation. There was such fire coming from that little wisp of a female as her tawny eyes lit up while she hissed out her discontent. He had not been the same since.

  He renewed his enjoyment at the increase in curviness, her ass filling out to a lush fullness within her faded jeans. Her breasts strained against a purple T-shirt with the sleeves cut out. The cute little toenails peeking from the hem of her jeans were still purple. She never stayed in a room long before flinging any footwear to the side as if she could not tolerate them a minute more. It was another thing they had in common, besides distaste for sesame seeds. Glancing down to his bare feet, he congratulated his body for not heeding his head. It would have defeated the prideful exit from the room if he returned red-faced to pick up his boots.

  Realizing that she may very well catch him admiring his own wiggling toes, his eyes quickly latched onto her face. Thankfully she was still admiring the skyline through the windows, radiant in her joy of viewing the turn of the night. He could almost envision her as a child, looking upon things with innocence and hope despite the hardship she had survived. He tamped down the urge to move to her, to reveal his presence by c
aressing her golden hair. He may be rethinking the hurt she had bestowed, the passing of time dulling the sharp edges, but he was not letting her off that easily. No, he would let her stew in uneasiness for a bit longer, perhaps wait for an honest apology before releasing her from guilt.

  Leaning against the wall as if he had not a care in the world, he crossed his arms and stared hard at her profile, willing her to glance his way. He masked his sudden surprise when she did as he wished, those luminous, amber eyes widening as she glanced his way.

  “Oh, sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

  After her hesitant greeting, he nodded and looked away. Pretending to scan the horizon, he focused on her glass-reflected image instead. She stood very still, yet never took her eyes from him. Varying expressions crossed her face and if he was reading them correctly, she was either waiting for him to say something, anything, or was trying to get a bead on how to end the awkward silence. Even though he was meeting his goal, he wanted to end this stalemate, unused to feeling this wretched at someone’s discomfort. He wanted to turn and look at her, but pride kept his muscles locked down tight.

  “Cassie. I know you have your nose glued to the window again, but can you come in here for a minute?”

  Lina’s sweet voice drifting from the kitchen took some of the edge from his ragged soul, yet he remained rock solid in his desire to appear unaffected.

  “Yeah, coming. I better have a glass of wine with my name on it, or you’re toast.”

  He was proud of himself when he didn’t glance her way as she responded to her friend’s call. That façade started cracking as he tracked her eyes giving his body an appreciative, up-and-down sweep. His hard outer shell was destroyed in a mere second when her delicate, pink tongue slid across her full bottom lip before her teeth caught and released the glistening flesh. The breath hung in his lungs as an impossibly realistic image slammed into his brain. Her plush lips opening wide as he pushed his fully engorged cock inside. Her warm, tawny eyes staring up to his, letting him know she was going to savor every inch of him as he slid down her throat.

  He was immensely grateful she had turned away as that very cock hit full length and width, causing him to double over and muffle a curse as the seam of his jeans bit excruciatingly into tender skin. Trying to adjust the unrelenting flesh proved futile, so he found no choice but to seek privacy.

  He walked gingerly by Drusus’s room, in enough agony to warrant ducking in and taking a chance of being caught by his prince with his hands down his pants. Some reasoning still remained in his blood-deprived brain, so he sucked it up and hobbled a few more feet to the guest room. He would have preferred misting through the ventilation system to the privacy of his own bedroom but was too agitated to engage the transition. Shutting the door, he practically tore the zipper from the material and freed his agonized member. It stood straight up, slapped menacingly against his belly, and pointed accusingly at him for taking them both in the opposite direction of its prey.

  Shades of pervert flitted through his brain as one hand grasped the waistband of his jeans and the other pressed the pissed-off beast to his stomach while he fled to the bathroom. Shutting and locking himself in, he stared at the thick, bulbous head leaking clear fluid while continuing to bounce against his stomach. “Son of a bitch!” He had never had this level of excruciating need strike his body. He had willed the damn thing down when it had reacted at Cassie’s the other night, but he was not fooling it this time. It wanted satisfaction even if it had to bob and weave against his body to find relief. Every brush against the fabric of his shirt brought more moans from his body, each surge bringing his sac higher and tighter.

  Stripping his clothes, he lunged into the shower and turned the water on. “Gods damn it!” Cold water cracked across his chest and belly, leaving him gasping for air, but did nothing to thwart the aching cock from its agenda. Gradually, the water warmed and he took himself in hand. His eyes practically rolled to the back of his head as he slumped against the marbled wall and began pulling from base to tip and squeezing before beginning a rhythmic push-and-pull along the length. Cassie’s heavy-lidded eyes and parting lips flashed across his thoughts and he could not hold back the long, soulful moan rushing from his throat.

  Four strokes in and his ass checks clamped tight. His thighs shook in an effort to hold him upright as what felt like pure electricity shot from his ball sac, through his lower belly, and up the length of his shaft. He barked out an unintelligible stream of curses as cum brutally erupted in long, thick streams across the shower then up across his chest and belly before marking the walls again. His mind vaguely registered that he had long ago released his cock. His palms slapped insistently against the walls to keep him dropping to the floor as the excruciating pleasure consumed him.

  He willed his body to begin a smooth slide down the slick walls, his legs no longer listening to the commands from his brain to stay the course. They were done, kaput, checking out even as his dick continued to jerk and spasm. It was too weak to coat the walls any longer and settled for his thigh as sufficient enough to accept its gift.

  He slumped there under the pounding spray for several long moments, trying to comprehend what had happened. He finally realized his hands were cupping his lax cock and balls as if protecting them from another onslaught. Never once had he experienced such a mind-numbing, yet intensely pleasurable, release. He had been inside many women and taken himself in hand numerous times, yet this one was for the record books. All that from a glimpse of perfectly-white teeth grasping delicate, pink lips, and amber eyes looking to him with such trust and desire.

  “Ah, for the love of Dii, no more,” he snarled as his supposedly dead cock twitched against his palm. Eyelids locked tight, he concentrated on putting the damn thing to sleep. His heartbeat finally lowered to a reasonable level and he pulled himself up from the marbled floor. Confident his legs were willing to hold him up again, he cleaned himself as well as the shower. As evidence of his complete loss of control swirled down the drain, he quickly toweled off and dressed. Swiping a hand across the fog-covered mirror, he stared at his face for a moment, questioning the reflection of a very confused male.

  “Son of a bitch, Severus! You cannot lose it like that again. Get a grip damn it!” Closing his eyes, he tentatively allowed an image of Cassie to flow through his mind and prayed that his body didn’t go on erotic walkabout without his brain again. Sighing in relief that his cock didn’t rise up and shout, “Where to next,” he headed back to the living room and hoped no one had noticed him missing.

  * * * *

  Cassie stuck her head around the corner, surprised to see that Severus wasn’t still standing like a statue by the windows. In fact, he wasn’t within sight. Surely he would’ve said good-bye to Drusus if he’d left. Maybe he was in one of the back rooms. It didn’t matter. She’d firmly decided that she would try to avoid him if possible, at least until she got a handle on her jumbled emotions. Her resolve from last night had flown out the window the second she’d laid eyes on him.

  Wineglass in hand, she hauled ass to the balcony doors and slipped through. Taking a deep breath, she inhaled the clean smell of the night. It was fully dark now, causing her to feel tiny and insignificant in the vastness displayed from the horizon up to the endless midnight sky, but she couldn’t stay in the kitchen a moment longer.

  Despite how much she loved Lina, watching her with Drusus just drove home the emptiness of her own life. That man in there was head-over-ass in love with her best friend, and there was no gap in the reciprocation from Lina. They looked great together. Their bodies were in sync whether they realized it or not. They moved around the kitchen as if mirror images. Even as they engaged in conversation with her, laughed at her jokes, and traded friendly barbs, they danced to a tune that only they knew, so well-choreographed they appeared to have been together for centuries, not a mere few weeks. She wanted to cry out in happiness for a woman so deserving. To be receiving back what Lina had graciously given over so
many years allowed her to believe in the concept of Karma. The cosmos was finally sending Lina a big kiss and shouting, “Back at you, baby.”

  * * * *

  Severus heard Lina and Drusus’s voices from the kitchen. If Cassie was still in there with them, she was being extremely quiet which was very unusual. Glancing toward the windows, he spotted her on the balcony, forearms resting on the high railing as she peered over into the darkness. His first instinct was to leave her in peace, but his gut told him it was time to stop this foolishness. They could not continue tiptoeing around the fact that they were in each other’s lives whether she preferred it to be otherwise or not. There were going to be many more occasions where they would find themselves placed in close vicinity. It was inevitable. She could no more walk away from her dearest friend than he could from his Trejani. So he had a moment of weakness, big deal. He would just have to control that reaction if he didn’t want to scare the living hell out of her, or himself as well. He wouldn’t offer to help her and she would definitely not ask after that outburst he gifted her on what now seemed a lifetime ago.

  Passing a hand through his damp hair, he headed for the balcony. Not wanting to frighten her, he walked quietly to her side and rested his forearms against the railing. He was relieved to see that she hadn’t flinched or moved away from him in disgust. He was actually surprised by how quiet she was.

  “Hello, Cassie.” His relief knew no end when she turned her head toward him and released a shy smile.

  “Hey, Severus. I’m glad you hung around. For a moment there I thought you’d taken off because of me.”