“Yes?”
Yes? What kind of answer was that? “Are you hungry? I was going to order food and I’m not ordering twice.”
“Sure.”
She waited for more and when he didn’t speak, she said, “Fine. I’ll let you know when it gets here.”
“Good.”
She could hear a sound in the background. “You figured out how to work the TV I see.” Probably would watch porn the second he found some.
“I did.”
So he wasn’t going to volunteer info. Well, she wasn’t going to dig. “Good for you. And I saw a pool. I might go for a midnight swim.”
“Odd. But okay.”
“It’s not odd and yes, it’s okay, I don’t need your permission.”
“So why are you telling me?”
Fury rode her spine. “Common. Courtesy.”
“Ah. Okay. Thank you, then.”
Her lip quirked and she hung up, feeling more pissed. She ordered three pizzas, loaded, and a two-liter of pop, in keeping with her un-healthy splurge. Fifteen minutes and a knock sounded on her door. Wow, that was fast. She opened it and lost her breath at finding Ruin there. In only black tight underwear. Dear. Sweet. Jaysus.
“I thought about what you said about a swim.” He slid a hand along the back of his neck. “Decided it was a great idea and was heading to the pool.” She finally tore her eyes from his impossibly sexy torso with the half-flickering tattoo she’d wanted to examine earlier and met his gaze, not at all happy with the little sly grin there.
“Why are you telling me, I’m not your mother.”
“Right, I know that.” He ran his hand through his thick hair now. “Common courtesy,” he muttered before that intense gaze hit her square on. How the hell could a gaze steal a person’s breath and stab them in their bloody clit? Bastard. He was doing this on purpose. And by the look on his face, he knew what she was feeling and he loved it.
She held the door and angled her head with a sweet smile. “Well thank you.” I’ll see your sexy fine ass and raise you my own in a bikini. “I’ll meet you there.”
“I would like that.” The amount of sex appeal in his tone, in his one sided grin, in the slow sweep of his tongue. Yeah. Ri. Dic. U. Lous.
“Of course you would.” She shut the door in his face and raced to her suitcase. “I would like that,” she mocked in a whiney voice that sounded nothing like his deep one.
She got on her white bikini. She’d brought it along to have a little fun, a little vacation. This may have been an assignment of a medical nature, but who said she couldn’t have fun? Nobody said. She decided that. Wrapping in a towel, she headed to the pool with a box of pizza. Her pizza. He would need to get his own box, she wasn’t bringing it. Did he think she was his servant? Bad enough she was paying for everything. Yes, it was inheritance money, but still. Bum. He’d need to start earning money. She wasn’t going to foot the bill for everything.
Isadore was surprised and anxious to find there were people at the pool. A rowdy sounding crowd. Great. Hopefully not teenagers.
She tried not to look for Ruin but decided she’d want to sit next to him. For effect. She spotted his flickering tattoo and realized he was sprawled out like a lazy python on a lounge chair, moon tanning. With the lights around the pool, it was just the right amount to see more than he should be showing in public. Show off.
Ten seconds and Isadore realized what the pool party consisted of. A bunch of teeny boppers in scraps of material that made her white bikini look like a 1930s swimsuit. And of course, they’d all be giggling and showing off for him. Mr. Tattoo sex god.
Isadore put the pizza down on the table and ignored the squealing laughter near Ruin and went to the water. She glanced around and spotted a few guys in the nasty little mix. The second a young buck caught her eye with a wide grin she knew she was in over her head. And there was no backing out now. She promptly dove into the pool and swam to the deep side, planning to swim a few laps. Keeping one eye on the pool party near Ruin, she began carrying out her swimming charade.
She was all but invisible, until she wasn’t. “Hey there.”
“Oh!” Isadore spun in the water to face a dark head poking from the surface.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”
The smell of alcohol, smoke, and bleach water hit her nostrils. She looked around in a sudden panic and grabbed hold of the pool ledge. She found Ruin’s green gaze riveted to hers, his face hard and unreadable. This is what she’d come for. So why was her heart trying to beat out of her chest?
“You’re here alone?” He swam up close to her, not seeming to know the meaning of personal space, his eager breaths and grin clearly unfamiliar with rejection.
“Uh, no, I’m here with . . . ” she pointed inconspicuously toward Ruin. “Him.”
The guy turned. “Yeah, he seems to be having a lot of fun.” His tone was dry then he looked at Isadore, smiling. “You look fucking hot in that bathing suit. That dude is stupid to leave you alone.”
Yeah. He was, wasn’t he? She managed to steal a glance at that dude and was alarmed to find him standing at the edge, watching them like he was about to take a dive for them. She fought the surge of fear flooding her stomach, unsure what disturbed her more, the guy two inches away or the man ten yards away.
“I love your tats,” a girl gasped.
Isadore looked as a girl with enormous breasts covered with a strip of material over the nipples, ran her hands on his body. Disgust and rage stiffened Isadore’s spine.
“Looks like he’s going to be busy,” the guy said. “Name’s John, by the way. What’s yours?”
Isadore fought to think about something besides what her eyeballs saw. But the look on Ruin’s face spelled trouble. More like danger. “You’d . . . better go.”
Chapter Six
Ruin trembled from the fire inside him but there was no use. One of the girls’ squealed in alarm, “God you’re hot.” They all backed away from him. If only he could tell them to get farther back. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen, he only knew that it was going to happen.
He paced along the pool, his eyes locked hard on the man that crowded Isadore. The fire spun out of control inside of him. Problem was, he didn’t care. He hoped it got to the point of uncontrollable. Then he realized she was scared. But not of the man, of him. Scared of what he’d do. He was sure she didn’t need to be scared. The guy needed to be scared. Because from across the distance, Ruin smelled it. Not fear. But the human’s arousal for what was his.
Isadore was his.
For the first time, Ruin tasted something new inside himself. Something bitter, hot, and scorching him deep inside, in a place he wasn’t familiar with and didn’t understand. It was beyond instinct, beyond right and wrong, it was . . . vengeance.
Power slammed Ruin and he grabbed hold of the shards of ice with all his might, watching from another place inside him as his hands slammed together and his fingers locked. Devour and Consume. That was the power’s name and Ruin roared as he commanded, no, begged the ice to rule it. His hands became a hammer and he swung them down. A bolt of fire shot from Heaven and instantly consumed all the water in the pool.
Ruin gasped at the two ice forms on the bottom of the pool. At realizing what it was, his breath rushed out in relief and the ice dissolved in mists of vapor. Ruin stood frozen to the spot, unable to move or speak even as the male whimpered and climbed out of the pool before running off. Even as Isadore slowly made her way cautiously toward him.
It wasn’t until she touched him that he was released from whatever held him. “Ruin?”
He was aware that he was close to hyperventilating, his human body struggling with the aftermath of what he’d just done. He dropped to his knees, feeling dizzy. He needed . . . he needed to lie down.
“I got you,” Isadore whispered. “I got you.” Her final words echoed in a spiral of softness through him. He reached for her even as the darkness tugged him back. Back. Way back.
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****
Ruin became aware of the smell of Isadore. She was near but not near enough. He opened his eyes and found her . . . not there. He looked around trying to get his bearing. Flashes of fire against a dark sky hit his body and mind with the memory of what had happened. Damn. That was . . . bad.
The bathroom door opened and he shut his eyes. He wasn’t ready to see her face. He realized there were emotions in him he didn’t understand nor could he identify. He knew he didn’t like them. They made him feel weak more so than those emotions he understood did.
The smell of her got stronger, and he longed to feel her until his muscles tensed in desperate anticipation and hope that she might touch him.
The bed sank ever so little just next to him and he remained still, trying to appear in deep sleep as he waited to see what she would do. She let out a long sigh and barely whispered, “Please be okay.”
He wondered then how long he’d been sleeping. He was well rested and it was difficult not to open his eyes, but he waited to see what she might do. The hope that she’d touch him was answered, the barest touch of her finger on one of his tattoos. He fought to remain still and undisturbed as the tip traced silkily over his skin. Judging by the motion, she was tracing several. Until her touch changed to . . . feeling. Immediately, everything and his body came alive as she explored not just the feel of his skin, but the muscles beneath.
The torment was perfectly excruciating. Ruin nearly lost his control when he felt her lips on him, the barest touch. If there was a God . . . let her continue. Let her continue.
“Why are you so perfect?” she barely whispered.
Her arousal hit him and a painful groan forced its way out of him in a gush of power. He turned his head away, seconds from breaking the invisible binds that his body down. Even though she responded with silence and utter stillness, every sense he possessed vibrated with knowing. Knowing how badly she needed to touch him. Taste him. Knowing without looking that her pretty eyes were locked on his throbbing cock. The thought caused his hips to roll with a hard wave of heat.
He could easily be dreaming about her, easily not be aware of what he was doing. He could easily lower his hand in subconscious need. The idea needed no more thought, already his hand drifted slowly over his torso until he reached the throbbing ache at his midsection. Asleep, he wouldn’t be aware of eyes burning on him, watching, ears listening attentively, hands aching to touch, lips wet and parted with the need to taste. Asleep, he would just feel and be what he was. Raging with desire.
Ruin gave himself to the power, letting go of the sounds needing loosed, his ragged breaths filled with feral grunts of hunger as he stroked his fingers over the hard length in his underwear.
The sudden rush of Isadore’s shaky breath confirmed that his plan of subconscious oblivion was working. He pulled his knees up and back, and cupped himself. He encountered Isadore’s body with one knee and nearly lost control. He opened his other leg wide and thrust his cock hard into his hand. Did she like to see him the same way? Judging by the erratic sound of her breathing, yes. She liked it very much.
The thought of her arousal pumped heat into his cock and Ruin again let it take him with a hard roll of his hips. He tipped his head back when the heat came again, moving through his body like a slow constriction.
Ruin wanted to lower his underwear. But something within himself fought the urge, something strong enough to prevent him. He needed to answer her need for pleasure, but he found himself astonished that she would crave to give him pleasure more than anything.
His breath rushed out as he felt her on the bed, kneeling between his legs. She placed her hands on his inner thighs and pressed his legs to the bed. “My turn,” she whispered, taking hold of his underwear and working them down until his cock was free. She quickly placed one hand on his stomach and dug her nails, while grabbing firm hold of his cock at the base. He looked down just as her mouth opened and she took him with a hunger, took him deep into her hot mouth, moaning in such a way that Ruin thought his heart would explode out of his chest. He couldn’t stop watching as she held him down, held his cock tightly as she devoured him with so much effort.
He slammed his hands down and clutched the bed covers, holding on. His underwear was low enough to prevent him from keeping his legs open and now she straddled him, leaving Ruin gripped in the power of heat, constant feral grunts accompanying every pump of his hips, faster, harder, keeping up with her devouring pace.
“Isadore!” He choked on her name as he jerked his head back and grabbed tight hold of her head. He bucked his hips, unable to stop this time. Unable to deny himself the pleasure, unable to say yes to agony and pain. He clenched his eyes tight with the bright white heat sparking everywhere in his brain, an explosion of power so raw and potent, he lost who he was, where he was, and why he was. All he knew was the sound of her voice as she greedily took his essence into her body, the stab of her nails echoing the reckless hunger she’d finally satisfied. That he’d finally satisfied. For her.
Almost instantly, the need to do it back slammed him and he sat up just as Isadore retreated off the bed out of his reach. He watched her with hunger, only she didn’t remove her clothes as he’d imagined she would, as he felt she wanted to, but hurried to the bathroom instead.
“What . . . ”
The door shut. “Sorry, I need to take a shower,” she called.
Chapter Seven
Isadore gasped with eyes closed against the bathroom door before quickly turning to lock it with trembling fingers. Dirty trick. What a dirty, dirty trick she’d just played on him. As he’d played on her countless times, she reminded her burning conscience as she ran to the tub and turned on the shower, making it real.
Stripping her clothes off, she got in and yanked the shower curtain shut then leaned against the back wall with her eyes closed. Dear. God. How in the world had she even managed that? She’d never been so horny in her life. She’d focused that’s how. Like a coke addict on its last line, she’d . . . she gasped as her body erupted in electrical pulses of pleasure at reliving what she’d done to him. How he’d responded was where she’d nearly lost it. How badly she’d wanted to climb astride him and feel his perfect cock buried inside her.
She whimpered and moaned in agonizing need, moving under the hot water. She took as long as she could then turned the water off. She hadn’t thought about what she’d do after the damn shower. Maybe he’d left and gone to his room. She hoped.
She put on her same clothes and put her ear to the door, listening for anything, but heard only nothing.
She slowly opened the door and walked out.
The bed was empty then she screamed when she saw him sitting in the chair in the far corner. Staring at her. No clothes, oh shit. She turned. “Sorry, I didn’t realize you were . . . not dressed.”
No answer.
“You uh . . . need me to get your clothes?”
“No.”
The softness in his tone could have been calm. Or quietly pissed, hard to tell. “You hungry?” She hurried to the phone and sat on the bed, grabbing the phone book. “I can order fresh pizza.”
Isadore took as long as she possibly could while on the phone but finally had to hang up. She reached for the remote and turned on the television. “Let’s check the weather.”
Isadore flipped through the channels and of course, came across a couple having sex, and hurried past.
“What was that?” Ruin said.
“Just porn, nothing you’d want to see.”
“Put it back.”
Her fingers obeyed despite her plan to not. He made her? Anger shot through her but she held her tongue for now. The room filled with the sound of two people going at it and nearing climax. Isadore picked up the phonebook and pretended to look in it, pretended not to see the woman riding the man exactly the way she’d fantasized about doing with him. “Ah they have a Wal-Mart here. Good, good,” she said a little too loud.
The scene finally e
nded while she continued blindly studying the city map. “Really small town we’re in.”
“Did they love each other?” Ruin asked.
“Hmm?” Isadore looked up.
“You heard me.”
It was a soft statement of knowing. “Yes, I did, um. I don’t know, how should I know?”
“You know.”
Another knowing statement. Just not soft this time. More like . . . a man who was beyond tired of waiting for something he really needed.
“Yes, it seemed like they did.”
“How are they different from us?”
“I don’t know.” She yanked open the drawer and chunked the phone book back while peering blindly inside it.
“Are we in love?” he asked, sounding suspicious.
“No, we’re not.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because you have to ask.”
“I don’t know a lot of things.”
She smoothed her pants. “But you’d know that one.”
“How do you know?” He stood and began slowly toward her.
Isadore put her back against the headboard, legs on the bed, and faced the television. “I just do. The way you know judgment.”
“I know you think this is true, I can feel that. But I think you’re wrong. Let me see it again so I can study it.”
“Well you can’t just put one on, you have to wait for them to come on.” She scratched the right side of her face to hide the sight of his enormous cock.
“When will it come on?”
“I don’t know.”
“How do you know one isn’t on?”
“I don’t.”
“Then look.”
She hated that he wanted to see that so badly. Why would he? “You sound desperate.”
“I am desperate!”
The sudden barked words made her jump. For some reason, she felt like a hostage to a myriad of emotions all of which deprived her of the ability to think rationally. “Fine.” She aimed the remote at the television and began switching quickly through the channels.