Velvet Haven (31 page)

“Talk to me. I want to understand. Tell me everything.”

“Mairi, don’t—”

The hum from his body intensified, warming her fingertips. “Just talk to me.”

“You can’t touch me,” he growled, pushing away from her.

“Why? Don’t you feel it anymore? This
thing
between us?”

“I feel you too much,” he whispered, and Mairi thought she had never heard a voice sound so anguished. “I feel your touch all over my body. I feel it go straight to my heart, my soul.”

“Then let me touch you.”

Deftly he moved to the right, avoiding any contact with her. “No. What we have—had,” he corrected, “cannot last. As you said, we are from different worlds. Worlds that don’t mix.”

It killed her to hear him repeat what she had said, especially when she now believed she was wrong. She touched his face, and he closed his eyes.

“Why do you make this so much harder?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“I don’t mean to.”

“Then leave,” he growled, turning his back on her.

“I tried that earlier but Rhys was blocking the door. He said it was on your order.”

His shoulders stiffened. “For your protection.”

“Or is it to keep me with you?”

“I want nothing from you.”

“Then why do you keep me and Rowan here?”

“Because I made a bargain with Suriel. He was looking for a book that belongs in Annwyn. I knew you had it, and knew you could decipher the clues behind the story. So that is why I keep you here, because we need your knowledge.”

His words were intended to hurt her. To push her away. And they did hurt, but Mairi was done running. She wasn’t going to let him win this easily. “What you’re doing is denial.”

He glared at her. “No. It is not. It’s self-preservation.”

“This morning you wanted me. I believe you would have done anything to have me.”

“That has changed.”

“Has it?”

His stance told her he was struggling with his facade, but he held to it, stubborn to the very end. “Everything has changed. My world has been thrust into turmoil. Your world . . . it is the same here. Dark times are coming, and we are caught up in it. Me, you, your friend. We’re to play a part in it all. What has happened, it’s merely the beginning.”

“Rhys told me about the body you found in the alley. He says that more like it have been discovered in Annwyn, and then there was Lauren. This . . . killer is who you search for.”

He nodded. “Until I discover his identity and what he wants, you cannot leave here.”

“And that is honestly the only reason you’re keeping me here?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t believe you. I think what you said this morning is closer to the truth.”

“I was manipulating you. I needed energy to feed my curse.”

“What is it that has suddenly made you turn from me? What is it you fear?”

“Let it go,” he demanded.

“Why, because you’re too much of a coward to admit what you feel? Are you afraid of me? A mere mortal?”

“What am I afraid of?” he stormed, capturing her shoulders in his big hands. He brought her body up hard to his, forcing her to tilt her head back to look at him. “I’m afraid of loving you and never having you. I’m afraid that you’re going to be Suriel’s lover and I’ll have to sit on the periphery and watch.”

“Suriel?” she cried. “He is not . . . that is . . . that’s insane.”

“He wants you.”

“Not in that way! Oh, don’t,” she gasped, cupping his face in her hands. “Don’t keep your hands off me because you think I’m with Suriel. Please, Bran, it isn’t at all what you think. It’s you I want.”

“You don’t know what you’re asking for.”

“I know what I want.”

“No, you don’t.
Fuck
,” he ground out. “Can’t you understand that this cannot go any further?”

“Why did you go to Suriel, then, and ask him to save me?”

“Because Annwyn needs that book and I knew you had it.

Just like I need your friend Rowan and her visions. I saved you because, simply put, you’re useful to me.”

Mairi felt her lips tremble, his words sinking home. “You said this morning that you didn’t intend to use me.”

“I lied.”

In a quiet corner, Mairi sat with Suriel and pored over the book. In a notebook she wrote down phrases, trying to decode the hidden meanings and messages. She wondered if she shouldn’t invite Rowan down to help her.

“You are not yourself tonight,” Suriel said, as he watched her break yet another pencil tip against the paper. She threw the pencil down and reached for another one.

“Mairi,” he said gently, “what is going on in that mind of yours?”

“I’m trying to get this damn book deciphered so I can get the hell out of here.”

He put his hand over hers. “The raven will never allow you to leave.”

She snorted. “Yeah, right. He can’t wait for me to be done with this.”

Squeezing her hand, Suriel forced her gaze to his. “He burns with jealousy because he covets the bond we have.”

“Ours is spiritual. I told him that. But the stubborn ass has it in his head that we’re together, in the sexual sense,” she clarified.

“Only because he fears the bond we have is stronger than yours with him. What he doesn’t understand is the mortal heart. Passion, love, it binds much stronger than that of a spirit guide.”

“Well, it’s not my fault he’s a shape-shifting immortal from the wrong world.”

Suriel laughed and ran his hand down her hair. “Then it is up to you to show him.”

She gazed at him, wondering. “What is in this for you?” He glanced at the book. “You might be able to help me find that flame. Other than that, my wishes for you are to find your path and your power. I’m walking the path with you, Mairi, but I cannot continue to lead the way.”

“Well, we’re on it alone, because Bran isn’t following.”

“He will,” Suriel murmured, his gaze flickering over her shoulder. Mairi turned to see Bran walk into the bar. His eyes blazed with anger when he saw Suriel’s hand on hers. He turned and left, and suddenly Mairi knew what she needed to do.

Watching Bran in the shower was an invasion of privacy. Mairi knew she shouldn’t be doing it, but she couldn’t look away. Something drove her to this man—bird—Sidhe.

Whatever he was, she wanted him.

He was beautiful, with the water rushing over his naked shoulder and chest muscles, then running in rivulets down his chiseled six-pack. Her gaze lowered, taking in his navel, studying the way the shower water trickled down the fine black hair on his belly, then lower to where his hands cradled his shaft.

Look away
, the modest voice inside her screamed. But the devil lurking inside her lured her on. It wasn’t like there was a shower curtain he was hiding behind, the voice told her. He was standing in the open ceramic tile shower, beneath the spray of water, gloriously naked, just begging to be watched.

Six feet six and stacked, Bran’s body was model perfect. The sigils that were scattered over his arms and chest were beautiful to her. On the outside he was all rebel bad boy, but on the inside, she’d glimpsed a softness in him. It was that softness, and the promise of another blinding orgasm, that made her take another silent step closer to the shower.

Bran lifted his face to the spray of water and closed his eyes, his long hair hanging down his back, the cords of his neck exposed.
Sexy as hell
. Mairi had never seen anyone as sexy as Bran. And if she had any sense at all, she’d strip down naked and join him in the shower, throwing herself at him and not caring what he thought of her being so damn brazen. She closed her eyes and envisioned him pinning her against the tile wall, the spray of the water caressing their bodies as they moved against each other, just like she had the other day when she’d masturbated in the shower. Except it really
had
been him perched on the windowsill.

Suddenly Mairi felt herself grabbed and brought up against the shower wall. Her flimsy cotton shirt and shorts were drenched in seconds.

“Did you actually think I wouldn’t
feel
you standing there, watching me?”

“I didn’t know—”

“You didn’t know my body lights up whenever you look at me?” he growled. His eyes were glowing silver and gold in the sheen of the water as he loomed over her. There was anger in those eyes, hatred maybe. “Did you think now would be a good time?”

“N-no,” she stuttered, unable to find her voice. “What do you mean? A good time for what?”

His body was taut, filled with a tension she didn’t understand. “No, I can feel the time has not yet come. I can still do
this
.”

He pressed his cock into her belly as he reached for her hands and brought them above her head. His gaze slipped down between their bodies, to her breasts, which were pressing against her shirt. She was braless, and everything she owned was openly displayed for him. His eyes grew darker, the pupils expanding, swallowing up his irises as his gaze fixed on the dark shadow of her nipples.

She was bowed back, her breasts prominently displayed as he pulled her back a fraction more. Then he circled his erection deeper into her belly. He stroked her with his massive erection, circling her belly as if he were buried deep inside her. “Tell me what you’re doing here.”

She heard the pain in his voice and couldn’t understand where it came from. She wanted to ask what she had done, but his cock felt so good against her that only a husky moan made its way past her lips.

“You want me to take you in the shower?” he asked as he pressed his mouth against her ear. “Why, Mairi? Will you wash me away when you’re done?”

“I—I didn’t mean to disturb you—”

He laughed, the sound dark, menacing.

He freed one hand from her wrists and brought it down between their bodies. She followed his hand and watched as he brought it to his cock. Something glinted in the sheen of the water, and she blinked, her lashes heavy with water. Something silver flashed at her.

“So, do you like it, Mairi? Are the men you bring home for sex always pierced?”

She looked down and saw the tiny silver ball. Oh, God, his cock was pierced. And covered with the same sigils on his arm and temple. Normally tattoos and piercings would have sent her running, but somehow it suited him. It more than suited him; it completed him. And truth be told, she couldn’t wait to experience just what kind of bone-melting pleasure he and his pierced shaft could give her.

She looked up at him, blinking through her heavy lashes and her soaked hair. She saw the expression in his eyes, the one he tried so hard to hide behind his tough-guy exterior. And in that moment, she felt far more than just lust coursing through her veins.

“I’ve never brought a guy back to my apartment for anything, let alone sex. What I want is . . . you.”

“I can’t seem to get the taste of you out of my head, Mairi, even though I know I shouldn’t be thinking of it, or remembering how damn sexy you looked spread wide for me.”

“Why shouldn’t you?” she asked as he released her wrists. She ran her hands down over his shoulders and between the muscles of his back. He groaned as she ran her fingertips over the two small bumps beneath his flesh.

“Do that again,
muirnin
,” he moaned. She repeated the action and he shuddered against her.

In a blinding whirl, he had her turned around, facing the tiled wall. Her T-shirt was thrown aside and his hands were suddenly overflowing with her breasts. He kneaded her from behind as he pressed his cock against her bottom, his breathing harsh against her neck.

“Please,” she pleaded as she pressed the side of her face against the warm tiles. From over her shoulder, she watched him, watched the way his palms smoothed down the sides of her breasts to her ribs and down over her belly, where his fingers kneaded her. A rush of arousal seeped out of her, but she was too far gone to care or be embarrassed. He knew how aroused she was, because his gaze flickered up to meet hers, a knowing grin on his lips. He held her steady as his hands slowly caressed her bottom, before ripping off her shorts and gathering the edges of her panties in his fingers.