Gnomes of Suburbia (11 page)

"Of course I am sure.” He looked indignant and delectable at the same time. “Would you like me to remove it?” He crossed his legs at the ankle as he leaned against her ready-to-explode station wagon.

"Yes, please.” It never hurt to be polite. She made the most of her manners. “That would be most kind of you. Thank you."

All of her blood was pounding through her head as she watched him gesture and mutter. With her eyes open, she triggered her second sight and watched his magic ebb and flow. The colors were wild, blue, brown and a shimmering black. A lovely display of phantom colors as the explosive device was levitated out from under her car to hover in front of it. The instant that it hit the daylight, it began to explode. Xander couldn't contain it.

The bomb was small but deadly as a dome of power encapsulated it. The only problem for her was that it wasn't Xander's power that had wrapped around it. It was hers. A bright sphere of blue, purple and gold. Iridescent and beautiful, they swirled around the explosion and held it in physical and temporal stasis.

Her day was looking up.

[Back to Table of Contents]

"Are you doing that? Holding the explosion?” Xander looked exhausted and relieved. He was lying on the grass where the first shockwave had knocked him when the bomb began its explosion. The multi-coloured bubble was still hovering in mid-air, pulsing gently as it froze the bomb in time and space. The time thing was surprising. Abby didn't even know that it was possible, but there it was, frozen at the moment of explosion, still blowing apart, but wrapped with energy. Freaky.

"I guess I am.” She slowly lowered the bubble to the ground and then blinked in astonishment as her gnomes charged forward with high cries and grabbed the sphere. In a stampede of tiny feet, they moved around the house to the backyard, leaving the humans gaping after them in bemusement. “What do you think they are going to do with it?"

He got to his feet with a groan. “I have no idea, but if they take it far away, I am happy to have it gone. How long do you think you can hold that power bubble?"

"The power is now out of me. I can hold it forever as long as no one drains it.” She took the hand he extended as he climbed the steps.

As he pulled her to her feet, their bodies collided and magic flared.

The colors of their magic clashed in an explosion of fire and light, Abby abandoned herself to it and let her power flow. She backed up, dragging Xander with her, and manoeuvred him into her house, all without breaking the lip lock that had them plastered against each other from chests to toes. Abby regretfully broke the kiss to murmur, “The door.” Then returned to the heaven of his lips parting hers so that their breath mingled and power collided.

Another thought distracted her and she pulled away again, “Maybe we should put a chair up against it? The gnomes are nosey.” This time his right hand came up to hold her mouth to his as his left hand controlled some of the power and slammed the door. The screech of a chair being dragged across the floor had her smiling against his lips while he took care of his next goal.

That goal appeared to be to divest her of her t-shirt and bra. He went after it like she was hiding the Caramilk secret between her breasts. How he got her shirt off without breaking his contact with her skin would remain one of her great mysteries, but as he trailed his mouth down her neck and she let her head drop back to allow him full access to her flesh, she was happy for a few things to remain unexplained.

Her bra stymied him. For about ninety seconds. Then the hooks released with a click and she had the inkling that he cheated. Power drizzled down her spine and her nipples hardened as he slid her bra down off her arms and onto the floor. Her skin prickled in delight as he trailed his fingers over her breasts and across her ribs.

This was wonderful and his attention to detail was truly commendable, but she wanted him inside her. Now. Her fingers tackled his belt buckle and he returned the favour by unsnapping and unzipping her jeans. He had more success than she did and he pushed his fingers into the opening, scooting the denim off her hips as his fingers searched out and found her center. A few short and rapid strokes and the end was upon her. She came in a rush of moisture and power. Her knees gave way and Xander finally got her attention. He groaned with desire and she drowsily looked up to face the lust in his eyes.

It was his turn.

Magic stripped them both in a second and then he was bearing her back to the couch. She fell back with her thighs parted and waited breathlessly as he rocked against her, the heat and moisture from his flesh searing hers. Through the mist of hormones and swirling energy, she had a thought, “Whoa! Condom, Xander."

A darker flush mantled his already tight skin and his jeans hit him in the side of the face as he summoned them. The ubiquitous condom in the wallet was produced and he rolled it on with economical movements. Dressed for battle, he retook the field.

Her body was waiting for him and, as he moved back between her thighs, she hooked an ankle around the small of his back. “Xander, I want you now.” It was all the encouragement that he needed. A sharp thrust brought him into her halfway and she gasped in surprise at the feel of it. Okay, she was a bit out of practice.

"Are you all right?” He was frozen above her, half in, half out, his arms trembling with the urge to finish what he started.

"I am just out of practice, is all. Continue.” She tried to encourage him with her hips, but he was having none of it.

"I think we need to switch this around a bit.” He backed away from her and took her hand, pulling her upright. He walked over to the wingback chair along one wall and took his seat. He smiled and patted his thighs. “As fast or as slow as you want it."

His erection drew her like a lodestone. Moving deliberately, she climbed up and moved to position him at her entrance. As if in a dream, she lowered herself inch by inch until his breath was heaving in his chest and she was trembling with the urge to impale herself completely.

The decision was soon taken from her. After two whole minutes of her rising and falling at her leisure, he gripped her hips and surged into her, pounding upward in a beat as old as time. She hung on to the rock hard curves of his shoulders for balance as he thrust deeply over and over. Abby began to shake, an orgasm the likes of which she had never felt before building within her.

And then he stopped. The bastard stopped.

Abby glared at him, she hoped that one tenth of the fury she felt was in her eyes.

He merely laughed at her and said, “Hang on."

He rose to his feet, wearing her. He held her hips to his as he crossed the room and laid her on her coffee table. She was draped across it like an offering and he was in the mood to worship. He draped her legs over his shoulders and drove into her one last time. This time he hammered into her with the express purpose of achieving an orgasm for herself and for him.

His fingers brushed the nub of sensation between them as he rocked and thrust into her. With all the previous stimulation, it didn't take her long before she was panting on the edge of release once again. As she gasped and shuddered with each impact, she noted the flaring lights in the room.

Something was going to blow, and with relief, it was finally her. No scream, no gasp and no howl made it through her throat, but the magic that blasted loose, shook the very foundations of her house. Xander's eyes widened as he was dragged along in her magical wake and his own orgasm shook him in its grip.

So much for first dates and self-control.

[Back to Table of Contents]

Waking from a post-coital snuggle to find an audience of gnomes facing you would have disturbed a lesser being, but having gotten what she was after, Abby was made of sterner stuff. Barely.

Xander, on the other hand, jerked in surprise and threw the afghan from the back of the sofa over their bodies. “When did they get here?"

"I have no idea. But they seemed to have missed the big show.” She tucked the blanket under her arms and levered herself upward.

"How can you tell?"

"They look neither shocked nor impressed.” She turned to give him a quick peck and it turned into a considerably longer one. Until a small and curious hand started to grope her ass, that is. “Knock it off, Harby."

Sitting up, while ignoring Xander's newest arousal was a hard thing to do, no pun intended. “Guys. Shoo! Go do some dishes or reorganize the lawn. Sort the grass or something."

"Do they actually do what you tell them to?” He caressed her hips and drew her against him as her tiny army filed out of the room. Mitsy and Ruffles dragged Harby between them.

"Not usually, no. They just do what they want.” She looked around on the floor and located her shirt and jeans. His hands were warm and the ridge of flesh that was pressing against her tailbone was hot. She was saved from another marathon session by the unmistakable ring of a cell phone emanating from the heap of denim that had landed by the fireplace. “Uh, Xander. Your phone is ringing."

"They can wait."

He burrowed his lips into the hollow of her throat and she marvelled that he could almost wrap completely around her and reach every portion of her body at will. She let out a deep sigh and relaxed against him, loving the rise and fall of his chest under hers. It was only when a second round of breathing occurred that she had a sneaking suspicion that her magic had found some outlets.

She held her breath and waited. A sudden heaving of the couch beneath them had her cursing and leaping to her feet. “Xander. The couch is alive."

He lay flat, watching her nude body moving around the room, gathering her clothing right up until the moment when a velour tongue lapped at him from behind. At which point, he literally flew off the couch and landed across the room. “What the hell?"

Her panties and bra were missing, but her jeans went on without too much trouble. The rough denim chafed at the inside of her thighs slightly, but she did them up with a sharp inhalation and the relief that she was no longer vulnerable. Her t-shirt made the obvious protrusions of her nipples stand out, but until she could get fully dressed, it was better than nothing. The odd vulnerability that followed sex apparently did not get easier with age.

"Abby, why is the couch breathing?” He was back in his denim and looking at the rest of the furniture with trepidation.

"All that magic I was generating had to go somewhere.” She wasn't completely honest. It had felt good to simply let go and let the energy flow. If she could claim ignorance on this one, she was going to. “You were no slouch, yourself."

"Can you still recall it?"

"Sure.” She took deep breath and sought out all the energy with her signature in the area. The gnomes were in the backyard so they were safe as she drew the power back into her. It was quite a bit of stuff to contain, and it was only when she had it all in her that she realized that she had not thought of where she was going to put it.

Uh-oh.

With a sense of desperation, she walked past Xander and knelt directly before her fireplace. She laid her hands on the stones and started to dump power into them. It took a while. The stone resisted her energy when she started, but soon was absorbing it wholeheartedly.

"I don't know if you should be doing that inside your home. It could have unforeseen consequences."

"As opposed to the foreseen kind? Puh-leese.” She was still giddy from their encounter and was not looking forward to coming down off the endorphin high. “My house, my magic, my business."

"Fair enough. But don't say that I didn't warn you."

"You are just crabby because the couch tasted your butt."

"That is not true, but it didn't help.” His eyes gleamed in amusement. “We need to discuss a more important matter than my butt."

"The mind boggles. And what exactly is that?"

"Whom do you think just tried to blow you up?"

If ever there was a sentence designed to stop all light-hearted conversation, that was it. With her charge dispersed, she returned to the couch and sat heavily while the enormity of the events, which preceded their coupling sank in.

"Who would want to blow me up? Even before I was a Nexus, I rarely went out and pissed people off.” Well, there had been a few parking incidences, but nothing recent.

He came over to comfort her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “I do hate to tell you this, but as a Nexus there will be people who will want to cease your existence. Others will want to control you and some will wish to use you until you are powerless."

Her head was in her hands now and she was in the pre-vomit position. “That is fantastic."

He rubbed her back to calm her. “There are also those like your neighbours on Oak Point Way who love the new magic that you are bringing to our world. We are here to defend and protect you. Even when you don't want us to."

She just wallowed in self-pity for a few moments. The hand on her back was nice, but she needed more. Squirming into the curve of his arm, she snuggled against him for the comfort that his heat brought her. It begged one thought out of her. “What happens to your power when we, uh ... Well, when your energy leaves your body?"

"I control it and bring it back to my body after the exertion is done."

Humph. She squinted at his arm under her hand and across her ribs and smirked. He had taken quite a bit of her power with him. The soft smile in her tone belied the seriousness of her next question. “How nervous do we need to be about the attempt to explode me?"

"I am calling a neighbourhood meeting at your house this evening to discuss it. You had best lay in some snacks and beverages.” A quick kiss on her nose and the shirtless warlock was on his way out of her house.

"Stay home and keep safe, Abby. We need you alive, and I want your body. Again.” A wink for goodbye and he was out the door.

Abby was alone.

Her gnomes were outside, probably with her missing underwear, and getting up to who knows what. She had just had some of the best and certainly the most athletic sex of her life and her partner had just swanned out of her house, none the wiser.