Chapter 31
thirty-one
Another Rose
Renee stares up at the glittering light show with mouth agape. “How in the fuck…?”
The woman in a pink dress twirls around the dancefloor with a beastly, seven-foot-tall orc who’s absolutely enamored with her. The dress shimmers just like it says in the text, despite me not having read it before Renee had.
The magic works.
Bastian leans against the bookshelf with a self-satisfied grin. “There’s a sphere of influence here that will pick up on the thoughts of anyone with an open book in their hands. While it’s not a foolproof plan, it will work with great efficacy, and few mishaps.”
“That’s just…” Drew shakes his head like a wet dog. “AWESOME!”
“Hopefully, it’ll wow people but not be so out there that they’ll accuse me of witchcraft,” I say, pulling the book out of Renee’s hands and putting it in Drew’s.
I flip to a different page and point randomly without looking. “Read.”
Drew’s eyes dart back and forth, and then his cheeks turn pink. The lights projected in the corner of the bookstore shift and come to life, showing the woman from the dancefloor lying on a bed, fully nude, with the orc kneeling between her legs. Drew snaps the book shut and the image cuts off.
I clear my throat. “All the eighteen plus books will be kept behind that wall so that shouldn’t happen out here.”
I take the novel from him and return it to the “Smut” section behind the accessible ramp. The lighting behind the wall is dim and intimate, with a small table beside the chaise in the corner of the windowless hall.
“You better make sure you’re keeping an ear out for buzzing noises in this section,” Renee says. “It’s all dark and secluded.”
I scoff and roll my eyes. “Like anyone would be doing that in a bookshop.”
“Doing what?” Bastian asks, but I can tell by the tiny smirk that he knows what we’re talking about. He’s heard my vibrator. Hell, he simulated it with his tail for me weeks ago.
Great, now I’m thinking about his tail.
Renee coughs into her hand and blushes. “Nothing, just, girl stuff.”
She hurries out of the section and Bastian catches my arm. “I have a gift for you.”
“Oh?” I ask, doing my best to hide my face.
“Yes,” he says, then takes a long inhale and his voice lowers in timbre. “It’ll pair nicely with your slick pussy.”
I lick my lips, tasting the watermelon lip gloss.
He cups my ass and pulls me against him.
“You want it now?”
My knees go weak and I lean on the hard plane of his chest as I whisper, “We have company.”
“I think you relish the thrill of sneaking an orgasm past them. Don’t you, my little whore?”
I can’t help but moan. Why is this degrading talk so freaking hot? I would never allow another person to talk to me like this, but from him, it turns me to putty in his hands.
“So, this present will make me orgasm?”
“Nothing gets past you,” he murmurs, and then holds a hand between us.
I watch as black swirls around an apex, manifesting into something ovular and small enough to fit in his palm. It takes shape, petals of a rose frozen in something like soft plastic, with a hole where the bud would be.
My mouth hangs open. “Is that a…”
“Another rose, for you,” he says, his voice sinister.
Renee and Andrew are chatting in the main hall about the light show of my magic. God, how long would we really have? Could I?
“You’re considering it,” Bastian groans, pushing me against the shelves.
The thump of my back hitting the wood makes me pause, listening for Renee’s voice. She’s still talking to Andrew, unperturbed.
Bastian’s hand slides up my thigh, his claws catching on my stockings.
“Come on, Kitty. Don’t you want to try out your rose?”
The device hums against the soft skin of my inner thigh and I breathe a heady gasp. Fuck, this is reckless, and stupid. But what’s the worst that’ll happen if I say yes? Nothing life ending. Nothing that’ll be irreconcilable. Safe. I’m safe to explore this.
“Show me,” I whisper.
He grins and the hand cupping my ass snakes under my skirt. He grabs the band of my stockings and yanks them down to my mid-thigh, then puts his feet between mine, pinning them open. I huff something like a yelp, and he crowds me against the shelf.
“Quiet now,” he says, his knuckles dragging along my bare skin. “You can’t let them know.”
I nod feverishly.
He hooks a finger in the crotch of my panties and pulls them aside. The rose slides against me easily with how aroused I am and it’s embarrassing.
Bastian pushes his forehead against mine, engulfing my existence with his. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
The rose buzzes to life and I yelp, my hands flying to Bastian’s biceps. He leans in closer, our lips just an inch apart.
“Quiet, whore,” he growls. “These sounds are just for me.”
Andrew laughs in the other room and my awareness splits between the conversation happening out there and the orgasm building here. I suck a breath through a tiny part in my lips as my fingers curl into his skin. The scales along his arms flicker and shine, reacting to my touch.
He repositions the rose and the hole of the flower finds my clit.
I open my mouth on a deep gasp as the pleasure suddenly overwhelms me and Bastian strikes.
His lips hit mine like a hammer striking a hot sword, forging it.
He shapes my mouth to his as his tongue slides over mine.
I cry out into him and he swallows the sound with a groan.
The sensation becomes too powerful and I lock my knees together as I dig my nails into him. He pulls the rose away, but keeps his lips on mine, kissing deeper, and deeper. He grabs my thighs and pulls me off the ground, forcing me to throw my arms around his neck just to stay aloft.
My last, trembling pulse of pleasure leaves me and I sag in his arms. Bastian pulls back, only to press his lips against my ear.
“You’re mine, Caitlin,” he says, his voice rough with desire. “I claimed you once and I’ll do it again, every day, for the rest of your life until you understand.”
“I understand,” I whisper, my head a daze.
He kisses below my ear to my chin, then my lips. The kiss is hard, full of hunger and need.
“You don’t,” he says as he sets me down. “But you will…”
He pulls up my stockings and disappears the new rose with a snap of his magic.
“Try to walk straight,” he says with a smirk as he departs in a swirl of ink.
I pull down a breath to curse his departure when Renee peeks around the corner.
“Whatcha doin’?” she asks, a knowing grin on her face.
I hope it’s not a knowing grin. I’d prefer she didn’t know I just came back here.
“Nothing. Just Bastian, being…him,” I say, trying to collect myself.
“Uh huh.” She leers. “Well, we’re going to get going. Stuff and things to do at home.”
Suddenly I feel a little bad. They came all the way out here to see my magic and I slunk off to the shadows with Bastian to have an orgasm…
Her expression turns softer as she takes a step into the smut section. “Hey, whatever you’re thinking right now, stop.”
I shrug, feigning innocence. “I’m not thinking.”
“You literally projected, ‘I’m a bad friend’ behind your head.”
I whirl around and sure as shit, there’s orange mist drifting away. “What the…”
Renee laughs. “That’s fucking great. You’re your own lie detector.”
“Not great. Opposite of great. What if I do this in front of customers?” I say, a new wave of anxiety coming over me.
“Seems like you just need to practice,” she says.
And I know she’s right. Bastian said so too. I was over-full this morning, my magic just oozing out everywhere, and now I can’t even control my thoughts.
Renee grabs my arms and shakes me. “Hey, you’re good. Okay?”
I bob my head.
“We loved seeing your new hologram thing, but I know you still have a lot of work to do before tomorrow, so we’re gonna go.”
I nod again, but this time I feel more sure. She’s not angry. I didn’t upset her. I’m not a bad friend.
“We’ll be here tomorrow afternoon for your grand opening,” she says with a black-lipped smile.
“Probably a mediocre opening,” I say.
“You hush up right now. It’s going to be grand whether there’s two hundred customers or two. I promise.”
“All right, fine. Grand,” I concede and another weight is lifted.
It doesn’t matter how many people show up. This is a small town, and there aren’t a lot of people here who even care about books. What’s most important is that I’m happy with what I’ve created, and that my online store is selling copies like wildfire.
I’m going to be okay. This business is going to be profitable. I’ve got this.
We’ve got this.
“That’s my girl,” Renee says, booping my nose.
I bat her hand away and grimace.
She laughs. “Got you.”
“C’mon babe, I’ve got a three-pound bag of hot wings calling my name at home,” Drew yells.
We both laugh.
“Better not let him starve,” I say as we head for the main hall.
Renee rolls her eyes. “Girl, you don’t even know. He turns into a monster when his blood sugar is low. Those wings are the appetizer.”
“And you’re the main course!” Drew yells as he scoops her up when she exits the smut tunnel. He spins her around and pretends to munch on her neck. Renee screams, kicking her feet as they twirl.
They’re so gosh dang cute.
We say our goodbyes and I head up to the apartment full of whimsy and a pep in my step.
I’m okay.
Everything is going to be okay.
He kissed me.