“You never told me you owned an island.” Kai’s eyes narrowed and she curled her hands around the front of his shirt, pulling him closer. “What other secrets are you keeping from me?”
Asmodeus stilled and his expression shifted from playful to concerned. He settled his hands on her waist and, pulling her closer, rested his forehead against hers. She pressed her palms against his chest and felt the beat of his heart, thrumming strong and steady. The sensation was both seductive and comforting. The sound of the gently rolling tides rushed around them, magnifying the beauty and serenity of the moment.
They needed this break. After the insanity of the past few months, this solitary oasis was exactly what they both required. Time away from people, fairies, witches and everything or everyone in between.
“I wanted to surprise you,” he murmured. “Any decision I make is always with your well-being in mind.”
Kai swallowed the lump in her throat. Love swelled, a wave so potent and powerful that it threatened to drown her. No one, certainly no man, had ever cared for her with such tender ferocity. Fighting the throat-clogging wave of emotion, Kai shoved aside the ugly secret she would soon need to reveal and uttered the one beautiful truth that would never change.
“I love you, Asmodeus.”
“And I love you, Kai Kelly.”
Steeling her courage, Kai uttered the one word that felt solid and precarious all at the same time.
“Husband.”
“I like that.” He gathered her hands in his and brushed his thumb over the curve of her palm. Heat flared to life deep in her belly as his flesh grazed hers. “Say it again.”
Kai peered up at him with a smile so big it made her cheeks hurt. Even through the blur of tears, he was the most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on.
“Husband,” she whispered.
Asmodeus pressed a kiss to her trembling lips and in that instant, everything else melted away except for the feel of him.
Kristine. The wedding. Kai’s absent magic. All of it. Gone.
Nothing mattered except the two of them and this moment. Right now. Kai did find him irresistible. He was bossy and, at times, a little domineering but above all else he was loving and protective and his touch was downright addictive.
Kai shivered, in spite of the heat of the sun. She barely felt it. All she could feel were his arms around her, the hard planes of his chest pressing against hers and the heat of his tongue as it delved deeper. Her lips parted and she moaned into his mouth, wanting and needing more of him.
Without breaking the kiss, Asmodeus swept Kai into his arms and strode across the beach toward their future. She would tell him the truth, but not yet.
Because once she did, her future would no longer include him.
***
With his bride held securely in his arms, Asmodeus carried Kai over the threshold of the airy beach bungalow. He paused in the lavish great room and couldn’t suppress the burgeoning sense of pride when he witnessed the innocence and purity of her reaction. Her arms tightened around his neck and she let out a sound of awe, before hugging him tightly.
“Oh my goodness! This place is beautiful.”
“I’m glad you approve.” Asmodeus placed Kai onto her feet but kept the fingers of one hand linked with hers. He didn’t know why but it always made him feel better when his flesh connected with Kai’s. It wasn’t only about lust, although he had to admit that was a big part of it. It was the absolute feeling of peace she brought to him. One touch, a simple graze of her flesh along his filled him with a contentment he never knew possible.
She connected him to his soul, to the deepest most intimate parts of himself, to a soul he only discovered and embraced because of her.
“Do I approve?” Kai swept her arm wide and pulled him further into the room with her. “This place is breathtaking. It’s like something out of a dream or Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous or the Kardashians or something.”
Adorned entirely in varying shades of whites and blues, the breezy space with high ceilings and wall-to-wall windows, made it feel as though they were inside the ocean itself. It had been redecorated to his specifications and with Kai’s sense of style in mind.
Elegant but comfortable.
It was a home.
He had never really had a home before. The Underworld was all he had ever known. He had always been comfortable there. Of course, he had never known anything else. Even his vacations on Earth, here in the human realm, were short visits of no more than three months. Yet, no matter what he did or how many women he bedded, he had never felt completely comfortable anywhere.
Until he found Kai.
His home was with her.
“This place is gigantic,” Kai called. Running from room to room, her laughter and shouts of delight bouncing off the walls like wind chimes. “Asmodeus, it just keeps going. Hey, there’s a swimming pool out here too. This boat is more like a yacht, by the way!”
Asmodeus removed his tuxedo jacket and tossed it over the arm of the overstuffed white sofa, along with his tie. Kicking off his shoes and peeling off the dark socks, he felt the tension from the encounter with Kristine ease away bit by bit. She wasn’t a threat to them here because nobody other than Isadora knew their location and he trusted that old witch as much as he did the Brotherhood.
The sound of water splashing captured his attention but when Kai’s scream came along with it, all of his senses went on high alert. With her name tumbling from his lips, and his eyes blazing red, Asmodeus ran through the great room into the cavernous kitchen. The French doors, which led out to the pool and docks, were wide open but his wife was nowhere to be seen.
A glimmer of fear, a feeling he had never experienced until finding Kai, shimmied beneath the surface but it was swiftly replaced by rage. If anyone or anything brought harm to his wife, its pathetic existence would come to an immediate end.
Heart thundering in his chest, he called out to Kai but she didn’t answer. Where was she? Had Kristine found them? Willow? Had they realized that Zemi had been taken by Lucifer and come for revenge?
Asmodeus raced outside, and when he rounded the corner to the swimming pool, he came to an abrupt halt. Kai’s wedding dress and shoes were strewn over the flagstone patio. Her veil, with the comb that was once her mother’s, was draped over a chaise lounge. A growl rumbled in his throat and he squatted down to pick up her dress when a familiar giggle drifted over him with the warm ocean breeze.
Eyes glowing, he lifted his gaze and there was his wife, in all her naked glory, waiting for him in the crystal blue water on the far side of the pool.
The little minx.
“Come on in! The water’s great.”
Asmodeus rose slowly to his feet, letting the wedding gown slip from his fingers and tumble noiselessly to the ground. Relief mingled with a powerful surge of desire. He drank in the sight of his beautiful wife, who floated in the blue waters safe and sound.
Naked.
And all his.
“You shouldn’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Run around naked without me.”
“I didn’t plan on being without you for long…and here you are.”
Her blonde hair was wet and slicked back and those big brown eyes of hers twinkled at him mischievously. Kai’s yellow aura gleamed brightly around her but as he walked slowly toward her, removing his shirt as he went, it changed to a reddish pink.
Asmodeus peeled off his shirt and tossed it onto a lounge chair.
“Looks like I’m not the only one who’s full of surprises…wife.”
Kai said nothing but her cheeky grin widened. Her elbows were braced behind her on the edge of the pool, holding herself up just enough so that the top of her breasts bobbed, breaking the surface, teasing him with only a glimpse. The rest of her nude body, already tanned from days beneath the summer Idaho sun, fluttered under the water, obscuring his view of all that satiny smooth skin.
He knew all of her, of course.
Over the past few months, Asmodeus memorized every line, each delicious curve. He had committed every single inch of her to memory, all the tiny but significant markers that were unique to the woman he loved—the small mole behind her left knee, the half-moon shaped white scar behind her ear that she got in a bicycle mishap when she was four, the way her nose scrunched up when she was thinking about something that was vexing her, the sighs and mewls of pleasure she made when he licked and suckled at her most sensitive flesh.
Asmodeus undid the fly of his pants, releasing his engorged shaft from the confining fabric. Without taking his glowing gaze from hers, he kicked them aside before striding to the stairs of the pool, uncaring of his nakedness. His dick twitched when her dark eyes flicked to the obvious evidence of his desire for her. Kai licked her lower lip and sucked in a shuddering breath when he wrapped his hand around his shaft and began massaging himself as he stalked closer.
“A brazen move, Kai.” He stepped into the cool water and strode down the steps until he was submerged to his waist. “What if the servants had seen you?”
“Holy crap.” Kai paled and immediately covered her breasts with both arms, looking around as if they had seen her every move. She sank deeper so that the water came up to her chin and her voice dropped to a harsh whisper. “Oh man, I totally forgot that you had servants.”
Asmodeus laughed loudly before diving under the surface and swimming over to her. He wrapped one arm around her before coming up for air and pulling her against him. Kai curled her arms and legs around him and the heat of his erection pressed between their bellies. It was in stark contrast to the cool, slick flesh of her breasts that crushed against his chest.
“They aren’t here yet.” He wiped the water from his now human-looking eyes and moved with her to the center of the pool. “They arrive tomorrow morning. I didn’t think we would be here until later and I didn’t want any interruptions on our first night.”
“Brilliant.” She flicked her tongue over his lips and whispered. “Whatever will we do with all this privacy?”
“Everything.”
Asmodeus cupped one hand around the nape of her neck and tangled his fingers in the long wet strands of hair before covering her mouth with his. She moaned and opened to him immediately, her tongue seeking entrance as eagerly as his. The kiss grew in intensity swiftly, and Kai’s hips wiggled, pressing against him with impatience.
Kai broke the kiss abruptly but her legs tightened around him as she reached between them, curling her hand around his shaft. The combination of the cool water and the heat of friction from her palm as she massaged him created a heady combination. He gritted his teeth, fighting for control.
“Slow down, Kai.” He brushed kisses along her jawline up to her ear and took her earlobe between his teeth, biting down gently. “We have all night. Take it easy.”
Kai let out a husky laugh and shook her head. Using the buoyancy of the water, she raised her body, bringing her hot entrance just above the tip of his erection.
“I don’t want easy.” She flicked her tongue over his lower lip. “Right now, I want hard and fast.”
Reaching between their bodies, she grabbed the base of his cock and guided him inside her. As her tight hot sheath engulfed him, Asmodeus lost all control. He wrapped both hands over her hips and pulled her down, burying himself to the hilt. Kai rode him furiously, the water splashing between them as she increased her pace.
“More. I need more,” Kai gasped.
Knowing what she wanted, he moved with her to the stairs without breaking their connection. Kissing her deeply, he spun around and placed her onto the top step. When his body disengaged from hers, Kai let out a sound of disappointment. Giving her no time to despair, he slipped between her legs, licking the water from her breasts and kissing droplets from her belly as he moved lower. Kai’s head fell back and her body shuddered as he pressed kisses to her lower stomach, hooked her legs over his shoulders and dove deep.
As soon as his mouth covered her hot wet center, Kai cried out and he was greeted with a rush of warmth. The pool water mixed with the taste of her as he licked and suckled her womanly core. Kai’s hips bucked and she grabbed his hair with both hands, holding him there. He loved nothing more than giving her pleasure, feeling her body respond to his touch and hearing his name on her lips in a rush of desire.
When he sensed she was reaching the edge, he kissed his way back up her belly and flicked one nipple with his tongue. Her body, shivered and shuddered beneath him. Her heated flesh pressed against his as Kai opened her legs wider, urging him to come into her again.
He placed one hand behind her back, wanting to shield her from the ridge of the concrete step and linked his other around her thigh, opening her wide. With one firm thrust, he sank into her and cried out as her tight sheath engulfed him. Her fingers dug into his shoulders and she hooked her ankles behind him as he pumped into her again and again. With one final pass, her body shuddered around him as they both tumbled over the edge of desire.
Chapter Four
The early morning sun streamed into the bedroom along with a warm ocean breeze, making the gauzy canopy flutter overhead. Kai stretched her deliciously sore body and couldn’t recall a time she felt so connected to her own body.
A smile curved her lips, recalling the first evening of their married life. They made love three times last night. Their wedding night really couldn’t have been more perfect. She was exhausted, content and eager to see what else life with Asmodeus would bring.
“How much great sex can one woman take?”
Her husband was sleeping soundly next to her and didn’t seem to hear her rhetorical whisper. He mumbled something in his sleep, tossed one arm over his head and the sheet that barely covered him below the waist threatened to reveal more. Part of her was tempted to wake him, in the most pleasant of ways, but nature called.
She pushed the covers off before trotting to the bathroom naked. Her comfort level with her own body was a byproduct of her relationship with Asmodeus. Nobody made her feel as confident or as beautiful as he did.
Kai used the bathroom and brushed her teeth. While wiping the excess toothpaste from her mouth, she took a good long look at herself in the mirror. She wasn’t a raving beauty by anyone’s standards, except maybe her husband’s. She had always been self-conscious about her soft belly and what she believed to be a less-than-stellar pair of boobs. They weren’t perky, and if she were being honest with herself, they were kind of uneven. She didn’t think they were particularly nice boobs but Asmodeus loved them.
He loved her. All of her. Every imperfect part.
Kai’s smile faltered. Would he love her imperfections if they included no magic?
Her aura gleamed bright yellow but when she let her insecurities creep in, the color of it shifted to a more greenish hue. Seeing auras had been the only part of her magic she seemed to retain. That was no surprise to Kai because she had that ability before she ever found the Ring of Solomon or met Asmodeus.
“Stop it.” Kai pointed at her reflection and concentrated on her love for him. “No pity parties are allowed on a honeymoon.”
To her relief, her aura glittered bright yellow once again. The last complication she needed right now was to give her husband any more reasons to worry about her. There would be plenty of time for that once he knew the truth.
She ran her fingers through her tousled blonde locks, attempting to tame her Medusa-like hairdo, when she spotted what could only be described as a love bite on her shoulder.
“Jeez,” she let out a soft laugh and rubbed at the small reddish spot. “It’s a good thing he’s not a vampire.”
“Well, I may not be one but my son is.”
Asmodeus’ deep voice rumbled in her ear as his arms encircled her waist. Kai giggled and wrapped her hands over his, allowing herself to sink against the rock-hard heat of his naked body. His body temperature ran several degrees hotter than a human’s and his warmth made her feel safe. It w
as like being wrapped up in the warmth of the summer sun.
“Mmm-hmm. Good morning.”
“It’s getting there,” he murmured between kisses along her shoulder. “Inch by inch.”
“Well, your son is not just a vampire, right? He’s a human-demon offspring who was turned into a vampire and now he’s married to an Amoveo shifter?” She tilted her head, giving him better access as he rained kisses up her neck. “I wish he and Marianna could’ve been at the wedding but I guess I can’t blame her for not coming.”
“She’s pregnant again and their twins are a handful. Terrible twos and all that.” He peppered more kisses along the curve of her shoulder. “The poor woman must be exhausted.”
“Mmm-hmm.” Kai’s eyes fluttered closed and she let herself float in the decadent heat of his caresses. “I hope I can meet them all someday…Grandpa.”
She opened one eye and giggled because he looked about as pleased as she would expect.
“They call me Asmodeus.”
“Of course they do.”
“I may be thousands of years old but I will never be called Grandpa.”
“Well, old man, you sure don’t look like any grandfather I’ve met.”
That might have been the most obvious thing she had ever said in her life.
“With age comes experience.”
His hands drifted up and gently cupped both breasts. Kai’s breath hitched in her throat when that burning red gaze captured hers in the mirror. She had always felt weird and self-conscious staring at her own naked reflection, let alone the two of them naked together, but being with him changed that. Instead of feeling awkward or exposed, his gaze made her feel coveted and cherished. When he looked at her, it was as if no one and nothing else existed other than the two of them.
Her breasts and belly quivered beneath the weight of his stare. The soft curves of her hips laid against the sculpted muscular lines of his torso, highlighting the stark contrast been them. The differences, of course, were far more than physical, weren’t they?
He was magic, mysticism, muscles and pure power.
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