Out of the Light, Into the Shadows

by Lori Foster

  “Brax?” High and thin, her voice wavered.

  “Shhh.” He came up behind her, not physically touching her, but he needed to be close enough to smell her sexual excitement, to hear her every small breath. “It’ll be easier on you if you don’t fight it.”

  Trembling, her breath hitched, she gave up her tenuous hold on the door to slump down to the floor. Her beautiful eyes went unseeing, then closed.

  She looked so sensual, so stunning, that Brax had to brace himself.

  “Oh, God.” She gave one small groan before biting her swelling lips. Shaking, her hands curled into fists, she dropped back against the door.

  Brax came down on his knees beside her. He wanted to come with her, he was so excited, but that would be unfair to her.

  When they joined, she’d be willing—unlike now.

  “I could make this go so quickly,” he whispered to her, “but … I’m a selfish bastard. I need to relish this, to watch you experiencing everything.”

  “No.” Her face flushed and she tipped her head back, turning away from him. “Please. Make it …” Her back arched, pressing her breasts forward as she gasped. “ … Make it stop.”

  “No, baby.” He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. “Not just yet.” He truly believed it’d be best for her to understand the depth and expanse of his power firsthand, but he couldn’t stand it.

  He had to hold her.

  Drawing her into his lap despite her feeble resistance, Brax cradled her to his chest. “I won’t touch you sexually, Cameo. It wouldn’t be honorable.”

  As she panted without reply, her short, manicured nails dug into his biceps through the material of his shirt.

  “Just relax. Accept it.” Accept me.

  “You …” She was unable to finish whatever insult she’d intended.

  Stroking her back, Brax explained what was happening and why. “I know you’ve suspected that I’m different from other men. I’ve also known of your heightened awareness of me for a long time.” He rocked her just a little as the pleasure built, receded, then came back stronger, racking her slender body.

  Catching her chin, he forced her to look at him. “The truth is that I can manipulate people in numerous ways. This is only one of those ways, and I’ve saved it exclusively for you.”

  She cried out, her legs stiffening as she tensed hard in his arms. “You have to … to stop this!”

  “Not yet.” It’d be easier to talk to her now, with her defenses crushed. Once she came and, of course, regained her wits, he’d have his hands full with her embarrassment and anger.

  Unwilling to have her climax so soon, he forced himself to retrench a little.

  “You must be familiarized with the reach of my capabilities,” he murmured.

  She turned her face in to his chest and bit him on a deep, resonating groan.

  Brax caught his breath at the sign of escalating passion; the sinking of her small teeth into his pec muscle damn near proved to be his undoing.

  For his own sake, he had to finish this, and soon.

  He tangled his fingers in her long, light-brown hair and drew her face back. “For some time now, I’ve been able to … assist with legal affairs. It’s all very top secret, and no one knows how I gain confessions, and more.”

  Her lips parted on another wave of intense sensation.

  He needed her to hear him. “Cameo, I’ve never told another soul, not even my sister, of what I can do.”

  She looked at him with her eyes wild and dark with need.

  He touched her cheek. “Only you, Cameo.”

  Moaning long and low, she twisted tighter to him again. “Please, Brax. I can’t bear it.”

  Her high heels had fallen off already, and he watched her toes curl, her calf muscles flex. Her trim skirt had ridden high on her thighs.

  Thanks to his fingers, her hair tumbled loose from the elegant twist she’d worn. He liked her hair down.

  He liked her ripe and wet with need.

  “You’d be surprised what you can take.” Once she accepted him on every level, he’d find great pleasure in exploring her sensual depths. He’d school her in an ecstasy she’d never considered.

  Even through her blouse and bra he could see the pebbled stiffness of her nipples, knew they ached as if he’d been sucking on them, and his eyes closed on a stark visual. “I look forward to showing you.”

  She almost spiraled out of control right then. Her body jolting in small spasms, her breath rasping, Brax held her tight and absorbed the wave with her until it receded yet again. Tormented with her need, each pass of pleasure sharpened the yearning.

  As sensuality consumed her, she looked wanton and Brax didn’t have it in him to drag it out any longer. Much more, and he’d lose control himself. The scent of her arousal heightened his own. As he’d told her, he fed off sexual contact, using it to dissipate the darkness and strengthen his focus. But now, with Cameo, the effect was too potent, too dark and lush and hot.

  Given that he shared it all with her, they were both in an agony of burning need.

  She was every bit as passionate as he’d always suspected. All he’d done was unleash that passion—without a single touch—as a demonstration to her, a harsh lesson she’d never forget.

  Now he had to finish his explanations and let her rest or they’d never get the bigger issues resolved.

  “Understand, Cameo, nearly everything is heightened, if not entirely controlled, by emotion. Sickness and fear, tension and pain, and yes, the sexual desire you feel now, are based on an emotional level that I can manipulate through concentrated focus.” He leaned down to breathe in the scent of her hair and flushed skin. Huskily, he admitted, “I focus on you a lot these days. No doubt you’ve felt the effects.”

  Whether or not she heard him, Brax couldn’t be sure. She was so frenzied, writhing in his arms, tears tracking her cheeks, that rational thought might be well out of her control.

  But he had to say it all anyway, had to share with her what only a limited few knew. “This odd ability is a trait within the males of my family, used throughout history mostly to assist in the greater good.”

  He traced two fingertips along her throat to where a pulse thrummed wildly. Passion left her skin dewy and soft; he badly wanted to taste her, to mark her as his own.

  All over.

  “There have been a few black sheep who’ve used the ability exclusively to take advantage of others, but they’re few and far between—”

  Suddenly crying out, Cameo interrupted his disclosure on the family tree.

  He cupped her neck, supporting her while the racking orgasm vibrated through her. She tried to turn away from him, but he was self-centered enough that he wanted to see everything. “Look at me,” he told her, “and I’ll allow you to come.”

  For only a moment more, she refused, and then, with all her resistance shattered, she met his gaze.

  Brax wallowed in the moment, triumphant and so very close to satisfaction. “That’s it,” he said, encouraging her, breathing with her. “Give me everything, Cameo.”

  Ripe with ever-coiling tension, raw sounds of need tore from her throat. Brax cuddled her closer, kissed her temple, and held her as the overwhelming release consumed her.

  In his midthirties, he’d pleasured many women in many different ways. He’d taken, and he’d given. He’d used and been used. He enjoyed savage sex and tender lovemaking.

  This was different.

  This was Cameo.

  This moment, the first of many, would always hold a special place in his heart.

  When her cries finally abated and she went lax in his arms, panting from an excess of exertion, he smiled and again kissed her temple. “Now, Cameo, you are mine. There will be no going back.”

  CAMEO lay limp in his arms as she slowly regathered herself. Her brain felt too replete to function, her body too limp to move.

  What had just happened, what he’d made happen, that wasn’t her. It had never been her.

  She u
nderstood his reasoning, she really did. If she hadn’t experienced his ability, never would she have believed him. But each time he’d sent more sensation sizzling along her nerve endings, she’d known it was him. He only held her, a near-platonic embrace but for the look in his eyes.

  And still, he’d turned her inside out with sexual excitement stronger than she’d known existed.

  Her hair was in her face, her legs inelegantly opened over his lap. Tear tracks had ruined her carefully applied makeup.

  God, she thought of how she’d screamed, even begged, and how much he’d enjoyed her response.

  Through a haze of humiliation, she peeked at Brax and saw the satisfaction in his amazing golden eyes, the small smile he wore.

  She lost it.

  With no warning at all, not even a frown, she swung her palm up fast and hard, slapping his smug face with all the meager strength she possessed.

  His head didn’t move, but the smile disappeared real quick. His eyes flinched, his mouth firmed as a red hand-print rose on his jaw.

  “I take it you’re convinced of what I can do.”

  “Yes!”

  He eyed her furious expression with interest. “Feel better?”

  Breathing hard in her ire, Cameo nodded. “A little.”

  His mouth remained grim, but she saw the smile in his incredible golden eyes. “Still pissed?”

  Oh, she was angry alright, no two ways about that. But she was more mortified than anything. “Maybe.”

  After a very cautious hug, he said, “Then I’ll give you a little more time before we talk.”

  About … his astounding ability? Or the fact that he wanted her physically? Or that she’d been fired?

  The first left her incredulous. The second thrilled her.

  The third was out of the question. Fire her? No, she wouldn’t allow it.

  She was good at what she did, and now that she knew how he felt, the idea of anyone else getting that close to him, tending all his personal and professional needs, didn’t sit well with her at all.

  How to change his mind, Cameo didn’t yet know. He’d hit her with too much all at once, leaving her thoughts and emotions staggering.

  Was it truly possible for a man to do what he’d done? For years, she’d suspected Brax of amazing things. He was by far the most intelligent person she’d ever met, keen witted and cagey, as proved by his bank account. He was also sinfully gorgeous, with inky black hair that contrasted sharply with gold-hazel eyes unlike any she’d ever seen except on his sister, Mercy.

  But … mind manipulation? She’d never even heard of such a thing.

  As confusing as it all was, she couldn’t grasp anything beyond one mind-numbing fact: he’d easily used her, worked her, wrung her out—all without touching her except to hold her close.

  Brax stood six feet, five inches tall and possessed laudable strength within a well-honed, muscular body. But he hadn’t used height or brawn to bend her to his will.

  He’d used his incredible mind.

  Gradually her heartbeat slowed from its furious pace and her heated flesh began to cool. Brax continued to cradle her close, saying nothing. Her weight in his lap was insignificant to him.

  Was she insignificant? What did he have planned for them now? Was she to feed his bizarre talent?

  He’d claimed that he’d never told anyone but her about what he could do. Even living through it firsthand—she shuddered again in memory—didn’t make it easy to accept. She had a thousand questions, but first …

  “Mercy doesn’t know about this?”

  He smoothed a damp tendril of hair away from her face. “No.”

  That didn’t really surprise her. Brax and his sister were closer than any other siblings she knew. After the death of their parents, when Mercy was ten and Brax had just turned a legal eighteen, he’d taken over raising her. He loved Mercy unconditionally, which was easy to do given that Mercy was so kind and smart and wonderful.

  “So you want to protect her from this?”

  “Yes.” He watched her. “It’s not an easy thing for most to accept.”

  “No, it’s not.” Maybe she needed to rattle his damned complacency a little. Sitting up in his lap, Cameo said, “If you ever again do that to me—”

  “Without your permission,” he interrupted her to say, and now his gaze burned.

  Cameo scowled, but yes, she might allow him to make her feel those all-consuming things again, if he was with her every step of the way.

  She raised a brow and said, “Promise me you won’t do that without my very clear permission. I mean it, Brax.”

  His hand cupped the back of her neck. He stared at her mouth, then into her eyes as he murmured, “I can’t.”

  Cameo barely had time to absorb his refusal before he drew her forward and ravaged her mouth with a starving kiss.

  When he finally let her up for air, he was the one panting. “God, woman, the things you do to me.”

  Cameo couldn’t believe him. She smacked his shoulder, this time lacking any real rage. “That’s the pot calling the kettle black, isn’t it?”

  He smiled, drew in and let out a big breath. “I won’t make a promise I might not be able to keep.” His brows came down in a self-directed frown. “All men use the skills they possess to seduce and pleasure the women they want.”

  “You’re not like other men.”

  He acknowledged that with a slight nod. “The thing is, you push me and tempt me. I’ll do my best, but I’m only a man, and I’ve wanted you—”

  “Just be quiet and let me think.” She couldn’t believe his audacity, but in a way, what he’d said was a compliment, as if she could take him beyond his own control.

  “Look at it this way.” A knowing, masculine gleam entered his eyes. “We’ve already established that I can’t coerce you to do things you don’t want to do. I can bend you to my will to a degree, but you are never fully under my control.”

  “It didn’t feel that way to me.”

  “Because you want me sexually, too, I am able to … encourage you enough to give us both pleasure.”

  Except that he hadn’t taken anything for himself. “You didn’t—”

  Knowing her thoughts, he interrupted her to say, “Watching you, hearing you, and breathing in your scent, it gave me great pleasure.”

  He waited a few seconds before asking, “Questions?”

  “A million of them.” Using his broad shoulders to brace herself, Cameo left his lap and stood before him.

  He remained seated on the floor. “Well?”

  Cameo shook her head. “Not this way, Brax. If you had any idea of payback of the sensual kind, you can forget it.”

  “I was afraid you’d say that.” He reached down and readjusted his jeans over what looked to be a rather sizable bulge.

  She tried not to notice the very noticeable erection beneath his fly. “Let’s go to the kitchen, get some coffee, and talk—without touching.”

  Proud of the way she calmly stepped into her shoes, Cameo went to the door. This time he did nothing as she opened the door and walked out.

  When she heard a thump, she looked back to see Brax’s long, hard body sprawled on the floor, one leg bent at the knee, one forearm over his eyes.

  “Brax?”

  He didn’t look at her or move in any way. “Go on. I’ll join you shortly.” He drew in another deep breath. “I just need a minute.”

  It was Cameo’s turn to smile. Feeling magnanimous and, in some evil feminine way, powerful, she said soothingly, “Take all the time you need.”

  The feeling lasted all the way through coffee preparation. But when she sat down at the table alone and started to think, she also worried.

  Many women had tried to tie down the magnificent, wealthy, and influential Brax Jardine. He’d accepted sexual favors from them, escorted them to necessary social events, but nothing more ever came of it.

  She wasn’t a hag, and her figure was more than okay, but … she knew she wasn’t
in league with the women he usually gravitated to.

  Unlike them, she could never settle for half measures or temporary pleasures.

  Her fingernails tapped on the tabletop as she waited for Brax to join her.

  Brax wasn’t a liar. If he said he’d confided only in her, then she believed him. What that made her to him, she couldn’t know.

  But as soon as he got himself together and joined her, she’d damn well ask him.

  TWO

  BRAX walked in wearing jeans, a white shirt, a thick black watch, and nothing else. They were the same clothes he’d had on earlier, only they were more rumpled now.

  At the sight of him, Cameo’s breath caught. His broad shoulders filled the doorway. He was so much man that he sent her to blushing all over again.

  He planted his big feet apart and just stood there, watching her, taking note of the heat in her face she was sure.

  Neither of them moved.

  His eyes narrowed the smallest bit. “I like your hair down and loose like that.”

  Reminded of her tousled state, Cameo touched one long lock hanging over her shoulder. She was not a woman used to “cutting loose,” in either attitude or dress. “For work, it’d be inappropriate.”

  “You aren’t working anymore.” And with that, he strode in and poured each of them a cup of coffee.

  Anger sabotaged her planned inquisition. “Oh, I’ll be working—just not for you.”

  He halted in midmovement, going still in the way of a startled bear. It wouldn’t last. Agitated bears attacked; they did not retreat.

  But Brax was a silent, very contained hunter. With a steady hand, he set both cups of coffee on the table and seated himself. “I want you with me, not working elsewhere.”

  She was so startled, she forgot to be mad. “What do you mean, with you?”

  “Here.” He sat back, his relaxed posture deceiving. “In my house. It’s plenty big enough.”

  “Can’t argue that. You could house a football team with ease. But I won’t be a kept woman.”

  His mouth quirked. “Don’t be puritanical. I fired you to avoid conflict of interest because I want you here, in a completely different capacity.”

  Completely different capacity. “That’s so romantic.” She picked up her coffee. “But I want my independence. That means maintaining a paying job.”