Wicked Whispers (33 page)

“Tirron was waiting outside after the concert. He brought eight of his friends, all fae. Things happened. Asima saved our butts. Tirron escaped. His friends didn’t. But the important thing is that Ivy put some clues together and came up with the theory that Tirron isn’t Seelie.”

Bain narrowed his eyes. “What clues?”

Ivy repeated what they’d discussed and then added, “Murmur said that you thought Tirron was Seelie. Are you sure?”

Bain remained silent for a moment. “Come to think of it, no one ever mentioned which court he belonged to.” He made a disgusted sound. “How could I be so stupid? I just assumed he was Seelie because the recommendation came from someone I respected. He knew how I felt about the Unseelie.”

“Did Tirron ever
say
he belonged to the Seelie Court?” Ivy stepped closer to him. “I understand faeries can’t lie.”

“He never came out and said it. He just allowed everyone to assume. Damn.” He yanked out his false fangs. “He played all of us.”

“In the morning, when everyone’s rested, we’ll have to work this out, because tomorrow night it’s game on.” Murmur glanced at Ivy, noting the strain in her eyes. They’d all had a rough couple of nights.

Bain nodded and started to leave.

“Bain.”

The other demon stopped and looked back at him. “Thanks.” Murmur still couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that Bain hadn’t claimed a life-debt for saving him. Maybe, just maybe, the mortal plane changed everyone eventually.

Bain’s eyes widened. He looked at Ivy.

So she must’ve known about it. Bain probably asked her to keep quiet. Murmur was okay with that.

Bain shrugged. “Just stay away from big holes from now on. I have other things to do besides hauling your sorry ass out of them.”

“Yeah, well, thanks anyway.” Okay, all this thanking business was embarrassing Murmur.

Finally, Bain smiled. “Hey, what’re friends for?” And he walked away.

“Does it bother you that I kept quiet about Bain being there?”

“No. It was a good promise. Those are the kind that should be kept.” He knew his smile was probably a little goofy. “Bain is really my friend.” The tune buzzing in his brain was a little too fizzy, a little too happy.

She looked puzzled. “Of course he is. Why wouldn’t he be?”

He shook his head. “You don’t understand. In the Underworld, demons don’t have friends. They form alliances. They do nothing without getting something in return. Bain and I have worked together before. He always wanted a favor in return for helping me. This time he doesn’t.” She had no idea how huge that was.

Her expression softened, and he didn’t think he imagined the tenderness there. He looked away, unsure whether to feel embarrassed that he’d allowed his emotions to get away from him or to simply soak up what she offered.

“Everyone can change.” She touched his chest with the tips of her fingers.

The pressure might be light, but it seared him just the same. “Even you?”

“Especially me. Before you, the word ‘demon’ only pulled up one response.” She flattened her palm over his heart.

“Evil.”

She nodded.

“And now?” He tried to look casual, unaffected.

Ivy laughed. “Shades of gray. Too many to count.”

He could live with that.

Silently, they headed for Ivy’s room. Once there, she flopped onto a chair, and he ordered them something from room service.

While they ate, he filled the quiet with small talk, carefully steering clear of discussing what might happen tomorrow night. He wanted tonight to be as worry free for her as possible.

Because, no matter what happened with the faeries, if his mortal body still lived after they left, he had to return to the Underworld. He’d gotten what he needed from Holgarth, and he already had Klepoth’s agreement. Now everything hinged on whether or not he could convince Naamah.

But all that was in the future. Tonight was for them. She watched him as he pushed his plate aside, rose, and walked over to her bed. He pulled down the covers and then glanced at her. “I checked my music at the door tonight.”

Her eyes widened. “Aren’t you supposed to wait an hour after eating before exercising?”

He smiled. “I’ve always believed you should work off a meal.”

Ivy didn’t hesitate. She got up, grabbed her nightgown from the closet, and headed for the bathroom. “I’ll take a shower while you create sexy rhythms in your head.” She grinned. “Oops. I forgot. No music tonight.”

Murmur kicked off his shoes and lay on top of the covers. While he listened to the sound of the water running, he called up a few of his own illusions that would’ve done Klepoth proud.

He wanted to go in and join her. Feel the hot water flowing down his back. Watch the drops sliding over her body. Then he’d smooth his fingers across her gleaming skin and… Murmur took a deep breath. He hoped she didn’t spend much time in there.

About three years later, she came out of the bathroom. She brought with her the scent of whatever soap she’d used—something subtly sensual—and the moist heat of the shower. Her nightgown was silky and pink. It didn’t cling to her, but it had its own sexy ripple as she moved.

She climbed into bed beside him and pulled the sheet up to her chin. “You can have the shower now.”

Murmur didn’t say anything, just got out of bed and went into the bathroom. He closed the door softly behind him.

Ivy mulled over her choices. She could leave the nightgown on, but then one of them would have to remove it. Pleasure interruptus. She could take it off now and wait for him naked. Would he think she was too eager? She smiled. Oh, what the hell. She stripped off the nightgown and dropped it beside the bed. Ivy didn’t think there was such a thing as too eager when it came to how she felt about him.

She reached over to turn off her bedside light and noticed Whimsy. The plant looked a little droopy. “Feeling neglected, sweetie? Well, you get to do your thing tonight. I want only happy, sexy vibes floating around here.” Ivy glanced across the bed. The lamp on Murmur’s side was still lit. “The better to see you with,” she whispered.

Ivy tensed as he turned off the shower. She waited… He opened the door and stepped into the room.

He was nude. And he was so beautiful it brought tears to her eyes. As he walked across the room to her bed, shadow and light played across the hard planes of his chest and his ridged stomach and curled around his sex. The shadows gave added definition to his muscular thighs as he moved.

Once he reached his side of the bed, he turned for a moment to fling his clothes across a chair. She sucked in her breath. His back was strong and smooth and tapered down to his waist, which drew her eyes down, down, down to the most perfect butt cheeks she’d ever seen. Tight and male, and she couldn’t wait to—

He interrupted her thoughts of exactly what she’d do by grabbing the sheet and yanking it off her.

She gasped, but controlled her first instinct to cover herself. She met his gaze.

His eyes glowed red, and she understood what that meant now. He lay down and rolled onto his side. Then he slid his gaze the length of her body.

“You’re the most beautiful woman in or out of the mortal world to me.”

His voice was soft and laced with so much emotion and
truth
that she absolutely believed him. She swallowed her need to laugh nervously and deny she was anything close to what he believed. It was enough that
he
saw her as amazing.

She blinked away the sudden tears that had no part in her plans for the night. Before he could reach for her, she laid her hand flat against his chest and pushed. He rolled onto his back as she rose over him.

“I want to discover you tonight, touch all of you with nothing but silence between us.” She lowered her head and slid the tip of her tongue across his lower lip.

“I wouldn’t count on it being all that silent.” His quiet laughter was filled with anticipation,
hunger
.

He reached up to run his hands over her arms, trailing his fingers across her collarbone and down to the swell of her breasts. “Who are you, Ivy Lowe?”

She shuddered. “I’m not sure.” The path of his fingers left goose bumps behind. Ivy traced the shape of his face with one finger, and when she drew it across his mouth, he captured it with his lips. “I thought I was normal, ordinary, but I’m not. I’ll never be that person again.” She stared into his eyes as he swirled his tongue around the tip of her finger before nipping and releasing it. “I think we’re a lot alike.”

He raised one brow. “Let me guess. You’ve been on Google tracing your demonic ancestors. I never guessed.”

“Nothing like that. We both started out thinking we were one thing, but now we find out we’re something very different.” Did she have the courage to say it?
Say it, say it
. “We both have jagged edges, but our edges fit together.”

“Like a weird and wonderful jigsaw puzzle.” He buried his fingers in her hair and drew her down to him. Then he covered her mouth with his.

It was a long, drugging kiss filled with discovery. She loved the way his lips moved against hers—slowly, sensually. His taste had changed. Tonight it was sweet with a touch of tentative. Why? But his scent was the same—warm, male, and distinctively his.

Gasping, she broke their kiss. She was drowning in sensation, allowing herself to sink into the magic of him. “I want to touch every inch of you.” She heard his muffled laughter.

“Yes, well, measurements are changing rapidly. But have at it.” He kissed a path along the side of her jaw and then whispered in her ear. “When I first reached the mortal plane, I was no more than a ravenous beast programmed to destroy. But one thing I remember—the scent of the cool breeze that night. I’ve never forgotten.
You
are my new memory, the one I’ll never forget. You were the tipping point, and after you, I became something different.”

Ivy smoothed her fingers over his pecs, rolling his male nipple between her thumb and forefinger. He moaned his appreciation. She would tell him with her mouth, her fingers, her whole body what she couldn’t say now.

He’d taught her about shades of gray, and about being more than she thought she could be. Ivy circled his other nipple with her tongue and then drew it into her mouth. She flicked it with her tongue—teasing, tormenting—before nipping gently. His body shuddered beneath her.

“Let me—”

She placed her finger over his lips. “Shh. Allow
me
. You gave me all the pleasure the first time. I never got a chance to explore.”

He didn’t subside completely. While she licked a trail over his smoothly muscled chest and down over his stomach—she loved how his stomach clenched at the touch of her tongue—he rubbed circles on her back, each circle more urgent than the last.

When she came up for air, he speared her with a stare so hot, so erotic that she almost decided to cut her journey short, straddle him, and ride him into the sunset. Then she gathered her control, determined to finish her trip.

She bypassed her final destination for the moment to take a side trip along the inside of his muscled thigh. Ivy nibbled her way toward her goal, each taste of him tugging loose a strand of her control.

His breaths were coming in pained gasps. “You’re a cruel woman. I’ve know kinder demons. Are you sure you’re not… ?”

Laughter bubbled up and spilled over, relieving a little of her building tension. “No demons in my family tree, only faeries.” She had to ask now. “Do your claws come out when you’re… ?”

“Being sexually tortured by a heartless faery vixen? No, unsheathing my claws isn’t instinctual. And please stop talking. I’m running low on control here.” He emphasized how his control was teetering on the brink by spreading his legs and arching his back.

“Your music is, though, isn’t it?”

Murmur clenched his teeth. “Doesn’t matter. I gave the musicians the night off.”

He bucked as she finally arrived at trip’s end and celebrated by clasping his balls and squeezing gently. Thinking was growing tough, and speaking even tougher. Her heart pounded out a rhythm, and she realized that she missed the accompanying music.

She had no pity. Ivy licked a zigzag pattern up the side of his cock, then closed her lips over the head. Her magic tongue toyed with him—sucking, nipping, and licking until his guttural cry told her he was on the edge.

He wasn’t the only one. She’d slipped from civilized everything into primitive grunts. With a moan, she flattened herself on top of him and felt his heat seeping into every inch of her body. She wiggled around to feel
more
. If she could only sink through his flesh and curl up inside him, life would be perfect.

With a muffled curse, Murmur’s control snapped. He rolled with her until she was on the bottom, looking up at him. In a move too fast for her to follow, he was on his knees straddling her. He ran his hands over her body with fingers that shook, and when he leaned down to touch her nipple with his lips, she screamed. She freaking
screamed
.

She had only one working brain cell left. Ivy knew that because she’d counted. And since that one cell had to do the work of her entire brain because the rest of her brain was off partying somewhere south of her navel, it took a long time to think things through…
Instinct
. His music was instinctual. It was part of what he was. He was suppressing it now.

He lowered his head and touched her
there
with the tip of his tongue. She almost came off the bed as she whimpered her pleasure. She must’ve annoyed her lonely brain cell, because it was threatening to turn off the lights and head down to the party too.

Concentrate
. It. Was. Hard. He’d slid his hands under her bottom and was clasping her cheeks—squeezing, squeezing. She blinked and forced one more thought out of her overworked brain cell. His music was part of him, and she missed it.

Ivy opened her mouth and said the last intelligible words she’d utter for a while. “I miss your music. Bring it with us.”

And suddenly it was there—booming kettledrums, clashing cymbals, shrieking violins, and trumpeting horns. Yes!