Jacob's Trial [Forbidden Legacy 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (11 page)

Her heart expanded under the pressure, tension coiling through her chest and constricting it, only to relax as the heat warmed her blood. Concentrating, she bit her lip and focused on his clothes. It had taken Helcyon driving her need to the brink to achieve the snap of clarity to focus the magic, to give it one desire, one goal, one absolute must.

She dragged up that need, the tingling sensation rimming her nipples and spreading to her abdomen until it pulsed between her clenched thighs, throbbed in her pussy, and swirled around her heart again. Jacob’s gaze held hers fast, and she exhaled, pushing the power back along the path it traveled through her arms to spread like mesh across Jacob’s torn suit jacket and shirt.

The air hummed. Her ears clicked and then popped. His clothes vanished, leaving only the smooth, hard-muscled body behind, and Cassie let out a little shriek of triumph.

Jacob’s soft chuckle preceded the slant of his mouth across hers, and she stretched her arms up, wrapping them around his neck. Delight bubbled through her. Jacob’s tongue thrust against hers, demanding. His fingers dug into her back, massaging and stroking the damp skin. Every gentle touch sent tendrils of energy stroking across her senses.

Dragging her mouth back, she grinned. Her heart did a little flip-flop at the pride gleaming in his expression. She was probably smiling that wide, goofy smile of the college kid who just made a touchdown, but the power dancing through her was an awful lot like being drunk. It warmed her in eddying pools, making her giddy.

“Very well done.” Jacob didn’t offer compliments freely, and of her two lovers, he was by far the more impatient. She glowed under the fierceness in his eyes.

“Turn around,” she ordered, twirling her finger to emphasize her point.

“I’m fine, Cassie.” His hands came up to cup her face.

She shook her head. “Turn. You two are always taking care of me. Let me take care of you this time.”

The slant of his mouth turned down at the corners. Sighing, he pressed a kiss to her nose before turning, the tension stiffening his shoulders. Six long score marks lifted the skin of his back in livid welts.

“Jacob…”

“It’s not as bad as it looks. They are already healing.” Despite his assurance, he sucked in a deep breath as her fingers probed the areas between the welts. The skin was white, pulled taut between each uplifted stripe.

“What happened? What can I do?” Flecks of dried blood clung to his skin. But the flesh was closed.

Jacob turned, picking her up and walking forward and down the steps into the steaming water. Warmed to over one hundred degrees, it flowed like silk over her flesh, swirling between them. His stiff cock pressed against her belly, and she wrapped her legs around his hips, clinging to him as he pushed them deeper into the water.

“You’re doing it right now. Just being you.” Jacob’s firm lips relaxed into a smile. His hands steadied her bottom, holding her tight. He pivoted, turning them both in the water and letting warm waves caress her skin.

Cassie threaded her fingers into his hair, enjoying the rasp of his chest against her nipples. The water ebbed and flowed between them. The anxiety swelling through her relaxed fractionally as Jacob continued to dance with her through the water.

“I’ve never waltzed in the water before.” It really was like dancing. Every twist and turn brushed the length of his cock against her pussy. The sensation of his heated erection teased her clit. Squeezing her legs, she arched her hips so she could rub her pussy up and down his length.

Jacob’s jaw flexed, his smile tightening across his teeth. “We won’t last long if you keep that up.”

“I’m sorry.” She grinned at him, completely unrepentant. Everything about Jacob was so intense, his anger, his dedication to duty, his determination to teach her, and even his lovemaking, which often left her weak and thrashing. The rare moments like this, where he let her glimpse the playful side of him, were precious few.

He nuzzled her cheek, nibbling kisses down her throat, and Cassie tipped her head back, lashes closing. The barest hint of stubble on his cheeks rasped gently against her skin. Twirling her in the water again, he continued the languorous torment, his cock riding up along her slit, grinding teasingly against her clit and down again.

Her pussy clenched, aching for the stroke that would push him inside of her. Her fingers dug into his shoulders as she tried to adjust the angle, to take him deep. Jacob’s grip on her ass tightened and he pulled back, avoiding her contortion.

“Wait,” he murmured, nuzzling a path to her ear and teasing the lobe with a gentle lick. “I don’t have a condom.”

The word splashed icy reality over the scalding heat bubbling inside of her. Leaning her head back, she stared at him. “What?”

“Your eyes, sweetheart. They’re glowing again.”

The water ebbed lower as he continued guiding them through the pool. The liquid receded, and Jacob carried her up onto the white, sandy half beach they’d created for her, answering her desire to be close to the ocean. Overhead, the skylight kissed the sand with the sun’s heat.

Jacob went to his knees and settled her down. The smooth sand heated her bottom. Jacob peeled her hands from his hair and urged her back, kissing a path down to her breasts and suckling one plump nipple into his mouth. Electricity arched her back, the pleasure stabbing through her protests.

“Wait.” It was the hardest word she’d ever pressed past her lips. His hands tightened on her wrists, refusing to release her as he dragged his teeth lightly over the turgid point and then drew on it again. Slick dampness coated the inside of her thighs and his mouth dipped lower, tracing over her belly and teasing her belly button with promised thrusts.

Hips bucking, she cried out as he let go of her wrists to slide his hands under her bottom. He lifted, nudging her thighs wider. The first lick of his tongue across her nether lips fanned the flames of heat flowing like lava, burning away her questions.

He blew a breath across her clit and her hips bucked. His tongue stroked the skin around her pussy, teasing her, just barely touching the swollen nub with his nose. When the tension flattened through her, squeezing her air in puffs, he slid a finger inside her and closed his lips over the clit. The hard sucking motion rocked her forward, and every remaining thought in her mind detonated.

She rode his hand, bucking against his mouth and he kept her down, teasing every drop of her release, tongue lapping the liquid heat creaming her pussy. Collapsing against the sand, she stared up at him dazedly as he lifted his head to smile at her. His cheeks were damp and his eyelids half-lowered.

“What about you?” She managed the words around the languid release still jolting her with miniature shocks.

“Giving you pleasure makes me happy.” But there was an edge of wistfulness to his smile.

“Having you come inside me makes me happy.”

He shifted on the sand, the hard, rigid length of his cock standing out proudly, demanding her gaze.

“Cassie,” he sighed her name and lowered his forehead to hers.

“You don’t want children.” A sick dread dispelled the pleasure he’d fanned to full bloom within her.

“No. I
do
want children. A child with you would be a beautiful, magnificent being.” He stretched out alongside her, lying on his left side, one arm braced to hold his head up. He drifted his free hand across her abdomen, palm flush to her skin. “Giving you a child would be exquisite, but—”

Her mind hiccupped at the “but.” Fear sank its claws into her flesh, a sickening twist tightening her stomach.

“But I am not sure you would want my child.” Of all the things he could have said to her that was the last thing she expected. Cassie’s mouth fell open, shock stealing her speech.

The left side of his mouth turned up into a wry smile. “I’m a Wizard, Cassie. I had two children before and a wife a long time ago.”

The news rocked her back. His past came up briefly when they first met. She failed to pay attention, but desire for two so different yet completely beautiful men consumed her. He told her what it was to be a Wizard, but not a husband and certainly not a father. Had Jacob loved his first wife so much he couldn’t bring himself to want the same things with her?

“Stop it.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I love you. This is not a contest between you and Ellen. Ellen was a different woman, a different time, and I like to think I did my best for her. I loved her, but I was young and I didn’t understand the way the world worked—the way
my
world works.”

Swallowing away the insecurity, Cassie traced the line of his face with her finger, longing to smooth the lines of tension completely. “I’ll stop trying to jump ahead.”

“Thank you.” Another smile tugged his mouth wide, and he turned to kiss her fingertip. “I’m a Wizard, Cassie. My mother was human. My father was Fae. You understand all of that, right?”

“Yes, we’ve had that discussion many times, although usually you spit ‘Fae’ the way some people say leper.”

Another twist of a grin and he nodded. “I’m not their biggest fan, and I still don’t trust them.”

“But?”

“But, maybe your Helcyon isn’t as bad as the rest.”

That was a tremendous concession from Jacob, and Cassie held her breath for the next words.

“But if he’s right and the glow in your eyes means you’re fertile for both of us, that means we can both make you pregnant. I think you should have his child, not mine.”

Another wave of shock stumbled through her. He didn’t want her to have his baby? She wasn’t even sure she wanted to have a baby, but his rejection still stung.

“My child would be human, Cassie. Human. Vulnerable. Swift aging. Swift dying.” The haunted look returned to his eyes. “I buried both of my children when I was already a great-grandfather. They lived long, normal, human life spans. Humans age faster than I do, they always will. You have so much Fae blood in you, the chances are great that you will live a long, long time…”

“But it’s not a guarantee.” She frowned. She was in her twenties, and old age was decades away, not worth limiting their options for right now.

“You said yourself your great-grandmother was well over a century and going strong. Your grandmother approached it rapidly. Your mother was likely to as well had she survived.”

Grief for her family added another fragile layer to the unease swamping the pleasure of their little interlude. The Danae’s actions, trading her Changeling daughter with the Belle’s human child, set into motion a lineage that resulted in Cassie. She’d had little contact with the Danae since the announcement, fielding most of the press inquiries herself. She wanted to demand answers, but the three of them were in agreement that the time to confront the Fae queen was not now.

“Would you want to not love me if you knew I would only have a human life span, Jacob?” She didn’t question his devotion, but was he really trying to deny himself the comforts of love, acceptance, and trust because he might have to lose them?

“No, sweetheart. I’m in too deep for that. Whether you live to a hundred or a thousand, you’re not getting rid of me. But, Cassie, I wouldn’t wish the pain of burying a child on anyone, least of all you. Helcyon’s child with you would be a Wizard—”

“If it’s a boy,” she interrupted him. “If this mythical, doesn’t-actually-exist-yet child was a boy, it would be a Wizard. You said there are no females.”

“I said there are none that we know of. But I was reminded today that a lot of what I know was established by a Council constructed around one goal—the eradication of the Fae—in a time period when women were valued only as chattel, vessels to perpetuate a line. Over the centuries, the Wizards have suffered from reactionary decisions and factional warring.”

The softness in his expression fled completely, petrifying under the stern stiffness of his jaw and the cool, implacable attitude in his eyes.

“I don’t know what our child would be, but I am nearly certain he or she would be human. It would break my heart to see you mourn that child and the few years you would have with them. If you want a baby, and Helcyon can give you that baby, then I will love your child, I will train your child, I will support you every step of the way.”

“And that’s just how it is?”

“Yes.”

Cassie stared at him, struggling to sit up, the sated desire completely evaporated under the harsh term of his statement. “And if I want to be able to give you a child?”

“No.” Jacob shook his head. He stood, retreating from her fully. Sand clung to his damp side. “You have so much to learn, Cassie. So much to discover about yourself, about what you can do. I am not walking away from you, but I will not participate in breaking your heart. Don’t ask me to.”

With that, he turned on his heel and walked away. He wouldn’t entertain the thought of giving her a child because that child might grow old and die someday when they were still young. The concept was surreal, but the pain in his eyes when he spoke of his first wife and their children left her heart bruised.

She couldn’t imagine the pain he felt.

Heart aching, she stood, brushing the sand off, and stared toward her bedroom. Jacob wouldn’t be in there. He would have retreated to his own rooms, perhaps to shower, perhaps to dress. He walked away from her…