Slogging to the oversized refrigerator in the back of her workroom, she pulled open the door and reached in for the groom’s cake with the partially decorated dragon.
One thing was certain… Felicity was a woman of her word. She took her job seriously, and quitting was not an option, especially not this far into the game.
Around the same time the next day, Adelind Chusi would become Mrs. Dirk Herensuge. They’d smile for the cameras and their guests, and slice into the cake, eating the pieces right where she’d placed the two little hearts to help them know where to make the first cut. Then they’d look at one another, a sense of euphoria falling over them both as their pupils dilated and their hearts raced, their desire for one another nearly overcoming everything else around them.
Felicity pointed a finger toward her open mouth, pretending to gag herself.
Love… She’d always taken pride in the fact that she helped make it happen. For the first time ever, that realization nearly broke her heart.
Chapter Four
Hovering outside the highest window in the West tower of Shaladorn, Felicity wished she’d kept to her last year’s resolution of making sure she flew at least once a week. Even once a month would have helped. Her wing muscles were tired and, quite honestly, she couldn’t wait to take the feathery extensions off. She resituated the bag slung over her shoulder and maneuvered herself around the tower to the ledge of a balcony on the same level. With a breath of relief, she touched down on the cool stone, raising her arms a second later and whispering the words that would relieve her of her wings. This would be as good a place as any to leave them while she worked her magic on the sleeping groom.
Pulling the bag free, Felicity placed it on the balcony and knelt beside it, reaching inside for the special concoction. She held the mixture above her head and circled her hands to make the particles disappear while remaining within her reach. Ever since she’d picked up the glycyrrhiza glabra, she’d been mentally reciting the magic words she’d need to say as she administered the potion. It had cost her an arm and a leg—the licorice root, not the words—not to mention the time it had taken her to find someone with an actual plant in her neck of the woods. She’d used up more favors than she cared to think about just getting to the right person.
After picking the lock on the door and sneaking inside, Felicity looked upwards, nonverbally asking for forgiveness and a little assistance in making sure her scheme worked. Otherwise, there was no way the shifter was going to be the man who fell head over heels for Adelind Chusi, until death did they part… and for a dragon and a serpent, that could be a very, very, very long time. One thing was certain, Felicity didn’t wish that for either of them and that was enough to spur her forward in her mission.
Three steps in and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Felicity froze when something thumped behind her. It wasn’t until a prolonged meow broke the silence that her heart began beating again.
“Hey,” she whispered as she turned, her hand on her chest. She was beyond thankful to see a cat. She smiled when it sidled up to her and began rubbing on her legs. She loved cats. Especially friendly ones.
Squatting, she began scratching the grey and white beauty under the chin before stroking down the length of his back and was rewarded with a series of loud purrs.
“Just one more.” She spoke quietly, giving the top of his head a good rubbing. “I’ve got to get busy and make things right with your master before the sun comes up and the household starts getting ready for the we… wedding.”
Pushing back to her full height, Felicity bit her bottom lip in an attempt to stave off tears. She refused to get upset over something she couldn’t change, especially when she needed to concentrate on the one thing she could.
On angel slippers, she crept down the hall that led to the bedroom. It was a good thing he’d pointed out his window on the Volyris castle, otherwise, there was no telling where she’d have ended up inside the walls of Shaladorn. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single sound to lead her.
Holding her breath, she peeked around the door frame, her brows shooting up. The room, bathed in moonlight, was splendid. Even in the muted light, the deep, rich corals and brilliant golds practically glowed. They must have been used as representation of his dragon. Dear Lord, he surely had to be majestic and beautiful when he changed.
She looked up, imagining him flying, and the hammerbeam ceiling nearly took her breath away. The unique layout of the decorative rafters rivaled those of the finest medieval abbeys. She nearly giggled. There was absolutely nothing else about the shifter that made her think about abbeys, though it was likely this castle had been around way back then. Still, she hadn’t expected to see such exquisite design work and craftsmanship, and the height alone was awe-inspiring. Most probably, the room would easily accommodate him in dragon form. Except for the furnishings. They may have been oversized in scale, but dragon-sized they were not.
The angel let her eyes wash over everything, trying to take it all in, from the writing desk beneath one of the lower windows—which had to be the one he’d showed her on the Volyris piece, to the vast bookcases lining one wall, and the tapestry covered chaise in front of the fireplace. She noted the stone box was surrounded by a carved wood Trumaeu mantle that commanded attention. Most assuredly from the Renaissance era, it was probably walnut, though it blended perfectly with the oak rafters overhead… and that bed! The antique, four-poster, carved wood bed was an absolute masterpiece… and it was empty.
“Impressive, isn’t it?”
Felicity wheeled around to see the dragon shifter leaning against the hall wall a few feet away from her. How had he managed to get there without her knowing? She must have been more lost in her perusal than she’d thought, though she was suddenly on full alert.
Dirk chuckled when she opened her mouth to say something, anything, and no words came out.
At the sound of his laughter that made his chest ripple, Felicity’s mouth went even drier than it was when it hit her that he was shirtless. Merciful heavens! Did she dare look further down?
She did, relief making her eyes flutter when the band of his bottoms came into vision. Slung low on his hips, the drawstring perfectly accentuating what lay beneath, grey lounge joggers had never looked so good.
With deliberate slowness and a crooked grin, he pushed away from the wall and sauntered toward her. A clean, masculine scent assaulted her senses, causing an explosion of tiny tendrils of pleasure to course through her body. When he reached up to touch her hair, she stiffened. She breathed in small, shaky gasps and a dull throbbing settled between her legs. She may have whimpered when he moved closer, leaving very little room between himself and the door jam.
"Kings have slept in that bed—princes and princesses conceived there. The panels were hand carved by Riemenschneider in the early 1500s. Want to know what's on them?" When she mouthed yes , he smiled, his face moving closer to hers. "Dragons and angels." She gasped and he nodded. "You know what’s more impressive than all that?” He raised a brow and she very slowly shook her head, her eyes never leaving his. “What can happen in it,” he whispered, his voice growing husky as he bumped her nose with his and took advantage of the deep breath she pulled in through barely parted lips. He pressed his mouth to hers.
Felicity’s knees buckled at the touch of Dirk’s tongue on hers.
He tightened his hold around her waist, pulling her closer while he continued his gentle, evocative exploration of her mouth. “I could show you,” he offered, pulling back but not away.
When she didn't answer, he leaned back in claiming that sensitive spot beneath her ear after a quick nibble on her lobe.
Felicity thought her lungs might quit working and was sure her brain had when she didn't push him away. Her heart beat faster, especially when he pressed against her and she felt the hard evidence of his desire against her lower belly. Oh, she was in trouble.
Never before had Felicity wanted someone the way she wanted this m
an in that moment. With her nipples pressed taunt against the inside of the angelcloth gown she wore, her sex throbbing like nothing she'd ever experienced, she knew the moment of truth was upon her. She had to tell him to stop or cross the point of no return. When her fingertips raked against the hard planes of his chest, she knew there was no turning back. Instead, she ran her hands up behind his neck, snaking them into his thick, dark hair with the golden highlights.
For a few hours, Felicity would be no angel, she'd love him and let him make love to her... and then she'd administer her magic, undoing the Forever Unified potion with a little extra something to make him remember their time only briefly... make him believe it was just a dream. She could live with that, especially carrying the memory of his heart beating next to hers as their bodies intertwined and became one. She needed this. It was the only way she'd ever be able to complete her mission.
"I'd like to see." She ran her hand slowly down his chest, over the rippled muscles of his toned abdomen, and hooked her fingers into the top of his waistband to make sure there was no doubt about her intention. "I'd like to be impressed."
With dragon speed quickness, Felicity found herself transported from the doorway to the satin-topped comfort of the ancient bed with the shifter hovering above her. She felt him probing her mind for assurance, saw his relief when she briefly let him in and he found it just before she shuttered her thoughts again. He need not know the fullness of her plan—a plan she practically forgot herself as he settled beside her and his hands and mouth began to explore her body.
Face to face, chest to breasts, stomach to stomach, he kissed her, his lips moving slowly over hers, letting her know the pace their time together would take.
That was fine with Felicity. This one union would have to last her a lifetime. She hoped, no needed his every touch to be seared into her memory and onto her body in a way that she would never forget. She closed her eyes, enjoying the moment.
Dirk’s mouth moved from hers to her jaw and then down to her neck, following the trail of his fingers toward the crevice between her breasts. He kissed one hard mound through the soft material that covered it, then slipped the neckline of her gown aside to expose the erect peak of the other.
If the warmth of the air radiating off them hadn’t been enough to set her on fire, the heat of his mouth as he pulled her nipple past his teeth pushed her over the edge, especially when he raked his tongue over the sensitive tip before tracing the outer edge, all while his hand moved further down.
When his fingers touched her upper thigh, Felicity thought she might explode, until they begin to inch upward again, this time beneath the angelcloth hemline. She stilled, barely able to breathe, but in the best possible way.
Deft fingers stroked the edge of her lace panties, slipping beneath the flimsy material seconds before she cried out in a moan that refused to remain quiet. He answered with a growl, his finger circling the sensitive nub between her legs before joining another already probing through the glossy sheen into unexplored territory.
“Oh, angel.” He breathed the words when she began to pant, her rising hips pressing her harder against his hand. Seconds later he was positioned between her legs, his mouth replacing fingers that now pushed the lacy material to the side.
“I… I ca… I can’t stopppp,” she stammered as his tongue assaulted her, exploring every curve and crevice of her engorged mound.
When he placed a finger against her and began to rub softly as his tongue thrust as deep into her as it could, it was obvious he had no desire for her to stop. Felicity released the fistfuls of coverlet and pushed herself up on her elbows, just enough so that she could watch. She could feel his lips curve into a smile and was thankful the action didn’t lessen his pace. Each thrust pushed her closer to a precipice she was desperate to fall over.
As her body began to shudder, she lay back, her fingers winding into his hair, her hips bucking, bringing her again and again tighter against his face. She would pay dearly for the stubble that scraped her thighs, but it was a discomfort she was willing to bear just as she was the heartache she knew would come from walking away with the morning light.
A split second of melancholy was replaced with mind blowing pleasure as her body convulsed into wave after wave of euphoria that had barely begun to subside when she found his mouth on hers, the hard fullness of him pressing at her core. Felicity had no idea where her lace panties had gone or how her gown had been removed, only that his heat burned into her through skin on skin. Direct contact. My God, she’d only ever imagined it could feel so good.
Dirk inched his way deeper, slowly allowing her time to acclimate to his size.
Felicity almost giggled as she wondered if all shifters were so wonderfully… blessed, though the elation of having him fill her overcame all other thought. In that moment, nothing else existed beyond him and her, and the very place where they were joined. One , she thought. As he began to move, her body picking up the rhythmic dance in its exactness, together, they melted into one… a feeling that would not stop until they’d climbed to the highest heights, not once, but three times before the first light of morning began to replace the diluted rays of the lover’s moon.
“I’ll have to go after this,” she told him when he rolled over her once again. He nodded, the adoration in his gaze as he looked down at her another memory she would capture and store away. It didn’t matter that it was caused by the Forever Unified powder. She still wanted to remember it, and she could always pretend.
“You’ve stolen my heart, Angel.” He let out a prolonged moan as he pushed into her.
Once she could trust her voice again, she smiled and answered him with a humorous wink. “I’ll give it back shortly.”
Dirk chuckled, nipping at her chin. “I’d rather you just give me yours.”
Felicity raised her brows, started to ask if he hadn’t already claimed the heart of another, then thought better of it. This might just play right into her plan once it came time to give him the antidote to the love potion. Once they were finished, she’d put her strategy into motion.
It would be perfect.
…almost as perfect as the way her body was beginning to feel, though this time she wanted to make sure to concentrate on him, to memorize his sounds, his expressions, to truly focus on that exact moment of release, when his essence would flow into her…
She only hoped she could maintain her sanity long enough to do so. His every move had already begun to drive her crazy, bringing her closer to that wonderful abyss.
When she voiced her desire, not disclosing the full reason, it only took a second for him to accommodate her command, flipping them so that her legs straddled him, his shaft twitching as it stood straight up inside her. When she didn’t start moving right away, he grasped her waist before letting his hands slide slightly lower and urging her forward and then back.
“There.” He smiled as she got the hang of it. His eyes fluttered, dark lashes caressing strong cheekbones as he let out a soft moan. “You feel so good, Angel.”
She nodded. There was no way he could know just how good she felt with him inside her, filling her, stretching her, stroking every sensitive nerve ending where their bodies made contact.
Focus , she reminded herself. Her task was almost unbearable until she adjusted her position, causing him to suck in several short breaths, and realized just how much control she had. Oh, she was going to have fun… wicked fun, she thought, moving her hips first to the left and then to the right, followed by a languorous swivel.
He growled, tightening his hold on her hips, forcing her to wedge her fingers beneath his grasp and push his arms above his head. Knowing how much stronger he was than her, Felicity knew, of course, that he was allowing her to have her way, especially when he bucked his hips a couple of times to pound into the farthest depths of her wet core.
“Come on, dragon man,” she crooned, pressing herself up higher to where her right breast was temptingly close to his face, all the whi
le keeping up a steady pulsating of her hips against his.
The change in her position opened her legs wider, drawing him yet deeper and he groaned when she pulled her breast away after a few seconds, greedily latching onto the other when she moved it closer. His breathing, plus the tautness of his body, not to mention the increased rigidity of his flinching cock inside her, let her know he was getting close.
Felicity desperately wanted to let go and ride the crest of euphoria with him this one last time, but she couldn’t. She needed to watch him. Focus , she reminded herself again, chastising herself for her inability to keep her mind on her mission.
Mission … she repeated the word over and over. Missions were what angels were all about. She had hers, and at that very moment, her mission was to immerse herself in the pleasure of watching this man shatter in an explosion of pure bliss.
“Come on, baby,” she whispered, increasing the rhythm. “Come on, my dragon. Let me see you fly…”
Just when she thought there was no way she could hold out any longer, he threw back his head and let out a roar that she was sure had to have shaken the windows. He pulled his hands free from hers, pressing one to the small of her back and forcing her down harder and harder as he pressed up with equal force. His other hand snaked into the hair at the back of her head and pulled her down, his mouth covering hers in breathtaking possessiveness. She could feel the heat of his essence filling her, making her heady with sheer euphoria, and yet he didn’t stop until she was panting and moaning as her world shattered into a million sparkling pieces.
Only then did their pace slow, stopping with them both gasping for air for several minutes.
“Amazing,” she cooed, lifting her head from where she had collapsed against his chest. “It’s like magic.”
He chuckled, rubbing his hand up and down her bare back. “Like magic? Angel, it is magic.” He gave her behind a gentle squeeze. “That’s because it was meant to be.”
Sinfully Delicious: Six Scintillating Stories of Sweets, Treats, and Happily Ever Afters Page 3
