The house was located in an upscale neighborhood filled with stately homes, an abundance of trees and nicely manicured lawns. Small landscape lights illuminated the path from the drive and a post light burned next to the door. She climbed from her vehicle, and gently shut the door. The car alarm beeped softly as she locked it.
The chirp was answered by a horrific squawk. Instinctively ducking, Nia searched the branches of the tree in the neighbor’s yard for the source. And, as expected, she found the large black and white bird on a low branch. Mayhem had come to call again.
She swooped off the limb and landed on the sidewalk ten feet from Nia. The bitch hopped forward, rather aggressively. Nia stomped her foot and waved her arms to scare the freaking chatterbox away. When the motion didn’t have the desired effect, Nia pictured a lightning bolt in her mind and let it fly toward the bird. With a squawk and a spray of feathers, Mayhem took flight and disappeared into the night sky.
Nia jerked her T-shirt down, and then hiked her overnight bag higher on her shoulder. The moon’s temporary position must be affecting her as much as the mortals around her. She must be crazy to be doing what she was about to do. She paused to search her memory for any time—in any of her lives—she’d hopped into a man’s bed so rapidly.
But it didn’t feel rushed. Just right. There had been time in past incarnations where she’d felt like she’d known someone forever. But it had never been the case of lovers or husbands. And after thousands of years of existence, there’d been plenty of those.
She’d been married thirty, no thirty-one times. And she’d loved each of her husbands. She’d never had children, unlike her sisters. Her head had been too much in the clouds to spare time for kids. But, then, she’d never really wanted any. It would be too difficult to see her children die at the end of their mortal lives. While she’d be reborn in the next generation, her children would be born mortal. Therefore, they wouldn’t be reincarnated. Once dead, they’d remain dead.
The one bad thing about her life following the path of a mortal existence was that she was born with detailed memories of each lifetime. She remembered every husband and lover from past lives. She tried to avoid comparing the men, but sometimes, it happened. And right now, not having slept with Thomas, she had a massive sense of anticipation. Much more than in any other age.
The curtain in the large picture window flicked to the side. And Thomas appeared in the scant opening. The drapes floated closed, and ten seconds later, the front door opened, spilling soft yellow light and a shadow across the path. There was a halo around Thomas’s torso, accentuating his broad shoulders, lean waist and narrow hips. His golden locks glinted in the reflected porch light, and the stubble on his cheeks winked with red highlights.
He leaned his weight onto one hip, tipping his head to the opposite side. “Are you going to wait for sunrise there, or would you like to come in?”
Her heart raced at the sight of his casual posture and rugged good looks. She started up the path toward him. “I’d love to come in.” She paused in front of him and laid her hand on his chest. Beneath her palm, his heart galloped in time with hers.
Lowering his head, he hovered his lips over hers. “Thank you for coming over.” The whisper of his breath painted her mouth with promise. He laid his hand over hers.
A halo of golden brown circled the edges of his green eyes. Flecks of gray winked in the depths in his irises. Nia lost herself in the dark blond lashes, gilded by the light reflected on the porch. Lifting her chin, she offered her lips.
Thomas claimed her mouth with a tender, searching kiss. His lips quested over her mouth as he laid his hand on her shoulder blade and drew her closer. Taking a step backward, he moved into the house without releasing her mouth. She followed willingly.
Reaching behind her, Thomas swung the door shut. He flinched when it banged closed, and pulled his lips away.
Resting a hand on her shoulder he pressed the other to her mouth, silencing her question. “Shh. Didn’t mean for the door to slam. I’m afraid I might have woken Hailey.” His body was tense as he cocked an ear toward the stairwell.
Nothing but silence competed with the rush of blood in Nia’s ears. The noise likely hadn’t reached the girl’s room.
“Whew,” he breathed a relieved sigh. Then refocused his attention on her.
The muscles of his chest shifted under her palms as he moved his hands behind her back. Rounding them over the curve of her buttocks, he drew her closer, until the hard ridge of his erection pressed into her belly. The pressure was divine. She wanted to climb him like a tree until she could wrap her legs around his waist.
She slid her arms around his neck, and speared her fingers into the hair curling over the collar of his shirt. Kissing him with eyes wide open, she was warmed by the fire in his gaze. He thrust his tongue deep within her mouth as the kiss turned hungry and searing.
Moving his hands behind her thighs, he lifted her and strode to the stairs. As he climbed, she locked her arms around his neck and her ankles behind his back, opening her center to him. His cock bumped into her with each step he climbed. At the top, he turned left, away from a slightly opened door, and moved stealthily across the landing and down the hallway.
When he entered his room, he pressed her body against the wall. The light switch dug into her back, but she barely noticed, given what was digging into her front. Clutching her hands to his head, she battled his tongue. Her body slipped sideways as Thomas reached for the door and eased it shut with a very quiet snick.
He righted their bodies, and rocked his hips into her. Nia moaned as his erection nudged toward her opening.
She wove her fingers through his hair and tugged. “Thomas, I want you.”
He gasped. “Want you, too.” Thomas gripped the hem of her shirt and pulled up, skimming his fingers over her ribs as he lifted the fabric.
The lightweight garment floated as he dropped it to the floor. Without taking his gaze from her body, he cupped her breasts and flicked his thumbs across her nipples. Delicious pressure built within her, making it difficult to draw a breath. Nia reached for the buttons on his shirt. Slipping each one from the hole, she spread the fabric wide, revealing thick red-gold hair on his chest. Holding her body in place with his hips, he helped by pulling the tails of the shirt from his jeans. Together, they slipped the fabric over his shoulders until it fell clear of his hands.
Thomas released the front clasp of her bra, exposing her breasts. He claimed one nipple, laving a circle around it before sucking it deeply between his lips. An answering tug built between her legs as a tingle of lust speared from his mouth to her belly. She sighed as he moved to the other breast, giving it equal attention. Jerking her hips forward, she opened more to him.
She wiggled her hand between their bodies and stroked her palm over his erection.
He groaned, grabbed her wrist, and stilled her motion. “You’ll undo me.” His husky voice wrapped around her senses, an urge she couldn’t resist.
Raining kisses along his cheeks and jaw, she begged. “Take me to bed, Thomas.”
Lifting her away from the wall, he slid his hands under her butt then strode beyond a small seating area to the king-sized bed, where the covers had already been turned down. When he lowered her to the mattress, it felt like being dropped onto a cloud. Rising up, she shrugged the bra from her shoulders, and then tossed it over the edge.
Thomas licked his lips and watched her, his hard-on straining the front of his jeans. Oh, goddess, she wanted to see what was behind his fly. To egg him on, she braced her feet wide on the bed and let her knees fall to the side, exposing her very core to his gaze. She cupped one of her breasts and lifted, offering herself to him.
“Nia, you are stunning.” His smile was slow and wicked as he reached for her waistband. “But I need to see more.”
He flicked open the button on her jeans, and lowered the zipper. Before jerking them downward, he spread his hand over her belly, slipped it into the opening and curve
d his fingers over her mound. Damp heat and zipping shivers rushed between her legs in answer to the fiery brand of his hand. She squirmed as he dragged his fingers over her panties. His brow furrowed as he concentrated on rubbing her clit, then sliding his fingertips along her slit. Light flared behind her eyes with each stroke of his fingers. She arched her head back on the bed and rode the sensation as he massaged her.
“Thomas, please. It’s not enough.”
He pressed his mouth to her belly and licked into her navel. “No, it isn’t,” he mumbled against her flesh.
Pulling his hand out of her pants, he wound his fingers into her panties and jeans and tugged down. Nia lifted her hips to help. The bottoms got tangled with the sandals she still wore. He chuckled softly as he worked the first shoe free, then pulled the fabric from her leg. While he struggled with the clasp on the second shoe, Nia ran her naked foot along the bare flesh of his chest. The crisp and springy hair tickled her toes. He finally pulled her other leg free and flung the jeans and shoe to the ground.
Grasping her ankles, he jerked her hips to the edge of the bed. Her legs slid over his shoulders as he dropped to his knees between them. Softly stroking his fingers over her folds, he dipped the tip of one inside her. She angled her hips, begging for more. When she tangled her hands into his hair, he pressed his mouth against her and lapped her with his tongue. Her entire body quivered as he laved and sucked, tenderly nipping her clit. He slipped a finger inside her, setting a rhythm that spoke to her soul. Sensation, hot and erotic, built within her as he added a second finger, then twisted to stroke upward, pushing her toward a precipice with his mouth and hands.
Color burst behind her eyes as a squeak built in her lungs. She bit her lip to keep from crying out as every single neuron in her body fired with pleasure. Thomas continued to lick and nibble, not slowing the motion of his fingers as her muscles squeezed, and tensed. Tears leaked from the corner of her eyes as he finally stilled between her legs. Her inner thighs burned from the stubble on his cheeks, but she didn’t care. He kissed away the sting and pulled his fingers from her body. Slipping his hands behind her legs, he gently lifted them, and then placed her feet on the bed. She scooted backward on the mattress, her knees still open and welcoming. He popped the snap on his jeans and carefully lowered the zipper. Hooking his hands under the waistband, he shoved the jeans and boxer-briefs down his legs. His erection bobbed proudly against his body as he freed it. A drop of come beaded atop the broad head, the shaft wide and hard as steel.
She licked her lips, knowing where he was planning to put that.
He stepped free of the pool of material at his feet. Twisting at the waist, he reached toward the bedside table.
“Wait.” She stopped him and braced herself on the pillows behind her. “I’m on birth control. And I’m clean. We don’t need a condom. Unless you want to.”
Heat flared in his eyes, deepening the color to intense turquoise. His chest rose with a raspy indrawn breath. “I’m clean as well. Are you sure?”
“Very sure.” She sent him a large grin, and a tiny mental command to join her on the bed.
She needn’t have expended that energy. His gaze was eager and incendiary as he climbed onto the bed between her legs. He pressed her back to the mattress and settled, his shaft probing her entryway. Sliding up, the hair on his chest rubbed against her breasts. The skin of his taut belly pressed hotly into hers.
Reaching between their bodies, he guided his tip into her opening. “Nia, you feel so good.” He rocked his hips, seating himself further inside her.
His girth filled her as he rode completely home. Their bodies fit together perfectly, his hard to her soft. She arched her back and lowered her hands to his butt, pulling him closer as he moved within her. Setting a slow, easy pace, each go-for-broke stroke took a lifetime but passed in a blink of sensation. Tension built once more, as feeling and light filled her as much as he did. Pulling away, he slid back home again, and again, crooning words into her ears, against her cheeks.
Nia locked her ankles behind his back, and sprinkled kisses along his neck and collarbone. He gasped when her lips closed around his flat nipple. She nipped, then tongued away the sting. His breath shortened along with his stroke, until he pounded ravenously into her. Shoving a hand between them, he pressed a finger against the sensitive nub at the top of her folds, the friction insatiable, undeniable. Pressure climbed until she was so close to the edge. The tension translated to his body. His quiet groans jelled with her moans, until they sang an age-old song of breath and desire together.
“So damn good, baby. So fucking right,” he whispered into her ear. “Let go, come with me.”
Color flared in her brain as electricity crackled along her spine. An orgasm, as glittery as the heavens, flashed over her. She soared on a sky of sensation as he groaned his own release into her ear. They were so damn right together.
Thomas collapsed on her, his weight warm and welcome. She kept her legs wrapped around his waist and teased the ends of his silky hair with her fingers as they drifted on a sensual sea of feeling. His shaft continued to throb, hot and hard, within her sheath.
He struggled to his elbows, his hips digging into her as he rose slightly above her. She immediately missed the contact between his upper body and hers. She tweaked the hair on his chest, then circled his flat nipple. He groaned and rocked his pelvis in response.
He smiled into her eyes. “I was right.” His tone was gloating and filled with humor. He pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth.
“About what?”
“We’re good together.” He nibbled the edge of her jaw as he lifted off her. Rolling to his back, he pulled her along with him, until she was tucked against his body, her head on his chest. Thomas’s heart beat strongly under her cheek. Sighing, she nestled into his warmth.
Resting one hand on her head, he stroked his fingertips of his other one along her arm. “We didn’t move too fast, did we? I’m sorry if you felt rushed.”
She lifted her head and gazed into his eyes. “Don’t know if you noticed, but I was doing an awful lot of begging. So if any rushing was being done, it was by me. And trust me, this is so far from my usual style, no one I know would recognize me. Well, except maybe Aerie.”
“Ari? Who is he?”
“He’s a she, and one of my sisters. Out of all of them, she’d be the one to think I’m capable of falling into bed with a man I barely know.”
He pressed her head to his chest again, and snugged both arms around her. “How many sisters do you have?”
“Ah, trying to get to know me better, huh?”
Laughter rumbled around his chest. “Better late than never.”
“Okay, I’ll play.” She sat up next to him. Too bad she couldn’t tell him her entire story yet. When the time was right, she’d have to reveal herself as a Muse to him. But that time wasn’t right this instant.
Her breasts brushed against his groin as she reached over him to snag the sheet and pull it up. His cock jumped to life again. Amusement colored her voice when she mock-scolded him. “Down, boy. We’re just talking here.” She shifted until her legs lay over his hips.
“Can’t help it. Parts of my anatomy have minds of their own.”
She dragged the comforter around her shoulders, suddenly shy in his presence. Scooting up against the pillows, Thomas tucked the sheet around his hips, covering his lap. He laid his hand on her knee and fixed a serious look on his face.
She swept a hand down his cheek, pausing to run her thumb over his lips. “To answer your question, I have eight sisters.”
His brow jerked up. “Eight? God, bathroom time must have been difficult to schedule while you were growing up. Are you close in age?”
“My oldest sister is thirty-six. The youngest, the twins, are twenty-four.”
“And you’re…”
“Twenty-seven.” More like eight-thousand and twenty-seven. But he’d never understand that.
“Do you get together o
ften?”
“Weekly. We all live in Delphi. It’s always been home.” In this lifetime. She’d actually lived all over the world. “In fact, I’m meeting Polly, my next oldest sibling, for coffee tomorrow.” She glanced at the clock. “Today. After a fabulous breakfast of French toast.”
He twisted his head to look at the digital time display. He dragged his hand down his face, the stubble on his chin rasping pleasantly. “I didn’t realize how late it was.”
“You mean early,” she teased.
His teeth flashed white in his smile. “Are all your sisters as good natured as you?”
“Calliope, the oldest, has embraced the bitchy side of her nature. The force is dark within her.”
Thomas laughed as he tackled her backward onto the bed, pressing her into the mattress. His hot, hard body covered hers and he slanted a kiss across her lips. “I’m more of a Star Trek kind of guy. I like to think of myself as cool and analytical, like Spock.”
“False. You are way more Kirk than Spock. New Kirk, not the old guy.”
“You think?” He captured her lower lip between his teeth and tugged. The bed creaked quietly as he worked his thigh between her legs and pressed up. His erection poked into her hip, demonstrating his eagerness.
“Oh, yes,” she breathed. She closed her eyes and let sensation flow over her body until it lodged between her legs. Raising one knee, she draped her leg over his, twisting to face him, opening to his desire for her again. “An incurable flirt.”
His lips closed over hers and he took them both deeper into the kiss with his demanding tongue. He rolled on top of her and slid home within her body, making her forget all about her sisters, magpies and the challenge she faced in the very near future.
Chapter 12
Thomas and Nia rolled out of bed at half past six and grabbed a shower in his spa-like master bath together. Waking with her curled in his arms had been blissful. Being with Nia in the steamy, glass-enclosed space was better than heaven. But when he would have started playing, she’d thrown a washcloth at his head and reminded him she wasn’t actually supposed to be here until a little later. Thomas finished the shower in a pouty mood and semi-aroused. Soaping her back without venturing around her front was truly the hardest thing he’d done recently.
Mayhem: Goddesses Of Delphi Page 9
