For The Wicked (Fantasy Heights)

For The Wicked

Fantasy Heights, Book 9

by Meg Silver

For The Wicked

Fantasy Heights, Book 9

by Meg Silver

Copyright 2013, Meg Silver

All rights reserved.

The author of this work holds sole publishing rights. For information regarding permissions, email Meg Silver at [email protected].

This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author's imagination, or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.

Edition Notes:

Mg12Ag47:Flourine

GR:061313

Fantasy Heights, Book 9

He waited until after midnight.

Sneaking into the hospital had become more ritual than risk. He liked the place during the wee hours. The nurses paid more attention to checklists, break times and chitchat than security. With the right uniform and the right makeup job, he could waltz straight into Nicole’s room and no one ever looked at him twice.

The nightlight over her bed told him how her day had gone. Lowest setting tonight. She must have enjoyed a relatively peaceful day. Bad days meant the light shining brightly and the television left on to dull the sounds of Ridley’s eternal disturbance.

Bastards. They should never have used his castoff drugs to hobble Ridley. That act of brutality proved once and for all that Yvette Prescott’s lieutenants respected nothing but their own power. He would repay their hubris with inaction. He would do nothing to stop their planned mutiny. Let the minions do all the heavy lifting, then throw them straight under the bus after Yvette.

Until then, revenge could be had by small degrees. If there were any hope to alleviate Ridley’s suffering, he aimed to try. All attempts had failed so far. Maybe tonight’s new cocktail would do some good.

Later, though. First, he needed to treat Nicole.

At her bedside now, he watched her sleep. Watched the rapid eye movement and respiration rate. Calculated the chemical requirements of normal brain function, and reassured himself that his approach had merit. He had very nearly succeeded with this one. She was as close to perfect as he was likely to get with the kill-switch therapy.

He still couldn’t figure out what went wrong during the reboot phase. She should simply have gone to sleep for a week or two. Instead, she’d escaped. He would have to do it all again to see if he could repeat that result.

For now, he had to prepare Nicole. He quickly injected tonight’s dose into her IV port. This was the last of the prep phase. Her next dose would reawaken his masterpiece to a brave new world.

Very gently, he placed a hand on Nicole’s head. And very quietly, he spoke. “They’re bringing you home tomorrow. The lunatics are at the gates, ready to storm the asylum. When it’s done, you will make them pay for Derek. Avenge him with blood and fire.”

Amanda leaned over the workbench to watch Josh open and close drawers on a tool trolley, looking for something.

“You know, it’s funny,” she told him. “I thought living under the same roof meant we’d see each other once in a while.”

Still searching, Josh sounded absentminded and sarcastic at once. “Last night doesn’t count?”

She gave the back of his head a tolerant look. Last night most certainly did not count. She’d gotten home from the business office at ten minutes to ten. Josh had rolled in from work five minutes later. They sat down to watch the news and were out cold on the couch together in twenty minutes flat.

Many of the nights she spent at Josh’s place had ended that way, lately. The Accord was devouring nearly every spare moment left to him by the contracting company, where he had two foremen on vacation and an admin on maternity leave. Plus he was still edgy and prickly about the resurgence of Janos. Difficult circumstances, sure, but there was a hint of tension between them now that Amanda didn’t like. “If I take the operations manager job, will it always be like this?”

He glanced at her, his features neutral.

She couldn’t stand that expression anymore. He wore it every time the subject of the OM job came up. She didn’t understand why. Josh had offered her the position in the first place. At some point during the three weeks that had since passed, he had turned hell-bent against influencing her decision, one way or the other.

This time, at least, he responded to questioning. “When I made you that offer, I hoped you’d take the job because you liked it, not because you felt obligated.”

He did have a point. Right now, she had no choice but to take the wheel. Steph needed weeks, possibly months, of rest yet before she could return. Until then, someone had to keep the place running. Jennifer Grove, the third resort owner, had made sure the onus landed squarely upon Amanda, the only one around with the experience and temperament necessary to keep both costs and performers in check. But she had only agreed to assist on a temporary basis. Nothing permanent.

Josh must have found the tool he sought. He turned to the apparatus he was fixing, a simple support prop stuck in one position. He applied a wrench to each side of the offending bolt, and twisted.

With a sharp squeak, the bolt gave way and she watched in outright appreciation as the muscles in Josh’s arms and back gave her a show.

He gestured for her to step forward. “You’re a good average height. Come here.”

When she rounded the workbench, Josh’s gaze fell to the coffee-colored suede pumps she’d worn into the office to match the sleeveless jersey wrap dress. “Take those off.”

Just to tease him, she asked a hopeful question. “Everything?”

The devious smile he gave her in return made her laugh and melt at the same time.

“The shoes,” he said. “For now, anyway.”

Of course, she thought. The piece he was working on seemed promising. Painted entirely black, it probably came from the shadowbox. Nothing elaborate. Just a base, a metal support beam, and a cross bar that looked like handlebars covered in a padded roll.

With his attention returned to the job at hand, Josh brought her hipbones up against the padded roll. Once she rested against it, he placed a hand in the small of her back to make her lean forward. She held onto the handles to steady herself. Because of the padded roll’s position, she had to rise onto her tiptoes, and she liked the pose. She let her legs go slack and her heels point outward. If not for the dress, everything between her legs would be on display.

God, she loved Josh’s contraptions. “Way too many clothes on, Mr. Taylor.”

Standing behind her, he gave an appreciative whistle. With a glance almost as heated as her thoughts, she could see that Josh was thinking along similar lines. His cock strained against the front of his jeans while he gestured toward a second apparatus. This was little more than a padded exam table with a more substantial stirrup system. The leg rests ran all the way from the heel up to the knee. Restraints at each end would trap her knees and ankles in place. Wrist restraints were fitted at the end of the bench.

Hard to say what Josh needed to adjust on this thing, but she could hardly wait to find out. While he was busy in the tool trolley once more, she untied the wrap dress and slipped it off, casting it onto the workbench.

He turned her direction while she was taking off her panties. His brows went up but he helped do away with her bra, tossing it after the rest of her clothes. That done, he patted the table for her to climb up.

Before she could lie back, Josh caught her behind the head and took her mouth to demonstrate just how scorched he could leave her. So much sensation. Normally he was much gentler, but her striptease provocation seemed to have worked. His mouth was insistent, and she felt his urgency everywhere. Her nipples squeezed into rigid, stinging hot points that nearly detonated when he raised a hand to pinch one tight.

Feeling the charged, ravenous need ignite inside her pussy, she let her own hand travel to Josh’s belt. Perhaps he should be the test subject, for once. With an apparatus like this one, it wasn’t difficult to picture the possibilities. Much more difficult to resist the urge to take over immediately and make it all happen.

Sadly, she knew Josh too well to believe he’d indulge her wishes before the work was done, so she decided to bide her time. Pretend to be nice and passive while he gently eased her back until she lay flat on the table.

She gave a shaky sigh as he lifted her left leg and placed it onto the support. She lifted the other leg herself. Josh made her gasp by bringing his hands between her legs and taking hold, using his thumbs to part her cunt lips. His mouth, as he latched onto her clit, was just as rough as before. Insistent. Demanding, as he flattened his tongue to grind against her clit.

Her back arched and she mewed out a sound of purely wanton delight. Her plan faltered now that he was sucking and rubbing her into intense arousal. She could feel the blood rushing to swell the flesh against him, and her body hurried to lubricate itself, eager for penetration.

The delight turned to disappointment as Josh raised his head. Much as she’d hoped he’d forget about the job for a while, he tinkered with the angle and height of the leg supports, raising them higher and sharpening the pitch into a more strained position that didn’t allow her to move her legs.

When his hands went for the left knee restraint, she remembered her plan. “No. Not me, this time. You. I want you on this table.”

He frowned. “But I want—”

“No.” She sat up and pressed her hands against his chest. “This time, let me play. Please?”

He continued to frown until she slipped off the table and stretched up to kiss him. He felt a might resistant while she wrestled with his belt and unzipped his fly. She made him take his shoes off. Any remaining reluctance evaporated once she began to undress him. She started with his jeans, drawing them forcefully down, rubbing his erection with her mouth through his boxers while she did so.

As soon as the jeans were cast aside, she stripped his boxers off. She gripped his swollen shaft tightly as he stepped out of them. She lost track of things for a moment while kissing the hot tip of him, then opening her mouth to suck him in.

She heard him inhale sharply. Wanting to hear more, she curled her tongue around him, sucking harder while reaching up to take his balls in one hand, skipping the gentle part, going directly to kneading him hard.

Rewarded with a breathy, surprised growl, she traded position between mouth and hands, dipping down to flick his sack with her tongue and squeezing the tip of his cock. She felt a sultry pang in her pussy at the sound he made.

Feeling empowered by then, she took her mouth and hands away to order him onto the table. He eyed her somewhat warily, but he did give in and obey.

“No restraints,” he said.

“Yes, restraints. Argue with me, and I’ll find a ball gag.”

A wry smile surfaced in his eyes, but there was something else, too, that nearly did her in: pure, genuine affection that brought an answering rush of warmth. Not quite strong enough to overtake everything else he’d aroused inside her, but strong enough that if she hadn’t fallen for him entirely before then, she had at least tripped over him now.

She forced him to lie back, and wasted no time getting his legs onto the supports. She made sure to get his wrists trapped first. He did not resist when she secured his knees and ankles. Now that he was securely caught, she left him there to go on her own hunt.

His eyes tracked her every movement as she began to open cabinets. “What are you looking for?”

“Treasure chest. I want lube and a blindfold.”

“God help me,” he muttered.

She found the chest tucked alongside the workbench. A peek inside confirmed she had everything she wanted and a few other things besides. She grabbed up the lube and blindfold and carried them back to Josh, who accepted the blindfold with one long, last look of wariness.

She laughed. “Jeez. Such distrust. I just want you to relax and feel good. That’s all.”

To prove it, she began by simply running her hands, feather light, from his knees down to his inner thighs, then drawing her fingertips over to his feet, over his arches and between his toes. Given the sighs, deep exhales, and the occasional squirm, she decided he was enjoying himself as much as she was.

When she retraced it all with her mouth instead, Josh’s breathing began to deepen, his cock pulsing at every pause, every increase in pressure of mouth against skin. To escalate matters, she let her mouth travel back toward his cock before she dipped down to press her tongue to the very base of his balls. She licked a slow, forceful line up his shaft. The act drew such a guttural, visceral reaction from Josh that she hurried to arouse him even more. She grabbed up the lube and quickly slathered his balls and shaft in a thick, slippery coat.