God, she was going to come like that. With his mouth on hers, his tongue sweeping deep and fingers circling and tugging…
She bit at his lips, sucking them between hers and earning a ragged moan from Parker.
The hand squeezing her ass slid around front. His fingers parted her folds, finding the slick center of her in one lazy stroke. Moaning, she dropped her head to his chest, clinging to him as he ran his fingers up and down her cleft, teasing and slow.
Desperate to come, she pushed up on the balls of her feet, thrusting just a little.
His mouth caught the edge of her ear. “You know you want to do that harder.”
So she did, clinging to him and rocking her hips, yelling against his shirt as she climaxed, his fingers thrusting inside her, pumping until she went limp against him. So limp that when he scooped her over his shoulder without warning, she squealed.
“Parker!”
He smacked her ass. “Careful. I might drop you.”
Injecting as much menace as she could into her voice, she snapped, “Put me down,” and somehow still ended up sounding like she was enjoying every second.
“Oh, I will. When I’ve got you in my bed.” He carried her past the lockers fast enough his speed and the water dripping off them made him lose traction.
He slammed a palm against the locker to steady himself as she clung to his T-shirt. As if him carting her around the field office wasn’t bad enough, she could look forward to someone finding her sprawled across him, out cold, if he didn’t slow the hell down.
“Do you have any idea how inappropriate this is?”
“That’s what makes it so damn fun.” She could hear the grin in his voice.
His hand closed around the door handle.
“Wait.”
“Anyone around?”
Concentrating was certainly harder with so much blood rushing to her head. “No.” Her senses weren’t strong enough to know if they were alone in the building, but no one was close by.
“Bonus.”
“If you smack my—”
Whack.
“You suck,” she growled, almost sighing in relief when they reached his quarters and he set her down and shut the door.
Holding her gaze, he unzipped his pants, his eyes flashing silver. “I think you’ve got that sucking part backward, shortcake.”
Chapter Fourteen
“I do?”He nodded, suddenly distracted by Rae’s mouth. Or he was until she ran her finger down his stomach, to the open zipper of his pants, permanently rewiring a few of his neural pathways.
She trapped her bottom lip between her teeth and traced the edge of his cock through his boxers. “And I suppose you have a few suggestions on how I can correct that?”
“Just one.” He tugged his boxers down enough to guide her hand inside, and hissed out a breath as her fingers curled around his shaft. Oh yeah.
Ten seconds in and he nearly regretted not taking her in the shower. The lazy caress was sheer drive-him-out-of-his-fucking-mind torture. And he was loving every second of it, even as the fever inside him struggled to break free.
A calculating smile stole across her gorgeous face. “Am I on the right track?” She pushed him back against the door.
“You’re getting warmer.”
Rae laughed and worked his pants down, murmuring something he might have understood if he wasn’t talking himself down from coming too soon. And he was much too close after watching—feeling—her release in the shower.
She pumped her hand up, then down him, momentarily wiping out his ability to communicate beyond a harsh groan.
“Hotter,” he finally breathed.
“Yeah?” Sinking to the floor, Rae stared up at him, her eyes dark with arousal as they briefly met his.
“Much, much hotter.” And then he couldn’t move, his feet locked to the floor in wicked anticipation. Her shallow breaths teased the inside of his leg as she inched forward, sliding one hand up the back of his thigh like she needed the leverage.
Her cheek brushed the full length of him. His eyes slammed shut and he dropped his head back against the door.
“Rae.” He needed to feel her now, couldn’t wait—
Her mouth closed over the head of his cock, and he groaned low and deep. Widening his stance, he watched her slide her palm beneath him, cupping his balls and releasing a wave of lust that had him clenching his jaw.
He gripped the door handle, squeezing his hand around it as the tension mounted inside him. The slick heat of her tongue and teasing suction as she pulled him between her lips ushered in the fever until he was riding the sharp edge of it.
Letting go of the door, he sank his fingers into her hair, rocking with every pump of her fist and greedy suck of her mouth. He was fast losing control, drowning in the sensations of her going down on him.
Deeper. He wanted to get so much deeper. Her tongue curled around the tip of his shaft, and then she was giving everything he wanted. Taking him so deep, he hovered right on the edge of release.
Without warning Rae backed away from him.
“That’s not playing fair.” For every step she retreated, he took two forward, and he grinned when the back of her legs hit the chair next to the desk he never used.
Except she pivoted around unexpectedly, pressing every sweet, naked inch against him. He caught her around the waist, trapping her. Not until he slanted his mouth across hers and the kiss took on a life of its own—hot, wild and headed for nuclear—did he realize she’d turned him around.
They were both breathing hard when she pushed him back and he landed on the chair.
“Jesus Christ,” he hissed, his body temporarily cooled by the cold leather.
Then she straddled his legs, sliding down into his lap like she was about to melt all over him, and his temperature sky-rocketed.
“What about this?” She nipped the side of his jaw before heading back to his mouth. “Is this playing fair?” She flexed her hips, rubbing her damp center up the length of his shaft.
His hands spanned her lower back, urging her closer. “Actually, I’m pretty sure this is playing dirty.”
She rocked down until he was snug against her opening.
“Really dirty,” he hissed, leaning forward to nuzzle her breasts.
Her breath caught when he grazed her nipple, the sound deepening to a moan as he closed his lips over the hard tip and tugged it into his mouth. She rocked harder against him, her fingers brushing the ends of his hair before she laced them together behind his neck.
The small movement changed the angle and the walls of her sex gripped him tighter.
“Fuck,” he growled, seizing her hips and hauling her all the way down. No more playing or teasing or waiting. He needed all the way inside her. All. The. Way.
He planted his feet and thrust up to meet her, sinking hard and fast. Trapping his face between her palms, she opened her mouth over his, pushing her tongue inside. He was going down fast now and nothing short of an apocalypse was going to stop him from exploding inside her.
“Parker.” She arched against him, grinding down harder.
He tightened his hold on her hips. “Don’t stop, Rae.”
Rocking faster, she clung to him, her breath coming quicker, fusing with his as both the kiss and their bodies spun out of control.
Her nails raked his shoulders and she shook her head. “I can’t…can’t…”
Burying his face in the curve of her neck, he pulled her forward, unable to let her slow down.
The first threads of her climax weaved through him, her spine locking as she rode out wave after wave. Her sex spasmed around him, triggering his own release.
Sighing, Rae collapsed against him, tucking her face against his throat. “That was…” She closed her eyes, seeming as out of breath as he was.
“My thoughts exactly.”
She laughed, lifting her head to meet his gaze. “I didn’t say anything.”
“Which pretty much says it all in my book
.” Then he slid his hands down over her ass, giving her only a second to tighten her arms around him before he stood and carried her to his bed.
Rae left Parker asleep in his bed. If she’d been tired, she might have talked herself into staying curled up next to him. After spending fifteen minutes staring at the ceiling, she decided she was better off going home to change and check on Nico before heading back.
She eased the door closed behind her. Maybe if she hadn’t been so preoccupied with self-consciously tugging on the T-shirt and oversized shorts she’d borrowed—she’d spent enough time naked in the hall for one night—she might have heard someone coming around the corner before it was too late to duck back into Parker’s room.
“Still kind of early for the walk of shame, isn’t it?”
Darcy.
Curbing the urge to smooth down her hair, Rae faced the telepath. “I thought you and Jordan were keeping an eye on the streets tonight?”
“You’re not really going to try and change the subject are you?”
Rae arched a brow, and Darcy sighed.
“Fine. It’s been crazy quiet, so I came back to catch a nap on the couch in the break room. Jordan will be by to swap places in a few hours.”
“Well…good.” Following that up with a nod, Rae pivoted to head for the locker room.
“That’s it?”
“I’ll see you in the morning.” From the corner of her eye, she saw Darcy raise her hand to knock on Parker’s door. “What are you doing?”
Darcy shrugged. “Asking Parker.”
She snatched Darcy’s hand, pulling her away from the door. “Fine. You were right. We needed to clear the air between us and the sex was good, really good.”
Darcy crossed her arms. “You two practically set off the smoke alarms without even trying, and you’re telling me in was only good?”
“What, do you need to hear that the heavens sang?”
“I need to hear that my closest friend, who isn’t afraid to slay demons with one arm tied behind her back, isn’t avoiding a good thing because she’s scared of getting hurt. Yes, friend,” Darcy clarified when Rae sent her a questioning look. “Do you think I’d let anyone but a friend keep kicking my ass like that today?”
Darcy leaned against the wall next to her. “Face it. We’re all more than just people who work together, and just because you’re the boss, doesn’t mean you care any less than the rest of us.”
“I’m not scared of getting hurt.” It was the only part that she felt comfortable addressing at the moment, even if it was a bit of an understatement.
It was Darcy’s turn to raise a brow.
“The sex was phenomenal.” It wasn’t hard to admit that, and it didn’t make her ribs feel like they were suffocating her lungs. “It always has been.” She leaned her head back. “He makes me whole, you know. When I’m with him, even when he’s being arrogant, he fills the holes I’ve carried around for a long time. And when he’s not there, I try to smooth them over and pretend it’s enough.”
“But it’s not, is it?”
She shook her head. “I’m not scared. I’m terrified. Terrified that if I let him in again and it ends badly, there won’t be enough of me left to fix the next time.”
She let out a breath, not realizing how much tension she generated holding that in until she sagged against the wall.
They stood in silence for a minute, then Darcy bumped her shoulder. “Just tell me one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Parker doesn’t call it a love muscle, right?”
Rae was still smiling over Darcy’s comment when she was less than three blocks from home. The night was cool and damp, the ground wet from an earlier rain shower. Planning on making it home before it decided to rain again, she kept her pace brisk, passing only a pizza delivery boy along the way.
Awareness slashed across the back of her neck. She was being followed.
A hostile.
She carried on for a few more steps, then wanting it over with, she gave up on waiting for the demon to make a move on her. She pivoted around and surveyed the hostile.
The female opposite her—closer than Rae had realized, making it a stealth demon—had repressed librarian written all over her, from her serviceable brown loafers to the buttoned-up-to-her-chin blouse and graying brown hair pulled back in a severe bun.
“I think the fashion magazines you guys skim are a little outdated.”
The demon’s red-rimmed eyes flared with interest, but it didn’t make a move toward her.
Rae waited, watching. Had she been quaking in her boots at the sight of the hostile she might have understood why the demon waited, wanting to draw out the initial fear for as long as it could.
But Rae wasn’t an innocent and she sure as hell wasn’t quaking in her boots. So what was it waiting for?
The hostile gazed at something past Rae’s shoulder, and she instinctively stepped to the right to keep the demon in her line of sight while confirming she wasn’t about to be tagged-teamed.
The sidewalk was empty behind her.
“If you’re waiting for me to run, you should know that I don’t really play that way. Sorry.”
Cocking its head, the demon continued to stand there. Taking the initiative, Rae closed the distance between then, and with the first subtle brush against her mind, she knew the demon wasn’t alone.
A stealth demon and a telepath demon teaming up? Another brush against her mind. Not a push to get inside her head, but like it just wanted Rae to know it was there.
Scion.
A lesser demon wouldn’t care, wouldn’t hold back.
Without warning, the stealth demon in front of her sprang forward. Rae swung her leg around, nailing the demon in the side and knocking it into the car. Had the parked vehicle been a few years newer, its alarm would have been screeching after the hostile smashed the passenger side-view mirror.
“You know that’s seven years’ bad luck, right?”
The hostile snarled and lunged for her. Not quite as fast as the demon, she couldn’t fully dodge the vicious punch that glanced off her cheek. Pain exploded across her face and the acrid taste of blood pooled on her tongue.
Son of a bitch.
Unsure how close the Scion was, Rae withdrew her kukri. She missed the librarian wannabe on the first slash, but caught it across the chest when it failed to evade her next blow. Buttons went flying as she tore through the prim and proper blouse.
The hostile scrambled back, looked ready to bolt, until it paused and cocked its head thoughtfully.
The Scion was communicating with it. Rae didn’t wait for the pair to finish their little one-on-one, and snapped the blade across the hostile’s neck. At the last second, the demon jammed its arm up, losing a hand in the attempt to protect its vulnerable neck.
Unfortunately for the demon, it only bought itself an extra few seconds. Rae intercepted the demon’s other arm with a block of her wrist and drove the blade home.
She was already turning around, searching the shadows for the Scion when she finished the chant and blue flames engulfed the hostile’s crumpled body. The master demon could be miles away, but Rae doubted it. She’d had the same feeling of being watched when she’d been in Red Crossing.
The odds of a random Scion noticing her in Red Crossing and tracking her home were about a billion to one. She’d rather take those odds though when faced with the likely possibility that the master demon had a personal interest in her.
One heart-pounding second bled into another as she waited for the hostile to show itself. Even if she had a portable armory strapped to her back, it wouldn’t be enough to take on a Scion by herself. Although it might very well make a move before anyone could get there, she slipped her phone from her pocket.
Before she could dial the field office, the phone rang in her hand. She didn’t glance at the screen as she answered, refusing to put her head down for a second.
“Rae?”
If her heart ha
d been racing before, it was now about to pound itself straight through her chest. “Dad?”
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she’d wondered if after ten years she would have forgotten the sound of his voice, the way she had her mother’s when she’d been younger. As emotion after emotion slammed into her—regret, disappointment, hurt, fear, anger—forcing her to lean against the car, she realized there had been no chance of ever forgetting what he sounded like.
Promising herself she could fall apart later if she needed to, she straightened and resumed sweeping the area for the Scion.
Suddenly suspicious she glanced at the phone, wondering if the telepath could have made her think her phone had been ringing. Even if it had, it couldn’t have faked the display screen ticking off the seconds she remained on the line.
“Stop looking for me, Rae.”
She swallowed, testing her throat before she spoke. “I can’t do that.”
“You don’t know what you’re getting involved in. I won’t be able to protect you if you keep getting involved.”
“Protect me?”
Movement across the street drew her eye, but she quickly dismissed the couple emerging from an apartment building and heading down the sidewalk to a parked car.
“I stayed away to protect you.”
She couldn’t have kept the anger from her voice if she’d bothered to make an effort. “To protect me from yourself, you mean.” Knowing it was a waste of time to demand explanations from a man who kept everything to himself, Rae changed gears. “Where are you? Where are the kids? Are they okay?”
“You need to listen to me, Rae. This time I need you to do as I ask.”
“I did that once.” And the lesson learned had been too costly to make the same mistake again. “I’ve grown up a lot since then.”
“This isn’t about you, baby. This is about—”
“The gatekeeper,” she guessed and assumed she was bang-on when he fell silent on the other end of the line.
He sighed, and she could so easily picture him leaning back in a chair, pushing his glasses up on top of his head and rubbing at his face. “You already know too much then.”
Dark Obsession Page 17