“Magic,” she panted, “no one else, only you.”
His arms wrapped around her, holding her as he rocked against her harder and harder, hitting her spot over and over until she was feeling only Sutton and pleasure. “Just feel,” he told her. “I’ve got you. I’m in you, touching your magic. That’s it, oh, God, Carly … you’re ready. Now.”
He was saying words and rocking his cock inside her, and holding her, and the pleasure just kept winding tighter and tighter. She leaned her head back into him. Gave herself to the pleasure of Sutton. Her orgasm started as a pop, then burst into fiery, racing, heart-wrenching waves.
“You’re squeezing me,” he said, then buried himself in her, and bucked with his release, over and over until he was panting behind her.
A gentle breeze blew in from the opened slider, cooling their skin, and scenting the air with the ocean and pine. She relaxed into his hold, unable to move. He still throbbed inside her while his heart pounded against her back.
His mind had touched hers. It had crowded into her head, filled the space with a blinding sense of protection, caring, and random thoughts: mine, Carla, Carly, golden witch, protect her, find her sister, eagle quivering for her, oh, God, she’s pulsing around my cock, her pleasure, how good she smells, going to come, I’m coming, hold her, hold her while I come into her …
Other thoughts that she couldn’t catch.
“Sutton?”
He shifted his hips, his cock sliding from her. “I heard your thoughts, too.” He reached up and pulled the pillows beneath them. “Cold?” He shifted her deeper into his side and put his heavy thigh over her hip.
“No.”
“Scared?”
She thought about it. “Maybe.”
“I’d kill to keep you safe. And I will find Keri. We know Styx has her. I’ll find him and get the knife your sister is in. Then you and Darcy and your mom can free her. But she was never mine, baby. It’s always been you.”
She desperately wanted to believe that. But men like Sutton, they’d always gone after Keri. She was the vibrant, outdoorsy, passionate one. “I’m not like you. I don’t rip the Band-Aid off.”
He was silent for a few seconds. “That’s a metaphor?”
“For ‘I’m a big coward.’”
“Yeah, I could see that tonight. Clearly. You shoved Darcy and Axel out of the room, locked them out, so that no one could help you if I’d gone after you. Coward.” He snorted.
She rolled her eyes. “I knew you wouldn’t hurt me.”
“Did not. You gambled.”
She sighed, then tensed. “They aren’t still here, are they?”
His chest rumbled. “Little late to be shy now. You stripped us both right in front of them.”
“They didn’t see anything.” She’d pushed them out. She had wanted Sutton, only Sutton. And regardless of what he thought, she knew he wouldn’t hurt her.
He leaned down and kissed her head. “They left once they were sure you were safe with me. I heard them leave.”
She realized that she was more or less stranded. “I don’t have any way to get home.”
He sighed. “Carla.”
“What?” She was drowsy.
“You are home.”
Carla woke up alone and cold. She slipped out of Sutton’s huge bed, found a big blue T-shirt, and pulled it on. It smelled like him, musk, pine, and all man. Walking out of the bedroom, she crossed the hall into the kitchen, where she smelled coffee.
She preferred tea. She held out her hand and summoned a mug of aromatic chai tea.
“That’s her, that’s Pam.”
Carla recognized Sutton’s voice. She crossed the living room and went into the opened computer room.
Sutton sat at the L-shaped console wearing only jeans. His massive chest and arms were bare as his fingers flew over the keyboard while he watched the screen. The eagle on his back watched her, his wings fluttering as if begging her to touch him. The man and bird were a powerfully sexy combination.
“Found her, Carla. Pamela Elaine Miller of Arizona. That’s our Pam. She worked at a hair salon in Yuma. It’s another piece to the puzzle. I called and talked to the owner, she said Pam quit to go on a reality show.” Sutton looked over at her with fury burning in his gaze. “That’s how he’s getting the women. He’s luring them with a promise of a reality show. Unfortunately, the salon owner didn’t have any more details.”
Carla stared at him in amazement. While she’d been sleeping, he’d been working.
He pointed over his shoulder to the monitors on the left side of his computer console. “I’m in the Rogue Cadre network. I’m just barely finding my way around, but I’m hoping to cross-match Pam and get a location. They’ve encrypted their physical location, but I guarantee someone has slipped up and I’ll find it.” He looked over at her. “We’ll find Keri.”
She walked to him, setting down her mug next to his empty coffee cup. “How long have you been up working?”
Sutton reached out and pulled her down onto his lap. “I like my shirt on you.”
She studied his face. His eyes were bright with the thrill of the hunt. “How long?”
“Few hours.”
Her heart swelled. “You’re looking for Keri.”
“I told you we’ll find her. I won’t let you lose her, Carly.” He stroked his large hand down her hair. “I don’t sleep a lot anyway. The last couple months have been even worse. I had nightmares of cutting you. I’d wake up and come in here to work, to try to get that image out of my head.”
Her feelings for Sutton were growing so fast, they seemed to stop up her throat, and make her ache to have him inside her. Her chakras opened with soft pops, and her powers poured out in pulsing streams to pull him in. “You’re free of the curse.”
His hand froze where he was stroking her hair. “Good Christ, baby, your magic is lighting me up like a firecracker. The eagle can smell you and he’s quivering all over my back.” His voice dropped to a growl, “Lose the shirt for us. Please.”
With the computers humming behind her, Carla shifted on his lap to grab the shirt and pull it off. Her hair slid around her bare skin, making her shiver. Her nipples swelled and the peaks hardened.
Sutton’s gaze burned flame-bright. “So beautiful.” He ran his hand down the outside of her right thigh. “I want to see all of you, Carly.” He put his hands on her waist and lifted her.
She swung her right leg over so that she was straddling him. Then he sat her down with her butt resting on his jean-clad thighs. Sutton made her feel beautiful and free to be who she was—an earth witch who craved this kind of sexual intimacy that fed her powers and her soul.
He cupped her shoulders, leaned forward and kissed her. When he raised his head, he said, “Lean back on the console. Good,” he added when she rested on her elbows.
Sutton rubbed his hands up over her shoulders and down to her breasts. Using his thumbs, he teased her nipples.
She writhed on his lap, dropping her head back and arching as his thumbs stroked back and forth.
“Oh yeah.” He dragged his hands down her belly, and wasted no time parting her soft curls. “You’re already excited. Your little clit is swollen and exposed.” He stroked her with his thumb and Carla’s thighs tightened, her body jerking at the shock of pleasure.
She opened her eyes to see his blue eyes were burning with heat, the crests of his cheekbones were deep with color. “You’re wide open for me.” He slid his finger down to push deep inside of her.
Her body clenched hard.
Sutton used his free hand to grasp her nipple and pinch just enough, wrenching a moan from her.
“Carly, your hot little body is sucking me in.” He thrust a second finger into her. Dropping his hand from her nipple, he slid his thumb along her clit, rubbing and petting. “I’m going to watch you come. Then you’ll be so hot and slick, my cock will slide right in and hit your sweet spot. And I’m going to ride you until you come apart again, crying out you
r pleasure.”
She grabbed on to his arms, feeling the ripe muscles move as he thrust his fingers into her while stroking her clit. “Sutton!”
He lifted his eyes to her face and said encouragingly,
“Go, baby.”
She splintered into an orgasm while he kept saying soft words to her, telling her how gorgeous she was when she let go for him.
Carla was still panting when she realized that she was in Sutton’s arms. He’d pulled her forward, pressed her body to his chest, and rubbed her back as she trembled. She felt his warm hands and the soft feathers of his eagle as they both stroked her. There was no feeling like this. Giving him control over her body.
Unless it was taking control of his. Carla felt his throbbing erection locked in his pants beneath her. Her powers bubbled and stirred against her spine. She used them to make his jeans vanish, and to lower the chair.
“Someone’s a greedy little witch,” Sutton nearly growled.
She put her feet flush on the ground and lifted her head, then raised her hips and took him into her body while looking into his eyes. “This time, I get to watch you while you come.”
“What’s wrong?” Carla noticed that Sutton’s fingers were white on the steering wheel of his truck. They were driving to her house after showering. Carla was sure she could bring Pam back today, then they could concentrate on finding Keri. But Sutton’s tension was distracting her from her thoughts. “Why are you so tense now?”
He frowned, his eyebrows drawing together as he glanced at her. “Nothing’s wrong.”
She could feel his anxiety, and reached over to lay her hand on his arm above his wristbands. His muscles bulged with stress. “Something’s wrong.” Maybe he was worried about her expecting them to move in together and set up housekeeping. “Sutton, you have your own life, I know that. I’m not expecting anything.”
His jaw tightened. “You are my life.”
Nice, but he didn’t look happy about it, so he was confusing her. “What is making you tense?”
He turned suddenly to look at her. “Do you want a ring? We could go get a ring.”
“No. What would I want that for?” Now he was really losing her.
“Hell if I know. Women like rings, they’re a sign of commitment, right? Are jewelry stores open now?” Her hand slid off of his arm when he reached for his phone. “I’ll see—”
She grabbed his arm, stopping him from whatever he had been going to do. “Sutton, I don’t want a ring.”
He pulled his mouth tight and frowned like he was concentrating on a massive problem. “What would you like?”
His hard, dangerous face was rigid, while his steely-blue eyes were desperate. “All I want is to understand what is bothering you,” she said softly.
He turned back to the road. “I don’t know how to do this.”
He’d known exactly how to be with her last night and this morning, so Carla began to grasp that this wasn’t exactly about her. Sutton was confident and capable, what could he possibly not know how to do? And why was he suddenly in a panic about rings and commitment? “Do what exactly?”
He scissored his jaw.
“Tell me,” she said gently.
“It’s your mother.”
It was so unexpected that she almost laughed, except that he looked miserable. “What about her?”
“I don’t know anything about mothers. What do they expect? I mean, look at you.” He turned his gaze on her. “Smart, elegant, and so pretty it takes my breath away. Then me.” He swung his stare back out the window and his fingers fisted around the steering wheel. “I’m not educated, I was born rough and lived rougher. Maybe she’d accept me easier if I got you a ring or something.” He lifted his phone again, accessing the Internet while driving.
Carla felt like she took a direct hit to her heart. Oh, God, Sutton’s mom left him when he was three. He’d grown up motherless. He thought her mom wouldn’t like him.
He was scared.
Of her mother.
Big bad Sutton West was scared.
Her heart melted for him. “Sutton.” She reached out and took his phone out of his hand. “You don’t need to buy me a ring.”
He lifted his eyes, the pupils large with panic. “I can afford a ring. I can afford anything you want. Just name it.”
She would be offended if she didn’t know him so well. He wasn’t trying to buy her, he was trying to give her mom a gesture that would make her believe Sutton was good enough for Carla. “I don’t need a ring. All I need is you.”
“But your mother … she doesn’t like me. She threw stuff at me.” He wiped the back of his hand over his forehead. “She has reason to hate me now.” He wrapped his fingers back around the steering wheel.
“Keri. You think she’ll blame you. She won’t.”
“It’s my fault. I never wanted you to make a choice between me and your sister. Now you’ve lost her.” He closed his eyes, his face heating.
Carla reached over and took his hand. “I know that.” He’d spent half the night on his computer looking for ways to find her.
He pulled into the driveway, shut off the truck, and looked over at her. “Carla, I don’t want to make this harder than it already is for you. Tell me what to do. How to make your mother like me. Is it the cookie thing? Do I buy all her cookies? I can do that.”
She unlatched her seat belt and climbed into his arms.
He hugged her to him, lowering his face to rub his cheek over her hair.
She put her hand on the back of his smooth head and said, “You don’t have to come in, you know.”
He frowned at her.
She smiled, knowing that Sutton would never take the easy way out. “You don’t have to do anything but be yourself.”
He sighed, opened the door, lifted her, and stepped out of the truck. He put her down, then said, “Fine, but stay behind me when we go inside. I don’t want you to get hit by flying mixing bowls.” He put his arm around her shoulders and walked with her to the door.
Carla had never had anyone try so hard for her. Sutton fighting rogues for her, looking for Styx, saving her from locked metal boxes, that stuff he did without any fear. She knew he was huge and brave and fearless. But this truly scared him on a level that would send most people into hiding. But not Sutton.
They walked into the house. The smells were delicious: coffee, orange peel, and cinnamon-sugar cookies. They went into the family room and toward the kitchen. Her mom and dad both sat at the table, talking.
The coffee pot was drifting a lazy path from the counter to the table.
Sutton whipped his arm off her shoulder and shoved her behind him, his body tense and ready.
Carla stared at his huge back covered in a dark blue T-shirt and tried not to laugh.
“Sutton, why are you hiding my daughter?” Chandra asked.
He shifted from one hiking boot to the other. “Just being safe, ma’am.”
“Safe,” her mom said.
Carla slipped to the side.
Sutton stepped in front of her.
“Mom, put the coffee pot down. He thinks you’re going to throw it at him.”
“Oh, I see, and Sutton, you supposed that I am such a poor aim that I’d hit Carla?”
“Your aim seemed very good to me, ma’am,” he said stiffly.
“And yet you’re still shielding my daughter.”
He shrugged. “I don’t take chances with Carly,” he said softly.
“Carly?”
Carla looked up to see the back of his neck and head flush a dull red. “Carla.”
She leaned her head against his back and struggled to keep from bursting into giggles.
“Chandra,” Jerome said, “may I have my coffee?”
“Of course.”
Sutton flinched, and Carla was fairly sure that her mom had waved her hand to send the coffee pot to her dad.
“How long do you plan to stand there shielding my daughter from me?”
He s
ucked in a deep breath. “Until I’m sure she won’t get accidentally splashed with hot coffee or hit with a stray spoon or bowl.” He sighed and added, “And when she’s done laughing into the back of my shirt.”
Her whole body was shaking with laughter now. She couldn’t help it. He was embarrassed as hell, unsure of himself, and he was the sweetest man she’d ever known. She put her arms around him and hugged him. “I’m not laughing, I swear.”
“You are laughing, witch doctor. I can feel you laughing your little ass off.” He practically growled at her, but put his huge hand on her arm and squeezed gently.
“Hey,” her dad said. “Watch how you talk to my daughter.”
Sutton ignored him, clearly focused on her mother. “Sorry, ma’am. I meant she’s laughing herself sick at my expense.”
“You seem to care a great deal for her.”
Sutton took hold of both her arms around his waist and locked her there, with her face buried in his massive back. “Yes, ma’am. I care for her in a way that seems to be making me look like a total fool, but I can’t help myself.”
Carla felt her eyes fill with tears. It stopped being funny. She thought her chest would burst with love for him. “Sutton,” she said softly.
He rubbed his thumbs over the skin of her arms.
“Then my girl’s a very lucky witch. I’m not going to throw anything at you or her.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Sutton let go of her arms and stepped to the side.
Carla walked into the kitchen and went to fix herself some tea. “Want coffee?” she asked Sutton and reached up to get two cups.
“What about Keri?” Jerome demanded.
The cups slid from her hand and hit the tiled counter.
Sutton scooped her up and spun, shielding her from the flying ceramic. He set her on her feet, keeping his body around her.
“Jerome,” Chandra said softly. “She’s been through enough.”
He got up. “There’s no reason for me to be here any longer. Is there, Carla?” He walked out.
“Stay here with your mom,” Sutton said.
Carla straightened up, reached for him, and missed. “Sutton.”
Soul Magic Page 24
