Chapter 4
Janice cast a quick glance around the bar. It wasn’t that packed, which she saw as a good thing. Too many people set her on edge. But she could see that she’d already started to draw attention.
Turning for the bar, she decided to take up residence and have a drink first. She wouldn’t have too much because she had to work in the morning, but she needed to drink off some of the sadness and longing that had attached itself to her. This night would be more fun tipsy.
Two mai tais in, the bartender set a shot in front of her.
She looked up to find herself met with deep hazel eyes and dark lashes in a decently handsome face and felt her power come alive, settling low enough in her stomach to make her find him attractive. “From the gentleman at the end of the bar.” He motioned with his full hand.
She cast a glance at the guy the bartender referenced.
He wasn’t bad looking. Probably in his forties with cash to blow.
Maybe a midlife crisis? His hair was slicked back, but she could tell it was thinning out.
His face was okay and it looked like the suit he wore was on the newer side.
. . and his aura? The man had some serious anger issues.
He was just what she was looking for. . . She turned her attention back to the bartender and held his gaze as she took the shot. Was…
Now, Janice thought she wanted something else. “What’s your shift—” she looked at his name tag, “—Warren?” Then she turned her gaze back to him.
He smiled a bit awkwardly. “Midnight. . . why?”
“Are you in a relationship, Warren?” She asked, studying him. He had thick, dark brows and a strong chin. A bit of an aquiline nose and fair skin with freckles, but his build was strong and his hands were large enough to stir unfamiliar passions within her.
She was used to the drive to do violence, to smash and break, rend and tear. This clawing desire. . . that was new.
He gave a halting shake of his head, as though uncertain what was happening. Apparently, this wasn’t something he was used to.
“I’m propositioning you, Warren.” She said directly.
His fair face reddened, eyes widening with something Janice took for shock and embarrassment. She wasn’t one for beating around the bush. And she certainly wasn’t about to start now.
She held out a hand to him, palm up. “Have you ever had your palm read, Warren?”
He continued to eye her, a slight frown on his lips. He gave another head shake.
“May I?” She cast a glance at his hand, motioning with her own. Then she held his gaze until his hand slid into hers. She turned it over and glanced over his palm.
She was actually learning palmistry from a book in her free time, but right now, that wasn’t what she was doing.
Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply before using her mind to seek out his body.
She made a quick study of his internal systems and health, searching for any kind of communicable illness he might be harboring.
But his body was pure and new as the unfallen snow.
The only thing she was even mildly worried about was that his endurance was so high, but her power swirled soothingly, whispering that she’d be fine.
She could take anything he could give her. . . Remember. . .
She returned to herself and opened her eyes, tracing the line she’d recently learned to be the life line with her finger and a satisfied smile.
“What does it say?” He asked, his voice a bit huskier than it had been moments ago. She had shared a bit of her magic and desire with that little maneuver. Harmless, but it turned the man’s attention to be aligned with hers.
“That someone would get lucky if they could get off before ten-thirty.” She turned her head to smile up into his face, only to find him leaning heavily over the bar, watching her with hungry eyes.
“Why ten-thirty?” He growled, sending shivers down her back to settle low in that swirling vortex of driving power and arousal.
“Because I need to work tomorrow.” The words came out breathless, driven. She felt on the edge of madness and her underwear felt a bit moist between her legs.
He nuzzled her, pressing his cheek against the side of her head as he growled against her ear. “I’ll be right back.” Then he was pulling and walking away.
Janice’s chest heaved with her excitement.
Her legs felt weak. She’d never been this aroused.
. . She was almost certain she was experiencing an episode of what happened to her brother at least once every six months.
She felt hot, flushed. Hollow. Her pulse was racing and her breasts and sex ached and pulsed threateningly.
She wanted him. She wanted the bartender.
. . Wanted Warren deep inside of her. Filling her, making her whole.
A hand wrapped around her elbow and she jerked away, turning to see the man from the end of the bar.
Her expression fell, the vortex of her power going from lust to violence faster than her body could process.
“Touch me again and I’ll rip the offending appendage from your body. ” She heard herself snarl.
Then a hand touched her shoulder.
She turned to find Warren standing defensively over her. They were connected, for now at least. The residue of her power in him was affected by her vortex. Any swing in the emotion she felt would drive at him symbiotically.
She placed a hand over his and stood as he turned his attention back to her.
“A coworker came in early and needed some extra hours.” Warren said. “I have the rest of the evening off and she’ll work them for me.”
She felt her desire swell in time with her power. Driving her. “Fair trade, I hope.”
He swept an arm around her back and pulled her against him, pushing a hand into her hair and kissing her thoroughly. Her knees went weak and she had to hold onto him to stay upright in her heels. “More than fair.” He growled against her mouth.
Her breath shuddered from her and she felt the first hints of desperation mix into her growing vortex of passion.
He had to help her out of the bar, but they didn’t make it far before that whirling passion overwhelmed her. They were headed to his car when she grabbed his collar and forced him down to kiss her. He had at least four inches on her, but she wasn’t about to let that stop her.
“I need you. . .” She muttered desperately against his mouth. “Now. . .”
Warren moved faster than she expected, catching her by the thighs and lifting her to press their cores together.
The feeling was exquisite, her sensitivity heightened by the way his pants bulged against her hollow wanting.
She wanted him inside her. Now. She was tired of waiting, kissing him with all the desperation she felt.
He brought her roughly down on the hood of a car and the alarm went off moments before he could dig in his back pocket, point the fob at the car and silence it with two quick chirps.
Then he was pulling at her dress and she was shifting to help him ride up the skirt high enough for him to have access to her body.
She felt the cold press and scrape of the man’s car keys and hissed softly into the kiss.
It was different from the car. The dress covered most of her body and she wore a light shall over her shoulders, so she could feel the chill of the car through her clothes, but it didn’t actually touch her.
His keys, however, made direct contact with her thigh, sending wild shivers to join the reeling stampede of her pulse, bursting arousal, and inflaming power.
She felt out of control. Like she was losing her mind and she didn’t know what to do.
“Have you done this before?” He growled against her ear, still working at her dress. He shifted once and flung the long strip of fabric that covered the front of her legs to the side so that he could palm her thighs.
She shook her head, moving her hands between them to work on the buttons of his vest and the buckle of his pants, but she didn’t stop kissing him. She needed it. Her skin on his, his lips on her body.
He breathed a laugh. “Then I might be a little more than you can handle. . . We should take this slow.”
She shook her head again, but then he was pulling away from her, the loss of his heat and warmth leaving her feeling bereft. She whined softly and then gasped in alarm as he pushed her legs wide, making room for himself to kneel between them.
Janice’s eyes went wide and she clapped a hand to her mouth as he leaned forward, hooking a finger around her panties and pulling them aside so that he could press his mouth to her.
The initial feeling was like being struck by lightning.
. . but in a good way. And then he was licking and suckling at her, drawing sounds from her she’d never heard and reactions she’d never had; making her body jump and jerk uncontrollably as though she were seizing.
The feelings were intense and overwhelming, her power riding her and making her body so sensitive she wound up losing full control of her legs and lungs as she felt a sudden release.
It was almost as though the man had broken a levee and just washed the excess of her power from her.
She collapsed on the hood of the car, chest heaving as she attempted to gather herself. She still felt tight, wound, but at the moment she felt calmer than she had all day. . . like he’d taken the edge off. “Thank you. . .” She heard herself mumble breathlessly.
He breathed a laugh and she looked down at him.
“Don’t thank me yet. . . I haven’t done anything.
” His mouth was coated in a creamy balm of some kind and he swiped a thumb over the corner of his mouth where a bit had escaped, then sucked the thumb in his mouth.
“Do all of you taste like honey or is that just you?”
Janice felt heat build in her cheeks, she wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but had a feeling she wouldn’t have felt comfortable with the answer if she had.