Light Up The Night: a Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy Romance (Lick of Fire Book 2)

by Jacqueline Sweet

  "Bentham," the girl replied with a wink. "I'm on probation." She stuck out her hand. "Hannah Oleander Hearthhome."

  Tamsin took Hannah's hand. She expected a shake but was instead pulled to her feet. "Thanks," she said. The girl's grip had been like steel. Her hand ached from where she'd squeezed it.

  "Better get a move on, First Year." Hannah pointed at the door to the stairs with her chin.

  Tamsin had the oddest feeling like she was being tested by this girl. But how and why? It didn't matter. All she wanted was to find her room, unpack her bag, and meet her new roommates.

  As she trudged up the six flights of stairs, she recalled all of the stories her parents had told her about their university days. Both of them counted their college roommates as their best friends, even now. The bonds they'd forged—the camaraderie and shared stress—it had built a love that had never faded. And here, in this new town, in this new phase of her life, Tamsin was craving that connection.

  Her bag seemed to get heavier the higher she went. Until by the time she reached the sixth floor she was lifting it up onto each step with great effort, her admittedly tiny muscles standing out like cables under her skin. Her entire body was soaked in sweat. Her hair was flat and sideways and frizzy all at once. When she met her new roomies, they were going to think she was completely insane.

  All the way up, the signs were dancing squiggles. They seemed to be getting worse. The letters weren't just squirming, but actively battling each other on every sign. It was no different when she finally reached the sixth floor of Bentham Hall. She glanced at the doors—aooden, old, well-maintained--and the brass plaques on each were unreadable. How could she figure out which door was hers? It was room 627, so perhaps she could count them and figure out which was the twenty-seventh, but where did you start counting from?

  The rooms were arranged in a figure eight, looping around two separate courtyards--one of which was the house's cafeteria and the other was a pleasant looking park. Several common rooms, a modest library, and a study room were interspersed among the dorm rooms.

  Tamsin propped her bag against the wall and stretched her aching shoulders until they popped. She was going to be sore in the morning. It was even hotter up here on the top floor, and humid. The windows were dripping with condensation and the wine dark carpet under her feet felt disturbingly squishy.

  She tried knocking on doors, to ask her neighbors which room was hers, but no one seemed to be home. It was the last day of move in and most people had already arrived and were likely out buying their textbooks, laying in the grass in the quad, or trying to catch the stray papers in the lobby.

  Turning a corner, Tamsin saw Hannah unlocking a dorm room. "Hi!" Tamsin called out. "Can I ask you a question?"

  "Oh, are you lost?" Hannah asked in a cutesy-but-not-really voice. "Poor First Year."

  Tamsin swallowed her annoyance. "Do you know where room 627 is? I can't find it, because all the words in the Hall have turned into spaghetti."

  "Spaghetti?" Hannah asked, her brows lowering in confusion.

  "It's a food that people eat?" Tamsin replied.

  "I've never heard of it."

  "It's pretty common."

  "Oh, that's probably why I've never heard of it. I don't eat common food."

  Tamsin closed her eyes and counted to ten. “Do you know where the room is?"

  Hannah pointed at the room next to hers. "Right there," she chirped. "I guess we're neighbors."

  "Fantastic." Tamsin flashed a smile that she didn't mean back at Hannah and waited until the girl went into her room before she tried the door. It was unlocked. Her roommates must be home.

  Tamsin took a deep breath.

  First impressions were so important. Sure, she looked like a sweat monster from the sweat swamp, but that didn't have to ruin anything. She was going to meet her roomies and they were going to be best friends forever. It was written in her bones. It had been one of the fundamental promises of the college experience.

  The crushing loneliness that she'd only kept at bay by not thinking about it—and by sometimes kissing Thomas? It was about to be vanquished.

  Maybe she was putting too much pressure on herself, but she'd never been good at going easy.

  She pushed the door open and strode into the room confidently. "Hello?" she called out. "I'm Tamsin and we're going to be roommates."

  The room was spacious and well lit. It was a triple and had three beds in three alcoves off of a larger sitting area with a couch and chairs and a low table. But Tamsin didn't see any of that.

  There was a gorgeous man in her room.

  And he was naked.

  He was leaning against a window and the late afternoon light spilled across him like honey, deepening the shadows cast by his muscular arms and ripped chest. He had an eight pack, a distant calculating part of Tamsin's mind noted in awe. Had she ever seen an eight pack before?

  That distant calculating part was the only part of Tamsin's mind that was working.

  The man had long shaggy brown hair that framed his unshaven face. He was reading a thick tattered book by the light of the window and on the bridge of his nose perched frameless wire glasses.

  The man looked up at her slowly. There was a coiled energy to him that Tamsin could sense from across the room, like he was an animal about to pounce. He unhooked his wire glasses from his ears and placed them in his book to mark his page.

  Tamsin tried not to look at the rest of his extremely naked body.

  She failed.

  She looked a lot.

  "Can I help you, darlin'?" he asked in a voice that was quiet and low with a hint of a growl to it. The growl slid right up inside Tamsin, like a hand tracing a path up her thigh.

  Tamsin tried to think of words to say.

  She knew words, right? She tried to think of words that might be appropriate when you walk into your dorm room and see the single most sexiest man you've ever seen in your entire life, naked in front of you. But her brain just threw out words at random—sweaty, refrigerator, window, naked, cock.

  She closed her eyes and took a breath, which just made things worse. The scent of him was strong in the room. It was a spicy musk, like cinnamon and cloves and manly sweat. Her knees trembled.

  He cocked his head and watched her. His face was unreadable.

  "Are we roommates?" she asked when she could finally find her voice.

  The naked man cocked an eyebrow at her. "This school might be permissive, but it's not that permissive. They don't let good girls like you room with bad men like me."

  “Why are you naked?” The question tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop it.

  “I get hot,” he said as if that explained it all. “Anyway, it’s my room.”

  "Is this room 627?"

  He shook his head slowly. His hair fanned out and Tamsin caught a glimpse of his eyes—so brown they were nearly black.

  "Can you tell me where it is?" Tamsin felt glued to the spot. If she moved, she might collapse. Was it this man making her weak, or was it carrying her impossibly heavy bags up six flights of stairs?

  The man crossed the room towards her. He was utterly unashamed of his nakedness. Tamsin tried not to watch his cock swing back and forth as he moved.

  "You know how to read, yeah?" he growled. "They have these new inventions called numbers. They're on every door. Go look for the six followed by the two followed by the seven. You can't miss it."

  He seized her forearm in his grip and dragged her to the door.

  "The numbers are broken," Tamsin said. She found an inner fire. "And I'll thank you to never touch me without my permission again."

  The man released her arm and stepped back. "What do you mean the numbers are broken?"

  "Wait a minute. You were reading a book? How were you reading a book?"

  "Usually they cover that before you get to college," the man quipped.

  Tamsin walked across the room and picked up the book. The words were a chaotic jumble. "
How can you read this?"

  "Maybe you're in the wrong place?" the man placated. He thought she was bananas. “Let me call the front desk and see if they can get you some help." He picked up the phone receiver from the wall and dialed, then cursed. "It's out of order."

  "I unplugged their phone,” Tamsin said. She slapped the book with her palm. "When I look at this book, the letters run around like they're afraid to be seen. Everyone else in the dorm is having the same problem, except you. Why?"

  "Everyone?" the man asked. Realization dawned on his face. "Give me a minute." He left the room and shouted down the hall, "Gray! Get in here."

  The man came back in and tugged on a pair of jeans, but no underwear. He didn't even fasten the button, just left the top open with a thatch of dark brown hair peeking up. It somehow made him sexier.

  Would Tamsin ever be able to get the image of him out of her mind? Clearly he was a bit of a dick and entirely inappropriate to date, but she could look at him. She could look at him a lot. There was no harm in that, was there?

  A minute later the door burst open and a thin animated boy followed. "Oh my dear Cash, you are missing it. Missing it! You should see their faces down at the front desk. It's complete and utter chaos. I truly have outdone myself." The man stopped when he saw Tamsin and then glided in next to her. "Well, who do we have here? Cash, my dear roommate, we have been visited by an angel. A surly one to be sure, a bit smelly as well, and she has a glare to be fair, but an angel nonetheless." He swept down onto one knee before her, took her hand in his and gently pressed his lips to the back of her hands. "Charmed, my dear. My life and my hope are yours."

  He looked like no one she'd ever seen. His skin was pale with a golden glow to it and his hair was silver—not gray or white—silver, shot through with gold. Ruby earrings dotted both his ears. His skin was smooth and flawless and his eyes were golden as well. He was wearing a lilac suit and a traveling cape each faintly embroidered with hundreds of arcane symbols. He gave the impression of being a dashing elf from some faraway place.

  "My name is Tamsin." She let her hand linger in his. Everything about him screamed magic, from the symbols on his clothing to the wand at his hip. This was a man who could teach her things. But what would he want in return? The way he looked at her suggested several things he was interested in.

  "And I am Gray Aisles. My laconic and frequently nude dear friend here is Cash. No one knows if that is his first or last name." He dropped his voice to a theatrical whisper, "Not even Cash."

  Tamsin couldn't help but smile. "Gray Aisles? That's an unusual name."

  "Don't get him started," Cash warned. "Once you get him talking about his favorite subject, he'll never stop."

  "What's his favorite subject?" Tamsin asked. The energy in the room had softened.

  "Myself, of course," Gray announced. In one smooth motion he stood up, twirled, threw his cape onto Cash, and plopped onto the couch, pulling Tamsin into the seat next to him. He sat very near her, his hip touching hers and she found herself lost in his physicality. His skin was flawless and nearly pore-less. Not a hair on his head was out of place and while it gave the impression of having golden highlights, she couldn't see any particular strand that was golden. His eyes though were the real killer. They were depthless pools of gold that she felt herself falling in to.

  "Are all the guys here like you?" she asked.

  Cash laughed bitterly.

  Gray brushed a strand of hair from her forehead. "My dear, the other men at this school are but faint imitations of the glory contained in this one legendary room." He put one arm around her shoulder.

  "She doesn't like being touched," Cash growled as he sat hard on the opposite couch.

  "Indeed?" Gray removed his arm and shifted himself so that his body was as near her as possible without touching. "The result of a past trauma? A natural shyness?" His eyes lit up. “Or an unnatural shyness? Have you been hexed?"

  "I just don't like being touched," Tamsin said.

  "Sexual inexperience then?" Gray grinned at her. "I know the cure for that. I am an epic lover.”

  "An epic fail lover," Cash muttered.

  Tamsin snorted.

  "The kind of bedfellow that great poems are written about!" He was on his feet again, gesturing grandly.

  "Limericks, mostly," Cash added.

  "If you need greater experience in the ways of the flesh," Gray fell to his knees before her and again came close enough so that she could feel the heat of his body without actually touching her. "Then I would be a delighted and skillful teacher."

  "I can't watch this," Cash groaned. "This isn't why I called you in." There was a glass in his hand, but Tamsin hadn't seen where it had come from. From beneath the couch he produced a bottle of smoky amber liquid.

  "It wasn't to relieve this delightful creature of the burdens of her virginity?"

  "I'm not a virgin," Tamsin said.

  Gray eyed her. "But aren't you? Really?"

  "Take your spell off her," Cash said. He poured a finger of the amber liquid into the glass, handed the glass to Gray, and then drank from the bottle.

  "You did this? The scrambled words thing?“ Tamsin said. Anger flared up on her skin again. The flames felt almost familiar now. "Do you know what a pain in the ass it's been to be unable to read today?"

  Gray fell onto the couch laughing. "I know! It's so marvelous. I've been stalking the halls and watching the fallout. I've truly outdone myself. Of course you can't tell anyone. This would violate the terms of my academic probation. But oh, such chaos! Such life! I've turned an ordinary humdrum move-in day into a memory for everyone. Do you know what a gift that is?"

  "Turn it off," Tamsin said. Her voice sounded strange in her ears, deeper and rough-edged.

  The flames of her anger poured forth.

  Gray opened his mouth to prattle on, but then stopped when he saw her eyes. "Did you know that you're currently on fire?"

  11

  Something Burning & Something Wet

  Flames crawled down her hands and arms. The couch under her smoldered. Acrid smoke filled the air.

  Cash leapt away, his eyes wide with terror.

  Gray slid an ivory wand from a holster on his hip. He muttered spell words that rattled around in Tamsin's head like pennies in a can, but nsothing happened.

  Cash growled from the farthest corner of the room. His eyes shone red and a white mist rose from his skin to join the smoke of the burning couch.

  "Take the hex off me," Tamsin said. "I am too tired for this bullshit and your games."

  Gray backed away from her with his hands raised. "Yes, well, I would love to but you seem to be extremely on fire now and I cannot get close enough to you to do so. If you could just take a breath and cancel whatever incredibly impressive enchantment this is that you're doing, I would like nothing more than to help."

  Cash fell to the floor and began writhing. The mist boiling off his body intensified.

  "Take it off!" Tamsin screamed. The flames wanted to pour forth from her mouth. The door inside her was wide open. She couldn't feel her body at all. There was a sensation of heat and pressure, like a migraine, but focused in the direct center of her head. She was holding on to something. What was it? What would happen if she let go? She closed her eyes and eased back.

  Gray was yelling at her now. He sounded very upset. But the world was so far away and the heat on her skin felt so good after all the stress of the day.

  She could just let go and see what happened.

  The door opened behind her and closed with a slam.

  "Friends," an accented voice called out. "I found an unattended backpack in the hall. I believe it belongs to the pretty girl I helped this morning. Perhaps I could return it to her and we could have a, what do you call it? A cute meet?"

  Tamsin turned and the helpful enormous boy from outside, Rye, was standing there with a look of utter bafflement on his face.

  "Oh look," he said. "She is here. And she is on fire."<
br />
  Tamsin smiled at him and the flames died out. She was about to say hi, when uncounsciousness took her.

  * * *

  There was something wet happening to her stomach. It felt like long slow swirly licks.

  People were arguing above her. Men's voices.

  Tamsin smelled something burning and something sweet.

  She opened her eyes.

  "She is awake." Rye was kneeling over her, with two long thin paint brushes gripped in his teeth. He was painting on her belly with silvery blue paint that glowed as it touched her and then faded into little more than a shadow.

  "What is this?" Tamsin tried to sit up, but firm hands pushed her down.

  "Sorry, darlin'," Cash said. "You need to stay still while the boy works."

  "What are you doing to me?" Tamsin was exhausted, but panic cut through the tiredness.

  Rye put down the paint brush and removed the ones from his mouth. He smiled at her with his shy, sad mouth. "I am sorry. I should have asked permission, but we didn't know how long you would be unconscious. The thing you did—opening a door to elemental flame—it's incredibly dangerous and draining. We feared—”

  Gray coughed pointedly.

  Rye nodded. "I feared that you were seriously injured and might slip into a coma. My friends had other opinions."

  "I thought we should call the school nurse," Gray said in a voice that made it clear he still thought that was the best option.

  "And I thought you should sleep it off," Cash said. "In your own bed."

  "How long was I out?" Tamsin asked. Had she missed the whole day?

  She had school supplies to buy.

  She had to familiarize herself with the campus.

  She had to meet her roommates.

  "This glyph I am painting on you," Rye continued. "It is a healing symbol. It focuses your energy and draws upon nature to aid you in a swift recovery. But, I was considering adding another symbol to focus your powers. Would you like that? Do not worry. It’s only temporary.“

  Tamsin shook her head. "No. I don't know what my powers are. I don't know anything. I didn't even know magic existed until like three days ago."