Love Burns (7 page)

It should have been eerie, making love in the old mining cavern, its walls veined with glittering mineral deposits, listening to the sound of trickling water somewhere just out of sight. Instead all Olivia felt was a sense of urgency. The fact that their lives had been threatened just served to make her feel more vividly alive; even more eager to feel Calder’s heart beating against hers, to have him moving inside her.

From the way he breathlessly stripped off her clothes and pulled her down on top of him on the cavern floor, he felt the same way.

Their moans and murmurs echoed oddly in the enclosed space, and the air was cool and damp on their skin. Olivia shivered, but it was a delicious thrill of lust, not with the cold.

Calder was hot and hard beneath her hands, and she straddled him, reaching down to wrap her fingers around his thick erection. He closed his eyes and groaned, flexing his hips to thrust up into her palm, and she felt a surge of excitement at the power she had to arouse him.

She ran her fingers teasingly over his straining length, making him twitch under her touch, then palmed him more decisively, working her hand up and down and wringing hoarse sounds of pleasure from him.

His eyes opened, drugged with passion, and he ran his hands possessively over the curves of her figure, stroking her breasts, tracing his fingers over her belly and twining them in the dark nest of curls between her parted thighs.

She whimpered as he found the hyper-sensitive knot of her clit and stroked it teasingly with his fingertip, but took his hands and guided them to her hips.

She settled herself over him, positioning the head of his cock at her entrance. He held on to her hips and gazed up at her, pupils dilated and lips slightly parted, then groaned when she rolled her hips, allowing him to enter her by a fraction of an inch.

She bit her lip as she let the sensation wash through her, savoring the expectation. Then she sank down onto his cock, taking his full length inside her.

Spreading her hands on his chest for balance, she looked down at him, gently circling her hips, the subtle motion enough to stir them both to gasps and murmurs of pleasure. Calder shifted restlessly on the cavern floor, and she began to move.

She rose and fell, taking him as far inside her as she could, pressing against him and rolling her hips to allow the base of his shaft to graze her clit. Each time she withdrew until he was barely inside her, he clutched at her hips, fingers slipping on her damp skin, then shuddered when she sank down again. He cursed softly under his breath, his words almost incoherent. She could tell he was trying to hold back, trying to let her take control, but he couldn’t help himself. As she rode him, he flexed his hips, so that each time she bore down on him, he thrust the thick length of his cock deeper inside her.

Then he moved his hands up to her waist and he was pounding up into her, pulling her down onto him, straining to get as far inside her as he could.

With every thrust he gave a harsh, staccato groan, the sound thrown back at them by the walls of the cavern.

Olivia moaned as orgasm welled up inside her, the sensation filling her, flooding through her body until it overflowed and left her trembling and weak. She cried out, the sound trailing away into a groan of pleasure and arousal as Calder flipped her over, his cock still inside her. He laid her back on the cool stone floor with his arm braced behind her back and pillowed her head on his other palm, and he pistoned into her with frantic, barely controlled abandon.

She could feel the muscles of his broad back bunching and working beneath her fingers, and his face was contorted in ecstasy as he fucked her. Orgasm stirred back into life inside her, a glowing ember stoked by the driving, grinding intensity of Calder’s passion.

He rocked her body, the back of her head pounded back against his palm with every desperate thrust, and she knew this wasn’t just fucking – it was a claiming. She’d asked if she was his girl, and now he was showing her that she was; branding her with his body.

As flames of arousal lapped outwards from her clenching pussy, she buried her face against his damp neck to muffle her hoarse shouts. Her muscles locked and her cunt clenched around his throbbing dick as he came inside her, flooding her with his hot seed.

He all but collapsed on top of her, catching himself at the last moment and rolling to one side, pulling her against his chest. They both gasped for breath, unable to speak. She wouldn’t have known what to say even if she could, and anyway no words were needed. They’d said everything they needed to with their bodies.

His cock was still half hard inside her, and the insides of her thighs were sticky with her arousal and his cum. She felt pleasantly sore, and she knew that tomorrow she’d ache from the intensity of their lovemaking and have little bruises on her hips where he’d dug his fingers into her flesh in his passion.

Her knees were grazed, her palms were gritty, the muscles in her thighs burned, and she felt wonderful.

A little while later – Olivia wasn’t sure how long – they heard voices in the distance. She quickly sat up, disentangling herself from Calder’s arms.

“I think that’s my mother’s voice,” Calder said, leaping to his feet. “And do I hear Barnum?”

“How would they find us here?”

Olivia frantically grabbed her dress and pulled it on over her head.

“Barnum probably told them about us coming out here,” Calder said, grabbing his boxer shorts and quickly stepping into them. “My family knows about this cave system. We’re almost at one of the entrances.”

They barely managed to get dressed before Tabitha, Barnum, several fire dragon centurions, and a man who looked exactly like Calder came rushing towards them. That must be his twin brother, Gabriel.

“Boss! Thank God! Are you okay?” Barnum cried out, his eyes wide and panicked.

“Oh, I think they’re better than okay,” Gabriel said with amusement, and Olivia blushed and looked away, running her fingers through her hair.

“What have you two been up to?” Tabitha demanded suspiciously, staring at them. “Your hair is all rumpled and your shirt is buttoned up wrong,” she added to Calder.

“Well, excuse me, we were running for our lives through these dark, dirty tunnels,” Calder said. “We got a little mussed up. I take it the three fire dragons are gone?”

“What three fire dragons? Jeez, boss, we thought you were dead. The whole ghost town’s burned to a crisp. So is your car,” he added, glancing at Olivia. She let out an exclamation of dismay.

“My car! Damn it. My premiums are going to go through the roof. Oh, wait! Forget the car. Someone needs to check on Aunt Nora.”

“Yeah, the police already talked to her. Apparently her phone was stolen this morning,” Barnum said.

“Can we kindly leave now? This dust is making me sneeze and my outfit is
ruined
,” Tabitha complained, and she turned and headed back in the direction she’d just come from.

Olivia and Calder followed the group out of the caves, and Olivia blinked in the light.

“Do I look awful?” she whispered to Calder.

“You couldn’t possibly,” he said to her with a wink.

“Awww, you’re such a good liar. I do like that in a man.”

They were standing at the mouth of the cave, and a few hundred yards from them, a dirt road wound by. There were about a dozen vehicles parked there. Farther down the road, she could see where the ghost town had been – now charred to a blackened crisp. There were fire and ice dragon centurions flying overhead, and some walking through the ruins. Probably searching for clues, and the perpetrators.

But the fire dragons who had tried to kill her were long gone.

* * * * *

Nora, Kenneth, and Sailor stopped by Calder’s house that evening. Olivia had already showered and changed and gone to the ice dragon police station, where she’d repeated everything she could remember about all three attacks until her head ached. Henrik had sat in on the interviews, looking skeptical, as if this were somehow all her fault. As if she were hiding something.

She was glad to be back at Calder’s house. Barnum had insisted on staying in one of the guest bedrooms, just in case anyone tried to attack again. Calder had looked like he wanted to say no, but Barnum had looked like a kicked puppy, so Calder had finally conceded.

Calder was in his room showering and Barnum was outside the house “patrolling” – or rather pacing back and forth – when Nora and her family stopped by.

Kenneth looked grim and Nora’s face was as white as a sheet as they walked in. Sailor just looked pouty and put-upon, like she always did. She’d probably had to miss a night of clubbing for this.

“I can’t believe someone used my phone to lure you into a trap. I’m so sorry. I called to report that my phone had been stolen this afternoon,” Nora said. “I don’t know how long it was missing.”

“Aunt Nora, this may sound crazy, but do you think my father is behind any of these attacks?” Olivia asked her.

Nora and Kenneth exchanged shocked glances. “Behind attempts to kill you?” she said. “No. You know I’m no fan of your father’s, but I can’t imagine him trying to kill you. Remember you’re worth money to him alive. He wants to marry you off. And he’s got no reason to want you dead.”

“That’s what I thought. But did you see him at all yesterday morning?”

“Yes, I stopped by the station at one point. Why?”

“Because he would have had access to your phone. Whoever sent me that text message knew just what to say to get me to go out to the ghost town. They knew what’s happening with our family right now.”

Nora looked unhappy. “I mean, I guess so. But I was out shopping yesterday morning and I went to a bunch of different stores. Just about anybody would have had the opportunity to reach into my purse. And these are small towns, and word does travel fast. Everybody knows everybody’s business.” She glanced around. “Well, I just wanted to come apologize to you personally. Be careful out there, okay?”

She made as if she were heading towards the door, but Sailor tugged on her arm. “Moommm. You said you were going to talk to her about the Mortensens.”

“Now is not really the time, dear,” Nora said with exasperation.

“What about the Mortensens?” Olivia asked.

Nora gave her a pained look. “Well, just that you’ve been spending time with them.”

“And everybody knows about it,” Sailor added with a resentful look. “My
friends
have been talking about it. You went out to that shack where the Mortensens live. People think you’re…
friends
with them.”

Olivia felt a flare of anger. “And this matters to me why?”

Sailor replied with a look of disgust. “Wow. Nice. Way to thank us for everything we’ve done for you,” she said with a curl of her lip.

“We’re concerned about your safety, that’s all,” Kenneth interjected hastily. “Just be careful of them. They have a sketchy family history. Violence, robbery.”

“Why does everyone keep blaming Alfreda and her children for the things her father and brother did?” Olivia said heatedly.

“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” Kenneth said, his tone solemn. “All right, everyone, she’s clearly stressed out and in a bad mood. We’ll just leave her be.”

They trooped back out of the house, and Olivia slammed the door behind them.

The next few days felt like they dragged by. Calder drove Olivia to work and picked her up afterwards, and if she wanted to go anywhere, she was driven either by him or by a centurion.

The nights, though, felt as if they couldn’t last long enough. Calder hadn’t talked to Olivia about their future any more, but he made sure he claimed her in his bed every night, long and hard, and left her exhausted but smiling before she fell into a dreamless sleep.

There was no progress into the investigation on the dragon assassins, or at least none that anyone was telling her about, but the town was crawling with centurions. Henrik had called in investigators from the Council of Elders, and all the centurions in North and South Lyndvale were pulling double shifts.

On Saturday, Olivia, Barnum and Calder were driving to lunch in North Lyndvale when Calder’s cell phone rang, and he answered it, talked for a minute, then made an abrupt right and stepped on the gas. As he drove, he scowled at the road ahead.

“Billy’s at it again,” he said to Olivia. “Burning graffiti into the side of the Icicle Factory restaurant. Henrik’s also on the way. Let’s hope we can get there first.”

Unfortunately, as they pulled up next to the restaurant and parked, Henrik was pulling up right behind them.

The owner of the restaurant, Stewart Dahlman, stood in the parking lot. He was glaring at Billy, who was surrounded by three other ice dragons. They weren’t centurions; customers or passers-by, probably. Billy was glaring back at them. Customers were hurrying out of the restaurant, and a crowd was gathering.

Why did the little idiot have to pick a restaurant in the most crowded, touristy area of North Lyndvale? And in broad daylight, yet,
Olivia thought with exasperation.

Olivia, Calder and Barnum ran up to Billy, who was standing with his hands jammed in his pockets, glaring sullenly at the ground. Henrik was on their heels.

“Hello again, Billy,” Calder said, fixing him with a cold, angry glance.

“Well, arrest him,” Henrik said impatiently.

Inspiration struck Olivia like a bolt of lightning.

“Actually, Stewart hired Billy to decorate the building for him,” Olivia called out quickly. “We just came by to see how the project was doing.”

“I…did?” The restaurant owner looked over at Olivia, who raised an eyebrow. Nobody wanted Henrik to start arresting local dragons. Once he started, he might never stop.

“I did,” Stewart repeated, with conviction this time, nodding vigorously to Henrik. “See how neat his lettering is?” he added, pointing at the wall.

That was true. Billy did beautiful lettering, and he always punctuated his graffiti with artistic flourishes like little stars and exclamation points with dots shaped like balls of fire. Unfortunately, that was his undoing; his style was very distinctive, so everybody knew when Billy had defaced a sign or a building.

Billy looked as startled as everybody else, but he recovered quickly. “Uh, yeah, man, can I get back to work, please?” he asked Henrik. “I told him I’d finish before the dinner crowd gets here.”

Olivia nodded approvingly. Nice touch.

“What, exactly, did you want him to burn into the side of your restaurant that begins with the letters ‘F’ and ‘U’?” Vromme asked Stewart with a raised eyebrow.

Stewart opened his mouth, trying to think of something.

“Fun for the Whole Family,” Billy said, perfectly straight-faced. “And a picture of a dragon juggling fireballs.”

“Yes, burn graffiti is very big right now,” Stewart said gravely, nodding his head.

“It is? How much do you charge?” another business owner asked Billy eagerly, and gave him a card. “When you’re done with this job, call me! So you can do artwork too?”

“Can I do artwork,” Billy scoffed. “I’ll bring you a portfolio.”

Soon his pocket was stuffed with business cards.

Henrik looked over the crowd of ice dragons. “This is your chance to take care of a vandal who’s been plaguing your city for months!” he yelled at them. “And you’re just going to cover up his crimes?”

The crowd of fire and ice dragons stood side by side and stared at him blankly, as if they had no idea what he was talking about.

“Fine! I hope you’re happy when he burns the whole town down!” Henrik, red-faced, stomped off in disgust.

“Wow, I can’t believe it. I have a job,” Billy said excitedly as Henrik drove off. “I have a
career
. My mom is going to be so happy.”

“Chop, chop,” Stewart said. “Get back to work. Two hundred bucks. If you finish before the dinner crowd gets here.”

With that, Billy resumed burning foot-high letters into the side of the building, but this time he had an appreciative audience watching, and he practically glowed with pride.

“You could get business cards printed up,” Olivia said to him as he worked. “And you could probably do parties, too – burn pictures into wood pieces for party favors.”

Billy paused to take a breath and glanced over at her. “Thanks. That was nice of you. Uh, if you want me to make you a new ‘Welcome to North Lyndvale’ sign, I will. Half my usual rate,” he added with a wicked grin, then returned to his work.

“Half his usual rate? That little…entrepreneur,” Olivia said to Calder as they walked off. She was struggling not to laugh.

“Have I ever mentioned that you’re a damn good mayor?” Calder asked.

They had a nice, uneventful lunch at a steakhouse. It was so peaceful that it took Olivia a while to figure out that something was wrong.

“Barnum, you haven’t hit on anybody today. Not once,” she said as she finished the last of her apple pie. She reached out and felt his forehead. “You’re not feverish. You know, the other day when Alfreda was in my office, you didn’t hit on her, either. What’s wrong? Are you dying?”

“By God, you’re right,” Calder marveled. “Whatever’s wrong with you, I hope you never get cured.”

“Calder!” Olivia was appalled.

“What?” Calder said unapologetically. “You’re not stuck on patrol with him. Listening to his endless stream of one-liners is like being forced to listen to a really bad talk-radio show all day, every day.”

“I’m fine,” Barnum said mildly.

Olivia looked at him suspiciously, but he wasn’t giving it up, whatever “it” was, and Calder wanted to stop by his family’s jewelry store to talk to his brother for a minute, so she let it go for the time being.

As they strolled towards the store, they saw Henrik approaching them.

“He turns up everywhere. Like a bad penny,” Olivia muttered.

“What is a bad penny, exactly? Has it gone rotten or something?” Calder wondered, but before she could answer, Henrik blocked their path.

“Listen up,” he said, scowling at them. “You aren’t fooling me with all this pretending that fire and ice dragons are now all holding hands and braiding each other’s hair and singing
Kumbaya
. I can see what you people are doing here.”

“What we’re doing here?” Calder snorted. “I’m taking my fiancée ring shopping.”

Olivia made a choking sound, but covered it by pretending to sneeze.

“What’s the matter?” Henrik asked with fake concern. “Are you allergic to lies?”

Annoyed, she sneezed harder and “accidentally” frosted Henrik’s face. He stumbled back with a shriek of dismay.

“Oh, I am
so
sorry,” Olivia said with fake concern. “I do hope whatever I have isn’t contagious!”

“Let’s get you indoors out of this heat, honey,” Calder said, putting his arm around her shoulders. “It’s hell on those allergies of yours.”

He rushed her inside Kingsley Jewels – and Henrik followed them.

The interior was dazzling, sparkling with jewelry on mannequins, jewelry on display cases, jewelry on fishermen’s nets. Gabriel, who was working on the floor, walked up to them and cast a puzzled glanced at Henrik, who had heated up and was melting the ice off his hair.

“What happened?” Gabriel asked Calder.

“I sneezed,” Olivia said coolly, and looked completely innocent. “I have allergies.”

“Do you really, now,” Gabriel said, pulling a handkerchief from his suit pocket and handing it to Henrik. Then he looked at Calder.

Henrik stalked off to wipe the dripping condensation from his face, then handed the kerchief to one of the sales associates.

“And there I thought you’d go for some goody-two-shoes, stuffed-shirt type like yourself,” Gabriel said to Calder. “I actually like her.”

“Can a woman be a stuffed shirt?” Olivia wondered.

“Probably not,” Calder said. “I’m so glad you approve, Gabriel. I mean, it was keeping me up at nights worrying. By the way, you’re invited to the wedding.”

Olivia flashed Calder a look of annoyance. “What wedding? I feel as if my allergies are about to act up again – really, really strongly this time,” she said in a low, warning voice. “You might be in danger of terminal frostbite. Perhaps what I’m allergic to is fake wedding announcements.”

“That would be highly unusual,” Calder said cheerfully. “One for the medical books, I’d think.”

“So I assume you came here to look at wedding rings?” Gabriel said to Calder.

Henrik was walking back over to them now, and he looked very interested in their conversation.

“Yes, of course,” Calder said smoothly. “I’m a traditionalist myself. But Olivia is such a maverick. And of course, what my darling bride-to-be wants is what she gets.”

Olivia let Gabriel guide her through several display cases full of dazzling wedding rings in every cut, color and size, before she finally settled on a cushion-cut sparkler that cost twenty thousand dollars.

Ha.
She looked at Calder defiantly.

“Your move,” she murmured.

“So you’ll be putting a deposit down today?” Gabriel asked his brother, amusement sparkling in his eyes.

“Sure will.”

Henrik stood and watched as Calder pulled out his credit card and put down a deposit on the ring.

“Hmmph,” he said when the charge went through, and walked out of the store looking annoyed.

“You know that mother is frothing at the mouth to see you married, and of course we’d let you have the ring for free,” Gabriel added.

“And you know I can’t take your money.”

“I can’t believe you did that,” Olivia said as they left the store. “Can you at least get your money back?”

Calder looked sincerely baffled. “Why would I want to get my money back? They already measured you for the ring.”

“That is a very expensive bluff,” Olivia said with reluctant admiration.