Carlton, Amber - Trinity Magic (Siren Publishing Romance)

by Amber Carlton

  She rose from the bed and reached for her clothes.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  The voice startled her, but she straightened up and turned to face him. Ryder stood in the doorway, wiping his hands on a cloth, eyebrows drawn down, his lips tight. A trace of worry lingered in his narrowed eyes. Something else lingered there. It might have been suspicion, but that had to be her imagination. He did not know yet that he had lost her, but she couldn’t put it off any longer. He would have to be told.

  “You were unconscious most of yesterday and last night. You’re not getting out of bed.”

  “I’m fine,” she said. “I have things I need to do.”

  “What kinds of things?” he demanded.

  She ignored him and lifted her dress from the floor. A tight grip locked on her arm and spun her around. The skirt fell to the floor.

  “Talk to me, damn it! What the hell happened to you yesterday?”

  “Please, Ryder, don’t make this harder on both of us.”

  He wouldn’t release her arm. His face came closer, and he peered at her, trying to find some kind of answer. He must have seen something, because he dropped her arm and took a step back. His shocked whisper hurt something inside of her.

  “Don’t make what hard?”

  He was a nice man. She had known the girls would like him, and when they were a family again, he would be a protective and loving father figure for them. He was like Stephen in that way. Good, decent, caring. It should have been very difficult to tell him what she needed to tell him, but it wasn’t.

  “You know I have to go to Cameron.”

  “Like hell,” he said.

  “’Tis not a choice,” Arleigh whispered. She dropped her head, and her hair tangled around her. She didn’t want to see Ryder’s face. “He took me to the Between Times. I tried to resist, but he consumes my thoughts now. He’s in my head, whispering things to me, promising things to me. I can feel his touch. I need his touch. It won’t stop.”

  “Sweetheart, what you’re feeling isn’t real. Come on, look at me.”

  He raised her face, his hand gently cupping her chin. She struggled to meet his eyes, and fear ran rampant there now. Somehow her words had loosened it within him, and it spun beyond his control. She felt sorry for him, but Cameron filled her head.

  “It’s not real,” he said again.

  “What’s real no longer matters. Reality has shifted. That’s what the Between Times does. I can’t change it. The power belongs to him, and he will use it. He is using it. I am filled with ache, with hunger. I want to see his face, put my hands in his hair. I need him to fill the hollow places of my body.”

  Ryder’s face paled.

  “No, that’s not what you need. It’s a spell, magic, something. Flynn’s controlling you, honey. You need me. Come on, tell me. Tell me you belong with me. I need to hear it right now.”

  She stared at him but could find no words for him. She found she had no thoughts for him at all. Cameron spiraled through her thoughts.

  He shook her. Hard. She felt his hands on her, saw his frightened face looming above her. His fear turned to a bright, hot anger that poured from him and burned her skin. Still she could not say the words he wanted her to say. She needed another.

  “You can’t stop me.”

  “I will stop you,” he snarled. “If I have to tie you to this bed, I will.”

  She held her wrists toward him. “Then do it, ’cause ’tis the only way you’ll keep me here.”

  Ryder kicked the first thing his gaze fell on. The chair hurled against the wall and smashed into kindling. The splintered wood dropped to the floor, loud, rolling clunks that punctuated the silence between them. She reached once again for her skirt, but he caught her wrist, gripping hard, and yanked her closer.

  “Don’t do this,” he warned. “You’ll lose me, Arleigh. Is that what you want?”

  “I don’t have any control o’er it.”

  “You know what you’re dealing with. Fight it!”

  He shook her, and she moaned. “I can’t. I want him.”

  Her body burned with fire. Doubt flickered across his face. He didn’t know what to do, but something disturbing lurked in his eyes. An idea blossomed there, and that wasn’t good. He had already lost.

  “There’s no way to stop me,” she said firmly. “I’m going to him because I must. My skin needs his touch, and I’m throbbing inside. You can’t hold me here. I need him.”

  “You need me,” Ryder said.

  “You should have fucked me when you had the chance. You’ll ne’er have me now.”

  The fear dissolved from his eyes, and that hard, vicious glint returned. For one moment, thoughts of Cameron left her mind and she saw the anger and hurt of the man standing in front of her. Wasn’t he the one she wanted? Despair poured through her when she saw the fury in his eyes, and she felt a flash of shame. What had she done? What had she said? She couldn’t seem to hold onto a thought.

  “I have to go to Cameron. He’s the only one who can give me what I need.”

  He shouted at her again, shaking her. She stared at him, willing him to accept the truth.

  He shoved her, and she tumbled back on the bed. She rose up on her elbows and glared at him.

  “You lost your chance, Kendall. I will be with Cameron.”

  “You are so wrong about that,” he said. He tugged the shirt out of his breeches and yanked it over his head. “Relax, baby. I think you’ll like it. I’ve never had a complaint.”

  Arleigh sputtered. “You don’t…you don’t have—“

  “The balls? You’re wrong about that. I’m claiming my rights. I own you, remember?”

  He fell against her and knocked her to the mattress. His body covered her, and she fought against him, kicking at his legs and pushing at his chest until he grabbed her arms and forced them above her head. Holding her wrists in a steely grip, his mouth came down on hers, hard and vicious. The brutal kiss tore through her like lightning. The blinding need boiled to the surface, and one thought burst through her head—not Cameron. But it was a hard body to temper the fire and hold her to the earth, and it felt so good. When his lips moved from her mouth to crush against her shoulder, Ryder’s husky breath fluttered against her skin.

  “Tell me what I want to hear.”

  “No talking,” she whispered. “Let me go. I want to touch you.”

  He released her hands, and she plunged them into his hair, running her fingers through the sun-kissed strands. His hand found her breast through the nightdress, and she arched against him, wanting more, needing more. His touch was not a gentle caress but a rough, punishing, demanding assault of her flesh, rubbing her nipples through the fabric until the raw scraping burned her. His fingers struggled with the ribbon of her gown, and it came loose, shredding the top of her nightdress. She caught his hand and pulled it back to her naked flesh. His touch left tiny sparks that danced on her skin.

  His lips trailed over her body. She fought to breathe, gasping as the burning hunger took every bit of energy she had and twisted it into fire. His rough fingers kneaded her flesh, running down the length of her body to reach beneath the fabric, sweeping over her stomach, over her hip bones, and finally, finally between her legs. His fingers burned a trail of fire that made her gasp.

  She pushed against him, but he seemed determined to deny what she wanted. His hand returned to her breast, pulling and twisting with the anger she had unleashed within him. She ached for more. She needed more. She needed the hunger to stop.

  Ryder moved away, and the rustle of clothes and the thump of a boot broke the silence. She waited in agony, and it seemed an eternity before he came back to her. He peeled the torn nightdress away from her skin, stripping it from her like a magician, and the hard bare skin of his whole body fell against hers. It was a gift from heaven, and her arms and legs twined around the muscled body that held her captive. She ran her hands over his shoulders, down his back, and across the mounds of
his ass, making him quiver. She pulled him tight.

  His hands were in her hair, his mouth on her breasts, sucking at the flesh. Her nipples rose, pulling taut to meet him. His lips moved like velvet over her hip and swept over and between her thighs, and the roughness of his beard followed, scratching her skin. The trail of desire stirred her to claw at his shoulders, because she could not seem to get close enough. She pushed against him, pulling him closer with hands that kneaded and clutched his skin. He still denied her what she wanted. Desperate, she grabbed his hand and pulled it between her legs.

  “Touch me,” she whispered.

  “Do you belong to me, Arleigh?” he asked. “I won’t, unless you belong to me.”

  “Aye, please touch me.”

  He pushed her thighs apart and touched her clit, spreading fire through her. A ragged sigh exploded from her when his finger swept across her. He used his hands to work magic on her, rubbing and flicking at the soft nub between her legs that pulsated with the beat of her heart. For endless moments, his fingers pressed against her, making her body quiver, sending gentle pulses of fire through her entire body. Finally he plunged his fingers into her, driving deep, pulling back, in and out as his thumb pressed against the tiny piece of her that begged for more. She cried out, biting against his shoulder, but he refused to move from her. His hands were everywhere, moving quickly, passing over flesh to tease, to taunt, to drive her to madness. Her body shuddered under his touch, spurring him to tighten his palm against her, rubbing harder and harder. She couldn’t find the courage to look at him. She lost herself beneath his hand.

  “Oh, please,” she moaned. “’Tis too much.”

  “Please what?” he snarled. “I’m not stopping till you’re mine.”

  “Make it stop,” she whispered.

  The friction of his hand burned her, blazed through her like a flame. Her body throbbed, and each time his finger dipped into her, she gasped and her pussy clenched. She thought she might be dying. A shudder passed through her. Her heart wept somewhere deep inside. She clutched at his shoulders and tugged at his hair.

  “Make it stop, Ryder,” she moaned. “You are the only one who can.”

  “I’ll make it stop when you beg me.”

  “Then I’m begging. Please, Ryder, you’re all I want. Make it stop.”

  Finally, when she thought she could stand it no longer, when her body cried out in the most pleasurable pain she had ever felt in any lifetime, something roared through her, causing her to rise against his hand. Her muscles tightened then quivered. She lost whatever control she had.

  “Ryder…” she breathed. “No one will e’er be able to do this like you do.”

  “Don’t talk. Relax. Enjoy it.”

  She arched against his hand and gripped his face. “Kiss me.”

  His mouth snatched at hers, breathless, gasping. He too seemed to be losing control. How did he gain so much pleasure from giving it to her? She couldn’t stop the quivering, she couldn’t stop the pleasure that spiraled through her limbs and twisted her body beneath him. Ryder’s tortured breath and his words threaded through her consciousness, fighting their way through the rapture of the physical sensations flowing through her body.

  “Remember this, Arleigh,” he whispered.

  “Always.”

  Ryder moved above her, his body hard, his muscles powerful against her soft flesh. He pressed his hips hard against hers, locked his mouth over hers again, and pushed his body between her thighs. She opened her legs. His cock brushed against her pussy, a velvety violation between her legs. The moisture of her own body spread across her skin. She lifted against him, preparing to pull him inside, but he paused, and his body trembled. He lifted his head to stare into her eyes. He was thinking, He couldn’t think now. He couldn’t stop. She wouldn’t let him. She wrapped her fingers around his neck, tugging at his hair, and pulled him close.

  “’Tis what you want,” she whispered against his ear.

  “Yes,” he groaned.

  She needed him to finish, to soothe the ache, scrape against the throbbing flesh inside. She arched up, rubbing against him, grinding against him. He thrust against the soft, vibrating parts of her body, a hard driving force that could lessen the throbbing inside, but he held back. He didn’t want to give it to her. He could not stop now. Her body burned.

  She grabbed his ass. She ran her fingernail between his cheeks, and he convulsed in her arms. “You want to fuck me. I know you do.”

  Her hands pressed hard against him and pulled him closer, crushing him against her. He would have no choice now but to push his cock into her. He would have no self-control. There would be no words in his head, only desire, only lust. He pushed himself up, elbows locked, and stared into her face and found words. He pulled them from the depths of his soul, and his desperate tone, filled with anger and longing, hurt her inside.

  “Tell me what I want to hear. This isn’t enough. Tell me.”

  “Shhhh,” she whispered. “We don’t need words between us.”

  Her hand snaked between them. Ryder gasped when her fingers locked around his cock, drawing him closer, tugging him to her warm, wet pussy, the place his body longed to be. His body lowered, and he moaned against her lips and swelled harder within her hands, pulsing and quickening. She pressed his cock against the wetness of her body. She rubbed him against her, teasing him with the moisture that leaked from inside, the muscles that tightened at each stroke, soft dips into hollow spaces that she needed filled.

  “I don’t want to talk,” she whispered. “You’re ready. I’m ready. Fuck me.”

  “Damn you,” he groaned.

  For a moment, a fraction of a second, she panicked, because he pulled back, but he didn’t leave her. He pushed, slowly. Refusing to wait, refusing to give him time to be gentle, giving into the hunger, she arched up and yanked his body toward her. He drove into her like a knife, and Arleigh cried out. She pressed her mouth against his shoulder to muffle the sound. Above her, Ryder groaned and pressed farther, filling the empty spaces that burned within her. Large, firm, hard, demanding, punishing, tender, loving, soft as an infant’s skin, silky as a rose petal, hard as iron. Perfection. The satiny length of him buried deep, touching something in her that immediately sent a jolt through her, and her body shuddered. It was a drink of fire, a breath of desert wind, a flash of lightning.

  His hands slid beneath her. Ryder clasped her ass, pulling her up, tighter against him, pushing himself deeper within her, and she wrapped her legs around his hips, cradled beneath him. His fingers dug into her skin. His breathing burst hard and rapid against her neck, and something wet and hot dropped on her skin. He moved against her roughly, his arms around her so tightly she had no choice but to move with him, swept along in his passion. His mouth burned against her throat.

  “Give me what I need, honey. Please tell me.”

  “This is what you need, Ryder. Only this.”

  His arms tightened around her. The rhythm pulled at her like a sea tide caught in the tug of the moon. The hunger flashed inside, once again awakening the need, and wave after wave of searing fire spread through her. She quivered as his body moved faster. His cock thrust into her hard, pounding her pussy. They were locked together, so close, so merged, so blended she feared she would cease to exist when he left her.

  Ryder whispered to her—loving words, hurtful words, angry words, words that made her shiver and quake with anticipation, and her greed for him tore through her. His heavy breath brushed against her ear. He struggled to tell her everything in his heart and soul. She wanted to answer, say something, anything, tell him what he needed to hear, that more lay between them than this hot mating, this fucking. She wanted to say she would be lost without him, empty, nothing. But another voice whispered inside her head that was more compelling, more intoxicating, and her words were forgotten.

  Ryder was above her, around her, in her. She saw his face, his eyes locked on hers, filling himself with the sight of her as he filled her
with the parts of himself he could give. His mouth roamed her skin, his breathing hard and fast. His body rocked against her. He captured her face in his hands.

  “Open your mouth. Kiss me.”

  His breath filled her mouth, and Arleigh moaned. She angled her body until her clit rubbed against him. She strained against him, stroking her clit to match his rhythm. The pulses that fluttered through her flared and flashed in a blaze and she tensed. Her pussy clutched his cock in an intense spasm, clenching him tight and milking his flesh. Arleigh arched against him, delighting in the spasm, the tension, the wave that spread quickly and consumed her entire body. His cock pulsed within her, fast, so fast and his body tightened and shuddered. A warmth flooded through her as hard spasms gripped him and his hips bucked against her. Her pussy throbbed again and one touch against her clit sent her careening again. She let the wave carry her away until she lay limp and breathless beneath him.

  Tight, rigid, he fell against her, groaning against her lips and gathering her in his arms. He rested his forehead against her shoulder and lay quietly. She said the only thing she could possibly say.

  “Cameron.”

  Ryder tensed, his arms clenching around her, and growled like a wounded beast. Pushing himself up, he bolted from the bed, and she felt abandoned, lost, anchorless in an eternal sea. Her body rose, seeking his flesh, his warmth, and her hand skimmed across his chest. He flinched.

  “Don’t,” he said.

  He stood at the edge of the bed, looking down at her like an archangel, so beautiful. His golden hair glowed in the sunlight that streamed through the window. His heart beat rapidly, tiny flickers against the flesh of his chest. The fine hairs spread across his muscles pulsed with the rhythm. His skin flushed golden, a sheen of light sweat covering his body.

  She wanted him again. She wanted to pleasure this man who had given her so much. She needed to run her tongue over his skin, kiss every inch of him, suck at his nipples, run her tongue across the silky length of his cock, and hold it in her hand till it swelled and moved with desire.