Zero to Love (7 page)

“One,” he murmured a split second before he clamped his teeth on her nipple. The pleasure-pain swept her. Her pussy began the slow pulse of release.

When he glided a hand down her inner thigh and under her panties to her heat, she splintered before he laid a calloused fingertip on her.

Waves of sensation rushed her system, so intense and dark she lost herself for long moments. Opening her eyes, she found Monroe staring down at her in wonder. A healthy glow lit his face, and his eyes were liquid fire.

She flexed her fingers and found them on his open shirt. Somehow during the heat of her release, she’d popped the buttons. A grin stretched over his rugged features. Lifting one arm, he allowed her to pull off the thin leather. Then he switched to the other.

Juices pooled between her thighs, and her arousal was nowhere near quenched.

“Take off your clothes, Monroe. I want to look at you.”

HIS COCK SPRANG up from the nest of pubic hair, eager for her touch. After shedding boots and leather pants, he stood at the bedside, looking down at her beautiful form as her gaze traveled over his body. Her excitement rose to a fever pitch. He longed to devour it but held back. Making her as wild as possible was his only goal right now. Later he’d figure out what she was.

She’s One.

Swallowing hard, he fished into her thoughts and read her reaction to him. Her mind was riveted on his chest and arms. When her gaze slipped lower, a pink flush infused her face.

A sound broke from him. Slowly he climbed onto the mattress again. She reached for him, and he let her pull him down.

The slinky feel of her curves under him made him harden another fraction. White-hot need spiked in his core. Groaning, he took her lips again. Drank from her deeply, swirling his tongue around the inside of her mouth, learning gums, tongue, slippery cheeks. By the time he finished fucking her mouth, she writhed.

“I trust you, Monroe.”

He shook himself. Was she reading his mind now? Impossible.

Dipping his head, he placed bites down to her breasts. When he sank his teeth into one nipple, she bucked.

He wanted to make her come unglued before taking his own pleasure. The aroma of her lust rose between them. When her excitement peaked, he skimmed a hint off the top, sucking her emotion in. Instead of slowing her wild heart rate, the sustenance only made his heart trip faster.

He glided his hands over her belly down to her bare pussy. The glistening folds beckoned to him. They might be sweeter than any thought he’d ever consumed.

Looking up the length of her body, he met her gaze. Passion clouded her eyes. “Please.”

In her mind, he clearly saw her desire for him to sink his tongue into her pussy until she clung to the rafters.

Cock weeping precum, he dropped his head by increments, still holding her gaze. When he opened his mouth over her pussy, she cried out. Flavors burst on his tongue—musk, female, and Magda. The headiest cocktail he’d ever experienced.

His reaction was a buzz of pleasure against her pussy. Her inner thigh muscles leaped, and he smoothed them with his hands. When he gently pressed her outer lips apart to reveal how wet she was for him, he almost came.

“Hell,” he groaned and thrust his tongue deep. Her body clenched around him, gripping, riding him. She rocked her hips into his face, and he let her use his mouth.

Thumbing her nubbin, he pressed the hood back to expose the hard core. When he ground his thumb into it, she issued a long cry.

“Take from me, baby.”

She knew what he was saying. Hips snapping upward, she ground her pussy into his mouth and fingers. The tension in her coiled, and her stomach muscles dipped and heaved.

So close. Come for me.

She tipped over the edge. Wild contractions around his tongue caused his cock to throb with pressure. He rubbed his groin against the cotton coverlet, imagining her pussy would be a smooth road to a bliss he’d never known.

He eased his ministrations on her clit as her breath sobbed in her lungs. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and he studied her lashes, which were white-blonde at the roots and dark auburn at the tips. Each strand contained so much of her—from physical details to genetic tendencies to preferences for certain foods.

Right now she was thirsty. Again he wished he had something to give her.

Water—number three
. How was it she was purer than water?

The final pulsations under his tongue died away. He gave her one final lap, dragging his tongue from her taut nubbin down through her slick folds to her soaking entrance.

With one finger, he caught a bead of her juices. She watched him lick it off.

Then she grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand to her lips. He groaned as his digit disappeared into her hot mouth. She closed her eyes and fell still. Another swipe of her tongue, and she froze.

Releasing him, she said, “You don’t have fingerprints.”

“No.”

Her smile stretched. Her mind and emotions were a jumble, and for a moment, he couldn’t make sense of the thoughts. He stared at her until her mind cleared, and caught her intention a split second before she acted on it.

She wrapped her arms and legs around his body and towed him down. Expecting it, he allowed her to overpower him. She flipped atop him. When her wet heat collided with his aching cock, he growled. The need to claim her was a heavy drumbeat in his mind, body, soul.

Straddling him, she leaned back, giving him a view of her breasts and the narrow curves of her waist. Her navel drew his attention, and he pressed his thumb into it. She wiggled against his rock-hard shaft, raising another groan from him.

“Let me taste you too.”

Fuck, he hadn’t seen that coming. She prostrated herself on his body and positioned herself at his groin. In a blink, his weeping cockhead was buried in her scorching mouth.

He fisted his hands in her hair. The strands fell over his knuckles, the finest silk. As she took all of him in her mouth, he ate up the emotions buzzing around her. Lust, want, closeness.

Her mind lingered over the flavor of him. Another drop of precum oozed onto her tongue. She swallowed around him reflexively.

“Christ, that’s enough.” He cupped her jaw and drew her up. She came willingly, her body unfolding like a length of chain. When their eyes were level, he kissed her.

She went limp in his hold, all her emotion suddenly tasting tender and loving and a little vulnerable.

With extreme care he drew her down and rolled her to her back, kissing her. Her mouth tasted of their mingled essences, and his need increased tenfold.

He guided his throbbing cock to the junction of her thighs. No disease existed in Mindchangers, and she was as pure as her number code.

“My One,” he murmured and plunged into her.

Body tightening, she scraped her nails down his spine. He captured her cries with his kiss while battling the need to drive harder, deeper, to mark her as his.

But by his claiming her, she was now a challenge to other Mindchangers. If another could take her, it meant Monroe’s rank was trumped, no matter how much more powerful his mind.

He shifted within her, shallow, then deep. Gripping one round thigh, he drew it higher for better access. Fiery need shot through his groin, the fires stoked by her maddening feel.

“Magda.”

Her eyes were twin blue gems gleaming with more emotion than he could consume even if he chose to. The thought humbled him.

As he eased out to the tip of his cock, she moaned. Digging her heel into his hip, she tried to draw him back into her. He hoped she continued to trust him, because their road wouldn’t be easy after this.

Her pussy clenched around him, and he could hold back no longer. Driving harder, he claimed her lips. The kiss turned carnal—rough, bruising. When she sank her teeth into his lower lip, he burst. Jets of cum shot into her body, triggering her release.

Her ecstasy fed him, empowered him. He drank everything she gave to him. When her body relaxed under his, he slowed his movements. Braced on his elbows, he cradled her face in his hands and worked his tongue over her swollen lips. Back and forth until she began to pant once more.

Her arms were warm weights anchoring him to her. As if he ever wanted to move.

The slow tick of the clock in the other room broke into his consciousness. She should be at work right now, not in his bed. But keeping her safe was going to be difficult if he didn’t hold her near. He couldn’t just let her go back to campus where Free Wills would be searching for her. Wandering the city alone was out of the question, and he couldn’t rely on her brother to keep her from harm.

He eased their bodies apart. Stretched out beside her, he let out a heavy sigh.

Her mind took that sound and ran with it.
Oh no. What does that mean? It wasn’t any good for him. He doesn’t—

“Magda.” He rolled onto one hip to stare down at her. The upper bow of her lip distracted the hell out of him, and for a solid sixty seconds, he couldn’t remember what he’d been about to say.

She flattened a palm on his chest, and it all flooded back.

“Tell me more about your parents, about Elijah and your childhood.”

“Can’t you see everything?” Her voice was husky from her screams of bliss.

He traced her lower lip with his thumb. Should he tell her? Or did she know? Finally he let out the breath he was holding. They had come this far together. She was as good as his, even if he couldn’t feed from her thoughts. While her emotions were delicious, he wanted all of her.

Shaking his head, he said, “Not everything. Your mind is… Magda, those Free Wills are after you for a reason.”

Shock flitted over her face, a dark shadow of emotion he didn’t want to consume. But he did. He had to take it away from her. It slid into his psyche, and he felt his mind grow more powerful. A few more gulps of her, and he’d have enough strength for another cerebral boom. Hopefully that wouldn’t be necessary.

She fisted a hand on his chest. “After
me
?”

He nodded, wanting more than anything to look away, but she deserved better. “The reason your memory is full of holes—spotty—is because you are their victim, baby. In your childhood, they cleaned you out. Stole all your memories.”

“What?” Her voice was a ragged whisper.

“No one ever told you.” It wasn’t a question. Her family was obviously shielding her from Mindchangers. That thought catcher hadn’t been placed in her room because they liked what it added to the decor.

She shook her head hard, and her red waves tumbled over the cloud-blue pillowcase. A number five cushioning a brain holding a number one.

“But if I was a victim of a Free Will attack, what thoughts did they place in my mind? What doesn’t belong to me?” Panic leaked from her.

Throat constricted, Monroe wrapped his arms around her and tucked her tightly against his chest. Pressing his lips to her ear, he devoured her emotion, disgusted by the black oiliness of it. When he gave her the answer, he didn’t want her to see the fury in his eyes.

“The Free Wills didn’t give anything back in this case, baby. It’s almost never heard of. They just took.”

“How much?” A violent shiver gripped her, and he held her tighter.

He probed her mind, already knowing the answer before he spoke. “All of it. They only left enough to keep your heart beating.”

Chapter Five

Magda stared out the window of Monroe’s apartment with a view over the city. Twilight was falling, leaving its purple traces on the streets. Rubbing her hand over the front of Monroe’s black T-shirt she was wearing, she once again revisited what he’d told her.

Her mind was empty. Cleaned out by Free Wills. Therefore she was now a target. They were coming after her to wipe out everything she’d learned in the time since. Anger spread through her veins, and adrenaline kicked in.

Her family knew—this was the reason they despised the Mindchangers, why Elijah was overprotective. Why hadn’t they told her?

She sensed Monroe’s presence before she heard the scuff of his boot against the wooden floorboards. She didn’t turn from the window but held out a hand. When he slipped his warm one into hers, a shiver of recognition ran down her spine. She knew this man now—this supernatural who had moved intimately within her body. No regrets came with their union, but it was impossible not to wonder what would happen next between them.

“You go to your father and talk to him about what you learned,” Monroe offered. The low tone of his voice washed over her, raising gooseflesh in its wake. He tightened his hold on her hand and drew her against him. She inhaled his freshly showered, soap-and-water smell. When she’d spotted him across the campus parking lot that day, she’d never imagined he would smell this way—so normal.

“You believe he will tell me the truth now? After hiding it from me all these years?” Her words were muffled against Monroe’s bare skin.

“I know you can be persuasive, baby. If you come right out and ask for the truth, what choice does he have but to give it?”

She lifted one shoulder in a halfhearted shrug. “I’ve asked about my mother again and again, and he’s never told me about her.”

The darkness seeped through the tall window and cast him in a blue hue. The shadows suited him better than the daylight.

“Will you take me home?” she asked.

“Of course. It’s unsafe for you to travel through this city unaccompanied.”

“You won’t let me out of your sight?” If the Free Wills came after her, she’d be defenseless and would be emptied within seconds. She’d lose everything—her knowledge of how to manipulate paint, how it felt to receive a hug from her father, even the annoying memories of Elijah bossing her around.

And she’d lose Monroe.

She tilted her head back to look at him. The beauty of his features struck her. Golden stubble smeared his jaw and his straight upper lip. Dirty-blond hair tumbled into one blazing green eye. But that bracket around his mouth—the smile for her—made her heartbeat speed up.

“I can’t always be with you. I have work to do as well, and taking you with me isn’t possible. But when I’m not at your side, someone who can protect you will be.”