Slowly kissing down her neck, he nipped at her skin, that sensitive place on her neck. Nikki inhaled sharply and arched against him. Her long legs wrapped around his waist, and her mouth found his.
His words had had no effect on her. Cooper pressed his tongue over the spot he’d just nipped and felt her shudder against him. If his words couldn’t persuade her, perhaps his body would.
Pulling away only enough to tug her shirt over her head, he tossed it to the side. It was cool in the house, but he knew Nikki’s shiver was from him, not the temperature. Cooper kissed along her chest, tasting the natural fragrance of her skin. He undid her bra and tossed that to the side as well.
He’d fallen in love with everything about her—her taste, her scent, her laugh, the way she worked the ranch, all of it. All of her.
Beneath him, her breath caught, but he didn’t relent. He took one hard nipple into his mouth, teasing it with his tongue until her soft moans of pleasure ended on a sharp hiss of need. He bit down on her sensitive areole and she cried out, rocked against him.
Running his tongue over the hard peak once more, Cooper took her other nipple between his fingers and tugged it, pinching it until she cried out, a sob of need. He tasted her desperation, was afraid this was her way of saying good-bye.
His mouth found hers again, silently telling her that he wasn’t leaving and she didn’t need to, either. She shouldn’t be afraid to grab what she wanted. Shouldn’t be afraid of them.
“Cooper.” Her voice hitched and her fingers darted over his shirt, tugging at his buttons.
He shrugged off his shirt and quickly stripped her of boots, jeans, and panties, and took a moment to watch her, simply look at her.
“God, you’re beautiful,” he whispered.
Nikki opened her eyes, the blue of them bright with passion, and he was lost in them. Her look reflected that, unlike the tentative one from earlier, the one that told him she’d leave in a heartbeat. This one sent fire through him. It was promise and seduction all wrapped together.
Cooper’s control snapped.
He tugged off his boots and unbuttoned his jeans. Nikki’s husky laugh rolled though him. The laugh that drew him to her, made him want to lose himself in her passion and love. She tugged his jeans over his hips, her fingers brushing his cock, teasing him with strokes entirely too light. Her nails scraped over his hips and sank into his back; her teeth scraped over his shoulder and neck.
He grabbed Nikki’s hips and pulled her to his lap, settling her just over his cock.
She looked down at him, and for a heartbeat her expression was tender and loving. One hand raised to his face, her fingers a light brush over cheek and jaw, through his hair. Her eyes had gone soft, and she looked as if she wanted to say something.
“Nikki,” he began.
But she shook her head and kissed him again. In that kiss he tasted worry, concern, but more he tasted trust. Holding her to him, his hand tangled in her long, honey blonde hair, Cooper slipped one hand between her legs to tease her core.
She moaned his name, gave a breathless “yes,” and arched against him, her hips grinding against his hand. He thrust a finger into her wetness, his cock pulsing against her thigh. Jaw clenched, he held onto a shred of control, wanting to prolong this. Nikki opened her eyes and looked down at him. Her breath came short, her cheeks were flushed, and her hair fell wildly about her shoulders.
She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever met, and Cooper honestly didn’t know what he’d do without her. Shoving that thought away, he grasped her hips and lifted her over him. With one hard thrust, he entered her.
Nikki cried out, her fingers digging into him as she rocked against him. She rose over him and slammed down, taking him deeper into her body every time. Cooper felt his own climax tighten through him, the electric feel of release. He wanted to postpone it, enjoy Nikki’s heat as she surrounded him.
He found her and circled the sensitive nub. Tightening around his cock, she climaxed hard, her legs and arms wrapping him as she rode out her orgasm. Still he moved over her nub, watching her pleasure climb again. Laying her on her back, Cooper moved hard within her, his own climax coiling through him.
Nikki shouted his name just as he felt his control snap.
* * * *
Cooper held her close. The sounds of the ranch moved around them, and from the office windows he could tell it was about midafternoon, but he made no move to get up. He had no feeling in his right arm, and the hardwood floor bit into his hip, but he remained where he lay. Nikki slept in his arms, as trustingly as she always had.
He’d known she hid something from him; people didn’t move from place to place, ranch to ranch, if they weren’t running from their past. And as a trained—and damned good—vet, Nikki could have set up a practice anywhere without worry. The fact she ran from her past hadn’t concerned him. They’d built a trust, and Cooper had been confident she’d tell him her secrets sooner rather than later.
Running a hand over her hip, her skin soft and smooth beneath his touch, Cooper wondered how she’d managed to hold back this demon for so long. Her willpower must have been incredible.
He kissed her bare shoulder and felt her stir. Nikki rolled over, draping herself over him, and kissed his chest. Flexing his fingers, Cooper ignored the surge of blood tingling through his extremities, and held his lover close.
How long until Taima knew something? How long would the seer need to figure out what possessed Nikki and a way to remove it from her? Hours, days? Months? Would she even return? From the little Nikki had said about her research, she hadn’t been able to discover anything about the demon.
But then, he thought, running his hands over her back and hips, she didn’t have the resources Taima, or seers such as Taima, did. Nikki didn’t know what she’d been cursed with or where to begin her search. She looked where she could, but had been so busy running from the thing inside her that she hadn’t time to ask the right questions to the right people.
Whether Taima was the right person or not remained to be seen.
And without a doubt, Cooper knew that if he let Nikki go now, he’d never see her again. Nikki would disappear from his life and continue to run. He needed to convince her that it was safe to stop. That he loved her enough to protect her and keep her safe, even from herself.
The problem was he didn’t know if she believed him. He could give her all the beautiful words, each one the right thing to say, and none of them meant she’d stop and listen long enough to believe him. Would that keep her from vanishing? From disappearing from his life?
Those thoughts plagued him, haunted him. It tore him up inside, trying to figure out how to keep her from vanishing for his own good. There was only one thing he could do—take things one hour at a time. And right now, his muscles were sore and the floor was hard.
He didn’t want to disturb her, but refused to spend one more second on this floor when there was a perfectly comfortable bed upstairs. Cooper shifted, waking Nikki, though he hadn’t meant to. She yawned and stretched, but he quickly stood and scooped her into his arms.
Though he could see the tension in her face, the lines around her eyes, bracketing her mouth, he kissed her lightly and carried her from the room. Stark naked, Cooper walked through the house, uncaring who might see them. Nikki giggled and grazed her teeth along the side of his neck.
Her laughter relaxed him, if only slightly. As he made his way down the hall, he wondered if their bedroom was the right place for them now, given this morning’s revelations. But he refused to let that come between them, not when he worked so hard to close the distance.
Cooper kicked open the door, then kicked it closed behind him. Nikki looked up at him, her eyes dancing with amusement, eyebrow quirked upward. She leaned up and kissed him, and Cooper let his worries go for another hour.
Right now he planned to make love to Nikki and ignore the outside world.
* * * *
Cooper startled awake. He hadn’t sle
pt well last night, jerking whenever Nikki moved, afraid she’d sneak out in the middle of the night like a thief. Even as he called himself a fool, knowing she’d do no such thing, his sleep was troubled.
The sun shone through the windows, the dawn of another sunny autumn day. Nikki lay wrapped around him, one arm thrown possessively across his chest, her breathing slow and even, and he knew she still slept. They hadn’t left the house yesterday, leaving the bed only for food and evening chores.
He heard it again, the sound that woke him—a knock at the front door. Careful not to wake Nikki, Cooper climbed from the bed and quickly dressed. If there was an emergency on the ranch, the knock on the front door would have been a pounding on his bedroom door. He could only think of one person to visit this early in the morning and hoped he was correct and that visitor was Taima.
Easing the bedroom door closed behind him, Cooper took the steps two at a time. He doubted Taima would leave, but didn’t want to take that chance. When he opened the door, the diminutive woman greeted him with a sharp eye and a curt nod. Unperturbed by her abrupt greeting, Cooper ushered her inside. In the distance, he heard a coyote howl.
“I didn’t think you’d return, Taima,” he admitted softly in the dim hallway.
Cooper debated showing her into the office or the kitchen and making a cup of coffee, but the seer looked to be in a business mood. Anxious to hear what she had to say, Cooper gestured for her to follow him into the office, though he desperately needed coffee.
“There was something I didn’t expect to find here,” the seer said. She didn’t sit, but wandered restlessly around the room. Cooper leaned against his great-grandfather’s desk and waited. “I felt it driving up to the ranch and I feel it now. You must forgive an old witch her eccentricities.”
“Have you found anything that can help?” Cooper asked, all thoughts of coffee forgotten.
Taima stopped mid-step and turned back to face him. She patted his face and looked up at him sadly. “Temper your hope, my dear.”
“I’ve told him that as well.” Nikki stood in the office doorway, fully dressed, her honey blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, her feet bare. She glanced at Cooper then at Taima and entered the room.
“I said temper,” Taima corrected sharply, “not extinguish.”
Cooper took Nikki’s hand and pulled her fully into the office and closed the door. He didn’t release her hand. In the kitchen, he heard Sylvia and knew the ranch hands would start to wander in any minute for their breakfast.
“What does that mean?” Nikki demanded as she faced Taima.
“Have you found a way to expel this thing from her?” Cooper demanded. She tried to pull her hand from his, but he tightened his fingers around hers, both for support and to show her she wasn’t alone. She didn’t look at him, but squeezed his fingers in return.
“I believe,” Taima said slowly and as courteously as Cooper had ever heard her speak. “I believe it’s possible to expel the demon, as you say. But it won’t be without great risk, great pain, and likely death.”
“I don’t care,” Nikki said quickly.
“I do care,” Cooper cut in sharply.
“However,” Taima interrupted and held up a reproachful hand to stop them. “I believe there’s another method. It should be far easier and safer for you to simply find a way to always control the demon.”
Nikki jerked back in shock. Cooper looked at her, but said nothing. Not yet.
“Then it is a demon,” Nikki said softly. “I was never sure, not really.”
“Of sorts,” Taima admitted. She looked at Cooper, but he stayed where he was. “A demon, a spirit. Yes, perhaps a spirit. I’d say that’s the easiest description.”
Nikki’s intellectual, almost academic reaction surprised him, though he supposed it shouldn’t have. Not when she’d been so cool and distant in describing the demon and all that had happened with her father and the drug cartel.
When Cooper looked at her, he saw that spark of need in her eyes. She needed the information Taima had learned, was hungry for any shred of knowledge about what had always lived inside her.
Taima closed the distance between them and allowed her hand to hover over Nikki’s cheek. Cooper could see the wolf’s image appear and the symbols down her neck, there and gone in a heartbeat.
“It is, I think, the Ancient Ones.”
“The Ancient Enemy,” Nikki added, looking at him.
Cooper knew who they were, of course. Everyone in these parts knew of them, knew those few legends remaining of them. But he had no idea they possessed this kind of magic, that they called forth demons to possess people.
“The Anasazi?” Cooper asked, but they all knew he was right.
“They were only known as the Ancient Enemy because of this curse,” Taima told them. “It’s the curse that overtook them. It doesn’t mean every Ancient One is insane.”
“I don’t understand,” Nikki admitted.
Cooper, sensing where Taima headed with this, guided Nikki to the couch.
“This curse originates with a people that lived alongside the Aztecs, Mayans, Incas, all the ancient tribes.” Taima sat on the couch beside Nikki and got comfortable. Cooper stood behind them and felt helpless.
“They thought they protected themselves by imbuing their warriors with this curse, which gave strength and focus in battle. At first the Anasazi used true warrior spirits; the spirit of the wolf was among the strongest. That is what I see in you.”
Taima looked hard at Nikki, all but ignoring Cooper. “There are many tales of these spirits, wolves, and other incarnations.”
She glanced to the side and Cooper wanted to demand she finish her story. He held his tongue and waited. Beneath his hand, he felt the tension in Nikki’s shoulders stiff and inflexible.
“For a time,” she eventually went on, “the Anasazi warriors were successful in pushing back all their enemies. But they had too much territory and had too few warriors. They choose new ones poorly.”
Taima took a deep breath and shook her head. “They chose to curse what you’d consider criminals today. They cursed them and forced these criminals to defend the tribe. But the power changed these new warriors and drove the hosts mad.”
Nikki shivered at that, her fingers tightening around themselves on her lap. Cooper’s hand tightened on her shoulder and she looked gratefully over at him.
“They instilled fear in their neighbors and demanded sacrifice,” Taima continued. “Eventually they turned on each other until they were lost to time. These sorts of things never die, however. They hide, they lay dormant, they’re passed through families, strangers, and through generations. That’s what we have here.”
“What—” The word sounded barely audible in the room, and Nikki cleared her throat to try again. “What do you mean,” she asked, her voice hoarse, “by control it? If they couldn’t control it in the past, how can I now? I’d risk death to expel this thing.”
“In order to do either,” Taima said, her voice softer now and sympathetic, “you must find an object.” She held up her hand and corrected herself. “The object,” she clarified, “from which the curse is derived. It will most assuredly be with whomever did this to you.”
“I doubt they’d give up that power easily,” Cooper said. He watched Nikki but knew Taima nodded in agreement.
Nikki met his gaze, the blue of her eyes lit with fear. But she nodded and he knew she thought of the drug runners and her father.
“If we find this object,” Cooper continued, looking at the seer. “Then what?”
Taima looked at Nikki and smiled—it wasn’t a pleasant smile, but Cooper couldn’t quite place the emotion behind it. Knowledge, manipulative, even cunning all mixed in that smile. He knew this woman as a friend; however he wondered, was forced to, if Taima had some other agenda.
Still, he did believe her. He had to.
“It’ll be revealed to Nikki,” Taima promised. “She’ll know what to do and how to do it once i
t’s in her possession.” She stared hard at him. “In that, trust me.”
Chapter Six
Nikki sat on the couch as Cooper showed Taima out the door. She couldn’t move; her mind raced with all the possibilities and implications of the seer’s discovery. In the last day she’d learned more about her curse than all the searching she’d done since she was a teen and first discovered there really was a voice in her head.
Taima didn’t exactly endear herself, but frankly Nikki didn’t care about that—the woman had information on this monster inside her. More importantly, she was willing to share that information. No matter how the seer came off personally, Nikki would always be indebted. Was there an appropriate way to thank someone for sharing information of this nature?
A quick thank-you note didn’t seem quite enough, she thought with a sardonic smile.
Cooper’s voice drifted in from the front door, but she couldn’t hear what he and Taima discussed.
Cooper. Nikki half turned on the couch and looked through the office door, though she couldn’t see him. Warmth spread over her, and she caught her breath. Trying to shake it off, she stood and went to the window. Ever the gentleman, he’d escorted Taima to her car where the other woman continued to talk. Cooper glanced back at the house, and Nikki smiled though she knew he probably didn’t see her faint grin.
He had so much here, his entire life. Devoted to the ranch, to the people working for him, Cooper wanted to expand Agua Clara’s operations even further. What did she have to offer him? Nikki was a woman with a difficult past, an uncertain future.
And a very real demon inside her.
A bitter laugh escaped, and she hastily pursed her lips before it became uncontrollable. Turning, she looked at the portraits lining the wall. Cooper had dismissed them as important only for the succession of this ranch, but she saw something else here. A connection she’d never had. Both her parents were still alive, but she hadn’t talked to them since she arrived in New Mexico.
What did she have to offer Cooper?
Cursed Love: A Wicked Demon Tale Page 5
