Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Liam
I roll over and stare at the golden-haired goddess curled up in bed beside me.
I didn’t know how dangerous kissing her would be. I didn’t know one taste of Evie would leave me intoxicated.
She’s our mate. She isn’t dangerous. She is ours.
Huffing out a breath, I roll onto my back and put my hands under my head, staring at the smooth, whitewashed ceiling.
I should be climbing the walls to finish this case and get back to the agency.
I’ve never been one for the idle life, save for my hobbies after hours, but over the last few days, I’ve started second-guessing everything I want in life.
I need to find the thief before they steal the wand. If not for Evie, then for the other three families I promised I’d retrieve their heirlooms for. I just feel like I’m missing some key detail that ties them all together.
I glance back at the sleeping form of my mate, pink-and-blonde hair splayed around her head like a halo. Sighing, I push out of bed and pull my navy-blue robe around myself. I tread on silent feet, careful not to wake her or anyone else staying at the B&B as I make my way downstairs.
I’m three steps from the bottom of the staircase when the wood lets out a loud creak beneath my weight. Evie’s owl, Nutmeg, cracks open an eye at me, letting out a soft hoot. I wait, counting my breaths, but no one else stirs before I slip into the dining room.
The wand sits on the mantel where I saw it that first night, completely undisturbed.
Moonlight streams through the curtains into the otherwise dark room.
I pace back and forth, going over the details of the case in my head.
Four objects passed down through generations, with no particular financial value.
What is the purpose of the thefts? Clearly, the connection is their origins, but what’s the motive?
I lean against one of the wooden chairs, staring at the wand as though it’ll hand over the answers I seek.
“Liam?”
Evie’s soft-spoken voice breaks the silence. She’s standing in the doorway without her glasses, dressed in a simple pink silk nightgown and matching robe.
“A leannán, what are you doing up?” I ask as she comes to my side, stifling a yawn.
“I could ask you the same thing. I rolled over and you weren’t there.” The corners of her lips turn down as she shivers, pulling her robe tighter around herself, and guilt twists in my gut.
You left her alone and cold upstairs by herself.
“Come here. You’ll freeze in that.” I reach out and draw her into my arms, feeling her body melt against mine with a sigh.
“You’re so warm.” She practically nuzzles into my chest, and I resist the urge to carry her upstairs and really warm her up. “Why are you down here? If you’re hungry, food is in the kitchen.”
“I couldn’t sleep. I have a lot on my mind.” I lean into her, inhaling her sweet chai tea scent while stroking idle circles over her back.
You could have less on your mind if you told her what she means to us.
“What’s on your mind? The case?” Evie peers up from the circle of my arms, and I nod.
“It’s what I wanted to talk about earlier.
” I tear my gaze away from her and look back at the wand on the mantel, nestled between cheerful stacks of mini pumpkins and plastic fall leaves.
“I didn’t just come to your B&B because I heard it had great accommodations.
I came because I strongly suspect the next—and last—object to be stolen is your family’s heirloom wand. ”
Evie snorts and steps out of my arms, grabbing the wand from the mantel and brandishing it toward me like a miniature sword.
“Why would anyone want this old thing? It has no real value, no magic.” She flicks it through the air before setting it back on its stand. “See? I have more magic in my left pinky finger than it does.”
I scrub a hand through my hair before pulling out a chair and gesturing for her to join me. Evie reaches for the chair next to mine, but I catch her around the waist and tug her into my lap.
“That’s what’s troubling me. None of the objects stolen had magical powers or were financially worth stealing. Most cases I look into have a strong motive.”
“How did you even find its connection to the wand?” Evie leans her head against my shoulder, her breath tickling my neck as she exhales.
“What do you know about the wand?”
“Not much aside from it being passed down through dozens of generations in my family. It’s never shown any magical ability, but my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother all shared stories that one of the first Hawthornes was a descendant of the Empress.”
“Like from the tarot deck?” My hand stills against her back.
“Please don’t stop.” She shifts in my lap, arching toward my hand like a cat pressing for attention.
“That’s all you know about the wand?” I resume my gentle massage.
“That, and it’s one of the few reasons the B&B is staying afloat.
Outside of Pumpkin Festival week, the number of visitors we get each year keeps going down while the repairs keep going up.
” She traces a finger over the front of my T-shirt.
“People come to get a glimpse of the elusive wand of the Empress but lose interest once they realize it’s just a twisted rod of metal.
What do you know about the other objects? ”
“They all seem to originate from the four objects of tarot—a chalice, a pentacle, a sword, and a wand. Each relic was gifted and passed down from generation to generation. None of your parents or grandparents ever spoke of the other objects?”
“No. I mean, I know of the four relics of the Minor Arcana. They represent the foundational tools and classical elements used in divination. I don’t see why someone would want to steal them, though.
I always just thought one of my distant relatives crafted the wand because of its symbolism of the Empress.
It represents passion, inspiration, creative energy, and action.
It’s also why taking it from the house would leave the B&B to crumble to ruin. ”
“I won’t let that happen, Evie.” I cup the side of her face in my palm and turn her toward me.
“It’s just a family story. It’s not a real curse.” But something in her voice makes me wonder how much she believes her own words.
“Curse or not, I’ll do anything to keep it safe.”
“What if you don’t catch the thief before the end of the Pumpkin Festival?”
“Then I stay until I do.” Her breath catches as my thumb gently follows the curve of her lower lip. “After all, I have the perfect cover story.”
“This is beginning to feel like more than fake dating, Liam.”
“Scout’s honor, I have done nothing untoward to the fair maiden save steal a kiss.”
Evie groans, and my cock jumps to attention as I press deeper into the muscles of her back.
“Keep making noises like that and I’ll have to have a midnight snack.”
“Is that a promise?” Evie’s tongue darts out, moistening her bottom lip. My hand drops to her exposed thigh, my fingers gripping her soft flesh.
“Liam.” My name on her lips is barely a whisper.
I trace my thumb along the edge of her silk gown, leaning forward.
“Don’t move,” I growl, the sound low and trapped in my throat as I slide my hand under her knees and lift her into my arms in one fluid sweep.
Evie buries her face in my neck, and I take the stairs two at a time, mindful to avoid the squeaky step until I reach the landing and carry her into our shared room.
I kick the door shut with a thud before letting her slide down my body, my cock straining against my boxers until her feet hit the floorboards.
The room is pitch-black save for a sliver of moonlight streaming through the curtains, but my eyes adjust quickly, and I pin Evie against the heavy oak door.
I slide a leg between her thighs as my hand glides up the column of her throat. Her breath is shallow, coming in sharp gasps as my thumb circles the firm peak of her nipple through the silk gown.
She gasps, but the sound is swallowed when my mouth finds hers. This kiss is different from our first—bruising, frantic—her hips pressing against my thigh as her hands grip the front of my robe.
My thumb strokes her jawline, and she whimpers, holding entirely still.
“What a good little submissive witch.” I nip down the side of her neck, and she shudders beneath my touch, her nipples becoming impossibly harder.
“I’ve wanted you since the moment I heard your voice over the phone.
The moment I met you in the parlor. Since the moment I found your panties under the bed the night you gave up your room for me. ”
I pinch her nipple, pressing my thigh against her core.
“Liam.”
“Tell me to stop. Say the word, and I will.”
“Don’t. You. Dare. Stop.” She pants out the words between breaths, arching into me. “I want this.”
“Can you handle it?”
I release her breast only long enough to catch her wrist, guiding her hand lower. The second her fingers brush me, a sharp pulse of need tears through me so suddenly I have to grit my teeth against the sound trying to escape my throat.
I want her.
Badly.
And apparently, Evie knows exactly how badly.
Instead of answering, she drops to her knees.
The sight nearly wrecks me.
For a second, I can only stare down at her, my chest rising and falling too quickly, my body pulled taut with anticipation. She peers up at me through those long lashes, completely unhurried, as though she has all the time in the world.
She doesn’t.
Not when every second she takes feels like torture.
Her fingers curl into the waistband of my boxers and slowly drag them down as my robe falls open. My breath catches and I brace one hand against the door, needing something solid beneath my palm before my knees decide they can no longer be trusted.
I prefer to be dominant, but with the way she’s looking at me…
Evie leans forward and presses a soft, deliberate kiss to my hip.
My eyes fall shut.
“Fuck.”
The word leaves me rougher than I intend.
Her hand closes around my cock, and heat flashes through my entire body. My grip tightens in her hair on instinct, my fingers threading through those long blonde strands as I struggle to keep myself from losing control completely.
Then she looks up at me again.
That little smile.
That look in her eyes.
She knows exactly what she’s doing.
“You’re killing me.” My voice drops into something darker.
“What are these?” She runs a nail along the base of my cock, where two dozen bumps circle me.
“They’re nodules that respond when I’m buried deep inside you. They protrude and rub against you for more friction.” I tilt her face up by her hair. “They also vibrate.”
“Like a cat’s barbs?”
“Similar, but they aren’t sharp. They’re meant for your pleasure.”
Her eyes widen as she runs her thumb along them again, her thighs squeezing together before she takes me into her hot mouth.
I nearly come right there from the sight of her on her knees before me, the bond tugging at my chest to take her, mark her.
Not yet.
My pulse pounds so hard I can feel it in my throat.
Evie doesn’t look away. She holds my gaze with that same infuriatingly confident smile, as though she knows exactly how close I am to losing every ounce of control I’ve been fighting to maintain.
“Stand up.”
Her eyebrows lift as she stares up at me, continuing long, leisurely strokes, her tongue swirling around the head of my cock.
“That wasn’t a suggestion.”
She rises slowly, deliberately, until we’re nearly chest to chest again. The second she’s within reach, my hands settle at her waist and draw her against me.
She gasps softly.
I lower my mouth to her ear.
“You’ve spent the last ten minutes seeing how far you can push me.”
My fingers tighten around her hips.
“Now you’re going to find out what happens when I stop letting you.”
A visible shudder runs through her.
That reaction nearly undoes me.
I drag my mouth along her jaw, taking my time, letting the anticipation build between us until neither of us can pretend we’re still playing some harmless game.
Her hands clutch the front of my shirt as I shrug off my robe.
“Still feeling brave?” I murmur.
She gives me that smile again.
“Very.”
I chuckle under my breath, the sound rough with restraint.
“Good.”
I catch her chin, making her meet my eyes.
“Because I’m nowhere near finished with you.”
I hook my hands under her thighs and lift, her legs instinctively winding around my waist. It takes only three steps to reach the bed, though I’m barely conscious of them. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remember we’re in a house full of ghosts who could wander in at any moment.
Right now, I couldn’t care less.
I lower her onto the mattress, and she tumbles back against the sheets, her pink silk nightgown sliding high over her thighs. The sight of her sprawled beneath me nearly strips away the last of my restraint.
“I’ll be keeping these.”
I catch the edge of her underwear and slip them off, tossing them onto the nightstand.
Her breath catches.
“Open for me, Evie.”
I wrap a hand around her calf and guide her closer, watching her obey. I drag my palms slowly along her thighs, savoring every shiver that follows, before settling between her legs.
Her fingers curl into the sheets.
I lower my mouth against her, and the sound she makes goes straight to my cock.
For a moment, the ghosts, the house, the rest of the world disappear.
There’s only Evie beneath me, trembling under my touch, and the intoxicating knowledge that I’m the one making her lose control.
“Liam, I’m going to come,” Evie gasps, her thighs clamping on either side of my head as I suck. My cock strains painfully against the mattress, but I’m lost in the intoxicating taste of my mate.
My mate.
A possessive fire rolls through my body, and I grip her hips tighter, relishing the little mewling noises she makes with every stroke of my tongue.
“That’s it, a leannán. Be a good girl and come for me,” I growl before lapping with fervor. Her body jerks beneath me before she collapses against the mattress, staring at me with swollen lips, her eyes glazed and sated.
Her gaze drops to my cock jutting proudly out, and she reaches for me, fingers closing around my shaft.
She pumps me agonizingly slowly. I cover her hand with mine, not breaking eye contact, and in three long strokes, I cover her sweet, soft flesh in pearly ropes, my cock vibrating beneath her hand.
“Looks like I made a mess of you.” I smirk, running my finger along her belly and around one nipple. Her breath hitches, eyes fluttering closed. “I better wash up so we can rest. Don’t move.”
I return from the bathroom with a warm washcloth, taking my time cleaning the mess I made of my mate.
She watches me through hooded eyes, sucking on her bottom lip. “You keep touching me like that and you’ll make me want to go again.”
“Don’t tempt me, little witch.” I gather her into my arms and tug the covers over us before pressing a kiss to her temple. “I could keep you up half the night, but we both know we have to get up early to remake your cake before the festival begins.”