Lover Enraptured: Thieves of Aurion, Book 2 (29 page)

Avi cuddled into him, her hand resting on his shoulder. The need to protect her, hold her safe and dear, expanded inside his chest until he swore the pressure would burst through his sternum. When she nibbled his earlobe, a whole different pressure built.

She rimmed the shell of his ear. “Do you know what I’m dying to do right now?”

“Fellatio?”

She chuckled. “We just came our brains out. Surely it’s too soon for you to even think about doing it again.”

“Wrong. I’m most definitely thinking about it.” He splayed his palm on her breast, his thumb a coaxing brushstroke on her nipple.

Her breath snaked from her lungs. “I wasn’t considering a blow job.”

“No?” He ducked and kissed her nipple.

She shook her head. “What I have in mind is hot, wet and feels
soooo
good.”

“Sounds like a blow job to me.”

She pinched him. “I was talking about taking a shower together.”

He nodded enthusiastically. “A blow job in the shower. Distinctly what I said.”

“You’re an impossible fairy.”

Yes, but one who was about to get fellatio in the shower. Sending a silent memo to his cock to hold on to that thought, he kissed her forehead and began to roll her into his arms. He paused when he spied the corner of a tattoo near her tailbone.

“Holy hell. You have an ass tat.”

She stiffened and attempted to flop onto her back.

“No way, baby. I gotta check this out.” Avi with ink? Talk about fucking hot.

“I need to explain something before I show you the tattoo.”

Like
that
didn’t make him more determined to see it. “Okay, sure.”

She started to relax. Seizing his opportunity, he grinned and flipped her over.

“Jer!”

Chuckling, he dropped his gaze, prepared to witness something scandalous or embarrassing. Instead, he got an eyeful of her gorgeous ass.

And his tribe symbol.

Blinking, he traced his fingers over the intricate design that was a perfect duplicate to his own. She went deathly still beneath him.

“When did you do this?” No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t mask the thick emotion in his tone.

“Five years ago. The night before I offered you my virginity.”

The pressure built behind his sternum. He opened his mouth, but words refused to budge loose. Fingers stroking her skin, he leaned down and placed a tender kiss in the center of the design. The tension dissolved from her.

Straightening, he carried her into the bathroom. After setting her on her feet, he dialed the jets in the enormous glass-block cubicle, quickly filling the enclosed space with steam.

She slid her arms around him from behind and rubbed her cheek along his spine. The gesture was in no way meant to be erotic, but hell, all she had to do was breathe and he got an instant hard-on. She nipped his shoulder blade. “We should probably go over the plans for tonight.”

Yeah, they should. Right after he made her come another dozen times this morning.

Pivoting, he pressed her into the glass, his mouth capturing hers. His tongue delved deep, mimicking what he longed to do with his cock. He traced the lush flare of her hips, worshipping the flamboyant femininity of her before he hiked her higher on the slick block tiles. Positioning himself, he let her glide down onto his rigid shaft, her pussy enveloping him in velvet heat. Shuddering, he buried his face in her neck.

She chuckled. “What happened to the blow job?”

“This scenario sounded better.” That fact was driven home when she squeezed her inner muscles around him. Groaning, he pumped his hips. “Do that again.”

She did. Over and over until he thought he’d lose his mind courtesy of the wet heaven rippling around him.

“I can’t get enough of you.” He was inside her, but not deep enough. He wanted to crawl beneath her skin, burrow into her heat. Her heart and soul. Until she permanently banished all of the filthy darkness from his.

Tunneling his hands in her hair, he ravaged her mouth. Hammered her with his cock. The sting of her nails digging into his back encouraged him to take her pleasure to the limits. Sinking his teeth into the tender spot beneath her ear, he sent her over the edge, his own white-hot release barreling close behind. She convulsed around him, gasping his name. With a final slam of his hips, he emptied himself inside her, his bones liquefying.

It wasn’t until he pulled out that he realized he hadn’t woven the necessary protection in place. “Bloody
fuck
.”

“What is it?”

Feeling like the worst kind of bastard, he met Avi’s concerned gaze. “I forgot the condom.”

She blinked. “Oh. Well…” Her dusky lashes lowering, she gnawed her kiss-swollen bottom lip. “I mean, I’m okay with it if you are.”

“Avi, I might have gotten you pregnant.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I know how it works. My mother did explain the birds and the bees to me.”

Shit. She would have to bring up her mother at a time like this.

She patted his cheek. “Relax. I know for a fact that I’m not ovulating. Chances of me getting pregnant are pretty slim.”

A strange twinge of disappointment lanced him. He shook it off with a stern reminder to himself not to be any bigger of a selfish bastard than he already was. “Good. At least we don’t have that to worry about.”

Because gods knew they already had a shitload of worries on their plate.

If not for the nerve-wracking magnitude of the job ahead of them, Avily could have easily counted the day as the most blissful in history. Did it get any better than spending all morning wrapped in Jerrick’s arms, the subject of his deliciously decadent lovemaking? Not freakin’ likely. Too bad they couldn’t lounge in bed for the rest of eternity. Sighing in wistful regret, she let him hug her to his side and lead the way to the hotel elevator.

Moments later, they reached the main promenade. A delivery boy from the Glasstisserie rushed past them, wheeling a cart of savory-scented trays of food. An image of Thane’s bemused face the night before flashed through her head, and she let loose a groan. “Oh gods.
Thane
. I have no idea how I’m going to explain my ditching him, much less make it up to him.”

A warning growl broke from Jerrick. “There will be no
making up
where he’s concerned.”

“Oh for Pete’s sake, would you get your mind out of the gutter? That isn’t how I meant it at all.”

“Not on your end, but that sneaky son of a bitch would love nothing more than to get in your pants.”

Not about to trigger him into another round of territorial relationship rules, she decided to let the subject drop and instead focused on the task ahead of them. “I still have some concerns about the heist.”

Jerrick’s expression hinted that he’d seen through her distraction maneuver, but amazingly he didn’t call her on it. “Now’s the time to go over them.”

“Well, assuming not all of Casper’s files are hard-wired, what are we going to use to transport them from the club? Because I’m thinking we’d look damn suspicious strolling out of there with a bunch of compu-tronics and file folders.”

“During our tour, I noticed a dolly outside the kitchen. That’ll be your station. Second you hear that alarm and everyone’s evacuated, haul yourself up to the penthouse. Hopefully by that time I’ll already have the lab cleared and ready to go.”

His fingers stroked her nape as they began walking in the direction of her apartment. He’d been touching her a lot in the last sixteen hours. Recalling in vivid detail the sexiness in some of those touches, she shivered. She held no doubt that he desired her. And they’d already gone over the whole growly and possessive part of the equation. But she still had no sense of whether his feelings for her extended beyond lust and responsibility.

Her heart heavy, she pushed her uncertainty aside. Now wasn’t the time to brood over their future. Not when she wasn’t certain what the immediate here and now held. “What’s our exit plan?”

“There’s a side door on the lower west wing that leads directly into the alley. Odds are no one will be evacuating through there, which means it’s our best shot.”

“Okay, I like that strategy.”

He gave her a familiar look she’d seen countless times in the past. Although it’d been at least five years since she’d last been graced with it, it still managed to flare an ember of dread since she knew all too well the speech soon forthcoming.

“Avi, if anything goes wrong, you
have
to get the hell out of there and hunker down somewhere safe. Don’t make any stupid moves if we get separated.”

“It’s never happened.”

“Just because it hasn’t yet doesn’t mean it can’t. I need to know you’ll take care of yourself first and foremost.”

“Would you do the same?”

He averted his gaze, all the answer she required.

“It’s hypocritical to expect me not to be concerned for you when all
you
do is watch me like a hawk.”

“It’s my job to protect you. Now more than ever.”

She squinted at him. “Because you slept with me?”

“No, damn it. Because I tied you to me. You damn well know the ramifications that come with that.”

“Hot sex every night and morning?” she suggested in jest
and
valid hope.

He grunted. “That’s the consolation prize for the other bullshit that isn’t so pretty.”

“Like what?”

His gaze flicked to her, the dark solemness in its depths unmistakable. “My existence is steeped in a criminal stew. You were there. You know the nastiness that I can’t merely wash off at the end of the workday. It was never my intention to bring you back into it, but I’ve been doing a piss-poor job of it, haven’t I?”

“I don’t care about that.”

“You should. You’ve built a respectable life for yourself, and I’m a stain on that.”

She whirled on Jerrick, surprising him and the crush of people walking from behind. “Don’t you
dare
speak of yourself that way to me. I won’t have it.”

Taking her by the arm, he steered her to a nearby shop window, safely maneuvering them out of the line of traffic. “I might not be honest about everything in my life, but I am this. I make no bones about what I am. What I do. But I’m not a fool to think it’s acceptable in the eyes of society. Your own family condemns you for being associated with me. You think that doesn’t affect me?”

Her thoughts immediately veered to the ugly scenes he’d been a party to with Leena. “I’ve already told you that it’s no consequence to me what my sister thinks. Furthermore, she stopped by my shop yesterday and made it all too clear that her grudge against you has nothing to do with your career and
everything
to do with your DNA.”

He scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “Bloody fantastic. Another human who despises me for my genes.”

“See? Your job isn’t the issue.”

He offered her a droll look. “No, instead it’s my heritage. Infinitely easier for me to overcome.”

“Why do you have to be so bullheaded about this?”

“Not stubborn. Pragmatic. I won’t wear blinders in this situation.”

She gripped his hand, the depth of her feelings conveyed in the circulation-stealing clench of her fingers. “I’m not being blind either. I know full well the obstacles we face. But I’m willing to endure every single one of them because I love you.”

A fraction of the tension ebbed from him, but the indefinable dark emotion in his eyes didn’t abate. He hugged her to him, his lips a gentle stroke upon her forehead. She slipped her free hand beneath his jacket and covered his heart. Hers squeezed, well aware that the responding words of his devotion failed to fall from his tongue.

“We’ll speak more of this later, Avi. No force will tear me from you, but I need to be smart about this and insure your safety.”

For her wellbeing, maybe. But he could do nothing to protect her heart.

She couldn’t even manage that.

Chapter Twenty-Five

There were a thousand and one ways this job could go to hell in a rocket-powered handcart. Studiously shoving aside those nauseously numerous possibilities, Jerrick secured his chest harness in place. If all went well, it’d be the last time he’d have to wear the contraption.

He fingered the leather strap consideringly. Unless Avi wanted him to wear it on occasion. She seemed to enjoy the look of it. And if he were being completely truthful with himself, the notion of strapping her to him while he fucked her against a wall held massive appeal.

As always, the thought of her stirred a chemical reaction in his blood, raising not just his cock, but the briskness of his heart rate. His emotions were in a constant upheaval where she was concerned. He knew she waited to hear the words from him. Why was it so damn impossible for them to slip past his lips? It wasn’t that he didn’t love her. Gods, did he ever. With an intensity that threatened to crush him.

And there lay the crux of the matter.

He’d denied the dream of her for so long, giving voice to it terrified him. To speak the truth in his heart courted the all-too-real risk of it being ripped away from him. He’d given his devotion to Leena, pledged his undying love, and look at what happened there. His long-ago affection for Leena was a pale shadow of his love for Avi. If the goddesses wished to annihilate his soul once and for all, they had only to take her from him.