28—Forever?
Dallas waited until Bonhi was fully out of the shower before he stepped out himself, being careful with his wet prosthesis. She handed him a towel, and he dried off, starting while Bonhi wrapped her towel around herself and watched him.
“Pspspsps,” she said softly.
Dallas looked up sharply Bonhi grinned mischievously and her eyes flashed playfully. He dropped the towel and rushed her, pressing her against the bathroom wall, naked.
“It worked,” she gasped.
He took her mouth roughly. “If you psps me, I’ll come running, I promise you that,” he purred, claiming her lips and crushing her to him for a moment longer.
He let her go, both of them breathing heavy.
She sauntered past him, holding her towel up.
It barely covered her ass cheeks, and he was treated to a lovely show of this beautiful minx, playing with a jungle cat.
He was still semi-hard and pleased about it.
Even though he’d popped off with only her touch, everything was working the way it should.
The next time she touched him, he’d be able to hold out a while.
He followed her out into the room. She’d stopped walking and was looking at his prosthesis on the floor. He pointed to the one he was wearing. “This is my waterproof one.”
“Oh.” She looked beautiful in the dim light of the hotel room, her hair damp, her eyes soft and trusting.
Dallas went to her. He kissed her and moved her to the bed, then laid her down on it gently.
“I’m still hungry,” he said, kissing the corner of her mouth, then her cheek, back to her ear.
He kissed down her collarbone and chest, while she grasped his shoulders.
He stopped at her perfect breasts, laving attention on first one, then the other.
He kissed and sucked at her perfect, hard nipples, then blew lightly on them until Bonhi arched into him, moaning.
Dallas moved down her soft belly with soft, soft kisses, down to her trimmed curls.
He skimmed across the top of her belly, blowing on her skin, caressing with his fingertips.
He moved to her left thigh, kissing it, then her right, kissing the crease of her leg, until he dared a few kisses on her softest skin.
She gasped and thrust against him, pulling at him.
Dallas let himself be caught and positioned exactly where she wanted him, then he set up a modest rhythm with his tongue, surprised to feel her clenching against him already.
She cried out, soft, sweet noises of pleasure that had him smiling.
“Mmm, like a bonbon,” he said, his lips right up against her sweetest skin.
She gasped, then arched again and Dallas got right up close, flattening his tongue, letting her grind against it.
“Oh, oh!” she cried. “Dallas, yes!”
She came hard against his mouth, her flesh throbbing and her scent deepening, her cries coming in marked time. He stayed where he was, letting her control the movement, until she fell to the bed sated, her arms covering her face.
“I’m not the only one who came quick,” he said, wiping his mouth with his hand.
Her voice was muffled. “It’s been years for me, too.”
Dallas rolled onto his back. “Good.”
Bonhi was up quickly. She went into the bathroom, then came back out, collapsing on the bed. “I feel so relaxed,” she said, laying her head on his belly.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
She laughed lightly.
When she didn’t speak again for several moments, he realized she was asleep. Carefully, Dallas maneuvered a pillow under her head, then blankets over the top of her. He got cleaned up and dressed, then set in to watch over Bonhi for the night.
Bonhi woke up slowly, languidly, stretching so deliciously. The smell of bacon and eggs filled the room.
“Morning, sexy,” Dallas’ deep voice rumbled from the nearby couch.
Bonhi sat up and pushed her hair out of her face to look at him. “Did you stay up all night?”
He got up and walked over to her, fully dressed. “Yeah.”
He sat down first and kicked off his boots, then he laid down and nuzzled her neck, stilling and relaxing quickly. “Breakfast is on the table,” he said, his voice soft. “Give me three hours, and I’ll be…”
Bonhi kissed his cheek and maneuvered the blankets on top of him. “Perfect. I can get some work done.”
He didn’t even make a noise. Bonhi cleaned up and got dressed, making sure she had both the trinket from Mama Soline and the cuff from Warrior Woman, then went to the table for her breakfast. She pulled out her laptop and ate while she checked emails, messages, and the docket.
Vernon’s case was not on it the next day, which was great. They wouldn’t have to rush home.
Her private investigator had sent an email. She opened it.
Bonhi, regret to inform you I could not find the cabin despite looking for hours. I found the tree you described, then I crisscrossed the surrounding area and never found a cabin. I’ll go back out if you want me to. Here’s pictures of the tree.
The pictures were of the tree she’d seen—she recognized the white bark and the pink leaves and the surrounding meadow, but there was no cabin. Bonhi studied one picture that should have shown the cabin, confused, until she had a sudden epiphany.
The cabin could disappear and appear, meaning it was magic, like the magic house…
which would mean it was involved with the witches!
Bonhi’s thoughts whirled. She stared at Dallas, wondering if she was going to break confidentiality.
No, she decided. Her duty to her client and to the law hadn’t changed.
But, if she was a magical witch meant to kill vampires and mate a shifter… shouldn’t that change things? Sometimes the law didn’t apply.
Bonhi shook her head. She wasn’t magical yet. She fished in her pocket for the tiny bit of lightning sand hoping for a shock. Nothing.
She looked around the room, remembering what Dakota had said.
‘Make sure you practice with something stone, because that’s our element. Imagine what you want to happen and then you absolutely must believe it will immediately happen, which is super hard to do until you make magic one time, and then it gets easier.’
Bonhi looked around for something stone and found nothing. She went into the bathroom and found a stone tissue box cover. Perfect. She picked it up, noticing a tingle in her skin that went straight up her arm. Promising.
She held the little box by the hole on top and swung it around in front of her body, thinking she maybe could just get it to light up.
Surely that wouldn’t require too much magic and even she could pull it off.
She tried to imagine it lighting up but couldn’t quite decide how she wanted it to look.
After a moment, she felt silly and put the thing back.
She would try again later with something less breakable.
Several hours later, Bonhi walked hand in hand with Dallas toward the Tremé district. He’d woken up on his own after three hours of sleep, saying it was a habit from the military. He’d cleaned up and eaten, and then they’d gone out to check on Mama Soline.
As soon as they turned on the street, they could tell something was going on at her shop—she had a line two blocks long out front.
Bonhi and Dallas walked on the other side of the street until they drew close enough to see her at a table in front of her door, reading a woman’s palm.
Bonhi felt her golden eyes following them, even as she dismissed the woman and admitted the next in line.
Dallas pointed out a street musician on their side of the street and they meandered toward him. He was tall, lanky, and dark-skinned with neat, short cornrows, playing the guitar, his case spread out in front of him.
“He’s a shifter,” Dallas said. “A wolf.”
“Is he watching Mama Soline?”
“Seems like it.” Dallas pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked messages, then said, “Yeah. Aven said he found someone with good references who will check on her once a day and report directly to Aven if anything seems off.”
The man’s dark eyes fell on them, and he chose a new song, strumming some chords, then he winked at them and sang, “Every move you make, every step you take, I’ll be watching you.”
Dallas nodded at him and pulled out his wallet. “Thanks, man.” He placed several large bills into the case.
Bonhi clutched at her purse, saying. “Thank you so much!” She emptied all her cash into the guitar case. He nodded at her and kept singing, turning his gaze to Mama Soline.
Dallas took her hand and Bonhi smiled at him. She felt good about the guitar player watching over Mama Soline. He looked local, strong, and honest.
They walked on, turning onto another street, wandering.
After a few moments, Dallas said, “I have a surprise for you.”
She smiled and squeezed his hand. “Tell me.”
“It’s somewhere I want to take you. Have you ever heard of the Garden District?”
“Yeah, I’m reading a series that’s centered there.”
“Mayfair Witches?” he asked with a mischievous grin.
“You saw my books.”
“I did,” he said, flagging down a passing taxi. “And I knew Anne Rice was from New Orleans and wrote about New Orleans, so I checked it out and found you can walk right past her house, and the house from the movie, and the house from the books.”
“Fun!” Bonhi said.
They got in and he told the driver to take them to Prytania Street.
Bonhi snuggled next to Dallas, thanking Fate, destiny, and maybe even that sweaty kidnapper guy for bringing Dallas into her life.