Love's Deadly Touch (6 page)

“So now what happens?”

He smiled. “It’s All Hallows Eve, so anything I do is amplified.” He held up the punch cup, balancing the glass and liquid in his palm. When he removed his hand the cup remained suspended in midair and slowly rotated, not spilling a drop. “Including binding your powers.”

Angelo gasped. “You wouldn’t?”

“Tonight would be a terrible night not to have any powers, wouldn’t it?”

The cup righted itself and floated toward the smaller man. Angelo nodded, holding out his hand.

“Drink the punch, Angelo, and stop messing with people’s heads.”

“What about your sister? She does it all the time.” The punch tipped and spilled down the front of his shirt.

“At least she knows how not to get caught.” With that he disappeared into the crowd.

Angelo grabbed a handful of napkins and blotted his now sodden shirt.

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

Hairs on his arm stood on end almost like he had a hand on a static electricity ball. Power, slick and oily, oozed and reached for him.

“He thinks he’s so high and mighty. Got a double standard and...” Angelo clawed at the air as invisible fingers tightened around his throat.

“You were supposed to weaken her control, not have the Council take an extra look at her.

Angelo fell to the floor gasping greedy gulps of air. “S-sorry.”

“Where is she?”

“I don’t know. I can’t sense her.”

The hooded figure frowned. “Very well. We’ll just have a little fun with her.”

****

Simon held Dana close, savoring the way her head rested on his shoulder. He’d chosen to go as a sorcerer and every now and then his pointy cap tilted to the front, forcing him to shove it back in place, but he really loved Dana’s costume.

She wore sheer harem pants. A heavier material stretched over her lush bottom, but the effect was still the same. She’d captivated most of the male attention. The matching bra cupped her breasts, while the long split sleeves cuffed at her wrists.

He drifted his fingers down her spine, caressing the bare skin above her waistband. Each time he brushed where material wasn’t, she sighed. He glanced down.

“You all right?”

She angled her head back to look into his face. “Wonderful.”

“Is the party always like this?” He moved her deeper into the crush of dancers.

She nodded, then lifted a hand to rub at her temples.

“Headache?”

“No, a couple people are doing a rather inept job of trying to read my mind.” She shrugged. “Teenagers practicing.”

He frowned. No one should even be able to tell she was here. He held her a little closer searching for the would-be interlopers. Nothing.

“Would you like to step outside for a moment?”

She glanced at the window. “It’s freezing out there.”

He smiled. “Let me rephrase that. The back room? Just for a moment?”

“That would be nice. It’s getting a little crowded in here.”

Nodding, he draped an arm over her shoulders and led her from the room. The temp dropped several degrees by the time they reached the relative quiet of the store-room.

“This is such a relief.” She leaned a hip on the corner of the desk.

He stood in front of her a moment, tracing the curve of her cheek, then her lips before he lowered his head. His mouth caressed hers, feathering a kiss from one corner to the other.

She made a little noise in her throat and he pressed closer. This was so much better than a dream. He shifted until he was wedged between her thighs, his arms curving around her waist to bring her core against his erection.

Within his dream he’d always imagined her skin would be petal soft, but the satiny slide of her arms beneath his roughened palms just seemed too incredible to believe. The intoxicating sweetness of her lips was more than he could stand and he wanted to imbibe until he could only stagger beneath her love.

He cupped her lush apple bottom, tilting her hips until her heat enveloped him. He thrust against her. She whimpered and it tightened his groin. Her lips were soft and moist as they swept over his mouth then his jaw.

He buried his nose in her hair, while drifting his fingers to the back of her bra. He fumbled the clasp and her breasts spilled free. Angling away from her, he marveled at the ripe swell.

He squeezed the soft globes in his hands, brushing his thumbs over the pebbled nipples. “Are you sure?”

She nodded, dragging her fingers through his hair.

Clothing rustled and was tossed haphazardly around the room. Despite months of dream sex this was the real thing. She should’ve been nervous, but all she could think about was how he was real. Dana savored every caress, each slide of his fingertips along her skin. She imprinted the rasp of his tongue as it swirled around her nipples, the glide of his hands as they skimmed her flesh.

A moan of pleasure eased from her lips. This was what she craved. The anticipation of skin-to-skin contact was almost as scintillating as his caresses.

For once she didn’t have to worry about hurting anyone, least of all him. When his fingers sought the dampness of her feminine core she quivered in excitement. Her belly clenched as his hand drifted closer. She held her breath as he grazed her pelvic bone, ran his fingertips over the sensitive skin of her inner thighs.

Her pussy pulsed and flooded with anticipation. Dana spread her legs wider in invitation, her scent perfuming the air. As she’d done when he first arrived in her office, she placed her hands on his chest. His skin was warm and smooth beneath her palms. She drifted her fingers over rounded pecs, across broad muscular shoulders, down his sculpted arms and back again.

He trembled beneath her exploration and it was such an erotic aphrodisiac she had to do it again. Her palms tingled and her juices flowed with each swipe.

“Enjoying yourself?”

“Enjoying you,” she said, closing her fingers around his erection. Even this was a contradiction, iron encased in velvet. She squeezed, and he thrust against her fist. No more waiting. She guided him to her center.

Simon settled between her thighs, the smoothness of his manhood penetrating, joining them in ways she’d only dreamed. When he’d filled her, she closed her eyes and squeezed. Wonderful tingles and flashes floated along nerves and she wanted this moment to never end.

He grasped her hips, drawing her closer until his pelvis teased her clit. She wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed his firm buttocks. A sigh escaped his lips as she ran her hands up and down his spine, then back to his butt.

Slowly he rocked his hips, moving in and out, thrusting harder and harder until there was only him. Each slap of flesh on flesh drove home that he was not part of her imagination, but solid. Real. Hers.

Light and energy seemed to dance along her skin, filling nooks and crannies she’d never known existed. His fingers bit into the tender skin of her buttocks. She pulled his head down for a kiss, needing as much contact as possible.

His mouth met hers, eager and dominating. Dana curved her arms around his neck and let him draw her closer still. She loved how her nipples scraped against his chest, adding to the myriad zips and sizzles arcing through her veins. The desk squeaked with the additional activity. Tension coiled in her belly as everything she was centered on their intimate joining.

She wanted to prolong the buildup, to draw out her climax, but having him, delighting in his sweat slicked body sliding against hers, surrounded by his musky masculine scent while he filled and pounded into her tight folds, hitting all the right spots, was just too much. The only thing better would be to take him with her. She shattered, dragging him with her in her ecstasy.

Simon brushed a kiss to the hollow of her throat, then claimed her lips. “This isn’t what I had in mind when we came back here, but I’m really glad it happened.” He eased away from her.

A protest undulated her body and she was bereft without him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him, in hopes of staving off the inevitable. As if sensing her anxiety, he pulled her into the haven of his body, infusing her with warmth and love.

“When I’m with you it seems everything is the way it’s supposed to be,” she murmured. “The only thing that got me through the last year was you.”

“I couldn’t let you go. Not like that.”

“Why did you wait so long to find me?” She angled away from him, just enough to see his face.

“The Council made it very difficult to see you.”

She nodded. She should’ve known they would try to interfere. He smoothed her damp hair from her face, then stiffened in her arms. “What’s wrong?”

“Someone’s looking for you.” He glanced around the room, wiggled his fingers and her clothes came floating toward them. “Here. Get dressed.”

Dana hugged the garments to her body and padded to the bathroom. Simon caught her hand as she passed, raised it to his lips and brushed a kiss across her knuckles.

“Hurry, my love.”

Warm tingles gripped her heart at the endearment. She continued on and closed the door behind her.

She rubbed her temples before freshening up and donning her costume again. Even though she’d told her brother she was sure Simon was the man for her, she couldn’t bring herself to say the words to Simon. What if she were wrong? She closed her eyes.

A muted groan and soft thud sent a flicker of unease through her.
Simon?
She waited a beat.
Simon!

Low murmurs buzzed and she had the sense she was no longer alone. When she opened her eyes, a pair of pale yellow eyes stared back at her.

She opened her mouth to scream and a foul smelling rag clamped over her lips and nose.

Dana clawed at the hand holding the cloth, even as her limbs grew heavy and sluggish.
Simon.
Even in her mind his named slurred. A low maniacal cackle filled the silence. Darkness encroached fast. If she didn’t do something, no one would find her. With the last of her conscious energy, she sent a “push” and hoped he’d hear her.

Chapter Six

Groaning, Simon opened bleary eyes. Something was wrong. Every cell and instinct jangled that his world was not right. He peered around the darkened room, shapes twisted and distorted into something from a bad trip. Heaviness clung to his heart, the rhythm off somehow.

Silence.

The discordant clash of quiet slapped him to alertness. He should hear music, laughter, conversation. Not this oppressive silence.

With a moan he staggered to his feet, lurching into the desk. He clutched at the surface until the world righted itself again. What the hell happened?

“Dana?” She should be here.
Dana.
He tried their mind link and was met with emptiness. The lack of response only increased his sense of urgency. Something was very wrong.

Simon stumbled to the front of the shop. Nothing. The only thing to suggest there had ever been people were the decorations and scraps of food scattered around the room. Glitter stuck to his pants' legs.

How long had he been unconscious? He squinted at his watch. 11:15 pm. Foreboding gripped him. He had to find Dana soon. It pressed and nagged at him.

Someone moaned. He followed the sound to a couple of overturned tables. Danny lay on his side. With a wave of his hand, Simon moved the furniture out of the way and knelt next to the semi-conscious man.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. Dana’s missing. We need to find her,” Simon said.

“What?” Danny pushed to his elbows with a grimace.

“Your sister. Do you have a way to find her, track her?”

Danny stared at him and slowly shook his head. “I can’t even sense her right now. Anytime you’re around it’s like she’s not here.”

Simon sighed, dragging his fingers through his hair and pulling on the ends. Where was she?
Dana.
He put enough force behind his words to wake the dead and he hoped to God she wasn’t.
Dammit, woman, answer me.

A flutter whispered through his mind, so faint he’d have missed it if he wasn’t concentrating so hard.

Dana. C’mon honey. I need you to wake up. I need to know where you are.

“Have you found her?”

Simon held up a hand. Painful throbbing beat at the base of his skull while nausea roiled in his belly. He touched his face, surprised to feel tears on his fingertips.
Where are you?

Darkness surrounded her. Damn, she was blindfolded. Something else. He got the impression she couldn’t move. Weights held her wrists and ankles.

A sinister laugh flitted through the shop. He froze. He knew that laugh, had heard it before. He looked at Danny, a grim expression on his face.

Simon didn’t have to say a word. If they didn’t find Dana before midnight they needn’t bother finding her.

****

Chanting penetrated her foggy brain, even as her body shivered. Her head pulsed and throbbed with every beat of her heart while her stomach lurched and rebelled against the rancid rag clogging her mouth. Dana tried to push it out with her tongue, only to realize it was held in place.