Magic's Touch

by Terri Pray

  She did want it. Foolish though that made her, she couldn’t turn him away. It wasn’t just the bond from the spell. It couldn’t be something that simple, not with how her body now craved his touch. Her mind raced, trying to make sense of her reactions. She wasn’t the sort to throw herself at men. Even after her dedication prayer she’d kept her need under control, seeking self release rather than rushing into the arms of the nearest man.

  Yet now she felt as though the floodgates had been opened.

  Her thighs clenched, hips lifting towards his body even before he began to push her down onto the soft couch. With a low moan she pressed up into his touch, welcoming his firm caress as he smoothed from her back into the dip of her waist, curling upward until his fingers cupped one firm breast.

  “It’s just the magic we shared.” The words fell like an act of betrayal from her lips, halting the gentle nibbling path of his lips across her neck. “We shouldn’t be doing this, not based on reactions to how we just worked together.”

  “No, you don’t think that, not fully.” He blew across skin left damp by his touch, fanning the need within her being. “If you did I’d feel it, you’d tell me to stop and you know I would. We’re linked; I’d have to. Any hurt or fear you feel I’ll experience too.”

  Empath. Linked with an empath. This was far more than just the bond of exploration, more than just the magic, a link of the soul and heart combined. Goddess, what was she opening herself up to?

  A man who could read her emotions without ever having to study her body language, a man who would never hurt her intentionally because it would be a pain they shared. Someone willing to risk having his magic stripped from him if they were caught trying to help Karol. And a man who now aroused her body with something as simple as a few light touches.

  Her mind screamed a warning that her body ignored.

  Darrel nibbled down her throat, his thumb brushing over one hardened nipple, circling it. Her skin felt a thousand times more alive than she had ever known before, a tight rippling within her sex offered her hips fully to him even as she parted her thighs under the slightest nudge from his knee.

  “So beautiful,” he murmured over her throbbing pulse. “Within and without. I can see it, all that gentleness, the passion and drive you hide from the world. Every soft, secret part you keep protected behind those walls you’ve built through the years.”

  With a low whimper she traced her fingers down his back, shivering as she felt each light touch replayed by her own skin. “You’re no longer the brusque prankster I remember.”

  “No more slugs, I promise you that.” He eased the straps down from her dress, lips replacing fingers over her throbbing nipple. Her fingers tightened on his back; she arched into the warm teasing touch of his seeking tongue as a thousand invisible fingers turned the skin of her breasts taut and scraped over the delicate skin of her parted thighs. Every part of her body ached for a deeper touch, craved for his fingers slipping into her panties to part the soft, warm, damp lips hidden beneath the brief wisp of cotton. His shoes fell to the floor, hers joining them within a few moments.

  The bed. Normally, she’d have urged that they move to a bed, but she didn’t want to break the moment.

  His hand cupped against her mound, lips nibbling across from one breast to the other, blowing softly over damp skin. She groaned in sheer delight, pressing up into his hand, rocking against his touch. What would Gem have said, or Karol? Goddess, it didn’t matter, his touch, his kisses, the feel of his back under her seeking fingers, muscles tightening, rippling beneath her touch. Alive. She’d never felt so alive as she did in this moment. His first gentle touch against her clit, even through her panties, tore a soft cry of delight from her lips as she pressed her hips into his caress.

  Her panties were quickly slipped down from her hips, his fingers easing between the folds of her sex. She hadn’t let a man near her like this in close to two years and now her body craved his touch, needed it in the way a drowning woman craved air. She clung to him, pressing up into his hand, squirming towards his fingers as he brushed over her clit, one finger seeking out her core.

  “Please.” Her voice was little more than a low groan, the slick inner walls of her pussy rippling on his finger, rocking down against his touch. “I can’t hold on. I need you. Now.”

  “Wait.”

  “No, please, no.” She didn’t want to wait; her body desired so much more, her sex cried out to feel him buried deep within. Her core clenched against his finger, rocking with each breath that found a spark of life in her being. She wanted, needed far more than a single finger.

  A second finger joined the first, slipping further within her body, pressing against the small shell-like ledge within her core.

  Had he read her need through their link?

  “Goddess!” She groaned, a full jolt shuddering through her body, slick walls clenching, rippling on his fingers, the pressure building within her body to the breaking point. What was he doing to her? She’d never felt so, needed, desired as she did in this moment.

  With a low growl of pleasure he shifted, tapping against the hidden shelf, building the heat within her slick, needful core. Teeth scraped against one ripe nipple, her fingers digging into his back, hips rocking up with each light tap against that hidden point of pleasure.

  “Please. Now!” Had she actually spoken, or was that just her imagination?

  Either way his only reply was a deeper suckle against the tight throbbing nub, his tongue twirling about wrinkled skin.

  “Darrel,” she pleaded, scraping her fingers down his back, catching in the band of his pants. “Please, I can’t control this.” His zipper parted under her gentle insistence, his throbbing cock slipping into the palm of her hand. “Need to feel you in me, bonded outside, inside, one heart, one mind, one soul.”

  He shifted further between her thighs. His fingers pulled free, the tip of his cock nudging into the heated entrance of her sex. His eyes almost glowed as he lifted up from her breast to speak. “Are you sure?” He didn’t need to ask, not with their link, but he did so anyway.

  “Yes.”

  That’s all it took. With a low growl of pure pleasure he pushed into her tight core, teeth scraping against her throat. She twisted down onto his heated erection, her thighs clenching, her ankles locked behind his taut ass. Now, here, what they shared in this moment was all that mattered. Her heels pressed behind his ass, her hips raised, she squirmed tight against him, clit throbbing with each deep thrust of his hard cock. She reached up under his shirt, sobbing out beneath him.

  “Tight,” he groaned against her throat, her hips jolting with a drive of their own, each deep thrust pushing against that hidden point buried in her core.

  Sweat beaded across her breasts, skin slick between them, her dress bunched about her waist. Closer, so very close. A little more, little longer and she’d reach it, that moment of sheer bliss where thought lost all meaning.

  Skin parted under her nails, his cry mingled with hers, slick cunt tightening on his cock. Breath came in little more than soft gasps of need from them both, a burning wave of need building to breaking point until she couldn’t stop it, not even if her life had depended on it.

  Pressure rippled over her belly.

  Her nipples throbbed, teased by the soft material of his shirt.

  Her breath burned in the back of her throat even as she tipped her head back and gasped, her hips rolling with a hungry need of their own.

  “Oh!”

  “Now, Goddess now!” he growled, teeth closing on her throat. “Come for me. Come for us!”

  It burned, soothed, healed all in one, her thighs locked about his hips, his teeth on her throat, her back tightened until she could have sworn it would snap, but all that mattered was that moment of bliss as it claimed them both in a rage of bright lights…

  Chapter Six

  She floated, drifting in his arms as they lay entwined on the couch. Her thoughts refused to settle as images shifted from
one random form to another, seldom lingering on any one for more than a few beats of her heart. She could feel him, still buried within her, spent but still semihard, his breath warming her skin. It didn’t even seem to matter why she had come to see Darrel in the first place, not with how content she felt…

  Karol.

  Reality crashed back in on her, jolting her upright, shame hitting her at the same time. How could she have given herself into that amount of pleasure when Karol was curled up on her bed crying her eyes out over the worthless piece of dirt her husband had turned out to be?

  “I’ll kill the bastard.” Her words little more than a growl.

  With an obvious reluctance Darrel eased from her body, sitting beside her even as he pulled her back into his arms. “I don’t think that would be the best of ideas. I know you’re angry but you’d carry his death on your soul for the rest of your life.”

  “It’s what he deserves. You saw how Karol felt, tasted her fears. How could he do that to her? He should be dead for what he’s done.”

  “Should he? I’m not denying my immediate reaction was the same, that he should die. It’s instinctive to want a monster like that dead.” He brushed through a loose strand of her hair. “But what would it teach him? How would that change him? It wouldn’t. We both know that.”

  Teach him? She didn’t want to teach him anything but a lesson in how not to treat women. Men like him needed to learn the hard way just what it felt like to be in Karol’s position. Alone, trapped and helpless, never knowing when their partner walked in through the door if they would bring anger with them, or if the day would pass by peacefully.

  Karol’s life had been set on the very brink of chaos. thanks to Brian.

  “He has to be alive in order to learn that lesson, Hailey. And if you give in to the anger, the hatred, you’ll be no better than he is.”

  Yes, he does need to be alive for this. Worse luck.

  Hailey frowned and shook her head.

  “You need time to calm down before we talk about this further.”

  What was there to talk about? She couldn’t kill Brian, and she was at a loss of what else to do.

  “Things will be clearer once you’ve calmed down. Right now we’re both still reacting from what we felt from Karol.”

  “I need to get cleaned up.” She pulled free of his arms, using the much needed wash as an excuse not to face his words just yet. “Can I use your bathroom?” Clean clothing wouldn’t be a problem for her; unlike the mundanes, she’d only need to use a little magic and she’d have a fresh outfit to wear.

  “Sure, it’s just up the stairs.” He hesitated for a moment, watching her face closely before he waved towards the small door. “There should be clean towels laid out. If you need anything else, call out.”

  “Thanks.” She hurried out, grabbing up her panties from the floor and pulling the dress from her body as she moved. Not that it had covered much from the way it had been bunched up around her hips.

  By the time she had darted into the bathroom the doubts and self-questions had surfaced. Still, she had to admit she’d enjoyed it. Did that make her a slut?

  No. Of course it doesn’t. The Goddess gave me a body that enjoys being touched by the right man and she wouldn’t be pleased if I started attacking myself for her gifts.

  But that didn’t stop the guilt from gnawing away in the pit of her stomach.

  Clean, tidy, warm, the bathroom was everything she had come not to expect of a man living without any women in the household. Normally their homes were a mess, bathrooms more so. No, that wasn’t fair; she didn’t know what the norm was. They could all be clean freaks for all she knew, except for the few mistakes she’d made in the past. Not that those mistakes had ever resulted in a night like this one.

  Water hit the bottom of the tub, hissing through the air, steam gathering in soft swirls. How men could stand not cleaning up straight after sex she didn’t know. She hated feeling sticky; even when she had indulged in a little relaxing masturbation, she always took the time to clean up afterward.

  Men were strange creatures.

  Her dress dropped to the floor, panties with it, both vanishing with a low, whispered spell before she stepped into the warm water.

  Had she done the right thing in letting her body set the pace that way? It wasn’t in her nature, yet she felt more at ease now. She had heard of other magic users who needed to find some sort of release after spell weaving; some even suggested it was almost the same as the link between sex and violence but she’d never understood that reference, either.

  Hailey ducked her head as she rested her hands against the wall, letting the water spray over her body, soaking into her hair, washing away the signs of their shared delight. Her skin tingled at the memory of his touch, her sex tightening, replaying the feel of his cock pressed within her willing body. It would have taken so very little to bring herself back to a fever pitch of arousal. A touch between her thighs, a soft brush over her clit and she’d arch into that seeking touch.

  A soft tremor claimed her core, her left hand tightening against the wall, her weight shifting…

  No, she’d indulged herself far too much already.

  Hailey groaned and shook her head, trying to focus her thoughts elsewhere.

  Karol. She had to do something about the bastard Karol was with. Leaving things like this wouldn’t do any good; sooner or later he’d strike her or even kill her. Brian’s sense of boundaries had vanished, or perhaps had never existed at all.

  Boundaries. She was a good one to even think about that. She’d overstepped those in seeking Darrel’s help. Now her mind and his remained linked. Even though he wasn’t actively seeking to look into her thoughts she could feel him, still there, at the back of her mind. A soft, warm presence that felt right, comfortable.

  How could she feel like that about having a near stranger lodged in her mind? Gem had never said this would be a part of the price of working with an empath. Come to think of it, Gem hadn’t discussed the pros and cons of empathy in the past couple of years.

  She shivered, tracing her hands over her body as the water played across her taut skin. How could it be wrong to relax a little more, to explore these new sensations he had awoken in her? Wasn’t this also part of the gift of the Goddess?

  Hailey sucked in her bottom lip, her mind reeling with a dozen images. Darrel on the couch, his head tipped back, eyes closed, his hand wrapped around the base of his cock.

  Just a thought, or was he really…

  She arched, thighs parting, one hand resting against the tiles. No, it wasn’t just an image. He was touching himself, just as she had given in to the urge to stroke between her own thighs.

  She groaned, hips rolling, pressing forward against her seeking fingers. Her clit ached for more as she delved one finger between her slick lips, stroking into her welcoming walls.

  Not my hand, it’s his. Goddess!

  Hailey’s eyes drifted closed, her body lost in the waves of delicious, sensual desire that now played a devastating path up from her belly, into her breasts, teasing them as the shower stung a hundred sharp points of delight against her curved form. Her nipples throbbed, tiny tips of ecstasy that jutted out from her breasts, her clit cried out for his touch, his fingers, lips, cock, caught up in the shared images that bounced between them.

  He wasn’t here.

  But he was.

  He was on the sofa, stroking his thick cock, hips rolling, calling out her name.

  No, he was in the shower with her, his slick body pressing against hers, lips on her breast, his cock sliding between her thighs with a sudden shift of hips.

  Inner walls tightened on her finger ‑‑ no on his cock ‑‑ on both; it didn’t matter, nor did she care. She twisted in the shower, her back now pressed against the tiles, struggling to keep her balance. Pleasure liquefied her core, scorching fingers of delight seared a dozen paths through her body as her back curved, breasts lifting upwards into the path of the water, head
tipping back in the shower, her scream swallowed by the pounding water…

  Hailey blinked, her mind clouded, fogged, body aching, water tapping hard and fast on her body, slicking her hair over her eyes.

  What was she doing curled up on the bottom of the shower?

  The soft throbbing in her core reminded her just what had happened.

  Damn, she’d only heard of such connections, the power of them, how their bodies and minds could be linked with the right man. But ‑‑ but what if this was just the aftereffects of the spell, of tracing Karol back and finding out just what was going on with her old friend? She couldn’t be sure, and the last thing she wanted to do was start interrogating Darrel about it.

  What if he thought this meant they were bonded, as a magic-using couple? She wasn’t ready for that; she’d barely entered her life as a full fledged witch. Finding a mate was the last thing she wanted, or needed. After all, look what had happened to Karol.

  Darrel’s hurt flooded through their shared link.

  All right, maybe that hadn’t been fair. He was nothing like Brian.

  Dammit, she didn’t need this right now.

  I’m not trying to trap you into a relationship. Trust me please. All you have to do is look into my heart.

  Her shoulders tensed instantly. He could hear her thoughts? Fully?

  Sometimes, when they are as fused with emotion as yours now are. I won’t look where you don’t want me to. I’m keeping to this discussion. I can feel you blasting it through the house. Maybe ‑‑ perhaps you should shield a little more. I’ll withdraw until you call for me. I promise.

  His voice, the sense of warmth that she now realized had come from him, vanished as if it had never been. No, not quite, there was a glimmer of it, like a small, lone coal struggling to exist in a once bright fire.

  She needed to have a long talk with Gem before she made any more decisions. A bond with an empath that threatened to turn into a full life bond, a mage bond, or whatever the current term for those rare links might be, was still far more than she had been ready to face.