“But you are a dangerous thing.”
“Sometimes.” He paused, crossing an ankle over his knee. “I put them in a safe place. The mage didn’t know enough to incriminate you, if that’s what you’re worried about. Either of you. Hearsay, mostly, random stories, how you’re perceived. Add that to what I know about you, though, and a different story emerges.”
Her chest felt tight, as though her breath were trapped inside. As though danger had caught up with her and the plank she’d been walking for years had finally been cut out beneath her.
She wanted to ask what sort of story he’d surmised. If he’d told any of his suspicions to Austin. If he’d seek to ruin her or simply use her.
That blasted energy connecting them had slowed, though, leaving only an erotic feeling. An aching.
What was happening to her? What new magic was this that he held?
“Calm yourself, little deathwatch angel,” he whispered, putting his hand down on the cushion beside him. The ripples of magic traveled slowly along the fabric, like a throbbing syrup, until it soaked into her side and slithered into her body. She closed her eyes on a moan, lost in whatever sort of magic this was. Sinking into the hypnotic lure of it.
“Is this how you get people to talk, then?” she asked, her words wispy, her hands clutching her legs and her core clenched tight. It took everything in her not to spread her thighs and invite him in.
“You mess with their emotions until they start begging to tell you everything?”
“That is how this magic works, I think, yes. But it isn’t mine. I use pain and nightmares, as befits my magic and personality.”
“Come closer,” she whispered, not able to help it, needing this ache to go away. She couldn’t think like this, and she had to think. She had to figure out this thing with the guns. With the battle.
Maybe with her life, if his knowing smirk and obvious confidence meant anything.
“Do you think that is wise?” he asked, that voice like an exfoliation treatment.
“Please, Daddy.”
The last word had just slipped out. Maybe it was mental warfare, on herself more than him, but it drew him in like sugar water would a hummingbird. He was in front of her in moments, the possessive dominance of him swirling powerfully around them. Her body was on fire as he leaned between her knees, pushing them wide to accommodate his big body. His lips felt like heaven and tasted like sin, consuming her as his hands made a path up her thighs. One reached between them, cupping her, rubbing firmly. The other slid over her breast, and his thumb rubbed the hard peak.
She clutched him, and then her hands were at his shirt, working his buttons as she groaned into that kiss. That scorching, incredible, consuming kiss.
“No, angel, stop,” he said, capturing her hands as they worked down his bare chest and went for his pants. “Stop, Natasha. You’re overwhelmed by your magic. You’ll hate yourself for this.”
“I don’t care,” she said, pulling free to go for his belt.
“No.” He pushed his forehead against hers, breathing heavily, and grabbed her wrists firmly. “I
care, little one. Stop this. There’ll be plenty of time for this another day. Get your mind back on track and finish telling me about this meeting.”
“Have you told Austin whatever you’ve surmised about me?” she asked, pulling back enough to meet his eyes, on fire, drowning in desire.
He pulled his lips to the side, that smirk so devilish. “Amazing. I’m almost compelled to answer.
You’re strong. You need to get a handle on this facet of your magic, Natasha. It would work so much better that way.”
“What magic? What are you talking about, my energy?”
“Yes, your energy, to put it incredibly simply.” He held her hands tightly so that she couldn’t reach for him. Couldn’t continue undressing him and escape into his body for a while. Dive headfirst into this incredible feeling between them that didn’t make any sense—stronger than it had ever been with anyone, even though half the time he drove her nuts—but she didn’t care to analyze that with the danger mounting around them all. She just needed a distraction right now, and he’d do.
“No,” he finally said, answering her question but also responding to their mutual desire in that moment. “And that’s all I’ll say for now.”
My reasons are my own, he’d said outside his quarters . It clearly applied here, too. He just kept collecting those secrets.
Before she could yank her hands away in irritation, he captured her lips again, this kiss long and languid. Their fervor cooled within it, though, the aching from a moment ago subsiding into the glorious hum of energy and desire and…something else. Something that was growing like a weed.