by Renee Field
He watched her awkwardly move her body from her back to her belly. It wasn’t easy to do with her wrists tied together but as much as he wanted to help he couldn’t as it would ruin her fantasy.
“On your knees.”
“What?”
He gave a hard smack to her ass. “I didn’t tell you to speak.”
Fire sparked to life in her blue eyes when she turned her head to observe him. He gave her the span of ten seconds, knowing she fought with herself. Wanting it but worried she might be getting in over her head, which of course she was. Lance grinned. Her seconds were up.
“Knees. Now,” he demanded, moving his body.
This time she complied. She balanced her weight on her knees by spreading her legs because her wrists were tied together. Still though Lance knew the position was awkward for her.
“What are you going to do?”
Lance noted her tone had become breathless and erratic. He untied the silky scarves without speaking. She immediately balanced herself on the palms of her hands on the bed.
Good girl. “Obey and enjoy.” He followed his words with a second hard smack on her ass. Lance took great delight in seeing the red outline from his hand on her cheek. He loved her gasp of feigned outrage. Behind that outrage was passion and he planned to bring her over her limit, so much so she’d be sore tomorrow. Sexually satisfied, tired and happy, he wanted to imprint every part of her lush body to ensure she didn’t forget him.
He wanted to ram his cock into her pussy, over and over again. After all that had been his fantasy the minute he’d met the cool, level-headed woman who had made it clear to him that she thought she was better than him. Well, after tonight she could think that all she wanted. He was her fantasy lover for one night and if that was all he got from Cindy then he wasn’t about to waste one minute of it.
“I’m going to fuck you hard because you didn’t obey me.” And because you turned me down twice and pissed off one mighty warlock!
Chapter Three
Cindy’s body was sore in places she’d never expected. Her butt cheeks were still slightly red and splotchy from the spankings her mystery lover had given her last night, hence why she sat on one cheek. And her nipples. Who knew the light feel of her crisp white-collared shirt would actually make them ache? Her pussy still felt swollen and even though she’d taken a hot shower, she felt as if her body remembered the feel of his skillful hands and mouth on her skin when she closed her eyes. Talk about romantic. Immediately, she wanted to smack her head.
There really was nothing remotely romantic about last night. She did remember going to the auction and placing bids on a man but for the universe she couldn’t seem to figure out how she’d ended up in bed with her blind date. Cindy rubbed her temples in a small repeating pattern, hoping to unlock the fuzziness in her brain, which screamed at her she was missing something important.
She’d had four hours of hot, erotic, mind-blowing sex with a complete stranger. With a man she didn’t even know. She did know he was masterful and considerate and had taken the time always to put a condom on. He’d pushed her buttons but she’d loved it and that had surprised her. While nameless, Cindy knew in her heart she’d never forget him.
For the first time in years she thought her magic would come in handy. I could cast a spell, bind my mystery lover to me but then it wouldn’t be real, would it? Cindy drew a sharp breath in, rearranged her business folders and realized the enormity of her wayward thoughts. Magic! That temptation to use what coursed through her veins and mind made her nervous. She had survived this long with the charade of being human so Cindy wasn’t about to let one man take all she had gained—her independence, her freedom and choice of lifestyle—away from her. Using business smarts, she’d get what she wanted.
If Cindy used magic three times in one moon-cycle she’d be forced back home to the Darklander realm. Worse, she’d end up having to work for the Graco-Roman Witches’ Coven for the rest of her life. She blinked hard. Not in this lifetime.
Using her brain power and business sense, she had worked hard to be allowed to go to a human university, get a job and work her way to the top. A thrill of potentially getting what she wanted felt like a caffeine jolt to her system. Before she could thoroughly plan her maneuvering her office phone rang. It was Nora.
“Spill.”
Nora’s soft purring voice, slightly anxious, teased Cindy. Knowing Nora as Cindy had since their university days, the poor woman had probably been up all night worried sick about Cindy giving in to the wild side.
“No way.”
“Oh. My. God! You actually did it. You went to Finn’s and let the wild side out. I can hear it in your voice.”
“Maybe.” Cindy attempted to swivel her chair around but that proved hard to accomplish when only one butt cheek firmly rested on the leather seat. Pulling on an earring, Cindy had no idea what Nora was talking about.
“Why would I go to Finn’s?” asked Cindy.
An audible pause filled the line. “Cindy, you were to meet your blind date at Finn’s Restaurant.”
Cindy gave a choked chuckle. “I was?” Clearly perplexed, Cindy had no recollection of that. She vividly remembered enjoying the night with her friends at the auction, but no way she’d set foot inside Finn’s Restaurant, located on the outside of the tallest building in the city. Without the use of her magic, heights terrified her.
“Details, baby, details,” demanded Nora.
Normally, Cindy loved to spill all the beans to her best friend, Nora or even to Tina, but this time she didn’t want to. Until she had all the answers and felt more like herself she planned to keep her worries to herself. What’s real and what’s not?
Switching topics, she asked, “So how was your date?”
“Great.”
That one word said it all.
“Oh Nora, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m not. I’ll get my satisfaction so don’t worry about me. Look, I’ve got to run. And, Cindy Stephanopoulos Frost, I am your best friend. I will get the details out of you. It’s only a matter of time,” Nora stated in the best mother-hen voice she could muster.
Trust Nora to resort to saying my full name to get my attention. Credits, girl. Cindy gave two to Nora for that one. No one, except of course obviously Nora, knew Cindy Frost, a.k.a. Cindy Stephanopoulos Frost, had a name that sounded remotely Greek in the human world. Cindy knew if her friend ever found out she wasn’t from this world, both their lives would never be the same again.
Cindy had inadvertently tossed out her so-called middle name one night during a drunken stupor. Thankfully she hadn’t said anything about witches and the Darklander realm. When Cindy’s mother had married a non-Graco-Roman warlock she’d taken his last name in marriage. When her father had left them when she was two, her mother had cast him out of their village for good and hadn’t bothered to change Cindy’s last name. If there was one thing Cindy had learned early in her business career it was that having an ethnic name was a stumbling block for those human white males who lined that elusive ivory tower.
“Okay, here’s the deal. After your date tonight I will spill the beans. Are you still meeting us later at the theater for the second night of bidding?” asked Cindy.
“Of course. Nothing in this world could make me miss it,” chuckled Nora, her voice a husky purr.
“What’s come over you? Your voice sounds strange,” said Cindy.
Nora cleared her throat. “Nothing’s wrong with my voice and I’ll share my secret when you tell me yours.” She giggled.
Cindy laughed with her. It was impossible not to. “Okay, be mysterious. I’ll see you later tonight.”
“Deal,” chimed Nora. “Gotta run.”
Yeah, I bet. Cindy knew exactly what Nora meant about running. She planned to let her fingers run across her cell phone so she could call Tina and break the news to her that Cindy had done it.
As she hung up her phone, a daring plan popped into Cindy’s head. She opene
d her email and fired off a terse note before talking herself out of it. Oh yeah, baby, he’ll be pissed off and demand a second chance. Smiling smugly to herself, Cindy was thrilled and terrified at the same time with what she had set in motion—demanding a refund.
Firing off an email to Madam Sasha, the manager and coordinator of the blind date charity auction, without thought was uncharacteristic for Cindy. Last night Sasha had given Cindy her business card. Now Cindy demanded her own satisfaction, stating the man she’d paid a thousand dollars for wasn’t worth it. Inwardly, she laughed.
My ass, she thought, quite literally, knowing Mr. Unsatisfactory would demand a second chance to ensure she was fully satisfied with his services. Deciding it was time to get her morning coffee now that’d she’d executed her first order of the day, Cindy practically hummed stepping into the elevator thinking, Baby come to momma.
“You’re happy this morning. Must have been a good night.”
Lost in her own daydreams, Cindy blinked to clear her thoughts and forced herself to stop humming. For a second she could have sworn she’d heard her mystery lover’s voice here in the elevator with her. Weird.
Turning her head to the right, she noticed Lance Papadopoulos leaning with his back against the elevator wall. The light in the elevator was dim at the best of times and with his neat black business suit and dark navy dress shirt she hadn’t been aware of him.
“So was it a good night?”
“What?” she asked, clearing her throat.
He leaned a little closer to her, and for one second Cindy thought she caught a whiff of sweet, hot melting candy. Pursing her lips, she dismissed that, noting the hint of malice in Lance’s voice. Ridiculous. It’s just Lance. The hotshot Greek human who would soon be eating dust when she became the next CEO. The same hunk who had every woman in all the departments panting with lust. But not her. Cindy made it a rule not to date coworkers. Even coworkers as charming and dangerously good-looking as Lance. Plus, dating to her mother meant marriage. Either a wedding or be turned into a toad. So not funny.
“Did you have a good night last night?”
“The usual.” She pressed the bottom button. For a moment she wondered why the button hadn’t been already pressed because it appeared as if Lance had been in the elevator before her. Surely he wasn’t in here waiting to talk to me. Cindy cast another glance Lance’s way.
His dark hands trailed through the thick black wavy hair on his head and for a moment she caught a glimpse of her mystery lover. She physically shook her head. It’s just because he’s Greek and the guy last night was Greek. That’s it. Still though, it took a lot of willpower on Cindy’s part not to thoroughly check out Lance as he leaned casually against the elevator wall all but staring at her. Now if he’d do a slow strip-tease, then I’d know for sure it wasn’t him. She chuckled.
“Something funny?” he snarled.
“What?”
“You’re chuckling. Am I missing some private joke here?”
Cindy smoothed her now sweaty palms over her blue skirt. “No. I was just remembering something.”
“Really, I bet it’s not what you think it is,” he mumbled.
“What?” She turned and looked at him, thinking this had to be the most confusing conversation she’d had in a long time. His blue eyes were all but shooting daggers at her. “Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,” she teased.
“Not the wrong side of the bed…wrong bed,” he stated flatly, staring at her in earnest.
A shiver of fear spiked through Cindy, causing goose bumps of warning to zing across her skin. Thankfully she was saved by the bell. “TMI, Lance. Grab a coffee, you’ll feel better. That always works for me.” With a spring in her step Cindy stepped out of the elevator and into the lobby with a smile.
“Oh I’ll be grabbing something later, don’t you worry…you’ll be the first to know.”
With that cryptic remark Lance marched past her, oblivious to the sighs and glances from all the women in the lobby who were ogling his muscular body that the polished business suit showcased with ease. Her eyes got caught on his ass, clearly outlined in his black suit pants as he marched through the corridor, looking madder than an enraged bull.
Good thing he isn’t a magical being because adding his handsome good looks and magic together would make for one volcanic recipe.
Cindy smiled. There was nothing remotely magical about Lance. Giving up her own magical powers, much to her mother’s horror and forever consternation, didn’t mean she couldn’t smell a magical being. The few times she had run across Darklander beings laced with magic she’d caught that sweet, hot, melting candy scent and wisely backed away. He reeked of hot, intent male and that was enough.
Cindy’s heart started to palpitate when she realized the seriousness of what she’d set into motion. She’d basically told Sasha her date didn’t perform. She’d called into question his masculinity. Cindy gulped and ran for the coffee house across the street, not caring in her haste she wove in and out of traffic.
The truth of what she’d now set in motion spun in her mind faster than a crazed broomstick. A deadly magical message flashed through her mind telling her she was in a deep, boiling cauldron trouble.
* * * * *
Lance swiveled his office chair around to watch Cindy walk past him wearing one of her no-nonsense blue business suits. Like a spy he took great satisfaction as she plopped her ass down in her chair. She grimaced and he knew why. He’d fucked her long and thoroughly, spanking her round cheeks even harder, and she’d come twice for him—once while she’d been on her knees, ass in the air with his cock in her cunt, and the other time when he’d tied her face-down, stuffed a pillow under her hips to leverage her butt and smacked her cheeks, feigning outrage that she’d come when he’d told her not to.
She had thrashed around and pretended not to enjoy his punishment but the minute he plunged a finger into her dripping wet core her pussy muscles had clenched around it like a spandex glove and she’d come hard, her body spiraling with passion. Slightly dazed, he then flipped her over, untied the silk scarf from her wrists and donned another condom so he could quickly fill her cunt with his achy cock. And then he’d taken his time with her. They played out the fucking, taking delight in each other’s body, each other’s desires. By the time Lance had left around four in the morning his cock had hurt and his balls had ached. He’d come four times in four hours. A record for him.
The phone buzzed in his right pants pocket, interrupting his thoughts, a good thing judging by the reaction of his cock. He turned his chair so his back was to his office door, forcing his eyes away from Cindy, whose office was directly opposite his.
“Have you checked your email?”
Mitch’s voice cut through him. His Darklander vampire buddy who worked the night shift as a human police officer sounded annoyed. It was the perfect job for his pissed-off-with-life buddy. Lance was pleased the Mistress of the Darklander Council had granted Mitch a stay in the human world. Until fairly recently the Darklander realm had been in a state of beastly clan wars with fairies, drákon, vampires, the sidhe, warlocks and witches fighting each other. A peace of sorts had finally emerged thanks to the Mistress. With peace also came prosperity and Lance, besides being a mighty warlock, was a mighty fast learner in the business-corporate world. Mergers and acquisitions thrilled him as much as facing a crazed drákon.
“What?” asked Lance.
“Email. Check it.”
Taking orders didn’t sit well with Lance. Normally he’d tell anyone else to fuck off but not Mitch. Besides being a great cop, Mitch was a killer vampire and the best buddy a warlock could have. When he gave an order you responded because Mitch was the type of vampire who didn’t put up with any shit, but he was also the type of guy who’d take out your enemy for you without a second thought.
Lance clicked his email icon, watching as a dozen new messages popped up on the screen. His eyes flared when the red flagged email poppe
d up. Immediately he opened it, still keeping his cell phone open with his other hand. Twice Lance read the email. It didn’t make any sense to him.
“Fuck, Mitch, what does that mean?”
“It means your sister is one mad witch. She says the client emailed her stating you didn’t deliver your end of the blind date agreement. I’m so glad I’m not you. I have my own problems.”
The dead sarcasm wasn’t lost on Lance.
Didn’t deliver? Try like four fucking times! Lance knew his buddy would view that disclosure as TMI.
“Your sister said not to bother showing up for the second night of the auction. She’s really mad at you. I don’t know what you did to that date of yours but you must have pissed her off completely.”
Hot searing outrage flashed through Lance. Not bloody likely. “Who’s taking my number?”
“Some warlock named Marcus.”
Lance didn’t say anything else. He clicked his cell phone closed, deleted the email and stormed out of his office. Marcus. There was no way Marcus, his cousin, was going to take his number and strut his stuff tonight. Didn’t deliver. Cindy, you are so going to wish you didn’t say that. Because not even if the Darklander g’ulot froze over would Lance let Marcus anywhere near his woman…witch, whatever.
Lance looked at his watch. Nine hours until the sun set and then he’d have all his warlock powers and little witchy Cindy Frost had better look out. One Darklander warlock was coming for her and he wasn’t smiling.
* * * * *
Lance slid into the diner’s leather seat, ordered a coffee from a passing waitress and listened to the conversation taking place between Mitch and Hank.
“I knew we should have said no to your sister, Lance.” Mitch’s voice was gruff and dead serious.
