by Tina Folsom
When he finally let go of her lips, he pressed his forehead to hers. “If that’s what I get every time you shoot me, then you have my permission to shoot me every day.”
Kim slid her hand onto his ass and pressed him to her. “I’m never gonna shoot you again, I promise.”
He drew his head back. “Are you trying to tell me that this was the last time you sucked me?”
She chuckled softly. “I can think of many reasons why I would want to suck you again, and shooting you doesn’t even make the top ten.”
Manus let out an exaggerated sigh. “Phew. I was worried there for a moment.”
Kim rolled her eyes. “Men!”
25
Manus couldn’t let Kim’s comment stand and give the impression that all he was after was having his cock sucked. He was all for seeing to Kim’s pleasure.
“Men, huh?” he murmured against her lips. “How about you let this man take you to your bedroom and make love to you?”
“Make love?” she echoed. “So not just sex?”
“No, not just sex. That was last night. We’re turning over a new leaf tonight. I mean, with all that’s passed between us, you following me, you accusing me of being the bad guy and shooting me, I guess we’ve gone beyond just sex. What do you think?”
She laughed softly, and the sound seeped into his heart. “So, that’s all it took, me shooting you? That’s crazy.”
“Yeah, but crazy in a good way.”
“Hard to argue with that,” she said.
“Then let’s not argue. Let’s make love.”
“You have a way of talking a girl into things…”
“It’s a gift,” he whispered and kissed her.
Minutes later, they were in Kim’s bed, both naked. Manus looked at her gorgeous body. She was perfect. A woman like her could have any man; she didn’t have to sleep with a man who had disfiguring scars, both inside and out. But he would be the last man to question Kim’s choices. She was a woman not to be trifled with, strong-willed and determined. As well as adventurous both in and out of bed. He liked that about her. There was no shyness, no hesitation.
Braced on his elbow, lying on his side next to her, Manus ran his hand over her breasts. Her nipples were hard and rosy, her flesh firm yet pliable.
“You’re beautiful,” he said. “I could look at you all night.” He rubbed his finger over one nipple.
“Mmm.”
Taking his time, he kneaded first one breast, then the other, and felt Kim arch her back to thrust her chest toward him.
“Patience, baby. I’ll take care of you.”
He released her breast and moved farther south, caressing her flat stomach before approaching the apex of her thighs. There, a triangle of thin dark hair formed a canopy that hid her female treasure. Slowly, he combed his fingers through it and slipped them between her legs. She spread them wider, inviting him to explore her.
Manus pressed a kiss to her neck, then slid his fingers over her folds. Moist heat greeted him, and he let out a moan. He rubbed one finger along the slit and coated it in her juices. Kim moaned softly, and Manus stroked his finger upward again.
“Oh, yes!”
“Mmm,” he hummed at her ear. “Teach me what you like, and I promise I’ll give you anything you desire.”
She undulated her hips, tilting her pelvis up so his finger slipped back down to her slit. He dipped the tip of his finger into her channel and felt her muscles grip him. His cock jerked at the sensation, already hard and heavy again, ready for more. But he could wait. Giving pleasure to Kim was more important now. He had to show her how good he could make her feel before she woke up and saw the ugliness of his scars. Before she decided that she was wasting herself on him when she could have a man who was physically as perfect as she.
He pulled his finger from her and slid it to her clit. The tiny organ was engorged. When he swiped his wet finger over it, Kim moaned out loud.
“Yes!”
He smiled. Kim was even more responsive than he’d hoped. He scooted down next to her, then gripped her thighs and spread them even wider before moving into the space between them. Kim opened her eyes, staring down at him.
Realizing what he intended to do, a stunned “Oh” left her mouth.
“Oh, yeah,” Manus confirmed. “Did you really think you could suck me like that and I wouldn’t do the same to you? Now you’ll be at my mercy.”
He dipped his head to her center, already taking in the scent of her arousal. He inhaled deeply and looked back at her face. She was still looking at him, lust coloring her eyes now, a deep breath leaving her chest.
“Ah, how I love a woman who knows when it’s time to let go and enjoy herself.”
He brought his mouth to her nether lips and pressed a kiss to them, then snaked out his tongue and licked over her slit, gathering up the juices that oozed from her. He drank them down and felt his body harden, her taste infusing him with newfound vigor, just like the vampire blood earlier had revived him.
With his lips and tongue, Manus explored the passionate woman beneath him and teased moan after moan from her. He couldn’t get enough of the sound nor the taste. Her flesh was rosy and soft, and her body twisted under his ministrations. It was rare that he had the chance to indulge in such intimacies. One-night stands generally didn’t go this deep. But this was different, more intense.
Because the whole situation was different. He was Kim’s protector now, and even if he wanted to, he couldn’t just leave her the next day. There was no anonymity anymore, no hiding behind a persona he played.
What he was showing Kim right now was himself, the vulnerable part of him that wanted to feel something again, even if it meant risking losing everything again. Absent of the words to tell her what he wanted her to know, he hoped that she would be able to interpret his actions and understand that he was trying to let her in.
Eager to give her a night she would never forget, Manus poured every ounce of passion into his kisses and caresses. He listened to her body, to her heartbeat, to her breathing to recognize what she wanted from him and adjusted his touch to her needs. Under his hands, he felt her perspire. Her breathing turned erratic and ragged. Her heartbeat began to race.
When she placed her hands on his nape, he shuddered and intense pleasure shot down his spine and into his tailbone. His balls burned with the need to release their seed even though he’d orgasmed only minutes earlier. Kim was doing this to him just by allowing him to worship her with his mouth.
When Kim’s movements suddenly changed, he knew she was close. He doubled his efforts, licking her clit with more pressure and a faster tempo. Moments later, he felt spasms charge through her body and travel to his lips.
Kim moaned out loud, her hips nearly lifting off the bed as she stiffened. Manus slid his hands under her ass and gripped her tightly, making sure to keep his tongue on her center of pleasure as she rode out her climax. When she let out a few deep breaths, he eased up and lifted his head from her center.
Her entire body glistened with a thin sheen of sweat and seemed to glow. He’d never seen anything more beautiful. As if they’d been lovers for a long time, he lifted himself up and rolled over her, bringing his cock to her pussy. He looked into Kim’s eyes, seeing satisfaction and adoration in them, and slowly drove his hard-on into her, inch by rock-hard inch. She parted her lips and let a soft sigh escape, pressed her head back into the pillow, and thrust her breasts out to him. A sign of wordless acceptance if he’d ever seen one.
When he was seated to the hilt, he slowly withdrew and just as gently thrust back into her. Her muscles spasmed around him, a sign that she was climaxing once more.
“Again,” she murmured and gripped his shoulders. “Do it again.”
He repeated his movement, allowing the sweet torture of it to rob him of his breath. But he didn’t speed up, didn’t rush it, because he knew he’d come soon enough. And he wanted to make this last, to feel every inch of her, every fiber of her being.
Manus braced himself on his elbows and locked eyes with her while below, he continued his extraordinarily slow movements, drawing out the pleasure as long as he was physically able.
“I’ve never felt anything this good,” he said.
Her eyes were moist, and a soft smile sat on her lips. “I never thought it could be so… amazing.”
Manus smiled to himself. Kim hadn’t seen anything yet. There were things a Stealth Guardian was capable of that a human could never dream of. Intimacies reserved for lovers who had a future together. He pushed the thought away. It was too early to give such thoughts voice.
He had to concentrate on the present, the here and now. His cock inside her. Their bodies tangled. Kim wrapped her legs around him, demanding more now, enticing him to increase his tempo, tempting him to thrust harder. There was no resisting the urge now. After all, deep down he was only a man. He had desires. And the woman in his arms wanted him despite everything. Despite the lies, despite the scars.
He emptied his mind and thought only of Kim, of her beauty, her passion, and the loving look in her eyes. Everything else melted into the background. All he heard now were their heartbeats, their breathing, and the rustling of the sheets as they writhed against each other. He plunged his cock deeper and harder into her, riding her with such ferocity that he was surprised she didn’t make him stop. Instead, she gripped him harder, her fingernails now digging into his back, forcing him to take her like a wild beast.
He wouldn’t last much longer with her driving him wild like this. “Fuck, Kim!”
“Take me!” she called out.
It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He plunged deep and hard into her welcoming pussy, his cock exploding from the tip, filling her with his hot semen. He continued to thrust until he finally collapsed on top of her.
Acutely aware of his weight on her, he rolled off. He would have pulled her onto his chest, but he didn’t want her to have to stare at that ugliness right now, not after what they’d just shared, so he rolled to the side and pulled her back against him, wrapped one arm around her front, and spooned her.
“Oh,” she murmured, sounding pleased.
“Like that?” He kissed her neck right below her ear.
A visible shiver ran through her. “You’re an amazing man.”
He chuckled. “I’ll try not to let this compliment go to my head.” He shifted behind her, readjusting his still semi-hard cock to rest between her thighs.
“You can’t possibly…” she started, but he interrupted her.
“Don’t worry, I won’t harass you again just yet. I’ll let you rest first. I do have manners.” Even though those manners were currently skating on very thin ice. With Kim’s gorgeous ass tucked into his groin, anything could happen if he didn’t keep himself on a tight leash.
Kim laughed, a sound so warm and soft, he wanted to hear it every day.
She turned her head to look at him. “I don’t need the rest. But I’m concerned about you. Are you sure you’ve fully healed?”
“Vampire blood does wonders. But even without it, immortals heal from their wounds very quickly.”
She seemed to contemplate his answer. “Hmm.” Then she said hesitantly, “But those wounds leave scars nevertheless.”
He nodded, knowing she wasn’t referring to his bicep but his chest. “I was a teenager when it happened. As children, we’re almost as vulnerable as humans. Once we mature, a fire can’t kill or injure us.”
“And even though you knew that, you ran into your burning home?”
He sighed. “My parents were all I had. The fire… it was a result of the explosion.”
She furrowed her forehead. “Explosion? You said to me that your parents died in the fire. But how could they if as adults a fire can’t kill a Stealth Guardian?”
“I couldn’t tell you the truth back then without telling you about who we are.”
She squeezed his hand. “What really happened?”
“The demons. They found our home, attacked my parents to get to our portal, because they knew if they could access one of the Stealth Guardians’ portals, they’d have access to all of them and could destroy us from within. My father and mother fought bravely. They managed to get word out to other guardians. But we got there too late. Later, when the fire was out, we found their bodies. It was my mother who, with her dying breath, activated the self-destruct sequence so the portal exploded before the demons could gain control of it. The explosion caused the fire.” He let out a breath, thinking back to that day. “In my heart I knew they were dead when I ran into the flames. I think I wanted to die too. But the other guardians, the adults who couldn’t be harmed by the fire, pulled me out. They saved me even though I didn’t want to be saved.”
“I’m so sorry. It must have been terrible.”
“It was. I lost my parents. The Stealth Guardians lost two incredible warriors and an irreplaceable portal.”
“Irreplaceable? What do you mean by that? Didn’t the Stealth Guardians build the portals?”
“They did. They used a tool, which in our history books is referred to as the source dagger.” He paused for a moment. Did he trust Kim enough to tell her these things?
“How?”
“The dagger had magical properties and was used to carve our symbol into stone or wood. Once carved, the portal came into existence. The dagger had other powers too. It could heal any wound inflicted by a weapon forged in the Dark Days. It was truly a powerful artifact. But the dagger was lost a long time ago.”
“Was there only one?”
“Yes.”
“So, the guardians can’t make any more portals?”
“I’m afraid not. We have to make do with the ones we have.”
“Like the one in the male strip club,” Kim said.
Manus chuckled. “Not an ideal location, I know. But we can’t risk moving it. Too much can go wrong, and we could accidentally destroy it.”
“Maybe it’s not a bad location after all. I mean, who’s gonna suspect a portal underneath a stage with half-naked dancing men?” She grinned.
“Oh, you enjoyed that view when you followed me, did you?”
“What if I did?”
Manus grabbed hold of her thigh and lifted it just enough so he could shift his cock to Kim’s pussy. “Then I’ll have to make you forget what you’ve seen.” He plunged into her still wet channel with one single thrust, seating himself deep inside her.
Kim moaned at the unexpected invasion. “I can’t even remember that there was a stage.”
“Good girl,” he murmured into her ear. “But just to be safe, let’s continue.”
26
Kim disconnected the call. “Okay, she’s expecting me this morning.”
Manus, freshly showered and looking even more handsome than the night before, nodded. “Great. Then let’s do this. And don’t worry: I’ll be with you the entire time.”
“Is it really necessary for you to be invisible?”
“It’s better this way, at least for now until I can be sure you’re not being watched by the demons.”
“But didn’t you say yourself yesterday that you can’t tell a demon from a human?”
“That’s right, but at least I’ll be able to see if anybody is following you. And if somebody is, then it’s most likely a demon. Nobody else has a reason to keep tabs on you.” Then he smirked. “Besides, I like watching your ass.”
Kim rolled her eyes but didn’t take the comment as an insult. Manus had proven to be a very considerate lover and not the cold-hearted macho his colleagues apparently believed him to be. “You’re incorrigible!”
Manus winked at her, oozing with charm. “Maybe if you try harder, you can correct my many faults.”
She felt a flame ignite inside her. After everything she’d found out about Manus, she felt she knew him. And the many faults he referred to weren’t really faults. Some of them were qualities. Loyalty and love had made him run into a burning house t
o save his parents. Not pride or foolishness. Loss and grief had turned him into a commitment shy man. Not callousness and coldness. But she also recognized that he wasn’t quite ready to see that yet. Just like a hurt animal, he needed to trust again. And it was up to her to help him in that endeavor. But she was realistic too. Once all this was over, once they’d found what the demons were after, he would go back to his world, and she to hers. Yet that knowledge didn’t stop her from dreaming of what could be if they both belonged to the same world and not to different ones. After all, Mayor Wallace and her husband, Hamish, seemed to make it work. She so wished she could ask her best friend for advice, but Manus and his colleagues had made it abundantly clear that she could never tell a soul who they were, what they were. And without telling Jennifer why she thought there was no future for her and Manus, there was no point in even telling her that they were intimate.
“Everything okay?” Manus suddenly asked, concern in his voice.
She quickly pasted a smile on her face. “All is good. Let’s go then.” She grabbed her handbag and her keys and headed for her apartment door. When she opened it and looked over her shoulder, she couldn’t see Manus. “Are you—?”
A warm hand on her hip stopped her.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this,” she murmured, then left her condo and locked up.
She took public transportation, now and then feeling Manus’s touch, reassuring her that he was still with her. It was a strange feeling but not an unpleasant one.
Arrived at her destination, Kim got off the bus and waited on the sidewalk for a moment, giving Manus a chance to catch up, then she walked the few steps to the entrance of the Museum of Antiquities, where her mother had been a curator.
At the info desk, she stopped and addressed the employee on duty there, “Hi, I’m here to see Emily Clyster.”
The employee already reached for the telephone. “Is she expecting you?”
“Yes. Tell her that Kim Britton is here.”
“Oh, yes, I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you. I knew your mother. So sorry,” the young man said.
