Damned and Desperate (21 page)

Aedan flashed a sideways smile as he held up the star. “I wished for my mind to be a fortress.”

“That was quick thinking,” I said. Then I imagined Aedan’s head surrounded by Lincoln Logs or a metal grate. “Good thing that star didn’t take your wish literally.”

After Anak dried Aedan’s and Mar’s wings, we flashed each other sheepish looks, like a bunch of kids who’d been sent to time-out. Only instead of getting busted with our hands in the cookie jar, we’d all been caught jerking off.

“So what do we do now?” Boner asked us. At least I think he was asking us, because his gaze kept shifting to Mar, whose cheeks were getting redder by the second.

The giant frowned down at us, clucking his tongue. “Friends need rest.” He flashed a goofy smile, pointing to Boner’s obvious hard-on. “Water still make friends crazy. When water wear off, we go find Nephilim kin.”

Hang on. Why were Boner and Mar giving each other coy looks? Were they intent on finishing what they’d started back at our crazy fuck fest? I supposed it would work since he was no longer a horse, though he was still built like one. What a painful way for a girl to lose her virginity, because I was fairly certain Mar’s one-hundred-year old cherry was still intact. It might have shriveled up or gotten lost among the cobwebs, but there was no way she’d ever been laid. Not with that stick wedged so far up her ass.

I had no idea how I felt about Mar and Boner hooking up. On one hand, I wanted to be the one to witness Mar’s fall from grace. What would Aedan think of his prim and proper princess, knowing she got it on with a twelve-inch dong? On the other hand, I didn’t want to see Boner get tangled up in her web of pouty faces and tantrums. She’d make his afterlife miserable for sure. Some part of me, some taunting little voice in the back of my head, said I was jealous of Mar, and so I wanted her to be miserable. After all, she’d been Aedan’s first love, and though I knew he loved me more than anything, I still suspected he had feelings for her. Maybe if she got together with Boner, that would be enough to purge her from Aedan’s heart for good. Boner could always dump her if her nagging and whining got on his nerves. Then she’d be divine and dumped, and she’d have to gorge on cheesecake to get over him.

Sheesh. What was wrong with me? Maybe I’d been in Hell too long, or maybe there was something else in that horny water, but I was turning into a vindictive, jealous bitch. I wasn’t normally so evil, except during a certain time of the month, but Anak had taken care of that. I had to get out of this place before my inner-demon got the best of me. Before I turned into Katherine.

“Go rest, friends.” Anak made a shooing motion and then pointed at a narrow passageway in the back of the cavern. “Anak make beds.”

Okay, was he telling us to go rest, or was he encouraging us to go have sex? Something about the mischievous gleam in his eyes told me Anak was expecting us to get it on. Why was he so intent on everyone getting laid? Was he some kind of giant perv who planned on pulling up a chair and munching on popcorn in a front row seat while we acted out live XXX theater?

We were all kind of gawking at each other, and I could tell nobody wanted to make the first move. I mean, this was all so strange. Anak had made us beds? Yeah, really strange indeed.

Aedan laced his fingers through mine and pulled me aside. When I looked into his intent eyes, I couldn’t help but bite my lip as a wave of lust overcame me. His eyes dazzled, and the heat radiating off his body was so welcoming.

“Ash, can I talk to you in private?” he breathed against my cheek.

Well, hot damn. Seemed I was producing my own horny water. My lady parts started running like a leaky faucet, and every time Aedan brushed my palm with the pad of his thumb, more and more moisture gushed out of me. Anak was going to get a front row seat after all, because the effects from the water still hadn’t worn off. The bad thing was, I was starting not to worry who saw us. All I cared about was Aedan’s penis pounding inside me, banging on that little bundle of nerves until I screamed loud enough to blast out the receivers at the prayer call center. My wings hummed with energy as I wordlessly followed him down the narrow corridor and past a room that was small and dimly lit with a bed in the center that appeared to be a slab of stone. Aedan led me toward a room at the end of the tunnel. Good. Boner and Mar could have the stone bed. Hopefully, our room had more modern furnishings. If not, we’d have to make it work. Maybe Aedan could wish for a pillow and some satin sheets. Although I was willing to fuck Fred Flintstone style if need be.

Damn this water!

Aedan O’Connor

I could feel the lust radiating off Ash as I led her toward the farthest chamber. I suspected she was only interested in one thing at the moment, but that’s not why I wanted privacy. I had to explain myself, though I had no good excuse for my behavior. I’d not only let myself down back there, I’d let down everyone, especially Ash, the one woman I’d swore on my soul to protect.

The room appeared to be much like the first one, with a stone slab for a bed and a low candle flickering beside it. Since the star granted my wishes, I closed my hand over the emblem and asked for more comfortable furnishings, pleased when I opened my eyes to a four poster-bed with a soft comforter.

Ash squeezed my hand and gasped her delight, pulling me toward the bed. Yeah, only one thing on her mind. Despite the effects of the water, I still couldn’t understand why she’d want to sleep with me after I’d failed to act like a man.

I jerked out of her grip. “Ash, I wanted to apologize for my behavior back there.”

She fell to the mattress and began flinging off her clothes. “Don’t blame yourself. The water made all of us horny.”

I tried not to get distracted by her big, beautiful breasts as she threw her wet bra across the room. “That’s not what I’m talking about,” I said as shame forced me to look away. “I meant my behavior
in
the water.”

She heaved a sigh, slipping off the bed, her breasts heaving as she fluttered up to me. “That’s okay.” She smiled sweetly. “I know you’re hydrophobic.”

I fought the urge to take her pebbled nipple in my mouth, suckling until I made her scream. “That was no excuse.” Despite the fact I was distracted, very distracted, by her naked beauty, I couldn’t evade the overwhelming feeling of guilt that consumed me. I had been a Grim Reaper for over a hundred years, retrieving souls many times who were hostile and battling demons who’d tried to steal my soul to Hell. Never once had I lost my composure. But the one time my girlfriend needed me to be strong, I’d panicked, flailing around in the water like a frightened child. If it hadn’t been for Ash’s quick thinking, telling me to wish for a raft, I might have drowned. And then what? Would I have descended into another lake in level five? I’d told Ash I couldn’t swim, which was a lie. I’d swum in the Galveston bay many times as a youth. I’d even dove in once and rescued a young woman who’d fallen from the pier. Then came the night I’d drowned in a fierce hurricane trying to save Katherine’s life, and I’d woken up in Purgatory with a foolish fear of water, letting the memory of my death consume me for over a hundred years. I would not let that happen again.

“Do we have to talk about this now?” she pleaded. Sensing my need, she lifted my hand to her breast, forcing me to squeeze her pillowy softness until the nipple hardened beneath my palm.

My conscience warred with my desire, and it took all my willpower to release her. “Yes, we do. I should have done more to take care of you.”

She rubbed the apex of her desire against my thigh before cupping my balls in her hand. “We’re safe, aren’t we?” She batted her lashes while looking innocently up at me.

I tried to ignore the rings of lust pulsing through me as I hardened beneath her touch. “No thanks to me.”

“You don’t always have to be the one in control.” She bit her lower lip while stroking the length of my cock. “I can take care of us, too.”

And she proved that point perfectly with her seductive skills. My flesh hummed and throbbed with need, entranced by her touch as if placed under a spell.

“I don’t like putting you in that position,” I said, through a strained voice, realizing I’d been holding my breath. My conscience was starting to lose that battle with desire. Water be damned, I needed to feel myself inside her.

She leaned up, breathing against my mouth. “Aedan, I’m not Mar.”

No, she wasn’t, because if she had been Mar, I wouldn’t be able to wrap my arms around her waist, squeezing the globes of her ass and branding red fingerprints into her golden skin. I wouldn’t be able to bite my way down the smooth surface of her neck, suckling until I left bruise after bruise across her flesh. No, she was definitely not Mar, and if I decided to lay her across the bed, driving my cock into her dripping sex with fluid, hard thrusts, I’d remind her how very much she wasn’t an innocent angel but my naughty demon lover.

“I didn’t say you were,” I said as I bit down on her bare shoulder, and she went limp in my embrace. “I’ll be there for you next time, okay?”

She answered with a gasp and a groan, the tips of her feathers tickling my arms. I wasted no more time with explanations as I hauled her to bed and slipped off my toga. She spread her legs, spearing her weeping flesh with her finger while begging me to fill her.

I climbed across the length of her body, seating myself between her thighs. I lifted her dripping finger to my mouth, suckling the sweet taste of her essence as I slid into her with one thrust. Hot damn; as her tightness enveloped me, squeezing my thrumming flesh and coating me with her juices, I nearly came undone. A few quick pumps, and I knew I’d be spent, so I had to ease back and make it last. I slowly slid out, but Ash had other plans, trapping me with her feet and whimpering.

“Please,” she begged. “I’m so close. I need you.”

Who was I to argue? I captured her mouth in one heat-searing, passionate kiss as I slid all the way inside, driving my head against her swollen bundle of nerves, so pillowy and wet, I knew she’d explode at any moment. Good thing, too, because as my balls tightened with need, I knew my release was imminent.

The pleasure was exquisite, my wings pulsating with each thrust, as I seated myself deep inside her. I buried my face in her shoulder as she wrapped her legs tightly around me.

Almost there. So very close.

I pumped into her faster, jarring her swollen center as the pleasure that consumed me bordered on pain.

She dug her nails into my back, tensing beneath me. “Hang on. I’m going to come...”

I pumped harder, faster, amazed our climaxes had crested for so long. Any moment, and we’d both reach that pinnacle, tumbling over the edge of bliss.

Her nails broke my skin as she screamed. “Wait! Almost. Any second….”

My heart was racing as I breathed hard against her cheek, my wings buzzing so fast, they bounced us along the bed. I thrust and thrust for what felt like an eternity until I feared we’d both be battered and bruised by the time we climaxed. She’d gone from plastering my chin and mouth with kisses to biting my sore flesh like a rabid demon.

“Just, just, oh, yes!” she screamed. “Wait. Shit!”

I was on the verge of fucking my cock raw, and yet I still couldn’t climax.

“What’s happening?” She punched the bed before she turned her aggression on me, smacking me hard in the chest.

I rolled off her, the pleasure in my throbbing dick having turned into an unbearable ache. “We can’t orgasm.”

Her wings angrily hummed as she climbed on top of me, the panic in her eyes making her look like a caged animal. “Why?”

I draped an arm across my forehead, cursing my aching cock and unfulfilled desire. “Why? The answer is simple. We’re in Hell.”

Callum O’Connor

Though I was fully cognizant of my surroundings, I was unable to mutter a sound; the poison which initially scorched my veins had numbed my extremities, freezing my body like a statue. The stuff coating my mouth and nose made it hard to breathe. Every inch of me, save my eyes, was covered in the goo. The giant spider dragged me through winding tunnels like an old carpet. I had no idea where she was taking me, but I suspected the outcome wouldn’t be pleasant.