Steam (21 page)

Crossing her arms over her chest, she stomped her foot in frustration. “I
am
trying, damn it.”

“Okay. Let’s try again,” Sloan said slowly.

Sunny shook out her hands and stared down at the charred grass. Her magic had massively increased in power since her confrontation with the Takahashi handler. She could barely manage a small ball of fire anymore, let alone raging flames. It was the reason why they had to move their training to the pasture half an hour away instead of the small field near the castle. She’d taken to setting the woods on fire and she was pretty sure a forest fire would attract some unwanted visitors.

“Sunny,” Sloan called again. “I know you’re trying to release some of the energy before you summon your fire, but you won’t have time to shake out your hands in a real battle.”

She rolled her eyes. Like she hadn’t figured that out when the Takahashi dude was hurling chunks of metal at her with his mind. “Okay. We’re trying to create steam.”

“Right,” Sloan said with a nod. “So you need to control the temperature of your fire so my rain evaporates midair. Try not to let things get too hot, or we’ll end up setting the field on fire. Again.”

Sunny appreciated Sloan’s use of the word
we
, she really did. She knew it was her fault the field kept going up in flames. She also knew Sloan was trying his best to make up for what he’d said immediately after her confrontation with the Takahashi handler. He’d been attentive and sweet ever since she’d come back from the hospital.

“Okay,” she said again, and re-focused her attention on the situation at hand. “Let’s do this.”

She waited until he’d called down the rain before summoning her fire. She let it dance in her palm until she felt she had some kind of hold on it and then concentrated on heating it until the rain hitting the ball of flames sizzled. The drops of water started to explode into steam. “It’s working,” she said, excited.

“It is,” Sloan responded. “Let’s increase the amount of rain.”

“Do it,” she said, emptying her mind and concentrating on her fire.

It promptly started to pour. Water streamed down her face, plastering her hair to her skin. Calmly, she manipulated the fire in her hands, slowly increasing the heat until they were completely engulfed in a cloud of steam. “We’re doing it,” she squealed. She felt like jumping up and down.

“Okay,” Sloan said, moving closer. “Now, I’m going to focus the water into one large stream. Because this is a much stronger manipulation of our magics, you’re going to have to let me help focus your fire. Kind of like how I let Anna move my water when we’re creating a storm.”

She nodded and tried to calm her racing heart. She relaxed as much as she could as Sloan narrowed the diameter of the stream of water until it fell in a single, colossal column. Directing the ball of fire under the water was the easy part.

Once the two magics merged, however, things got a little out of hand.

Something seemed to move in the back of her mind, as if there was another presence in her head. Instinctively, Sunny knew that presence was Sloan, and he would have complete access to everything in her. Her memories, emotions, fears and desires were no longer private. There was no way to hide those parts of her core and, far from being comforting, it terrified her. It made her vulnerable, defenseless, something she swore she’d never be after the last foster home and she panicked.

Her magic responded to her distress and roared to life. It felt like a living thing, like it was trying to protect her, and immediately surrounded her in a wall of flames. The grass around her began burning immediately and instead of creating steam, Sloan’s water merely extinguished the fire, resulting in another belch of black smoke.

She yanked back on her magic as hard as she could and managed to draw most of the flames back into her. Her body hummed with power and she jumped around for a few seconds, trying to re-absorb the magic.

Sloan stood next to her, breathing heavily. She could tell he was trying desperately not to blow up. “You have to stop fighting me,” he said lowly. “Something is blocking you from letting us move forward.”

“I know,” she cried in frustration. “But I have a hard time letting people in.”

Sloan let out a breath and clenched his fists. “Why? Why can’t you let me in?”

The truth came tumbling out before she could stop it. “After my parents died, I grew up in a series of foster homes. But the foster families always decided I was too much work to handle, and I always got transferred to another home. Or locked in the psych ward because they were convinced there was something behind my behavior.”

She took a breath as the feelings came flooding back. “Do you know what it’s like to have your stuff piled in garbage bags, like you’re trash, and dropped off at another strange place?”

She hadn’t even been aware of the tears rolling down her cheeks until one dripped on her hand. She wiped them away angrily, irritated because she’d let herself get this worked up over something from the past. And the soft look on Sloan’s face didn’t help. She didn’t want to be pitied, damn it. Sunny turned away and scrubbed at her face.

Sloan didn’t take the hint. He turned her around again and pulled her into his arms so her head rested on his chest. She tried to hold herself stiff, to not give into the comfort he offered, but the warmth of his hug chipped away at her resolve and she found herself reluctantly relaxing.

“Every time you got used to something, started caring for someone, it got taken away from you. Am I right?” he said, summing up her entire childhood with one simple sentence.

How could something that felt so complicated be put so simply into words? “No,” she said stubbornly.

Sloan pulled away slightly and bent down a little until she was forced to look him in the face. She didn’t look him in the eye though, instead staring at his chin. “Sunny, sweetie, you know we’ll never abandon you, right? You belong with us. You belong with me.”

She blinked and fought back another wave of useless tears. She knew Sloan really believed his words. She just couldn’t get over her fear of having someone she loved taken away from her again.

She didn’t want to think about it anymore. Sloan had gone out of his way to show her he loved her. If he left her, it wouldn’t be his choice.

And the thought of losing Sloan made her tremble.

She linked her arms around Sloan’s neck and pulled him close, needing to be close to him. She needed to feel his skin, needed to have him deep inside her. She
needed
to feel like she was one with him. “Let’s take a break,” she murmured.

Sloan’s eyes showed his hesitancy, his desire to keep prodding at her issues until they were resolved, but she caught his lower lip between her teeth and tugged it gently.

Groaning, Sloan picked her up and carried her to a soft, unblemished patch of grass. The ground was spongy at her back, comfortable. Perfect for what they were about to do.

She reached for him, needing him close. He kissed her, slow and sweet, like he had all the time in the world. Maybe they did have all the time in the world. His mouth coaxed hers gently as she gave in to his unspoken request without hesitation. She loosened her arms from around his neck and skimmed her hands down his back. His skin was hot, the heat radiating from under the thin cotton of his T-shirt. His muscles rippled under her touch, a shiver working its way through his body. "Sunny," he said with a sigh.

Their clothes seemed to disappear like magic. She looked up at Sloan, about to comment, when she noticed the little smirk playing at his lips. "Neat trick," she said. "You'll have to teach me some time."

"I just didn't want to stop kissing you."

Sunny shuddered when Sloan began planting warm, wet kisses down the side of her neck. "Please tell me you didn't magic away the condom."

Sloan raised his head slightly. "I'll never be caught without a condom again." He reached over her head and fumbled in the grass for a moment before pulling his arm back and waving a shiny foil packet in her face.

Satisfied, she wound her fingers tightly in Sloan's hair and used her grip to pull him back down. "Now where were we?"

The water handler laughed but returned to his explorations easily.

He feasted on her forever, sucking and nipping at her sensitive skin until she could barely remember her own name. She was sure her body would be littered with hickies and the occasional bite mark, but she didn't care. What he was doing felt too damn good to stop, and besides, it wasn't like everyone in the castle didn't already know they were sleeping together.

She was far from still. She arched, shifted, in an attempt to get closer. She clawed at his back when he kissed a particularly responsive spot. She pulled at his hair when she wanted him to repeat something. "Enough." She was afraid she would burst into flames if he didn't get in her soon.

Instead of crawling between her thighs, like she expected, Sloan rolled off her and urged her up. "On your hands and knees, baby. I want to take you from behind."

A bolt of electricity shot to her clit as she obeyed his order. She hadn’t been a virgin when she’d met Sloan, and she’d done more than missionary sex before, but something about being taken like that by Sloan was enough to set her dancing on the fine edge of orgasm.

Almost instantly, she felt him nudging at her pussy. She pushed back so the tip of his shaft popped in. A moan worked its way up her throat, and she started rocking back and forth, too impatient to wait for him to move. The position made him feel bigger, thicker, and taking him like that bordered on pain. But the small bite of discomfort only served to highlight the pleasure she felt.

He moved slowly, and she groaned with frustration. She wanted to feel him pound into her with a raw urgency that told her how much he needed her. “Faster,” she demanded.

The hands on her hips tightened. “The lady’s wish is my command,” he said before drastically increasing his pace.

Her fingers scrabbled at the ground as she tried to steady herself. Her lust wound tighter, spiraling impossibly higher. She needed something…more. “Sloan,” she cried, tossing her head.

He let out a sound, part groan, part growl, and she looked over her shoulder at him. His head was bent, and he concentrated fiercely on something. She gasped when she realized he was watching his dick slide in and out of her body. How hot was that? “Sunny,” he said through gritted teeth. “I’m close, sweetheart. I need you to come now.”

“I can’t,” she wailed. “I’m so close but…I can’t.”

She was beyond herself. She had no idea what she needed, but apparently Sloan knew.

He slid one hand from her hip around to her front and ground his finger against her clit. The dual sensation of having him in her and on her broke through her wall, and she tumbled into orgasm.

It was spectacular. Her entire body throbbed, and Sloan never slowed, letting her ride her orgasm right to the end. Finally, he froze and his cock kicked inside of her. She could feel the pulse of his release into the condom, and it wrung yet another small orgasm from her electrified body.

When it was over and she was sure she could still feel her legs, she found herself face down on the grass, fighting to draw enough oxygen into her lungs to survive. “Holy shit,” she whispered. “That was fantastic.”

“Fan-fucking-tastic,” Sloan agreed.

They lay there for a few minutes. “Hey, Sloan? Can you magic our clothes back, please? I’d rather not walk back to the castle with my bare ass hanging out.”

A look of horror crossed his face. She suddenly had a bad feeling. “Sloan?” she said, trying to make her tone as ominous as possible. “Don’t joke about things like this.”

She relaxed when he smiled. “Just kidding. Well, not really. I can’t make them come back. I never figured out how to reverse the spell. It was a miracle I even learned the part that I did. We handlers aren’t known for our magical abilities outside of manipulating our element.”

She opened her mouth to shriek at him when he held his hand up. “I sort of hoped this would happen one day, so—” he crawled over to a hollow tree “—I hid a change of clothes for both of us a couple of days ago.”

The sweatpants he handed her pooled around her ankles, and she swam in the T-shirt. Of course, he hadn’t thought to bring shoes. There was also a conspicuous lack of underwear, but she had a feeling the last omission were on purpose.

Everyone would know what they had been up to, but it was better than sneaking back into the castle like a teenager.

He put his arm around her shoulders and tugged her close. “Come on.”

The happy smile on his face dispelled any misgivings she had about the wardrobe choices he’d made. It was really the first time he’d looked so happy, so carefree, since she’d met him.

Wrapping her arm around his waist, she let him lead her toward the castle. She was determined to do whatever it took to keep that look on his face for as long as he would have her.

Since their dinner of macaroni and alfredo sauce, Sloan had taken to arranging little surprises for her. Sometimes, a single rose would be waiting on her dresser when she got to her room.

Once, he’d arranged for them to have cooking lessons at one of the restaurants in town.

Twice, she’d come to dinner to find a newly released book she’d been talking about waiting at her plate. Then he’d read it with her.

Tonight, he’d surprised her with a midnight picnic.

The night was beautiful. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the moon was full and the stars looked like diamonds pinned to black velvet. It was perfect for a romantic picnic.

Sunny guessed the ideal evening was the reason Sloan had decided they should blow off their training and do something fun instead.

She was quite impressed with his plans. He’d packed a huge wicker basket with all her favorite finger foods. There were chocolate dipped strawberries, tiny squares of brownies, fruit tarts, and even a tin of peanut brittle. It was nutritionally lacking, but so what? The bottle of champagne made up for it. At least, that’s what she told herself.