Chapter 8 #3
He seemed oddly calm, considering the circumstances. “There were Fringers loitering in the parking lot who might recognize me. I hid my car and walked through the woods. I thought it’d be the best option.”
She trailed her finger down his chest, forcing a smile for her brothers. Just in case. “You had no right to go into my workshop.”
He kept his head upright, shoulders taut, his Vega pride still intact despite the indignity of the situation. “You’re right.” He had a way of agreeing that wasn’t quite genuine. “But again, I thought that might be better than going inside your home.”
“And you got caught by my brothers,” she hissed. “Putting me in a very bad situation.”
His upper lip twitched. “I wasn’t too thrilled about it myself. I thought you’d be displeased if I maimed them. Or told them how we really met,” he added in a low voice.
Damn, he was right about that. He’d saved her a verbal spanking.
“Thank you. You were in a tough situation, having to fight at a disadvantage. I didn’t think about you telling them I’d gone to the Guard.
” When a bloom of affection and admiration filled her, she jabbed her finger into his hard chest. “You wouldn’t have had to deal with any of that if you’d waited like we agreed. ”
“I didn’t agree. And I don’t take orders unless they’re from my superior.” His mouth tightened. “And sometimes not even then.”
Her finger was still pressed against his skin. “And of course, you see me as your inferior.” That rankled, but she couldn’t help grinning on her next words, especially since he couldn’t see it. “But right now I am your superior…given our current position.”
“Indeed. I don’t see you as my inferior, though. Just to be clear. Why can’t I use my magick, by the way?” His question was casual, yet she sensed an underlying tension in his tone.
“Well, they didn’t tase you.”
“They sort of did, actually. Long story. There’s something in these cuffs that’s blocking my magick.”
The cuffs were woven with various threads, one of which was a strand of Lucifer’s Gold, a substance that annulled Crescent magick if it came in contact with the skin.
“Can’t tell you. Family secret.” She leaned so close that her jaw brushed his and softened her voice. “Not until we’re married.” Her hand had automatically flattened on his chest when she’d moved forward. “Since we lurve each other.”
His smile reminded her of the Cheshire Cat’s. “More than words can say.”
Blondie sang about a heart of glass. Violet remembered dancing around the house as a kid when her Ma played these old songs. The “pain in the ass” line was particularly apt right about then.
She felt, rather than saw, her brothers finally leave.
They weren’t voyeurs, and they certainly wouldn’t want to witness anything sensual between her and Kade.
She doubted Kade knew they’d left though, and why tell him just yet?
She rather liked having the upper hand. Let’s torture him some.
It was the least she could do after everything he’d done to her family.
She ran her hand down his chest, letting her thumb brush past his nipple, all the way to the ridges of his stomach. “Oh, but Kade, say them, darling,” she said in a louder voice. “You know how I love to hear you say them in that honey-dripping voice of yours.”
He laughed, the kind of sound one makes when they’re in a corner.
Just when she thought he might stumble through some awkward words, he said, “Oh, baby, I love waking up next to you in the morning, with your hair all mussed and that dreamy light in your eyes. I love you in that red dress with the deep cut in the front, though you know I love you out of it even more. I love when you’re ready to fight, all full of piss and vinegar because no one’s taking you seriously. ”
She was again at the station the moment their gazes met and that bizarre zing arced between them. Damn, the guy was smooth. And good at what he did. “Go on.”
Despite his position, he seemed more than willing to indulge their charade. “Know what we did that really turned me on?”
She stroked his arm, her mouth only an inch in front of his. “Mmm, do tell.”
“Wrestling in the puddle. The mud contrasting with your creamy skin, your breasts dusky and perky, and your fantastic rear, gods, the way it felt beneath my hands.” He let out a sigh. “Can we do it again?”
His words twined through her stomach and down between her legs. She pressed her thighs together. Damn it, she wasn’t supposed to be enjoying this so much. And he…he was playing the role way too well.
She dared glance down his chest to the top edge of his boxer briefs. Could the guy be that good an actor? She’d heard that Vegas could play undercover well, but really…
She smacked his chest, nearly stumbling off the block.
She had to grab his arms to keep herself from falling, and for the life of her, she couldn’t will them to let go.
“You’re this all-powerful Vega, stripped down, blindfolded, and pinned to a barn wall.
Being subjected to disco music! You should be pissed, humiliated. And you…you’re turned on.”
“Well, I sure wasn’t turned on when your brothers were flogging me. But now that it’s you and me, and I’m pretty sure you’re not going to kill me, I find it rather erotic. In fact, this is one of my fantasies, being under the control of a sexy woman.”
He’d called her sexy. She blinked. Hadn’t he? She shook her head, getting sidetracked once again. “You are depraved.”
“I thought it would be with a woman I knew very well, but there’s something edgy about it being you.”
“Don’t be too sure about that not-killing-you part.”
His smile was all too real. “Oh, and naked mud wrestling is another fantasy of mine. So, within one day, you’ve fulfilled two of my fantasies, Vee. You are quite the woman.” He tilted his head. “Any fantasies I can take care of for you?”
“It’s Violet,” she bit out, trying to stanch the heat curling through her.
She was no prude, but she’d never considered bondage arousing.
A night of good sex with a handsome stranger in a hotel room, sure.
Being tied up, having someone do whatever they wanted—she pushed the thought away.
Was he still playing the part for her brothers’ benefit?
“I don’t have any fantasies.” But dragonfire, she had to admit having a Vega completely under her control could be one…
“Whoa, I can feel your heat, Vee. You’re turned on, too.”
“Am not.”
“I felt this same heat coming off you when I had my hands on you, when you damn near exploded in my arms.” Even though she couldn’t see his eyes, his smugness was clear. “Right now, you have all the power. You can do anything you want to me. I’m at your mercy. You like that, don’t you?”
She had to swallow the sigh that threatened to escape as she took in his body. She wanted to touch him, to run her hands down his biceps, across the muscles of his chest and abdomen, and over his wide rib cage.
He was just playing the part. She reigned in her lust. “We don’t have to play this charade anymore. They’re gone now.”
“They’ve been gone for a while.”
Damn, how had he known? Now her heat was due to her embarrassment. “I thought they might still be watching.” She pulled off the handkerchief, revealing his moss green eyes and all that swirling mist deep inside them. “So how much of this was…”
“Real?”
“I was going to say acting. It was all supposed to be acting.”
“Yeah, it was. So, what happened?” His question threw her. He’d been as swept away as she had. “I’m going to guess the same thing that happened while we were hosing off.”
Gods, that. She shook that thought from her mind. “Before I release you, I want to get one thing straight: we might be stuck in this pretend relationship, but we are not going there. Uh, again. I’ll have a hard enough time living this down, and that’s if I just chalk it up to a lust thing.”
“Because you already fell for the wrong guy once. The cretin we met at Ernie’s, right?”
She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t fall for him. But yes, that was bad judgment. You would be even worse judgment.”
“Me, worse than that guy?” He rocked his head back against the wood board. “Come on, you’re killing me. What about my prestige? And class?”
“Not only are you my family’s enemy, but you’re also an outsider. And a Deuce. That makes you much worse.” And most importantly, she felt the zing with Kade, something she’d never felt with Bren.
His expression sobered. “You’re right. I am worse. The totally wrong person for you. This is a fling…theoretically speaking.” He lowered his voice. “And we are only putting on a show. Let me down now.” He’d banked the mist that reflected a Deuce’s emotional state.
Did he mean she wasn’t good enough for him?
If he was, at least he’d put it a nicer way.
She pressed the release buttons on the cuffs, and he winced as he pulled his hands together and rubbed his arms. She knelt to release his ankles, her eyes taking in his too-snug black boxer briefs and then his muscular thighs dusted with golden hairs.
In a flash, he had his dagger in his hand. While her Dragon wanted to Catalyze in response, she held it back. Kade held the knife at an angle, turning it back and forth, and then it morphed back into a tattoo at his arm.
He turned to study the cuffs. “Not a taser-like action that stifles the magick for a set time then. Only during contact.” His fingers traced the threads; the golden thread was buried inside.
If it became known that they had threads of Lucifer’s Gold, someone would steal them.
Or confiscate them in the name of the Guard.
Their government was the only entity allowed to legally hold the substance.
It came from deep within the earth of Lucifera and, even as the island was sinking, the inhabitants saved some of it when they escaped to Florida.