by Rose O'Brien
Just as she took a step toward him, he said, “I’m going to move my stuff to headquarters tomorrow.”
Her face registered shock and then something like disappointment. That surprised him.
“Oh,” she said, her voice quiet. “Okay.”
In the space of a moment, she seemed to gather herself, and a small smile appeared on her face. It was one that he was coming to recognize as a mask she sometimes wore because it never reached her eyes.
“And I was just getting used to having you around,” she said. “Is it because I snore really loud?”
She was trying to joke her way out of this and that pissed him off.
“Look, we both know it’s getting weird. Between us. I just want to get rid of the tension. Keep it professional, like you want.”
A look of hurt crossed her features for just a moment before she nodded. He turned his back to her and ran his hand through his hair, trying to ease the regret that look stirred in him.
This was the best move. It had to be.
He took a step toward the porch so that he could go back inside and pack, but he stopped.
He wasn’t sure what possessed him, but he heard his voice say, “I have a question.”
She was silent. It was now or never.
“Why didn’t you go home with that guy tonight?”
Silence fell between them. He started to wonder if she had slipped away when he felt the heat of her against his skin. Her fingertips brushed his bare shoulder blade, and he almost shivered beneath her touch.
Her breath was warm against his skin when she whispered near his ear.
“Because he wasn’t you.”
Awareness hit him like a sledgehammer to the chest.
He spun and pulled her against him, his fingers cradling the back of her neck. He had a split-second to register her blazing indigo eyes and then his mouth was on hers. All he could think was that this must be what the eye of a hurricane was like, simultaneously quiet and electric, still and stormy.
Her lips were soft and sweet against his mouth and her scent, like the air during a thunderstorm, swept over him. She was impossibly warm against the bare skin of his chest. Electricity danced across the skin of his back and shoulders where her fingers dug into his flesh, pulling him closer.
The satin of her nightgown slid against his skin, warmed by her body. When her soft little tongue brushed his lower lip, he almost lost his mind. He groaned against her mouth and pulled her closer to him.
She was strong. He knew that from their workouts together. But just now, she felt almost delicate in his arms. He loosened his grip.
She broke their kiss and touched his cheek, his stubble rasping against her palm. Her breath was coming fast and her lips were gorgeously swollen from his kiss.
“You don’t have to hold back. You won’t hurt me, Alex,” she whispered.
His own breath was coming fast and his heart pounded. She was right on so many levels. Could she see it in his eyes? Did she know that he would follow her through hell and back and would die before he let anything touch her?
Her eyes met his, and he was lost. He could almost feel it happen. The last scales that had protected his heart fell away under that indigo gaze. The last part of himself that he had kept away from her slipped away and joined the rest of him in loving her.
He gently caressed her face and kissed her again. Softer, this time.
He was determined to do this right. He would not go too fast and lose her. He would not be the same as all the others she had slept with. If she took him to her bed, it would not be the casual, drunken sex he knew she used to keep her frustration at bay.
Her lips moved to his neck and his hands clenched in her hair, trying to maintain something like control.
“I need you, Alayna.”
The words slipped out before he could choke them back. He was losing himself and he almost didn’t care.
“I need you, too,” she said against his throat, her warm breath and the vibrations of her voice sending ripples of sensation across his skin. “From the moment I saw you.”
Her words caused something to tighten in his chest to the point of pain. He brought her gaze to his.
“Isn’t this moving a little fast?” he said.
“We could all die tomorrow,” she answered, a little smirk curving her lips.
He laughed.
“That’s a cheesy line. It’s not going to work on me. I have standards,” he said jokingly, his voice soft and just a little rough.
Her face grew serious and she ran her fingers through his hair, casually exploring him.
“I’ve held myself back from you for weeks because I didn’t want our feelings for each other to cloud our judgment, but that’s already happening, and we really could both be dead tomorrow, and I don’t want to go another night without you.”
The simple truth in her voice made his heart squeeze. He swallowed hard. She had him. He was hers.
In a swift movement he swept her into his arms, one arm around her shoulders, the other behind her knees, and lifted her against his chest. She let out a little gasp and a nervous giggle, steadying herself with her hands on his shoulders.
“I don’t know,” he said softly, his lips brushing hers. “Sleeping with the boss is not a great idea.”
“I think it’s the best idea you’ve had.”
“But will you still respect me in the morning?” he asked her.
She threw back her head and laughed as he carried her to her bed.
***
Alayna slid to the floor as Alex stepped inside her bedroom, and she delighted in the drag of her skin against his. Afraid that all the talking had cooled the heat that had exploded between them just moments before, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him with everything she had.
His arms came around her like iron bands, pulling her against that chest that was as hard as stone and as warm as a gentle fire. She lightly scraped her nails along his scalp, and he groaned against her mouth again.
She was pulling out all the tricks that she had picked up over years of nothing but one night stands. She knew how to get a guy frantic and panting in a matter of minutes and how to communicate exactly what she wanted with nothing but her body.
Stepping back from him, she slipped the nightgown from her shoulders and let it pool at her feet. His eyes went wide with shock for an instant before they narrowed again, a dangerous level of arousal burning in those dark depths. She moved to drop to her knees in front of him, grasping the hem of his silk pajama pants.
“Not so fast,” he said, his voice taking on a rough edge. “I’m not some quick fuck you picked up in a bar.”
Her eyes flashed as she met his gaze, but she decided not to resist as he reached down and pulled her to her feet, fitting her against him again. Completely naked, she knew she should be cold, but all she could feel was heat when he was near her.
His hand gently caressed her shoulder where it met her neck and his gaze followed his fingertips as they traveled down her arm and, with soft feather touches, stroked her breast.
He was acting like they had all the time in the world, and she felt like her skin was about to catch fire.
His touch sent ripples of electricity dancing along her skin. A desperate need was clawing at her belly. She wanted him inside her with a dangerous intensity. Her hands on his skin became urgent, her nails lightly raking his flesh.
He stilled her hands with his before moving his fingers playfully across the curve of her hip and pulling her close.
He breathed deeply, like he was taking in the scent of her and memorizing it. His lips pressed lightly to her temple. “Relax, slow down. We’ve got all night.”
She stilled in his arms for a moment, just enjoying the feel of him against her, taking his uniquely male scent into her nose. He was spice and musk.
He captured her mouth with his. His kiss was slow and sensual, almost leisurely. Alayna lost herself in his skilled embrace, letting him work his
own kind of magick with his mouth on her lips and neck.
She didn’t spend a lot of time kissing the men she took to bed. Make-out sessions were not high on their lists of priorities, but she found herself savoring every nip, the slide of his tongue and the feel of his arms around her.
When she broke the kiss, they were both breathing hard. When she met Alex’s gaze, she could see his inner walls coming down. There was raw heat and naked desire in his eyes. She realized that she had seen tiny glimmers of those feelings when she had caught him looking at her the last few weeks, but seeing the full intensity of those emotions now caused a delicious clenching within her.
Stepping back, she brushed the fingertips of one hand over the top of her breasts and sat back on the bed. Crooking one finger, she parted her mouth and gave him her best come hither look. They’d see just how slow he wanted to take it once she got him in bed.
Color rose in his cheeks beneath his tan, and his substantial erection strained at the seams of his pajama pants.
“Take them off,” she whispered.
“Not just yet,” he said.
She gave him a little pout, and he laughed. Gods, he was gorgeous. How on earth had she kept her hands off him this long?
When his dark eyes, which too often held glimpses of sadness and regret, were dancing with laughter like they were now, it made her heart race. And those Maybelline lashes that framed them added just enough of a soft touch to the otherwise rugged planes of his face.
He stepped toward her and her gaze came to rest on his mouth. His lips were slightly parted as his chest rose and fell.
She remembered the feel of those lips on hers and wondered what they would feel like on other parts of her. Her nipples? Her heart beat faster just thinking of it. Her pussy? Her breath almost caught in her throat at the thought. Without realizing it, her thighs parted slightly and her hand moved to touch her clit.
Alex closed his eyes and growled softly through gritted teeth at the sight. She was determined to shatter that rigid control of his.
She wanted him wild when he took her.
She rose to her knees on the bed, her hand still on her soft folds, which were becoming slick from wanting him.
With her other hand, she touched his chest. She had dreamed of what he looked like beneath those tight black shirts he favored. He wasn’t muscle bound by any means. He was built more like a swimmer, lean and hard, with perfectly defined muscles in his arms, torso and thighs. The plains of his chest looked like they were cut from stone and contrasted perfectly with the slightly rounded swells of his shoulders.
And those abs. She wondered what they tasted like and she bent at the waist, running her tongue over those ridges of flesh.
He groaned again and took a shaky breath. She could feel the pulse of his abdominal artery against her lips as she kissed and nipped his stomach. As she worked her way back to his mouth, her world suddenly spun, and she found herself on her back, one leg hooked over his shoulder and his mouth poised above her pussy.
She gasped as she met his gaze. So much for control, she thought, as his mouth came down on her. She let out a groan of her own as his tongue found her opening and slid inside. Her body arched off the bed and his hands found her waist, securing her right where he wanted her.
She moaned again as his tongue moved to circle her swollen, throbbing clit. It was a breathy sound, full of ecstasy, and unlike any sound she had ever made before. Commanders of the Mage Corps did not make porn star sounds, she chided herself.
All thought flew from her head and she cried out as he drew the sensitive flesh into his mouth, sucking lightly and flicking it with his tongue. The vibrations of his soft laughter pulled the tension within her even tighter.
She arched again, gripping the bed sheets on either side of her and felt the blissful waves of climax crash into her.
It could have been minutes, it could have been hours later when she came back to her body. Almost involuntarily, she covered her face with her hands and peeked at him over her fingertips, a flush creeping into her cheeks.
“Don’t tell me you’re getting shy now,” he teased, discreetly wiping his face with the edge of the sheet before he took her in his arms again and placed his mouth on her neck.
“I don’t think I’ve ever made sounds like that before,” she said, laughing.
She’d had orgasms with her one night stands, sure. But it had never been anything like that.
“It’s different when you’re with someone who cares about you,” he whispered against her throat, just below her ear. “You know that, right?”
The last had been said so quietly she almost didn’t hear him.
She was silent so long that he lifted his head and looked into her eyes. She knew that he could see a lot of emotions there, and she was suddenly terrified. He was stripping away all of the carefully laid defenses around her, and what really scared her was that she didn’t care.
“I didn’t know that until now,” she said quietly.
Alex pulled her fiercely against him and buried his face in her hair, just holding her for a long, still moment.
She reached between them, her hand sliding past the waistband of those damned pajama pants. She made a note to burn those as soon as she got them off him.
Her fingers brushed his erection, and he hissed. When her hand came around the base of his shaft and began to stroke him, he groaned through his teeth.
She moved down his body slowly, kissing his chest and stomach, while increasing the pace of her strokes, adding a little twist at the top. When she reached the waistband of his pants, she pulled them down and off, taking the head of his cock into her mouth. He was big and thick and tasted faintly of salt. She ran her tongue over the length of him and sucked as much as she could into her mouth, which was barely half. She stroked the base with one hand and ran her nails over his abs with the other.
He moaned again and sat up abruptly, his hands on her shoulders.
“Wait,” he said, a note of pleading in his voice. “Please. I want to be inside you when I come.”
She looked up and nodded.
In one swift move, she was under him. He rose above her, hard muscles rippling and she felt the tip of his cock at her opening. She dug her fingers into his hips, but he resisted her and entered her slowly. It was pure, delightful torture.
She felt every inch of him slide into her slick heat. Her head thrown back, she moaned at the incredible feel of him stretching her, filling her.
Her breath caught on an ecstatic gasp as he moved within her. That delicious tension began to build again. He lifted her shoulders off the bed and his mouth found her nipple. Electricity zinged between her breast and her pussy and she cried out, burying her hands in his thick black hair, holding his mouth against her.
The new angle was rubbing her already swollen clit just the right way, and the strokes of his cock sent waves of pleasure through her body with each movement. His hard, muscular arms supported her, wrapping around her as he held against his chest. The guy clearly knew what he was doing.
The graceful, hard strength of him was overwhelming as he took complete control of her body. She had never surrendered control during sex before. It was terrifying and amazing and somehow freeing all at the same time. And it was all too much for her. She threw her head back and nearly screamed as her orgasm tore through her.
Alex fisted his hand in her hair, holding her there, as she heard him groan and felt him spasm within her.
His voice filled her ears in that moment.
“I love you, Alayna,” he said through gritted teeth.
She felt his release in every tight muscle of his body and in the soft warmth that filled her pussy.
Breathing hard, he gently laid her back down and withdrew from her body, wrapping his arms around her as he pulled her sheets over them.
A little shaken by what she thought she’d heard, she buried her face against his chest and began to drift toward sleep, vowing to herself to deal with it i
n the morning. For now, though, she would enjoy every moment of this.
For the first time in her life, Alayna slept beside a man. Her last thought as exhaustion and sleep claimed her was that she had never felt anything better in her life.
***
It took Alex a few moments to figure out where he was as he struggled toward consciousness. Faint morning sunlight warmed his face and the skin of his chest, shadows dancing as it filtered through trees. A light breeze blew across his body, bringing the scent of a woman. Not just any woman. Alayna.
He reached out sleepily, wishing for the warm, soft feel of her. She wasn’t beside him, but this was her bed.
It came back to him in a rush. He’d made love to her. And then he remembered what he’d said right as he came inside her. He’d told he loved her.
Damn it.
He groaned and rolled over, beating his head against the pillow a couple of times. Embarrassment heated his cheeks, and he wished he had a freaking time machine so he could go back and tell last-night Alex to not be such an idiot.
Alayna had fought so hard against any emotional entanglements between them. And he’d gone and said the one word that was guaranteed to send her running. So what if it was true? Should have kept that to himself until she was ready to hear it.
He took a deep breath and sat up. He’d have to face her sooner or later. He grabbed his pants off the floor and pulled them on and headed to his room. His phone was blinking, indicating that he had a text. It was from Alayna. Taking a deep breath, he opened it.
“Heading to the office. See you later,” it read.
The time stamp was marked about an hour before.
A sick feeling settled in his stomach. Had he ruined everything with that stupid admission last night?
Chapter 18
“I think we all know what we’re looking at here,” Alayna told the team.
She stood at the head of the conference table that the team was seated around. Alex had rolled in a few minutes ago, and she’d been able to avoid meeting his eyes so far. When she looked, would she find anger there?