Was that how he saw her? Sweet? She was the farthest thing from sweet. But she said nothing as he teased her earlobe and slipped his hand over her breast. She moaned as he first palmed her breast, then teased her nipple. The man definitely knew how to use his hands.
As if to prove his point, he skimmed his hand down her stomach to her sex. His finger traced her slit.
“Ah, love, you’re wet for me, aren’t you?”
She said nothing as he slid one long finger inside of her.
“Ah, you do know how to welcome a man don’t you, love. All those tiny little muscles...hmm.”
He pressed his thumb against her clit as he continued his seduction. He was taking it slow, too slow. She wanted him to go faster, but even as she shifted her hips, he held still.
“Don’t rush me, Rena. I want to take my time with you.” He lifted his head up and looked down at her. “I said I wanted to show you. Let me do that.”
The sincerity of his words, the simplicity was too much to ignore. She couldn’t say no, not when the man was asking permission to please her.
She nodded. He moved away from her. After removing her robe, he said, “Roll over onto your stomach.”
Once she was settled, he straddled her hips. “It’s like an artist invented your skin. It’s so soft, so…shimmery.”
“Shimmery?” she asked as she felt her muscles relax when he started to massage her.
“Yes. I can’t explain it, but you always have this shimmer, is that your magick?
“It might be, but no one has ever mentioned it before.”
“Hmm,” was all he said as he shifted his body down. She could feel his erection against her bottom and she wiggled.
“Don’t be naughty,” he said. A moment later, his breath feathered over her flesh. Then, she felt his mouth against her spine. A brush of lips, a flick of the tongue...god, he was going to definitely kill her. He continued to kiss his way down her back, until he got to her rear end.
“Another of your features I love. Have I told you how many times I watched your ass? I felt like a bit of a pervert for doing it, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. I just kept doing it.”
Before she could answer, he pressed his mouth against one cheek, then the other, before he shifted further down. He urged her to roll over again. It was easy to see his erection through his PJs.
He didn’t hesitate, though. He leaned down and buried his face between her thighs. He licked her, before slipping two fingers inside of her again. He thrust his fingers in and out of her, over and over. Soon she was ready to come, to lose herself in her release, but he was gone all of the sudden. He took off his bottoms and joined her back on the bed.
“Sorry, love, I want to be there, I want to feel you come all over my cock.”
He rose to his knees and lifted her up off the mattress by taking her hips into his hands. In one fast movement, he thrust into her. He leaned his head back as he held her there. He swallowed, then brought his head back up and looked down at her. He eased out of her, then propelled back into her. He kept up the slow pace, watching her as he continued to build the tension. Lights danced around the room, then turned brighter as her arousal grew. Warmth filled her belly as her body readied for release, but she couldn’t seem to make it. The room grew hotter, the lights a kaleidoscope swirling around them. Her own emotions dancing off the atmosphere were making her dizzy, so she closed her eyes. Soon, though, something snapped in him. His movements became faster, harder, and Serena relished it. The headboard slammed against the wall as he pushed them even further.
She wanted it, needed the release he had been cultivating, but it seemed just out of reach. Fletcher knew exactly what she needed. He slipped his finger over her clit, tossing her over the edge into the morass of pleasure. As she shivered with her release, he pumped into her twice more before he held himself still and came, her name on his lips.
Long moments later, he shifted them both so they could cuddle up under the covers.
“I said it before, love, you are going to kill me.”
She chuckled but didn’t respond. She was still completely out of her depth with this man and as each second that went by, she felt she was getting more and more out of control of her emotions. He kissed the top of her head as she snuggled closer. She had never been a snuggler, but Fletcher made her want to do it all day long.
A few minutes and his breathing evened. He was asleep. She lay awake, his arms wrapped around her, her mind telling her she should keep everything on the surface level, and her heart telling her she should hold on tight.
For the first time in her life, Serena wished she could listen to her heart.
* * *
An hour later, they were still lounging in bed. Fletcher wanted nothing more than to spend the entire day there with Rena, but he knew they should start working on their plan. Finding out what kind of safe was the most important thing. That involved chatting with their family. While he never hid his lovers from his family, Rena was different. Their relationship was just that. A relationship. One that would need to be cultivated to survive. He had watched his cousins as they worked on theirs, knew that the only way he could get to that level was if he kept them out of it.
“Maggie texted me and said she wants to do a video chat.”
He rolled his eyes.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Fletcher.”
“Just, I know you might not understand, but they can be a bit overwhelming at times.”
“I understand. I feel that at the house.”
“You do?”
She nodded.
“I feel guilty for even admitting it to another person.”
“Because you’ve been through so much. I understand that. Having space is very important to me. I don’t usually do well in crowded situations for very long.”
He studied her for a moment.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
But he wanted to know more. From the time she joined the family, he’d been eager to find out any little tidbit of information about her. If he asked, she would tell him. Right now, he didn’t want to focus on the past, but on what they had ahead of them, and of course, Rena. He wanted to just spend days watching her. Okay, that sounded creepy, but she hid her feelings so often. Whenever he caught a secret smile when she thought no one was watching, it made him feel as if he were in on the secret. Pathetic.
“Fletcher. I can feel that you want to know more.”
“Are you reading my thoughts?
She shook her head. “But now that we have been intimately linked, I can feel things you are feeling. Ask.”
“If I ask, you would tell me? And I have so much to ask.”
“But there is something in particular you wanted to ask.”
“Your empathy.”
“I’ve explained that, didn’t I?”
“A bit, but you say that you can feel my emotions more now.”
She nodded.
“But, you then say crowded situations are hard on you.”
Understanding swept over him and he realized it was from her.
“I have the ability to hold back other people’s feelings. If I did not, I would probably have gone mad at some point. But it takes a lot to hold back the emotions, especially when there are so many people. It takes all my will to push them back at times. Sustaining that for hours is hard and leaves me drained.”
“And me?”
“You and I are linked intimately. It makes it almost impossible to fight my empathic abilities then.”
“This happened with other lovers?”
For the first time in the conversation, she looked uncomfortable. She didn’t answer. Wariness shifted through him.
“Rena?”
She sighed and raised her gaze to meet his. “No. There always is in sex. It’s impossible to make love and hold back. Never like this. I told you how I felt. You are important to me.”
He wasn’t com
fortable with that description of their relationship.
“That’s it? I’m important to you?”
“What the bloody hell does that mean? You just said the same thing to me before this.”
Just as the day before, what he felt for her hit him hard. With everything that was going on, he hadn’t dealt with the new feelings he had for her. It was deeper than it had been with Laire. Bloody hell, those feelings didn’t even register compared to what he felt now for Rena. He wanted a life with her and kids. Everything.
“Fletcher?”
He didn’t respond right away. He couldn’t. The realization was a little more than he was ready to deal with at the moment. He had thought of himself in love with her, but he hadn’t come to terms with just what that meant.
“Bugger me.”
“Well, you are definitely a charmer,” she said, slipping away from him.
She was almost all the way out of bed before he noticed what she was doing. He slid his arm around her waist and yanked her back. She tumbled back onto the bed and her elbow jabbed him in the ribs.
“Bloody hell,” he said. She wiggled, but he held on tighter. “Woman, I’m trying to wrap my head around the fact that I’m in love with you.”
She stopped struggling.
“No response?”
Still nothing. He scooted away and urged her to roll over, so he could see her. The serious look on her face had him worried.
“What did I do wrong now?”
She shook her head. “Nothing.”
“But?”
“Loving me isna a good thing, Fletcher.” The worry in her voice sent his alarms off.
“Why do you say it like that?”
She shook her head.
“No. Tell me.”
“I just didn’t want to…” she sighed. “I think I love you too.”
“You think?”
“Yes. I’m not sure since I’ve never loved a man before. Just my friends.”
At least that was something.
“Okay. Just…let’s just let things go on.” He didn’t like that one bit. He wanted to demand a more concrete answer from her. “We’ll deal with this after we get the ruby.”
She sighed and nodded. He pulled her against his chest, unsettled. He loved her, he knew that much, but she was holding back things from him. Maybe once they did succeed, they would have time to sort all that out.
For right now, he would concentrate on the mission, then he could focus on Rena.
Chapter Thirteen
Sitting at the dining table, Serena looked over the notes she had made. She normally liked to have weeks to prepare for a job, and this one was being pulled off in a matter of just a few hours of planning. With only a day and a half to plot, her nerves were stretched to their limits. She had gone over the security information about ten times yesterday and at least that many times today. She knew it wouldn’t be enough.
Don’t focus on the negatives. Prioritize the positives.
Meghan often said things like that when they were all working a job together. It was hard to remember, especially when Serena was doing most of the work herself. She knew she could get lost in the minutia and lose focus on the bigger picture.
So, with that in mind, she started thinking about the order of their plan. First was actually showing up to the fundraiser. They had to wait until the ruby went back into the vault before she could steal it. From what Angus could find in the hacked security company emails, Aileen was going to have it out for an hour during the first part of the bidding. Fletcher would distract Aileen, Serena would steal the ruby, then they would get the hell out of there.
When it came to the actual burglary, that was cut and dry. She could easily work the lock, unless Aileen McDougall realized who Serena was. It was something that had been bothering her for the last few hours. The fact that Aileen popped up at the cottage and invited them personally to the fundraiser bothered Serena. It was brazen, but there was a chance that Aileen had done it to send a warning. Did she even know who Serena was? The day of her family’s murders, Serena had been shoved in a closet and hidden away from Devon Breck. In her memory, she never sensed a direct interaction with the man. She rubbed her forehead. Just thinking about the switching of sexes, back and forth over the decades, made her head hurt.
“What?”
She glanced at Fletcher. “What do you mean?”
“There’s something bothering you.”
“Yes.” She nibbled on her lower lip while thinking it over. There was no way she could tell him her scheme now. If he found out, he would definitely refuse to let her help. He would probably whisk her back to Edinburgh. Or worse, try to do the job without her. That would end in disaster.
“Rena.”
“Okay.” She sighed. “I think she might know who we are.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know she might be the one who hired the photographer, but what if she isn’t? What if she bought that ruby with the idea that it was from your sword?”
He considered it for a second. “You think she might have been luring us here…for what purpose?”
“Do we know that she doesna have ties to the McWalton family?”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Bloody hell. Not sure if we did enough digging on that. She might.”
“It might not even be on her side. It could be on the dead husband’s side of the family.”
He nodded. “True. I’m going to call Callum in a bit. There is to be a family meeting.”
She glanced at him. “What’s with the tone?”
He shrugged. “I know that maybe we came up with the idea that we would get the ruby. But I wanted it to be more of a holiday for us.” He sat in the chair beside hers and reached out to take her hand in his. “Especially after we made love, I wanted a little time to ourselves.”
“We have had some time alone. We’re shagging like we’re on holiday.”
His mouth curved. “There is that.”
His voice had deepened, and she couldn’t fight the heat that spiraled through her blood. She was definitely losing it if just his voice got her hot. She’d known a lot of men in her decades on Earth—jins, fairies, witches—but none of them could create magick that made her feel the way she did when she was with Fletcher. Her soul vibrated with happiness when he was near. She noticed he was watching her intently.
“Don’t talk like that. I have to be sure that I can understand the safe before we go. You talk like that, and I will not get a damned thing done. Then you’ll have to explain to your cousin why you don’t have that bloody jewel.”
He chuckled and held up his hands. “Sorry. I just can’t seem to control myself around you.”
She shook her head and rose from the table, but he followed her and grabbed her by the waist. He crowded up behind her and nuzzled her neck. In all her years, she had never met a man who was as affectionate with her as Fletcher was. But it seemed to run in the family. All of the McLennan men seemed to have no problem showing their affection with their spouses, including dour Callum.
Even as she thought it, her heart shivered with a hint of pain. She was not his spouse. She couldn’t be. She had a duty to her family and her happiness wasn’t as important.
“Hmm,” he said against her neck.
“Fletcher, don’t, seriously. I’ve a lot of work to do.”
“Okay.” He gave her one last kiss on her neck before he let her go.
The moment she was free, she questioned her sanity. What woman in her right mind would give up cuddles with Fletcher McLennan?
“So, what’s the plan?” he asked.
She shrugged, not wanting to tell him any more than was necessary. It wasn’t as if she thought he couldn’t handle the job. He could, but this was her part. He would have to make sure Aileen McDougall was distracted so she could get into the secure room.
“You know the plan.”
“And you can just unlock a safe?”
“Yes, but the most imp
ortant thing is that you keep her occupied.”
“I can do that, but make sure you’re quick about it.”
Serena crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “I think you have some things confused here, Fletcher. I’m in charge.”
He smiled. “Of course.”
She rolled her eyes knowing that he was just saying that to appease her. Fletcher might appear to be a modern man, but there was enough of an eighteenth-century warrior in his character to think he should be in charge just because he was a man. She glanced back at her notes, then turned and gave them her full attention. She had brought sticky notes, so she could keep everything straight. Sometimes, it was easier for her to jot down information and then sort it out later.
“What I was wondering is why you can’t just transport in there?”
She shrugged. “I can get into locked houses but getting into locked vaults is always iffy.”
“What do you mean?”
Irritated, she turned to tell him to bugger off—she did get bitchy when she was working on a plan—but she saw his interested expression. He truly wanted to understand.
“I’ve no idea why I can’t always get out. I got stuck in a vault once and couldna open it from the inside. It was a mess. So, to be sure that doesna happen again, I use my abilities to work the lock open. It’s better than being stuck inside.”
Remembering the panic that had ensued, both on her part and the part of the M and M’s still made her dizzy. Thankfully, she had finally figured out how to unlock the safe, but she never tried that particular transport ever again.
He nodded, and his mobile rang, interrupting their conversation. He glanced at the number. “Callum.”
“Go on. I still need to work this out; go through the blueprints of the mansion again. I will have better success if I can do it by myself.”
“Okay.” He stopped and brushed his mouth over hers as if it was the most normal thing to do. He smiled as he clicked the phone on to handle the family meeting.
She sank back in her chair and looked out over the table. This had to work. She had to get the ruby, give it to Fletcher, then she could kill Aileen McDougall.
For the first time in her life, she wondered if it was all worth it. It was difficult to convince herself that, in the end, avenging the murder of her family was more important than anything. But she had to. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she didn’t. Of course, she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she failed her friends.
Fletcher: The Cursed Clan: Book 4 Page 12