Page 99 of Soul Sucker

His mouth hovered a fraction above hers. “In this case, it is. Now kiss me and let me in.”

She gave in to the kiss far too easily. It was a guilty relief to lean against his solid strength, slide her fingers into his short hair and be supported. As he kissed her, she felt a visceral tug on her psychic senses—as if she was the one having her memories purged. She bit down on his lip and he recoiled.

“What the hell was that for?”

“What exactly are you doing?”

He stared at her as if she was an idiot. “What I’m supposed to do. Take the memories away so that you don’t get overloaded.”

“But—”

“Shut up, Ms. Walsh, and let me do my job.”

His mouth descended again and she surrendered to his kiss with all the enthusiasm of a heroine in a romance novel. Pathetic, but there was no one there to see, apart from a few sprites who might well be getting up to some mating activities of their own. Vadim deepened the kiss and she responded, unwilling to be the passive partner in their embrace, determined to make him work for it.

With a groan he clamped a hand over her ass and pulled her tight against him until she could feel the hard throb of his denim-encased cock. She wanted to climb him, to fit her sex against his hardness, to have him inside her.

“Damn it,Ella,slow down.”

His words reverberated in her mind, but only encouraged her to rub herself against him even more. With a soft curse, he lifted her up, swung her around and placed her back against a tree trunk. She wrapped her legs around his waist and rolled her hips, felt his cock press against her clit, then came hard.

One-handed, he stripped off her overalls and let them fall to the ground. While he was busy doing that, she worked at his belt buckle and zipper to reveal his shaft, which was barely restrained by the waistband of his straining boxers. He took her hand away, and pushed down his jeans and underwear, barely pausing before he shoved his thick length inside her, making her scream and come again.

She tried to control his strokes, but he was too powerful so she sank down on him and just enjoyed the ride, the power of him, his scent, the flex of his tight ass as he drove into her making her climax almost constantly. Magic gathered around them and inside them and when he finally came, she joined him and saw the equivalent of psychic fireworks explode in her mind. She also felt curiously carefree, as if his touch had burned away her burdens, her fears, her…

She opened her eyes to find Vadim holding her up against the tree, his cock still inside her. A quick mental check revealed a lightness of spirit that had evaded her for years. She pushed at his chest and he looked at her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just think we should cover up. We’re near water, and I don’t want my ass covered in mosquito bites.”

He didn’t move. “What’s really wrong?”

She forced herself to meet his gaze. “Nothing. Will you just move, please?”

He pulled out and away from her and she leaned back against the tree, hoping her legs would stop shaking and hold her up. He kept an eye on her as he dressed and then bent down to retrieve her overalls and panties. “Here you go.” He hesitated. “Would you like my handkerchief to clean up?”

“Thanks.” She took the immaculately laundered cotton square and waited until he turned his back. After she put her clothes on she sauntered over to him.

“Can you get us home?”

“With your help.” He took her hand. “But I can only take us to one place.”

She’d half expected that. “Then take us both to Tiburon.”

He nodded, his expression unreadable in the half light. “When you feel me cast the spell, open your mind to it and imagine that you are adding your power to mine.”

“Okay.”

Ella shut her eyes and waited. The power of the spell took her by surprise and she wondered why on earth it needed amplifying, but she’d promised to help out, so she took the magic inside herself and added her power. Within the blink of an eye they were outside her front door in Tiburon. For the first time ever, she didn’t even feel nauseous. Maybe it was the magical equivalent of not getting sick when driving a car instead of being a passenger.

She found her keys and led the way inside. The message light on her phone was flashing. She hesitated so long that Vadim touched her arm.

“Would you like me to check that for you?”

His question made her feel like a coward. “No, it’s okay. It’s probably just my mom nagging me about the weekend again.”

She wasn’t even sure why she was pretending. Vadim probably knew damn well that she was getting leery of picking up any messages at the moment. They all seemed to end in death. She dumped her backpack on the countertop and dialed her messages. Sure enough, it was her mom, her voice loud enough for Vadim to hear every complaining word.

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