"I appreciate honesty, Mr. Severin." Laurel hesitated before she returned his gesture. She feared how much she'd like his fingers wrapped around hers.
"Just Severin, I like keeping it personal." He took her hand and kissed the back of it. She bit her tongue not to let out a moan when Severin tightened his grip and pressed his lips to her hot skin. Laurel did not understand how she hadn't fallen apart with need.
She had to resist. Corwin was up there and he'd always be her first choice, no matter what this stranger was doing to her body with a glance.
That was just a kiss. What else could he do?
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Severin, I'm Laurel." She stuttered when he let go of her. The disappointment shook her inside. So that's what Corwin was going through when she denied him and toyed with him.
"I know." He smiled back. "I met some ladies in town yesterday and asked them if there was something interesting in the area. They immediately directed me to Miss Laurel's Cinnamon Bookshop. They're proud of you."
Laurel shrugged and picked up one ribbon from the drawer, unsure of what to do with her hands.
"You said it yourself, the bookshop is a treasure."
"That's not exactly what I said." He laughed.
"I believe that's exactly what you said." Laurel played with the red edges of the ribbon. Anything to keep her hands from trembling. "This place is part of me... and my sweet zone. Is there anything you'd like from it while you're here? Were you looking for a book? Or is Cinnamon just part of your sightseeing plan?"
Severin tilted his head and chuckled at her.
"Always the business woman, aren't you? Just when I thought you were enjoying my company." He placed a hand on his heart and sighed in an over the top way.
"There's no reason I can't mix business and pleasure." Laurel squeezed the edges of the ribbon. Her fingers were quaking. "I'm here to assist you in any way I can."
"Oh yes?" He followed the moves of her hand and the mess she was making out of the ribbon's knot. "Miss Laurel, I'm sure you'd be excellent at serving... oh, I'm sorry, I meant assistance. After all, since I'm here, may I ask if you have a book on love potions?"
That caught Laurel off guard and a frown creased her forehead. She picked up her laptop and pretended to lean in and check the database.
"That's an unusual request..." The lie came off naturally off her lips. Ever since she started this business, Laurel had met all sorts of clients. The high season brought the occasional wave of the hippie, New Age and spiritual crowd. Cinnamon's Esoteric and Occult section was full to the brim. She didn't need to check to know what they had in store... but Laurel wouldn't trust that guy with an actual love potion book.
Why would he need it, anyway? His mere presence was intoxicating enough... or was it just the way he affected her?
"You don't look too surprised." He walked over to the first bookshelf nearby and picked up a book at random, without even looking at the title. Severin ran his fingers down the front cover. His gesture was shockingly similar to what Laurel had done earlier when she gave the enchanted book to Mark. "You aren't easy to shock, are you, Laurel?"
She stopped pretending to be searching for the book and looked up at him. He was standing there, caressing the book as if it was the skin of a lover and his wicked little grin grew wider.
"I'm sorry but you're out of luck, Severin. We're all out of our magic books and merchandising. It's Halloween, people have been buying them like hot cakes."
That was the exact reason Corwin and her had stocked up on Halloween-themed goodies but the stranger didn't have to know it. He was a magnet for her lady parts but she didn't trust him even for a minute. The sooner he left town the easier she'd breathe.
"Really? Well, that's a shame..." If that disappointed him it didn't show. If he kept stroking the book in his hands, the poor thing would have to sue him for sexual harassment. Did he touch women that way, too? "I'm sure I can find something here that would satisfy my needs."
Laurel shifted in her place with discomfort. All that sexual tension in the air made her crave touch. If he ordered her to bend over the counter she'd have to say no... and she found it very difficult to say so.
"You're always welcome to come back and spend as much time as you wish in Cinnamon Bookshop." She said with a fake smile and an insincere voice. If Severin visited them again and again, Laurel had no idea how she'd control herself. Her willpower was strong, but he was unlike anyone she ever met before.
Who knew how long it would take for him to overpower her and turn her into his obedient plaything? In that moment she was more than grateful for Corwin's presence. If it weren't for him, she could be really easy to capture.
The melancholy touched Severin's cold eyes when he spoke again. "I really wish I could do that but it won't be possible. I'm leaving this town first thing in the morning and I have no idea where the autumn wind will carry me."
Laurel crossed her arms before her chest. She had to sigh with relief at these words. Why did they fill her with such a strange disappointment and anxiety? Did she really want him to stay and interfere with their peaceful life?
Corwin and her were fine and didn't need that strange guy to be messing around with them. Strange guilt stabbed her in the chest as she thought of her pet.
He deserved her loyalty.
"It's a pity you can't stay here longer but it might be for the best." She said and hurried to add, "This town is not a suitable place for a person who dislikes comfort zones. You'll find it incredibly boring only after a week."
He laughed again, and it was the same beautiful laughter, a little midnight spell. Laurel thought his carefree laughter was a sound she could never get tired of. What an odd thought.
She wanted him gone.
Didn't she?
"You think I can ever get bored when there's a woman like you around?" Severin leaned against the counter and brushed his thumb against her cheek. The unexpected intimacy of that gesture, its strange tenderness crushed all the reasons why Severin was bad news and had to leave. Laurel didn't push him away, she didn't fight or tell him he was crossing the line. None of those reasonable, normal things.
Instead, she got lost in the endless blue of his eyes and let his red seduction with a taste of blood wrap around her. Laurel leaned in against his palm, so cold against her skin.
"You probably don't even realize it but..." He raised her hand and kissed it again. "It's amazing you're here. They used to burn women like you... and men like your companion."
Such simple words but they were enough for Laurel to snap out of her little fever dream. She pushed Severin's hand away and glared at him. He didn't seem surprised by her reaction. Instead, the little wicked grin returned to his face.
"Is that a threat? Because I really don't appreciate being threatened in my own bookstore. Another thing, Mr. Severin..." Laurel spat out his name. "Don't even think of messing with my companion because..."
He raised his hand to interrupt her angry speech. "You can interpret my words as a threat if that's your wish, Laurel. I find it fascinating how you put your spell on these people. What a waste it would have been if they burned you as a witch."
His eyes were glowing with passion as he said that and the icy exterior began to slip. Why did he have to keep talking of witches burning? That guy was weird as hell, seductive in one minute, cryptic and borderline scary in the next.
Laurel's skin was prickling, just like that first time she died, on that funeral pyre right at the center of the village. Her mother's desperate screams as her flesh was melting. The yelling, the cheering, all those blurred faces.
How did she ever survive that night?
"I'm lucky to live in an era when burning people alive is against the law." Laurel smiled dryly and hugged herself. Her body was shaking with the sudden rush of suppressed memories. "You might be exaggerating my so-called enchantment. I'm only a bookstore owner who picks up herbs."
Severin nodded with understanding and reached out t
o hold her hand again. "I upset you. My apologies... but I was wrong. You do know exactly how enchanting you are. I'm glad you're in a place where people appreciate you, Laurel. The world would be dull without magical women like you."
He turned around and walked back to the bookshelf, whistling some old melody at the corner of his lips. Laurel was watching him with apprehension when he took the very same book he'd been touching earlier. Severin stepped back to her with a huge, triumphant grin that animated his pale face and made his eyes glow.
"I think I found your lost love potions book. It looks like it wasn't that hard to find, right?"
She stared at the book with a frown. That was a real copy of one old and tattered spell book... but how did it find itself here? It wasn't officially available for sale and Laurel kept it out of the database. She had stashed that book away with her personal collection on the top floor of the house.
"Naughty girl." Severin placed his hand under her chin and made her look up. "I'm hurt, Laurel, did you really think I'd be that easy to deceive? We started so well... You really deserve for me to put you across my knee for that deception."
Laurel didn't even have the chance to respond when he released her, caressed her face again and headed for the door. Quiet step and a low whistle.
"Goodbye, Laurel Stone. We'll meet again someday. Maybe sooner than you expect."
Severin walked out the door and the tiny silver bells rang after him as cheerful as his odd laughter.
Sooner than she expected?
Laurel collapsed on the chair behind the cash register and buried her face in her hands.
IV
Earlier she had given Corwin his tea and let him sleep. When she returned to their bedroom, he was already up and staring at the door as if he had been expecting her. He was leaning against the stack of pillows with his large arms bent behind his neck. Laurel couldn't bring herself to look him in the eyes and stood next to the door like a punished schoolgirl. That odd sense of guilt was eating her on the inside. She had done nothing to betray him but her body was on fire, wet, needy and ready.
Another man made her feel like that.
"Mistress..." He cleared his throat. His voice was a balm for her anxiety but Severin's scent still lingered on her skin. "Come here... Let me get you off."
"What?" Laurel looked up. Corwin raised himself up and knelt on the woolen bedspread that covered their king-sized bed. He didn't avert his eyes from Laurel, eyes full of worship and longing, of deep devotion. Laurel deserved none of them but she let them warm her. She was vulnerable and trembling on the inside, as easy to crush as a feather caught by the mysterious wind of the fall.
Anytime it would take her in an unknown direction.
The Mistress needed the pet to keep herself grounded and Corwin must have sensed it.
He reached out and offered his hand and a dazzling smile. Laurel took a step closer to the bed and the wooden floorboards creaked under her boots. Relief went over her once his rough fingers tangled with her long delicate ones. Her wolf always brought that sense of peace with the most simple touch. Balance.
"It's fine, Laurel. I know. Just let me get you off. Please... I need to taste you, your scent is so delicious. Please." His hazel eyes were glowing brighter when Corwin reached to caress her face. He brushed his fingers against her cheekbone as careful as if he touched porcelain. No one ever touched her with as much tenderness as that large man who could snap her in two if he decided.
She stared down at him while he removed the poncho scarf around her shoulders. Corwin was still wearing blue jeans and a black shirt, his regular uniform at the cafe, but he was barefoot. He had gathered his long and unruly hair in a ponytail per her instructions. Laurel loved using it as reins whenever he knelt before her. Tonight she craved a different feeling, so she reached out and undid the leather tie around his hair so it'd fall down his shoulders.
Laurel wanted him primal, unrestrained and as close to the animal lurking within him. All the tenderness wouldn't sate the fire between her thighs. She needed him naked and wild and for him to ravage her body like it was their last time.
The ashen blond stranger with his icy dominance and her own red-blooded, fierce wolf were fusing in one image. Laurel craved them both inside her and the molten hot lust in her mind set her body on fire, from her hardened nipples to her throbbing clit.
"Please... I don't know what's happening but I need you now and fast... Please." The desire in her own voice confused and horrified her. She had never begged him before. A flash of concern passed through Corwin's eyes but it melted in his bright, calm eyes.
He reached out and brushed his rough fingers across her face with soft moves. It would be so easy to grab a lock of her raven hair and push her on the ground. Face next to the floorboard, ass in the air, ripe for taking.
"Relax, Mistress." Corwin kissed her on the lips and slid his big palms to cup her breasts through the linen of her shirt. "I always take care of you."
Tonight I need more from you, she wanted to scream but instead bit her tongue until it bled. That stranger visited them in the worst time of the year.
"Undress for your Mistress." She clutched a lock of his hair and leaned in to whisper, so close and yet so far. Their lips brushed, but she didn't grace him with her touch. Corwin growled at her sensual attack and his eyes glowed in an even more brilliant green, pushing away the brown from his pupils. That quiet roar from his lips made her fingers tremble, but she didn't loosen her grip. "Show me what's mine, little wolf, and then I'll allow you to pleasure me. Now."
It took all her strength to keep that facade of authority and to pull away from him. Corwin didn't protest but she saw his frustration, his thirst. The way he licked his lips and the outline of his hardness through the jeans, the quiet intensity in his growls...
Her pet got down from the bed, with his eyes cast down, just like his Mistress wanted. Laurel laid on the soft covers and slid her wide skirt up with deliberately slow and teasing moves.
"No, Corwin." She trailed with her lazy, honey voice. "You'll look at me this time while you are preparing yourself for me."
He swallowed hard and when their eyes met again, she read the brewing anger and lust. Corwin confirmed his understanding with one growling Yes, Mistress and began to take his clothes off. She tilted her head while he was undoing the button of his shirt and showing his broad chest, tight stomach and musclebound arms. These arms with rough fingers could destroy and create. Whenever he picked her up and spread her thighs open, Laurel enjoyed the thought of how easy it would be for him to get what he wanted from her whether she liked it or not. That dangerous lust in his eyes and the thirst while he was licking her, shaking with frustration, thrilled her.
Toying with Corwin was a fire play in its finest... and whenever he sank his teeth in her shoulder, Laurel was ready to walk through fire.
He had nicely tanned skin that spoke of all his outdoor activities during his free time. Her wolf used every free moment his Mistress gave him to run in the local pine woods, his natural habitat and form of gym. Sometimes Corwin returned with blood on his shirt and a rabbit for their table. That always happened at the unholy hours of the early morning so nobody would witness his transformation.
She always stood a few feet behind him with her long red cloak and a basket full of herbs. Making sure he stayed in line.
"Are you pleased, Mistress?" He asked after he kicked his jeans out and stood before her with clenched fists. Thick drops of precum coated the head of his massive cock. Laurel took her time with raising her skirt. Each time he growled under his breath made her smile and shudder in anticipation. His eyes were as bright as polished emeralds but his body language showed anxiety. Clenched fists and jaw, tense muscles. She felt the quivers and a strong throb of his shaft as if she had wrapped her hand around it.
"Eat me out..." Laurel hiked the dark skirt around her waist with one abrupt move and parted her legs. Only a thin strip of wet silk kept her smooth pussy from his thirsty g
aze. "Get your Mistress off, little wolf and don't stop."
"At your service, Mistress." Corwin spoke with as much obedience as ever but his eyes flashed with a wolfish appetite. He pounced down on all fours and crawled to her, licking his lips in expectation. "Thank you for letting me taste your cunt."
Laurel wanted to scream with frustration when he settled between her thighs and tore her panties down. His strong arms opened her thighs even wider and Corwin ran his tongue along her slit. She had waxed her curls last night and now her skin was smooth, bare, with thick and luscious inner lips. She had a dark pink cunt, glistening and ready for him to stretch it open.
Corwin's stubble scratched her tender skin and another hot wave of pleasure rippled through her enlarged, throbbing clit. He wrapped his lips around the small point and switched between fast licks and nibbles. Laurel's toes curled when he bit her in the most delicate way while his fingers widened her pussy. A kiss right on the edge of violence, a loving kiss and a sign of ownership.
"Yes, just like that... Eat me out." She screamed out and locked his head with her thighs. Corwin was humming against her soaked pussy, taking his time to suck and lick her swollen lips. They were pulsing against his teeth and the skillful brush of the tip of his tongue as if he was drawing on her. Laurel sank fingers in his hair and moaned when he flattened his tongue and pushed it deep inside her slick walls. Hot waves of pleasure and relief coursed through her veins and sank her mind deeper in the ecstasy. She bit her palm and cried out when her wolf's skillful mouth found a new pleasure point. Sometimes his sharp teeth sank into her delicate skin and that caused another impulse, a dark, twisted pleasure, way beyond the lands of safety. The thin slice of pain was just enough to tear through her defenses.
Laurel arched her back and tossed her head with a loud cry of sensual agony. His tongue was dancing and drawing figures on her throbbing clit before he slid it deep in her cleft. She got higher and closer to release, with a strong man between her trembling legs and the invisible touch of another. Corwin hypnotized her with his sensual touch and loving bites. Laurel's blood was on fire and the erotic madness draped a blindfold over her eyes. Blindfold... or a red fog. Did her mind play tricks on her or was there someone else in their bedroom?
Blood and Spice Page 3