Seduced and Enchanted (10 page)

Her godmothers began to argue among themselves, Fanny’s voice loud and excited, Lora’s calm and reasonable, Viv’s quiet and conciliatory.

Rosie’s stomach rolled and her head hurt. She didn’t want her godmothers to fight.

On the one hand, she wanted to do whatever they said. Considering they’d given up their lives to raise her, it wasn’t too much to ask that she listen to them. She’d been conditioned to do so her entire life.

On the other hand, she was twenty-seven years old. When did her life become her own?

Rio squeezed her hand, drawing her gaze back to his as her godmothers continued to talk. “Are you sure?” He gave her his warm, comforting smile.

She barely heard his voice over her godmothers’ discussion but she knew what he was asking.

She smiled back, even though the expression trembled a little. “Of course I’m not sure. I don’t know what I’m getting myself into. But I’ve had my head in the sand for years and I’m sick of it.”

He nodded, no longer smiling. “Then I’ll be right here.”

Rosie’s confused look told Rio she couldn’t understand why he wasn’t running in the opposite direction.

Hell, he was a little surprised himself. His brothers were right about him in some respects. He hadn’t met a woman before who held his interest long enough to make him stick around for more than a few dates. Until now.

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Seduced and Enchanted

Rosie’s godmother Vivian had just confirmed it. Lora hadn’t let her finish but Rio knew what Vivian had been going to say.

Soul mate.

Rosie was his. The one woman meant for him. That was why he’d been so drawn to her from the beginning. That was why the spell had been broken when they’d made love.

Joy flooded him. He’d met the woman he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with. Now he just had to keep her safe while they defeated a
bergoia
so they could live a long life together.

Rio didn’t have a clue how he was supposed to do that. But he knew one thing for sure. Rosie’s godmothers weren’t taking her away from him.

“We need to move her before the
bergoia
gets here,” Lora said. “Hopefully it didn’t track her to Sal’s but—”

“Rosie and I will stay here for the day while you ladies scout the city, see if the
bergoia
has shown up,” Rio decided, standing to address the godmothers. He figured he needed every advantage. “We’ll be safe here, at least for today. Sal will make sure of that. Besides, it’s a good environment for her to test her powers, get a feel for them.

Tomorrow, if you decide it’s safe, I’ll take her to someone who can teach her how to control them.”

Lora opened her mouth to shoot him down but Vivian spoke first. “I think that sounds like a plan. Release the spell, Lora.”

“Viv, really—”

“Release her.” Vivian’s voice held absolutely no give and both Lora and Fanny stared at her with widened eyes. They grumbled about how stupid that idea was but Vivian stood firm until Lora finally said a few words in Etruscan and snapped her fingers. Rio felt the rush of the spell breeze toward Rosie, who gave a little gasp as it connected with the
arus
in her blood.

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Stephanie Julian

Then Vivian winked at Rosie. “We’ll be back in a little while, sweetheart. Try not to worry too much while we’re gone.”

The little godmother turned to Lora and Fanny and herded them toward the hall.

“Let’s go. We have a lot of ground to cover.”

With a huff and a pointed look at Rio, Fanny headed toward the front of the house with Vivian, but Lora lingered. She managed to look down her nose at him even though she was shorter.

“I certainly hope you’re as good as you think you are, son,” Lora said. “We’ll be back by nightfall.” She turned to Sal. “I’m still not sure this is the right thing to do.”

Sal hopped off the chair and stood, waving the woman toward the doorway. “You knew the day was coming, Lora. Gotta let go sometime.”

With a sigh, Lora let Sal lead her out of the room.

The front door opened and closed and finally alone with Rio, Rosie closed her eyes and blew out her breath through pursed lips. Then she turned her gaze to him. “What now?”

Good question. And one he better have a damn good answer for. “First we need to teach you how to get a handle on your little hand problem. That’s the easy part.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “Easy, huh? Maybe I don’t want to know what the hard part is.”

“You can still get your godmothers to bind your powers.”

She thought about it for a few seconds then shook her head. “No.” She took another deep breath. “No, I
can
do this. Lead on, Rio. I just hope you know what you’re getting yourself into.”

So did he.

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Seduced and Enchanted

Six hours, two meals and countless bruises later, Rio gave Rosie a standing ovation in Sal’s basement workout area.

She stood in the center of the room, waving her hands in the air like a conductor while he stood directly in front of her. Not flying into the wall at his back as he had the last twelve hundred or so times.

Her smile was radiant, her eyes sparkled—and the aches and pains in his battered body became nothing more than a slight annoyance.

With a laugh, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly before stepping back to grin at him. “Oh my God, Rio. I can’t believe it. This is so amazing.”

Yeah, this really was amazing. But he was pretty sure they were thinking about two different things.

“I can’t believe I’m able to finally control that,” she waved her hands in front of him like jazz hands, “power. It’s just so cool.”

They definitely weren’t thinking of the same thing. While she was talking about her newfound power, he was thinking about the feel of her half-naked body pressed against his.

They’d stripped down to bare essentials a few hours ago, after a quick lunch of Sal’s fantastic
prosciutto
, basil,
provolone
panini
and homemade lemonade. Rosie wore only her black bra and a pair of soccer shorts Sal had dug out of a bedroom drawer. Rio had lost his t-shirt hours ago but had kept on his jeans. He didn’t want to have mat burns on his ass from his many trips to the floor. They’d interfere with his plans for later.

And, boy, did he have plans.

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Stephanie Julian

“No need for thanks, babe. Believe me, I’ll be taking my payment in trade.” He winked at her.

It took a few seconds for his words to sink in but then she smiled. His cock throbbed as she let her gaze wander down his bare chest to his stomach then to the ridge behind his zipper. Her eyes lingered before she looked back up. “So you’ve just spent six hours getting thrown across the room just because you wanted to get laid?”

The corners of his mouth lifted at the enticement in her tone. Even with everything going on, he couldn’t remember ever having a better time with a woman. “Oh, getting laid doesn’t begin to cover it.”

Her smile turned impish…and hot as hell. “Don’t you know all you had to do was ask?”

Every muscle in his body tightened and that ever-present fire low in his body raged. “And what fun would that be?”

“So you want a little fun?” she teased.

Oh Great Goddess, he wanted a whole lot of fun with this woman. A whole lot of times, in a whole lot of positions, with a whole lot of orgasms.

Without warning, he dropped to his knees, pulled the nylon shorts and her panties to her ankles and slipped one hand between her legs.

“Rio! What—”

She couldn’t finish the sentence because she gasped when he slid two fingers straight into her dripping sex. Her hands clasped onto his shoulders, to either hold herself steady or make sure he didn’t go anywhere, he wasn’t sure which. But she didn’t have to worry. He wasn’t moving anywhere until she’d come.

The trimmed, pale brown curls on her mound were silky soft. He couldn’t resist getting closer and running the tip of his nose through them. He inhaled. She smelled aroused and wet and hot. All for him.

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Seduced and Enchanted

Rio didn’t wait to taste her. Using both hands, he spread her legs until he saw the folds of moist pink flesh and the small nub of her clit. Her fingers urged him closer and he settled his mouth directly over her clit, letting his tongue lead the way to flick over it a few times before he gently nipped at it with his teeth.

Rosie moaned so loudly it reverberated off the stone walls. He worked her with his tongue and teeth for a few minutes, licking and sucking. Her body thrust toward him, at least as much as he allowed, his hands holding on tightly to her hips. He wanted her begging for release, wanted her to equate pleasure with him only. Then he would give it to her.

With his eyes closed, he relied on his senses of taste and touch to guide him.

Swiping his tongue along her folds, he lapped up the moisture gathered there. The sweet honey was more intoxicating than any alcohol. Like an addict, he wanted more.

He moved one hand between her legs and thrust two fingers into her wet sex. Her pussy sucked them in eagerly. He finger-fucked her, alternating fast and slow thrusts until he felt her orgasm begin and heard her whimper. When her muscles clamped onto his fingers and she cried out, he drew out her climax until she was gasping for air. Only then did he increase the speed and rush her into release. When her knees buckled, he caught her and laid her out on the mat.

Rosie looked sated and a little dazed. Both good things.

But Rio was far from finished. In fact, he’d only just started. He tangled with her bra for a few seconds before he got it off and threw it over her head. After he tossed the shorts and panties from her ankles, he wrestled with his jeans, easing them off his hips and making sure he didn’t catch his aching erection in the zipper. When he was finally naked, he spread her legs, crawled between them then sat back on his heels, watching her.

Her heavy-lidded gaze connected with his. Watching. Waiting. Wondering.

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Stephanie Julian

If he were an artist, he’d paint her just like this. But since he didn’t have one artistic bone in his body, he settled for using his hands to trace every curve, every line, every hollow, from her beautiful face to her gorgeous toes. Her webbed toes.

Cool. That must be her
aguane
heritage.

He opened his mouth to say something but completely lost his train of thought when she sat up and cupped both hands around his cock.

It was his turn to groan at the sensation of her cool hands on his heated flesh. His shaft jerked in her grip then thickened even further as she stroked him. Closing his eyes, he let her caress him with long pulls, alternated with light tugs on his balls.

The sensation made sweat slick his skin but he forced down his desire. When he came, he wanted to be buried deep inside her, hopefully while she came as well. And that meant holding on—

She slipped her lips over the tip of his cock and sucked.

The sound that came out of his mouth was animalistic in its intensity and he reached for her head to hold her in place. After she’d played her tongue around the tip for a few seconds, she let her lips slide down on him, taking more of him until his shaft was completely enclosed in her mouth. His cock head reached inside her throat. No woman had ever let him in so deeply. The wet heat, the scrape of her teeth and the motion of her tongue shot fire into his balls.

Oh Christ, he wasn’t going to last. His hips pumped involuntarily as she drew back, letting her teeth drag against the tender flesh. The slight pain and the cool air on his moistened skin made his cock jerk in warning.

“Rosie, I’m gonna—”

The swift downward motion of her mouth forced all the air from his lungs in sheer pleasure. No more words were needed. The fierce suction she induced as she hollowed her cheeks made it more than clear what she wanted.

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Seduced and Enchanted

Rio gave in to her, the rush of fluid pulsing out of him and into her mouth. It was sensual and binding in the most primal way.

His. Always his.

Back flat on the mat, arms over her head, Rosie stretched her entire body.

She felt completely sated and, for the first time today, not totally freaked out.

She could get addicted to sex with Rio. Real fast.

On his stomach beside her, the object of her obsession had his eyes closed as he tried to catch his breath. His hand lay heavily on her stomach, his skin warm. She wanted to bask in that heat for hours, like a cat in the sun. Wanted to rub her body all over him, make him come— Oh wait, she’d already done that. But there was no law that she couldn’t do it again.

At that moment, Rio opened his eyes. He must have been able to tell exactly what she was thinking because he smiled that maddeningly erotic smile.

“Babe, just give me a minute.”

She laughed, because there was no way he’d be ready again in a minute. He looked completely replete.
She
had done this to him. Rosie had never felt this sexy and powerful.

His smile turned rueful. “Okay, maybe more than a minute. But definitely no more than five.”

Leaning over, she smacked a kiss on his lips then rolled away to get her clothes.

“We should get dressed and go upstairs. I’m sure Sal knows what we’re doing down here, so I’m already going to be embarrassed when I see him. But if we do it again, I won’t be able to look him in the face.”

Rio pushed himself up on an elbow to watch her. “Believe me, Sal’s not gonna judge.”

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Stephanie Julian

Pulling her bra on, she shook her head as she searched for her shorts. “Still, it’s not like I know the guy and here I am, having sex in his basement.” She finally found the shorts all the way across the room. How’d they get there? “I’m not normally this…”

Slutty? Horny?
“Eager.”

“Glad to know it’s just me,” Rio said, smiling. Damn, but that man’s smile did wonderful things to her libido.

“And that’s, ah, something I wanted to talk to you about.” She pulled on the shorts and panties. “You know I’m not a virgin. I’ve slept with other guys before. So is what happened, my powers unlocking, just because you’re…magical?”