Chapter Nine #4
Lust bloomed in the depths of her eyes and Kieran’s jaw clenched.
If he was going to continue this, continue tempting fate, then she deserved the truth.
“You should know, then, that my Death Sense does not work on those I care about.” Memories threatened to rush through him, but he forced them back.
Sera was silent and he could not predict what her response might be. He did, however, fear it.
“That is incredibly fucked,” she said. “That’s not a gift. That’s a curse.”
His gaze drifted, growing distant. “It is my purpose. It’s common with fae gifts, to have certain limits.
If I allow myself to care for you, then I can no longer keep you safe.
For now, that requires we keep this purely physical and I’m afraid kissing would be entirely too risky, where you’re concerned. ”
“No kissing,” she agreed, “but I wonder if that rule extends beyond your mouth?”
Sera ignored the ache in her heart as she slid her hand over Kieran’s chest.
All this time, he had been trying to stop any growing attachment to her because he feared he wouldn’t be able to protect her. He had said nothing specific, and yet, it had been the most meaningfully romantic words she ever heard.
Were circumstances different…
Her heart was in danger, if not already beyond saving, but…
she couldn’t help the whimsical voice in her head that urged her to trust. Just…
just one more time and maybe, maybe this could be her good thing.
He said he couldn’t keep her safe if he started caring for her, but that was her choice, too.
Maybe she didn’t care as much about him sensing her death as she cared about him touching her again.
Kieran triggered no warnings. Showed none of the usual signs.
Sera had built a lifetime of cautionary tales and maybe it had been for this moment.
For the moment when she could weigh all that shit and know, just know, that this would be like nothing she’d ever experienced.
He’d just admitted that he was worried he’d start caring for her, that he risked losing his Sense for her, but the admission hadn’t tempered her emotions.
It’d worked them into a frenzy of hope and longing, her heart soaring at the thought of someone decent wanting her.
And if she put all her sincerest effort into trying, then maybe this could be the break in her destructive streak. Or maybe she was just so turned-on, ready to combust, that she would have told herself anything if it meant seeing how far he was willing to take this.
None of that mattered right now. She could assess dangers and reckless choices after.
Sera’s hands wandered while the implication of exploring him with her mouth lingered in the air, energizing the already heady atmosphere. Fascinated that he had shown no outward reaction. Most men would be pawing to get their pants off at the insinuation of using her mouth. But not this one.
He made no move, his expression neutral, and yet, she did catch the barest dilation in the silver of his eyes. It probably counted, but she was not eager to claim victory. Not yet.
Her fingers plucked the hooks and ties to loosen his pants, but she was careful not to touch his skin directly.
“You’re quiet,” she said, scrutinizing his face while she teased at the tucked-in edges of his shirt. She waited before reaching lower, where she had no doubt he was hard and straining against the envious fit of his suit. A reaction he couldn’t hide, no matter how practiced.
Kieran stared over her shoulder, not meeting her eyes, and not allowing so much as a muscle to twitch. His only movement was to respond, “Yes, that’s the point.”
“No, this is a different sort of quiet,” she purred. “Where do you go when you’re in danger of losing control?” Her fingers slipped lower, the loosened waistband of his pants falling a fraction.
He stared directly into her challenging eyes.
She tilted her head, all shoulders and come hither and bedroom eyes, all the same practiced motions she’d used time and again. “I’m just curious. Cause I like to imagine your thoughts are as scandalous as mine.”
Kieran caught her wrist suddenly, fast enough to stop her wrist from reaching any further.
She looked up, not sure what she expected to see in the inscrutable gray of his eyes, but finding that the soft, silvery color had been almost entirely consumed by black.
Sera squeezed her thighs against the pulse between her legs.
She felt ensnared, caught, and Divine above the thought made her so wet.
Sera almost lost her breath as he spun her so that her front pressed into the door. She wasn’t sure who needed the safety of this position more, her or him.
For a second, she thought he was ignoring another rule, that he was planning to take her standing, against the door, while people went about their day just outside.
He started to hike up the layers of her skirts, bunching them around her waist with one hand while the other drew feathered patterns on her shoulder, up her neck. Long, strong fingers threading the loose strands of her hair.
She almost lost again when she felt his breath on the back of her neck.
Almost cried out, gasped, moaned, she had swallowed all of it down with the greatest amount of restraint that Sera Blair had ever achieved.
Then the careful graze of his lips ghosted over her shoulders, and she was grateful he couldn’t see her face, because all that restraint would surely be clear.
Her flexing jaw, closed eyes, straining muscles.
He hiked her dress higher. Higher. And she set her palm against the door under the pretense of steadying herself.
Normally, foreplay didn’t quite get her there and she’d be clenching her teeth for this part, but Divine save her, she was so tightly wound, so thoroughly aroused he would not find any resistance.
Yet, it was his hand that met the slick heat between her thighs and Sera was once again knocked, metaphorically, off her feet.
It wasn’t that men had never pleasured her. There had been the odd time where a lover had made use of their hands or tongue, but it was always rushed, always about their own enjoyment.
Kieran’s motions were not filled with any of the frantic energy she or the moment created.
He didn’t plunge into her or rub at whatever was closest. This…
what his fingers were doing… it was pure intent—if that intent was to empty her mind of every thought save the sinful circles focused where only she had ever known to touch.
She lost herself in sensation, in the euphoric delight of his words earlier.
He called her a genius.
She rolled her head to expose more of her neck—the sensual, almost chaste glide of his mouth completely at war with the fact he was building scandalous pleasure between her thighs.
Your brilliance.
Her mouth opened, but she refused to let the moan escape.
You are far superior.
She bit her lip. Hard.
I want you to lead this project.
The hand not braced on the door clenched into a fist.
I want you.
Sera was seconds from losing it. The fight to keep her breath even and unnoticed, faltering.
Kieran’s words tantalized her mind, her emotions, while his fingers stroked and circled with precise erotic finesse.
His knee pressed ever so gently against her thigh, easing her stance wider, opening more of her to delicate, methodical attention.
Shit-shit-shit.
It took everything she had not to say it aloud, not to let him sense that her body was melting, blissfully molten. Sera hated to lose, but this… she was not equipped for his fingers to finally, finally sink into her, the action chased by his voice in her ear.
“Seraphina…” His tone reverent, like it was a prayer. He was praying her name while shamelessly making love with his fingers and she was going to lose the Game. Any second. Because there was no way she’d be able to mask the steady, deliberately building release.
Sera set her cheek against the door, her entire body braced with tension coiling deliciously through her.
Through the wood, she heard voices. The banter of an office full of people.
And fuck, she almost came at the sinful daring of it.
She was no prude, but having Kieran’s fingers slip inside her while she listened to an intern shuffling papers with only a single piece of wood to hide their wicked Game from view…
A moan rose up her throat, unbidden. “Fuck,” Sera gritted, hating that there was no hiding her slip.
But he didn’t stop. Instead, she felt his lips against the side of her throat, “I believe I’ve won.”
And godsdamn it, his gloating should not have caused a thrill of raw pleasure.
No longer concerned with winning or losing, only the release that hovered just out of reach, Sera threw her arm backward, desperate for more contact, and her clawing fingers locked around Kieran’s neck, spearing up and into his hair.
“Fuck—”
Kieran’s curse, a whisper against her ear, the barest crack in his composure, pushed her to the edge—
“I’m not sure where she is, but his office is just here.” A voice directly outside the door slammed Sera into the present.
“Someone’s coming,” she breathed. And it’s not me, damn it.
Kieran withdrew his hand and Sera rushed to settle her skirts. When she looked up, he was adjusting his attire, redoing the hooks she’d undone.
A knock on the door drew their attention, but he didn’t look panicked. He simply continued to adjust until every seam was once again in perfect order.
Sera looked to him, mouthing silently, “Should I open it?”
Kieran rotated his shoulders and remained standing just in front of his desk, his hands clasped behind his back. He nodded. She opened the door.
And Thaddeus fucking Wraith waltzed through it.