“Where are we?” he demanded. “Were we taken away in the night?”
Kayden’s worried expression showed he was not in the same headspace. She wasn’t feeling terribly logical, so she rubbed her hot pussy against the obvious stiffy between them. His eyes went a little unfocused and he gasped, catching her ass in his huge and powerful hands to pull her tighter against him.
“We’re at my house.” She whispered the words, delivering a trail of kisses to his oh-so-tempting chest.
“How? Why?”
She shrugged. “We could get to that in a minute.”
Kissing his nipple, so lovely and solid and real, she met his gaze. His expression shifted between lust and worry. “In a minute?” he asked.
“Yeah, but first let’s explore how real you are, dream man…”
****
The sound of the water pulsing in what she called a shower—which looked like an indoor waterfall—tempted Kayden to join his love. But first he needed to figure out where he was. This world was nothing like his, very green and sort of drab. Rather than decorated for beauty, her world appeared most utilitarian. Almost like being trapped in a healer’s building, but worse.
Striding around, he couldn’t figure out how they wound up here, though he understood why Emily would want to escape this place and travel to his home. Nothing here seemed…Right. Everything was just a little off. A constant buzzing sound overrode everything, echoing loud in this house—from what she called the refrigerator, the heaters, and the lights. The buzzing hurt his ears, like low-level invisible magic.
Finally realizing no answers waited in his investigation of her home, Kayden strode into the bathroom. Dropping his kilt, he joined her under the water.
Emily squeaked, looked at him strangely, and covered her body with her hands. “What are you doing?”
“Joining you.” Capturing the soap she held in one hand to cover the sweet heaven between her legs, he began to lather his chest.
“I’m naked!”
He raised a brow. He’d noticed. He liked it.
“It’s daylight.” Her frustration, as her hands proved inadequate cover from his gaze, amused him.
“Yes, it is.”
“I’m…well, you’re looking at me naked!”
Since he didn’t know how to assuage the panic on her face, Kayden decided to just tug her close to him, so she could feel his heat, his need for her. “Yes, I am.”
Her hands still fluttered a bit, even though her face and breasts flushed prettily. “But—?”
And he kissed her. Finally, Emily relaxed a bit, her arms gliding around his neck, slick from the water and soap. Pushing her into the wall of the indoor waterfall, he tugged her legs up around his hips. “But?” he asked.
“I, uh,” she seemed frayed, as if she couldn’t get a good grasp on what she wanted to say.
Good.
He slid inside her, the pleasure of their union sucking his own breath away so he could only sigh. “You were saying?” he managed.
“Harder.”
Her nails dug into his back and he was only too happy to comply.
****
“They can see you,” she whispered to him.
“Why wouldn’t they be able to see me?”
She rolled her eyes, annoyance flashing across her lovely face. “I don’t know…six foot something tanned sex god, all tatted up and wearing a kilt walking down the street…I mean, you’re from my dreams.” She seemed to think he would understand, that he was being intentionally obtuse.
“I think I’ve told you more than once…I am not from your dreams. You just come to me when you’re dreaming.”
“Uh, huh.” She touched the screen on the magic box she carried. Pushing things on it, she then put it to her ear. “Daphne, what are you doing?”
She paused, holding the box close to her head. “Yeah, I called off work. Anyway, meet me at the deli?” Another pause. “Now would be good. You’re never going to believe this.” She pushed another tap to the glowing thing and then shoved it into her pocket. “You hungry?” she asked him.
“Starved.”
“Good, let’s eat.”
She ordered food from the indoor vendor, and soon he munched on food like he’d never before tasted. It tasted like some kind of open meat pie, but with vegetables that were fresh rather than cooked. He washed it down with a bitter drink, some kind of coffee, but like no coffee he’d ever tried, and considered her.
If she’d managed to bring him with her, couldn’t she manage, too, staying in his world? He knew she controlled her journey but assumed some kind of curse or spell banished her from his world in daylight.
If she controlled it, he could wed her, bed her, laugh with her, have children…
And still save the kingdom.
And then he saw her. Rising up, he wished for his sword.
“South sea bitch!” he cried, knowing even bare-handed, his magic could destroy her.
“Fuck,” Daphne said. “You brought Kayden here?”
Chapter Eight
Nothing made a damn bit of sense. She really had gone off her rocker. Currently, her dream lover faced off with her best friend and both had what could best be described as defensive postures.
“Hello…anyone want to fill me in on what the hell you’re doing?”
Daphne threw her an apologetic grimace. “Sure. Call off tall, dark and deadly there and I’ll be happy to chatter your little ear off, sis.”
Ignoring the ‘sis’ bit because Daphne was like a sister to her, Emily caught Kayden’s arm, tugging. “Sit down. People are staring.”
He looked at her like—well, like she’d flown over the cuckoo’s nest, which she couldn’t disagree with—but his body seemed to lose some of its tension.
“Seriously, sit the fuck down, princey-poo, or I will fuck a royal up.” Daphne looked a little dangerous, as if the wind was blowing her hair even though no breeze cut through the restaurant.
“I’ll not obey the words of a south sea traitor.” Kayden’s fists clenched and Emily could swear he glowed a little.
“Both of you knock it off.” Emily fought desperation. “Everyone is looking at us.” Tears threatened, and she hated herself for them, but couldn’t she go crazy in a nice, quiet, not attention-gathering way?
Kayden finally gathered that he upset her—not very dream princely of him to take so damn long—and he slowly sat, hands raised, still looking rather deadly.
Daphne’s hands dropped, the wind stopped playing with her dark hair, and she took a seat across from them.
“So, I’m guessing you can see him, too?” Emily asked, twiddling with the coffee stirrer.
“Well, duh. He’s right there.” Daphne waved towards Kayden like this whole thing wasn’t nearly as weird as Emily thought, and then signaled to the waiter for coffee. She seemed entirely too relaxed, if guarded.
“I dreamed a guy to life and you can see him and your only response is, ‘Well, duh?’”
“You didn’t dream me to life.”
“You didn’t dream him to life.” Both Kayden and Daphne looked at her like she just wasn’t getting something.
Since she had no clue what was going on, she suddenly wished there was a shot in her coffee cup. Bailey’s, or maybe straight vodka. “Okay, so…”
“Kayden is from another world, our world, and somehow you brought him over here.” Daphne explained it around her first long gulp of coffee. “Oh, this is good stuff.”
“What are you doing here, Daphne?” Kayden’s cold tone, the kind of voice he used when getting all princely, annoyed Emily.
He shouldn’t talk to my best friend like that...
“Long story. I came after she did, of course, which is why I went missing. Mom and Dad sent me to find her and keep an eye on her. Her destiny is to rule, they wanted to rule so—” Daphne waved her hand as if she’d summed everything up in that little speech. “I’m not in line for the throne, so I was supposed to make sure she stayed here and the hell away from
you.”
“It is a spell.” Kayden looked like pieces were beginning to fall into place for him.
“Sure it was, but not cast by the Outlier families. Your brother sent her here. I just followed like a good little daughter. I ended up kind of liking her, Princess of Chubs or not, and when our parents died…well, Narcissa—”
“What does his brother’s wife have to do with any of this?” Emily demanded. Neither Kayden nor Daphne paid her a bit of attention, leaning closer to each other to speak more rapidly.
“That bitch kept her here?”
“No. Like I said, Kalli sent her here, and when my parents sent me, Narcissa asked me to stay.”
“So, you stayed to betray the kingdom.” Again, Kayden used his royal voice of proclamation. “Treason.”
Rolling her eyes, Daphne took another chug of her coffee. “No, asshole. I stayed to keep an eye on Emily.”
Smacking her hand on the table, making the food jump and more heads turn their way, Emily stood. “Would you stop talking about me like I’m not here and tell me what the hell is going on?”
Both Daphne and Kayden blinked up at her like she was a stranger or a foreign bug.
“You don’t have to get all bossy, princess.” Daphne stirred her drink.
“How the fuck do you know my dream guy?”
“He’s the prince, and going to be the king, if Kalli doesn’t win the throne.” Daphne spoke slowly, as if the words would make more sense if she did.
“You just said—” Blowing out a breath, Emily tried for patience. For logic. For calm. “Less than two days ago, you said there was no such thing as magic, royalty and that I should be more grounded in reality.”
“Yeah, well,” Daphne shrugged. “I lied. I do that, sis.”
“Why do you keep calling me that?” Emily practically shrieked the words.
“Because she’s your sister.” Kayden tried to calm her by touching her arm, but she was beyond calm. Galaxies away from any tame emotion, to be honest.
“I don’t have a sister.”
“Maybe we should take this whole chat someplace more private? Park or something?” Daphne offered.
“That will let her walk a bit of her frustration off, and we can start at the beginning.” Kayden nodded.
Emily, sick of both of them, stormed away.
How had she gone from invisible to everyone seeming to be in on the story except her?
Chapter Nine
Emily stared out to the water. An emotional chasm breached open beneath his feet, only growing as she kept her back turned to him, arms wrapped around herself.
She felt betrayed, like he’d kept secrets from her. He had—his panic over the choices he needed to make for his kingdom—but things were being revealed that even he didn’t know.
Daphne, looking little like the sister of Narcissa that he’d met once before, touched Emily’s arm and it took every ounce of his self-control not to stop her. “Hey, Ems, I can explain this.”
Emily glanced back at him before considering Daphne. “How my dream man came to life and you seem to know him? That you know him so well that you are having a discussion?”
“Yeah, kinda. First off, I have a question for you.”
“Okay.” Emily seemed to be getting back some of her color. Even though she’d been furious in the eatery, fragility now edged her expression.
He hated that he put that look on her face.
“Tell me about your parents.” Daphne crossed her own arms, facing off with her sister and he could suddenly see the resemblance.
“I—” Emily’s brow furrowed.
“Yeah,” Daphne smiled. “Tell me about your childhood.”
Emily looked away.
“Where did you grow up, Emily?” Daphne didn’t back down, waiting.
“I don’t remember them.”
“That never struck you as odd?”
Emily spun, glaring at Daphne. “So I don’t remember my childhood. Lots of people—”
“What, don’t remember their parents? Come on, Emily, think about it,” Daphne demanded, chin out and determined.
“Okay, so I can’t remember.”
“Ever wonder why? Well, it is a spell. Our family lives, as your darling prince pointed out, in the South Seas region of his world. Once upon a time, there was a kingdom. It was strong, but when the king died, he left no heir to rule in his stead so the two dukes up for the job battled. The entire kingdom was torn apart, but through trickery—”
“My ancestor used no trickery,” Kayden defended.
“Apples, oranges. We’re not going to agree on this, princey-poo. Anyway, his ancestor took the throne. Our family was banished. So, we’re all royalty as hell and time passes and our parents have daughters. Us. Our parents wanted to rule, felt it was their birthright. So, when a prophecy said you would marry Kayden here, uniting the country for once and all and bringing a golden time of peace, prosperity, and fucking unicorn piss, Mom and Daddy dear began to plot a way to get you out of the picture.” Daphne didn’t bother to soften the blow of the words, plunging onwards with her story while Emily considered her, expression calm.
Kayden hated Daphne, in that moment, for not bothering to soften any of it. Emily was soft, kind, and not up for this kind of blow-by-blow retelling.
“Anyway, his brother cast a spell to get you the hell out of the country. That bounced you here. But our darling sister had other plans. She figured out, when most of the country was oblivious, that you were getting through. So she sent me to distract you, tempt you with the real world here, and keep you out of ours.”
“Okay,” Emily nodded. “So, why the hell are you telling me all this if you want to keep me here?”
“See, here’s the deal and nothing any of those plotting bastards considered. Firstly, I like this world. Secondly, I kind of like you, Princess Pudge. Thirdly, I get nothing out of this deal either way. I’m still the extra princess, the one who won’t rule back there regardless of who wins at the end of the day…so using me was a huge mistake, and a gross underestimation of me.”
Ticking the list off on her fingers, Daphne finally grinned. “Besides, neither of you is going anywhere so, well, Narcissa wins.”
Kayden caught her arm, tugging her to face him. “What the hell do you mean, we aren’t going anywhere? We will end up back in our world at nightfall. Emily always comes when it gets dark—”
“Hands off the merchandise.” Shoving his hand away, Daphne glared at him. “No, seriously, you’ve not thought this through, Kayden? How are you getting home? She came to you, breaking the spell at dark because you’re all powerful soul mate types. That is all good and all, but she’s here. You’re here. Who is pulling you back through?”
He considered her words. “I can’t get back?”
“Not the way you came. But you’re cute.” Patting his arm, Daphne again faced off with Emily. “Anyway, so we’re sisters. Hi, how the hell are you? Whew, feeling better now that I got all that off my chest. Okay, things to do, hell to raise, you all have fun.”
Turning, Daphne waved at Emily and then headed away.
Kayden stood rooted to the spot. Horror, fear, dread, all blended to make a soup of acid in his stomach rise and threaten his throat. He couldn’t be trapped. His father, his people, they needed him.
Emily still turned away from him. Silence stretched between them. He left her to her thoughts while he considered his options. Together, he and Emily made powerful magic. If there was a key to this, it had to be Emily. “Emily,” he began.
She cut him off with one raised palm. “Don’t. I’ve got to process all this. I still can’t believe you’re here and you want me to believe I’m a magical princess with a shit ton of powers…and mommy and daddy issues. Yeah, this is going to take me a minute.”
“But—”
“We go back to my place. You can crash on the couch. I have to think.”
He wanted to beg her, to make her see he needed her power to help him help those w
ho depended on him. Her cold gaze, very close to the look on Narcissa or Daphne’s face rather than an expression he expected from Emily, chilled him.
Silently he followed her. There wasn’t much else he could do in this world.
Chapter Ten
Emily fought the restlessness for a while. With a very large, very sexually attractive, very bored magician following her around like a frustrated shadow, it didn’t get easier as the hours wore on.
“Would you please just talk to me?” Kayden restlessly balanced a ball of light from one hand to the next like some mystical softball.
“I need to process.”
“What in the hell does that even mean?” He growled and stood up to pace. “I don’t understand this world, your speech—previously sort of cute—is now gratingly strange since everyone here is talking like that, and if we don’t work together, we’re never getting out of here.”
Hours. It had only been hours since she’d listened to “the big reveal” at the park and he wasn’t leaving her alone to really look at the problem.
He was a lot less needy in her dreams.
Stomping her foot, she again tried to walk away from him and he again followed her. “Kayden, I just need a little time.”
“We don’t have any time. My people need me. My kingdom is in danger. Can’t you see that?” For a man who only hours before had been wrapped up in her body, he couldn’t be further away now. Worry for his precious imaginary kingdom sucked his need for her right out the door.
She was invisible again, and now to the one person who ever really saw her. It pissed her off.
She kept walking.
He caught her when she had her hand on the door to the apartment. “Don’t leave. Not now, not while you’re angry.”
She paused, the softness of his tone halting her need to flee from him. “I just need a little while.”
“I’m sorry.” He stroked her arm, igniting passion.
She stiffened.
His lips touched her neck and she sighed as the light touch made her yearn. “I’m not leaving you. I just need to walk around. We’re in my world. I’m safe, you’re safe, and the kingdom isn’t going anywhere. We can’t solve anything right this second. Give me a minute by myself and then, I promise, we’ll talk.”
Magical Curves Page 4
