Submissive by Moonlight (8 page)

“So why did you insist you barely knew him when you knew something relevant?” Nolan was a little pissed, but it was information worth the drive. She hadn’t lied to him, maybe, but she’d definitely hedged.

“Maybe he doesn’t want to be found. That’s his right, isn’t it?”

“Absolutely. And if Jerry didn’t leave of his own power, he’s got a right to have people look for him. Which is where I come in.” He relaxed his jaw. People didn’t usually say everything they knew to the police, and he had to build trust with her all over again. He’d made her a suspect before. She probably feared he’d do it again.

“Then why talk to me? I get the feeling you were surprised I even knew Jerry, so that’s not it.”

Nolan frowned. This was the hard part. It was still tempting to tell her that it was his idea, that he wanted her help. But he never had been one for taking the easy road. “I was directed to enlist you in the search. The way you found the girl.”

She stared at him for a long moment. “Witchcraft? Psychic powers? You’re asking me to look into a crystal ball?” Her tone was as derisive as any skeptic’s, and he supposed he couldn’t blame her. “I thought you were pretty clear that you didn’t believe in such things.”

He gritted his teeth and took a deep breath. “It wasn’t my idea. And I didn’t know you did the crystal-ball thing.”

“I don’t, in fact. Tried, when I was younger. I don’t seem to have the gift. What gave whoever it was the bright idea to send
you?
Or did you volunteer hoping to get into my pants again?”

“Been thinking about that, have you?”

“No.” But she blushed and looked away.

“At least,” he said, “I’m honest with you. It may not get me very far, but I always give you the truth.”

“Actually, you evaded my question.”

“Did I? Well, then. I did not volunteer hoping to get into your pants again. It was the chief’s bright idea, and I objected. But I most certainly would not turn down the opportunity.”

“Fine.” Marisa put her hands on her hips. “And yeah, I’ve been thinking about it. Now back to business.”

Well, then, he had a chance. He filed that away for later and moved back to the subject of Jerry. “So did you help him out with this spell?”

She shook her head. “No. He didn’t understand magic very well. And there was something wrong with him. He was scared. But he wasn’t in his right mind, and I wasn’t going to mess with that. I suspect he was drunk or on drugs or something. I told him to come up and talk to me—”

“That wasn’t very safe.”

“Jerry wouldn’t hurt me. But anyway, that’s what
he
said, that it wasn’t safe for me for him to come up here. Then he said thanks anyway and hung up. I didn’t know he was missing, though.”

“It’s been in the
Record
.”

“I only pick up a copy when I go into town.” She sighed and then stepped back. “Come on in, Nolan. I’m worried about him now. Let’s see what we can do together.”

SHE WASN’T SURE she could help. Other than a few hunches like the one that stopped her from helping Jerry with the spell, she’d been anything but psychic lately. She hadn’t even had any cryptic dreams. She didn’t know what to make of it.

She closed the door behind him.

“If we find Jerry, and he doesn’t want us to tell his parents, what are you going to do?”

Nolan shrugged. “It depends on the situation. But if he’s all right and not doing anything illegal, well, I’ll have to tell them he’s safe and sound, but I don’t have to go beyond that.”

“You’ll get in trouble. His dad is a powerful man.”

Nolan shrugged again.

Marisa considered him. Her first take had been that he was one of those people simply too smug in his own belief system to not tell others they were wrong. But maybe that wasn’t it. Maybe, as he had said, he was simply honest with her. Either way, she was sure he wasn’t lying. “Okay, then. I’ll try to help. But I’m not sure what I can do.”

“Well, we’ve tried police work and come up with squat for clues. We might as well try your mum—your way.”

“My mumbo jumbo?” She chuckled at his discomfort.

He sighed. “Your way. Whatever it is.”

“Psychic visions. Prayers to the Goddess for insight.” She regretted the words. It wouldn’t make him feel any more comfortable. Maybe she too needed to push. To rub it in that he was coming to her for help. It wasn’t very mature of her. Especially since she didn’t expect to succeed.

He just nodded. “Do your thing.”

“Maybe in a few days, when the moon is full.” She’d been looking at the forecast, and it was going to be right around freezing on the first night of the full moon. She’d be wearing clothes for the ritual, she’d decided, but at least she’d be outdoors. She knew some witches who were so hung up on being naked for rituals that they blocked off nature with four walls and a roof. That seemed to her to miss the point of why witches did things sky-clad to begin with.

He crossed the room and took a seat in the same chair he had sat on when he was topping her. But he didn’t say anything.

She had to walk to get to where she could see his face again, although she sure as hell wasn’t going to kneel at his feet. He hadn’t put down a cushion, either, so maybe that wasn’t what he was after. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Because it doesn’t take a psychic to know what I’d say.”

“He might not have a few days, if he’s in trouble.”

“Yes.”

She sighed. He probably didn’t have much hope for their partnership, at least as far as finding Jerry was concerned. She ought to be the optimistic one, but she wasn’t. Nolan being there wasn’t going to suddenly make her do any better.

Unless.

I can’t be thinking what I’m thinking.

All acts of love and pleasure are my rituals.

She remembered that one crystal-clear vision she had before Nolan walked out of her life the last time. It had probably been the starkness of it that had made her so short with him, so frustrated that he wouldn’t acknowledge the reality of what she did. Either it was an amazing coincidence, or sex with him had opened a pathway. That wouldn’t surprise her. After all, the ritual with the chalice and dagger was a metaphor for sex in the first place. Why shouldn’t the real thing be even better?

She knew right away that having sex with him wouldn’t enhance her psychic powers if that was the only reason she was doing it. She couldn’t
use
someone to get power—that would go against everything she was and everything she believed in.

She looked at him. He looked back. “Having a vision?” he asked. She couldn’t tell if he was mocking her or not, but she supposed she had seemed lost in thought.

She shook her head. He looked damn good sitting there in his tight cop pants and high cop boots. “Let’s stop talking about business a moment and talk about us. We’ll get back to the other, I promise.”

He grinned. “Let’s talk, then.”

She realized she didn’t have the slightest idea where to start. She knew she was still attracted to him. She was standing, and he was sitting down, and despite the fact that he was taller than her, she felt as if she was towering over him. She wanted him to take charge, to make the next move, and he was leaving it up to her. She couldn’t say she blamed him.

She sat down on the couch. It felt too far from him. She wanted to be in his arms, but it was too soon for that. “I’ve missed you,” she admitted.

“I’ve missed you too.”

“I don’t know how to start up again.”

He nodded. “How about we start with me apologizing?”

“Huh?”

“I don’t believe in, you know, supernatural stuff. But if I’d seen a vision and pointed a cop in the right direction to find a lost little girl, I’d believe I had psychic powers too. And when you told me you had a premonition I was going to get called in, I should have believed you did. I have a hard time believing that it’s more than coincidence, but damn—you said you felt something, and I should accept that at face value, and if something happens after you feel it, well, sure.” He shrugged. “So I was out of line to mock it. I’m sorry.”

She nodded. If he’d done a complete about-face, she’d have known he was willing to do anything to get in bed with her. Which would be flattering in a way, but it would have chilled her. She preferred honesty. “You don’t have to believe for me to be attracted to you.”

“Good thing.” He took a breath. “But for all that, I want you to do the rituals you need to do and try your best to find out what happened to Jerry Mackey. Inconsistent of me, isn’t it?”

“You believe what you believe. That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for doubt. There are times I doubt what I believe too. I’m sorry for shutting the door on you.” She wasn’t sure explaining how clear her vision had been or why she’d felt so strongly right then would help or hurt, so she decided to save that for later. She didn’t need him to believe in her psychic ability. She needed him to believe she wasn’t crazy or a liar.

“Since my boss is going to think I’m pulling one over on him if I take you into town for a date, I only know of one way for us to restart.”

“What’s that?” She wondered if she sounded too eager.

“Where we left off. Bring a cushion from the couch if you wish, because I want you in front of me. On your knees.”

She hesitated for a moment. Could it be that simple? Then she stood up, picked up the cushion she’d been sitting on, and plopped it on the floor in front of him. She knelt there, letting her knees sink into the softness. “Yes, Sir,” she said fervently.

“Good girl,” he said. His hand caressed her neck, moving from the side of it to where it met her collarbone.

“Would you like me to hang your jacket up, Sir?” she asked. She had the heat turned up enough that she was comfortable in a T-shirt and jeans. He had to be roasting.

“Nah. I can throw it on the couch.” He took his jacket off and tossed it where the cushion had been. “You can take your shirt off, though, as long as we’re stripping.”

“It’s not exactly the same,” she pointed out.

“No, it isn’t.” He grinned. “And I don’t think either of us would want it to be.”

She inwardly cursed him for being right, took a deep breath, and pulled her shirt over her head. She would have chosen a different bra if she’d known it was going to be seen. The one she wore was plain, white, and utilitarian, and she was only wearing it because her black ones were drying on the clotheshorse. She avoided his gaze, looking down at his knees instead and then at his crotch. He wasn’t hard, but there was still plenty there.

He brushed the back of his hand across her chest, and her nipples tightened in response. Her heart pounded.
Am I really so easy? Yet why should desire be difficult, just because it always has been?

He raised his hand and tilted her chin up until she had no choice but to look at him. Then he kissed her. From anyone else it would have felt tentative, a nibbling kiss that worked around the edges of her mouth. From him she knew it was teasing. Her lips opened. He pressed his lips against them and took possession of her with his tongue. His hands held her, one on each cheek, keeping her exactly where he wanted her.

With that kiss, her last resistance was gone. And she could tell from his face that he knew it, too. He kissed her again, and this time he unhooked her bra in the process and slipped it off her shoulders. It soon joined his jacket on the couch.

He pulled back, letting her catch her breath. But not for long. “Get up on my lap,” he ordered.

He acted as if there was no chance she’d refuse him. Why was he so confident? Arrogant, really. But she found it damn attractive, like the day’s growth of stubble on his chin. Rough, but sexy. She climbed up onto his lap, sitting with both legs to one side. She felt something hard against her bum. He was aroused now, she noticed with satisfaction.

She realized she was too. She’d been so distracted by the hardening of her nipples and the way her chest was pounding that she hadn’t noticed her pussy getting wet. But now she was aware, her panties damp against her tingling skin. She regretted sitting sideways. It would feel good to grind her crotch against his, letting the hard ridge rub her pussy through the layers of fabric. She doubted he would object.

But he wrapped one arm around her waist, holding her still as she was about to make the adjustment. His other hand stroked her breasts, plumping them, then teasing with his fingers around the nipples, until they felt hard enough to cut glass.

“I’m going to take you further this time, my lovely little slave.”

She should object to that word. But she didn’t. It felt too good. And what better word was there for what she was feeling, that desire to let him do whatever he wanted? She knew there were limits, but she didn’t want to focus on them. He wouldn’t push her too far.

His fingers closed around one tender nipple and squeezed. She bit her lip at the pain, but it shot a bolt of pleasure straight to her pussy. She rubbed her legs together, trying in vain to get some friction.

“You know your safe word, darling?” Nolan asked.

“Yes.” The incident in the grocery store had etched it in her mind.

“Good. That lets me push you harder.” He squeezed again, and she yelped.

“Too much!” she cried. Too much pain or too much pleasure. She wasn’t sure which.

“No. I get to decide that.” He unsnapped the button on her jeans and then pulled them and her panties off her. Next he pushed her legs apart, able with one hand to overpower her attempts to keep them together. His finger pushed into her pussy. She knew she was wet. Now he knew too. And that meant he was very unlikely to stop what he was doing.

She wiggled, trying to pull his finger farther in, but he was having none of that. He pulled it out, trailing it across her pussy lips, a bare tickle against her clit as it slid by. She groaned.

“You’ll get to come, darling. I promise. But only when I decide you’re good and ready. Is that understood? Can you surrender that to me?”

Goddess
. She nodded. “Yes, Sir.” She wanted it now. But she’d take the promise.

“Good girl.” He wrapped a hand in her hair and tugged her back. She shivered at the thought of her vulnerability with her neck exposed. Somehow that added to her arousal. He kissed her on the lower part of her neck. She hadn’t realized how sensitive the skin was there. Teenage fantasies about vampires came rushing back to her. Her body arched in response, leaving her even more vulnerable.