Chapter 16
Iopen my eyes slowly to find my arms full of warm, naked man, and he smells so good I can’t help but press my face between his shoulders and inhale.
“Are you sniffing me?” Harrison mumbles sleepily.
“Yes.” I press a kiss to the swath of freckles decorating his skin like a comet trail. “Mmm,” I hum in contentment, and continue to trail kisses to the back of his neck. I must hit a ticklish spot because his shoulders rise towards his ears and he makes the cutest sound I’ve ever heard.
“Did you…did you just giggle?”
“No, I did not,” he says indignantly, pushing at me, but I pull him closer and bury my face in the crook of his neck.
“Sounded like it.” I press a kiss there, then trail towards his ear, and despite his surly morning attitude, he tilts his head to allow me access.
“Maybe you should get your hearing checked,” he mutters.
I chuckle as he rolls onto his back, and I settle between his thighs, his soft cock starting to firm up against mine.
“Morning.” I drop a kiss on his nose.
“Morning,” he murmurs, staring up at me. His fingers tangle in my hair, which I’m learning is something he loves to do. I’m not even sure he realises he’s doing it.
Last night we were curled up on the sofa after I’d driven back from Yorkshire. I ended up spending a few more days there than I’d intended, and the whole time I was away, I had this insistent urge to get back to Harrison, a persistent itch under my skin that I couldn’t reach.
I left as soon as I could and headed straight to Harrison’s place as soon as I got back to London.
He seemed just as eager to see me, so we ordered dinner and curled into each other on his sofa.
I’d been beyond content to just lay there half on top of him while he traced his fingers up and down my spine.
Then he progressed to playing with my hair and next thing I knew, he was waking me up.
I hadn’t intended to stay the night but it was late, I was exhausted, and he didn’t seem to want me to leave either.
Instead, he’d stripped us both down and we’d climbed into his bed naked, content to do nothing more than wrap ourselves around each other and slip into a contented sleep.
But I’m not tired now.
I drop a soft kiss on his lips and then his chin, smiling as I skim kisses down his throat and then his chest. I pull the covers over my head. His stomach tenses up as I skim my fingers down his sides, and he lets out another of those giggles he won’t admit to.
It’s one of the most beautiful sounds I’ve ever heard.
I continue down, savouring the feel of his soft skin beneath my lips and the scent of his sleep-warmed body, but when I reach his cock, I shift and lightly slide my tongue along the grooves of his hips to the crease of his groin.
“Sam,” he whines, and I smile, nuzzling his balls before licking a stripe up the centre to the base of his cock, and I’m rewarded when he sighs and spreads his legs wider. I keep going until I reach the tip, then suckle the head and swirl my tongue beneath his foreskin before dipping into the slit.
He gasps and his hand slides under the covers to tangle in my hair. Slowly, I drag his foreskin back and slip his cock further into my mouth.
God, he’s so hard, and the taste of him—I can’t get enough.
I settle further onto my stomach and hook his legs over my shoulders. Wrapping my hands under his hips, I pull him closer and swallow him deeper. I start a lazy glide up and down his dick until his legs tremble and he unconsciously rocks his hips. Finally, when he can’t take any more, he gasps.
“Sam, I’m going to?—”
I tighten the hot, wet suction of my mouth and he cries out, his cock pulsing against my tongue as he floods my mouth with the salty taste of him.
Boneless, his body melts into the bed, and he groans, then laughs.
I kiss my way back up his body until I reappear from under the covers to find him smiling at me.
He cups my face in his warm palms. One of his fingertips slowly traces the scar from the corner of my eye down my cheekbone. His expression is serious, but there’s a softness to his eyes.
“I didn’t expect you,” he murmurs, and I know he’s not talking about me returning from my trip. The truth is, when I first moved to London, I didn’t expect to meet someone like him either.
He draws me in and kisses me deeply, his tongue sliding into my mouth, and I sink deeper into the thrall he has me in.
I’m in very serious danger of being completely owned by this man, and the hell of it is, he doesn’t even know.
Breathing hard, I pull back and rest my forehead against his, watching as he licks his lips.
“You taste of me,” he whispers, and my aching dick gives a helpless throb at his words.
“I love having my mouth on you,” I whisper hoarsely.
“You’re very good at it.”
“I live to please you.” I grin.
He snorts. “I very much doubt that.”
Before I can reply, he hooks one of his legs around my calf and rolls me over so he’s on top.
“I believe it’s my turn,” he says impishly, and disappears under the covers.
Fucking hell. It takes an embarrassingly short time for him to absolutely wreck me in the best possible way. By the time he’s done with me, I’m gasping in desperately needed air and have come so hard my head is spinning.
“I think I’m getting better at this,” he says conversationally.
“Are you kidding?” I wheeze. “I just damn near had a religious experience.”
He laughs and crawls up my body, laying down on top of me so every inch of our bodies touch. He folds his hands over my chest and rests his chin on them as he looks up at me.
“This is how we recruit all newcomers. Welcome to paganism.”
The laugh rumbles through my chest. Rocking his body against me, he smiles.
“I could get used to waking up this way,” he murmurs as I twirl a lock of his beautiful red hair around my finger.
“So could I,” I admit quietly.
For a few seconds, we just lie there, contentedly watching each other, in no rush to move.
“What are your plans for the day?” he eventually asks.
I shrug, almost displacing him once more. “I need to start going over some of the case files Hadley gave me. You?”
“Packing online orders for the store mostly. I do have a couple of appointments with customers later this afternoon, but…”
“But?”
He sighs. “I really should find the time to deal with some of the cursed objects in the safe. They’re piling up a little. I usually don’t have this many, but there’s been a bit of an uptick of them lately.”
“And that’s unusual?”
He frowns. “Now that you mention it, I suppose it is. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t give it much thought.
I’d put the increased volume of items down to the fact that London’s a bigger and older city than I’m used to living in, but if I factor in the increase of people developing paranormal abilities, I don’t think we can afford to chalk it up to coincidence.
At least, not until we know for certain. ”
This time it’s me who’s frowning. “Well, how big an increase are we talking?”
“Since I started curse-breaking over the last, I don’t know, five…six years? The average is about four to eight objects a year.”
“And now?”
“In the past six months, I’ve accumulated over twenty-seven cursed objects, all waiting for me in storage until I have the time to figure out their individual curses and find a way to neutralise them.”
“Twenty-seven?”
He nods. “It’s why I had to buy that huge safe. Not only are there more of them, but they’re also more powerful than anything I’ve previously dealt with, which is why it’s taking me longer to break them.”
“Fuck, Prickles.”
He exhales sharply. “I know. I feel stupid for not putting it together sooner. But like I said, I originally just thought it was tied to living in a much older and larger city. I mean, it’s London.
There’s naturally a well of ancient power here beneath the surface, trapped between centuries of history. Although?—”
I reach up and smooth the wrinkle between his brows. “What?”
“The music box.”
“What about it?”
He licks his lips, his eyes distant. “It’s different from the others.”
“Different how?”
“It has a distinctive…signature, for want of a better word. I’ve heard its song several times now, and I shouldn’t be able to, not while I’m upstairs in the flat and the music box is locked away in a thick metal safe a floor below me. But it’s not just that I hear it. It?—”
“Makes your blood run cold?” I finish for him, and his gaze sharpens. “You forget, I’ve heard it too.”
“It makes me wary of touching it. I guess that’s why I’ve put it off for the last couple of months, which is stupid. Cursed objects have never bothered me before. Not like this one.”
“It’s not stupid, especially if it’s as dangerous as you think it is.”
“I guess. Maybe I should get Grumps take on it. After all, he’s the one I learned curse-breaking from.”
“Is he really?”
He nods again. “He’s retired now, which is why I took over and made it part of my business. But I don’t know. Although I wouldn’t call him frail, not to his face anyway, I’m not sure I want him exposed to the music box until I have a better understanding of what it’s supposed to do.”
“It’s secure in the safe though, isn’t it?” I ask.
“Yes. I’m the only one with the combination to open it.”
“And it’s not like it’s a ticking time bomb?”
He shakes his head. “It’s not time-sensitive. Most curses don’t work that way. It’s designed to activate the moment a person touches it with their bare hands, which is why I used the gloves when I handled it. As long as it’s locked away, it shouldn’t be able to do any damage.”
“Then we have time, we’ll figure it out.” I lift my head and press a kiss to his mouth. “Come on, let’s get some breakfast. I’m starving, and I can’t think on an empty stomach.”
He laughs and presses a kiss to my mouth before rolling off me. “Fine, you big baby. You get the toast on. I need to use the bathroom.”