by Myla Jackson
And he wasn’t pushing her away, despite his commitment-shy comments. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close until her body quit shaking.
“I was only gone a minute or two.” He laughed into her hair pressing a kiss to the tip of her ear.
“Three,” she grumbled into his T-shirt.
“Okay, three.” Harry’s hands slid beneath the sweater she wore. “Did you think I wasn’t coming back?”
“The way things have been going, I didn’t dare think.” Warm tingles spread across her belly where Harry’s hands crept upward. Edie had difficulty remembering what Harry was saying. When his fingers reached her bare breasts, thinking no longer was an option. All Edie could do was experience the sensations Harry induced.
“Does this mean we have a truce?” he whispered against her hair, pressing his lips to the side of her neck.
“Yes.” She kissed his chin and stood up on her tiptoes to press another to his lips. “And I won’t expect anything from you except a little help saving my friend tonight.”
He sucked her bottom lip and nipped at it playfully. “And you won’t leave me standing naked in the library again?”
Edie shoved his shirt up to press a kiss to his chest. “Ummm…can’t promise that.”
“No?” He tipped a one-sided grin at her, his hands sliding up to fully cup her breasts. “No promise?”
Edie closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. As her chest filled with air, her breasts pressed into Harry’s hands. “Okay.” She opened her eyes and stepped closer. “I won’t leave you naked in the library again.” Plastering a smile on her face, she tried a little of Harry’s magic and tucked her hands down the back of his sweats cupping his bare butt. With a sharp squeeze, she brought his tented front flush with her belly. “We have until dark. Do you want to do it here or shall I wish us onto a pirate ship?”
“No pirates…” He pressed his lips to hers. “No ships…” He nibbled on her chin. “No libraries with security guards…” With both hands on the hem of her sweater, he ripped it up and over her head, tossing it to the carpeted floor. “No magic…except…” His shirt came off and joined hers on the floor. “The magic we create in bed.” Scooping her into his arms, he carried her into her bedroom, tossing her onto the mattress.
“What? You don’t like a little adventure?” Edie eased her zipper downward.
“I think I’ve had enough of that kind of adventure in the past twenty-four hours to last me awhile.”
Getting into the teasing mode she’d learned on the pirate ship, she pouted and slowly zipped her pants up again. “Too bad. I thought you were more the adventurous type.” Feeling a little wicked with the cool air tickling her bare breasts, she realized she liked exposing her body to Harry. At least he treated her as if she were the most beautiful woman in the world, even if she wasn’t.
And as she’d expected, his hand stopped her slow progress upward. “Maybe I spoke too soon.” He pinched his fingers around hers and dragged her hand and the zipper down again. When it reached the end, he splayed the fly open and slid his fingers beneath her panties to dip into her wet center.
Beyond comprehension, Edie writhed at his touch anxious to be fully naked, pressed to his body, skin to skin.
Unable to wait for him to do it, she wiggled out of her pants and kicked them to the floor. Then she grabbed his sweats and tugged, freeing his magnificent cock.
“In a hurry?” He chuckled and dipped his fingers into her creamy core, drawing it out to paint the folds of her labia with slick cum.
Edie’s back arched, urging him on. “Yes!’
“Do you want me inside now?”
“Yes!”
“No.”
“No? But I’ll die if you don’t take me now.”
“What did the guy say on the film set? People want foreplay. Lots of it.”
Edie’s breathing grew shallow as Harry pulled her legs over the side of the bed and spread them wide. He rubbed his cock along her inner thigh, pressed it to her creamy pussy and dragged it along the opposite thigh.
“Do you want more?”
“Oh, please, Harry, yes.”
He dropped to his knees and draped her legs over his shoulders.
“What are you doing?” Edie rose up on her elbows, her heart hammering in her chest, desire welling in her belly.
“I’m going to pleasure you. I want you so excited you’ll want to scream.”
Edie flopped back on the bed. “I’m already so turned on I could scream, how can it get much better?”
Lightly touching his tongue to her clitoris, he flicked it several times then sucked it into his mouth.
“Okay, I get your poooiiinnnt!” Edie’s voice rose with her ascent up the scale of ecstasy. “Ohmigod! That feels so good.”
“Sweetheart, we’ve only just begun.” Harry ran his fingers along the inside of her thighs, slipped his hands beneath her and cupped her ass in his palms.
Edie clutched the sheets and moaned, her moan switching to a gasp when Harry dove tongue-first into her, tickling the inner lining of her vaginal wall. What he did seemed incredibly wicked, nothing like Edie had ever imagined from watching x-rated movies. The movies didn’t do justice to the way Harry felt inside her.
He licked a path up to her labia, lapping at the tender folds until he spread them open to tongue her clit.
Edie’s bottom rose off the bed and she clutched convulsively at Harry’s hair. “I feel—” she gasped, “like I’m going to die if you don’t stop. And like I’ll die if you do.”
He tongued her again, alternating full sensual strokes with light flicking until Edie couldn’t take anymore. Her body jerked and spasmed as she toppled over the edge and fell into her orgasm, unrestrained, uninhibited and completely undone.
Before the aura could fade, Harry leapt to his feet and guided his pulsing cock into her ripe pussy. He slid in easily, coated in her cum, until his balls bumped against her ass. Fully sheathed, he hesitated, leaning over the bed to suck a breast into his mouth. Then he began moving to a slow, sexy rhythm, building up the tension inside Edie all over again.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and rose to meet his thrusts.
As the pace increased, Harry stood straight and grasped her hips in his calloused hands. His forehead beaded with perspiration, his gaze focused on where their bodies joined. Before long, he pounded into her, ramming his cock so hard and fast the slapping sounds of skin against skin combined with his grunts and Edie’s moans echoed off the walls.
With one final stroke, he plunged into her holding her steady as his seed filled her womb.
Edie felt every pulsing twitch against her inner walls and reveled at how complete he made her. Had she known what she was missing all these years, she’d have…
She’d have nothing.
Harry didn’t come into her life until yesterday. And soon, he’d leave.
And Edie didn’t want him to go. But what choice did she have? Once he was free of the curse, he’d leave New York City without her.
Harry slid free and lifted her up the sheets to lie against the pillows. Then he nestled in the bed beside her, pulling her into his arms to rest his chin on the top of her head. “Umm, you smell like wildflowers.” He pressed a kiss to her temple, his lips warm and sexy against her skin, his breath scented with her passion.
With her face leaning against the wall of his chest, Edie sighed. Although she didn’t have a lifetime commitment from Harry, at least she had this moment. She’d store as many memories as she could in the next few days, hours, minutes—whatever time she had left with Harry. He’d made no promises to stay, and as long as Edie understood that, she could enjoy all he had to offer now. What was the saying? Better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.
In the comfort of Harry’s embrace, Edie drifted off to sleep, safe, secure and more certain of her growing love for this incredible man.
Chapter Eleven
Something pulled at the
skin over Edie’s mouth as she jerked to full wakefulness. She tried to open her lips to cry out, but they were glued shut and her hands couldn’t move.
Edie glanced over her shoulders. What the hell? She was tied to her bedposts with a familiar pair of silk pajamas she recognized from her own collection. And the glue holding her mouth shut was a short piece of the silver duct tape she kept stored in her pantry.
“Hey sleepyhead.” Harry sat naked on the bed beside her and ran a hand up her side, stopping to cup her breast.
The warmth of his fingers against her tender flesh ignited the fire in her gut. She pulled against her restraints, reminded she wasn’t in a position to enjoy his touch, she should be fighting, screaming mad. But when Edie yelled, “Let me go,” it sounded more like the excited moanings of a sex-starved spinster.
His hand moved lower, splaying across her flat belly smoothing downward to lace into her mound of curls. With his fingertips, he parted the folds over her clit and flicked at it until she squirmed.
Her body’s immediate surge of response fueled Edie’s anger. She arched her back trying to buck his hand away, but he cupped her sex and dipped a finger in to twirl around the hot liquid oozing uncontrollably from her cunt.
“I like how warm and wet you get when you’re excited.” Harry leaned over and teased her nipples with his tongue until they formed hardened beads. Then he sucked one full into his mouth drawing hard.
Edie planted her heels into the mattress, pushing against the finger buried in her pussy. Despite the fact he’d tied her to her bed and gagged her, she wanted more. She wanted his thick cock buried deep inside her.
As if reading Edie’s mind, Harry climbed up on the bed, draping his body over hers.
Of their own accord, Edie’s knees fell open, spreading her legs wide for Harry to slide between.
But he didn’t enter her. Instead he started at her neck and slid lower, tracing a wet path with his tongue and kisses, over her ribs, into and out of her belly button, all the way down to her sizzling core. Scooping his hands beneath her ass, he lifted her to meet his mouth. The tip of his tongue slid inside her and flicked the thin lips of her entrance, pushing deeper to lap at the creamy moisture coating her pussy.
Edie groaned and pulled against the silken restraints. She wanted to thread her hands through his hair and pull him closer all anger over being tied fallen by the wayside in this mad wave of desire washing over her.
She clutched the sheets when his tongue trailed its way up to flick against her clit, teasing, tasting and tempting her. Her body tensed, her clit growing hard and ultra-sensitized by the incessant barrage of warm, raspy flicking.
When he sucked her clit into his mouth and nipped, Edie screamed against the duct tape and tumbled over the edge of an exquisite sexual precipice, splintering into a million pieces.
Harry climbed up her body and buried his shaft into her in one long, hard stroke. He held steady while she fell back to the earth, remembering to breathe.
Pushing up on his arms, he hovered over her, sliding out until the broad head of his cock poised at her entrance, smooth and slick with her release. “Do you want more?”
No fair. She couldn’t open her mouth to tell him. Her hands were tied, she couldn’t pull him close. Edie wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him to her, hard and fast. She wanted him to fill her with his thickness, pump her until he drained every ounce of strength from her body. Damn him! She met him stroke for stroke, dropping her heels into the mattress, her hips rising to match his thrusts.
Harry’s hips worked like a piston, pumping in and out, his balls slapping against her anus with a loud smacking noise. Large, callused hands grabbed her hips and held them in a firm grip as he pumped one last time, exploding inside her, filling her with his cum. Then Harry collapsed against her, the hairs on his chest tickling her bare breasts.
She wanted to tell him how she felt, she wanted to hold him in her arms, to smooth her hands over his tight ass, cup his sex in her fist. Frustration welled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. Why had he tied her up? Why wouldn’t he let her go? How could she have been so wrong about him?
Harry reached out to the ties on her wrists, but instead of untying them he checked to ensure they wouldn’t come loose. “I’m sorry I had to do this, Edie.” He kissed her lips and slid free of her pussy. “I couldn’t let you go with me to meet with whoever has Mitch. These people are killers as you pointed out, and I don’t want you to become one of their targets.” With one last kiss pressed between her breasts, Harry climbed from between her legs and stood beside the bed.
Edie bucked against the headboard, yanking hard on the restraints. He couldn’t just fuck her and leave without her. What if he got in trouble? Who would be his backup? No, Harry! She shook her head, tears streaming from her eyes. Don’t go!
“Don’t cry, Edie.” He lifted a tear from her cheek and brushed her hair from her face. “I’ll be back before you know it. With Mitch. In the meantime, try to get some sleep.”
Sleep? Sleep? With the two men I’ve grown to care about in danger? You arrogant bastard! Writhing against her silken chains, Edie cursed, for all the good it was doing. Don’t you dare leave me!
Lifting the discarded sweatpants from the floor, he slid into them covering his still oozing, stiff cock. “It’s getting close to nine. I thought I’d get there early.” He leaned over her to kiss her lips.
Edie glared at him and turned her face to the side. How could he do this to her?
A twisted smile quirked the corners of Harry’s mouth. “I figured you’d be mad. But don’t worry. I’ll be back to untie you in a couple hours. And, if all else fails, I left a message on your father’s answering machine to come over tonight at 11:30. You’ll be okay.” He lifted the blankets to cover her naked body and paused.
“You’re a beautiful woman, Edie Ragsdale. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” With that, he laid the blanket over her, tucking her in as if she were a child. “See ya, sweetheart.” He kissed her averted cheek and left the room.
Edie’s muffled scream followed him out the door.
For the next hour she worked at her bonds, the knots only tightening with her effort. Then she tried to get her landlady’s attention by banging her head against her headboard. After a while, her head ached and nobody had come to her rescue, despite her efforts and noise. Finally, she collapsed against the pillows, her body completely exposed to the cool night air from having thrashed around in the bed until the covers had slid to the floor.
She couldn’t help them. What would happen to Mitch?
What would happen to Harry?
Cold, disgusted and angry, Edie’s tears slid one by one down her cheeks.
* * * * *
Harry hated leaving Edie tied to her bed, especially after the unforgettable sex they’d had, and boy was she mad. But in his gut he knew she would have insisted on accompanying him to rescue Mitch and he couldn’t let her come. The people they were up against were too dangerous. And tying her wouldn’t have been enough. With her ability to wish, she could have wished herself right into the middle of a deadly position. Thus the gray tape he’d pasted over her mouth. He hoped it wouldn’t hurt too much when he pulled it off later.
With Edie incapacitated, Harry could concentrate on finding his way to the museum. He hoped to get there early to lay in wait and watch for any opportunity to free Mitch without giving up the stone.
He patted his jacket pocket where the obsidian relic rested against his side. He’d almost left it behind, afraid of the power it might have and the dangers of placing it in the wrong hands.
With the little bit of money he’d borrowed from Edie, he managed the subway, appalled at the cost of admittance. Costs had risen tremendously since he’d last been in the city. Pennies weren’t worth anything anymore, and everything and everyone seemed to move at a frantic pace. Didn’t anyone go home at night? He hadn’t noticed much difference in traversing the city during the day as at night, ex
cept it was a bit scarier at night. Strange people came out in droves.
When he arrived at the museum warehouse he circled the massive building inspecting for every nook and cranny a person could hide. He had to know what he was up against and be prepared for any surprise.
An hour before he was supposed to meet with the kidnappers, Harry settled into the alley, hiding behind a huge smelly metal box, the size of a truck. The stench almost knocked him over, but it was the best he could do to remain out of sight.
He wondered how Edie was doing and if she’d ever forgive him. What made him most concerned was why he cared about a woman he barely knew. Together for almost two days, he shouldn’t have felt this close to her. He’d never believed in love at first sight. That was a fantasy for teenaged girls, not full grown men of the world. But he admired her intelligence, sarcasm and determination to stick up for herself. Edie was unlike any woman he’d ever known. And nothing like his former fiancée, Fiona.
Where Fiona was all class and no substance, Edie was solid, determined and fought for what she felt was right. Harry could never picture Fiona out in a desert digging up old tombs, not without a tent, several maids to fan her and provide cooling drinks to make her comfortable. Not Edie, she’d dig in and want to be up to her elbows in dirt if it meant finding a piece of the past or uncovering treasures of years long gone.
Could Edie be his soulmate? Was she the one woman destined to be with him? Did Harry travel across eight decades to find her? And if so, what the hell did he do now? He didn’t have anything to offer her. She couldn’t possibly be interested in a man who didn’t have a job or even any prospects in this century.
The truth of Edie’s words struck him. She hadn’t asked him for anything. She could take care of herself. If she chose to be with him, it wasn’t because he could offer her wealth or a nice house to live in with a picket fence and maybe a swing on the front porch. Edie was a woman secure in her own world, capable of taking care of herself. She didn’t need a man to protect her or provide for her.
