Elena rocked up on her heels, her breath hissing out.
“Did you think about how it would feel when I touched you the first time? Deep down you knew I would eventually. You knew I’d win you over and find out for myself how wet you’d get, how sweet you’d taste.”
“Cocky wolf,” she panted, the last few syllables lost on a moan.
Her nails scraped the wall, but she didn’t move. He flattened his hand over hers, interlocking their fingers. Hers shook beneath his, and he squeezed tight, giving her something to hold onto.
Back and forth he traced the path to her opening and then back to the swollen knot. Every time he circled her clit she bucked her hips, moving with the rhythm that made him want to yank her dress to her waist and sink into her from behind.
“Please,” she murmured, finding his mouth. Her tongue plunged between his lips, coaxing him to madness.
And it was madness. Them in an elevator that hadn’t moved and could open at any time, security camera feeds recording every second. The first people they crossed paths with would take one look at their flushed and disheveled appearances and know what they’d been doing.
Sweet Avalon, as if just touching her wasn’t already the biggest turn on of his immortal life.
Elena ground her hips, rubbing the length of his cock. He pushed her harder against the wall, slipping a finger, then two, inside her, pumping deep. The tight walls squeezed him, drenched him.
Another flash of color, another bite to the back of her shoulder. She rocked faster, tightening her interlocked fingers around his. The sound of material ripping didn’t stop him as he played and caressed, withdrawing from her to rub her clit.
“Yes,” she murmured, throwing her head back, her body shaking and clenching around the fingers he thrust inside her one last time.
She arched against him as she came down from her release, her dress riding so high the only thing separating them was his pants and a scrap piece of material he could tear off her in seconds.
“My room. Now.” She turned, looping her arms around his neck. “Before Mac sends his team to remove us.”
As if on cue, the elevator doors chimed and opened behind him. He slid her dress into place before turning to face the gargoyle standing in the hall.
“Busted,” he breathed, for Elena’s ears only.
“Another memorable party, Mac.” Elena stepped out from behind him, making a point to adjust her dress.
If it was anyone else watching them, Vaughn would have laughed at Elena’s show. The other gargoyle’s presence was enough to partially cool the molten blood pumping through his veins.
Pulling the ruined flower from her hair, Elena reached out and hit the button for her floor. “Nessa wanted me to let you know how disappointed she was that she couldn’t attend tonight. But she’ll be sure to clear her calendar for the next party.”
Mac growled, the doors sliding shut on his words. “You still owe me for the damage to your room.”
CHAPTER NINE
Vaughn stood in the middle of the living area in Elena’s suite.
A hundred scents that made up the sorceress pummeled his senses from every direction.
Clothes draped across the furniture, a half-empty martini glass, nail polish on the table by the sofa, a bottle of hand lotion on the floor, a nearly untouched bowl of strawberries on the counter, and that wasn’t counting the smell of her shampoo and soaps that wafted from down the hall.
Drowning a little, he glanced down at the hand tucked into his, the small nails painted a blue that almost matched her dress. He hadn’t let go of her since they’d left the elevator, and she hadn’t tried to worm free. In fact he kept catching her staring at their linked hands, too.
“What now, Ivy?”
The far-off look on her face faded as she pulled her gaze from their hands. She stroked a line down the front of his shirt, nudging him backward. His knees hit the back of the sofa and he dropped down.
Elena straddled him. “Don’t tell me this is the first time a girl ever brought you home.”
He studied her eyes, shaking his head. “Don’t do that. Don’t pretend this is just another casual hook up.” They were both grown-ups, had both been with other people, but he refused to dismiss their time together as some one-night stand.
She cocked her head, equal parts cautious and curious. “Then what is it?”
He frowned, not sure how to describe the charged pulse that hummed on the air between them. “It starts here.” He touched her stomach, circling her navel in lazy arcs. “A slow burn that makes you think you swallowed a field of fireflies. And the more you try to ignore it, the hotter it gets.”
Elena watched the path of his finger move to her ribs.
He followed the slight curve of the lower bone, moving up the side of her breast. “And then you feel it with every breath you take. It doesn’t matter if you fight it or not, you draw it in, holding it close, unable to shake it.”
He felt Elena’s eyes on him, but he didn’t look up, drawing a trail across the top of her dress to her heart.
“Before you know it, the light of it chases away the shadows buried inside. Awakens something that could be your destruction—” he angled his head, drawing a heart shape on her skin, “—or your salvation.”
He brought their joined hands to his lips. “So yeah. This is more than some girl bringing me home with her.” He pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “Now are you scared?”
“I don’t know what I am,” she whispered, her words seeming to surprise her.
Vaughn brushed her hair behind her shoulder, wanting a clear view of her face and the eyes studying him so closely he could feel her probing at places he didn’t let anyone see.
“Why are you here?” The question came from the sorceress the rest of the world knew, the devil-may-care immortal who didn’t care what anyone thought of her or her wild behavior.
He played with the ends of her hair, wrapping them around his finger and using the leverage to draw her closer. “Just to be with you.”
Elena’s poker face failed her, indecision flashing in her eyes.
He pressed their laced fingers to her chest. “Trust the light,” he murmured, needing her to be the one that took that last step and closed the few inches separating them.
A shiver worked through her, and she braced a hand on his shoulder, leaning the rest of the way in, her nose sliding along his until their mouths met.
Vaughn didn’t breathe, didn’t move, every cell in his body hyper-aware of the woman in his lap. She would kill him if she stayed that way, nails gripping his shoulder, lips sinking into his one sinful degree at a time.
Almost as if she knew it, she slid all the way into his lap, determined to push him all the way to the edge. Each slow rock of her hips brought them together in a teasing rub. He released her hand, catching her waist and grinding her down on him a little harder.
They both moaned.
Vaughn adjusted his position, lifting up to meet the next drag across his groin.
Elena drew back, her eyes closed, her bottom lip trapped between her teeth as she rocked forward again, doing her best to turn his brain to complete lust-drenched mush.
He felt every millimeter of friction between the head and the base of his cock. He didn’t stop the exquisite torture, just watched the pleasure of the contact rush across her face.
He could watch it all day. Every day. The only thing better than watching her come like that would be undoing his zipper and tugging her damp panties out of the way.
One thrust, one smooth slide and he could be inside her. Then her nails really would sink into his shoulders. It would be a battle of wills over who could last the longest and who’d break away from the slow pumps and rush into the wild ride.
Mind on fire from the images in his head, Vaughn wrapped an arm around her, flipping her to her back and following her down. “You can’t always be on top, Ivy.”
She parted her thighs, letting him settle between t
hem.
He ran a hand along the outer side of her thigh, pushing her dress up as he went. He reached her ass, filling his palm as he tugged her a little lower on the couch. Closer to her mouth, he parted her lips with his tongue, kissing her deeply.
Now he was in full control of rubbing against her, pushing hard enough he imagined the lacy barrier would give way.
“You need to stop,” Elena murmured with no real conviction.
It was too easy to silence the half-hearted protest. One slow tease of his tongue across her lower lip and she buried her hands in his hair, the kiss as hard as it was deep. Never mind what happened in the elevator. She’d fucking destroy him with her mouth.
She rocked up hard enough that he lost balance. Elena settled on top of him when he went along with it, landing on the floor. One look at the satisfied smile on her lips and he knew the move had been intentional.
“You do have control issues, don’t you?”
She pushed her hands against his chest, but he was faster, pulling at the material draping her shoulder. The fabric tore easily, exposing a black strapless bra that offered her breasts up on a delectable platter.
He raised his head, finding the plump curve that didn’t quite fit into her bra and tasting her skin. A single drop of water to a man who’d crossed the Sahara, the touch only deepening the craving for her.
She moaned. “Vaughn.”
“Again.” He yanked the bra out of the way and sucked her nipple into his mouth.
She moaned again, arching with every greedy tug.
“No, my name. Say it again.” Not a nickname or a dig meant to get a reaction. Just his name on her lips.
“Vaughn.” She hissed, then pulled away from him, rising and looking like he’d already worked her over a dozen times and she wasn’t sure she could handle anymore.
Sensing she’d bolt if he reached for her, he merely pillowed his hands behind his head and stayed on the floor.
Elena backed away, her expression momentarily unreadable. “Not a one-night stand, huh?”
He rose to his elbow, following her movements as she caught the hem of her torn dress and dragged it up over her head. With every exposed inch he felt like he was unraveling the one mystery he’d spent half his life waiting to solve.
“Beautiful,” he murmured, the words nearly locking in his throat.
The dress slipped through her fingers to hit the floor, joined moments later by her bra. She kept her panties on as she turned and walked toward her bedroom. “You’re not going to stay on the floor all night, are you?”
The wolf howled at the challenge in her voice, and the man bolted to his feet and pursued his prey.
***
Elena caught a glimpse of her reflection in the floor to ceiling mirror just inside the bedroom. A curl of blue vines unfurled across her shoulder and then vanished beneath the magic she used to veil her tracings, her skin abuzz with power.
She touched one of her flushed cheeks and smiled.
Vaughn came into view behind her, her gaze finding his in the mirror. He stopped directly behind her but didn’t touch her.
One small step backward and she’d be able to lean against him, feel the fierce pounding of his heart against her back. She stayed where she was. “You’re staring.”
He shook his head. “No. I’m remembering.”
She didn’t see him move but he suddenly felt closer even though they still weren’t touching.
“That smile. I’ve seen it before.” He swept her hair aside so carefully she didn’t register so much as a graze of his fingers, contact she craved more than anything else. “It’s the same as the day we first met. You had just finished dismissing one of Avalon’s most lethal immortals, and the next thing I knew you were throwing me a towel.”
“You were naked.”
“And dirty and bleeding and had no idea what was happening. But this—” Eyes on hers in the mirror, he ran the back of his fingers down her cheek, “—this smile somehow made it all okay. Even if it was just for a second.”
Her eyes drifted shut, but his touch was fleeting. She sank her toes into the plush carpeting, trying to ground herself, anchor herself to something real, because the sensation expanding in her chest, a pleasure so deep it pricked the backs of her eyes couldn’t possibly be real, could it?
She wanted to rewind the clock and go back to the couch and let this be just a one-night stand and not something so impossible it only existed in a naïve girl’s imagination.
She opened her eyes to find his expression caught somewhere between the same disbelief and twisted hopefulness she felt. Now she really had to be losing her mind. “You’re still not pouncing when I expect it.”
“That’s more of a cat thing.” His hands moved in the reflection, and she held her breath as his
fingers sank into her hips. “Besides, I don’t think you can handle a full pounce right now.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to disagree, right up until he snagged the sides of her panties and tugged them down.
He moved with them, crouching to slip them off her feet. He cupped her ankles, his palms massaging as he drew them up her legs. He paused to press an open-mouthed kiss to the back of one knee, then the other.
Her legs might have trembled if her toes weren’t still anchored in the carpet, or worse, given out altogether at the decadent caress.
He reached her behind, finding a handful to stroke and squeeze, and then his lips brushed her skin.
She jumped at the playful nip.
Vaughn laughed. “You have no idea how long I’ve been thinking about doing that.”
Rising, he turned her around, pulled her from the world of reflection, and making sure there was nothing separating them.
He opened his mouth over hers, propelling them right over the edge of a sheer drop knowing there wouldn’t be a damn thing to break their fall.
Her back hit the mirror, her arms snaking around his neck, as they smiled, moaned and panted their way through a kiss that rocked her.
He took a step back, catching the hand she flung out to reel him back in. He brought it to his mouth, the kiss as chaste as the last one was molten.
“Tease.”
“You didn’t think I was letting things go any further before I was inside you, did you?”
She responded by grabbing his shirt and ripping. Buttons flew and bounced across the carpet as the material tore easily. She pushed the destroyed shirt off his shoulders. It landed next to her panties and she kicked both items out of the way as she dropped her hands to his belt. “Are you always so bossy or do I just bring it out in you?”
His pants came down, and he tipped her face up. “Last chance, Ivy.”
She slid her hand into his boxers. “I went all-in the moment you showed up at the elevator.”
A growl that was half man and half wolf rumbled in his chest. He scooped her up and tossed her on the bed.
Laughing, she bounced on the mattress, snatched a pillow off the bed and fired it at his head. The lacy decoration grazed his cheek before he knocked it aside. “Is that the best you’ve got sorceress?”
“Maybe you should get your ass on the bed and find out for yourself.”
All humor fled Vaughn’s expression, and she imagined the singular focus she glimpsed in his eyes was the last thing the Shadow’s target saw before he made his move.
A wolf in human form.
“My father is going to kill me.”
Halfway up the bed, Vaughn paused. “That’s probably the last thing I expected to hear right now.”
Definitely the last thing she’d expected to think about at the moment, let alone say out loud. But then she never expected things to go so far with the wolf. Things that could complicate everything from her strained relationship with her parents to her more recent activities that would no doubt stun the wolf in her midst, even more so because he was a Shadow.
Elena sat up, meeting Vaughn in the middle of the mattress.
Paying at
tention to his rough jaw, she rubbed her thumb across the stubble, drawing him closer. She didn’t take her eyes off his mouth as she touched her lips to his.
He sucked in a breath but she didn’t want him holding onto the moment. She wanted him diving into the next and the next, right alongside her.
Vaughn guided her onto her back, coming down on top her, the drugging pressure of his weight seducing her all over again. His gaze landed on the blow she’d taken courtesy of the giant. “You’ll have to tell me about what happened later.” He dropped a soft kiss on the tip of her nose. “Much, much later.”
She arched her back, feeling him from her shoulders to the tips of her toes. And then a slow slide brought him back to her mouth.
Gods, the way he kissed her…
How many hours of her life had been wasted kissing the wrong people? Vaughn’s lips were like silk drenched in lava on her jaw, her neck, and then nothing.
She opened her eyes to find him staring at her again.
Holding her gaze, he reached between them. The head of his cock slid along her folds as he pressed and pulled back, slid against and then away from her.
Each almost-stroke made her heart thump faster. She grabbed his shoulders, finding the one anchor she’d been looking for all along. “Vau—”
He thrust inside her.
Pleasure catapulted from the balls of her feet to her core, her muscles clenching. She moaned against the strong column of his neck, his body settling even deeper into hers.
He didn’t need to read her mind this time, her body telegraphing what she wanted with one rock of her hips after another, craving even more of the friction. Vaughn’s breath caught, his mouth close to her ear as he pulled out and pumped back into her.
“Fuck,” he growled, catching one hip to get even deeper.
She helped him out by grabbing as much of his ass as she could reach, dragging him back to her when he slid away on the next thrust.
He grunted at the bite of her nails on his skin, but she didn’t let go. Not until he drove into her over and over again, rocking them both to a mindless rhythm, the blankets tangling beneath them, their bodies locked together.
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