Spark of Intent Read online

  “Bloody hell.” The curse came out breathy as I lunged, claiming her mouth. Her sweet tongue tangled with mine as she dug her hands into my hair.

  I trailed a string of kisses along her jaw to her ear. “I want you writhing, Nix. You’re going to scream my name as I make you shatter.” Her breath was hot and ragged by the time I finished tracing the shell of her ear with my tongue. There were many other places on her body that I wanted to lick, otherwise I would have been content to stay there all day, teasing the sensitive area I’d found just behind her ear. I’d have to share that knowledge with my brothers, but right now, Nix was mine alone. She shivered under my tongue, and I froze for a moment before pulling back to consider her.

  “Nix.” My voice was husky to my ears, but I kept it firm. “Warm yourself up. Let your Phoenix use her heat.” I raked my teeth down the curve of her neck. “Then I can see how hot I can get you without her help.” Nix groaned under my attention, but I felt her body warm, the heat steaming over us both as her shivering eased. The silky smooth skin of her neck was soft and warm under my lips as I sucked and nipped my way to where her shoulder and neck met. The flat of my tongue snuck out, and I licked the salty drops of water that were beaded on her collarbone.

  “Come here.” I stepped back, staring at the flush in her cheeks that I had put there. She looked good alive and bright like she was now. I wanted to see her flourish under me.

  Looking around the cabin, I scrambled for something I could lay Nix down on. Had I even had the tiniest inkling things would go in this direction today, I would have been more prepared.

  Popping open a compartment under the seats, I pulled out a stack of towels that Damien had once stashed on the boat and made quick work of laying them on the floor in the aisleway between seats.

  She chuckled. “I can’t say I’m sorry I didn’t know where the towels were.” Her grin shot straight to my heart as she let me help her down, settling onto her back on the makeshift bed I’d made.

  Even though I wasn’t wearing them, I had the overwhelming urge to push my glasses up my nose just to have something to do with my hands. Being with Nix—in any capacity—was overwhelming. She meant everything to me and she didn’t even know it. With how tense things had been since the last Council meeting, we’d yet to talk about everything we’d done and said beforehand. I planned to show her—in this moment—how much she meant to me. She wouldn’t step off this boat without knowing how I felt about her.

  I took in all of her beautiful curves as I dropped to my knees. The mound of her breasts would more than fill my hand; the pink pebbles of her nipples contrasted beautifully against her golden skin making my mouth water. Her stomach was a gentle curve to her flared hips that led to shapely thighs I couldn’t wait to spread.

  She wasn’t completely bare, but neatly trimmed and shaped. I wanted to get a closer look. Equally assessing, her gaze raked over me, drinking me in slowly. When it strayed south she bit her lip, the squirm of her body and the press of her thighs together only serving to make my breathing more ragged in my excitement. She liked what she saw, and my Kraken growled possessively in my head.

  I laid down on my side next to her, and she turned her head to look at me, reaching up to cup my face. I pressed into her touch and looked down at her, imploring her with my eyes.

  “If anything makes you uncomfortable, you tell me to stop.” She swallowed and nodded. The weight of my responsibility settled on my shoulders. I knew she’d never made it this far sexually since the abuse she’d suffered. While she hadn’t opened up to us about the incidents, we’d gleaned enough from the thoughts she’d projected both during her first shift and during her long rebirth after she’d been poisoned. She’d been through so much, and I wanted to give her everything. To take away all of the bad and replace it with the good.

  I leaned down and kissed her, my hand settling on her stomach before sliding upward to cup one of her breasts, loving the weight of it as it filled my palm. I took my time, giving her an ample chance to stop me. Yet, she didn’t. She arched into my touch when my palm gripped her curves. I was dying to find out how responsive she was to my touch. I pinched her nipple lightly and heard her sharp intake of breath.

  “Yes. Finally!” Her reply was breathy, and her eyes closed tightly.

  I chuckled. “We’ve been depriving you, I see.” Not giving her a chance to respond, I closed my mouth over the other nipple, sucking and lapping at her tender flesh, enjoying her taste and the way she felt against my tongue.

  She writhed beneath me, pressing her legs together to create pressure where she needed it most, and I groaned—long and low.

  I molded her breasts with my hands, squeezing and shaping them as I laved my tongue across the tops and the sensitive curve underneath. I dragged my palm across her nipples, enjoying the sensation as they hardened under my fingers so that I could suck them into my mouth, working my tongue across her as she moaned and writhed. After a thorough work over of both breasts, I dropped lower… climbing over her as I kissed my way down her stomach.

  Her nails dug into my shoulders and her breathing increased, sawing in and out of her rapidly. I hummed as I dropped even lower.

  “Th… Theo.” She gulped, but every muscle in my body froze. She didn’t sound pleased. She sounded scared.

  I lifted my head just as she started pushing at my shoulders.

  “S… Stop.” I sat back on my heels, extracting myself from her body immediately.

  She sat up, shaking.

  “Nix.” I reached for her, but I wasn’t sure if she would welcome my touch. Demons from her past were licking at her heels, and I knew she needed time to pull herself out of whatever flashback I’d triggered. My stomach dropped at the thought of causing her any kind of pain—physical or emotional.

  “I’m… I’m ok. I just needed a minute.” She swallowed and wrapped her arms around her legs, curling herself into a ball, angling her back and shoulders to keep me behind her as her hand groped for the edge of the towel to pull over herself. I grabbed another towel, letting it wrap around her and provide her the comfort I couldn’t momentarily provide.

  I wrung my hands, my Kraken roaring in my head, wanting her back in the water to help soothe her. Feeling helpless, my hands out as I fought the urge to hold her, I began to hum. My mother had always sung to me when I was sad or scared. Singing wasn’t my forte and I usually avoided it, but I was willing to do anything I could to help. I hummed mindlessly, attempting to mimic the soothing tune I had heard as a child. Slowly her shaking eased, her tight muscles loosening though she still faced away from me.

  “Fuck. I’m sorry.” The self-loathing she felt radiated into her words, and I risked reaching out to stroke a hand down her back. She turned into the touch, thankfully opening back up to me.

  “You have nothing to be sorry about. There are going to be positions, words, or actions that are triggering. Whenever we learn a new one, we’ll adapt to it and work around it until you feel comfortable.”

  Leaning over, she placed a kiss onto my shoulder. “Can we… try again?”

  My heart skipped a beat and I looked over at her. “Nix… I’m not sure—”

  “No. I want to, Theo. I’m tired of letting all the negative things in my life win. Maybe we can just… try a different position?” Pink covered her cheeks, but I wouldn’t let her feel embarrassed about this.

  Standing, I secured a towel to my waist and reached down, taking her hand. Her cheeks deepened in color when she unfurled and stood, and I could only surmise that she was worried about being nude with me now that things had been brought to a simmer.

  Interlacing my fingers with hers, I pulled her to one of the boat seats and draped a towel over it, hoping the thin layer would offer warmth between her and the cool vinyl.

  Before she sat down, I tucked a lock of her long, dark hair behind her ear and kissed her sweetly.

  “Sit.” It was deeper than I’d meant it to come out, but her eyes heated and when she obeyed, my
body reacted, growing harder. I realized that there might be something to the dominant, commanding way Hiro and Damien approached sex.

  Looking down, I swallowed hard as I noticed that her face was suddenly so much closer to my hard length that ached for her, her mouth only inches away. Squeezing my eyes shut, I fought for the control I always clung to and dropped slowly to my knees.

  “May I take the towel off?” I asked, peering up at her through hooded eyes. When she nodded, I helped her discard of it and let my gaze roam her body. I caressed her thighs—hands skimming up and down—dipping my fingers toward her center more with each pass.

  When I pried them apart slowly, she shuddered. I pressed my lips against her inner thigh, licking and kissing my way to her center, loving the sensation of her heated, silken skin against my lips and tongue.

  “Beautiful… doesn’t even seem like a strong enough word, Nix.” I was drunk on her scent and desperate for a taste of her by the time I hooked one of her legs over my shoulders and licked a long line up her center to her clit. Circling the sensitive bud with the tip of my tongue, I watched her melt into a puddle of want, and I went to work utilizing my mouth and tongue, circling her center and using light flicks and nips to make her writhe. I chuckled darkly when she pressed against me, more than willing to give her more.

  “Fuck! Oh, fuck!” Lost in my ministrations, she dug her hands sharply into my hair and hung on for the ride. My hand gripped her other thigh, hooking her knee and pressing her wider. I lost myself in her pleasure as I licked and teased, sucked and flicked. Circling her entrance, I speared my tongue inside of her, making her buck into my face. I used my fingers on her, rubbing and pressing in light strokes as I swirled my tongue into her again and again, fucking her deeply with it as she pressed into me.

  I groaned as she rocked in time with my movements.

  I kept my eyes trained on her face, watching her for any negative reactions, but I didn't think I had to worry anymore. She was fully lost to the desire I was stirring inside of her. My heart soared as I watched her spiral higher, knowing I was the one creating these feelings of abandon within her.

  My blue eyes promised completion as she continued to melt in my arms. Licking my way back to her clit, I swirled my tongue around her before sucking that sweet spot into my mouth, biting down lightly as I flicked my tongue over her fast and hard. She flew apart, burning up in a blaze of pleasure. She locked me against her sex as her orgasm crashed through her, and I tended her through it, enjoying her salty sweet taste on my tongue.

  Her eyes had flecks of gold in them by the time she caught her breath and gazed down at me lovingly, her Phoenix close to the surface.

  I wanted nothing more than to whisk her back home and spend the day in bed learning her body. Instead, I placed one last kiss on her thigh, gazing longingly at her sex.

  “You taste so fucking good.” I licked my lips, loving how wet she had gotten for me, and watched as pink traveled down her body from her blush. “I’d stay between your thighs all bloody day if you’d let me.”

  A nervous laugh left her lips as she unhooked her legs from my shoulders. I didn’t know what was so funny. I was being completely serious. A tremor of an aftershock wracked her, and I closed my eyes on a moan, trying to keep myself from diving at her once more.

  “I mean it. I have a certain… affinity to… what we just did.” Why did it feel so awkward to talk about sex with the woman I wanted to make my mate?

  “You’re fucking amazing at it.” She reached for the towel and wrapped it around her waist.

  I grunted, the idea of seeing how many times she could come in a row riding me hard. Standing swiftly, I left the cabin.

  “Where are you going?” She laughed and watched me leave.

  “To cool down.” I turned and smirked at her, crossing my arms over my chest and narrowing a playful gaze at her. “I’m trying to be a gentlemen, but if I keep inhaling your rich, sweet scent, I’m going to say ‘fuck it’ to our gathering and dive back between your thighs.”

  Nix moaned and shifted on her feet. I could just imagine the press of her thighs against her sensitive clit as she squirmed. My cock tried to argue with my brain as I took a step back. I throbbed so badly for her I ached. Exhaling sharply, I shook my head with a smile playing on my lips. “Walking away from you is harder than I imagined. Bloody hell…”

  I spun around and perused the frigid water that I hoped would cool my my ardour and help get my body under control. I needed to make it through the rest of this day without dragging Nix home as my body currently begged me to do.

  I dove.

  Ten

  Nix

  Theo had been right when he reassured me that we wouldn’t tango with the Council while we were on the island. Houses along the road began to gradually get better the farther inland we drove, but it had surprised me once again the shift of class from the outer reaches of the island to the inner circle where the Council’s lodge resided. Earlier than I had anticipated, the car turned, heading along a bumpy gravel road.

  I was thoroughly jostled up from the ride—clearly used to the smooth asphalt of Orlando and Anchorage—by the time we rolled to a stop in a large clearing. As Theo parked the borrowed car his sleuth had left for us along the edge, I peered out the window. Children ran around squealing gleefully, chasing after a soccer ball. It was adorable, but what was even cuter was the way Ryder was chasing after them, kicking the ball expertly between his feet as he played keep away with the other boys, juggling the ball up in fancy kicks and twirls that had the boys nearly falling over with giggles.

  “Looks like the guys arrived before us.” He didn’t sound the least bit remorseful about not being here before them, and I didn’t blame him. I wasn’t either. Just the memory of Theo’s tongue doing wicked things to my body was enough to heat my blood all over again, and I blushed, thrusting the door open before he could get a read on my pheromones. Being around the guys was like being on simmer all the time. It took next to nothing for my body to warm and ache for theirs. My Phoenix was my ever present enabler in the background—pushing me to mate and claim the creatures she considered hers. I considered them mine too. We just hadn’t talked about it—the proverbial elephant in the room, a secret that none of us wanted to verbally acknowledge for fear of ruining this beautiful family we had created.

  Our standoff would have to break soon—in all things. The Gala was coming up, and I needed to know how they wanted to handle the Council’s censure of our relationships.

  Damien slipped from inside a house at the far end of the clearing. The bungalow style cabin was painted a light grey with white trim on its exterior. It stood in direct contrast to the tall forest of trees around it. Long dirt driveways branched off around the clearing, leading to homes spaced at varying depths within the forest. Some were closer to the clearing while others were set back in the trees, barely visible. While the main house stuck out given its coloring, the other homes around the vicinity were various shades of greens, browns, and natural wood.

  Theo had just rounded the car and linked our fingers together when I waved with my other, offering Damien a warm smile.

  “It looks like the shift went well.” Damien’s genuine smile did amazing things for my heart. He’d been burdened for days and I lived for those peeks into the man I knew before the infamous Council meeting.

  “It did. Theo is massively impressive.” I grinned up at my Kraken.

  “You could have just stopped at massive.” Ryder grinned, jogging over, untangling himself from kids trying to get the ball from his hands.

  “She knows that too.” Theo blushed a bit as he said it, which made my own rosy shade reappear. He just had to tease me in front of the others didn’t he?

  Ryder’s eyebrows shot up. “Is that so?” He looked back and forth between the two of us.

  “She looks amazing in a bathing suit.” I’d never heard Theo taunt Ryder before, but the Kraken looked insanely pleased with himself when he took in Ryder
’s gaping mouth.

  “You… she… bathing suit? Please, for the love of God give me details, man. I need details!” Ryder tossed the ball he was holding back into the clearing where the children all gave chase, leaving Ryder to his new focus. In an unexpected move, he lunged for Theo, who dropped my hand to ward off Ryder’s antics. He was currently trying to shake the sea monster for answers. “Two piece or one piece? What did it look like? Bloody hell… what did she look like in it? It was amazing wasn’t it?”

  “I think that’s an illegal soccer move.” I scrambled, trying to steer the conversation to safer topics. I was standing outside Theo’s mother’s house after all. The last thing she needed to hear about was her son’s sex life. Especially since it was linked to mine.

  “Whoa. Wait. Did you see her without it?” At Theo’s cheshire grin, Ryder dropped his head and moaned. “You lucky son of a…”

  “Ryder!” I snapped. “His mother is inside! Shut. Up!” I was blushing wildly as I stomped off, but wasn’t fast enough to miss the next part of the conversation.

  Damien inhaled deeply and groaned. “You couldn’t have had her dive back into the water before you brought her back? She smells amazing.”

  “Oh God!” I whipped around and whispered forcefully. “You can smell me?” I knew my pheromones might be stronger, but I’d hinged all my hopes that the boat ride and fresh air would help with that before I headed indoors.

  At each of the guys’ sheepishness, I stalked back to Ryder and smacked him lightly on the arm. “Go get Rini for me.”

  “Only if you’ll promise I’m the next one who gets to see you in your bathing suit… or your birthday suit. Your choice.” He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows teasingly. I rolled my eyes and tried to school my face. I didn’t want him to see my desire to grin. I was trying to be frustrated at them. Why did they make it so hard to stay that way?

  “You don’t need to worry. My mother knows that you’re our… that you’re special to us.” Theo reached to his nose to fiddle with his glasses but came up short. They were still tucked away in the car.