Chapter 11
Chapter
Eleven
MERRI
Ihad to hand it to Cole; he was a gentleman. It was obvious in more ways than one that he was eager to help me with my little hunger problem as soon as I gave him the green light, but when I pressed pause and told him I needed some time to get things set up, he bowed out with grace.
His exact words were, “Just call for me when you’re ready. I’ll be there.”
I took a final glance around the room, appreciating my setup.
I’d found a folding privacy screen and some extra lamps and worked some magic.
Now he’d be able to see my silhouette through the white rice paper framed by the wood, and I would hear everything he did as clearly as if we were right next to one another.
It was basically an in-person version of our private chats.
All the benefits of sex without any of the touching. A perfect balance, if you will.
As much as I liked Cole, I was not remotely ready to jump into bed with him.
This staging of mine would allow us to keep the focus on feeding without it having to become physical.
Which was an important distinction for me, because my heart might be broken, but it still belonged to the horsemen.
Love wasn’t something you could just turn off like a light.
It burned inside you like an ember, weakening over time, but lasting long after the flame was doused.
I opened my door and called out, “Cole, I’m ready for you. Come in and take a seat.”
Cole was there only moments later, desire in his eyes, and anticipation rolling off him in waves. “I was worried you’d changed your mind there for a sec.”
Shaking my head, I reached out and took him by the hand, gently leading him to the chair I’d positioned in front of the screen. “Sit there.”
There was no missing the flicker of disappointment as it crossed his face. “We’re going to be on separate sides?”
I gave his hand a squeeze. “We are.”
“I was really hoping I’d finally get to touch you.”
We were next to the chair now, so I placed my hands on his shoulders and gently applied pressure until he sat down. “Don’t worry,” I said, chucking him under the chin. “You’re going to feel right at home in no time. I need to ease into this, and some separation is the most familiar thing for us.”
“I understand, but I’m not going to lie to you, I’ve been aching to touch you from the moment you walked through the door.”
My heart skipped a beat at the urgency in his voice. He didn’t understand the complexities of my heartbreak. I might appear single to the rest of the world, but I had four mates out there. Their rejection didn’t make it any less true.
“Just relax and enjoy what I have planned.” I winked and moved to walk around the partition, tossing a sensual stare over one shoulder. “Do me a favor?”
“Anything,” he said, his voice already tight with arousal.
“Don’t hold back. I want to hear you.”
“Y-yes ma’am,” he rasped.
“Good boy,” I said with a wink before disappearing behind the screen.
I’d set it up in front of a dresser that housed a single lamp and a vintage record player.
With the press of a button, the turntable began spinning, and the sultry, bluesy number I’d selected filled the room.
The whole vibe I was going for was something between burlesque show and voyeur room.
Before Lilith had relegated me to isolation, she’d trained me to dance at Iniquity, hoping I could control myself enough to feed on clients she specifically sent me. That hadn’t panned out, but I still learned a thing or two that I’d used in my camming sessions on occasion.
After a little testing, I’d been able to figure out the best place for me to stand and had marked it with a small X in lipstick on the floor. I didn’t think Cole was using it, and I doubted his mother would mind that I’d borrowed it.
“Comfy?” I asked, getting into position.
“Something like that.”
“What would make you more comfortable?” I began slowly swaying my hips as I ran my hands along my body, grabbing the hem of my shirt and carefully lifting it.
“Taking off these pants.”
“Then you should do that. The whole point of this session is pleasure. I want you to enjoy yourself.”
The sound of his belt, followed by a zipper, had me grinning. Then he grunted in relief as his jeans hit the floor.
“Better?”
“Fuck, yes. I’m so hard.”
“Perfect.”
I peeled my shirt up over my head, making a point to stand sideways so he could see the curves of my body.
“Merri, you’re so beautiful.”
Humming in response, I moved my body in a mesmerizing wave before reaching behind my back and unhooking my bra.
I caught his hissed intake of breath as my breasts fell free from the lace and underwire. Making a show of it, I held the bra by one strap and dropped it on the floor in front of me.
“What color was it?” he asked.
A soft giggle escaped me. “Red lace with no lining.”
“So your nipples would have been visible if we didn’t have this screen between us?”
“Yes.”
He groaned. “You’re torturing me.”
“You’re loving it.”
“Fuck me, I am.”
I chuckled again and turned so I was facing the bed. This time I slowly spread my legs and bent over, making a point to run my hands up the insides of my thighs.
Cole whimpered.
In one smooth motion, I flipped my hair as I stood upright and hooked my fingers in the band of my panties, then I shimmied out of them.
“Are you wet, Merri?”
I didn’t need to touch myself to know the answer. “Yes.”
“Fuck, I want to smell you. Taste you.”
His desire permeated the room, but I couldn’t get past the mental walls he had up enough to feed deeply. Why was he blocking me out?
Tossing the scrap of lace over the screen, I waited for his reaction.
The hitched breath that came from him was so satisfying my nipples tightened in response and lust sparked in my lower belly.
“Tell me what you’re doing.” I had a pretty good idea, but I wanted to hear him say it.
There was a rustle of fabric and then a deep inhale followed by a rumbling moan. “Committing your scent to memory.”
“Does that mean you like it?”
“Fuck, baby, you smell incredible. I bet you taste even better.”
I bit my lower lip, enjoying myself more than I thought I would.
“I’m not giving these back, by the way.”
“You should use them.”
“Use them?”
“To get yourself off,” I clarified. “Wrap them around your cock and get as close to my pussy as you can.”
“Fuck.”
The song changed to another equally sensual rhythm, and I cupped my breasts, making certain he could see from the angle I chose.
“God, I wish these were your hands,” I said, rolling my nipples and undulating my hips.
“They can be. Just say the word.”
The need in his voice was delicious, but I still couldn’t get a good enough hold on him to feed.
I had to find a way to break through his walls.
If I’d learned anything from Malice, it was that the more you could make someone focus on the moment, the less likely they'd be able to maintain their mental barrier.
“Relax and make yourself feel good, Cole. That’s the best way to take care of me.”
He groaned.
“And you want to take care of me, don’t you? You like knowing you’re giving me everything I need.”
“Yes. I want you to want me. I want to provide you with everything.”
His breaths were coming faster now, and that hold he had over his walls was weakening.
“You’re so good to me. I should have seen it before. You make me feel so safe, like I can really just let go.” I moaned for good measure as the sound of his palm shuttling along his cock became my only focus.
“Yes, fuck, Merri. I’m so close.”
The barrier was crumbling, but it needed a little nudge. Sending out a tendril of my power, I pressed against the bubble of his consciousness the way Malice had taught me. It popped easily, and a wave of his sexual energy flooded my senses.
Trap sprung, I latched on to his mounting pleasure, but something didn’t feel right. This energy I’d grabbed was familiar, but it wasn’t because of my sessions with Cole. It was from my dreams.
Of Luc.
Oh. Shit.
Ice filled my veins as the reality of my situation came crashing down around me, and I tore all the threads connecting us out of his mind, taking the lust with me and ruining both my feeding and his orgasm.
Grabbing the robe I’d hung on a hook behind me, I covered myself and stepped around the partition to face the impostor that was most definitely not Cole.
As I watched, his expression changed from frustrated to concerned, erection angry and swollen in his hand.
“Is something wrong?”
I narrowed my eyes. “You know exactly what’s wrong. Put your dick away . . . Luc.”
A terrifying smile stretched across his face, and with a snap of his finger, Cole turned into the golden-haired smoke show from my dreams.
“Well, I guess the devil’s out of the bag.”