"You're going to make me come?" Bryan asked, this somehow more startling than the bit about magic charm.
Magnus's longest finger slid between two of Bryan's, tickling the webbing of skin between. "That is what you want to trade, isn't it?"
"Oh, yeah," Bryan said, his cock so hard it was strangling. "I'd love for you to get me off."
"Then that's how we'll seal the deal. You'll be my secret proxy in Zoe's bed, and no one but I will know I'm there."
"No one but you," Bryan repeated, his thoughts running even more sluggishly. He could hardly remember what he was agreeing to, only that it was going to be fantastic.
"Follow me to the men's room," Magnus said. "I'll make sure no one else comes in."
Magnus had almost forgotten what seducing a man was like. Relatively speaking, he hadn't done it often, though fairies were by nature sexually flexible. Charming a man was certainly quicker than charming a woman, even allowing for the potion he'd slipped into Bryan's glass.
Fairy charm didn't create attraction, only amplified it, so Magnus had used the potion to increase the effect. It still wasn't as potent as it would have been in Fairy, but fortunately, Bryan hadn't required much convincing to let the spell bend his will—his consent a necessity if Magnus wished to stay on the "white" side of magical practice.
Given how well he'd done thus far, he was feeling optimistic as he surveyed the men's bathroom. The Ritz it wasn't, but Bryan hadn't had the look of a man who was finicky. He'd had the look of a man who was beating himself up over his heart's mistakes. If that was the case, these less than genteel surroundings ought to suit him fine.
Magnus glared at the single patron who was using the urinals, which encouraged the man to hurry it up admirably. The two graffitied stalls were empty. Rather than expend more magic preventing others from coming in, he searched the supply closet.
The Out of Order sign that fell off a shelf seemed a pleasant wink from the universe.
As Bryan slipped into the bathroom after him, a curl of adrenaline numbed Magnus's fingers—nerves perhaps, or anticipation at being obliged to enjoy a kind of sex he hadn't had in a while. Magnus didn't need sexual variety the way he had when he was younger, but that didn't mean it couldn't get his blood thrumming.
This is for Zoe
, he instructed his swelling cock.
You're doing this so you can know how it feds to truly be with her
.
Bryan was eyeing him warily, maybe as nervous as he was, though he didn't look reluctant. If nothing else, Magnus's seductive methods ensured the man's arousal was too high for that. Bryan's chest was rising and falling shallowly, a fine sheen of perspiration glistening on his swarthy skin.
Despite his obvious eagerness, "How would you like to do this?" Bryan asked politely.
Magnus shook his head, silently amused. "This trade is weighted in my favor. You must be the one to say what you want."
"I don't really—"
"You do," Magnus interrupted, pinning him with his most mesmerizing stare. "You know exactly what you want right now."
"To be sucked off," Bryan said, the answer hushed but bursting from him like it had been pulled. His breath came deeper with the true confession. "I want you to wrap that gorgeous mouth around me and take me whole. I want you to suck my seed down your throat like you're starving for the taste of it."
His pupils were huge, showing the influence of Magnus's magic as much as his own lust. This was an act that involved some risk when done between humans. In his normal frame of mind, Magnus was certain Bryan would have offered to wear protection. In need of no such shields, Magnus smiled at this evidence that his control over the man was strong. Spells were tricky in the human realm. You never knew when they might zig instead of zag.
"Would you like to watch me in the mirror?" Magnus offered. "I haven't done this in a while, but I used to be good at deep throating."
"Oh, man," Bryan said, which Magnus took as a yes.
The mirror was a rust-spotted glass bolted to the wall. The second of two sinks hung beside it. Magnus gestured for Bryan to lean against the porcelain, then went to his knees on the floor.
Bryan's fingers were already fumbling with his fly.
Once he had it open, Magnus pulled the denim down his muscular thighs. Bryan's cock bounced out like it was on springs, big and thick and flushed with engorging blood. Magnus caught it, his thumbs tracing gently up the distended veins. Bryan bit his lip with pleasure and tried to fight back a moan.
"You must be quiet," Magnus warned before he went further. "And I suspect we need to be quick. I don't know how long we have before someone checks the door."
"Do it then," Bryan said roughly. "I'm ready to roll."
There was quick and then there was rushing, which no self-respecting fairy was going to do. Magnus cupped Bryan's balls and began with them, sucking one and then the other into his mouth. They were warm and heavy, their sac drawing up as Bryan's excitement rose. When Magnus mouthed both at once and pulled, Bryan rumbled out a groan.
The grateful sound reminded Magnus that what he was doing was intimate—not just in the sexual sense, but in the emotional, as well. No doubt Bryan had been in a reckless mood, but Magnus couldn't shake the feeling that having this man's vulnerability quite literally placed in his hands was an important trust. Bryan was a person, not a pawn, and Magnus had no business forgetting that. Disconcerted, his sucking slowed.
Bryan grabbed his shoulder, his fingers digging in to balance him. Magnus pulled away to speak.
"Don't stop," Bryan begged before he could.
The plea sent its own claws into Magnus's loins, pulling his cock longer and thicker. Whatever his purpose, he saw he wasn't going to remain unmoved by this.
"You will be my standin," Magnus reminded him, letting the energy of their lust bind them together. "Your eyes will be my window when you pleasure the one I love."
"Yes," Bryan gasped as Magnus dragged his tongue up the thickened ridge that ran beneath his shaft. He jerked when Magnus reached the head. "Whatever you want."
Satisfied that his magic had the permission it required, Magnus tipped Bryan's erection to a better angle and swallowed half.
"Jesus," Bryan groaned at the immediate strength and wetness of his suction. "Mary and Joseph, look at you take me."
Magnus was too busy concentrating to check out the visuals. Relaxing his throat was easy, and ensuring that Bryan was enjoying himself a piece of cake. The challenge lay in forming the tiny ball of consciousness that Bryan would carry inside him. It needed to hold just enough of Magnus's awareness and no more, because Magnus had no desire to make himself a permanent hitchhiker in Bryan's brain. This was a one-shot deal, one night with Zoe and no more. Not that there would be more. Bryan's taste in partners tended too strongly to the male persuasion for Magnus to worry on that score.
Pleased with his choice, he swirled his tongue around the satin of Bryan's glans. Bryan's whimper of need couldn't help but arouse him, but this wasn't about him. Ignoring the intensifying throb at his groin, Magnus dipped his head until his lips hit the other man's abdomen.
This visual was too alluring not to send Bryan through the roof. Completely into it, but too considerate to clutch a stranger's head and risk choking him, his fingernails pricked Magnus through his collar hard enough to hurt. Magnus was both oddly touched and incredibly turned on. Bryan's girth was swelling, his stomach muscles tensing as Magnus pulled his lips tightly up again. When he flicked his tongue across the little slit, a sweet tinge of pre-come spread across his taste buds.
Knowing the end was near, Magnus spun a filament of charm off his own supply. He wrapped it around his proxy spell until the thing began to tug its imaginary tether like a trapped falcon.
His preparations ready, Magnus curled two fingers around the bottom of Bryan's shaft, holding any loose skin taut. The time for deep-throating was over. Now he needed to focus on the more sensitive upper regions of Bryan's cock. Now he needed to bring this magical agreement home. Bryan's hips began to buck against the vigorous tonguing Magnus was giving him, his whimpers speeding up as well. Magnus increased his suction and rubbed Bryan's glans even harder with the flat of his tongue.
Bryan groaned at this sudden increase in stimulation. Politeness forgotten, he began to thrust, the nerve-rich tip of his penis strafing Magnus's palate.
Magnus gripped Bryan's hips, but only to steady him. His responses weren't those of a human, or even a young fairy. Bryan could have shoved his whole cock down Magnus's throat without hurting him, something he was very nearly trying to do.
"God," Bryan said, his voice rising. "God. God.
Fuck
."
Magnus gave his balls one firm squeeze, and then the man was gone. His energy poured out of him with his seed, blending their life force in a flare of light. Taking both with more enjoyment than he expected, Magnus released his hold on the proxy spell.
The magic orb soared up Bryan's prick, potent enough to make him shudder at its passage. Caught in that pleasure, Bryan took at least half a minute to stop twitching in Magnus's mouth. His limbs were shaking when Magnus let him slip free.
"That was incredible," Bryan murmured. "You got me off in, like, three minutes."
Magnus stood, his knees stiff from the tension of his own arousal. His erection was too big for even Bryan's glazed eyes to miss, but he caught the other man's hand before it could cup him.
"We're finished here," Magnus said, careful to hold his eyes. "When I step out that door, you'll forget what happened between us. All you'll remember is how you'll never be satisfied until you get your hard-on in Zoe's pussy. Once you've had your night of sex with her, the spell that allows me to ride your consciousness will deactivate."
Bryan wet his lips nervously. "What if I can't seduce her?"
"You can," Magnus said, sending him a mental wave of confidence. "Listen for what she wants and hold her gaze. My charm will help you persuade her—guaranteed."
"Right," Bryan stood a little straighter. He didn't appear as convinced as Magnus would have liked, but at least he seemed determined.
This will work
, Magnus assured himself.
A shiver of sensation rolled down his spine. He wished he could have said whether fear or anticipation powered it most.
Zoe stood with her feet straddling the track to her sliding doors, watching the steady downpour fall on her deck. Lightning forked over Mitten Butte, approaching Fairyville but not here yet. The monsoons were coming, she supposed, and this was their first salvo. The sound quieted the unrest inside her, the questions she couldn't answer however hard she tried.
Did it really make a difference if she ran away from Alex and Magnus to protect her heart? Or if she let herself plummet without a safety net? Either way, the earth would turn. Heaven would be heaven regardless of whether she was enjoying it.
It's my choice
, she thought, which brought her no closer to making one.
The sound of footsteps slapping her wet walkway brought her out of her reverie. She turned her head to find Bryan climbing the wooden stairs to her deck, soaked to the skin in jeans and a black T-shirt. He had muscles on his muscles, big, meaty slabs that wrapped his chest and thighs. His face was beautiful washed in the rain, his cheekbones and jaw as hard as his expression. Seeing him was like having Fate rub her nose in the inevitability of her own downfall. Of course Alex went for Bryan. Anyone who even sort of swung that way would.
"What's wrong?" she asked, though she couldn't muster the concern to go with the words. "Couldn't you and Alex find a new hotel?"
"I found one," he said. "I left a text message on his phone. I expect he's on his way there now."
"You left a text message."
Bryan came to a halt a single step from her. He put his hand on the adobe beside her head. "I figured out what happened between you and him."
"Did you." She couldn't make it a question. Instead, she pressed her lips together and stared at her painted toes. "I don't think what happened means what you guessed."
"He still loves you."
The words stirred a thrill she couldn't repress. "Maybe. But I don't think I'm the only one he feels that way about."
Bryan touched her cheek, his palm rough with calluses that neither Alex nor Magnus had. When Zoe lifted her head, his face was flushed, intent with an emotion that—with any other man—she would have said was desire. His eyes gleamed in the darkness, their black coffee richness touched with a hint of gold. She found it very hard to look away from him.
"I want my own back," he said. "What Alex did hurt me more than I expected, made me angrier. I was thinking—" He drew his hand from her cheek to her throat, skimming her skin with a tingling delicacy. His eyes followed the motion of his fingers to her slight cleavage. She was wearing a camisole and light cotton drawstring pants, both dampened by the rain, both more transparent than she should have been comfortable with. Her nipples tightened as his gaze hit them.
Okay, maybe her radar
was
working, because Bryan swallowed hard before he went on. "I was thinking I would use what Alex did as an excuse to put the moves on you. I thought if there was any good way to hurt him back, that would be it."
"You sound like you've changed your mind."
"I want to do it." He looked at her face again, his gaze as hungry as any she'd ever seen. "I've been thinking I'd like to since I watched you and Alex eat each other up with your eyes while you made that bed."
Her body seemed to be making its own decisions. She turned to him, her hand coming to rest in a gentle cup above his right nipple, not touching it but close. The left was a tiny point beneath his wet black shirt.
"You like women."
"I like them when they don't try to stop me from doing what I want with men."
Despite the coolness of the rain, Zoe's temperature jumped a few degrees. It was difficult to get her next question out. "What are you trying to ask me?"