Cuff Master (2 page)

Drawing back a few steps, he kept her hand in his and guided
her away from the crowd and through a side door meant for the wedding party to
use.

“Where are we going?” Morgan demanded, stalling when they
were halfway to freedom.

“Outside to decorate Phalen’s SUV,” Ethan answered.

“Shouldn’t we get the rest of the wedding party?”

“They can dance the night away.” Ethan slowed down and their
steps evened up.

Letting go of her in order to whip off his tux jacket and
place it around her shoulders before they reached the exit, he didn’t expect
her to halt in her tracks when he tried to open the door.

“What’s the matter, sweetie?”

Her face froze for a moment, as if she was getting lost in
one of her trances, and he feared she was getting a migraine. He hated when she
got sick. It was the part of her psychic world he dreaded because he didn’t
want her to suffer even the slightest bit of pain.

“No, there’s so much activity in this castle and your jacket
is a rental. Usually, I can compartmentalize everything, same as reading
chapters in a book. Right now I feel those who’ve worn this coat before you. It
even smells like…apples. Can you touch the sleeve of this jacket or me?”

Frowning, he took her hand and her smile returned. “Does
this help?”

“Yes.” Morgan looked up at him. The gratitude in her eyes
made him feel as if he’d become her champion. “Thank you. Let’s get the
decorating stuff.”

Since she benefitted from his touch, he figured he might as
well keep it up and tucked his arm around her waist as they walked out into the
chilly early fall evening.

A full moon lit up the parking lot as he led Morgan to his
Acura TL. Once there, he checked to make sure no one was around and brought her
up against his much bigger frame.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re beautiful, Morgan?”

“Ah, no, not really, and you’re being silly.” Playfully
tagging him on the shoulder, Morgan tried to shimmy out of reach, but he caught
the lapels of his jacket and kept her from escaping.

Ethan wasn’t having it. Tonight he’d decided to lay claim to
Morgan. Now was the time to act on it. “When I’m done kissing you, you’ll know
I’m not silly at all.”

Touching his free hand to her chin, he kept her still, or
she stayed still, he wasn’t sure. The next thing he knew, his head was lowering
closer and she’d lifted up on her toes.

“Always wanted to know what it would be to be kissed by
Ethan Maddox when I was awake,” she whispered a second before Ethan laid claim
to the sweetest, fullest, sexiest mouth he’d ever had the pleasure of kissing.

She tasted like an angel, with hints of mint and innocence.
Already half in love with her, the reality of having their mouths fused
together threatened to make him fall completely.

Wanting to deepen the kiss, he swiped her lips with his
tongue, demanding entrance. Shyly, she complied, as if she wasn’t quite sure
what to do. It was both eye-opening and challenging to break through that timid
barrier with a swift dart of his tongue.

She made a sexy little mewl and that was all Ethan needed to
crush her completely up against him. Turning her about, he leaned into her
until her back was flush against his car. The move forced their mouths to
separate.

Checking to be sure she wasn’t alarmed by what they were
doing, he saw her enticing eyes and sexy smile and swooped down to kiss her
again.

“Ethan,” she whispered, the fluttering of her soft lips
against his as sexy as fuck.

“Morgan,” he said, countering her movements with some
bottom-lip sucking action. The sexy little minx arched back as much as the car
allowed, her legs separating as he fitted himself right up between her thighs.

“Feel that?” Intentionally brushing his hard cock right up
against her mound, he swore he could feel her heat and wetness.

“You’ve an erection…and a very big one at that. Is that what
you mean, Detective?”

“Thank you for noticing.” Yeah, he was bigger than the
average guy and proud of it. “I’ve been hard for you all damn night. What do
you say we take care of the Navigator and hightail it to somewhere private?”

Before giving her a chance to answer, he touched his mouth to
hers again. Instead of the welcome he’d anticipated, she clammed up tight,
refusing even the gentlest of French kisses.

“Let me go,” she insisted, pushing against him. “I’m not
going to be another notch on your belt.”

“Never said you would be,” he countered, stepping back a
fraction to give her some breathing room.

“Your question presumes one little kiss gives you liberties
to my body that I’ve not granted. Perhaps fucking the crazy psychic chick is
something your cop ego has in mind. It’s not going to happen, so back the fuck
off!”

“I’m a man, not just a cop. Sometimes we say stupid things
when we’re thinking with our dicks. I’m sorry. Believe it or not, I don’t think
you’re crazy and I wasn’t presuming anything. I just want to be alone with you
for the rest of the night.”

“Ha! Nice try.” Straightening up, she started to remove his
jacket from her shoulders. “You want to fuck me! Admit it, Detective.”

The way she growled the word “detective” did things to his
balls that bordered on erotic pain. Never one to ignore the temptation of a
little discomfort to get to the pleasure, his treacherous cock became
impossibly harder. A trail of pre-cum dampened his boxers.

“You want the truth? Yes, I want to fuck you. Whether that
happens tonight or a month from now, I will have you.”

“Confident much, Ethan?” she challenged.

“Where you’re concerned, I am. You want me too. I see it in
your eyes, felt it in the way you kissed me back. The jacket stays on, Morgan.
It’s chilly out here.” Taking hold of the lapels again, he buttoned it up so
that it might keep her from bolting back inside the building.

“You need it as much as I do. You’re shaking.”

Was he? If he was, he didn’t give a fuck. There was always
an eerie chill about Alex Grant and Ryan Hathaway’s castle. Some folks in the
North Shore area claimed the place was haunted because of the ancient stonework
that’d been brought to Danvers from Ireland.

He wasn’t sure about ghosts and didn’t want to think about
them tonight. What he cared about was easing Morgan’s mind. Yeah, he’d been
thinking with his dick a second ago and shouldn’t have rushed things.

“So you do care about me a little,” he said.

“I never said I didn’t,” she remarked, sneering a little.
Damn, if that wasn’t sexy, he’d eat his badge.

“Then how about giving me the benefit of the doubt? Come to
Phalen and Cassie’s house with me later…for nothing more than coffee and
conversation, if that’s what you want.”

“I shouldn’t. You’ll just end up disappointed.”

Keeping her still with one hand on the jacket and one beneath
her chin, he gently swept his thumb over her lips. Sweetly, she turned her face
into his palm and blew a gentle kiss at the center.

“Impossible, I’m enthralled with you. Haven’t you figured it
out yet?”

“The moment you learn that I’m as sexually experienced as a
virgin, you’re going to bolt.”

“Are you?”

“Am I what?”

“A virgin?”

“I’ve had sex. I can take it or leave it. Mostly, I’ve left
it. I just don’t feel comfortable enough with most men to even want to fuck.
Sorry.”

Fighting off his jealousy and the crazy way his cock leapt
to attention when Morgan said “fuck”, Ethan shook his head and swallowed to
calm down. “I’m confused, Morgan. What are you really trying to say?”

“I’ve only been with two guys. The senior class president in
high school and someone I’d dated when I moved to Salem. I foolishly thought he
was
the one
because I didn’t scare him off. That’s the extent of my sex
life.”

“Knowing you haven’t had many men in your life doesn’t
bother me. As a matter of fact, I like it. I’m a possessive sonofabitch, don’t
you know?”

“That’s the thing, I don’t know.”

Steadier now, she didn’t stop him from moving in close
enough to warm her up. Selfish bastard that he was, he couldn’t ignore the soft
swell of her breasts and hardness of her nipples brushing his chest.

“And that scares you?”

“You scare me. Except for when I was young and
inexperienced, I’m intuitively aware of when a guy wants me for me, not because
he thinks I’m into some really weird or kinky stuff or he just wants to fuck
the class witch.”

“Is that what happened with the class president?”

“Yes. It seems silly to think about it now. It was a long
time ago.”

“I’m sorry, honey. Please don’t judge me based on some other
asshole’s actions.”

“Don’t you see? I’m not right for you, Ethan. I know what
you are and what you want from me. I know what your brothers are. I know what
the three of you sell online and what lies beneath Phalen’s tattoo shop.”

“What do you think I want?”

“Sex, bondage, discipline, dungeons, submission, the whole
BDSM lifestyle,” she answered. “I don’t even like sex toys much. How can I get
into kink?”

“How about we figure out what’ll happen between us as it
happens? What you’ve known before was child’s play, Morgan. I don’t want to
scare you, but I do want to be your Dom.”

“Now I really am scared. I might be a little shy, but I’m
not weak.”

“I’ve never thought of you as weak. Stubborn, yes,
difficult, shy, beautiful, magical, sexy as hell, bingo, those are words I’d
use to describe you.”

“You really think I’m beautiful?” she asked softly, latching
on to the compliment. Even in the moonlight, he could see her glowing with
pleasure from his praise.

“Very much so and I think your shyness is a result of being
hurt one too many times by people you’ve let into your world who then betrayed
you. But you can trust me. I won’t let you down.”

“And you won’t turn me into a slave or try to change me?”

“I can’t change who or what you are and slavery isn’t my
kink. As much as I don’t understand this psychic ability you claim to have,
maybe you can explain it to me. Let me in so I don’t have doubts.”

“It’s not something I claim to have. My gift of psychometry
is part of me. I’d foolishly tried to deny it for a long time. I won’t do that
again. Not for you, not for anyone.”

“I won’t ask you to deny it.” He didn’t know if he was ready
to believe in psychic ability. But he did believe that the human mind was
capable of extraordinary things.

If Morgan believed in it, he had to give her a chance by
believing in her. That didn’t mean he’d abandoned his skepticism. Many times,
things in the supernatural world could be explained through rational discussion
and investigation.

He dealt in evidence, facts and clues, but weren’t there
times when he’d followed his gut and turned out to be right?

Before he’d gotten the call about his parents’ deaths, he’d
known they were gone. He’d sworn he’d heard his mother say goodbye through the
darkness of his room, waking him up to see 10:05 p.m. in red on his alarm
clock.

After learning his father’s time of death was estimated at
10:00 p.m. and his mom had died five minutes later, he’d figured it was purely
coincidence that he’d woken up when he did. But thinking about the accident
that took his parents wasn’t romantic and wasn’t fair to Morgan.

Lowering his head closer to her, he deliberately kept their
mouths separated just enough to make her want his kiss. “I’m housesitting for
Cassie and Phalen while they’re away, Morgan. Come over tonight and help me
take care of Samson and Delilah.”

“You just want me to scoop the litter pan,” she murmured.

“Nope, I want to kiss you as many times as I can.”

“I should go home. I need to wash this gunk out of my hair
tonight.”

“The house has three working showers and a big bathtub. I’m
sure we can find a way to wash your hair.”

“Not we, Detective. I’m not ready for you.”

“I think you are. You may not be able to read me, but you
know what kind of relationship I want with you.”

“Maybe we should just call it a night. No more kissing, no
more temptation.”

“I’m a temptation, huh?”

Unaware that she’d nodded, she straightened enough to almost
touch her mouth to his. “Extremely tempting, it could be that you’re my anchor.
The one Grandma Everhart portended I’d meet and would need to keep me safe when
the storms come.”

“What storms, Morgan?”

She frowned and shook her head, causing her lips to brush
his lightly. “For her, storms portended evil. Predictions are not my forte,
knowing the histories of an object, listening to the souls who’ve yet to cross
over are my strengths.”

“We’re talking about ghosts now?”

“Yes, I talk to ghosts. I can’t turn off the voices or the
memories or the thoughts that haunt the past, except for when you touch me. I
fear that we’re on the cusp of something huge. If I mess it up, you’re going to
be the one who bolts, not me.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Morgan Everhart. I’m not afraid of
ghosts or your abilities. Let me be your hero and you’ll see there’s nothing to
fear from this.” Kissing her soundly, he swallowed her sighs and drew her
tongue into his mouth.

He’d yet to convince her to come to Salem with him later.
But there was plenty of time for that. He’d rather spend a few more minutes
kissing her while they were still alone. Judging from the sound of footfalls
coming in their general direction, Ethan knew their seclusion was about to be
invaded.

Then he heard his partner, Sam Riley. “Take that picture,
Taran Maddox, and I will shove that smartphone right up your dumb ass!”

“Careful, doll, I might like it if you turn the phone on
vibrate,” Taran remarked.

A host of laughter and an indignant gasp from Sam followed,
warning that the invasion was the whole wedding party.