by Martha Woods
A soft glow bled from her open door. Was it an invitation? She hadn’t slammed it in his face yet like she had with the screen door earlier. Only a week earlier she had tumbled into his arms, euphoric that he was still standing. Now, she glowered at his very presence. How could he have overstayed his welcome so quickly?
His eyes fixated on her swaying hips as he neared the doorway. She was still wearing the strappy black bikini, the one that made all rational thoughts leave his mind. Earlier, she had walked past wearing little more than that and it had thrown him for a loop that he hadn’t completely recovered from. He’d followed her down to the dark beach in hopes of striking up a real conversation, but she’d been adamant on completely ignoring him.
“You can close the door behind you,” she called after him as she leaned over the porcelain tub.
Morgan smiled, stepping forward.
“I meant on your way out.”
A growl rumbled through his chest. She looked up at him, frozen. Her mind betrayed her as she looked at the muscle bound man that pushed his way into her room. His presence was so much that it made her suite seem too small. There wasn’t enough room for the two of them in here.
“What happened to the sweet Veronica from a week ago?”
“She played with fire and learned not to burn herself anymore.”
They had been fire, together. But, she had run the moment he wanted to become serious. The writhing vixen that had laid in his bed turned into a something cold and unfamiliar. As he lingered in the doorway, Morgan wished that he could borrow the human girl’s power. Just for a day. He’d like to dig down inside Veronica’s mind to see what really went on in there, what had made her run from him.
“May I come in?” he tried asking sweetly, but his desire and frustration leaked into his voice.
Veronica chewed on her lower lip. He could see the storm brewing behind her eyes, dancing between inviting him in or sending him on his way. Finally, she whispered, “yes.”
A smile spread across Morgan’s lips. It made him into something feral, dangerous. He did not have the graceful height that Kristian had. Morgan had been turned after a life that demanded hard work and strength. His arms were thick with muscle from swinging a heavy ax. His chest was broad from carrying lumber through forests.
Slowly, like a cat prowling after a mouse, he crossed the carpet. There was barely an inch between the two of them, the air crackling with their static. She pulled her lips back in a sneer, showing fang. Morgan didn’t move. He let her make the next play. She sucked in a deep breath and grabbed the front of his shirt. She pulled him into her and her lips fell on his.
He crushed her to his body, hands moving across her already bare skin. His teeth nipped at her luscious lower lip. She pulled back. He growled and reached for the back of her head, but she held him at an arm’s length.
“Just for tonight,” she said. “Alright?”
It was anything but alright, he thought. He wanted her for the rest of his undead life. They were meant to be, he was certain of it. One night would not slake what he felt for her. He forced himself to nod in agreement, no matter how hard it hurt.
She smiled, her own feral kind of smile and it turned him upside down. With one jerk of her hand, the button of his shirt flew around the room. His hand moved down to cup her ass and he lifted her. Together, they fell onto her cream colored bed.
* * *
The blankets had been pushed to the floor. Red sheets were tangled between their feet. Morgan’s hard body was pressed against her back. He ran his rough fingers up the length of her waist, around her breasts. The world on the other side of her bedroom door could wait.
Morgan leaned close, his lips brushing her ear. He nibbled at the soft skin. His rough hand laid flat against her stomach and pulled her tight against him. She could feel the length of him pressed between her legs. She couldn’t help but wriggle her ass into his groin. She listened to the growl that reverberated through his ribcage. It vibrated up her spine and she shivered in anticipation. His fingers tightened on her.
It would be so easy for him to roll her over. His cock would slide into her so smoothly once she lifted her round ass into the air. His rough hand played over the rise of her hip.
Instead, she spun in his arms and pushed him onto his back. She moved to straddle him, dropping her head to his groin in the process. She rubbed her cheek against the smooth skin of his shaft before carefully taking it into her mouth. He gripped the mattress and she heard the tear of her sheets.
It made her smile as she crawled atop him. She lowered herself onto his shaft, shivering as it filled her. He filled her to the brim, touching places inside of her that no one was ever able to before. His hands moved to grip her hips, rocking her back and forth on his cock.
She snarled, grabbing his hands and placing them on her bare breasts. She slid across his shaft, slamming it home inside of her each time. He ran his calloused fingers over her nipples and she shuddered. So close. She was on the brink. She slammed him home once more when he brought her nipple to his mouth. His fangs grazed her bare skin.
Veronica screamed her orgasm into Morgan’s skin.
“Done so soon, angel?” he purred before flipping them over. “I don’t think so. I think you have a few more left in you.”
He hooked her feet behind his neck and she tightened around him. He rolled his eyes to the ceiling. If ever there were a heaven, it was inside of her. The power that be had blessed him with his own slice of heaven right here in this bed. He gripped her hips and thrusted, over and over.
Veronica arched as each orgasm rolled through her. His nails bit into her thigh as he buried himself deep once more, his own orgasm riding him. He wanted to stay like that forever, that moment of being whole.
But, before long, Veronica wriggled free of him. She rolled off the bed, padding towards the claw foot tub that she had been preparing to fill the night before. This couldn’t keep going on, she reminded herself. Things would never change. Old vampires didn’t learn new tricks. He would never stop working, he would never stop being in the line of danger.
She turned the patinaed brass knob and before long steam rose to greet her face.
“Let’s give this another try,” Morgan’s voice suggested behind her. “The witches have caught onto our trail. They will be here by the day after tomorrow. I’ve suggested that we split up. As we are, we’re too large of a target. Come with me.”
Veronica closed her eyes. Of course he had suggested they split up. Her body ached from their love making. He had given her everything last night. She could still remember the feel of his tongue on her lower parts. But that wasn’t enough to be able to let him break her heart again.
His hand ran up the length of her spine. It sent a shudder through her body that left her moaning. It took all of her self control to rise and turn to face him. His brown eyes glowed like warm honey as he looked at her.
She would give him the world for that look. But what would she get in return? Long bouts of glorious sex before he disappeared on a top secret mission? That wasn’t enough.
“Why should we bother?” Veronica pressed as she disentangled herself from him. “You’re Ally’s tool and nothing else. I’m not going to spend my immortal life wondering when she’s going to get you killed.”
“You think I can’t take care of myself?” Morgan growled through clenched teeth.
“I think that every time she called you would leave me alone. You might come home and crawl into bed with me, want to touch me, after your missions. But, none of that makes for a great relationship. Especially one that could last for another hundred years or more.”
He shrugged. “I’m helping people. People like you and your brother.” He waved to the house as if they could see the shattered windows and burnt furniture. “Your family needed my help. You had four Calder witches hunting you down. I don’t know what in the hell any of you did to get that kind of attention, but it should have meant your deaths. So don’t look dow
n at me for doing my job when it means you’re still standing.”
Veronica’s shoulders slumped. He was right. Morgan only ever wanted to protect people, still scarred by the life he’d led as a human. There had been so much loss in those days long before she was even born. It left him with the desire to be the good guy, to see the bad guy punished.
She didn’t think the world worked in that kind of perfect way but she cherished him for thinking so. She closed the space between them, wrapping her arms around his torso. Could she do this again? The feeling of his torso pressed against hers told her that she could. When she tilted her head back to look up into his honey eyes she made a decision.
“One last try,” she whispered into his chest. “If this does not work then we stop doing this to ourselves. We move on. No more crawling to each other whenever we’re in proximity of one another.”
Morgan sucked in a breath. She was sure that he was going to argue, but, after a long moment he let loose a sigh. His thumbs made small circles on her lower back.
“Alright, but we try this away from the mind reader. Just you and me somewhere where no one can bother us.”
Veronica smiled and echoed him. “Alright.”
* * *
Kristian crushed his sister in a hug. He did not want her leaving the beach house. They were stronger together, but as Veronica looked between him and Tessa, she knew that they needed time together without her interference. Not like it had worked last time, anyway, she thought begrudgingly. They’d ended up with not only a mind reading human, but a bratty teenage demon and a busted house as well.
Kristian and Tessa would be on their way to Miami by midday. Jared would be tailing them for added protection. Ally, Ryan, and the newly reformed demon, Charley, would stay here to draw the witches’ attention off Veronica and Kristian. Once they were done there, they were supposed to head to their New York apartment to make sure it was safe. The plan was for everyone to meet back up there.
Veronica moved to pull herself from her brother’s grasp, but he was reluctant to let go. Veronica’s nerves felt frayed as Tessa looked to her. Tessa put a hand on Kristian’s arm, silently willing him to pull back. He looked between the two women, realization dawning in his eyes. He quickly stepped back, there one second and gone the next.
“Are you sure that this is a good idea?” Kristian asked, glancing to Ally. Kristian and Veronica hadn’t been apart for too long in the two hundred years they’d been creatures of the night. It wasn’t just the maker and made bond that held them together. It was the sibling blood they shared, the trials they’d faced in life, that had kept them together. They were stronger together. But, now there was a third person thrown into the mix.
“The witches will be upon us soon. They’re coming in numbers that we cannot handle. If we each run in a different direction, then maybe we can throw them off for a little while,” Ally said over her mug, trying to convince both vampires that it was the right thing to do. Two hundred years of habit was hard to break.
It hurt both of them to have to do this. Veronica reached out, grasping her brother’s hand in her own. They had been through far worse together. This was nothing in comparison.
“I will miss you, sister.”
Veronica shook her head, playing it off like this didn’t hurt. “No offense, but I need my head to be my own space for a little while. If that means we are safer as well, then so be it. I will not argue with that.”
“What she means,” Tessa said behind him, “is that she wants to bone Morgan in peace.”
Ally choked on her mug of blood in the background. Charley howled, slapping her leg in laughter. Kristian ignored their reactions, his brows knitting together.
“I apologize if her presence bothers you. I wish you could learn to get along, but I do understand if your privacy feels...violated. We are working on uncovering hints as to how she may have come across such gifts so we can better help her control it.”
“Do not worry so much, big brother,” Veronica moved to smooth out the lines between his brows with her thumb. “Tessa has spoken more truth than I have in this situation. While her gifts do make me uncomfortable from time to time, I do also wish to pursue my own happiness. I don’t know if that does exist, but I wish to reach for it until I am convinced that it does not exist.”
“Then I wish you the best,” Kristian kissed his sister’s brow before stepping back. His eyes raked over Morgan, sizing him up, deciding if he is fit to touch his sister. “Once this is all over we shall meet again.”
Outside, Morgan had his car pulled up to the entrance. It was nothing like the sleek European cars that her brother liked to drive. This was all American muscle that mirrored the driver. The black body was accented with dangerous red lines like fangs had been drawn across a body. It also looked like it had the capacity to impale either of them should they get into an accident.
She went around to the trunk and hefted her suitcase into it. The dull gleam of something caught her eye as she set the fabric case down. There were several lengths of iron chain coiled in a corner of the trunk. Veronica wondered why they would be a necessity. Normally, people kept jumper cables and flares in their trunks. Not, iron chains.
Maybe it was for snow travel, she told herself. He could have taken them off after passing through the mountains in Wyoming and Colorado.
“Where the hell did you find a Shelby?” Veronica asked as she opened the passenger door. She was grateful that he hadn’t jumped out of the car and ran to open her door. It was the kind of thing men would have done in her human life, but it wasn’t the kind of thing she wanted from them. She watched Morgan’s fingers graze the steering wheel, feeling those hands graze her skin.
“Came across it in a junkyard hunting a demon. She needed a hell of a lot of paint and elbow grease, but it was a labor of love.” Morgan was in everything for the long haul. This car would run longer than he would live with the proper attention. That was saying something.
Once they were out of Los Angeles, Morgan could put the pedal to the floor. Veronica closed her eyes, letting the thrum of the engine buzz through her. Morgan reached over, placing a hand on her thigh. She cracked an eye to peer at the man in the driver seat. His mahogany colored hair was cut short at the sides. She reached over, running her fingers through the thick waves on the top of his head. They had a tendency to fall in front of his eyes when he was trying to look intimidating. Veronica loved it.
His hand clutched the gear shift, thick, corded arms begging for her to run her hands down them. How could she not keep her hands off him? It was easy to reach past his arm and give the button of his pants a sharp tug. The fabric was no match for her vampire strength. The button sprang free and clicked against his window.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Morgan asked, humor brightening his voice.
Veronica’s lips pressed together in a mischievous smile. “Am I not allowed to touch you?”
She walked her fingers down to the inside of his thigh, lightly tracing the tip of her nail along the length of him beneath the fabric of his pants. He growled, low and rumbling. It took a millisecond for him to reach into his pants and pull his cock out. Once free it sprang to attention.
Veronica wrapped her hand around it, gently stroking up and down. A soft moan escaped Morgan’s lips and his head began to tilt back.
“Keep your eyes on the road, pretty boy.”
He tossed her an angry glare before shaking his head. “It’s hard to do when you’re distracting me like that.”
“I can stop if you want me to,” she began to pull back.
“Don’t you fucking dare.” He gripped her wrist to keep her from pulling back. “Tempestuous vixen.”
Veronica gripped his shaft in her hand, running her thumb over the bead of moisture on the tip. His manhood felt like velvet over steel. She adored the feel of it beneath her hand. It was just him and her in the darkness of the Mustang. She stroked long, luxurious strokes between hard and fast strokes. Morgan
moaned in pleasure, reaching to direct her force.
“I’m…” Was the only word that spilled out of him before he came.
She bent down to the tip of his shaft, licking away the product. He looked down at her and felt his world turn upside down. The car began to rumble. He jerked his attention back to the road. They had swerved into gravel. He jerked the wheel to get back onto the road.
Veronica laughed in the passenger seat. “Easily distracted?”
Morgan was ready to grumble something in response when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He fidgeted to reach the device. The screen was almost too bright inside the darkness of the car, but the message on it was clear. Morgan turned the screen off and tucked it back into his pocket.
When he turned back to Veronica, the playful smile was gone off her face.
“What did I do now?”
“Was that Ally or my brother?” She looked out the window, not meeting his eyes.
Morgan let out a sigh of frustration. “Why does it matter?”
“One wants you to work and the other wants you to keep tabs on me. I... “ she shook her head. “Don’t worry. It’s not important.”
Morgan didn’t say anything. They rode in silence for a long while after that. Beyond the window, Veronica watched the landscape pass her by.
“Where are we going anyway?”
“Just a little north of Los Angeles. I have my own place up this way.”
“Since when have you owned property near LA?”
Morgan shrugged. “I bought it a year after I worked the first job for your brother. A Calder witch had gotten too close to your home..”
“I remember that,” Veronica said. “The fire between us was demanding from the first moment we laid eyes on one another.”
“It never burnt out, either. It felt like an eternal flame at the time. Then… well we both know what happened.”
She didn’t know what to say to his words. What was the right thing to say when someone called your love an eternal flame? Veronica turned her attention back to the window, putting an end to the conversation until her brain worked over his words. “You bought the house up here when we first started to see one another.”