Using my magic was not something I was ever really comfortable with. Maybe it was because my scientific mind preferred situations where the outcomes were predetermined based upon a set series of variables. Magic was not like that. It could not be controlled in quite the same way, especially not when it ran off emotions.
Typically, I kept that side of me on lockdown. My Fox and I had a much stronger relationship than I had with my Witch side. My magic always came in bursts of temper or when I was in a highly emotional state. I did my best to not be in situations like that, but these last few weeks were stressful for me.
I never dreamed in a million years I would work on an after-hours undercover assignment. Especially not with him! True, it was the kind of mission I could not turn down. The Global Human Alliance was responsible for the deaths and pain of so many people, they needed to be stopped. Just like SCAR.
I began to shiver uncontrollably as memories rushed through my brain even as I sat safely in the warmth of Asher’s car. The custom Camaro SS was roomier inside than I’d imagined, and the sleek performance seats hugged my back and hips as he took turns at breakneck speeds.
“Easy, Baby,” he growled.
His voice was impossibly deep and scratchy. The notes struck a chord deep within me. Fuck. I flicked a cautious glance in his direction. His eyes were glowing gold. The striking color was anything but human, and it made me tingle in places that really should not be tingling around this man.
Mine. He said mine.
Shaking my head, I pushed the thought out of my brain. I was a mess. Shivering and feeling reckless after expelling my magic in such a way. That always happened to me after I used my powers without preparation. Still, I felt bad for having stirred Asher up.
Protective instincts ran deep with certain predatory Shifters, and for a male as dominant as Asher was, his reactions were inevitable. His Lion was genetically predisposed to defend a female regardless of her abilities to take care of herself. And really, what had just occurred outside the restroom of that bar proved I was not exactly great at that. Sure, my magic packed a punch, but just look at what happened after.
“Wait,” he growled, and I realized we were parked.
“This isn’t my house,” I said, but he was already gone.
I followed him with my gaze, taking in his long strides as he rounded the hood of the vehicle and pulled open my door. Asher didn’t wait or say anything else. He bent down and scooped me out of my seat like I weighed nothing at all. I gasped and clutched his shoulders, shocked by how tall he really was.
By modern standards, I supposed I was a big girl. I mean, I wasn’t as rounded as my sisters, but I wasn’t small either. Also, there was the whole Shifter thing, so I knew I was heavy. But Asher didn’t so much as increase his breathing while carrying me up the path to his front door.
“Asher.”
I said his name, trying to think of something to say. His muscles tensed as he typed something into the keypad and opened the door, shaking his head and the rumble inside his chest was enough to shut me up. Once inside, I expected him to place me on my feet, but he didn’t. He walked straight back to what I assumed was his bedroom, and farther still, till we entered an enormous bathroom.
Once there, he sat me down on the enormous vanity and closed his eyes, pressing his forehead to mine. I didn’t know how long we stayed like that, but I was powerless to move. There was something about being eye level with him standing between my open legs, his enormous hands cupping my hips, while he tried to regain control of himself that made my heart squeeze so damn tight inside my chest, I thought it would explode.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, finally breaking the spell between us.
I raised my eyes slowly, shocked to see the genuine concern on his handsome face. Shaking my head, I reached out to touch his face, amazed that he allowed me.
“I’m okay. You got me out of there. Thank you,” I said, but he was shaking his head again, turning away from me.
“No. I didn’t do anything. I am so fucking sorry, Nova,” he whispered, and I heard it then.
The strain. The shame. The anger.
“You did. You helped me. You stood up for me, Asher, and no one has ever done that before unless they were related to me. You helped when no one else did,” I said, and it was the truth.
“I should have done more,” he replied, teeth clenched hard.
“You did a lot. Thank you. Really, thank you. I don’t know why you did it. You don’t even like me,” I said, trying to play it off with a laugh, but it came out sounding like a sob.
Embarrassment filled me, and sadness too. Dammit, I knew he could scent it now that I’d stopped wearing the Emotoblock. It was my one defense against him and anyone who could pick up on emotions through scent.
“Don’t like you? Is that what you think?” he asked, and I could see in his eyes he was bewildered.
“Of course you don’t like me. You reported me to human and non-human resources after the first time we met.”
“What? No, I didn’t,” he said, and he was telling the truth.
“It doesn’t matter. You don’t have to like me, Asher, I’m a big girl, I can take it,” I said, needing to assert my position somehow.
I mean, he already saw me falling apart. He witnessed me in my weakest moment. There was no way I was letting him know how badly I’d been crushing on him for the past three years. Shit. I needed to think about something else. Anything else. Not the fact I was alone with Asher Donnelly in his bathroom with his big body irresistibly close to mine.
Shit. Recite something. The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin usually did the trick, but even that heady work could do nothing to get my mind off the fact that Asher Donnelly was staring at me like he wanted to eat me.
“You got it all wrong, Baby. I like you. This is how much I fucking like you,” he growled.
One second, he loomed over me, hard and aloof, like a giant marble statue of some god or ancient hero. The next, Asher had one hand cupping the back of my neck and the other on my cheek as he pulled me towards him and slammed his lips to mine.
He barely came up for air, and I didn’t mind it one bit. Asher Donnelly was kissing me, and it was the best kiss I had ever experienced. People assumed I was some sort of sex goddess because I was good looking, but what that really meant was most men found me unapproachable. Add to it the fact I was a genius, and well, there you had it. My sex life left a lot to be desired.
“So fucking sweet, Baby,” he growled, stroking his tongue between my lips.
I mewled and pressed myself against him. My nipples ached and my core clenched on air. I’d never felt anything close to the desire I felt for him. The bright lights overhead should have been uncomfortable, but as he leaned back, tearing off my shirt, then his, I appreciated them. Asher moaned, fusing his lips back to mine as his giant hands roamed over my body. Sitting on the top of the vanity in my tight pants meant I had a slight belly roll hanging over my pants, and normally I would balk at letting anyone see that, but Asher made me feel so damn good with his whispered praise, constant pets, and the Lion glowing in his stare, I couldn’t feel anything but good about myself.
“I guess you do like me,” I teased when he started unbuttoning his pants.
“Guess? When I’m done with you, you won’t have one fucking doubt how much I like you, Baby,” he growled and lifted me off the vanity, heading for his bedroom.
His pants were down around his hips, giving me a tantalizing view of the dark blond happy trail leading into his black boxer briefs. He wasn’t watching my eyes, though. Oh no, his gaze was glued to my hip as he pulled my tight jeans off my body.
“You’re fucking killing me, Hotshot,” he growled, nostrils flaring as he traced the tattoo I’d gotten when I was in college.
It was about a foot long, maybe longer, starting on my thigh and moving up my hip. The design was vines and spirals and swirls in thin black ink, all interconnected. The artist was a friend back in school and she drew the image from something I had done in my notebooks on one constant line, never breaking it so it would look better as it healed.
Of course, she didn’t know I was a Shifter, and the healing went rather quickly. I also swapped out her basic ink for one I knew would take on a Shifter’s skin.
“Who did this?” he growled, and from the way he paused, I had the feeling he wasn’t in the market for a tattoo himself.
“A friend.”
“His name?” he growled, and I almost laughed.
Was he serious? And why the fuck did that turn me on?
“Why? Did you want to get one to match?”
“Nova,” he growled, his enormous hands squeezing both my hips. “Give me his name.”
“No. And I won’t give you any old boyfriends’ names either,” I said, not so secretly liking his jealousy.
It was silly, maybe immature. But there was just something about a man getting all possessive and growly that made a girl feel special. Even as a die hard feminist, I couldn’t deny seeing his little green monster sitting on his shoulder was hot as fuck.
“What boyfriends? How many? Names and last known addresses,” he growled.
“Oh my fucking gods, that is not happening,” I muttered.
I gasped when he licked a trail from my neck to my mouth, rocking his hips so I could feel all his delicious hardness as he flexed against me. But the damn pussycat lifted his head before I could kiss him the way I wanted to.
Fucking tease.
“You will give them to me, woman.”
“Asher,” I said calmly, running my hands up his arms, all the way to his shoulders.
“What?”
“Do you want to talk about our exes, or do you want to fuck me?” I asked, needing an answer.
His eyes heated, and the slow growl that had been simmering inside his chest rose in volume until I felt the vibrations running through him and to me. Asher was done fucking around. He pressed me down onto the mattress and claimed my mouth in a kiss that left me gasping and panting, begging for more.
“I think I’ll fuck you, Baby. But you will tell me what I want to know, eventually.”
“Oh gods, that feels soooo. Asher, please!”
“What do you need, Baby? Tell me,” he growled, closing his mouth over one taut nipple, and sucking it into the hot cavern of his mouth.
I’d never understood foreplay. But maybe it was because I’d had so little of it. Most guys were so damn eager they hardly made it across the finish line with me. More often than not, they simply did not know what to do with a woman. But not him. Asher knew exactly what he was doing, and he made me yearn.
It had been so long since anyone touched me there. Longer still since I wanted anyone to, and even then, it was never like this. I whimpered against his sensual onslaught and threaded my fingers through his thick, glossy mane. It was so silky and smooth, I pulled, liking the way he mimicked the move by sucking more of my tit into his mouth.
Liquid pooled between my legs, and I knew he could feel it against his stomach, but I wasn’t embarrassed. Sex was always messy. And if it was good sex, it was even messier. This promised to be good sex. My body was ready, my mind willing, and as for my heart, well, I wasn’t going to overthink it. I was finally in Asher Donnelly’s bed and there was no way I was going to ruin it for myself by admitting how much it was going to crush me when he moved on.
Live in the now, Nova. Live in the now.