by Lexi Ostrow
“Ahh, the brother that is sort of in charge.”
“Holy shit. You know his name?” Dale whistled low. “I didn’t think he told anyone that.”
“He doesn’t. I read it from his mind. Not that it matters, he’s changed it again.”
“Excuse me? You can what?” Kellie practically exploded, wondering how many times he’d invaded her thoughts.
“I swore we had this conversation.” Alcott looked puzzled. “I swore it, but yes I can, it’s in my books … well book two. I don’t do it often, as it’s tricky. But I needed to stay out of my book after being traded. So I did some searching and found it.”
“And he didn’t kill you?” Breena asked curiously.
“He changed his name shortly after. Not a process I bet he likes. It doesn’t involve . . . pleasant things.”
Kellie noticed how disturbed he was by it and found herself more than a little curious about how changing one’s name could be more than a signature on a paper. Unless it involves magic.
“Well, good to know he had a name at some point. I mean seriously, it drives me nuts. I can’t imagine I’m the only one.” Dale said stepping aside. “This is your stop. If you don’t mind me asking one more question, I am curious about something.”
“I’m not certain if I should be uncomfortable or not, but seeing as how you’re hosting me and likely saving my life, I can’t see a reason not to answer a question.”
Dale laughed. “Have you two accepted what you have?”
“We’ve explored our connection if that is what you’re asking,” Alcott practically barked as he walked into the room. “I won’t make the same mistake twice.”
Dale nodded. “Good. You’ll lose her if you don’t. She’s got that same vibe about her Ciara had. Don’t run from what you feel, or you’ll both regret it.” He protectively linked his hand through Breena’s. “It won’t be worth it.”
“I don’t need your advice, Dale,” Alcott growled. “If you’ll excuse us, I think I’d like a few minutes alone with Kellie to see how she’s doing.”
“I’m fine, Alcott. Honestly.”
“I said I wanted some time alone.” With a rush of air, the door slammed shut. He was glaring, evidently upset at the way Dale had tried to tell him what to do.
“If you’re done being a caveman, I do think we have something to talk about. And it’s not the fact that you failed to tell me I could use your powers. Though I’m still peeved about that for sure.”
The tension in Alcott’s shoulders and in the firm set of his jaw was still apparent. “There are things we must learn as we go along. I am sorry you had to find out about sharing powers in a moment of fear, but I am happy you figured them out. Ciara never did. I don’t know why either.”
Fury exploded in her like a firework. “Do you think that, for one day, we could go without talking about your last Word Speaker? I mean Goddess! I was here less than a minute, and even Dale was speaking about her. I understand that she is clearly someone very special, but I’m not her. You’re not the man you were when you were her Guardian, not if you’ve had almost three years to get past it.
“Ever since we met, she’s been a fucking black cloud following us. She’s not here, Alcott. I’m sorry for your loss, and it’s not like I haven’t had exes. I was engaged, not that you’ve ever asked, and no, it didn’t end badly. It just wasn’t going to work. I’m tired of being second to a woman I’ve never met, no matter how wonderful she might be. Enough is enough, or you really will lose me because I’m feeling like letting you go versus releasing you right this minute!”
She’d expected Alcott to back down or to apologize. He didn’t.
Chapter Thirteen
“I don’t believe it’s truly any of your say who or what I speak about. Or how I speak about them.” He could hear the deadly tone in his voice but couldn’t stop it.
Kellie looked as if he’d physically hit her, which hadn’t been his intention, but he wouldn’t bow down to a childish fit. Her face was puffed out slightly, and her nostrils flared out as she stared at him.
“Excuse me?”
He took a step closer, ignoring the way the tension wrapped around them, weaving and lacing through the room like a shoelace. Fury burned in her eyes—enough to make a lesser man step back and apologize for offending the woman he cared for. He was not a lesser man.
“I care for you a great deal, Kellie. Everything about you intrigues me, from the playfulness of your hair to the way you don’t back down from things you have no business standing up to. But I will not be told who or what I can remember, or who or what I can talk about. I am sorry that it hurts you to hear about a woman who made an impact in all those she touched. I will do my best to be considerate in the future, but I will not erase an entire portion of my life simply because it offends you.” He took another step closer, leaving mere centimeters between their feet and just enough space between their bodies that he couldn’t feel the energy she was giving off.
She was breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling harshly with each deep inhalation. Her eyes never left his, and he could feel the subtle shift in his desire. She was angry because she cared about him. She was jealous because she wanted to be the only one to matter to him. It was appealing.
He had to be certain. “Why do you care, Kellie?” His voice was a low sensual purr that caused her pupils to dilate.
“What kind of a question is that?”
“The perfect question for knowing precisely how I want to proceed.”
“How you wish to — ”
He placed his mouth over hers, swallowing her words and anger. She melted against his body as he swept his tongue over the seam of her lips in a soft caress. Kellie yielded to him, her arms wrapping around his neck as her hips pressed against his, not grinding them, but placing just enough pressure against his body that his cock stirred. Alcott couldn’t be certain who the groan of pleasure belonged to; he was too caught up in the sensations surging through him.
Kellie pulled back with a gasp, and he fought to contain a growl as she stepped backward. His heart was beating rapidly, and his shaft was heavy with need. She did that to him — created a desire that he couldn’t contain.
“I’m not doing that with you until we finish this conversation.”
Her lips were a deep pink and plump from his kiss, making it nearly impossible for him to focus on what she was saying. He gave a terse nod and sat down on the bed. “It seems we have the bonded thing down just fine,” he said wryly.
Kellie chuckled and snorted. “I am fairly certain it is safe to say we have no issues communicating sexually. However, we seem to only communicate on a real level when the other is lost to desire. I’m not saying I’m complaining, but I’m not going to ignore what we were speaking about.
My entire life was uprooted in less than three days. I’m freaking living in Seattle for an unspecified amount of time, and I’m falling in love with a man who might never get over the ghost of a woman he never had to begin with.” Her voice was calm despite the barbed comment she threw at him.
Agitation was damn near as effective as a cold shower. The problem was that he knew she was correct about everything. However, he hadn’t missed that she’d said she was falling in love with him. "I meant what I said, Kellie. We have pasts. I did not ask to know yours, and I had not intended for you to know mine. “
“So you’re saying you don’t have enough interest in me to learn my past but enough to fuck me any chance we can?” That time her words held bite.
He sighed and ran a hand over his chin. “What I’m saying is I’d intended for us to remain as separate as possible. That didn’t happen. I want to know your history because it has shaped you into the woman I am currently sitting before. The past has a way of showing itself when the time is right. There is no need for small talk or exchanging back stories. When I need to know more about your childhood it will work itself into the conversation. I can assure you, I will never ask about your past rela
tionships. I don’t think I care to know how many men have touched you. Ever.”
That was when it hit him. Even if he’d never physically been with Ciara, the way he idolized her made it appear as if she were more to him than she was. It didn’t change the fact that he wouldn’t stop doing something just to please someone else, but it did open his eyes.
“So, what you’re saying is that I have to listen to you speak about a woman who meant the world to you whenever you feel the need, and either I can like it or ignore it? But when it comes to speaking about things from my past that might upset you, I can’t.”
A second sensation of dousing cold water passed over him. Fuck. Rising off the bed, he walked to her and put his hands out in an offering for her to take them, not a request that she do so. Very tentatively, she did reach out and allow him to wrap his hands around hers.
“I cannot express this properly. Perhaps it’s a shame my author didn’t write me to be more eloquent. Finding out that I am essentially nothing has made me, well, possessive over myself. I don’t want to be told what I can and cannot do because it is the same thing as having my entire life pre-written. I don’t mean to be an ass of a man, but I can’t help it. I want to have as much control over my life as I can. I’ve never understood what happens when a character is fully released, how it changes what was outlined for them, but I know that I want it. I want to make as much of myself, my own personality and my destiny as I can, not what was written for me.”
She was silent, but her eyes rounded out just a small amount — enough to show him that his words had reached her. He watched as she took four deep breaths and felt them as she blew out through her nose, still not speaking. He’d never lain himself bare before another person before, not that he was aware of anyway, and it was frightening in a way nothing else could be.
Kellie closed her eyes for a short length of time, and when she opened them, she finally responded. “I understand. I might not be able to empathize completely, but I do understand what you are saying. I can’t pretend like I’m not affected by hearing you talk about Ciara, especially considering Dale had the same tone in his voice when he mentioned her. It’s asking too much.”
“Because you’re falling in love with me?” He tried to stop the smile on his lips and in his tone but failed.
“Yes, because of that.” Kellie didn’t share his playfulness, and she tried to pull her hands back.
He held her firmly in his grasp. “I can see myself falling in love with you as well, Kellie. I make no promises about when or if we’ll ever get there, but the woman I’m touching right now is most certainly the one I’m willing to hold onto for the rest of my life.”
He saw the words break through her anger. Her shoulders relaxed, and her face softened as she closed her eyes.
“So what do we do?”
“How about I promise to watch how often I bring up Ciara? I will not lie about her in any context, but I do not have to continually bring her up. She is my past, and she shaped me, but it is far beyond time that I moved onto my future.” He let the words saying that she was his future remain unspoken.
“I think that could work, Alcott. I also think that a conversation like this requires being held after.” She leaned against him, completely relaxed.
Inhaling the deep aroma that he’d always know was her, he laid his chin on her head. “If you insist, though I cannot pretend that my intentions will stay on cuddling. There is something intoxicating about the feel of you against me. I spent years ignoring things I want.”
She looked up at him, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “What exactly is it that you want, Alcott?”
“I think you already know the answer to that.” He could hear the heavy tinge of desire in his words.
Leaning up, she brushed her lips against his in an innocent kiss and placed her mouth against his ear. “I want you to say it,” she whispered.
The feel of her breath against his ear combined with the sultry sound of her whisper was all he needed.
“You. I want you.”
She placed her mouth over his, and he was lost, consumed by a swirling need of desire that pulsed red-hot and devoured him. There was nothing but them, nothing but the feel of her lips as they moved against his and drew a strangled moan of passion from the depths of his being. He felt her hands slid up his back, nails scraping through his shirt. His body roared, demanding he give into everything that was building between them — emotionally and physically.
“Are you certain? I’m not going to be able to ask again, I can promise you that,” he rasped breathlessly even as his hand tugged at her tank top.
“If I wanted you to stop, I wouldn’t have started.” Her response was as ragged sounding as his question.
“Good.” He grunted as he tore the shirt over her head and quickly popped open the button on her jeans.
She followed his lead, shoving her jeans down and unhooking her bra before he’d even had a moment to worship her the way he’d been planning. Her breasts spilled free, and he placed his mouth around one pert nipple, lavishing it as he used his other hand to massage her left breast, loving the way she spilled out of his grasp.
Her back arched as he grazed his teeth over her nipple and then moved to pay proper attention to her other breast, sucking it into his mouth. He could taste the barest hint of cinnamon on her skin and realized that was the spice he was constantly smelling. Kellie was the essence of cinnamon — feisty, playful and strong enough to bring a man to his knees. He needed to taste her, to kiss her, as they coupled and lose himself in her.
He wasted no time tugging her bottoms off and whisking away the dirty clothes for a second time in a heated rush to seek pleasure. Desire raged through him, confirming that the bond between them was far greater than just lust. He wanted to please her, to be the reason she came screaming.
His mouth slowly covered hers, devouring her in a searing kiss so intense that he felt his body heat further. His fingers tweaked her pebbled nipples, and a moan joined hers as she pushed down his jeans and stroked down the silky length of him. His teeth nipped her lower lip as his hand continued kneading her breast, mimicking the deliciously frantic pace of her hand against his cock. His hips thrusted, pushing his shaft into her palm and rubbing against her wet core. His body weight pushed them backward, dropping them rather gracelessly onto the bed. Her hand struggled to continue stroking his length rather than guide it between her thighs as he desired.
Her voice was a breathy, lust-filled whisper as she broke the kiss. “Protection?”
Alcott paused momentarily, trying to recall anything about being able to knock her up before he was released. He pushed back through years of memories until he found the moment the brother first told him about being a Guardian.
“We don’t need it right now, in two years we will.”
She nodded, her eyes lidded from lust.
He growled and moved the hand not playing with her breasts up her thigh, brushing his index finger over her swollen bud before delving a finger deep inside. Her moan was cut off by his kiss controlling her again as he worked another finger inside her. Needing more, he released his hold on her peaked nipple and clasped his hand over hers on his erection, helping her stroke.
Alcott couldn't think, only feel her. Couldn't breathe, just taste her. His Word Speaker. His Kellie. His right hand worked between her folds, scissoring and pumping. All the while, his left covered her delicate hand and forced her to move faster up his shaft. Her hips were rising off the bed as he did his best to work her over the edge.
He watched as she gripped the pillow above her head with her free hand. Her breaths were shallow and quick, matching his own. Her moans and whimpers had him withdrawing his fingers and pushing her hand off his cock.
“That’s it,” he said, straining to help her reach her release before he found his by her hand.
She squirmed beneath him, writhing and whimpering until he had to be inside of her. He placed his swollen head at her entrance and pus
hed hard, going deep inside with one quick thrust. Her body exploded around his shaft, orgasm pulsing through her so hard that he crashed over the edge from the intensity of merely experiencing hers. Whiteness washed over his vision as his release surged through him, drowning out everything, except the feel of their bodies pumping together and intertwined with kisses and more.
Slowly, he began to come back to himself, to feel the pulsating of her body and his as their respective releases washed away. He laved his tongue against hers before sliding his mouth away, opening his eyes and staring down at the beautiful creature below him.
“That was . . . incredible.” He forced the word out, taking deep breaths to ground himself. Closing his eyes once more, he pictured a tether from his body to the ground, anchoring him. The ecstasy of release began to subside, and he could think properly again.
“Ground yourself,” he said before dropping a kiss at the curve of her neck and sliding his dick from her passage.
She groaned and rolled over on the bed. “That would be so much simpler if I didn’t enjoy the wash of tingles I’m currently experiencing.” She gave him a saucy grin.
“Mmm. Well, then by all means, don’t let me disturb you.” He laughed and rolled next to her, scooping her body against his.
In that moment, as he held her against his body, he knew irrevocably that he was falling in love with her. The subtle way their hearts beat in sync and the way the smell of cinnamon made him feel comfortable were just two of the small signs. The big one was the way they fit together and how when he held her, there was nothing else in the world that mattered except the woman in his arms. Kellie was his future, and it was time he let go of his past.
“What are you thinking about?”
He pulled her gently closer. “That losing my Word Speaker three years ago was the best thing that could have happened to me.”
Alcott wasn’t certain, but it sure felt as if she smiled.
Chapter Fourteen