Wicked Dreams, page 10
I stepped back into his arms and wrapped mine around his neck. "Exactly what did you have in mind?"
Chapter Nine
"All kinds of things," he purred in reply before he started to kiss me. The next few minutes became a bit of a blur. Somehow we made it to my bedroom, laughing and bumping into things as Damon refused to let go or stop kissing me as we revolved our way down the corridor past Lizzie's firmly shut door.
Her wards were glowing strongly, which made me smile against Damon's lips.
When we reached my room, he kicked the door shut, and I had the presence of mind to trigger my own wards before things went any further. Just as well, as Damon scooped me up and carried me to the bed before I could blink, lowering me to the mattress with an expression that suggested he had plans for me.
But I decided that maybe it was my turn to take charge. I rose on my knees. He was bent over, undoing the laces on his shoes. "Take those clothes off and get over here," I ordered.
He hit me with that smile, his eyes the laser blue shade they turned when he was firmly focused on getting me naked. "Your wish is my command."
I liked the sound of that.
I busied myself removing my own clothes. It was fun to let him undress me from time to time, but maybe he'd made me catch some of his own enthusiasm, and now I just wanted him naked. Wanted both of us naked. I skimmed out of my yoga pants and yanked off my tee at lightning speed. Damon wasn't far behind me, dropping what I knew were very expensive clothes on the floor with little regard. Then he crawled onto the bed, kneeling to face me.
"Hello there." He didn't reach for me, waiting for me to make the next move.
"Hello, yourself." I pushed gently at his chest. "Lie down for me."
One dark eyebrow arched. "Feeling bossy, are we?"
"Maybe," I said with a smile. "Any objections to that?"
"None whatsoever." He lay back on the mattress, putting his hands behind his head and watching me with enough heat in his eyes to make my head spin. "I'll just lie here and enjoy the view."
I took a moment to do the same. He was long and lean, muscles carved out by all the training he'd been doing. He looked somewhat older when we'd first met, but it hadn't impacted how gorgeous he was. He still took my breath away every time I saw him like this.
The thought that I was the one who got to play with this man still struck me as unreal at times, as though I'd taken a sideways tumble into someone else's perfect life.
But it was difficult to ignore the evidence that he was just as happy to see me as I was to see him. His cock was hard, and I moved to straddle him, sinking down to slide against him. He made a very satisfied male noise, and I leaned forward, putting my hands over his wrists where they rested above his head.
"Hello," I said, the sound half breathless, the ache in it obvious even to me.
His lips curved, his dimples winking into life. But his pupils were wide and dark, focused on me and only me. "Hello, ma'am. You seem to have me in your power. Whatever are you going to do with me?"
My breath hitched as he pressed his hips up. Then I tried to look stern. "Whatever I want."
"Good plan."
I bent to kiss him, and his mouth was hot and urgent against mine, sending me spiraling into heat and longing.
I kissed my way down his body, taking the time to appreciate every inch of him. If I could wear him out, he'd sleep. By the time I reached his abs and the trail of hair that led down farther, he was making pleased noises that had me reconsidering my plan. I wanted him badly already, but I was going to delay my own gratification to give him some of his own. I kissed the tip of his cock, making him arch off the bed.
"Stay still," I murmured against it.
He made some sort of muffled noise of agreement that made me laugh, and then I took him in my mouth.
The noise he made then wasn't so muffled. I hummed a laugh, glad of the wards, and set to work, driving him crazy with my tongue. It was always a thrill to hear him coming apart from my touch. The muscles in his legs tightened with his attempts to stay still, and when I let myself glance up, the tense and flex of his abs and the taut muscles of his neck told me just how much self-restraint he was exercising. How much he wanted to give me what I wanted rather than turning the tables and giving in to the need.
Something about it broke my own control. I'd wanted to take it slow. To truly drive him to the edge. But now my own hunger took charge. It wasn't enough to just touch him. I wanted more. The feeling that only came when we were joined, so wrapped up in each other that the world vanished around us.
I straightened, which drew a stifled protest from his lips, his eyes snapping open.
Before he could say anything, I eased myself down over him, bringing my hands up to close around his wrists, hovering my mouth over his and forcing myself to stay still, to resist the urge to move that had my own muscles trembling. "Wait," I breathed over his mouth.
"Witch," he said, but he stayed still, all that power and need leashed. His eyes were more black than blue now, that familiar shade that always made me want to just fall into him, let that color carry me away.
I lowered my mouth to his, making the kiss gentle instead of fierce. Then slowly, I began to move, rising and falling, giving us both what we needed. We stayed that way for some endless time, until his patience finally broke and his hips snapped up to meet my next movement, his hands biting into my hips to bring us harder together. Wild and glorious. Better than any magic could ever be.
Just the two of us. And the need. The love. And, at the end, the sheer joy as I came and let the spell he cast over me carry me away.
The next morning, I woke before Damon, which was something of a minor miracle. He was the morning person, often up and working before I woke. I was the one reluctantly stumbling around looking for coffee to kick-start my brain into operating. He made a sleepy noise as I slid out of bed, but he didn't open his eyes, just rolled over, curling back under the covers.
I tiptoed around the room, finding my robe and taming my hair back into a messy bun. No way was I going to wake him. He'd earned his rest. If anything urgent was going wrong in the Riley Empire, Cat would call.
I smiled as I opened the door, remembering the night before. He was well worth losing sleep for, but I had work to do. So today, I'd be on the caffeine train.
I padded down the hallway to the kitchen in my robe. Lizzie was already dressed, standing by the counter, watching the coffee machine with eager eyes. She looked less tired than the day before, at least.
"Morning. You're up early," I said.
"So are you." The coffee machine dinged, and she reached for the steaming mug. "Early meeting. What's your excuse?"
"Have to sort out some client stuff before I go to Berkeley. All this Fae nonsense would be a lot easier if they could provide me with a handy clone who could do my job for me."
Lizzie smiled lopsidedly and slid another mug into place in the coffee maker, hitting the buttons for me. "Well," she said, "I don't suggest that you ever mention that to Cerridwen. Too many fairy tales about changelings. She might get the wrong idea."
"I guess that would be bad. Maybe I should just ask her to magically enhance the coffee?"
She laughed. "How would you phrase that? 'Hey, important, powerful Fae, I stayed up too late boning my boyfriend, so can you soup up the coffee for me?'"
She had a point. That was not a conversation I wanted to have. Not even for superstrength coffee. I reached for the now-full mug and lifted it, blowing on the surface and telling myself I couldn't just down the whole thing without at least waiting for it to get a little below scalding hot.
Lizzie stirred sugar into her mug and sipped happily. "Not that I'm sure she could produce anything better than this anyway. You know you're going to have to marry Damon. Neither of us can survive without the good stuff now."
I laughed and took a tentative sip of mine, sighing happily as it hit my tastebuds. Lizzie had a point. I didn't know exactly where Damon sourced his coffee supply from, but it was damned good. "What would that make me? A bean-digger?"
She snorted. "Maybe. Whatever works."
"Don't get ahead of yourself. I'll just make sure that if we ever break up, he gives me a lifetime supply." I didn't know exactly where Damon and I were headed, but it seemed way too soon to talk about marriage.
"I'm holding you to that," Lizzie said. She gulped the last of her cup, put it into the dishwasher, and then swiped her bag off the counter. "Right, I need to go. Have fun with big sharp things."
"Don't remind me," I said. "I had to talk Damon out of coming with me." I was hoping I wasn't going to have to do it all over again once he woke up.
"He really is being protective about Callum, then?"
"The bracelet thing might have pushed some buttons." Understandably. Clandestine magic had rarely meant anything good for either of us.
"I'm sure he'll calm down eventually."
"I hope so. I'm not sure Callum is the kind of person who will defuse a situation. I get the feeling he likes to go in swinging and cause trouble."
"No sword pun intended."
"No," I agreed. "But maybe I'm reading things into it. Or maybe it's just male nonsense."
Lizzie frowned. "Damon's not usually the nonsense type."
"No, but the Fae are," I said. "It's all status and politics with them. The research we've been doing makes that much clear. Even when you read the fairy tales. Zee said much the same thing. Whenever he dealt with them in Europe, there's a lot of protocol involved. Maybe Callum was just trying to see where Damon falls in the pecking order."
Her brows lifted. "Out here, Damon's right at the top, isn't he?"
I nodded. "I guess, in some circles. I mean, he's rich, he's successful, but it's not like he's president or something."
"True," Lizzie agreed. "If he was a king, the Fae might respect it more. Then again, I think they understand that guys like him probably have more power than kings do these days."
"Well, he needs to stay in his own kingdom today." Callum was just another phase of my training. One Damon would have to accept.
"I don't know. If Mr. Pretty Fae is a hottie, then surely watching him and Damon spar wouldn't be so bad?" Her eyes danced as she faked waving a sword around.
I wasn't so worried about what they'd look like fighting, rather that, if they did clash, it wouldn't just be sparring. Though, Lizzie was right. It would be an excellent display of prime man if they did fight. "Callum is some sort of Fae sword master. I'm not sure Damon would be his match."
"Don't game developers pick up all sorts of weird skills? Zee and Carlo and Jaali and I used to research all sorts of things when we were gaming. Zee still does."
"That's different," I started to protest, then stopped, thinking about it.
Actually, I wouldn't put it past Damon to know how to fence.
Right again. Gamers and game designers dabbled in all sorts of random hobbies and skills. There was plenty of fighting of all kinds in Righteous Games. I'd seen his programming team studying anatomy and combat and all sorts of strange things in the time I'd spent at Righteous, so who knew what skills he'd picked up along the way? Not to mention if Mitch thought it would help keep him safe, he'd have made Damon study swordplay as well.
Lizzie laughed again. "Now you're picturing it, aren't you?"
I waved her off without answering, and she laughed harder and left.
Once she was gone, I called Pinky. She didn't sound any more enthusiastic about swords than me, but we arranged for her to come pick me up just after lunch.
I made myself breakfast and showered, doing my best to be quiet and not wake Damon. Luckily, I had clean laundry waiting to be folded in the living room and found a pair of jeans and a T-shirt to put on while I thought about what I should pack into my backpack to take to train with Callum. What I really wanted was body armor, but as paranoid as Mitch sometimes was, he'd never told me to buy anything like that. So I shoved in leggings, sneakers, and a workout top along with snacks, a water bottle, deodorant, and all the usual things.
Then I settled down to work at the desk we'd tucked into the far side of the living room. The apartment wasn't huge, and I often worked on-site for clients, so the arrangement was fine for when I wanted to work from home. Not quite as good as the small office I had in my house, but functional. The desk was the same color fake wood as the sofa and the armchairs, and we'd had fun putting an illusion on my expensive ergonomic chair so it looked like it matched the other furniture.
Zee had made me redo the illusion several times before he was satisfied that I'd replicated the flecked texture of the blue fabric of the sofa in enough detail.
I'd been so happy when I'd finally gotten it right that I made sure I checked the magic was holding every time I sat down. Which I'd realized later was kind of the point.
When Damon came yawning down the hallway, wearing only boxer briefs and a white T-shirt, I glanced at the clock. Nearly midday.
"Hey," he said sleepily as he headed for the kitchen.
I nodded and turned my attention back to my computer. He knew where everything in the apartment was as well as I did. I made myself focus on my work, listening with half an ear as he made himself coffee and toast and moved around the kitchen.
Eventually he came back into the living room, and I heard the sofa creak as he sat. I swung my chair around. "You slept late."
He nodded. "Yep. Must have needed it. It's okay. There was nothing urgent at the office this morning."
"Are you going to work from home, then?"
He shook his head. "I have to go in. We have a demo of the next level."
Riley Arts was working on another big new game, but he hadn't told me much about it yet. Still, I knew he wouldn't miss the unveiling of the plans for a new level. Being CEO took him away from the creative side of the business these days. But I knew that was where his heart still lay, and he took every chance he could to support that team and to be involved.
I smiled. "Sounds fun."
He sipped his coffee, running his hand through his hair and making it stick up every which way. He looked mostly awake, but there were still shadows under his eyes, darker than the ones under mine. Even with the extra time he'd slept, it wasn't exactly a solid eight hours.
"How about you?" he asked.
I nodded at the computer. "Just finishing up some stuff here. And then this afternoon I guess I'm heading to Berkeley."
His expression tightened. "To train with Callum."
"To train with Cerridwen. And Callum," I corrected. I tilted my head at him. "You seem to have a problem with him. Want to tell me why?"
He shrugged. "The guy kind of stalked you at the benefit, didn't tell you who he was. That's not exactly up-front behavior."
"No," I agreed. "But nothing happened. Cerridwen trusts him, so we're going to have to give him the benefit of the doubt, because I don't think she's going to give us much choice about whether I train with him or not. But don't worry, I'm not going to vanish into fairyland. You don't have to worry about that."
"No, just about some fairy asshole chopping your arm off with a sword."
"You know, some people would take that as you doubting my abilities. I've been working my ass off. How do you know I won't be a natural—or whatever the right term would be—swordsperson," I pointed out.
His expression turned guilty, and I laughed. "Gotcha. To be fair, the biggest worry is probably the risk of me chopping my own arm off," I said. "Or dropping a sword on my foot. Who knows, we may not even start with swords. I'm not sure what good they'd be against a demon."
"I hate to break it to you, but Mitch said something about Maia asking about swords."
I sighed. "Oh well. I guess I'll find out this afternoon."
"I guess you will."
I studied his face. Which wasn't exactly happy. "Let's just think about it as me learning a new skill. Like you do for games."
"I'll try. But usually if I'm learning something dangerous for the first time, I start in VR." He smiled lopsidedly at me. "Your life might be weird as hell at times, but it's still reality. Swords can hurt you. And so could the kinds of creatures I imagine you might have to hunt with them."
"I know." My stomach tightened. I didn't like thinking about that the fact that the ultimate reason I was training with Cerridwen was that she thought my magic was strong enough to help fight against the demons if they came back. Though things had been relatively quiet in San Francisco for the last few months. There'd been the odd magical disturbance, as far as I could work out from how busy the Cestis and the witches like Zee and Trick who helped them out had been, and there'd been trips like Lizzie's out of town that suggested there were problems elsewhere, too, but I hadn't seen anything personally. But no imps, no lesserkind. Nothing turning up to actively try and hurt us. It was as though the Fae anchoring the realm had settled that side of things down.
"Who knows? I mean, someone's gotta help. And it's better than having any of those things running around here, but...I might never have to actually fight one."
"I hope so."
"Me, too. Trust me, no one wants to do this less than me. But it seems like I have the talent, and now I know this stuff is real. After all the trouble the Cestis have gone through for me, I can't just sit back and not help." My mother had taken advantage of people with her magic. Had wanted only the things it could do for her, without, as far as I could tell, giving one shit about anyone else. Including me. I wasn't going to be like her.
We talked about this on and off in the aftermath of what had happened at the tournament, about magic and the impact it had on my life and his. About responsibility. Which was something he knew plenty about.
Some people might have been able to walk away. But not me. I owed the Cestis. Antony had died fighting the demon that had tried to reclaim me after my first chip had somehow broken the spells my mother had used to bind my power to it all those years ago when I hadn't even known I was a witch. When she'd lied to me and told me I wasn't.
