by Zoe Forward
Did Bryce pull a command summon on you? Charlotte asked in a tone that suggested she would personally crush him, if so.
Kat replied, Don’t know. What’s a command summon? I didn’t try to jump. It just happened.
Hang on, honey, I’ll handle this.
Seconds later a cell phone’s electronic chime shattered the tense silence. Bryce pulled it from his jacket. “Now isn’t a good time, Charlotte…” His cheeks blazed red.
Charlotte’s rant was audible to all, “Did you? Did you pull a command summon on her?”
“Yes,” Bryce replied. He held the phone away from his ear. All could hear the ball-busting tirade. When it died down he said, “Okay.” And handed the phone to Kat.
“Hello?”
“Listen, honey, if Bryce so much as twitches to do anything you don’t want, use what you’ve got on him. Forget the fact he’s your father. I never knew what your mother, bless her soul, saw in that overbearing prick. Just remember your gifts work ten times better in this world, the Sourceworld. And they work doubly so on druids. Well, except for your destined, who I suspect is Matthew. I think he’s a good choice for you. He’s got issues, but gracious he’s hot.”
Kat smiled at Matt. “He is that.”
Matt’s eyebrows rose.
“Bet he’s a rocket in bed,” Charlotte drawled.
She choked out a strangled sound. Her cheeks burned.
Charlotte chuckled. “I’ll be there in an hour or so. We’ll clear up some of the confusion. Your ability enables you to connect all of us. If you need us, just reach out again.” Charlotte disconnected the call.
She handed back Bryce’s phone. “She’ll be here in an hour.”
Bryce nodded.
“Please, stop threatening Matt.”
Bryce narrowed his eyes on Matt. “How many times have the two of you crossed paths?”
Matt glowered a silent fuck-you.
“I think we’ve answered enough personal questions,” Kat announced.
“I’ll leave you alone until Charlotte arrives if you tell me how many times you crossed paths,” Bryce demanded. Obviously he was used to being the super shit in charge.
Matt replied, “More than a few.”
“Since when. How old?” Bryce asked.
“Fifteen,” Matt replied.
“I don’t remember you until college.”
“Remember when you arrived wet and shivering? Said something about a boat explosion before you passed out.”
“Yeah, it killed my adopted parents. But you…I don’t remember you that time. I remember a kind man with a lot of facial scarring. I think he healed me when I woke up, but then I popped back to my world…dimension.” She shook her head.
“You pretty much conked out and slept for ten hours straight that first time you appeared. That man was Quinn, my father. I didn’t put all the visits together until after this last time you jumped away.”
“Shit,” Bryce mumbled. “Talk about catastrofucks.” He rolled his eyes toward the ceiling and massaged his temple. He pointed at Matt. “You’re not good enough for her.”
Hurt shimmered in Matt’s brilliant blues before it glazed into stoicism.
“Obviously, you don’t know Matt very well.” She marched toward the exit.
As she passed Bryce, he said softly, “He’s not for you, Katherine. He’ll never be able to commit to what you will need.”
At the door, she pretended she hadn’t heard those devastating words that confirmed the fear wedged deep into her chest. “Matt, could you please show me to a room that I might borrow? I’d like to shower.”
He led her to a resplendent bedroom, different from the guest room she’d been in last time—spacious with panoramic windows and a monstrous sleigh bed. This had to be the master bedroom. His.
Kat kicked off her heels, angry at the unfairness of the world. She may not be able to get long-term with Matt, but she sure as hell was getting her money’s worth out of right now. She unzipped. The green sparkly costume hit the floor followed by underwear. Buck naked.
She shot him a smile more brilliant that the midday sun. “Coming?”
By the time she saw his feet hit the tiled bathroom floor, she already had the shower steaming and was slipping beneath the streams of the triple jets. She’d almost given up on him.
When his hand touched the shower’s glass door she said, “You might want to lose the tux.”
He glanced down as if surprised.
He shrugged the jacket and shirt from the powerful width of his shoulders. Muscles rippled. The bullet wound on his side and the gash on his arm had smoothed over, completely healed. Amazing.
Her fingers itched to touch him, to follow that dark trail of hair that disappeared into the waistband of the trousers. He ripped at the pants, his long powerful legs drawing free.
Her lips parted to drag in a ragged breath. He stepped beneath the jets, crowding her in the small space. Dipping down, he captured her lips. The kiss started slow, teasing, but quickly took a sharp left into deep and desperate.
His expert hands massaged southward, hitting her most sensitive zones. Her muscles tightened, indicating just how much she wanted this.
She gasped against the pressure of his tongue circling her nipple. He murmured, “So beautiful.”
“Matt…” Her head fell back against the shower wall.
He worked his way upward. She gazed into his eyes, which were now hooded with anticipation.
Her hands circled him.
He hissed as she tightened pressure and stroked.
She smiled wickedly and started her own southward descent. With a flick of her tongue she circled his tip. He let his head fall back with an agonized groan. After three long strokes along his length, she took as much of him as she could.
“Wildcat,” he choked out, threading his fingers through her wet hair. She whimpered when he pulled her hair a little too tight. “Sorry,” he whispered, loosening. “I can’t stand it.”
She smiled and repeated his words from earlier, “You can take it.” Her tongue rolled around his shaft, teasing.
He growled and pulled her away. She glanced up, questioningly. He hauled her to her feet. “I can’t go slow right now. Later, you can have your way. And don’t doubt I’ll enjoy it. You’re just too good.” He lifted her by her waist and balanced her against the shower wall. In one quick thrust he speared into her. She cried out and wrapped her legs around his hips. Both of them held as tight as they could with the slippery water. He led a fast tempo, ending for her in a release that was part desperation, part ecstasy. As his climax arrived with a bellow, she swore she felt a part of him sink deep into her soul.
And knew she hadn’t managed to do the same to him, which shattered her heart.
Afterward, as he washed her with liquid soap and a washcloth, she asked, “So, what are you? I need to hear it from you. I need to know.”
“Druid. Sentry Druid or at least I was. I walked away a few years ago.”
She nodded. “Thought so. And you had training?”
He paused in his sensual cleaning of her back and neck. “When I was young, my biological father, Quinn, appeared. He was a druid healer and Bryce’s second in command.”
“You didn’t live with him?”
“I was left with my mother, who was married to Grant Ryan.” His lips compressed tightly.
“The father who wasn’t nice to you and owned the company?”
“Yes, him.”
She played with the damp hair near his ear. “Why didn’t your real father take you?”
“Don’t know. Probably part of a deal with my mother. My brother went with Quinn.”
“Your brother…you’re twins. I was shocked when I saw Eli and realized there are two of you.”
He captured her mouth. Her brain forgot everything other than the swirling vortex of sensation created by his mouth and the downward exploration of his hands, which were slow moving toward her ass. He ended the kiss abruptly and growled, “There’s
only one of me.”
She opened her eyes and bit her lip against a smile. “Yes. Only one of you. But you’ve got a brother that looks just like you.”
“But he’s not me.”
“You think I want to jump into bed with Eli just because he looks similar to you?”
“Just for admitting you thought about it, I’ll kill him the next time I see his ass lazing it up on my sofa.”
She punched him playfully in the arm. “No you won’t, even if he wasn’t very helpful when you were unconscious. Is Eli still a druid? Why are you no longer a druid and how exactly do you walk away?”
He sighed. “Eli is an active druid. I walked away from Bryce, them…the whole business about nine years ago. After the OLM murdered Quinn.”
“That was about the time when I found you in that place.” She paused and lowered her voice. “What they did to you… I can’t even imagine what they did to your father.”
“You don’t want to know. It was bad. The three of us were imprisoned there: Quinn, Bryce, and I. The things they did to Quinn made what they did to me seem trivial. Bryce forced me leave him there.” His voice faltered and he let go of her before he said, “Forced me to let him die.” His muscles tightened.
She turned and slid her arms around him. “I’m sorry you lost him.”
He didn’t hug her back. After a few seconds, she glanced up. His gaze was fixed straight ahead. Although the shower’s streaming water masked his face, she was fairly certain tears leaked from his eyes. This wasn’t a man that liked showing weakness. And probably despised what she saw now.
“You’ve got that amazing healing ability. Why didn’t Bryce let you do your thing on Quinn?”
“Bryce said my talent wasn’t developed enough. That I might’ve died. But I’d have preferred… Can we discuss something else?”
“All right. Let’s talk about undergrad.”
His head fell forward. “I’m sorry about that.”
“I thought we had a pretty good night—”
“Pretty good? It was better than pretty good,” he interrupted.
“Yeah, it was mind-blowing. But you pushed me out of your dorm room while your girlfriend ranted hysterics at you. I was naked!”
“You had a sheet.”
She scowled.
He snapped his lips closed over his grin. “Sorry.”
“You had a girlfriend. What kind of guy hooks up when he has a girlfriend?”
“I’d never done that…hooked up with someone I barely knew. I’d never cheated on a girl. Or pushed a girl out like that. It was a whole bunch of firsts for me. I was messed up and hung over. I’m sorry. As to the why I did it—why we ended up in bed—hell, wildcat, once we met leaving you alone wasn’t an option. And it scared the hell out of me.”
So true for her, too. The second he’d said hello, she could think of nothing other than seeing him naked, not that she’d ever done naked prior to that. “Did it even mean anything to you? Or was it just the alcohol?”
She strained to hear his reply.
“I searched for you for a long time. I thought it was because you cursed me and I needed you to reverse it. But after a while, it was more complicated. I wanted you. I didn’t care as much about the curse, although I did blame you for…when it wasn’t good with other women. I eventually even married someone who looked like you. The marriage didn’t work out because she wasn’t you. So, yeah, that night meant a lot.”
Her heart warmed. “Did you tell your wife about being druid?”
He shook his head.
“Did you plan to?”
“No.”
“How did you hide that part of yourself? You use the ability all the time. I was suspicious after knowing you for twelve hours. Guaranteed if I lived with you for a few days, I’d have figured it out. I barely understand what I am, but magic is a huge and weird part of my life. I want whomever I’m with to know about it. If you had a child, he’d probably have some of your talents.”
He pulled her against him. “You’re right.”
“Are you ashamed of your abilities?”
“No. They just remind me of…my father.”
She whispered against his chest, “I’m sorry. I wish I could’ve met him. Well, I think I did meet him, but I wish I could meet him now.” She traced the contours of his chest. “What’s going on with you and…my father? Bryce.”
“No offense, but Bryce is a real bastard most of the time.”
“Are you just here with me as a part of whatever deal you made with him, even though it sounds like getting it on in the shower might be taking things a bit further than the bargain you struck?”
Matt calmly replaced the soap and washcloth but didn’t reply.
“Please tell me what you want from me. Or what my father wants. I don’t completely understand this thing between us, but I still want you so desperately right now that I’d probably give it to you, or speak to my father to get whatever you needed. You don’t have to play games with me.” I need to know if what we’ve got is about us or my father.
Matt’s spine snapped straight. His gaze darkened. He curled his fingers around her forearm and pulled her out of the shower, hooking two towels on his way to the bedroom. He wrapped one towel around her and pulled the other around his waist. He pushed her to sit on his bed, her hair dripping rivulets that trekked between her breasts. He leaned in close. “Do I seem like someone who would whore to get what he wants? Do I seem that unscrupulous to you?”
“Matt, I didn’t mean—”
“The hell you didn’t. I made no deal with Bryce. I wouldn’t fuck anyone for anything other than mutual pleasure. There isn’t a thing your father could do for me other than back the hell off threatening my sister. Even then, I wasn’t planning to do what he ordered, which was to bring you to him, unless that’s what you wanted. I don’t know what I would’ve done about his threat against my sister, but I’d have handled it.”
Oh God, she’d hurt him. She sucked at this relationship thing, not that she’d had a lot of practice. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” She tried to reach for his face, but he ducked away from her hand.
For a moment he gazed at her chest. Color darkened his cheeks. She glanced down. Her breasts were compressed and pushed upward by the tightly wrapped towel. If it slipped a few millimeters, her nipples would pop out. He pushed away from the bed with a curse, pawed through a bureau drawer, and grabbed a pair of pants. Within seconds he was clothed. He turned as if to say something, but slammed his lips closed and stalked out of the bedroom.
Chapter Twenty
Kat squirmed in the too-tight rayon blend dress that the butler-caretaker, Sam, presented her within minutes of Matt’s hasty departure. She stopped her hand’s path to tug the top upward. Wouldn’t help. She’d already tried at least ten times. The dress was intended for someone a little less busty.
She stared across the grandiose dining room table beyond Bryce, Eli, and Jason. She wondered how long they’d be stuck here, waiting. The wind ruffled the evergreens outside, swirling snow from their branches. Don’t look toward the door. But her peripheral vision worked too well. Matt sipped a Perrier while gazing out the opposite window. His body radiated the fury of an incensed feral tiger. As she’d entered, his eyes had swirled with dark emotion when they bumped into hers and then darted away.
She shifted to alleviate the pressure in her lower spine. The rigid angle of the designer chair might be beautiful, but it did nothing for long-term comfort.
Bryce and Eli worked on their smart phones nonstop. Jason intermittently blew out agitated sighs and ran his hand over his swollen face. He grumbled to Bryce about having better things to do. One glare from Bryce and all complaints ceased.
“Sit down,” Bryce snarled at Matt.
Matt flashed him a glower and ignored him.
She’d screwed up, but in the long run maybe this was best. She and Matt wouldn’t work, no matter what druids or other Pleiades thought. Sure the sex was amazing, but
where could they go from here? He didn’t want long-term. She wasn’t into sharing when it came to him. And she could barely contemplate him dumping her. Once she fulfilled her obligations in this dimension, she’d return home where she’d stay. Far away from Matt. If Charlotte could bounce into her world, then she could notify when an appearance was required.
Panic squeezed her chest at the thought of never seeing him again, of him turning to another woman. In that moment she knew she’d made a drastic mistake. A horrible, irreversible mistake. She loved him.
She braved a glance his way. His arctic gaze narrowed. He turned his back to her.
Tears burned her eyes. Dragging in a hard breath, she struggled to remain seated. She wanted to rush out of this room and find a dark corner for some Niagara Falls action.
The tinkling of crystal announced Charlotte’s arrival. A strikingly handsome man followed Charlotte into the dining room.
“How’re you doing, Brian?” Bryce called out.
Brian waved, slouched against the doorframe and winked at Charlotte. She gazed up adoringly at him, then turned to face the rest of the room, very serious. She oozed power and confidence. After one directed glance at everyone in the room, she fanned the neckline of her gauzy dress and declared in a thick Southern drawl, “It’s hotter in here than a goat’s ass in a pepper patch.”
Kat’s lips twitched. Bryce rolled his eyes heavenward. Eli and Jason smiled.
Charlotte’s eyes connected with Brian, who Kat assumed was Charlotte’s husband. The man’s hard face softened. Kat opened her mind to catch his thoughts. God, she’s spectacular.
Her heart squeezed. She wanted that.
Bryce said, “Charlotte, I needed her here—”
Charlotte held up a hand, silencing him. “Don’t you ever command summon one of us again. And I mean never ever. Ever. That could’ve resulted in a horrid incident. Imagine the mess if she’d been in a public situation. She’d become her dimension’s newest miracle.”
“I knew the risks. That’s why I didn’t try it until now. I could’ve done it at any time in the past two decades. But we need her here.”
Charlotte pursed her lips and gave a small headshake and eye roll that translated into: idiot. “She jumped with Matthew Ryan, didn’t she?”
