CHAPTER 3
Kade watched Violet Castanega’s sassy little ass sashay through the lobby to the entrance. He could tell she wanted to look back at him; she started to but snapped her head straight, pushed the door open, and slammed it shut behind her. Wow, did she look different from the last time he’d seen her.
When he’d arrested Arlo six years ago, someone jumped on his back, wrapping her long legs around his waist and arms over his shoulders. He’d known instantly it was a woman—her breasts crushed against his back had been the first clue. Her shrill voice blasting his ear with “Let him go!” the second.
He’d reached back to dislodge her and accidentally grabbed her boob. Okay, maybe he had lingered on that firm and soft and luscious mound of flesh…for maybe two seconds. She’d nailed him in the eye with her elbow. It was only after he’d thrown her off that he realized it was Violet, the once-lanky, scrappy teenager he’d seen during an earlier investigation into Arlo’s activities.
Before she could launch another attack, he reminded her that assaulting an officer would result in arrest, and she backed off. She’d been wearing tattered jeans, a muddy tank top, and boots, and she smelled of earth. A red scarf covered her dark brown hair, but her braid had hung down her back and tendrils of hair had escaped. To his surprise, her untamed self had tugged at the rebellious, wild side he’d had to stuff deep inside. And it still did, apparently.
The spark between them was bizarre. Never would he nail a Fringer, doubly so, since they were all Dragons. Not even one with silky hair falling over her shoulders and a long, lean body. He returned to the pit, where several pairs of eyes were on him.
“Did you spank her for giving you that shiner, Kavanaugh?” Treach called out, followed by a chorus of guffaws.
“I think you were a little too distracted and let her get the best of you,” Baker said. “You wanted to spank her.”
Kade shook his head, learning long ago that to respond was the weaker action. He headed to his office, a tantalizing image of Violet sprawled across his lap while he spanked that lush behind flashing into his mind. That was not helping his hard-on.
His sister, Mia, sidled up next to him. “What was that about?”
“The shiner?” He waved it off. “She was fast, nailed me while I was dealing with her brothers.” He wasn’t getting into the boob part.
“No wonder you never mentioned who’d given you that black eye. These chauvinistic bastards will never let you live that down.” She shot them a derisive glance and lowered her voice. “But that’s not what I was talking about. There was an erotic vibe in the way you dealt with her, and ooh, the way the mist in your eyes is swirling now.”
He kept all expression from his face, including annoyance at her observation. “I was making sure she didn’t cause a scene. Nothing more.”
She gave him a skeptical look, which he deserved because he knew exactly what she was talking about. He didn’t have an answer for it either, because no way was he attracted to a Castanega. Even a sexy, sassy one. “Take note, little sister. With people like her, you’ve got to establish dominance immediately. The moment they think they’ve got the upper hand, they do.”
The usual light of admiration returned to her eyes, the way it did whenever he imparted his wisdom to her. “I see that. You didn’t let her get away with anything, while she completely got away from me. That’s why you’re one of the best Vegas in the department.”
He loved her admiration, and he didn’t. He knew too well how betrayed one felt when the object of your admiration fell and shattered to pieces. She was too young to remember when all the years of their father’s sterling service to the Guard exploded in scandal. A woman had made wild accusations about a member of the Concilium, the government entity that oversaw the Hidden and instituted the rules. Somehow their father had gotten involved, emotionally, maybe romantically. Stewart Kavanaugh had helped the woman escape, and both were killed.
Everyone had kept the ugly details from Mia, then age seven. As far as she knew, a crazy woman attacked their father. Weeks later, their mother had taken her life, unable to deal with the betrayal and scandal. She was a selfish, weak woman who cared more about her reputation than her young daughter.
On top of that, Kade had been demoted to Argus. Some people complained that he’d been fast-tracked to Vega because of his father’s influence and that he didn’t deserve his position because his reckless behavior made the Guard look bad. Maybe that was true, but they conveniently forgot the thirty years that he was a Vega who closed almost every case. Five years of toeing the line, exemplary work, and living by the rules had earned him Vega again—humiliating, belittling years that changed him from cavalier and edgy to a model officer.
“Kavanaugh,” Ferro called out, leaning out of his office. He saw Mia and added, “Kade.” Ferro remained standing once Kade closed the door behind him. “Take the Castanega woman out.”
The words hit Kade like a cold slap, so out of the blue he had to clarify in case he’d misheard. “‘Take her out’? You mean kill her?”
“I thought you were beyond needing the terms explained.”
Kade bristled. “For barging into your office?”
The corner of Ferro’s mouth twitched. “You’re questioning the order?”
“It seems extreme, sir, if that’s what you’re basing it on.”
“It has nothing to do with her conduct here.” Ferro gestured to the map. “We’ve been watching the Fringe for a while now. These killings are connected to her, and her act about being concerned is just that.”
That assertion was nearly as surprising as Ferro’s order. Kade saw Violet as many things, but murderously devious? “Why do you think she came here asking for our help to stop the murders? Like you said, it took a lot of courage for her to step into this building.”
“Not courage; a psychopathic mentality that runs in her bloodline. Remember, her family massacred a whole Fringe clan some years back. Our sources say the Castanegas are behind the recent murders, and Violet is right in the thick of it.” Ferro lifted the paper she’d brought in. “Her coming here was undoubtedly part of some bigger plan. Drag us in and kill off our officers, maybe. Or get us to take out some of their enemies under false pretenses. Whatever her motive, it’s part of some sick game. Eliminating her will serve as a warning when they see that the murder was not committed by one of their own. And hopefully put an end to this.”
He let the paper drift down to his desk. “I don’t care if they kill each other off in principle. Worthless pieces of trash, all of them. A blight on Crescent society. Their skirmishes have always acted as population control, but in the age of the Internet and instant news, they threaten to expose what we are.”
The insults prickled across Kade’s skin. He’d heard them spoken about his father after the debacle. He didn’t like the Fringers, but he wasn’t going to agree with Ferro’s assessment.
Ferro leaned on the desk with both hands. “Make this your priority.” Which meant drop everything and do it now.
Vegas were akin to Special Ops, called in when the mission was dangerous or required a special skill. He had to trust his superior. “I’ll take care of it, sir.”
“I don’t appreciate having to explain myself to my officers.”
Kade had to hold back his sneer. “Understood, sir.”
The Guard didn’t have people killed for less than a good reason. Kade wasn’t always privy to the reasons, and, frankly, he’d never been concerned about it. Orders were orders. Still, the prospect of whacking Violet sank his stomach.
Because you felt her body against yours? And got a hard-on? Think with the right head, Kavanaugh.
He would carry out his task as ordered.
Kade drove south, through the city and toward the marshlands known as the Fringe. Normally, adrenaline would be shooting through his veins like a thousand Red Bulls on his way to a kill. This time he was having a hard time working up the excitement to do his job.
As he reached the edge of the Fringe, he felt a tightening in his gut. Finally. Except it wasn’t eagerness or adrenaline. It was…dread? Because he didn’t want to kill her. There it was.
Keep your focus. It’s a job.
Each clan had a large parcel of land that was divvied up between the various subfamilies. Many had different businesses, nice legal ones like vineyards and farms. But sometimes their farms consisted of marijuana plants, one of Arlo’s transgressions. The Guard cared more about the possibility of attracting the Muds’ attention than the illegality of the farms.
Centuries of living as they saw fit gave the Fringers the impression that they were outside the bounds of the law. Centuries of living with the threat of being extinguished by your nearest neighbor made them skilled at fighting. Violet was no delicate flower. She’d held back at Headquarters. He knew her ferocity well enough. And yeah, he knew the feel of her breast, and her body wrapped around his…though not in the good way.
Not that you want her wrapped around you like that. Because that would make this assignment much more complicated.
His cock had different ideas, thickening at the memory. Hell, he wasn’t even experiencing physical contact and there it was, waving to get his attention. He really needed to get laid.
Violet’s faced flashed in front of him.
But not with her.
Earlier, he experienced that bizarre moment of spotting someone you knew but not recognizing them. She’d cleaned up nice, dressed in white pants that made her legs go on forever and a dark blue shirt that molded to her upper body. Though he would have definitely recognized her once she gave him the go screw yourself look.
Kade drove down a weed-overgrown gravel road and parked his car behind a stand of Brazilian pepper bushes. Between Arlo’s drug running, some assault charges, and the old coot who’d seen a gator ape, Kade had been to Castanega property enough to know his way around. There was plenty of acreage for the family’s enterprises; most centered around alligators. Demons were no big deal, but those scaly toothy creatures with perpetual grins gave him the creeps.
Kade walked the boundary between Castanega land and the long-vacant Garza land. This was not the cultivated, trimmed, and polished South Florida most people imagined. While the pepper bushes with the red berries took over open stretches of land, the tall feathery Australian pines created dense forests elsewhere. In places where the non-native plants hadn’t invaded, slash pine trees with their long needles offered more sap than shade.
A wet summer left the ground muddy and created large marshes in some places. It was hard to walk quietly in muck. His black boots sucked free of the moist earth with every step. The smell of earth, mud, and decay filled his nostrils. Sweat trickled down his back. Even in the hot, muggy summers, Vega attire consisted of long sleeves. The black rayon allowed for movement and ventilation, but neither helped when trekking through the woods in September—a month that, in South Florida, typically was as steamy as the one before it.
Mosquitoes buzzed all around him, but none dared land on him. They seemed to sense the magick in Crescents, largely leaving them alone. But they wanted to suck his blood and hovered annoyingly all around. A startled hawk screeched and alighted from a branch. If he hadn’t seen the hawk, he’d suspect it was the Fringe “language,” whistles and nature sounds they used to communicate over distances. Like warning of an intruder.
Two things the uniform designer did allow for were quick-drying material and ease in extracting Deuce weapons. Kade ran his fingers from wrist to inner elbow, feeling the spark of magick. The dagger “tattoo” thrummed with magick, courtesy of a specially commissioned Guard tattoo artist.
He suspected Violet’s home was a cabin in the western edge. Her face dominated his mind, the smell of her, the tingle he’d felt when her wrists were clamped in his hands, her body against the wall. A part of him had wanted her to dart off again, craving the chase. Because he knew he’d catch her.
He shook the thought away. Now he would catch her. And kill her. He didn’t have to like or agree with the order; he simply had to carry it out. It wouldn’t be the first time. Or the last.
He paralleled a gravel road, barely visible in the distance, until he spotted a burgundy Infiniti parked in the driveway. Synthetic pop music floated from somewhere beyond the house. He surveyed the area. The house was small but quaint, painted a soft yellow with white shutters and gingerbread trim. The recently mowed grass that surrounded the house in a tidy square was lush and green. Plants and flowers overran the planting beds, a wild mess. Except it wasn’t, he realized, seeing a loose but deliberate arrangement of the various plants. Somehow the undisciplined aspect intrigued him more than the sculpted bushes and trimmed trees in his yard in Coral Gables.
He recognized the music now: Berlin, from the eighties. “The Metro.” It fit Violet, tough and in your face. Odd, since Violet seemed too young to have been more than a child in the eighties.
Who cared what she liked to listen to? The knife tattoo came to life, filling his hand with the heavy feel of metal. He clutched the dagger as he rounded the rear corner of the house. Farther back sat a large workshop with several long tables in the center of the space and shelves that lined the walls. She was doing something at one of the tables.
He cut back into the woods and came up behind the metal building. As he sidled up along the side, he nearly gave himself away when his shoe bumped an alligator in the bushes. He slapped his hand over his mouth as he stumbled back. The alligator leered at him with glassy eyes. Wait a minute. Kade tapped the gator with his shoe. It was hard. Hell, the thing was stuffed. He crouched near the edge of the open bay and watched Violet.
Hopefully she was planning the next murder, doing something to prove her guilt. He tried to see inside the many clear boxes on the shelves. They looked like they were filled with colorful stones. She worked a pair of pliers on a leather strap with jerky movements, cursing when a string of beads fell and scattered all over. Damn. It wasn’t destructive; it was jewelry. She bent and picked them up, her pants stretching tight over her ass. One bead bounced and landed within a few feet of him. She hadn’t seen it, but a big, dopey-looking dog did. Then the dog saw him.
Uh-oh.
Its tail thumped on the floor, which was covered in outdoor carpet. Okay, not a guard dog but still problematic. He stepped out of view and heard Violet throw the beads and issue a guttural expletive.
She darted out of the workshop, her face buried in her hands, and passed within three feet of him. The dog followed, glancing back at him. Kade remained in place, watching her heaving shoulders as she reached the thicket of cypress and pine trees and fell to her knees.
The dog flopped down beside her and rested its head on her thighs. She buried her face in its fur, her fingers curling into the folds of skin. Her muffled sobs clawed right through him. These were not the cries of a woman putting on a show or upset over something that didn’t go her way. This was grief, raw and keening. She said one word over and over, and finally he was able to make it out: Arlo.
She presented him with the perfect opportunity, too grief-stricken to notice if her Dragon warned of a presence coming up behind her. He scanned the surroundings as he readied his dagger for a quick, merciful kill. His pulse throbbed at the side of his throat as it did in these situations, and his fingers tightened on the hilt.
Except his body wouldn’t move. Every preconceived notion he had about Violet—unkempt, untamed, violent—fled his mind, replaced by vulnerable, fiery, and innocent.
Innocent.
Former fellow Vega Cyntag Valeron had just come to him that morning, out of the blue, to decipher a magick book. He’d been cryptic about both it and the woman with him but clear about the advice he’d imparted: “Trust your gut above all else. If it doesn’t feel right, it’s probably not.”
Kade’s gut screamed, Don’t kill her.
The oaths he’d taken as a Vega to uphold the law at any cost fell away, replaced by a conviction that Violet was not guilty of some murderous conspiracy.
One moment he stood frozen in his inner turmoil, and the next, a Dragon’s gaping mouth was lunging for his throat. He twisted but still got knocked on his ass twenty feet away. He landed in a marshy area, sending a wave of muddy water spraying. His breath escaped in a hard gasp, and he hardly had time to breathe before the Dragon moved into view.
Dappled sunlight shimmered off her maroon scales. She lunged down at him, fangs stopping half an inch from eviscerating him. Inside her open mouth, magick flares capable of inflicting any type of pain fired to life. Her catlike eyes shrank. “You!” The fierce flames in her eyes didn’t soften one bit. “How dare you sneak up on me!”
Her voice as Dragon was low and rumbly, but every bit of her anger projected through loud and clear. He rolled, coming to his feet in one swift movement. What to say? He knew she was embarrassed at being caught in such a vulnerable moment, and being Amethyst, she was all emotion, not to mention unpredictable and high-strung.
“Violet, I—”
“Idjit! People are killing each other by sneaking onto our land. So either you’re here to arrest me or you’ve got a death wish. And if it’s the latter, I’m more than happy to grant it.” She charged at him again.
He pressed his hand to her forehead and “shot” her. She Catalyzed to human in the same instant that she flew backward. Her body hit with a hard thud, her arms out at her sides.
He ran toward her, calling his dagger, which had been thrown, too. It burned back into his skin as he reached her. “You okay?”
She was sprawled out, mud streaking her naked body, her eyes wide and stunned. She looked…good.
Good and mad. “What the hell was that?”
“Magick taser, a new Guard weapon. It sucks out your magick, which in a Dragon’s case, makes you human again.” He held out his hand to help her up.
She gripped it, jerking him forward and off-balance. He held on to her hand and took her with him. They landed together in the mud, a tangle of bodies. His fingers slid across her skin as he got to his feet. She slugged him, catching his jaw because he was a bit too distracted by the feel of her to be as quick as he should be. She still looked as though she’d kill him.
“Why can’t I Catalyze? What’d you do to me?” she screamed, gripping his shirt and shaking him.
Damn, she was strong. She reared back to hit him again, and he caught her fist. Their hands collided with a loud slap. She slammed him in the chest with her other hand.
He shoved her into the puddle again, trying to immobilize her. “I’m not here to hurt you. Look, I have no weapon.” He held out his hands, showing her his dagger tucked away.
She kicked him in the stomach and tried to crawl away. Which left her sweet, mud-slicked ass in full view. A groan started climbing his throat but he stifled it.
“Assaulting an officer,” he muttered, grabbing her around the waist. “Again.”
“So it is a death wish then?” She jerked her head around, pinning him with a glare as sharp as his dagger. “Since you have no reason to arrest me.”
“Settle down now, darling.”
She let out a growl worthy of her Dragon and jumped on top of him, her hands around his collarbone. “Don’t you dare call me ‘darling.’”
“It slipped out,” he grunted as she ground him into the mud. “It doesn’t mean anything.” But damn, that word never slipped out while on duty. She was firing up his wild side big-time. Her thighs squeezed his hips; her hands pinned his shoulders. He tried to gain control but she wouldn’t budge. “Damn, woman, you an alligator wrestler?”
“Champion in the local division four years running, umpteen years ago.” Her smile reeked of pride and challenge. And he always accepted a challenge. With a heave, he rolled her so he was on top. She kept the roll going, besting him again.
“Will you listen?” he said.
She grabbed a handful of his hair and jerked his head back. “I would have listened if you’d called the number on all that damned paperwork they made me fill out. While you were all inside laughing at me, I’m sure.”
How to gain control of the situation without grabbing her somewhere inappropriate—somewhere that wouldn’t piss her off even more? Damned tricky when she was naked. And muddy. Plus the fact that he wanted to touch her somewhere inappropriate. “I wasn’t laughing at you.”
“Sure you were. Inside. Outside you were giving me that smug smile you probably think…is…gorgeous.” She fought as he tried to wrap his arms around her upper arms. “While you looked down your nose at me.”
“Actually, I was looking at your tight shirt.”
She slugged him in the jaw again, not really hard enough to do any damage. He threw his weight toward her, pushing her backward and coming down on top of her. Now he straddled her thighs, leaning down to hover above her.
“I was kidding,” he said, his mouth only an inch from hers. “I was taking all of you in. I couldn’t believe you were the same Violet Castanega I saw in muddy clothes and a tangled braid.” He couldn’t help the smile as he let his gaze drift from her neck down to her chest that rose and fell with deep breaths. The mud didn’t cover the curve of her breasts or the hardened nipples that made him wonder if she was enjoying this on some deep level, too. “Then again, you do look extraordinary in mud.”
“Let me up!” She tried to buck him off, which drove her pelvis up and dangerously close to smashing his balls.
He lay all his weight on top of her. “Not until you promise to stop fighting.”
“I can’t promise that. How long do the effects of your magick stun gun last?”
“Up to thirty minutes.”
She bucked again, but he finally had her under his control. And he liked it. His women were always willing. Something about the fight completely turned him on, especially the way her pelvis bumped against his.
Her eyes widened. “Holy dragonfire, are you…does fighting get you…hot?”
He supposed, with all of this writhing around, it was inevitable that she’d notice his erection. “Not usually, but then again, I’ve never fought a feisty, naked female in the mud before. I have to admit, it’s doing strange things to me.” At her surprised look, he added, “Well, you asked. I answered honestly.”
She took a deep breath to calm herself. “Okay then, answer this honestly. Why are you here?”
That was a bit trickier, but he could stick to the true part. “I came to ask you more about your allegations.”
She just stared at him for a moment, her brown eyes disbelieving. “Instead of catching me in the parking lot, or calling, you sneak onto my land and surprise me. Are you kidding? Are you friggin’ kidding me?”
“No, I’m not. Why else would I be here?”
She let out something like a growl. “After I was summarily dismissed, why would the Guard suddenly take me seriously and send someone out? And for god’s sake, why you?”
He had those kinds of why questions, too, none he could share with her. “I’m not here on behalf of the Guard.”
She furrowed her eyebrows. Mud streaked her face, her toned body, and gods help him, she was tantalizing.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked.
“I came on my own, because what you said piqued my interest. There’s no need for the senseless deaths that would come from clan wars.” He’d seen that fear in her eyes when she’d appealed to Ferro. “I want to hear everything you know.”
She seemed to weigh his words. He knew how to lie well when he had to. It was part of his training, though he rarely used it in his personal life. This situation blurred the line. Violet was blurring all kinds of lines, obliterating others.
She took advantage of his introspection, because he was suddenly spinning off of her, compliments of an impressive twist and kick of her long, long legs. He came to his feet, ready for another attack.
She was stalking over to where her clothes had shredded when she’d Catalyzed. She held the remains of the nice, tight shirt she’d been wearing to her chest. Suspicion drenched her expression. “You’re serious?” Kade saw a mixture of hope and skepticism in her eyes. And that eradicated any last shred of doubt that she was behind this.
“Very.” He pulled off his shirt and tossed it to her.
She snatched it out of the air and wriggled into it, giving him one last heavenly view of her full breasts and flat stomach as she pulled it on. She pushed her muddy hair from her face. “Why do you care? We’re all marsh trash to the likes of you.”
“The likes of me? Because I’m a Vega?”
“Everything about you.” She swept her gaze over him. “You move like royalty, you act like you rule the world, and you look untouchable.”
Which he found amusing since he was as muddy as she was. She waited for his answer. He rubbed the mud, now itching, from his neck, buying time. Royalty, huh? He sure as hell didn’t feel like any of that at the moment. At least she hadn’t called him pretty. “My gut says there’s something going on, just like you suspect. If the Guard won’t listen, then I will.”
“Why sneak up on me? You know what ‘animals’ we all are.” She’d heard someone say it, obviously, as she mimicked it with a sneer. “We do act on instinct, at least our Dragon does. I didn’t even know you were there; my Dragon did. I could have killed you.”
He gave her a smile he was sure was smug. “No, you couldn’t have.”
She rolled her eyes. “This is a bet, isn’t it? Can Kade Kavanaugh nail the marsh trash? You might as well go home. Ain’t gonna happen. You’re totally not my type.”
Except those hardened nubs poking against his shirt told a different story. Of course, so did his cock, even as he said, “Neither are you, if that makes you feel any better. I’m a Deuce-gal kind of guy.” Although this Dragon appealed to him more than any other Crescent—Deuce or Dragon—that he’d encountered before. And that was just…crazy. “I’d never try to nail a woman for a bet.” He let his mouth curve into a smile. “Only for the mutual pleasure of both parties.”
A sound escaped her throat, but she cleared it. “Are you sure you’re not here to sniff out any more pot farms? Find something else to bust my brothers on?”
He didn’t blame her for her distrust. She had good reason not to trust the Guard, as it turned out. “Arlo was the worst offender. He had problems, whether you want to admit it or not.”
She gave a quick nod of her head. “He did.”
“Now he’s dead. Let’s find out why.” When her skepticism didn’t waver, he added, “Violet, you went to the Guard for help. I’m here. Let me help.”
The words broke down her resistance. The battle between distrusting him and needing him played over her expression. “You can’t come in my house like that.” She walked over to a faucet and turned the squeaky knob, using the hose to rinse her hair and face first. He watched, entranced, as water sluiced over her and plastered his shirt to her curves. After rinsing her legs, she headed toward him and held the stream over his head. He scrubbed his fingers through his hair, feeling the grit wash away. Then she stepped back and pressed her thumb over the end to pressurize the stream. She aimed it across his shoulders and arms first.
He swore she took vengeful pleasure in hosing him down. Or maybe it was just pleasure. Her eyes followed the mud as it slid down his bare chest. Hell, he could feel that gaze slide down his body, embers flickering in her eyes. The water was cool, the sun was hot, and he took the blast of water without giving away the war that raged through him.
Ferro’s voice told him to take her out.
Cyn told him to trust his gut.
Berlin’s female singer sang about flames reaching out for the sun.
Then she reached for his upper chest. “You’ve got a scratch. I must have done that.” She gently brushed her fingers across it beneath the water’s flow. A wake of sensation followed her caress.
“Violet,” he said, cursing himself for the hitch in his voice.
That got her attention. “Am I hurting you?”
He took the hand at his chest and drew it down to the front of his wet pants. “This much.” He thought she’d give him hell for being so brazen, slap him silly, and that would break them out of this moment of insanity. Because that was the only explanation, that the situation and adrenaline had tilted them right into crazy territory.
Instead, her eyes fired up, and he swore she actually squeezed his erection just a tiny bit. Holy shit. She angled one of her legs between his, her hands sliding to his hips. Her thigh moved up along his, and he bit back a curse. This was insanity. Not seconds before he’d proclaimed he was a Deuce-only kind of guy. But right now, he was feeling all of her Dragon heat. The directive from his superior officer, the insanity of this attraction, the danger he saw simmering in her eyes, not even the cool water that continued to bathe him did a damn thing to douse his ardor.
He took the hose from her hand and let the water wash over her. When his free hand traced her collarbone, she closed her eyes, her head lolling back. He suspected that surrender wasn’t something Violet often did, which only made the gesture more profound. How the hell was he supposed to grasp for any last thread of sanity now?
“Violet,” he whispered her name this time. He meant it to sound like a call to logic, but it came out as more of a plea. For more.
His shirt was plastered over her firm breasts, clinging to her hardened nipples. Damn, she was hot, all sleek skin and toned muscle. With her eyes on his, she peeled off the shirt.
Kade didn’t stop to think; he just reacted. He dropped the hose, grasped her by the waist, and lifted her up. Her legs went around him, and their mouths collided. Her lips were soft against his, her tongue sliding in and tangling with his own. She made these little mewling sounds as she pressed closer, her legs tightening around his waist, her hands kneading the muscles of his shoulders and back. His hands slid from her hips to palm her perfect ass. Damn. Just damn.
She did some kind of sucking move with her mouth that traveled all the way down to his cock and made it twitch. His pants were the only thing separating them, and if she kept up this rodeo ride, it wouldn’t take magick to bust through that barrier. His fingers tightened on her smooth, wet flesh, and he switched to hold her with one arm, moving his other hand to her firm, round breasts. Her small nipples were pink, beaded, and his mouth actually watered at the thought of sucking on them. Before he could claim one of those glistening peaks, she was kissing him again so he plucked at her nipples instead. Her moan of pleasure vibrated through him, clear to the soles of his feet.
She was fire in his arms, a breathing, writhing enchantress. The sun beat down on them, burning his back and heating her dark hair, fueling the already raging fire between them. She ground against him again, increasing the friction. If he didn’t get inside her soon, he was going to lose it right there. With rough hands, he stilled her hips.
His mouth trailed kisses along her cheek and throat, and with a deep breath, he took in her scent, all nature and wild and free. His lips found her nipple, tugging on the bead. His free hand trailed under her firm ass. His fingers found her wet, hot center, making her hips buck against his cock and pushing him closer to the edge. Getting a woman hot and bothered was nothing new, but this was Violet. Wild. Forbidden. Somehow that made it astounding. He slid his finger all around her swollen nub, wringing a cry from her lips.
He had skills, magickal ones, too, but she flew apart before he had the chance to use them. He rode her through the tempest, touching and stroking in a way that maximized her pleasure. She arched and screamed, held him, no, hugged him close. Her head rested against his shoulder as she caught her breath.
Then her whole body tightened in a different way. “Oh, my gods, what are we doing?”
“Well, I just made you come and—”
She slid to her feet and stumbled back, grabbing up the shirt. “No, I mean, what are we doing? This is—”
“Crazy. Insane.” He raked his fingers back through his hair. “And amazing.” He still had a raging hard-on, and his body fairly thrummed with the need for release, but what…the…hell?
“No, let’s stick to the crazy insane part.” She pulled on the shirt, shock in her eyes. “If my brothers had come up on us…”
“That would have been awkward.”
“Awkward? They would have killed you.”