“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” she said as Nico helped her place it around her neck.
“But not nearly as beautiful as the woman who wears it.”
The thought was clear in her mind and she blushed at the compliment. “I’ll treasure it always,” she said aloud. She looked at him with shining eyes. “But not nearly as much as the man who gave it to me.”
Buffy, the cat, sat in the corner of the dining room purring so loudly that the room seemed to vibrate with her pleasure.
Chapter 33
Hope stepped out of the bathroom, freshly showered, her hair braided neatly and wearing the long white cotton nightgown. She’d had two glasses of that lovely champagne and the effects were enhanced rather than diminished by the heat of the shower. She raised her arms over her head and did a little dance into the bedroom.
“You’re turn.”
Nico, sitting in the chair in the corner, flipping through the pages of a magazine, laughed at her. “Is that an invitation?”
She giggled. “For the shower, you naughty man.”
He crossed to her and gave her a quick kiss. “Someday, I want to share the shower with you.”
“Someday, when I don’t have to do all those girlie things I’d rather you not watch, I might let you.”
“There’s nothing you could do in that shower that I wouldn’t find sexy as hell.” He held her at arm’s length. “Speaking of which, Hell that is, you’re sure this doesn’t bother you. This living in sin, I mean. I want to mate with you, Hope. I want this to be right.”
“I want that, too, and the minute my sister is safe, we’ll make our pledge. I promise.” She held his face in her hands and smiled up into it. “I see your heart, Nico ad Nimeni, and you see mine. God sees them both. There is no sin.”
“I’m glad,” he whispered aloud. He began to unbind her hair from its braid, running his finger through the silken strand as they loosened from the plait.
“I don’t know why I bother braiding it if you’re always going to pull it out.” She kept her arms around his waist and her forehead against his chest.
“Always braid it. Every night. In a hundred years I’ll still be looking forward to this small ritual; the pleasure of unbinding your hair.”
“Nico?”
“Hmmm?” He rubbed his nose in the softness, inhaling the fragrance of roses.
“Those other women…”
“Are in the past, precious. You have no reason to be…”
“Jealous. I’m not. I only wondered how… well… if they didn’t know…” Her fingers played along the scars, down his back, beneath his shirt. “How did you… ah… you know?” She formed the picture in her mind.
“Have sex?”
“Well, yes.”
He chuckled. “Ah, my precious, have you ever heard that curiosity killed the cat?”
“Of course. Everyone’s heard that one.”
Nico gripped the sides of her gown and stripped it over her head. The next thing she knew, she was lying flat on her back on the bed and Nico was straddling her thighs. He held both her hands pinned over her head with one of his own. His eyes smoldered and his smile was predatory.
Hope felt an excited tingle run the length of her body and settle at her core. She clenched at the now familiar wetness seeping between her legs.
“Too late. Your body has given you away. You’re that kind of woman.” He tongue darted out, lightly touching her eyes, her nose, her lips.
“What kind of woman?” she squeaked. She found her hips rising in spite of her efforts to remain still.
“The kind of woman who finds it erotic to lie beneath a fully clothed man. But we already knew that, didn’t we?”
He was referring to their first time together when she was so overwhelmed with the sensations coursing through her own body, she hadn’t even noticed that he’d never removed his clothes. She was embarrassed now to think of how selfish she’d been.
“I didn’t know what to expect. Grace’s books… they’re fiction… I thought…”
“You weren’t thinking at all,” he chuckled against her mouth. His tongue traced her lips and she tilted her chin, reaching for his kiss. “Ah, ah, ah,” he said as he pulled away. “This is about what I want, not what you want, unless, of course, you beg me nicely.”
He straightened a bit and used his free hand too unbuckle his belt and pull it free of the loops and laughed at her look of surprise when he used it to bind her hands and attach them to the headboard.
She wiggled beneath him, tested her bindings and realized she could escape them if she chose. She didn’t. Instead, she closed her eyes and waited.
“Oh ho. I’ll bet you’d like the blindfold, too.” Her eyes snapped open and he kissed her nose. “Next time I’ll come better prepared. This time, keep them open. I want to see their reaction.”
She relaxed and kept her eyes open. He wiggled the fingers of both hands in front of her nose. “Now they’re free to do as they please.”
His fingers began to play across her face and her shoulders and where they played, his tongue and lips followed, leaving a burning trail along her skin. She moaned when he reached the sensitive spot behind her ear and again when he lingered at the side of her neck. She rolled her head to the side and arched her neck to give him better access. His teeth began to nibble and while she couldn’t see him from that position, she thought she felt his face harden and the graze of a sharpened fang. It didn’t matter. The sensation of want and need it brought was nothing like the things she’d felt before and she whimpered in protest when he groaned with his own frustration and his lips moved on.
“Not today, my love, but soon,” he whispered and his tongue traced her collar bone and moved down between her breasts.
Her breathing was still heavy, but he had obviously pulled himself together since he chuckled and licked his lips lasciviously.
“What have we here?” His fingers danced lightly over her skin, everywhere but her hardened nipples which were begging to be touched. He locked his eyes with hers. “Such mounds of beauty and warmth deserve individual attention, don’t you think?”
She whimpered in response and closed her eyes.
“No, no. That’s cheating.” She could feel his breath on her face. “I said you must keep your eyes open and I didn’t quite hear your answer.”
She opened her eyes and ran her tongue over her lips. “Yes, please,” she whispered.
His hand moved to her right breast where his fingers danced and kneaded and finally moved to the tightened bud. He took it between his thumb and forefinger and pulled, tightening his pinch until her eyes widened and then tightened it a little more.
Her sharp cry became one of pleasure as his tongue and lips soothed the sting. He suckled at her breast until she relaxed and then he did it again, only this time she was ready for it. She let her body flow with the exquisite pleasure of the sensations flowing through her breast. It wasn’t really pain at all and the contrast between the pinch and the warmth of his suckling excited her even more.
“That’s my wonton minx,” he said as he applied the same technique to her other breast and was gratified with the same reaction.
“Yours only,” she said when she could breathe. “Is there more?”
“Greedy wench.” His fingers traced each of her ribs and his tongue traced the valleys between them. He teased with his tongue at her navel when he found it tickled her and then moved ever so slowly downward into her nest of curls. With a sharp intake of breath, she rose to meet him, anticipating his mouth’s destination.
His hands gripped her hips to hold her still and his laugh was hoarse, deep with his own need. “My wants, not yours, remember?”
He licked and nibbled and stroked the inside of her thighs and spread her wider each time he moved from one leg to the other. She was already moaning by the time he reached her core, her head thrashing from side to side with need. He touched his tongue to her clit and she almost came off t
he bed.
“Honey,” he whispered after tasting the sweet flow of her juices. “Honey and roses and all mine.”
He licked. He nibbled. He thrust his tongue as deep within her as it could reach. And with each nibble and thrust, she cried out. She felt the vibrations of his laughter at her moans and whimpers because he wouldn’t go where she wanted him to, wouldn’t give her the release she craved.
“Nico please!” she pleaded.
He lifted his head long enough to say, “Not your wants, but mine.”
She almost screamed with frustration when he continued to lick and nuzzle and suckle everywhere but the place where she would find some release. She tried to push against that teasing tongue, but he held her still with an iron grip.
Finally, gloriously, his mouth pulled away to be replaced by his fingers. In and out. In and out. First one finger and then two and miraculously three while his thumb rubbed circles around and over her throbbing clit. Faster and faster and then so slowly she wanted to cry. The pressure and thrusting increased, taking her higher and higher. And then stopped.
“No!”
“Yes.” He gently stroked her outer thighs down to her knees. He kneaded her hips and tenderly kissed the round softness of her belly, murmuring against her. “Mine, all mine.”
Slowly, he brought her down from the impossible tension. She sighed and her body relaxed.
And his fingers began to work their magic again.
“Nico! Please!”
Three times he brought her to the edge and three times he stopped just as she was about to take that leap into ecstasy.
“Nico, please, I can’t take any more!”
His finger began to weave lazily around her clit, so swollen it was almost painful.
“What are you asking for, precious?”
“Please. You know what I want,” she cried.
“Mmm, I do, but I want to hear you say it. My wants, remember, not yours.”
“I hate you, Nico ad Nimeni,” she gasped as her body once again reacted to his touch, “Please!”
“Mmm. I can tell how much you hate me and hear how prettily you beg. Tell me what you want, precious. Just tell me what you want.”
“I want you to let me come!” she cried. “I want to come with your cock inside me, filling me until I think I will burst and if you don’t do it right this minute, I will turn you for sure. Please!”
“So fierce, so demanding.” He laughed at her frustration and then he was inside her, thrusting just as she’d demanded. It took only a few savage thrusts to send her head spinning out in an explosion of sensation. Nico only paused long enough for her to return to reality and then he was thrusting again. She cried out with each thrust and her mind locked with his. She could see what he was seeing, feel what he was feeling. Added to her own rising rapture, it was almost too much. She screamed in an eruption of color, light, and love.
Nico pumped with a ferocity that frightened him with its intensity, yet he couldn’t hold back. He didn’t want to hurt her, but his body had taken control and his mind couldn’t stop it. Then he felt her mind lock with his, saw what she saw, felt what she felt and knew that this was what it was meant to be. She was his, always and forever. He felt his fangs emerging and he fought against it with all his will. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t time. The pressure in his loins built to a pitch and exploded. He heard her scream his name as he drove into her and shouted his own release and as his cum filled her, his mind spiraled out with her into a realm of color, light, and love.
They lay entwined together for a long time, she in exhaustion, he in wonder at this undeserved miracle. He thought she might be asleep until he heard her in his mind.
“You are deserving and I must be, too. Miracles don’t happen to just anyone, you know.”
It was so simple for her. It was one of the many things he loved about her. He rolled to the side to take his weight from her.
“It is that simple, silly man. Now go get your shower.”
As he closed the door to the bathroom, he heard her quiet laughter in his mind.
When he emerged, he found her sleeping with her hands still wound in his belt. He watched her for a moment, his heart so filled with love for her it stopped his breath and then he laughed, softly so as not to wake her. His precious Hope didn’t lie. She snored. And even that, he thought, was beautiful.
Chapter 34
Nora called the twins, but the news wasn’t all good.
“He got a phone call and he acted really pissed off, but I could tell he was scared. Said he had to take care of some business and had to leave. He wasn’t coming back. I would have followed him if I could, but he put me on the bar. I couldn’t go. None of the other girls can bartend and he’d know if I left. I can’t afford to lose this job. I don’t know where he was going, but he was on foot. He left by the back door. We all use it to come and go. He went right on Second Street. I know because I followed him out a few seconds after he left. I pretended to have a question about cashing out the drawer. He almost bit my head off, ‘cause I’ve done it a million times. I’m sorry. It’s the best I can do. I can try again tomorrow. I’m real sorry.”
“You did good, Nora,” Col reassured her. “Is there anything else you can tell us, anything you can think of that you didn’t tell us before?”
“No, I don’t think so.” She paused. “No wait! How could I forget? Jeannie says his name isn’t Smith! She says a guy came in one time, someone who knew him from a long time back. He called him Gary Francis and Smith was real pissed about it.”
“You’re sure that’s the name.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. She laughed about it because the name just didn’t fit with the guy. That’s how come she remembered. Oh, oh! He left on foot, but I know he has a car. When he was giving me the keys to lock up, I saw car keys on his ring. Not the new kind with the buttons. The old kind. Does that help? Talking about his name, I started thinking about his picture on his driver’s license. You know, does the picture match the name and I remembered the keys.”
“You did better than good. You did great. See if you can find out anything else, but don’t get yourself in trouble. Smith is not a guy you want to cross.”
“Tell me about it. You be careful too, Honey. You and your sister and brother are good people. You’re not like all those crazy fangers that come in here and I’m afraid for you messing with a bastard like him.”
Col laughed. “You’re right. We’re not like them at all. Thanks, Nora. Give us a call if you get something.”
He said good bye and turned to his brother and the two women. “It’s not what we were looking for, but it’s another clue to follow,” he said as he pocketed the phone. He repeated the conversation. “Nardo’s out on patrol. As soon as he gets back, we’ve got a name for him to work with. If it’s real, and Nora thinks it is, we might be able to track him through the DMV.”
Dov hugged Hope and stuck his tongue out at Grace. “See Gracie, we can do something right sometimes.”
“Yes you can and shame on me for not remembering it more often.”
Hope, well taught by her father to smile pleasantly regardless of what she was feeling, nodded encouragingly and patted both twins on the back for a job well done. But deep inside, where it counted, she was worried. And, she admitted, if only to herself, she was angry.
Everything was being done that could be done. She knew that, yet every time she thought about her sister being in the clutches of that demon, she grew sick, not only for her sister’s suffering, but with the feeling that time was running out.
The twins went off laughing and congratulating each other and Grace turned to Hope.
“What’s wrong? And don’t tell me nothing because you’re buzzing like a tuning fork and it’s not a happy buzz. You’re worried and it’s more than the usual stuff you carry around.”
Hope smiled and tried to pass Grace off with a change of subject. “Sometimes I wish I were one of them.” She tossed her head to indicate the r
est of the House. “You can’t read their emotions the way you can read mine. Why is that?”
Grace laughed. “Don’t know and don’t really care. Manon thinks it has something to do with the Paenitentia/Daughters of Man connection. It’s the main reason I moved in with these guys. It was such a blessed relief not to feel anything buzzing in my head.”
“Does it bother you to be around me?”
“No.” Grace waved her hand in dismissal. “I can control it now. I still have problems with large crowds. I can control the buzz, but it takes a lot of effort and it wears me out. What about you?”
“Oh, I… can’t lie to you, can I?” She was caught in her own trap. “I can sense wants or needs in people. Sometimes I can see a question in their minds. The Guardians, they’re different. It’s just a vague sense when I get anything at all.”
“Except with Nico.” She laughed at Hope’s surprise. “I wasn’t snooping. Honestly. Okay, maybe a little. But ever since you came home from your little trip, I see you two looking at each other like your holding a conversation, but your mouths aren’t moving.”
“We’re that obvious?”
“No. I don’t think the guys know anything. I can read the fluctuations in your emotions. Can you really talk to him, like in words?”
“Yes, but it doesn’t reach too far. I can find him anywhere in the House or next door. Sometimes I can catch him when he’s down the street on his way home. Don’t tell the others, Grace, or only Canaan if you feel it’s not right to keep it from him. It’s something special between Nico and me. I’d feel awful if they teased him about it.”
“My lips are sealed, kiddo, but you really ought to tell Manon. She can show you ways to sharpen it. She did for me.” Grace snickered and raised her eyebrows. “Now that we have that out of the way, why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you? Canaan says I’m like a dog with a bone. I’m not that easy to distract.”
It was no use pretending. “I feel like things are coming to an end, like we’re running out of time and there’s nothing I can do about it.
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