by CJ Ellisson
Honor had just nodded at that, her mind still on the verge of yammering away to itself in the corner. She wasn’t sure how that one would work. After all, ‘I’m sorry, but a troll ripped the front door off my house’ probably wasn’t something they heard on a daily basis.
She frowned, would that come under an act of Troll, or act of God? Some paranormals associated with different pantheons could get rather pissed off to be associated with the Abrahamic religions.
“Thanks, Zane. I’d feel much better knowing you guys are out there watching our backs. Whoever this is, they’ve got some pretty serious grunt to throw.” Baron shook the hand of a large guy with more hair than Wolverine. Honor was pretty sure the sharp canines that showed every time he smiled meant that he wasn’t human. More canine…werewolf or weredog, she didn’t know enough about them to make a guess on which.
“No problem. Me ’n the gang’ll stay outside, out of sight. Well, apart from Trent…you know how he prefers to guard things.”
The rumble of laughter from both men hinted at a shared background, but it was a clue she wasn’t up to deciphering at the moment. Her slight movement at Baron’s side caught his attention and he glanced down. Taking one look at her face, he turned back to Zane.
“Thanks man, I’ll leave you to deal with the outside security. I need to get Miss Croft…settled and comfortable. She’s had a hell of a night. Dealt with a redcap herself, with a poker.”
Surprise, then approval filtered over Zane’s expression and he offered her a smile. “Hey…well done. They’re tricky little bastards…err, excuse language. Good job on knowing about iron.”
Honor managed a weak smile in return. “Thanks. Pure luck really. I didn’t know whether the poker was iron or not.”
Yeah, it was probably less about the iron content of the poker as it was the fact you smashed his face in with a blunt object, the nasty little voice in the back of her head sniped.
“Well, it’s a good job it did. Without it, wouldn’t have mattered how hard you hit him, he’d have kept coming back for more. Just one touch of iron and poof!” Zane spread his hands like he was mimicking an explosion. “Little beggars crumple like a house of cards.”
“Really?” She stood up straighter, feeling less like a monster. “It didn’t matter how hard I hit him? But his f-face….” She started to stammer and paused. Oh, for heaven’s sake Honor, get it together.
Taking a deep breath, she sorted herself out and tried again. “His face…there was blood and…and other stuff everywhere. I’ve never—”
She couldn’t get any further, her throat closing over at the violence she’d been capable of. Understanding flooded Zane’s expression as Baron pulled her closer. The shakes were back.
“It wouldn’t have mattered how hard to you hit him, Honor,” Baron said gently. “The iron did the damage, not you. As soon as it touched him, it’s like decay? Just a lot faster, and unstoppable.”
“Yeah?” She looked between them, gaze going from one man to the other. They knew more about this kind of thing than she did, way more than she did.
“Okay, if you say so.” She released a little sigh of relief. The guilt at causing a creature’s death still remained, but at least she hadn’t…actually bashed his head in.
“I do,” Baron turned her and urged her toward the door. “Now, let’s get you settled. Catch you later, Zane.”
She waved at the other man over her shoulder and let Baron lead her where he would. She was way too tired to argue. Silence stretched out between them as he led her upstairs. Even on that short walk the precautions he’d already taken for her security were obvious. There was a guard at what remained of the front door and another on the stairs. If either were human, then she was a monkey’s uncle. There wasn’t a guard at the top of the stairs, for which she was grateful. Tension joined the silence between her and Baron with each step closer to her bedroom door.
Oh hell, who was she trying to kid? It was the middle of the damn night. She’d probably had bed-head before the homicidal fairies had trashed the kitchen and tried to punch her ticket. Risking a quick glance down, she grimaced. Her robe hadn’t survived the encounter. Covered in redcap blood, a large tear had taken the hem from under the knee to hip, indecently so. Instead, she was swaddled in Baron’s shirt.
She stole a glance at him from under her lashes. Sans shirt, his broad shoulders and muscular chest were displayed to mouth-watering advantage in a tight, white wife-beater vest.
She swallowed, throat making a dry ‘clacking’ sound, embarrassed by the heat that rolled through her from the top of her head right down to where it made her toes curl. She shouldn’t find him attractive…well no, screw attractive, he wasn’t just attractive. He was hot, freaking panty-wetting hot with a capital H.
Her door loomed and she slowed down, not wanting to be parted from him. In her head she rolled through scenarios to invite him into her room, each more charged than the last. There was just one problem. She’d never have the guts to act like a sex kitten and say the words her imagination kept trying to feed her.
Baron slowed his pace to match hers, turning to study her. “Are you sure you’re okay? You look a little….”
Hot and bothered? Wondering what you look like out of the rest of your clothes? She’d been wrong about the tattoos. His arms were clear, which in her scattered state of mind, made perfect sense. She’d seen creepy little men scale walls like gravity was optional tonight, so a few missing tattoos were no biggie. She’d probably mistaken a shadow for a tattoo or something.
“Oh, screw this.”
His voice a low growl, he crowded her against the wall by her door. She met him halfway, lips crashing against his in a desperate dance as the tension of the last couple of hours shattered through her. Fuck being embarrassed. She needed this. Needed him. Needed the contact to feel alive again, to reassure herself that she hadn’t met her end in the hallway under a redcaps pike.
The heat of his body surrounded her, reassuring and arousing all at the same moment. His tongue parted her lips with a decisive sweep, and drove within the soft recesses of her mouth. She moaned at the first touch, the sound lost under his deeper rumble of approval and pleasure, and wound her tongue around his. Playing with it, teasing him and then withdrawing in a display of sexual bravado totally unlike her. She had no idea where it had come from, but when he growled and pressed his hips against hers, the thick length of his cock pressing hard into her soft belly, she didn’t care.
He broke away, his breathing ragged and looked down at her. She’d never seen such a tortured expression on a man’s face before. “God, Honor, don’t…just don’t. I shouldn’t…but I…when you…I can’t resist.”
She frowned in confusion. Couldn’t what? What was she doing? But she didn’t get past opening her mouth to ask. He claimed her lips again and if she’d thought the last kiss was hot, this one was an inferno. He demanded and she gave, not playing any more. Instead she let him plunder her mouth, taking what he wanted. What they both wanted. He kissed her like she was the last woman on earth, aggressive with a hint of desperation that melted her heart. Then she stopped thinking, and matched him kiss for hard kiss.
Her knees gave out, too weak to hold her, so she grabbed his upper arms for support. He pulled her closer, wrapping a hard arm around her waist and deepening the kiss further. She whimpered, the sound barely audible and wriggled, pressing her hips against his. Heat and desire raced through her veins, lending courage as she pulled away to whisper against his lips.
“Bedroom, now.”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
He swept her up into his arms, shouldered the door open, and strode through it. Hooking a foot around the door, he shut it behind them and headed straight for the bed. But he didn’t put her down on it as she expected. Instead, he stopped by the side and held her, his eyes closed. Honor frowned. Oh shit, he’d decided against it. Or she wasn’t his type. Mortification started a different type of burn through her veins
as she tried to struggle free. All she wanted to do was crawl under a rock, or hide in the bathroom, and not emerge for…oh about a month.
“Stay still,” he begged, strain tightening his voice. “Please, for God’s sake, stay still for a moment.”
His words soothed her, her embarrassment receding as she noticed the tension all but vibrating through his body. Like a coil about to snap. What would happen when it did?
“Okay. Still. Promise.”
She had no intention of keeping her word. No sooner had the words had left her lips than she lifted her hand to run her fingers through his hair. The band capturing it at the nape of his neck had long gone, leaving the strands playing loose over his shoulders. He groaned as she did it again, pleasure easing some of the tension on his face until he lifted his head and opened his eyes.
She sucked a breath in at the darkness there, her imagination giving his eyes a golden ring where she knew the color was blue. It should have scared her, the intent way he looked at her, but instead it filled her with a sense of power. She’d done this, made him fight with himself, created the tension that ran through his frame, and it pleased her in a very primal, feminine way.
“Are you sure about this, Honor?” He dropped his head to press a kiss to her lips. “Because once we start, I won’t be able to stop. You need to be sure. Now.”
She swallowed, a dry ‘click’ in the back of her throat and nodded. She couldn’t have spoken to save her life.
“Thank you,” his whisper reverent, he claimed her lips again, the caress gentle and so sweet it was heart-breaking.
Her back hit the cool sheets of the bed, the duvet thrown back when she’d gotten out hours ago. He followed her down, the heat of his body never leaving hers as he bracketed her with one arm under her neck and a hard leg over both hers. A shiver stole its way down her spine. Erotic captivity. Until now, until him, she’d have never thought she’d enjoy…no crave…the idea of a man pinning her down and taking what he wanted. Now, it was all she wanted him to do.
Driving his free hand into her hair, he kissed her again. This time the kiss was wicked enough, hot enough, to flay flesh from bone. She couldn’t even moan, too intent on getting closer, kissing him back. Her breath caught as he slid a hard knee between them, parting her thighs wider. She helped, lifting her knees for him. Nipping her lip, he used her gasp to slide back into her mouth. The thrust of his tongue, a rhythm so familiar and instinctive, did wicked things to her insides. Her pussy clenched, aching to feel him inside her. He needed to be inside her. Now.
She moaned, the sound lost under another thrust of his tongue, then he was gone, breaking the kiss to explore her neck. Hand hard in her hair, he pulled her head back, exposing the long line of her throat. She whimpered again, the soft breathy sound one she’d never heard herself make, and wriggled as he trailed his fingers up her inner thigh. Reaching her panties, the fabric already sodden with her arousal, he groaned and rested his forehead against her collarbone.
“You’re already wet for me, sweets. Hot and ready, aren’t you?”
She wasn’t sure if he expected an answer, but the instant he swept a broad-tipped finger under the edge of her panties, there was no way she’d be able to provide one. Hell, it was a good job breathing was automatic, because she wouldn’t have been able to get it together enough to figure that out either. He teased along the lace edge then swept the fabric away to leave her exposed. Another tremble swept through her as the cooler air of the room hit her exposed pussy lips.
His lips returned to play along her collarbone and back up the side of her throat, the sharp nip of his teeth on her earlobe making her jump. Then he stroked his fingers along her wet folds and she forgot all about her ear.
“So slick….” He found her clit and rubbed, dragging a soft keen from the back of her throat. Pleasure rolled out from her core, the tiny bundle of nerves tightening under his touch as though begging for more. She wanted more, wanted everything he could give her. “Slick and wet. All for me.”
He circled her clit and stroked down again, finding the entrance to her pussy and teasing the opening with the blunt tip of his finger. Rubbing her own juices into her hole then dipping just inside the entrance until she thought she’d go mad.
“I love the sound you made just then.” He found her clit again, rubbing in tiny circles until her head thrashed side to side on the pillow. “So sexy and sweet. I wonder if you taste just as sweet?”
Oh Lord, he wasn’t…. He was. She pressed her head back against the pillows as he slid down her body, shoving his shirt and her night dress up past her waist. Burning with need, she yanked them up further and pulled them off over her head as he settled between her legs. His eyes glowed as he looked up at her, dark desire darkening his expression even further as he swept a look over her body.
“Perfect….” He held her gaze and dropped his head, parting her pussy lips with gentle fingers to flick his tongue over her clit. She gasped, heat filling the tiny bud and spilling over into her cunt to form a hard ache. “Utterly perfect.”
She didn’t care whether she was or wasn’t, all she cared about was that he do that again. And he did. Pushing her legs wider, he licked her again, feasting on her clit as though he were a starving man with an all-you-can-eat buffet laid out in front of him. He flicked and circled, using long, soft licks in between hard stabs of his tongue. Then, when she was shuddering and gasping, he pulled her clit into the warm cavern of his mouth and sucked.
She groaned, reaching up to grab the headboard for something to hold onto as he set about driving her mad. He licked and flicked again as his fingers returned to teasing her pussy. Reaching up, he pinched her nipple suddenly. A hard tweak that made her cry out, pleasure-pain arrowing right down to her cunt, and at the same moment he thrust two thick fingers deep inside her.
She opened her mouth to moan, her back arched to press her head back into the pillow, but no sound emerged. Pleasure filled her, spreading out from her core in unstoppable waves. Her pussy clenched around his fingers like a glove, squeezing and holding him tight.
“Like warm silk,” he muttered, the words hot puffs of air against her hypersensitive clit. She squirmed as the need to move built within her. He pulled his fingers free until they were almost clear of the snug embrace of her cunt, then drove them right back in. His lips closed around her clit again, dragging a soft cry from her lips, and he set up a slow and sensual rhythm with his fingers. In and out. In and out. Each pump of his fingers timed perfectly with a pull on her clit.
Her pussy gripped his fingers as tension built in her body. Fire balled in a hard knot deep in her womb. Every instinct she had urged her to move. To rock her hips into his hand as he fucked her with his fingers. Reaching down, she grabbed a handful of his long hair, holding him in place against her clit. She needed this, needed more, needed to feel.
There was no more time. Her head dropped back and her mouth falling open as a familiar tension building behind her pelvis, tightening her body almost to the point of pain. With a wordless cry, she reached for him, but he already had her, the fingers of his free hand lacing through hers.
“That’s it, sweets. Just let it go. Come for me. I want to taste your sugar all over my tongue.”
That did it. The words, uttered in that sexy deep rumble of his right against her clit and the images they conjured took her right to the brink, and then hurtled her headlong over it. She gasped. Her entire body rigid as sensation poured through every cell in a glorious chain reaction. Wave after wave assaulted her, Baron’s lips clamped around her clit and his fingers moving deep inside her drawing out her pleasure until she thought it would never end.
But it did, the waves finally dying down. She pouted as he pulled free only to bite her lip again in anticipation when he crawled up her body.
“You taste…wonderful.” He leaned down to kiss her and she tasted herself on his lips. A soft, musky taste that wasn’t unpleasant. She didn’t get to dwell on it though, her attention hij
acked by the hot slide of his skin against hers. Somewhere between making her come harder than she ever had before and sliding up to cover her body with his, he’d managed to undress. A frown creased her brow. Had she lost some time? With how hard he’d made her come, it was more than possible.
“Last chance, baby.” He trailed his lips down her neck and moved to pin her under him. He settled between her parted legs, his hair-roughened thighs forcing hers wide to accommodate him. His cock, hard and heavy, rubbed against her bare stomach, the slickness at the tip leaving a small trail across the bared skin. Biting back a moan of frustration, she pulled him down for a hard kiss.
“No last chances.” She nipped his lower lip, grazing it with her teeth. “Just…do it. Now.”
The growl from the center of his chest and the flash of gold in his eyes told her he’d gotten the message loud and clear. Bracing himself over her with one strong forearm braced by her head, he reached down. The breath caught in her throat as the broad, hard head of his cock nudged against the entrance to her pussy. Her eyes widened. Lord, he felt huge… would he even fit?
“Shh, sweets. I got you.” Obviously reading her worry, he wrapped her up in his arms, holding her close as his hips stopped moving. “Slow and easy. I’ll be good, I promise.”
She nodded, clinging to him like he was a rock in a stormy sea. Already her body complained, demanding more…aching to be filled.
As though he had direct access to her thoughts, he pushed again, but before her body could register the pressure, he pulled back and pushed again. The thick head of his cock breached her body and slid into her half an inch. She whimpered, the slide of his cock pressing and pushing against her inner walls causing her eyes to roll back in her head. See-sawing his hips back and forth, he worked his way into her. Each thrust of his hips took him deeper and her body burned with pleasure as he impaled her, her pussy parting around his thick cock as finally, his hips met hers.
