Seduced by the Storm (15 page)

Summoning
her gift, she froze his muscles. Once he was fully immobilized, she reached to
unlock the cuffs around his ankles.

Just
as her fingers brushed the heavy iron, the manacles snapped open.
Instinctively, she increased the amount of power she was using to keep Wyatt
immobile and hoped to hell he didn’t find something in the cell to throw at
her. The drugs they’d given him had definitely worn off.

While
she watched, his wrist cuffs sprang open, and suddenly he was free and the only
thing that kept him from attacking her was the power of her mind.

He
tested it; she felt him trying to push against her invisible force. In the
corner, the cat-o’-nine whip rattled, and she wondered if she could knock him
out before he did the same to her.

"Easy,"
she murmured, releasing her hold on his head, so he felt at least a little less
restrained.

The
rattling stopped. "Who do you work for?" she asked, now that he’d
settled down.

His
gaze sharpened. "Free agent. Like you." He licked his dry lips.
"So if you’re a free agent, why are you working for Sean?"

This
was the question she’d been afraid of. So many answers, only one true, the rest
only partly true, but any could get her killed.

She
settled on telling him the truth about Sean’s intentions. If Sean found out,
she could talk her way out of his wrath easily enough by saying that she was
trying to gain Wyatt’s trust.

"He
wants you to think I’m an enemy of Itor. That after he caught you, he learned I
was undercover as well. I’m supposed to be getting information from you,
pretending I’m getting it for myself. Not for him."

Rolling
his head forward, he stared at the ceiling, and she had no idea if he believed
her or not. "You’re fucking him."

It
wasn’t a question. He knew.

"We
do what we have to do." The memory of the near-sexfest in Sean’s office
burned like a drop of acid in her brain, turning her words caustic. "You
nearly fucked him yourself. I’d say you have no room to judge."

"I
wasn’t." The way he said it, flat and completely emotionless, set her off.
Why, she had no idea. Well, that wasn’t true. She’d wanted to hear…what? Anger
in his voice? Jealousy? She was an idiot. But that didn’t stop her from asking
the question that had plagued her since yesterday.

"You
used some sort of enchantment on me, didn’t you? Some power of seduction. To
get me to sleep with you."

He
smiled, still staring at the ceiling. "You wanted to sleep with me all on
your own."

"Bastard."
Abruptly, she became aware of her nudity, her vulnerability. Furious that she’d
bothered to help him, she stalked to her pile of clothes. "I must have
been one hell of a joke to you."

Keeping
her power on full strength to hold him down until she was out of the cell, she
dressed and called for the guards. She didn’t so much as glance at Wyatt when
the door opened.

"Faith."
Wyatt’s voice was soft as she stepped through the doorway. "You were never
a joke."

The
evening Creed and Annika returned from Greece, Creed had a meeting with some ACRO
agents, about prelim storm prep and possible locations for emergency shelters
at HQ.

Annika
was sent on a debriefing mission with Devlin, who was back at ACRO’s helm, and
for a second the thought made Creed clench his fists. He hated that, cursed
himself for allowing himself to think badly of Devlin. This thing that kept
cropping up between himself and Annika had nothing at all to do with Devlin’s
feelings, and rationally Creed knew that. But the way Annika ran to Dev anytime
something went wrong, anytime she needed advice…well, it cut straight through
his heart.

Still,
he knew she was also worried, more so now about what would happen now that Dev
was back in action. Her relationship with the head of ACRO hadn’t been a
problem for them for the past few months, because Dev had been busy battling
his own demons. Literally.

But
ever since yesterday when he’d stopped Annika from murdering the man who’d
killed her mother, she’d been weird to him. Oh, sure, she hid it well, hid it
behind the mind-blowing sex they always had, but Creed knew Annika’s
breakthrough—telling him that she cared—had taken more out of her than she was
willing to admit.

The
fact that he also had an opportunity to get rid of Kat—the spirit who’d been bonded
to him since he was born—was also freaking both of them out. If Kat left him,
she could take his powers of communicating with ghosts and spirits with her.
Creed would be giving up everything he’d known, all his protection, his
livelihood, for Annika. The way Kat protected him was by keeping women at bay,
letting Creed only have the most superficial relationships with them. Until
he’d finally broken through to Annika months earlier. Their road hadn’t been
easy—because of Annika’s gift, the electricity that coursed through her body,
Kat couldn’t force Annika away as she had other women. And so Kat made life
hell for him, wailed in his head for hours after he’d spent too much time with
Annika.

He
hadn’t mentioned that to Annika, although he suspected she knew Kat was tough
on him. And still, Kat was such an important part of him, important enough that
the decision wasn’t an easy one. Either way, he’d suffer.

His
right side was chilled and he rubbed his bare arms, thought about how Kat had
been unusually quiet lately. Helpful, even. And better yet, she’d actually
started leaving him and Annika alone. As if she was trying to show him that the
three of them could live in some sort of crazy ghost domestic peace.

He
walked out his front door and hopped on his Harley, letting the crisp air clear
his mind as he cut through the dirt roads that led to Annika’s house.

There
was too much confusion. Between Kat and the possible hurricane from hell, all
he wanted to do was find Ani and wrap his arms around her for a little while,
to have the mind-blowing sex they could always seem to lose themselves in. To
forget about all the obstacles that kept cropping up in front of them.

And
so he stopped the bike up the road from Annika’s house on base and walked it
the rest of the way in an attempt to surprise her. She was sitting on her
couch, watching an old episode of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
when he snuck
up on her. Or tried to anyway.

She
had him on his back on the floor within seconds. Her sheer physical strength
never ceased to amaze him. Or turn him on.

"Gotcha."
Her smile was smug as she held her elbow against his windpipe, her thighs
clenching around his shoulders.

"I
planned this," he grunted.

"Yeah,
sure—keep telling yourself that, ghost boy." She moved quickly, replacing a
sharp elbow with a cool palm—a loving concession, coming from Ani—while her
free hand roughly untucked his shirt from his pants and slipped beneath it to
find one of his nipple rings. She tugged lightly and he grunted again.

"You
like being my prisoner, don’t you?"

"Take
off your pants," he murmured, ignoring the truth of her question.

She
cocked her head as she absently tugged on his nipple ring a few more times.
"I’m supposed to be back at ACRO soon."

"Not
before you come at least three times."

"Is
that so?"

Or
three times in the space of ten minutes, if he knew Annika and the way she
responded to him. Not that he was any better—he hadn’t known men could have
multiple orgasms until he’d been with her.

She
made his eyes roll to the back of his head so often, he’d memorized the inside
of his eyelids. And he liked it.

"Pants,
Annika," he repeated, and she made a show of taking off her top first,
even though he knew she’d do exactly as he asked.

Outside
of the bedroom, not so much, but hell, one thing at a time. Rushing Annika
ahead of her internal timetable was a mistake he’d already made a few times, no
matter how carefully he’d promised himself he’d tread around her. His
protective male macho side came out full force in her presence.

Like
right now.

Her
breasts were perfect—high and firm, with dark pink nipples she kept threatening
to pierce. But no, he wouldn’t let her do that, no marring her body any more
than her job necessitated—and he already hated seeing the scars, mostly bullet
wounds, that she’d borne during her years with ACRO and before.

She
looked so hard on the outside, but really, Ani was soft and so fucking sweet.

"Sit.
On. My. Face."

"Now
who’s giving the orders," she murmured as she shifted so she could get out
of the rest of her clothing. Impatiently, he helped with yanking off her jeans,
and ripped the hot pink thong right off her body.

"Hey,
that was new," she protested.

"I’ll
buy you more. Anything you want. Just come here."

She
straddled his face and he grabbed her hips hard, pulled her down to him so he
could taste the fiery essence that was pure Annika—a combination of Red Hots
and chocolate-covered cherries—and he was lost with his tongue buried deep
inside of her.

She’d
leaned forward, her palms flat on the floor above his head, her back arched as
she pressed her pussy against his face, seeking relief. "God, Creed…your
tongue." She groaned as his piercing flicked her clit, her body shuddering
with the force of tiny electric shocks. He tightened his grip as she tried to
crawl forward to escape the torture he knew she loved, especially when he
suckled the tight bud, suctioning it in between his lips and tugging it until
she was literally screaming with pleasure.

She
came hard against his mouth, but he didn’t let her relax. No, he eased her away
and urged her onto all fours so he could plunge inside of her, let the piercing
cause both of them an immense shock of sensation as he buried it deep inside
her body.

Taking
her from behind was the way she liked it, had always told him she could feel
him more. Now his hand stayed on the flat of her belly as he drove into her.
"Remember this, Ani…remember that this is always how it’s going to
be."

"Yes!
Creed, don’t you dare stop now."

He
wanted to, wanted to draw this out, to tease her even longer, but the shock
waves her body naturally gave off when she was under tremendous pressure like
this were too much for him to handle. Every nerve ending tightened, his chest
was tight and his balls pulled up high, because he was ready.

"Come
now, Ani—come with me now," he murmured as they both reached the peak
together, as she twisted her neck so she could touch her mouth to his briefly
before the orgasms wracked their bodies.

DAMN,
BUT THE SEX had been good. And it wasn’t over. Annika and Creed had showered,
dressed, and then she’d pounced on him in the hallway when he wasn’t expecting
it. They both had work to do—she had an afternoon full of martial arts classes
to teach, and he had some research to do on post-hurricane hauntings—but she
wasn’t ready to go back to the real world yet. So she’d slammed him against the
wall and fell to her knees in front of him.

Impatiently,
she ripped open the fly of his leather pants, releasing his gorgeous cock,
which had already gone rock hard. She’d always liked giving him head, but the
piercing gave her a new toy to play with, new ways to make him shiver.

Gently,
she pulled his heavy sac forward so it bulged over the V of his open fly.
Creed’s breath hitched. She loved that.

Saliva
filled her mouth as she opened it over one of his balls. She sucked it between
her lips, used her tongue to lift, to jiggle the testicle with tender little
bounces. When she moved to the other one, she heard Creed’s head hit the wall.

"Oh,
yeah," he murmured. "That’s it."

Digging
her fingers into his thighs, she concentrated on his balls, sucking, licking,
stabbing her tongue between them to separate them even as she used her teeth to
create sensation on the rapidly tightening skin.

Creed’s
breathing grew more rapid and shallow, and he began to thrust, his patience
wearing thin. "Enough teasing." His voice was a low, rough demand
that made her shudder with feminine appreciation.

Using
only the tip of her tongue, she licked her way up his shaft, taking her sweet
time, inhaling his soapy clean scent and tasting his musky arousal. A bead of
cum seeped from his slit, and she sipped it greedily, sucked the broad head of
his cock like a straw. He groaned, but the best was yet to come.

Smiling
at her own pun, she nibbled her way down to the curved barbell decorating his
dick. She wet her lips and slipped one round end of the jewelry between them.
Creed stopped breathing, well aware of what she was going to do next.

She
hummed and charged herself with electricity. He shouted, an erotic roar as his
body jerked with pleasure. She closed one hand around the base of his cock and
squeezed, pressing firmly with her thumb to prevent him from spewing, and she
used the other hand to tug gently on his sac, keeping him from coming.