Sexual Shift (9 page)

Inhaling his fiery scent, she fell back on the desk. They shoved away the invoices she’d worked on earlier in the day and swept the stapler, pens and highlighters onto the floor.

She was helpless to break free of him, helpless even to want to. His dark gaze met hers. The desire that whirled inside her gleamed in his eyes.

He tugged her Sweet Nothings Bakery T-shirt over her head, then slid the straps of her bra down her arms. She feathered kisses over his face, lifting up and silently urging him to free her breasts. In seconds, he unhooked her bra and threw it away.

Cupping her breasts, he brought his mouth to a nipple and swept his tongue over her tender area. She ripped off the band holding his hair in a ponytail and held her breath, mesmerized as his hair began to lift outward. He was a strange mixture of light and dark, of hard and soft, and she wanted to know more, feel more. She arched her back, aching for him to possess her.

“Hilly.”

Even the way he said her name sent wetness rushing to her pussy. She cursed herself once again for wearing slacks. Yet in lightning-fast speed, he rid her of those, then ripped away her panties.

She started pulling at the buttons on his shirt. He kissed her, holding his body over hers as he worked at his silver belt buckle, then his black slacks. She pushed the slacks over his buttocks to fall to the floor.

At last, she opened his shirt and ran her palms over the smattering of dark chest hair. She moaned as he showered her neck with hot kisses.

Pausing, he lifted away from her and, watching her face, slid his hand between her legs. She jerked, then froze as he slipped a finger between her folds.

Slowly, tenderly, he cupped her mons and pressed his finger against her clit. He massaged her, moving his finger in circles around her until wetness flooded her already aching pussy. He moved his thumb to her clit, then slid a finger into her pussy. Her muscles clenched around his finger and a gleam sparked in his eyes. She tensed, unable to think.

“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you.”

“I know.”

His hair fell forward as he kissed her gently on the lips. Sliding over her body, his hair tickled the sides of her breasts, then the curve of her waist. He pushed her legs up, bending her knees and let his hair trail over her abdomen.

She reclined on the cool desk and fondled her breasts. His breath warmed her while sending chills through the rest of her body.

Spreading her folds with his fingers, he paused and sighed.

“You’re beautiful. So pink. So ripe. I can’t wait to taste you again.”

She felt the heat rush to her cheeks and she spread her legs farther apart. He kissed her mons, then trailed his tongue over the sensitive skin between her leg and pussy. Keeping her exposed, he drove his tongue inside her pussy.

He rubbed his thumb over her clit, shooting spears of lust outward. The sounds of him licking her, drinking her juices, caused her to spiral into even higher heights of pleasure, and the first orgasm exploded to send shudders into her body.

Tanner pressed his mouth to her pussy lips and flattened his tongue against her. She bucked, her fingernails scraping the surface of the desk.

“Oh-oh-oh.”

He held her and pushed her legs even wider. He lashed his tongue into her pussy, then added his fingers. She clamped around him, loving what he was doing to her yet wanting to feel him inside her.

“Tanner. Please.” Her words came out in puffed breaths.

He rose, his eyes black and gleaming. Her gaze fell to his engorged cock and she shivered. Taking his enormous shaft in hand, he positioned himself at her pussy.

“I didn’t intend to do this. I just needed to see that you were all right.”

Was he going to stop now? She gaped at him, then shook her head. “Tanner, if you don’t fuck me I’ll never forgive you.”

Surprise and delight mixed together to form a bemused expression on his face. Then, without warning, he grew serious. “I don’t think I could stand that.”

“Then do it. Now.”

He plunged into her, driving her body over the desk. Grabbing her legs, he steadied her, pulled back, then drove into her again.

Hilly cried out as she slid over the cool desktop. Again, she reached to find something to hold on to. He slammed his cock inside her, pushing the limits of her vaginal walls.

She inhaled and matched her thrusts with his. She flattened her palms on the desk and lifted her hips, and he rammed into her harder than before, this time driving even deeper.

The curve of his mushroomed cap struck her sweet spot. She shouted as the release barreled through her. She fondled her breasts, her breath coming in puffs with each of his thrusts.

He leaned over her to take her nipple into his mouth. His hair swirled around his face, the tips of it tickling her chest in a soft black rain. Her mewls of pleasure mixed with his groans, and they rocked together, sweat mixing between them.

Wave after wave of orgasm shook her. She took hold of his shoulders and held on. When he tensed, she knew he’d reached the pinnacle, and she held him as his climax roared to life.

Tanner rested on top of her for several minutes. His chest pushed against hers as she sucked in each breath, and although he was heavy, she couldn’t bring herself to make him move.

“Damn it.”

She froze, surprised by his words. “I’m sorry?”

Tanner groaned as he lifted off her. His arm muscles rippled as he pulled her to a sitting position, then placed a hand to her cheek. “Like I said, this isn’t why I came to see you.”

She narrowed her eyes at his growing smile. “You’re not saying you regret what just happened, are you?”

The smile grew into a grin. “Hell, no.” He bent to pull up his slacks, then retrieved the rest of their clothes.

She slipped on her T-shirt, not bothering with her bra, then stood to tug on her slacks. Why did she feel like a “but”
was coming next? She turned her face away from his, unable to stand seeing rejection in his eyes. “Then what?”

“Hilly.” He took her shoulders and forced her to look at him. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m thrilled we made love. It’s just… Well, I’m afraid you won’t feel the same once I tell you what I have to tell you.”

She swallowed the lump forming in her throat. “You mean there’s more? You told me you’re part demon. How much more can there be?” She took a deep breath. “Just spit it out, okay? Say what you came to say.” She shook his hands off and prepared herself for whatever he told her.

“My mother’s the one who sent you the nightmare.”

“But why? And how do you know she’s responsible?”

He braced himself, pulling his body taller. “I know because she’s done it before. She doesn’t want us to be together.”

She inhaled, remembering Tanner’s words to the monster. “Is that what happened to Mira?”

Startled, he stared at her as though trying to decide whether to tell her more. “How do you know about her?”

“You said her name in the nightmare when you fought the monster.”

Pain came and went in his silver-blue eyes. “Mira was the first woman I ever cared for. But my mother couldn’t stand our being together because she was human. So she sent Mira nightmares to drive her away.”

“But how can a nightmare keep two people who care about each other apart?”

“They can if they drive the woman insane.”

“Insane? Oh, Tanner, no.”

His shoulders slumped forward as he dragged a hand through his hair, and she ached to soothe his anguish. “The nightmares came every night. And every night they grew more terrifying than the night before. Mira couldn’t handle them, couldn’t understand that they were only nightmares.”

He shook his head, the struggle to relive that awful time showing in the tightening of his face. “She believed there was only one way to make the horror stop.” He dragged in a slow breath.

Alarm stiffened her body and, for a moment, she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the rest. Yet she had to. “I don’t mean this the way it sounds, but why didn’t you try to help her?”

He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth before looking at her again. “I wasn’t around. My mother had sent me away on business.”

“So you couldn’t save her like you saved me?”

“No. Before I knew what was going on, Mira was dead.”

Chapter Seven

“Are you all right? You look a little pale.” Tanner shouldn’t care what she thought. Had never cared before—except with Mira. Yet the truth cut through him. As much as he wished he didn’t want Hilly, he did. More than he’d wanted Mira.

“She’s trying to do the same thing to me?” Hilly swallowed, then pulled her body straighter.

He clenched his fists. Could he keep her safe from his mother? Or would he fail again? Whatever the outcome, he had to try. “Yes. But I won’t let her hurt you. Can you trust me on this?”

“I trust you.” She frowned at him, confusion etching lines into her brow. “But what about your father? Can he help?”

He smiled, giving her a true, sincere smile. Funny how she made him smile like that so often. “Maybe it’ll help you understand once you realize my father was kicked out of heaven at the time he met my mother.”

“So your father’s a fallen angel?”

“Not any longer. But he was when my mother got her claws into him.”

“What did he do so wrong to get kicked out?” she whispered.

He chuckled
,
but what came out was a mirthless sound. “My father was once a guardian angel. A little girl, a girl about Emma Grace’s age, wasn’t supposed to die in a car accident. But because my father got distracted, he missed saving her. She died well before her time.”

“Oh, no.”

He could feel the horror gripping her heart and sighed. “My father was grief-stricken and ashamed. He was so despondent that he asked to leave heaven and The Powers Above agreed.”

“Then he met my mother.” He couldn’t help the anger in his tone.

She didn’t let his words pass. “I know she’s a demon, but she’s still your mother.”

“I love my mother.” He stared at her, willing her to understand. “But I hate her, too. Even by demonic standards, she’s a truly evil being.”

They sat for a few minutes, each perched on the edge of the desk, each mulling over the conversation. Tanner glanced at her and wondered if she regretted what they’d done. “My mother seduced my father and got pregnant on purpose.”

“Do you think maybe she chose your father to have a baby with because she saw the good in him? Maybe she wanted someone better than her to be her child’s father.”

He cupped her face, amazed at her capacity to see the best in people, even a creature as vile as his mother. “No. She had sex with him thinking it would hurt him more than living among humans. She thought it would damn him to hell.”

“But you said he isn’t a fallen angel any longer.” Hilly’s face lit up with hope. “Is he redeemed? Did heaven take him back?”

Where it had taken him months to tell Mira the truth, Hilly had managed to get him to talk about his parents in a matter of days. He took a big breath, happy to tell the good part of the story.

“My father saved an airplane full of people. Several demons tried to knock the plane from the sky, but my father risked everything, his own eternity to save them. For such a courageous act, he was allowed back into heaven with full angel status.”

“You sound very proud of him and you should be. He’s a hero.”

Damn, but he loved the way her blue eyes sparkled. “No, he’s not a hero. He’s an angel. Saving lives is what they do.”

“Still… But what about you? What did your father think about your mother getting pregnant?”

Tanner paced to the door, turned and faced her again. The way she looked at him, so open, so caring made him lose his thoughts for a moment. “She never told him about me until I was in my teens.”

“So she raised you without letting your father know? Did she tell you who he was?”

He shook his head and snickered. “She told me I was the son of the devil himself.”

She made a choking sound, and her hand went to her throat. “What a bit—” She backed away from finishing her sentence, regrouped and straightened her shoulders. “And what did you do?”

“I was stupid enough to approach the Big Evil Dude myself. Which, by the way, I suggest you never do. After he laughed himself to tears, he threw me in a hole and let me stay there along with a few gargoyles, snakes and ghouls. Trust me. It was not the way I wanted to spend my sixteenth birthday. Hell, my sixteenth year.”

She was in his arms before he realized she was moving toward him. “Damn him. I wish I could punch his lights out.”

She couldn’t have said anything better. He let loose a laugh that came all the way from the bottom of his belly. “So you’d punch his lights out, huh?” He took her by the arms and pulled her away from him. “I bet if anyone could, it’d be you. But just so you know, I don’t think you should try it.”

She touched his lips, then drew him into a kiss. Her lips tasted sweeter than ever, her body warm next to his and, for the first time in longer than he could remember, he felt safe, secure, and nothing short of…loved.