Hurricane (Last Call #2) (5 page)

The naughty smile Ben
flashed her made Fiona’s chest tighten, and a flood of tenderness
washed through her.  He’d touched her with nothing but
gentleness and patience, bringing her pleasure and -- more
incredibly --
freedom
.

It was enough to infatuate a woman.

She pushed the thought from her mind and
braced her hands on his chest, enjoying the play of his hard, lean
muscles under skin.  His jaw tightened again as she aligned
her hips over his, and the look in his eyes almost made her
come again.  She moved slowly, lowering her body inch by inch,
gasping when his cock stretched her.

His hands grasped her hips, and he held her
poised a few inches above him as he rolled his hips up to fill
her.  A groan of pure masculine satisfaction rumbled out of
his chest as he did it again, retreating and then thrusting up,
this time yanking her down to meet his advance.

If she’d known
this
was what she was
missing, then the torment of her curse really would have killed
her.  Even the sweet pleasure he’d brought her before couldn’t
compare with the way he fit inside her, hard where she was
soft.

A shudder took Fiona, and she bit her lip,
afraid to make a sound for fear of breaking the sensual spell
they’d woven.  But when he drove into her a third time, his
name slipped out of her on a sharp cry.  She grasped his hands
and watched his face as she took over, clenching her inner muscles
around his cock with each movement.

“
Fuck!”  His fingers
tightened on her hips, but he didn’t try to guide her. He whispered
something she couldn’t quite understand, and those maddening
ghostly touches started up again.  Hot power teased down her
back and lower, tracing all the way to where they were
joined.  Then it split, one phantom finger sliding up to
circle her clit while the other drifted back and dipped into her
ass.

“
Jesus Christ.”  Her
head fell back.  The combination of sensations was intense,
almost overwhelming, but exactly what she wanted.  To be
taken,
filled
.  She ground down against him even harder and
moaned.  “Tell me --”

“
Tell you what?”  The
pressure intensified along with the heat, and he slid one hand up
her body to cup her breast as his gaze stayed fixed on her face.
“That I love watching your face while I fuck you
everywhere?”

“
Yes
.”  Need coiled inside her, and she leaned down to nip at
his lips.  “You have no idea how good this feels.”

“
I don’t?”  His voice
sounded hoarse and a little rough.  “You have no idea how
good
you
feel.  I’ve been desperate to be inside you since you
broke my damn elevator.”

His sensuous words,
his
need
, fueled
her impatience, twisted the knot inside her tighter.  She slid
her mouth over his, catching his surprised noise as she lifted
herself higher and slammed down on his cock.  Already, she
found herself rocketing toward the edge.  “Too fast,” she
whispered against his jaw.  “But I can’t -- I’m going to come
--”

“
Now.”  It was a
quiet, arrogant command, and his teeth caught her earlobe
as he thrust up against her with a rumbling groan. 
“
Now
.”

She drove both hands into his hair,
threading the long, sweat-dampened strands between her
fingers.  Her lips touched his again, and she pulled away to
watch him as the world spun away completely for the first time in
five years.  And the only thing that shattered was Fiona, in a
million tiny pieces tumbling after the ecstasy that splintered
through her.

And the best part was the way his fingers
clenched on her hips as he arched up one more time, hard and out of
control, and groaned in release.

Her heart pounded as she lowered her face to
his neck and rocked, slowly settling into stillness.  “Ben,”
she breathed, shaken.

“
Shh.”  His fingers
skated up her back until he cradled the back of her head, the
gesture gentle and oddly possessive.  His other hand splayed
across her lower back, and he held her there for several endless
moments while his harsh breathing steadied out.  “Rest,
Fiona.  You need rest.”

She rolled over onto the bed, her legs still
tangled with his, and said sleepily, “Just give me a minute. 
I’ll be fine.”

Warm fingers coaxed her tangled hair back
from her face, and she felt the soft brush of his lips against her
forehead.  “I’m sure you will be.  After you rest.”

“
Mmm.”  The bed was
deliciously warm under her, and she relaxed into it. “Good
night.”

“
Good night,
sweetheart.”  A blanket settled over her, wrapping her in
warmth and Ben’s scent.  “I’ll be right back.”

“
Mmm.”  Her limbs felt
heavy, and she smiled.  “Right back.”  Then she drifted
to sleep.

Ben didn’t bother to check the
elevator.  As soon as he had his jeans buttoned and a T-shirt
over his head, he closed his eyes and used magic to step from his
bedroom to the hallway that led to the dance floor. The first thing
he noticed was that the emergency lights were lit, tiny blue strips
along the base of the wall that made it easy to find his way to the
door out to the main bar.

The electricity was
gone.  Ben fought a rising surge of panic as his senses
registered the unnatural quiet.  The bar was
never
empty.
Supernaturals kept odd hours and it was well worth the money he
paid his staff to make sure Last Call and its more exotic services
were always available.

A whoop from the far side of the room drew
his attention, and a moment later the lights flickered on.  He
squinted against the sudden glare and started across the room to
the shapes he recognized vaguely as Bernie and Karl, his on-call
electrician.

Bernie looked up and waved him over. 
“Miss Hurricane did a number on this place.  Had to close up
shop and call Karl.”

“
Well, shit.  What
about the people already upstairs?  They’re on a different
power source, right?”

It was Karl who nodded.  “I wired the
individual magical generators to trip in case of an outage, mundane
or otherwise.”

“
Just not the main floor,”
Bernie interjected.  “And I am
not
hardcore enough to tend bar in
the dark.”

Karl laughed.  “The upstairs rooms
shouldn’t have been affected.  I’ll have to recharge the
generators, though.”

It could have been
worse.  He opened his mouth to say so, but the words died when
the front doors blew open hard enough to knock back against the
wall. His remaining wards screamed a warning in his head as a
familiar looking man stepped through.  Ten years had passed
since the last time Ben had seen Robert Carmichael, but judging by
a the graying hair and eyes bracketed by deep lines, time
had
not
been
kind.

Or the backlash of his
curse breaking.
  Ben took a fierce
satisfaction in
that
thought.  No matter how much Robert had suffered, it was
nothing compared to what Ben would do to him if the man wasn’t
smart enough to turn around and leave.

He stopped in the middle of the deserted
room, still littered with empty cups and bottles, and cocked one
eyebrow.  “Where is she?”

Fury gripped him.  “That’s none of your
concern.”

Robert moved closer and peered at Ben. 
“D’Cruze.  I should have known Fiona would make her way here
sooner or later.”  He shook his head.  “She’s always
known how to get what she wants.”

“
Really?”  He let his
disdain show as he raked his gaze down Robert’s body.  “Seems
to me like she wanted a little bit of satisfaction, and she
never
got that out of
you.”

“
Fiona’s desires were a
little more prosaic, I’m afraid.  She wanted a career, and I
gave her one.”  Robert shrugged.  “I suppose I lost my
charm after that.  But you’ll see that soon enough, Mr.
D’Cruze.  You vanquished the terrible curse and freed the
maiden, after all.”

“
I freed
this
one.”  His
magical reserves should have been exhausted after the efforts of
the evening, but anger made it easy to gather just enough
power…

He whispered the words before Robert
realized what he was doing.  Magic tingled through the air,
just enough power to make Carmichael think that some sort of magic
had been worked against him.

The older man jerked, and his jaw
hardened.  “What did you do, D’Cruze, and how sorry do I have
to make you for it?”

As if he had anything to fear from
Robert.  Ben offered him a lazy grin and nodded for Bernie,
who would be more than capable of tossing the man out into the
street.  “Just a little taste of your own medicine,
Robert.  If you’re as charming as you think you are, you’ll
never even notice.  But from now on, no matter how bad you
want it, you’re not getting off until your partner’s
satisfied.  Maybe that will give you a little inspiration to
learn how to please a woman.”

The man barely glanced at Bernie, just kept
staring at Ben with a mixture of disdain and pity.  “Have it
your way, D’Cruze.  Look me up when she’s finished with
you.  Drinks’ll be on me.”  He didn’t wait for the
muscled bartender to reach him.  He turned and stalked out,
the doors slamming shut behind him.

Bernie spun and fixed a hopeful look on
Ben.  “Please tell me his dick is going to fall off. 
You’d be doing the world a favor, because that is one bitter,
bitter man.”

“
What, that?” Ben
snorted.  “That was just a little flash and light to make
him
think
I’d
cursed him. Maybe he’ll put a little bit of effort into his bedroom
games until he figures it out. “

“
If
he figures it out,” Bernie muttered.

“
Exactly.” Benito nodded
toward the door. “Put a sign up that we’ll open again at sundown
tomorrow, and get some rest.  Oh, and Karl?”  He waited
until he had the electrician’s attention.  “I need you to look
at my private elevator.  It’s stuck somewhere between the
nineteenth and twentieth floors.”

Karl inclined his head.  “I’ll get a
crew out here within the hour.”

“
Good.  Tell them not
to come up to the penthouse.  I earned some sleep.” He grinned
at Bernie before turning to the door that led to the back
hallway.  “But if Robert shows back up here, feel free to beat
him within an inch of his life.  Just don’t actually kill
anyone on the property.”

The empath yelled after
him.  ”And who’s going to drive
me
to the hospital after I pound on
Mr. Grumpy’s face, Ben?  You and Miss Hurricane?”

“
Nope.  We’ll be
otherwise occupied.” 
I
hope.

Fiona tugged the pilfered T-shirt down a
little more and swore at the shards of porcelain in her
hands.  “Where the hell are the rest of you?”

Finding the rest of the vase would require a
thorough search of the room, so she set the pieces aside and picked
up a ripped painting.  “Oh, crap.  Not the
Soutine.”  She ran her fingers lightly over the rift in the
canvas and closed her eyes.  Biting her lip, she concentrated
until she felt magic run through her and into the canvas, mending
the fibers and smoothing the oil back into place.

The currents of magic in the room rippled,
her only warning before she heard Ben’s low voice a few feet behind
her.  “That’s amazing.”