by Jodi Redford
Insufferable braggart. “Are you done fondling me?”
He instantly halted his motions, leaving her with the desire to bite her own tongue off for her stupid quip. He’d been playing and teasing with her, his hands all over her body. And she stopped him? Gods, she was a dunderhead of epic proportions at times.
His face flushed with unmistakable arousal, Jerrick released her and calmly shut the door. He crossed to his side and climbed behind the wheel before sliding her a hooded look. “Francesca’s get-together tomorrow night will be a prime opportunity for you to buddy up to her. I’m hoping the fact Casper was her sub won’t mean a harder time culling information from her though.”
“It’s not like I’ll be asking what kinky stuff they did in bed together.” She slid him a nervous glance. “Will I?”
“I don’t bloody want to know any of that.”
Good. Because that conversation could have been infinitely uncomfortable. “There’s always the chance Casper never spoke about his work to her. She might be as clueless as we are what this mysterious formula is.”
The tension riding his face hinted that the possibility already sat heavy on his mind. “Then we’ll have to jump to Plan B.”
“What is that?”
“I have no damn idea yet.” He started the Air Racer and pulled out of the tree-dotted lot. Within seconds they were swallowed by the traffic on Primus Avenue.
She hunched deeper into her cloak, desperate for the heat circulating from the vehicle’s blowers to begin seeping into her bones. “Don’t you think it’s odd your employers won’t release any information to you about Casper’s research?”
He was quiet for an endless moment, leaving her with the certainty that he’d continue to keep her in the dark. She was all prepared to resign herself to stewing in her suspicions. Of this job. Of him. He surprised her by sharing a tidbit she sure as hell hadn’t expected. “I suspect they don’t want me to know what it is.”
His answer prodded a chill down her spine. “Why? Do you suppose it could be something dangerous?”
His attention remained fused to the road, the closed set of his expression only adding to her suspicions.
“There’s something you’re not telling me.”
“Now isn’t the time to get into this, Avi.”
She made a show of glancing around the confined space of the vehicle. “I’m sorry. Clearly the invisible crowd of people who might overhear must be in the backseat.”
“And you accuse me of being frustrating.” He gripped the steering wheel in a fierce hold, the bones of his knuckles practically bursting through the skin.
For the next several moments he said nothing more. Just as she was about to admit defeat and roll onto her side for some shut-eye, he gusted a resigned breath. “I didn’t come about this job the usual way. Not in the long run, at least.”
She scooted upward in the seat and frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
“They lied to me initially. Made me think they were after a tribal artifact. That was a test.”
“For what?”
“The real job. This one.”
She cocked her head to the side. “That’s odd.”
“Hell, you don’t know the half of it.” The ambient light from the passing motorists defined the weariness etched into his features.
“Then tell me.”
His gaze drifted to her again, and she read the tiredness there.
“They threatened you. It’s the only reason I’m doing this. To protect you. I don’t give a damn what that research is. It’s a means to an end for me. Your life in exchange for some fucking data. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
The barrage of his words beat into her. She had a hard time assimilating them.
“My life?” He was doing this because of her? She rubbed her temples and shook her head ferociously. “Wait. Let’s back the hell up. What do you mean they threatened me? And why didn’t you tell me all of this sooner?”
“I didn’t want to scare you.”
“Jer, I’m not scared. I’m pissed.” Okay, truthfully she was terrified out of her ever-lovin’ mind, but she wasn’t about to put additional stress on him by pointing it out. “These people blackmailed you into this by using me as the bait. I hope they damn well rot in hell.”
“Trust me, I’ll make sure they do.”
The deadly promise in his tone gave her comfort, but there was still the matter of the research itself. “If they’re the type to stoop to this kind of level, it makes me doubly worried what they’re after.” It had to be dangerous. Anything that held enough value to provoke a theft of this magnitude could only spell trouble.
“You’re not the only one. But I’m not going to risk your life over it.”
“What difference does it make? If it’s something that will trigger the destruction of the entire planet, my life will be a moot point regardless.”
The tightening of his jaw verified that he didn’t like her assessment of the situation, whether it was on the mark or not. “You’re likely jumping to wildly unfounded conclusions. Regardless, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. We don’t even know where to look for this damn research. For now, our primary goal is to track it down.”
The remainder of the drive back to her apartment was a strained one, leaving Avily with the certainty that sometimes ignorance truly was bliss. Bad enough when she’d merely assumed that this was one of his typical jobs, only with an odd, naughty twist with the sex club. Now she knew the entire scary story, and it was impossible to kid herself that everything hadn’t suddenly developed a sinister cast.
Jerrick pulled to a stop in the alleyway. Automatically her thoughts veered to the break-in, and the ramifications of the event walloped her with the dizzying impact of a sledgehammer. “The people blackmailing you had something to do with my break-in, didn’t they?”
Shifting his weight, he rested his arm on his seatback and returned her gaze. “I don’t know for certain, but I suspect so.”
She shivered, and he reached for her, the warm comfort of his arms a safe haven she never wanted to leave. His lips brushed her forehead. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
The unflinching promise in his avowal cocooned her in its comforting embrace for approximately twenty seconds. Reality intruding, she peered up at him. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’d really like it if you stayed in the apartment instead of out here tonight.”
Nodding his agreement, he swung open his door. They trooped inside the back entrance of the store and made their way upstairs to the apartment. Desperate to get her mind off the new host of worries plaguing her thoughts, she slipped out of her cloak and headed to the kitchen. “I’ll reheat last night’s dinner.”
“Okay if I use your shower? I didn’t have a chance to take one today.”
Well what do you know? Now she had something else to occupy her mind. The prospect of a wet and naked Jerrick right down the hall. Far more thrilling than Steak Silano, in her estimation of things. “Sure, go ahead.”
He swiped the change of clothes he’d left behind the night before and strode to the bathroom, leaving her to the vivid fantasy of him slick and soapy. A few seconds later, the pipes rattled as the hot water sluiced through the plumbing. Copping a squat on the couch, she aimlessly perused the latest issue of the Tul’dea Times. Other than the main piece on the Amora Moon festivities, every article centered somehow or other on the growing tension between the fae and human communities. “Not exactly headline-making news there.”
Shaking her head, she pitched the periodical onto the catch-all table and flicked on the visio system instead. She attempted to focus on the program, but a few seconds into it she quickly came to the conclusion she’d rather jab Borasha spikes under her fingernails than watch another second of Fairy Hospital. The nurses were all drop-dead gorgeous and their scrubs immaculate. Yeah, that was realistic.
Deciding to ditch her Mistress Scarlett duds before tossing together a salad t
o go along with the steak, she abandoned the couch and padded toward her room. She passed the bathroom, and the distinct husky murmur of her name floated through the crack between the door and the frame. Pausing, she put her hand to the wood panel, intending to ask Jerrick if he needed anything. The door glided open, revealing him standing buck naked at the sink, his thick cock in his hand.
Wide-eyed, she watched him stroke his length from root to bulbous crown. His other fist gripped the basin, the veins rigid in stark relief while a shiver quavered through him. He whispered her name again, this time with a hint of desperation.
“Jer.” It spilled from her mouth before she could halt it.
His gaze whipped to her, the desire and vulnerability residing there reaching deep inside her. He struggled to collect himself, the shutters zipping in place. He grabbed the nearby towel and fumbled it around his waist. “Shit. Didn’t know you were there.”
Her tongue remained glued to the roof of her mouth. He’d been caressing himself…and thinking about her. Gods. She would chisel this moment into her memory for a lifetime of safekeeping.
Wetting her lips, she scooted into the room. He made an aggrieved sound, but his stare remained fused to the motion of her tongue. Her mind journeyed to the arousing image of the man being orally pleasured in the glass room at the club. A fierce compulsion seized her. She hungered to know the taste of Jerrick’s cock. To feel his delicious hardness easing past her lips and sweeping over her tongue, no frustrating leather in the way this time.
A needy whimper breaking free, she closed the door with her hip and stepped closer.
“Avi, you can’t be in here.” Anxiety strained his voice to the consistency of a rasp.
She grazed her nails over the ridged expanse of his rib cage, reveling in the responding ripple of his muscles. “It’s my mouth you want. Not your hand. Don’t settle for that this time.”
He hissed another agonized breath between his teeth. She slid her palms lower, until her fingers brushed the soft nap of the towel. He stubbornly resisted her effort to free the knot from his grasp. Standing on her tiptoes, she nipped his bottom lip before teasing him with the tip of her tongue.
Moaning, he relinquished his hold on the cloth and tunneled his fingers through her hair. His mouth wonderfully greedy, he took over the kiss, his tongue curling around hers in a way that stirred wicked tingles throughout her body. As always, he made her feel alive. Drunk with pleasure and heavy with need.
His mouth rediscovered the arch of her neck, and she sighed as he effortlessly zeroed in on the sensitive spots that brought such sweet torture.
“Please, just let me do this for you. For me. One time, if that’s all I can have.” She tucked her fingers beneath the towel, loosening it. His eyes were hot, watchful upon her face. Tension rode his features and thrummed through every square inch of him, but he didn’t hinder the progress of her hands and the steady descent of the towel. It puddled around his feet, and she pinned her focus to the shaft jutting so invitingly against her belly.
A wanton noise tearing from her throat, she dropped to her knees and stroked him once—exactly in the same manner he’d employed—before she charted the luscious curve of his cock with her tongue. She reached the plum-shaped cap and slowly glazed it with a lingering lick. The shaky exhalation of her name caressed her ears, a heady appetizer to the groan that followed.
Encouraged by his response, she swirled her tongue along the groove where his cockhead met the shaft. That proved to do the trick for him, if the desperate grip on her hair was any indication. She bobbed down his length, taking him as deep as possible into her throat before her gag reflex set in. Backing off, she licked him in a reverse motion, increasing the suction of her mouth the nearer she came to his crown. By the time her lips encompassed the swollen head of his cock in a vacuum seal, his fingers clamped her skull and harsh breaths ripped from his lungs.
“Avi.” The strangled plea of her name drew her focus upward. Sweat mottled his strained features. He looked on the edge, ready to lose it any second.
A feminine rush consuming her, she slackened her grip on him, just enough to let him slip down her throat. And then she swallowed him. Over and over again, until his eyes rolled back and he jerked, his hands tightening in her hair. He throbbed, hot, slick and pulsing, his seed bursting over her tongue. Shimmers of red sparkled and glistened in the air—a visual manifestation of his magic. The glittery residue dusted her skin, and suddenly an intense wave of ecstasy crashed over her, stealing her breath. She clutched at him, trembling, the pleasure swell spiraling in an unending climax. It wasn’t until she noted the odd synchronicity of their groans that she realized what was happening.
Somehow, she was experiencing his orgasm as if it were her own.
Once the last quake ebbed through them both, she let him pull from her mouth and help her to her feet. Stroking her hair, he kissed her tenderly.
She smiled against his mouth, the warm glow still purling within her. “Well, I’d ask if that was amazing for you, but I already know the answer.”
He chuckled. “Now who’s the one with the big ego?”
“No ego, I felt it inside me.”
Leaning back, he offered a frown. “How do you mean?”
“When your magic touched me, I was a part of you, sharing your climax.”
He blinked. “That’s impossible.”
“Try telling that to the orgasm I just had.”
His stare remained unwavering. “It has to be something else. Maybe you were aroused and came as a result.”
“No, it was like no orgasm I’ve experienced before. It was mine…but not, at the same time, if that makes any sense.”
“It doesn’t.”
She shrugged before grinning. “Whatever caused it, I’m not complaining. I’ll gladly suffer being tied to your orgasms.”
Rather than smile at her quip, a new wash of tension stamped his features. “Don’t joke about that.”
She mentally rewound her words, trying to decipher what she’d said to spook him. “I’m only playing with you. Why are you so upset?”
He snatched the towel and secured it around his waist. “I’m not. It’s nothing.” Avoiding her gaze, he planted a kiss on her forehead that was far too chaste for the intimacy they’d recently shared. “Why don’t you change and I’ll go check on our dinner?”
Perplexed and boasting an awful heaviness anchored in her chest, she watched him exit the room. It wasn’t until she loosened the lacings on her dress that the answer came to her, loud and painfully clear.
She’d used the word tied. That’s what had him as white as a sheet. The prospect that a bond—even a sexual one—might be forged between them terrified him.
Nothing had changed. He still ran from the idea of a forever with her.
She would never have the whole of his heart. Despite the continual evidence she faced regarding that fact, it still felt like a sucker punch to her soul.
Chapter Eighteen
Jerrick glanced at the time readout on his micro com and hauled in a deep breath in an attempt to rein in his impatience. “Avi, we need to hit the road soon if we’re going to make it to the club by seven thirty.”
A shuffling noise floated from the other side of her bedroom door. “I’m almost done.”
“I’ve never understood why it takes you females so bloody blasted long to get ready. Surely it can’t take more than a second or two to drag a comb through your hair.”
“Gods, you’re such a male.”
“Yeah, have been for a while. Even have the equipment to prove it.” He reached down and adjusted himself.
It was at that precise moment Avi swung the door open. Unmindful of the fact he had his damn junk in his hands, he gaped at her.
Rather than her standard modest style, her hair curled around her shoulders in lush, wanton waves. She’d done something different with her eyes too. The lashes were darker than usual, thick and full and rimmed with a smoky purple color that gave h
er a sultry look. Even with the addition of her glasses, she resembled a naughty minx hell-bent on seduction. Her full, pillowy lips held a hint of pearly gloss that made him think about other sexier white stuff he’d enjoyed seeing on her mouth last night.
Not the least bit ashamed about that thought, he continued visually devouring her. She’d made a dramatic alteration on the hem of the dress. It barely hit mid-thigh. If she bent over, every man lucky enough to be within viewing distance would get the sight of his life. But in the end, her shoes were the most devastating to his sanity. They were high-heeled, with slinky straps that snaked partway up her toned calves. He’d always had a thing for sexy shoes. And right now he couldn’t shake the image of those heels up around his ears while he fucked her slow and deep.
“You—” He stopped and cleared his throat of the gravelly lust log-jamming it before trying again. “You look different.”
“I decided to spice things up a bit. If I’m going to play the part of a dominatrix, the least I can do is properly resemble one.” She twirled. “What do you think?”
I think I’m going to lose my mind before this night is over. Wisely retaining that observation to his private musings, he held out her cloak. “Damn good thing I got this for you. Without it you’d freeze in an instant.”
“Is that your way of telling me the dress is too short?”
“There’s no such thing as a too-short dress.”
Awarding him a droll look, she slipped her arms into the cloak and bundled it up. “I’m ready if you are.”
“I was ready half an hour ago.”
“Really? Only half an hour ago? I was expecting you to say yesterday.”
He fetched the Racer’s keys from his pocket and watched her strut down the hall ahead of him. “You’ve been extra sassy today.”
“And?”
“I’m wondering the reason for it.”
“Why do you always suspect there’s a motive behind everything?”
