Under a Blood Moon: Beaux Rêve Coven, Book 2 (4 page)

He glanced down her body, noted the white bikini and willed it away. Her gasp was instant. “Stop that.”

“Why? It’s only fair.”

“It’s my dream. I wanted solitude. Peace. Not
that
,” she said, waving a hand at his groin.

He laughed and sat on a white padded bench, spreading his arms along the tops of the cushions, his legs sprawled.

Sunglasses appeared on her nose, and he laughed again. “I know you’re looking at me. I can feel it,” he said, grasping his cock and giving it long strokes. “You can feel it too. This is a dream. We can play. No rules. No echoes. You risk nothing, give away nothing that’s real.”

“Draugrs play in dreams,” she said, her tone worried. “You’re really here, aren’t you?”

The way she said it, her voice tinged with dismay, made him straighten. He raised his hand, palm up. “Play with me, Miren. Let me show you how it can be between us. Nothing has to change, not when we waken, not until you’re ready.”

“It would just be another unsatisfying tease. I never come in dreams. And if you managed that feat before I waken, I’ll only be left wanting—which is likely your plot. I’ll wake up horny, and you’ll make sure you’re right there to help me with the problem.”

“Do you really think I’m that clever? That I thought this all the way through?” At her crisp nod, he blew out a breath. “Then I’ll tell you what. I won’t be the one to assuage your desire when you awaken. Let your mermen play afterward, with their fingers and lips. I’ll allow it.”

“It’s not your place to allow anything.”

“True, but I won’t fight them. Whatever you want, whatever you need of them…after I’ve had you here…you may take. It won’t change what’s between us. I promise you.”

Her gaze narrowed on him a long moment while her teeth worried her bottom lip. “We should drop anchor.”

“It’s already done,” he said, snapping a finger.

A splash sounded. She grinned. “Wrong side of the boat.”

“Does it matter?”

“It does if you ever plan on accompanying me out on the water.”

He grinned, happy she hadn’t outright banned the possibility. “Oh, I will. You won’t be going anywhere unguarded. That’s not changing.”

She pouted. “You do know you’re all very bossy.”

He knew his smile was more of a smirk. Not that she seemed to take offense. Maybe she was just as ready as he was to work off some frustration.

“How do I know you’re going to keep this real? That you won’t just dream yourself as a better lover than you really are?”

He waggled his eyebrows. “Afraid your expectations will be too high the first time we get together for real?”

She dropped her gaze.

“Baby, here and now, you can show me what you like. I promise I’ll pay attention.” He glanced down at himself and then quickly up to give her a hot stare. “And this isn’t to scale…but I didn’t want to frighten you.”

She snorted and then laughed. “Now, you know good and well I already know you’re a big fat liar.”

“Something’s big and fat.”

Miren shook her head and laughed. “Thanks.”

“I haven’t done anything yet.”

“I’m not nervous about this anymore.”

“I make all the girls laugh.”

“Bet you do,” she said softly and then took a deep breath, at last moving away from the wheel. “Our options are limited here.”

“Really? What about the berth?”

“This boat doesn’t have a cabin.”

“Really, then what’s this?” he said, waving his hand. A stairway appeared beside him, leading down into the hold.

Her sunglasses disappeared and she rolled her eyes. “I’ve never been any good at manipulating my dreams. If a monster’s chasing me, the best I can hope for is that I wake up before he takes a bite.”

“I’m the master of dreams.” He quirked up a brow. “Will you let me lead?”

Miren bit her lip and her gaze moved to the sea. “This isn’t fair. You know I’m vulnerable to suggestion here.”

“Will you let me take the lead?” he asked again.

Her gaze was troubled when it settled on him, but she shrugged. “Since dreams are your strong suit, all right.”

He held out his hand.

She placed hers inside his. “Feels real.”

“Since we’re tethered, our minds are filling in the details. Our senses are more engaged than in a normal dream.”

“Is that why I can’t seem to give myself bigger breasts?” she muttered, glancing down.

He chuckled. “That’s exactly why.”

“So you can’t super-size yourself?” she quipped.

His smile stretched. “Disappointed?”

“Oh hell, no,” she said, her expression a little pinched and hungry. “There’s…plenty.”

“Come. Enough talk.” He tugged her behind him, smiling at the sound of the pads of her feet down the stairs behind him. They weren’t dragging.

Below, he’d set the lighting to a soft golden glow that illuminated a king-sized bed with a deep sumptuous coverlet and plump pillows. He gave the bed a wave. “You first.”

“What? No foreplay? Not even a kiss?”

A lock of hair fell across one eye as she dipped her head, and he didn’t think he’d ever seen a sexier look. With her lips pouted and just that one eye issuing him a very feminine challenge, he was ready to admit defeat. He had to have her. It had to be now. “Lie with me, Miren. There’s not anything I won’t kiss or touch, but right now, I need you under me.”

“Guess that’s foreplay enough,” she whispered, sliding across the bed to the center, where she stretched atop the dark coverlet, all that luminous pale skin beckoning. Her legs moved restlessly, pulled together and to one side, but as he watched, she parted them. She slid her hand between to cup her mound. “Do you think I’m doing this, touching myself in the bathtub?”

“I hope so.”

“You’re with me there, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“Are you sleeping?”

“No.”

She drew a shaky breath. “Can you see me?”

He glanced to the coverlet and opened his eyes, his real eyes. Miren was still asleep, but her knees were apart. Her hand was deep in the water between her legs. “You’re fondling yourself.”

“I don’t know if I like that you can be both places and know what I’m doing, when I don’t know myself.”

“I’ll close my eyes. I won’t watch.”

She tilted back her head and closed her eyes to slits as she continued touching herself. “I think I can really feel this.”

He shook his head and climbed onto the bed. “Don’t think too hard. I want all your concentration here. If you wake up now…”

“But I don’t want to wake up,” she said softly. “I want to know what it’s like with you, without—”

“Without risking a thing. I know. And I get it. But you do know you’re going to have to commit.”

“Just not…yet. Please,” she said, reaching out.

He lowered himself over her, coming to rest against her warmth.

She smoothed her hands over his shoulders, scraped fingertips at his nape and then sank them into his hair.

Renner groaned and dipped his head, nipping at her chin, her nose, before sealing his mouth over hers. He drank her sighs and nudged apart her thighs, widening the space between and coming up slightly on his knees to press his cock between her folds.

“So much for foreplay,” she said, smiling when he broke the kiss.

“Foreplay’s overrated,” he said, giving her an intimate nudge.

She arched one brown brow. “Bet you wouldn’t be saying that if I was bending over your cock.”

“Baby, you really do know how to drive me crazy.”

Chapter Four

Miren was ready. She held her breath and tensed, wanting to still her mind to enjoy every sensation as he plunged inside her, but he drew swiftly away, leaving her to huff out her breath as she stared up at him. She gave him her meanest glare.

To his credit, Renner didn’t look unaffected. He closed his eyes while he drew and released several slow breaths. “Sorry about that. I shouldn’t have rushed you. I know better. But I got to thinking, who’s to say I’ll ever get another chance to know what it’s like to be with you? I don’t want to waste this chance.”

“You don’t know now,” she said snidely. “We’re fucking dreaming this. And I’ll bet my bath water’s getting cold.”

“I’ll take care of that,” he said, angling his head away, a look of concentration furrowing his brow.

The fact he could duck away at will to tend to her for real was beyond concerning. “Not the point. I’m due a massage from men who will give me exactly what I ask for.”

His expression hardened. “You may think you want a quick fuck, but you won’t respect me as a lover if that’s how this plays out. We have a boat, soft lighting, the gentle sway of the ocean…why not take our time?”

Because I’m ready to feel you move inside me!
But she held her tongue. She didn’t want him knowing how sharp the edge of her desire had grown. He’d think she was his for the plucking. And he was already smug. Why give him an even bigger head?

But oh, that head was there, rising stiff and straight, the tip glistening with her arousal. Well, it was her dream, wasn’t it? She reached out and wrapped her fingers around his length to clasp him hard and then run her hand up and down his length, sending a little thrill of witch’s heat from her fingertips.

He clamped his hand around her wrist, but he didn’t tug her hand off him. Instead, he stared down at her fingers as she moved in more shallow plunges, up and down, then up again. At the top, she rubbed her thumb over his moist head, lingering over the eyelet opening.

She licked her mouth, drawing his gaze.
Yeah, that’s right. Think about what my mouth would have felt like.

His fingers pinched her wrist and she let go with a soft yelp. Instead of feeling shocked by the unexpected pain, arousal tightened painfully in her womb. She glanced wide-eyed at Renner, who gave her a lazy, pleased smile.

“Liked that, did you?”

Then he moved down her body, clasping her hips in a bruising grip while he buried his mouth against her breast, moving his head in circles while he sucked hard on small patches of her skin before centering over her nipple and pulling it inside his mouth. He drew so hard her toes curled, and deep inside her, liquid released in a small, instantaneous gush.

He drew hard again and then teethed the tip, just hard enough it stung.
Deliciously.
Something she hadn’t known she’d enjoy, but he’d so easily discovered. Her nipple dimpled and her belly quivered. Miren spread her thighs beneath him and pushed up to grind her mound against his abdomen, groaning and then hissing when he bit her harder.

Not that she minded. She wanted the other tip crushed between his teeth. Then she might beg him to bite her clit. Goddess, she wanted him to nip and pinch every inch of her.

“You like it a little rough.”

“Maybe, not sure,” she lied. “Bite the other.”

He chuckled and moved across, pausing instead to give her a leisurely chew.

“I knew you were just a tease.” But she sank her fingers in his hair and held him there.

When he drew off her breast, he moved downward, scratching her skin, pinching her belly, her mound, then diving into her folds, thumb and forefinger plucking her clitoris until it grew rigid.

Only then did he move lower. The moment his mouth closed around the sensitive nubbin, she shouted.

“Don’t bite,” she gasped. “No, no.” She thrashed her head on the pillow as he sucked it hard, pulling on it until it felt so engorged she was ready to come. “Renner!”

He lifted his head, locking his gaze with hers. “You’re perfect, Miren. So beautiful. And loud.”

She gave a shattered laugh. “If I promise to never complain again about the lack of foreplay, will you end this, please?”

“How about I let you take what you want of me?” He crawled up her body, rolled to his side and then his back. He gripped his cock and held it perpendicular to his body. “This is yours, Miren. Ride it.”

She didn’t need a second invitation. Although she trembled head to foot, she climbed atop him and lowered, impaling herself on his cock. Goddess, how he filled her.

Slowly, she worked her way down, screwing around and around, taking him deeper inside until their groins were flush. Halting, she drew in a deep, shuddering breath.

“Fuck,” he said, dragging out the word while closing his eyes.

He looked as though he was savoring the moment every bit as much as she was, and suddenly, she wished this was real. That their joining would bring the cataclysm, the echo in the ether announcing their union—impossible to take back or deny. She wanted thunder and lightning and for the bed to shiver and shake. Everything brought to a culmination that would forever mark them as lovers. Mark him as her one true love.

But this was a dream. And surely, she was only yearning for the kind of connection Bryn had found with Ethan. It was a romantic thought, but how would she feel come morning? If this was real, she’d be forever trapped. Forever in his control.

“Are you going to move?” he asked, his voice tight.

“I can’t,” she whispered. “I’m shaking too hard.” And she was. Her thighs and belly trembled.

He opened his eyes and stared up at her.

Not sure what her expression revealed, she nearly cried when he reached out and brought her down until her chest rested against his.

His hands petted her, roaming her back and buttocks while he shushed her, his mouth next to her ear. “It’s okay, Miren. This isn’t real. You haven’t lost a thing. Pretend I’m human. One of your bayou boy-toys.”

“You’re confusing me with Darcy.”

“You’ve never had a lover?”

“I have, but not often.”

“How many men, love?”

“Two. But I couldn’t make promises I wouldn’t be able to keep, so I ended it before they became too attached.” He grunted and she wondered if he felt a twinge of jealousy for men he’d never met or would ever know.

“Did they give you orgasms?”

“Mmm-hmm.” She was careful not to let too much enthusiasm bleed into her voice.

“Good, then I won’t have to drown them.”

She laughed, the sound ragged and bitter. Why had he said that? Did he know what she’d done when she’d escaped the council? “There you go again, making me laugh.”

“I’m not so bad, am I?” he asked softly.

“You’re a draugr,” she said, grimacing. “A sea-draugr at that. The fucking ghost of a dead sailor.”

“Now, you know that’s bullshit. Draugrs were never human. Some ancestor got his jollies walking in some poor dead man’s skin so he could fuck his wife.”

“Did you ever do that?”

“The worst I’ve done is leak under a pretty girl’s door so I could ogle her in her tub.”

“Pervert,” she whispered, smiling again.

“Now, aren’t you glad I haven’t any scruples?” He pressed a kiss against her temple. “Baby, would you like me to end this? For me to go?”

Glad he’d offered her a choice, she shook her head. “Not before I come. Make me come, Renner.”

“Since you asked so sweetly…” He rolled, coming over her, retaining their connection.

Something she was glad of, because she would have felt oddly bereft. Instead, he was deeper, and his thick, long cock somehow felt harder and more insistent, or maybe it was just that her channel was growing more engorged and crowding around his shaft. Didn’t matter why, she needed him to move. “Renner.”

“What, baby?” he asked, rising on his elbows, his fingers smoothing her hair from her cheeks.

How did she ask this without him taking advantage? “Can we pretend?”

His gaze narrowed for a second, and then he nodded. “That we’re in love?”

She liked the way his voice grew raspy. Almost as though he was feeling as off-kilter as she was. “Yes. Just for now.”

His smile was a little sad, but he nodded. “We don’t have to pretend. For now.”

She bracketed his face with her hands and lifted her head, the kiss she gave him filled with all the confusing emotions roiling inside her. Relief flooded her. Desperation seared. As he began to move inside her, she forgot everything but the joy he brought with churning hips and sharp thrusts. His movements were as rhythmic as waves crashing against a beach. Steady, relentless thrusts that pushed her closer and closer to the edge.

“Baby, let go,” he said before crushing her mouth with another deep kiss.

And she slipped over the edge, her arms falling limply to the bed, her body arching beneath his.

A rap sounded at the door. Miren opened her eyes, blinking against the light from the overhead fixture. She lay on a towel on the floor, her knees splayed.

Renner lifted his head from her sex and withdrew his fingers.

She didn’t know whether to spit or cry. The dream had been more real than she’d known. Thank the Goddess, he hadn’t claimed her with his cock.

She shoved him away and leaned against the side of the tub. “I’ll be out in a minute,” she called out, her voice hoarse. Then to Renner, she gave a harsh whisper, “What did you do?”

“I promised you pleasure,” he said, his expression set.

“You know this isn’t what I wanted.”

He gave a sharp shake of his head. “No, you wanted the choice taken from you. For you to wake and find out that I’d sealed the deal.”

She gave a more violent shake of her head. “No.”

“Now who’s the liar?” He rose and stepped into the tub. “They shouldn’t know I was here.”

Could they already know? Had she shouted out loud when she’d come?

“Miren…”

She didn’t want to note the regret in his eyes, concentrated only on the hint of triumph lingering in his hard features. And then her gaze dropped to his cock, still standing red and erect.

“I didn’t take my pleasure of you. This was meant as a gift.”

“It was meant to tempt me.”

“That too, but I didn’t overstep. Not that far.”

She turned her face from him. “I don’t want them to know.”

“Fine,” he bit out. A moment later, he fell like water pouring from an urn into her bath.

Wrapping the towel around her, she eased from the floor. She’d have that massage. In the nude. To hell with whether he approved or not.

When Miren left the bathroom, she left the door ajar, making Renner’s escape tricky. He waited until her steps faded before forming again to leave the tub. He really should feel shame for having tricked her, but he didn’t.

Not after she’d begged him to love her. There was no pretending to it. He’d been balls-deep. As fucking exposed as a man could be when she’d asked him. And he’d been unable to lie. Although he’d known she would be prickly when she awoke, he couldn’t regret anything that had happened.

Yes, he’d taken advantage, but he’d wanted to leave her body as sated as her mind. Give her twinges of discomfort that would linger.

Fuck, he’d forgotten about the love bites he’d left all over her chest. And she’d been too mad to notice. He gathered his clothing, lifted the window and stepped out onto the gabled roof.

He made it back to his room, dressed quickly in the dark and then let himself out into the corridor. Her door was already closed. Voices sounded from inside, too muffled for him to know what was being said, but the mermen were definitely inside.

He pulled down the door handle, slipped inside and halted. She was nude, lying on her bed on her belly, both mermen kneeling on the mattress beside her body.

Mikkel shot him a glance over his shoulder. “She doesn’t want you here.”

“He can watch,” Miren said, her voice tight. “But we don’t have to think about him right now, do we?”

Mikkel and Elias shared sly grins, shot him a glare and then bent over their task. Elias streamed oil down her spine. Mikkel scooped it with his hands and began the massage. Elias poured more oil into one palm and then set the bottle of oil on her bedside stand. After rubbing his hands together, he framed her hips, beginning at the notches, then working downward, kneading her buttocks.

A groan from Miren, one of pure bliss, sent a shudder through Renner. And knowing he was close to violence, that he’d break his word not to interfere, he turned on his heel and left the room.

He stomped the hallway, clattered down the stairs and opened the door to the porch. Outside, he fell to his knees and shook his skin, shivering out a thick pelt of cougar’s fur, completing his transformation inside a second before leaping off the porch and into the night.

Miren heard a yowling roar in the distance and knew it was Renner. She shouldn’t feel guilty, not after he’d tricked her the way he had, but deep inside, she knew she’d hurt him by allowing the two men on her bed to touch her.

Demons were possessive sorts. Mikkel and Elias would have reacted the same way toward any other demon. Hell, they’d bristled as though they wore fur the moment she’d stepped outside the bathroom.

When their gazes had fallen to her breasts, she’d glanced down too, realizing too late that Renner had left evidence of his trickery on her skin. Hickeys for fuck sakes. Something she hadn’t had to hide since she was a teenager with Mathias kissing under the staircase at their private school.

Thinking of Mathias sent another quiver of anger through her. What was it with demons? Why did they think the sun and moon rose just for them? If Mathias had had even an ounce of empathy for her fears regarding their union, she might not of have fled Michigan with her sisters, although she would have missed them. But she’d left behind her friends and the community, left the comforts the wife of a future leader promised.

Not that she had any true regrets. Sure, she worked hard running her own small shrimping company. She ran three boats, manned by experienced human crews, and her own trawler, only because she loved keeping the connection to the water, whether she was dragging the canals for shrimp or out in the shallow waters of Barataria bay.