by Anya Bast
Her head dropped back onto the carpet, her spine arching a little as she swallowed hard. He’d managed to balance her directly on the edge of ecstasy. She could barely think straight, her thoughts coming slow and sluggish, mired in heavy lust.
He pushed her harder and faster, his fingers thrusting inside her and his mouth working over her swollen clit. Clearly, he was done playing. Now he meant for her to come. Her body spasmed as her climax hit and rolled through her, pulling her under crashing waves of intense gratification. It completely stole her ability to think. All she could do was feel, to hold on and go for the ride.
The orgasm came to a stuttering halt. She pushed up, reaching for him, wanting to feel him inside her. He was already there, pushing his sweatpants down and away. Her fingers found his long, wide shaft and stroked him up and down.
He shuddered with pleasure, his hands making fists, and his head falling back on a deep groan. It was one of the most erotic sights of her life. She took in the image he made, knowing he was just barely holding on to control and secure in the delicious knowledge that she’d put him right there on the edge.
With a growl of hunger, he pushed her onto the area rug and flipped her so she sprawled on her stomach. His body came down over her back, warming her skin. He dragged her hips up to meet his pelvis and she arched her body to help him, seeking what he intended to give her. The crown of his cock nudged her entrance, making her shudder with anticipation. Little by little, he pushed inside and she moaned as the muscles of her sex stretched to accommodate him.
One hand braced on the carpet to hold himself up; his other hand slid from her hip over her abdomen and down between her thighs. There he found her slick, swollen clit and stroked it as he hilted inside her as deep as he could go.
Charlotte gasped at the sensation of him filling her so completely, her fingers curling into the rug. She bowed her head and closed her eyes, a moan tearing from her throat.
Then he began to move in and out of her and she saw stars. She shuddered, her hands fisting against the pleasure. He slid in and out of her faster and harder, every inward thrust as deep as he could go, sending ecstasy skittering through her. She’d never had sex in this position. It was animalistic, raw, wild, wonderful.
He took her in long, driving strokes, his fingers sliding over her clit from the front. Every inward thrust moved her forward a little on the carpet, filled, and possessed her body. She found the ability to brace her knees and rocked back against him. Together they found a rhythm that drove them both straight into rapture.
Her body shattered a second time in climax, the muscles of her sex pulsing around his thrusting length. He groaned low and shot inside her, whispering her name over and over. They both collapsed to the carpet, sated, and breathing heavy.
“Oh . . . wow.” She closed her eyes and smiled. Her body still thrummed with pleasure.
It had never been like this for her before. Never so passionate. Never so raw and inhibited. Kieran made her feel so pretty that she didn’t worry about her body, never once had been self-conscious while they’d made love.
Made love.
Her eyes opened. Well, they hadn’t. That had been sex, pure and simple. Really good sex born of a mutual physical attraction and nothing else. For a moment her mind caught on the fact it had been unprotected, then she remembered he was fae. No need.
Kieran pulled her back against him and nuzzled her hair, his arm finding her waist and closing around it. “Are you okay? I didn’t mean for it to happen on the carpet like that.”
She stifled a laugh. Was she okay? Her body still tingled pleasantly from head to toe. “Oh, yes, I’m more than okay, Kieran.” She snuggled down and closed her eyes. She might have a little rug burn, but it was a small price to pay. “I haven’t been this relaxed in a long, long time. I needed that.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
And that’s all it had been. A little stress-relief. No worries.
She fell asleep with his hand moving possessively over her body, stroking her skin as though it could provide sustenance of some kind. Her last thoughts before she drifted off were about how long she’d waited to find a man who would touch her this way.
And what a pity it was Kieran.
EIGHTEEN
KIERAN answered the door the next day and found Aeric O’Malley on the other side. “What the fuck.”
“I’m happy to see you, too, Kieran.”
Kieran blinked. “What the hell are you doing here?”
He pointed to the interior of the house. “Gonna let me in?”
Kieran hesitated for a moment, unsettled by Aeric’s sudden appearance and the lack of warning. But it was Aeric. He’d known him for centuries. He pushed the door open farther, letting Aeric catch it. Then he retreated back into the living room.
Aeric followed him in. “The queen let me know where you were because she thought you could use some backup. I rented a place in town and I’ll be hanging out a little. She didn’t want to send Ronan or Niall because of their notoriety.”
Ronan and Niall Quinn were the only two fae known in the world that had druid blood—Phaendir blood—and their faces were known pretty well all across Piefferburg.
Kieran snorted and pushed a hand through his hair. “You’re the Blacksmith, not exactly a ghost on the fae radar.” He flopped down into a chair.
Aeric shrugged and sat down on the couch. “Maybe, but I’m not as known as the mages. Not by a mile.” He glanced around the room. “Where’s the woman?”
“Out with Risa. We had an eventful session yesterday. Risa wants to wait a little before going back in.”
“What happened?”
“Charlotte found out her father killed her mother.”
Aeric’s dusky blond eyebrows rose into his hairline. “Shit.”
“It wasn’t a fun afternoon.”
“Yeah. And yet . . .”
“What?”
Aeric eyed him up and down. “You’ve got the look of a man who has been fucked and I mean in a good way.”
Kieran gave him a slow blink. “So?”
“Charlotte, right? Not Risa.”
“Charlotte.”
Aeric raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you worried?”
He snorted. “Just because I slept with her doesn’t mean I’m going to fall in love with her.”
“It’s a slippery slope.”
Kieran laughed. “There are no slippery slopes here, Aeric. Do you think I’ve stayed celibate since the curse was laid on me? No way. I’ve slept with lots of women, some of them multiple times. There’s no risk here. Believe me.”
“Hmmm. Kieran, how do you think I knew it was Charlotte you slept with and not Risa?”
Kieran met his gaze. “How?”
“Because you and Charlotte have a spark.” Aeric snapped his fingers.
He snorted. “Of hatred.”
“At first, but then it changed into spark of another kind. Not love, not yet. But, like I said, it’s a slippery slope.”
“There’s nothing to worry about, Aeric.”
Aeric studied him with hard glittering blue eyes. “If you say so. Just remember, it can happen fast and with the woman you’d least expect. You can be standing there saying you’ll never fall for her and all the while you’re falling for her.” He studied him for a long moment. “I know what I’m talking about, right?”
Yes, he did. Aeric O’Malley had captured the woman he’d thought of as his worst enemy. He’d waited centuries for the chance to take his revenge on her. The second Emmaline had entered Piefferburg, Aeric had been on her with the darkest of intention. Yet, in the end they’d fallen in love.
“Goibhniu, Kieran.” Aeric snorted. “And you don’t even know what love is. Can’t even watch for the warning signs.”
“I guess if there were warning signs, it would be too late anyway. There’s no going back, is there? Once it’s started.”
Aeric shook his head. “I don’t know. There wasn’t for me and Emmaline.”
“So what do I need to watch out for?”
“Fear.”
“Fear?”
“Fear lies at the heart of love. Fear you’re going to lose it, lose her. Fear something will happen to her, that somehow you won’t be able to protect her. How do you know if you’re in love? It scares you shitless.” Aeric grinned. “It’s great, too, though. You look at the person you love and you know you care about them more than you do yourself, more than your very life. You would do anything for them, risk anything. Your chest feels warm and fills up with this wonderful sense of goodness and light. In that person you find a damn good reason for living.”
“Sounds like a mixed blessing.”
“Yeah, it is. More blessing than curse.” Aeric smiled. Then his smile faded as he realized who he was talking to. “At least for most people.”
CURLED up on the couch with a blanket wrapped around her against the unusually cold spring evening and a fire started in the fireplace, Charlotte should have felt warm and cozy instead of chilly and a little scared. Book forgotten in her lap, her gaze followed Kieran as he moved around the house. Apparently hot-blooded by nature, he wore only a pair of sweatpants. Just like the ones he’d been wearing in the middle of the night last night.
Just like the ones he’d taken off.
Her body still remembered every detail of that encounter.
Shivering, she looked into the fire, watching the logs snap and pop. That’s what she was playing with, of course—fire. She didn’t know the details of the curse Kieran was afflicted with, but what if she fell in love with him? Would the fact he didn’t return her feelings protect her from the curse? She assumed he was the one the curse hinged upon.
And surely he wouldn’t fall in love with her. Not a man like Kieran. Never.
So, if, as she presumed, the curse hinged upon his feelings, they were safe. At least, physically. Her heart was definitely not safe and she hated that. She wasn’t the type of woman who could sleep with a man she didn’t have feelings for. She hated the fact she was falling for him, a fae, one who had used dark magick to bind her and may have destroyed her career.
Of course, her career was something her father had wanted more than she ever had. It stung that she’d put so much work into something that might now be ashes, but it didn’t hurt nearly as much as she’d assumed it would at the beginning of this mess.
Clearly she had some soul-searching to do. A lot of it.
Also, it really sucked that she might be falling for a man who would never be in love with her. It sucked even more that if, by some miracle, he did fall in love with her they would be doomed for eternity.
When she got out of Piefferburg, she was going directly to a therapist.
“Charlotte?”
She jerked, startled. Kieran stared down at her with a furrowed brow and his luscious, lickable chest aglow with reflected firelight. “Are you okay? I said your name three times.”
She rubbed her face. “I’m fine. Just a little tired.”
“I wouldn’t blame you for having a lot on your mind.” He meant the revelation about her father, of course, not her love life. “When Aeric and Risa left tonight, Risa asked me if you’ll be ready to continue tomorrow.”
She considered the question. The faster they got that damned memory, the faster she’d be out of here, and the faster she’d be away from Kieran. That would be a good thing. For both of them.
Meeting his eyes, she answered, “Chances are the worst is over, right? I don’t think there are many other secrets that could rock my world more than the one we’ve already uncovered.”
“I don’t think it could get much worse. You’re ready to jump the line into your grandmother’s memories anyway. Do you think she has any skeletons in the closet?”
“At the rate I’m going? Probably. But, what the hell, let’s do it.”
“I’ll let Risa come, but keep in mind this session will be long. She means to get the memory we need this time.”
“Long? Risa said once we reach the ancestors, whom I have no conscious memory of, that the process will go faster. Like nanoseconds fast.”
He took a seat in the chair opposite her and leaned forward, forearms on his knees. She tried not to stare at the way his biceps flexed and tried even harder not to imagine how those arms had felt around her the night before. “Once she skips into your great-grandmother’s line it will go quicker, but we’ve got thousands of years to power through.”
“I’m just happy I’ll stop being able to see the memories.”
“Most of them will be too fast for you to focus on.”
She chewed her lower lip, considering him. She remembered the family name he’d mentioned back at Eian’s house, MacBrehon. It meant nothing to her, yet had made the entire room go silent. “I’m still confused about how my maternal line is mixed up with the fae. I’ve never even heard the name MacBrehon before.”
“We don’t know either.”
“But back at Eian’s house, that name made everyone go speechless.”
“Reverent.”
“Reverent? What?”
“It made us go reverent, not speechless. Look, Charlotte.” He caught her gaze and held it. “That name has been intertwined with ours for a very, very long time, but there aren’t many of us left who remember why. All we know is that your human ancestors were intimately linked with ours in a very warm and good way.”
“But my father said—” He gave her a look and she shut her mouth. “Right.”
He looked out the window and went silent, as if hearing something from a great distance. “Do you want to attend something that’s even more impressive than an Unseelie ball?”
“As long as it doesn’t end with some random fae pressing a knife to my throat.”
He looked back at her, eyes flashing dangerously. “Next fae who threatens you dies brutally.”
She smiled. That was the most romantic thing any man had ever said to her. Then she frowned and gave her head a sharp shake. Yes, she seriously needed a therapist.
He stood, grabbed a black sweater, and found some boots. “Dress warm. We’ll be outside.”
She was already in jeans and a sweater, so she dragged on a pair of boots and found a coat. Together, they headed out the door.
He led her into the woods behind the house. She pushed branches out of her way, admiring the way the sprae seemed to make the forest luminescent in the places where they congregated heavily. “Is it safe to walk through an enchanted forest at night?”
“When you’re with an Unseelie it is. It’s not far away. Leson gave me an invitation earlier today.”
“Invitation to what?” Just then she began to hear the music. It was foreign and vaguely discordant to her ears, but with traces of chaotic loveliness that held her spellbound. As they grew closer to the source of the music, she began to hear the guttural language of Alahambri.
The trees opened into a clearing. A huge bonfire roared in the middle of the open area and goblins danced around it. She stopped short and stared, unabashedly openmouthed. There were few sights she’d ever beheld that were as impressive as a full-on goblin party.
Kieran spotted her and backtracked to stand near her. “It’s a celebration of their main goddess, Orna. They light a bonfire, have a feast, eat, and drink. It’s a very happy event. Let’s go say hello.”
He started to walk toward them, but she caught his arm. “I don’t want to interrupt them.”
He looked back at her. “You’re not afraid to go join the party, are you?”
She shook her head. “It’s not that. I don’t want to intrude. It’s not my culture and—”
His eyebrow rose. “You want to respect them?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve come a long way in a short time, Charlotte.”
She gazed past him at the spectacle. Male and female goblins danced with joyous abandon, some of the male goblins with children perched on their shoulders and a few of the women with young girl goblins balan
ced on their broad feet. Other males and females danced slower, clearly seeing little more than each other. Charlotte took a moment to spot Leson with a female who had to be his wife, her stomach distended with child.
They were all tall, thin, gray—alien—yet they behaved just as many humans might, engaging in and celebrating with a love of life and a carefree abandon that she admired. The firelight reflected off their skin and seemed to make them sparkle.
“It’s beautiful,” she murmured.
“I thought you might find it interesting.” He twined his hand in hers and she jerked, almost pulling away from him in surprise. He grinned. “Come on. We have an invitation, so we’re not intruding on them or disrespecting them.”
She allowed Kieran to pull her into the merry circle of firelight.
Leson immediately spotted them and walked over, his pregnant wife behind him. “Yakueish!”
“Yakueish,” Kieran answered, embracing him briefly and slapping him on the back. Then Kieran turned to his wife, keeping his eyes averted, and bowed. “Yakueisha.”
The female bowed in return. “Yakueisha.”
Kieran straightened, touched Charlotte on the shoulder, and spoke very quickly in Alahambri. She assumed he was introducing her.
The female goblin bowed to her. “Welcome.”
Charlotte bowed and said, “Yakueisha.”
Everyone laughed.
She elbowed Kieran in the ribs. “What did I do?”
“Females don’t greet females that way, only males. You just vowed to disembowel anyone who threatens her.”
She grimaced. “Oh.”
Kieran’s strong arm came around her shoulder and he tucked her against his side. “You get points for trying, though.”
“No one will eat me?”
He grinned at her. “No one will eat you. Oh, but stay away from the buffet. There are things—”
“Yeah, yeah.” She waved a hand at him. “I get it. Don’t elaborate.”
