by Jillian Neal
She clung to his neck as he began sliding her slowly up and down, hitting all the right spots with each pass. She shuddered and convulsed. Her muscles tugged rhythmically as she accepted every pounding thrust.
“That’s it, baby. That feels good, doesn’t it?” Dan guided her. He felt her muscles spasm tightly against him as her energy unfurled around him.
Growling in her ear, Dan’s heart raced as he continued to thrust into the pulsing, liquid silk. “Tell me when you want more, honey. I’ll make it more.” He longed to bury himself to his hilt, but didn’t want to push her too far too fast.
“Oh, God, more!”
Dan braced as he slowly spread her legs further, and then pounded harder. “Take all you want, honey.”
She moaned in ecstasy, so he continued pushing and guiding her up and down as she writhed and bounced against him. She was perfect. Her body formed around his like she was made for him alone.
He fought the impending climax. He wasn’t leaving her until he was forced to. Linking her feet behind his waist, she pushed harder, nearly ending him.
He felt her fingernails dig into his shoulders as it built fiercely inside of her, threatening imminent explosion. The demons exulted in the exquisite pain.
“That’s it, baby. Come with me. I’m going to fill you up.” Burying himself in the paradise between her legs, he lost it all with a satisfied groan. Her body trembled and shook, and she clung to him.
A moment later, she went lax and laid her head on his shoulder, letting him carry all of her weight. He helped her down, still cradling her closely as he withdrew.
He kissed her softly through the warm falling water, and began to gently wash away everything he’d done to her. He let her hide in his embrace. The demons, now satiated and tamed, were quiet and content. They returned readily to their chains.
“My legs are all wobbly,” she confessed as he continued to support most of her weight against him.
“I’ll carry you, baby.” Picking her back up, he sat her gently on the teakwood bench that ran the length of the back wall of the shower. He moved behind her and guided her back against him.
“You know when we were in Sydney?” She quizzed, with an extremely satisfied smile on her face.
“I do seem to recall that,” Dan teased her.
Giggling, she turned to lay the side of her head against his chest. “And you asked me what my top three favorite positions were?”
“Yeah.” A smirk formed on his face.
“That is now definitely in the top three,” she giggled.
“That so?” She nodded against him. “I’ll have to remember that, but there are still several others we need to try out, you know, before you decide on the top three.”
They laid there in the serenity the steaming hot shower afforded them, with Dan cradling her tenderly against him. She didn’t seem to want to leave, and he wanted to be wherever she was.
“What should I wear on our date?”
Dan slid his hands up and down her arms. “I guess, as long as we’re talking optimistically, only being able to date at home means you can wear anything you want.”
“What’s the likelihood that we would actually eat if I wear a corset, garter, stockings, a thong, and heels?” she asked with a great deal of sass.
The demons raised their eyebrows once again. “Not a chance in hell, baby doll.”
The List
She stood, still wearing her replete smile. “I’m gonna go get ready.”
He grabbed her hand, stood up, and pulled her back in for a kiss. He whispered how much he loved her and then watched her climb out of the shower, beaming at him.
Dan attempted to scrub off the many lipstick marks she’d left all over him, while letting his mind replay how they’d gotten there, in great detail.
The lipstick blurred, but wouldn’t seem to do more than turn into a red smudge on his skin. Assuming Fionna had some kind of magic potion in one of her bags that would get lipstick off of skin, Dan shut the water off and climbed out of the shower.
He toweled off and dried his hair, before wrapping the towel loosely around his waist and stepping out the bathroom door.
“Fi, baby, I can’t get this lipstick off of my chest or my package,” he called loudly as he stepped onto the carpet, searching for Fionna. He found her dissolving into a pile of hysterical giggles. She was standing beside the door to her suite in her short, purple, terrycloth robe with green polka dots. She was right beside Garrett, who was delivering the elaborate dinner Dan had ordered and had delivered to Chloe’s room.
Garrett guffawed as Dan tried to suck the words back into his mouth.
“Wow,” Garrett drawled. “I know way too much about your relationship, but since I’m the guy pretending to be your boyfriend, maybe that’s appropriate,” he cracked up again.
“I’m so sorry!” Fionna cringed. Dan noted that she still had lipstick smears around her lips and on her chin, but it blended in with her pink skin from the shower. “I accidentally used the lip stain stuff that lasts for several hours. I grabbed the wrong tube, but I have something that will take it off. I’ll show you.” She wrinkled her nose adorably. Dan managed a nod and prayed that the heat from the shower covered his extreme embarrassment.
A minute later, he’d cracked up as well, when Garrett complimented the shade on Dan’s nipples and asked if he could borrow it sometime.
“The worst part is I can’t even tell anybody about this. Well, I mean, other than all of Iodex,” Garrett couldn’t seem to stop laughing. “Oh, and my dad would get a huge kick out of this,” he teased as Dan started to threaten his very life.
“Oh nice,” Garrett pointed to the half-moon shaped imprints on Dan’s shoulders that had very obviously come from Fionna’s fingernails. “Damn, girl, retract the claws.” He stuck the tip of his tongue between his teeth and continued laughing.
Determining the quickest way to get Garrett to leave, so that Fionna could remove the lipstick and they could continue on with their date, Dan narrowed his eyes and contemplated. He winked discreetly at Fionna and then edged towards Garrett.
“Fi, baby, do you mind Garrett telling people that you give head like nobody’s business, and that you’re the hottest damn thing I have ever had the pleasure of having my hands on?” Dan knew perfectly well that Garrett Haydenshire wouldn’t really tell anyone any of that. He just wanted to harass Dan and Fionna.
Garrett shuddered. “All right, all right, I’m going. Have fun, you two.”
“I’m so sorry about the lipstick.” As soon as Garrett closed the door, she apologized.
“You’re serious when you mark your territory, aren’t you, honey?” Knowing that there was some way to remove the marks made him able to tease her and then laugh with her again.
“Here,” she blushed violently. Dan followed her back to the bathroom. He didn’t want to ask what he had to know. He’d enjoyed just being with her laughing and joking. He didn’t want anything to stress her after their day.
With a sigh, he caught her hand as she began digging through the largest of her make-up bags. “Fi, how did Garrett get in here? You cannot open the door for anyone.” His skin was still warm from the extended shower, but his blood ran ice cold.
“No, I didn’t. I heard him knock when I went to pick out my clothes. I didn’t make a single sound, and I started to come back to get you. Garrett did his ‘Hey, Fi. It’s me. Let me in, baby.’ He always did that at my house. I knew it was him. All of that food was kind of heavy, I think.”
Dan felt the humid air permeate his lungs. His heart steadied. “’K, I just have to keep you safe, baby,” he tried to explain once again.
“I know. It’s okay.” She continued digging in the bag, but didn’t seem to want to dwell on the complications of their relationship any more than Dan did.
“What all did you order? It smelled amazing, and, oh, my gosh, those flowers! I almost cried when I saw them.”
She extracted a small, brown glass bo
ttle of oil. “I’m really sorry about this.” She apologized again. Her face was still glowing red. She tipped the bottle over a cotton ball, and Dan recognized the coconut scent.
He smiled as she began rubbing it over the lipstick on Dan’s chest. Inhaling deeply, he watched the lipstick begin to disappear.
“What is that?” Dan quizzed as he untied her robe and slid his hands to her soft skin. She shivered slightly, giving him his smile.
“It’s Hawaiian Kukui oil, coconut oil, rosehip oil, and Noni extract. My Tutu makes it. My Papa grows the candlewood trees and the coconut trees, and then my grandmother turns it into this. She lifted the bottle. “She adds a little vanilla because I like the way it smells. She sends it to me every month. It’s really good for your skin. I use it all the time. I rub it all over.”
“Might have to see if I can get in on that,” he gave her a cocky grin. She looked thrilled with the idea as she moved to his back and rubbed away the lipstick there.
“My mom used it all the time. She taught me to put it on every day, so the smell always makes me think of her. It’ll make you smell like coconut and vanilla,” she warned hesitantly.
“’S’ok; I love the smell of you on my skin after I’ve been with you.” His proclamation seemed to delight her thoroughly.
After most all of the lipstick had been removed from both of them, Dan shrugged into a button-down shirt and slacks. He decided that if she was going to have to date him only at their house, or in their hotel suite, that he could at least dress for the occasion. She was certainly worth the effort.
Fionna had disappeared behind the divider into the bedroom. Dan could see her outline dressing through the fogged glass. His heart raced as he watched her pull on stockings, and attach them to a garter.
Reminding himself that they were celebrating her victory, he drew a deep breath and let his mind fill in the details of what she would look like when he took off the dress she’d picked out.
He summoned a heat cast and lit the candles he’d placed on the glass-topped dining table between the living room and kitchenette.
He set the sushi trays he’d ordered on the table. Retrieving his phone, he flipped to the playlist he’d stolen from her phone in the locker room that morning. He’d copied over all of her playlists.
She’d given them all Hawaiian names so it took Dan and Garrett a few minutes to Google what all of them meant. Glancing back through the fogged glass, he saw that she was still working on her outfit, so he scrolled to the one he’d roughly translated as Take me deeply.
Several of the songs were most definitely written for people to make love to. He intended to ask if she wanted music the next time he had the pleasure of being with her. He was perfectly happy with her gasping moans and her calling out his name.
Smiling, he touched the first song on the lengthy playlist, listening to the beginning notes of Elvis as he belted out Can’t Help Falling in Love. Casting the phone, he raised the speaker volume until it was loud enough to be heard, but for them to be able to talk over.
Fionna stepped out of the bedroom, wearing a low-cut sweater dress that clung to her curves. She grinned at the music selection.
“You look beautiful, Fi, absolutely gorgeous.”
“I can’t believe you went to all of this trouble. You are so sweet.” She looked truly touched as she took in the flowers, candles, and wine.
“You’re worth it.” He took her hand and led her to the table. He pulled her chair out for her, making her giggle at the formality.
Her eyes lit as she spied the array of sushi. “Oh, my gosh. You didn’t have to do all of this.”
Dan rolled his eyes and ignored that. “I don’t know what any of this is, so you have to teach me.”
She looked excited to begin, but she raced back to the kitchenette and returned with small bowls for the sauces that Dan had missed on the trays.
“Sorry,” he apologized.
“For being the sweetest greatest guy ever?” she scoffed. “I didn’t know you liked Elvis,” she gestured to his phone on the counter.
Dan decided to come clean. “I do like Elvis, but I might’ve snuck into the Angels locker room, and I might’ve also stolen all of the music off of your phone. I kind of figured you had a romantic playlist or two on there.”
Though she feigned shock, she giggled at him. “You know, as the Chief of Iodex, you really have very sticky fingers, Officer Vindico.”
He cocked his jaw to the side, biting his tongue to keep from saying what he was thinking. She cracked up as she read his facial expression.
“You didn’t have to steal them. You can use my phone whenever you want. I don’t care that you copied them.”
Dan laughed at himself. “Well, I didn’t want to invade your privacy any more than, say, breaking into your locker, taking your phone from your purse, copying all of your music, going through drawers in your room, and having my guys hack your Amazon accounts.” He very effectively had her guffawing. “It did all seem logical at the time.”
“I should be mad at you,” she declared, though she was still laughing. Dan nodded his agreement as Fionna pointed out a sushi roll. She explained that it was a tuna roll, her favorite, and offered him some soy sauce and wasabi.
“But you won’t be mad at me, because there is still lipstick on my member.”
She covered her mouth to keep from spitting out the sushi she’d just eaten as she cracked up again.
“Deal” she agreed after she managed to swallow. They ate and talked, laughed and sipped wine for several hours. Dan put away the leftover sushi and they cuddled up on the couch.
As the lights and noise of Las Vegas tilted into full swing, Dan cradled Fionna on his chest in their bed. She clung to him after they’d engaged in slow passionate love-making, this time Dan had kept his eyes locked on hers as he’d made their hearts, their souls, and their bodies one. He reveled in her exposed body wound around his in the candlelit after glow.
“I love you,” he whispered as he ran his fingers through her soft, silky hair as it splayed across his chest.
“I will never get tired of hearing you say that.” His declaration seemed to have taken her breath away.
“Go to sleep, baby. I’m right here.” Dan watched her closely as her energy smoothed, and her rhythms calmed, into low rolling waves.
It was an entirely different set of demons that summoned Dan from the bed late in the night. He quietly slipped to his briefcase and pulled out a blank notepad from one of his dossiers. He began listing the names. Each mark of his pen fed the demons and chafed the scars on his soul. He wrote every name of every member of the Interfeci in order of importance; all of the big players, every single one by name and job description within the organization. The demons rejoiced as he sliced his pen through Ferratus, Vitrio, Cascavel and then Adderand. He stared at the list, and let the hate set its icy chill through him once again.
Fionna shifted in the bed, seeking his warmth. He moved back to her quickly, the demons be damned. He tenderly held her on his chest and stared at her in the lights of the Strip.
And in that endless moment of calm serenity, Dan knew that all he wanted was to give her all of him. She was the only thing in the entire vast universe that he needed, and yet he couldn’t really have her. He felt the consuming fire begin to burn in his gut again. The demons swam faster and pulled fiercely at the weakened manacles. He began formulating his plan.
From the Author
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Turn the page for a preview of All But Lost, the sixth book in The Gifted Realm series. Coming soon...
Preview of All But Lost
Book 6 of The Gifted Realm
“This is Vindico,” Dan’s vicious mood was evident in his tone.
“Dan, it’s Cahill,” The Iodex officer running the switchboards confirmed. “Kilpatrick got lucky, I suppose. He pulled over a Mercedes with an expired tag near the state line. It was Ferratus. He was loaded down with semi-automatics, MAC-10s; the works. They were headed to D.C.
“We just got Pravus on an interstate cam on 64. I can’t think where he might be heading if it’s not to the Haydenshires’. Everyone knows the big shindig is there today,” Cahill lamented.
Feeling his heart seize and his blood run ice cold, Dan was unable to speak. He stared around at the hundreds of people in attendance. Fionna edged closer, still afraid to be too close to him.
“He’s not coming here. He’s not getting that far!” Dan spat furiously, when he regained the ability to speak. Every Iodex officer that heard the conversation on their phones wore the same stunned, terror-filled expression. Governor Haydenshire had casted Logan’s phone and pulled the signal into his own. He’d heard everything Cahill had to say.
“Let us know what you want us to do,” Cahill urged.
“Will do,” Dan confirmed. He hung up the phone. His own pulse rang in his ears. “I’m sorry everyone, but the party is over. Please move quickly to your cars and head home.”
