Wuthering Frights (4 page)

I stepped out of the shower and wrapped myself in my robe, sliding my feet into my dog head slippers and padded into the living room. My stomach gurgled with hunger, but somehow I couldn't bring myself to eat. The thought was completely unappealing. Instead, I threw myself on the small sofa and didn't move for the next thirty minutes, at least. It was almost as if I was incapable of shifting position. I could have gone to
retrieve my dog from an
old coworker and friend, Trey (a hobgoblin who'd been watching my dog
, Blue,
while I was in the Netherworld). And I still had to pay a visit to Bram to let him know I was safe and sound ... At the moment, however, I couldn't bring myself to do much more than sit on my couch and zone out on the television which wasn't even turned on. Not that it mattered because there was no way I could have paid attention to
anything on it
. But then, thinking I was being a bad friend, I picked up my cell phone and texted my best friend, Sam. I wrote:

             
Hi Sam, I'm home and safe.
             
Let's catch up tomorrow because I'm exhausted and not in the mood to talk.

             
Love you, Dulce.

Thinking I should do the same for my other good friend, Dia Robinson, who worked for the ANC in the bordering province of Moon, and who
se help
I'd recruited while I was in the Netherworld, I pulled up her information and texted her something similar to what I'd just texted Sam.

Then I put the phone down and resumed staring at the grey of the television screen while my mind raced.
I had to figure out a story for Knight. Why? Because he was too smart not to question his release as well as my own. And
the worst thing I could do was go into that situation unprepared. So I forced myself to remember everything that had happened before I broke into my father's building. I forced myself to remember the way Knight and I had left things.

We'd been
sitting together in High Prison when Caressa announced that I was to be set free, per orders from above. It was pretty obvious that Melchior had been responsible
for
my release, probably once he'd realized his "prized" daughter was rotting away in a Netherworld prison, awaiting her death sentence. At the time though, I had no clue Melchior was responsible and neither did Knight. Well, Knight didn't know Melchior had anything to do with me ... as far as I knew anyway. So on that point, I'd just play it cool ... I'd say I'd been released for reasons unbeknownst to me, that it was as much a surprise to me as to Knight. What it amounted to, really, was that I'd have to become a good actress. I could not, under any circumstances, blow my cover, or it would mean Knight's life.

I was prohibited from further planning my cover-up when the sound of someone's fist against my front door broke through the silence. I felt my heart ricochet into my throat and I stood up, feeling wobbly as I did so, since I hadn't had a good meal in days. I walked to the door and got up on my tiptoes to see through the peephole.

Knight.

I felt my palms go clammy as my body reacted of its own accord and I flung the door open. I didn't know what to say or do and ended up doing nothing. I just stood there staring at him. And he did the same thing. Neither of us said a word, but just gazed at one another as if we hadn't seen each other in twenty years. I felt my heart pounding in my chest, my breathing just as obvious.

"You," I started, but the words caught in my throat, dying on my tongue. He was just as beautiful as he'd always been—so tall he nearly took up my entire doorway and almost just as broad. His dark hair was longish, owing to his time in prison. His eyes were the same crystalline azure I remembered, contrasting against the healthy tan of his skin. Knight is by far the most handsome man I've ever seen and even though he still had dirt and bruises distracting from the sculpted planes of his face,
he was simply breathtaking
.

"I was released," he said
quickly
, shrugging in as much wonder as he said it. 

I realized then that I had to act surprised. As far as he knew, I'd been released, but I shouldn't have known he'd been. "You were?" I started again, having a difficult time finding my voice. I cleared my throat, surprised that seeing him was so tough for me. "You're here," I finished, my voice cracking as tears flooded my eyes.

Knight didn't say anything. He simply nodded and offered me a warm smile, his plump lips revealing large, white teeth. I swallowed hard and glanced down at my feet for a second or two, willing the tears to subside. I didn't want to cry—no, this was supposed to be a happy moment. I returned my
gaze
to his striking face and felt my heart begin to race again. There was just something about him, something I couldn't place.

Did he know? Could he know?

"Knight," I started, but before I could finish my statement, he
suddenly wrapped
his arms around me and pushing me backward into my house. He didn't say anything, but once he entered my
living room
, he kicked the door closed behind him, his eyes never leaving mine. He placed his hands on either side of my waist and lifted me up as my dog slippers dropped off my feet. I felt my breath catch while he carried me a few steps before reaching the wall. But it wasn't as if the wall had gotten in his way, he was aiming for it. He pushed me against it, still holding me maybe two feet off the ground, so we were eye level. He gazed at me for a few seconds and then his mouth found my lips, his tongue wrapped around mine. It was a raw kiss, drenched in impatience and determination. As I ran my hands through his hair and shoved my tongue inside his mouth, I realized I shared the same need, the same feelings of insatiable hunger that had to be
filled
immediately.

Even though I'd just spent the better half of my afternoon convincing myself that I had to break things off with Knight, that it wasn't fair to him to pursue our relationship, I couldn't even think along those lines now. No, now those were like remote thoughts that had washed up on a distant shore. Instead, all I could think about was that I needed Knight. I needed him in a way I'd never needed him before. I couldn't stop myself from folding my legs around his middle. I couldn't stop my tongue from meeting his or from biting his lower lip. And I definitely couldn't stop the moan that escaped my lips when he started grinding himself against me. I could feel his erection straining behind his pants.

That was when I promised myself that tomorrow things would be different. Tomorrow would begin the rest of my godforsaken life. But for today, I would live in the moment. For today, I would pretend that nothing was wrong, that there was no Netherworld, no Melchior O'Neil—today it was just Knight and me. 

"
I want
to see you," I whispered, wanting only to revel in the glory of his naked chest, to run my hands over the swells of the muscles of his shoulders and back. He chuckled slightly and using the wall as leverage, pinned himself against me, keeping me in place with his knee below my butt. He allowed me to help him pull his T-shirt up and over his head. When he was naked from the waist up, I eyed him greedily. Even though there were cuts and bruises all over him, he was glorious to behold.

"I need to be inside you now," Knight said in a tight voice as he toyed with the tie around my robe, then dropped it from my shoulders until I was completely naked. "I can't wait, Dulcie."

I just nodded, not only understanding his
need
, but sharing it. Continuing to rely on his knee to stabilize me against the wall, he palmed my right breast, rolling my nipple between his fingers as my
breathing sped up
. He dropped my breast and his hand traveled south down my body, crossing the threshold of my thigh and pausing just between my legs. When I felt his fingers on me, I jumped slightly and then closed my eyes, throwing my head back against the wall as I felt his fingers caress me from top to bottom, flicking my sensitive nub.

"Open your eyes," he demanded as he pushed a finger inside me and I bucked again, opening my eyes to find his fastened on mine, glowing with a whiteness that hinted to the fact that his body had selected mine as his mate.

I felt something cold erupt inside me at the thought that I was going to have to end things between us, but I forced it to retreat from my mind as I focused on the feel of his fingers sliding in and out of my wetness. We would have today. We would have this moment and I wasn't going to let anything get in the way of that.

"I want you," I whimpered. "So bad
ly
."

Knight didn't say anything, but reached down and I heard the sound of him unzipping his fly and then the shuffle of his pants as he slid them down his legs. Supporting my body against the wall, he pushed himself between my legs until I could feel the swollen tip of him at my entrance. I tried to prepare myself for his plunge, remembering how large he was, but when I felt him slide into me, my breath caught all the same.

"Are you okay?" he asked, eyeing me with sincere concern.

I nodded adamantly and reached around him, palming his tight butt and pushing him forward, into me. "Stop talking," I whispered as he chuckled and thrust himself until he was deeply ensconced inside me. I arched against him and moaned as he started his rhythm, pushing into me and pulling out repeatedly. He pinched my nipples and looked down, watching himself going in and out. Watching him watching me, I felt something blossom inside me and I clenched my eyes tightly, allowing the orgasm to seize me. I screamed out with the force of it and dug my nails into Knight's back, trying to pull him all the way into me, wanting him buried to the hilt. He pushed into me even harder and faster as my legs began to shake, my entire body shuddering with another orgasm.

That was the difference between having sex with Knight and having sex with anyone else—it was as if his body could control mine—he dictated when I'd have an orgasm and how many. I'd never been able to come this many times with other partners—this was just another of Knight's Loki abilities.

"Dulce," he groaned as he started pushing inside me harder and quicker. I wasn't sure how much more I could take. Then he sighed loudly and moments later, simply collapsed against me, his head resting on my breast. He pulled out of me and set me on the ground again, being careful to support me when it seemed I might keel over.

"How did you get out?" I asked, remembering myself and the part I had to play.

Knight took a deep breath and walked away from me, shrugging as he did so. I could see the tension in his upper back and I didn't even have to feel his shoulders to know he had knots between them. He clasped his hands behind his head, handcuffed-style, and then turned around to face me again, completely awe-inspiring in his nudity.

"I don't know," he said simply as he shook his head. "Caressa said they just didn't have enough to go on and that putting me to death would have caused a public outrage."

Well, it wasn't a great reason, but it also wasn't like Caressa had had much time to come up with a flawless alibi. I took the few steps that separated us and threw my arms around him, needing to be close to him, needing to feel the heat of his skin against me.

"I'm gross, Dulce," he said as he tried to push me away. "I need a shower."

I smiled at him and allowed him his space. "It didn't seem to bother you earlier."

He nodded and returned the smile. "As soon as I saw you, I knew I wouldn't be able to control myself." Then he shook his head as if he were surprised by the fact that he'd just pushed me up against the wall and pounded the hell out of me. "You have a way about you, Dulcie."

I smiled but said nothing, merely pointed to my bathroom. "Go take a shower and I'll see what I have in the kitchen. I'm sure you're starving."

He nodded and grinned boyishly before disappearing into my bathroom. Once I heard the shower start, I turned to the subject of food. Opening my cabinets, I spotted some Jif peanut butter and bread, an open box of Triscuits and a few cans of Progresso soup. Hoping the fridge had more to offer, I opened it, but wasn't impressed. A carton of milk, long past its date of expiration, loomed ominously so I shut the fridge with a sigh. Reaching for the peanut butter and the bread, I figured I'd make Knight a sandwich to tide him over while I ordered a pizza for us.