All But Lost (The Gifted Realm Book 6)

by Jillian Neal

  She drown him. He felt her throat contract around him and he was certain he was going to come unglued.

  He backed off, letting her set the pace. As long as she kept him between her lips he didn’t give a damn how fast she went.

  His double predilected bands of energy sizzled. His head shook. She was too much. It just felt too damn good. He needed to be inside of her right fucking now. He cradled her face watching her cheeks hollow as she sucked.

  “Stop, baby. You’re gonna make me lose it, and I’m gonna own you over and over tonight. But every time I come, it’s gonna be deep inside of you. Are you casted?” He summoned the erotic energy spilling from her pores and set to move it up her body to seal her womb, Gifted birth control at its finest.

  “I already did it. Just, please…” She stood and begged with her lips swollen and glowing a deep red from her work.

  He threw the gathered energy back into the air and drew her back to him. The gown still hung from her elbows. He slowly lowered the panties to her knees, rather enjoying the provocative display.

  “Turn back around and sit in my lap again. Be a good girl, and take it all.” This time he was fully exposed.

  He grasped her waist and lowered her down his cock. He was hung so heavy he hurt. She held the only antidote to his exquisite pain.

  With one full, deliberate thrust, he permeated her. Slipping up that perfect column of hot liquid silk that pressed around him, encasing him in ecstasy.

  “So damn tight. You feel so fucking good.” He grunted, and she began to ride. Pushing and rocking against him, it took several passes for her body to accept him fully. But when she sank past his hilt, he groaned in absolute ecstasy. It was like being drowned in warm honey straight from heaven.

  “I’m still hungry, baby doll. I want more of that sweet cum.” He licked his fingers again and teased her clit as she rode. Stroking with more force, he gathered her liquid heat with his fingers then brought them to his mouth and sucked.

  She shuddered and gasped from the sight. He pushed her over in a matter of moments. The way she came for him was automatic. He knew where to touch and what to say to make her dissolve, all for him.

  But he needed more. He stood forcing her up with him. “Put your hands on the desk and hold on tight.” She leaned and complied, and he began to pound into her with fierce ragged thrusts that commanded consent.

  “You’re gonna take it all, baby. Then we’ll slow it down,” he promised. Her temperature shot upwards. Her moans were loud and eager. Her back arched.

  Those lush cheeks of her backside tensed against his sac. His name spilled from her beautiful lips. He traced his fingertips down the center of her backside, igniting the nerve endings pulsing there, all for him. He stroked the puckered opening. She groaned in elation and the orgasm rose from her mound and rocketed through her in waves.

  He let go and was immediately consumed. He filled her full with a gasping grunt of deep satisfaction.

  A moment later he withdrew, turned her, and cradled her to him. Her entire body continued to quake. She buried her face against his chest. He nestled the nape of her neck with one hand and circled his other around her back, letting the climax develop completely.

  “You know, you’re not really teaching me not to work late,” he teased as he lifted her up in his arms.

  “Yum. It was worth it.” Her giggle was cut off by a yawn.

  “Don’t go to sleep on me, baby doll. We’re not finished yet.” With another cocky smirk, he felt his secondary energy bands willingly give themselves over to his desires.

  He carried her to their bed and laid her gently on the pillows. He slowly slipped the panties off of her legs this time and tossed them away. He removed that gown that should be illegal.

  Slower this time, now satiated and wanting to connect their souls as much their bodies, he glided his hands up her inner thighs and traced her swollen mound, wet from their mixed releases. “I want you again. I want you all night. All mine.”

  She shivered, still not quite accustomed to being taken so many times in repetition. He didn’t do it as often as he would like. He never wanted to be pushy, and she was always so tight.

  “I’ll be gentle, sweetheart. But I need you again.”

  She spread her legs and let her eyes close as he continued to map and explore her beautiful body softly with his fingertips. He lingered in the valleys that held heaven on earth. He trailed warm, wet, open mouth kisses down her neck, over each of her nipples, suckling and pulling, then down her abdomen, soft and expectant, until he reached her mound, swollen plump and so tender she shook from all he’d already done.

  Her clitoris gave a timid pulse, not yet fully closed, so he began there. Soft laps of his tongue then gentle sucks from his lips until it bloomed again, and she was deperate and begging for more.

  He reopened her with his fingers and began all over again.

  An hour later, she was sound asleep in his arms. He kept her tucked in a sated cocoon of afterglow and of his all-encompassing love and protection.

  She’d fully satisfied all of those demons that drove him mad. With his eyes closed, he concentrated on her slow, steady breaths as they whispered through the hair on his chest.

  There were several things he hated about being a double Predilect. For one, he could be mind-casted with ease. ‘The one weakness in the extreme power,’ the Gifted textbooks mocked him. Everyone in class would turn to stare at him whenever double preds were discussed.

  The way his friends and colleagues would occasionally stare at him, bewildered when his bands would shift from his shield to his Visium rhythms when he needed to discern something complicated.

  But being able to be with her like that twice without having to wait… Well, that made up for it all. There certainly wasn’t anything weak about that. His chest contracted in a huff. She shifted, and he ordered himself to remain still and keep her safe and warm through the night.

  Keeping his eyes closed, he began making plans. Valentine’s Day was fast approaching. She loved love. She loved Valentines. He knew, though she’d tried to pretend it didn’t matter that he couldn’t take her to some swanky restaurant attached to an equally seductive hotel or have dozens of roses sent to the Arena with a note of his love attached. He had to do something. He had to figure something out that was romantic and worthy of a woman like Fionna.

  He needed to talk to Tad Anderson about a ring. He wanted it in his possession. Another reminder of what he could have when he finished his work.

  Plans and Surprises

  ~Rainer Lawson~

  As the freezing winds of January set in full force on the last day of the month, Rainer smiled, feeling Emily cuddled up beside him.

  “Hey there, baby.” He let his eyes open hesitantly.

  “Rainer,” Emily whispered excitedly in the darkness of their bedroom.

  “Emily,” he drawled, trying to match her tenor.

  “We’re getting married in two months and one week!” She vibrated in her excitement.

  “I had heard something about that.” Though he teased her, he began going over in his mind all of the things that he needed to do before the wedding.

  He’d already had Vindico check his choice for honeymoon locations, making absolutely certain that no one would know where they were going to be for two weeks. He planned to steal her away, but he wanted to go over everything again. He had to be absolutely certain that they would be safe and that Wretchkinsides had no idea where they would be.

  He had to phone Fionna about the huge surprise he’d been planning that wouldn’t arrive until the day before the wedding.

  Emily had informed him the day before that most of the weekends between the beginning of February and their actual wedding they would be attending showers and parties given in their honor. He still had to plan the rest of their Valentine’s surprise. He wanted it to be special and to give Emily a break from all the work she’d been doing for the wedding.

  At Emily’s insistenc
e, Rainer had finally settled on groomsmen. He’d asked Vindico, Connor, and Garrett to join Logan in escorting Fionna, Chloe, Brooke, and Adeline in the wedding.

  Vindico had been pushing them all hard. Logan and Rainer had been moved up the chain when Barron and McCoy had joined the Elite force. They’d spent every available moment chasing down every single lead they could find on Wretchkinsides and the Interfeci, with Vindico sending in new teams on a regular basis to clone cell phones from members that were at the Tantra Gentlemen’s Club.

  They would work six or seven hours straight and then spend two to three in the gym or in training exercises. He’d eased up slightly in the last week. Everyone assumed Fionna had complained about the late hours and that he’d relented.

  Mrs. Haydenshire had been put back on bed rest. Her blood pressure had spiked with well over a month left in her pregnancy. The Crown Governor was in the office less and less. He stayed home and leveled her blood pressure with his own.

  The kids were all taking turns helping out with the twins, and Rainer had worried about his request for Emily’s wedding surprise. He was relieved that both the Governor and Mrs. Haydenshire sounded thrilled with the idea and pointed out that it would actually be a big help.

  “I don’t want to get up. I’m warm under here with you,” Emily fussed sweetly.

  “I’ll keep you warm, baby,” Rainer bragged as he let heat push out of his pores. Emily snuggled herself tighter into his embrace. “But we do have to go to work.” He would love nothing more than another weekend day to lay around the house with her.

  “Don’t forget, we’re going to look at Fionna’s house tonight with her and Vindico,” Emily remembered suddenly.

  “I know. I’m hoping that means that I’ll actually get to leave by five.” He was growing mildly irritated with his boss’ dogged desire to work without end.

  Emily and Fionna had gotten used to being picked up from practice by either Rainer or Vindico and coming back to the office. Logan would get Adeline as soon as her shift ended as well.

  Barron was doing the same with his fiancée. Portwood, Ericcson, and Ramier’s wives and kids had a detail assigned to them. The ladies had taken up several empty desks and would typically help Emily out with wedding planning until Vindico let everyone go home.

  “How about this,” Rainer negotiated. “If I go make us some coffee, you could stay here under the covers and stay warm, then after we drink it and cuddle a little more we’ll get ready to go.”

  He felt Emily’s broad grin against his chest. “You’re the best fiancée ever.”

  Rainer returned a few minutes later with steaming mugs of coffee. Emily propped herself up on her pillows as Rainer handed her the mug. “Does Fionna not mind him working like this? He stays later than all of us.” Rainer knew that Vindico was pushing the limits of the time Governor Haydenshire thought was appropriate for him to be at the office because the Governor was distracted with Mrs. Haydenshire and the baby.

  “Kind of, but they also can’t really go out or be seen anywhere together until he takes down Wretchkinsides. I think she sees it as a means to an end, and she’s waited for him for years, so she’s a very patient person. Plus, I think she’s very content to be up there with him.”

  Emily didn’t draw the comparison outright, but Rainer knew she didn’t necessarily like being stuck at Iodex after practice and on her off days. She would vastly prefer to be home or out doing something fun with Adeline or Fionna or on her own.

  When the coffee cups were empty Emily climbed in the shower. Rainer pulled her cell phone out of her purse. Moving quickly, he touched Fionna’s name on the screen.

  “Hey Em,” Fionna sounded quite tired.

  “It’s Rainer. Sorry, I borrowed Emily’s phone,” he apologized, and wondered if he’d awoken her. She had to be at practice in an hour though.

  “Oh well, then, hey Rainer,” Fionna laughed, and Rainer joined her.

  “Why is Lawson calling you?” He heard Vindico’s gruff voice in the background teasing her.

  “Because he’s planning on asking me out,” Fionna sassed, making Rainer laugh heartily.

  “I will kill him, and he is aware of that,” Vindico assured her, and Rainer heard the muffled sound of what he was fairly certain was a kiss on Fionna’s cheek. “Make it quick, Lawson. We were busy,” he chanted in the phone.

  “Oh God, I’m so sorry.” Rainer cringed.

  “Would you stop harassing him? We were not. We were eating breakfast.”

  Rainer tried to regain his equilibrium and prayed that he hadn’t interrupted them.

  Emily was going to be getting out of the shower soon. “I just need a favor.”

  “Sure, what?” Fionna’s demeanor and her ever-pleasant disposition led Rainer to believe that he hadn’t interrupted anything too important.

  He explained his elaborate plan and what the Haydenshires and Garrett had agreed to and then what he needed her to do.

  “Oh, my gosh!” Fionna was in tears by the end of the conversation. “I’m so excited. I can’t even tell you how amazing this is! It’s the best thing I have ever heard!”

  If Emily reacted the same way, Rainer would be delighted. Fionna agreed to do everything that Rainer needed, and he got off the phone in time to hand Emily a heated towel.

  Inviting Invitations

  After dropping Fionna off at the arena, Vindico left the Ferrari in case she needed to drive somewhere, and he climbed in Rainer’s Porsche.

  “Please tell me you were kidding this morning.” Rainer couldn’t shake the case of nerves that came with the knowledge that he’d interrupted.

  Vindico laughed heartily. “If Fi’s answering the phone in the middle of that then I’m clearly doing something very, very wrong and should probably be put out of my misery. She’s thrilled, by the way, with what you’re doing. That’s really nice of the Haydenshires with everything they have going on.”

  “Yeah, I think that they’re thinking it might help with the twins,” Rainer explained as they pulled onto the interstate.

  Vindico had been wearing a cocky grin since he’d walked Fionna into the stadium.

  “Have a nice weekend?”

  He shrugged. “It was okay. I flew up to New York yesterday to do a little work. Got in late last night.”

  Rainer wasn’t certain why he was so curious, but Vindico’s energy strains seemed excited and eager, almost childlike. It was an odd juxtaposition, frustrated excitement, and it was definitely not a pattern he’d ever picked up from his boss before, unless he had his hands on Fionna.

  Uncertain how to respond, and having no idea why his boss had gone to New York Sunday night, Rainer pulled into the parking deck noting that Vindico’s broad grin had returned.

  He fell into his desk across from Logan, who was already looking over the texts from the phones that had been cloned over the weekend.

  Garrett sauntered in a few minutes later.

  “How’s Mom?”, he quizzed Logan.

  “Dad got Medio Sawyer to agree for Adeline to stay with her for the next few days, so he’ll be in to get caught up on work,” Logan explained with Vindico listening intently. “Adeline says she’s doing better, but that Abigail needs to be a lot bigger before they can induce.”

  “Dad kept her casted most of the day yesterday; he’s exhausted,” Garrett filled in for everyone listening and concerned about Mrs. Haydenshire and the baby.

  Logan nodded, “Yeah, when I took Ad over this morning, Mom’s blood pressure was stable, and she was holding it on her own. Brad was on his way over. I think they may try putting her on medicine that will control it so Dad can get a break. He’s the only one that seems to be able to keep it steady. Adeline says it still spikes occasionally when she casts Mom.”

  Rainer felt the customary terror that had taken up residence in his stomach ever since Mrs. Haydenshire had been put back on bed rest. He and Emily were planning on staying at the farmhouse that night to take care of the twins. He hoped they co
uld somehow let Mrs. Haydenshire relax.

  “Lucy took off work and Patrick’s only going in for a little while, so they’re looking after Keaton and Henry,” Logan informed his brother.

  “Yeah and I still have tomorrow off, right?” Garrett reminded Vindico.

  “Of course. I told you, getting the newest Haydenshire here and keeping your mom safe and healthy is top priority. If you need to go help, then go,” Vindico assured Garrett, Logan, and Rainer very sincerely.

  “Keaton’s been asking about Fi. You two should come by,” Garrett informed Vindico wryly.

  “Kid’s got excellent taste,” Vindico chided as everyone laughed.

  Suddenly, Garrett’s eyes lit and then narrowed in on Vindico. “That reminds me,” he chuckled. Vindico seemed to know what was coming. “Come here,” he slapped Rainer on the back and then gestured his head towards Logan before moving into Vindico’s office.

  They all followed with Rainer studying Vindico. He noted that he was still grinning. Garrett closed the door firmly and then spun with a goading smirk planted on his face.

  “So,” he raised an eyebrow to Vindico, who’d moved to his desk. “Talked to Uncle Tad this morning. He’s planning on coming down to help out with the twins, but he mentioned that you’d gone by to pick up something last night from the shop.”

  Rainer and Logan both grinned.

  “I might’ve done that,” Vindico allowed, but seemed unable to halt his own chuckle.

  “Well, let’s see it,” Garrett demanded.

  “Are you serious?” Rainer had to admit he was a little shocked.

  “I haven’t asked her yet.” The warning was implicit in his tone. He unlocked his briefcase and pulled out a black velvet box with Tad’s store logo on the bottom. He handed it to Garrett.

  Garrett popped the box open and gasped, “Damn,” he drawled out into approximately ten syllables. “How much did you pay for this?” Garrett turned the box around, allowing Rainer and Logan to take in the gargantuan diamond ring.

  The center stone was easily over three carats. The band twisted delicately in three strands of one point diamonds.