Frostbite (Last Call #5) Read online

  A second item caught her eye. If he was offering a chance to give up control, to give in... Kelsey snatched up a candle and turned to offer it to him. “This. I might want to try this.”

  A slow smile curled his lips. “So you want your man of ice to torment you with fire? That’s delightfully perverse.”

  “It’s like the chains,” she murmured, already distracted by his smile. “It isn’t about the bondage or the pain. It’s about the ritual, that you’ll be able to take the time for it.”

  He lifted the candle and rubbed his thumb over the wax. “Once I put you in the chains, I want you to ask for everything you want. Don’t hold back. Any desire, any need—I want you to speak them all. And I’ll meet each one...when I’m ready.”

  He was sin, laying out a fantasy she’d never even thought to have. “All right.”

  Cain wrapped his free hand around the back of her neck and guided her toward the bed. “Put the chains on the end table and stretch out on your stomach.”

  The nervousness persisted as she obeyed, trembling by the time she flattened her body to the mattress, the expensive duvet cool under her skin. She clenched her hands into fists and glanced back at Cain, focusing all her concentration on the waves of aroused energy that pulsed around him.

  He set the candle next to the chains, and the bed dipped as he sat beside her. “Relax, love.” He nudged her hair out of the way and brushed the nape of her neck, then smoothed his hand down her spine until it rested at the small of her back.

  The touch left her shivering, and she had to laugh at herself. “This isn’t what you signed on for, is it? Soothing a skittish lover?”

  Another stroke, strong fingers trailing from nape to waist, and he tsked at her. “I’m old enough to look out for my own self-interests. Trust me to do so.”

  If she wasn’t honest with him—and herself—this would never work. “I’m not sure I know how to do this,” she admitted quietly. “Seduce someone without my voice.”

  “Roll over, Kelsey.”

  She did, and instantly caught her breath. He was looking at her like a man intent on devouring her, and it intensified the vague, empty ache low in her body. Sharpened it. “Yes?”

  He caught her wrist and guided her hand to the hard bulge of his erection, still trapped by his perfectly tailored pants. “You underestimate how seductive your trust is.”

  It was easy to trust here, with the fantasy contained. He couldn’t hurt her unless she wanted him to—all part of the magic of Last Call, the protective wards wound in and around every room. But the truth was that she would have trusted Cain anyway. He didn’t need to lie or cheat to get what he wanted.

  He only needed to ask.

  Kelsey licked her lips and glanced at the chains on the bedside table as she curved her fingers around his cock through his pants. “Tell me what you want?”

  He must not have been made entirely of ice, because his voice took on a rough edge as she caressed him. “I want to discover your secrets. The desires that drive you and the needs you don’t even know you have.”

  “How will you do that?”

  He traced a slow line from just beneath her breastbone to the ribbons edging her panties. “I’ll play with you.”

  She tightened her fingers around his cock and fought the urge to lift her hips in invitation. “It sounds like heaven.”

  “Good.” His fingers dipped just beneath her panties, stroking teasingly over sensitive skin, then skated back up her body. “But first... First, I think I’ll kiss you.”

  He braced one hand beside her head and leaned over her, every movement slow and deliberate. He seemed huge, more presence than physical form, and Kelsey swallowed hard a second before his lips touched hers.

  Her mouth tingled from the delay as much as the kiss, from the way he made her wait for each sensory revelation. Heat first, and then the wet glide of his tongue. She shivered, and again when he stroked the side of her neck and teased his thumb over the underside of her chin.

  When she was almost used to his tongue, he gave her teeth. Sharp, sudden nips followed by soothing licks, the contrast enough to make her head spin. She reached for his belt again and laughed against his lips. “You keep distracting me from getting you out of your pants.”

  “I know.” He urged her head to one side and whispered in her ear. “It’s flattering that I can distract you.”

  He needed a taste of his own medicine. Kelsey closed her teeth on his jaw with a hum.

  The hand at her throat tightened. Not a threat, but a silky warning he reinforced when he pulled back with a groan. “Wicked girl.”

  She could be wicked with him. His control could take it. The realization shook her, and she moved against the gentle pressure at her throat, moved until she was on her stomach once more. “What are you going to do?” she breathed, sliding her hand into his pants. “Spank me?”

  He sank his other hand into her hair and tilted her head back. “Maybe.”

  “I’m game if you are.” The belt buckle clicked, and she eased the zipper down farther. “I want to suck you.”

  A sharp inhalation, and his fingers tightened painfully for one moment before relaxing. “Before or after I spank you?”

  “During?” She could already feel it, the sharp crack of his palm on her ass and his dick muffling her moans.

  Cain took his time gathering her hair up, stroking through it as he caught each strand and pulled it off the back of her neck. Then he twisted his fingers, wrapping the length tight around his knuckles, his grip strong enough to immobilize her head. “Take out my cock.”

  So serious. She wanted to make him smile, make him laugh, two things that definitely didn’t belong in a night of sweaty, dirty fucking. “Yes, sir.” He had a lovely cock, thick and hard. It grew even harder when she eased her thumb along the crown, followed by a quick flick of her tongue.

  “Fuck.” Only a whisper, but a definite crack in that rigid control. He closed his eyes and tugged at her hair. “More.”

  Power. Kelsey thought she’d grown immune to its lure, but it bubbled in her blood now, made her bold. She arched her back, put her ass in the air as she licked him again, slow and wet. “More tongue? Or just more?”

  Her icy lover growled. “More.”

  She licked her lips and met his gaze, held it as she kissed the head of his cock and slid her mouth around him.

  His jaw clenched, and he hummed his approval as he touched her cheek. “You have a hot little mouth, don’t you?”

  Answering would mean releasing him, which was unthinkable. Instead, Kelsey made a soft noise in the back of her throat, one she knew would vibrate over him like a caress.

  If he wanted a little heat to balance the cold, she’d give it to him.

  He wanted to blame Kelsey’s magic for the fire licking at the edges of his control, but with her mouth so cleverly occupied, Cain had no place to rest the blame but with biology.

  He’d had women with more objective skill, but skill wasn’t what made the vixen’s blowjob so appealing. It was that frenzied edge where polish was eroded by hunger—that was the part that left him strengthening his own ragged defenses even as he thrust against her mouth.

  Kelsey fisted her hand around the base of his shaft and squeezed in time with every gentle bob of her head, every hard draw as she sucked him eagerly. Pleasure became a throbbing pressure, one he wasn’t sure he could ignore for long.

  If he didn’t distract her, he’d forget why he was here. He’d forget that his role tonight was not to be distracted, to give her a man who could hold his own against her charms. Gripping her hair, he pulled her back. “Take off those charming little panties.”

  She began to straighten but stopped short with a gasp when he held tight to her hair. Understanding roughened her breathing, and she closed her eyes and wiggled her panties down to her knees, then her ankles.

  “So hot to watch.” He reached for her bra and popped the fastenings with one deft flick of his wrist. “This too.”r />
  The lace fell away, baring full white breasts peaked with tight pink nipples. “The chains?”

  He bit back a smile. “Ah, yes. I’d almost forgotten.” Which was a lie, but he’d been content to wait until her nervousness waned enough for her to ask for them.

  Patience would be his saving grace with this one.

  He released her hair and bent to retrieve the bracelets. The finely wrought chain connecting them could be secured to any number of convenient fastenings…or left free to tease against her skin. “Hold out your wrists.”

  She watched him through her lashes as she obeyed. “Why did you come here tonight? Not upstairs with me—to Last Call.”

  He clasped the bracelet around her left wrist and considered the question. “I have physical needs, but human women often find me unsettling.”

  “How so?”

  He quirked an eyebrow. “You can’t feel it?”

  Kelsey bit her lip. “You seem...a little removed from it all. Except—” The chains clinked as she dragged her fingernails over his stomach and then wrapped a stroking hand around him again. “No, not cold. Just serious.”

  “I am cold,” he reminded her gently, even as his cock jumped under her hands. Odd, that he could divorce his body from the pleasure of her touch, but couldn’t quite quell the thrill of watching her stroke him. “Perhaps not as cold as usual, though. I’m not entirely immune to your voice.”

  She didn’t believe him. He could see it in her eyes as she held up her right wrist and waited.

  He fastened the golden cuff around her other wrist and decided it was just as well. Even the most extreme human fetishists found dancing with death far more arousing as a fantasy than a reality. With his coldest edges melted by her magic, perhaps he would finally be able to take a woman to bed without fear tainting the pleasure.

  But as the second shackle clicked shut, she spoke again, her tone relaxed. Conversational. “Even if you were as cold as you claim, I have no reason to be scared of you. My mother’s a Muse and my father’s a god. Death has no dominion over me.”

  No, he supposed it didn’t, at that. “If I were the sort to make jokes, I might say that this is a little bit like sleeping with the boss’s daughter.”

  “Nonsense. I never lured a single man to his grave.” Her smile faded. “Not on purpose, at least.”

  This was why he didn’t make jokes. His sense of humor had always been twistingly morbid. Cain pressed his thumb to her lips. “We are what we are, and there’s no shame in that.”

  She nipped at his thumb and tilted her head. “Pretty words for my benefit, but are you truly unashamed of what you are?”

  This time he raised both eyebrows, feigning curiosity as he braced himself. “Do you think I shouldn’t be?”

  “I think you’re beautiful,” she whispered with a shake of her head. “But I’m not sure you agree with me.”

  He wasn’t certain, either, but he had no intention of admitting as much. “I’ll just have to accept your word for it.”

  “Mmm.” She bent her head and licked his nipple. “You have me bound, at your mercy. Now what are you going to do with me?”

  “I’m still considering my options.” He caught the chain and twisted it around his hand a few times, trapping her wrists close together. The headboard had plenty of discreet fastenings for the chains, but so did the walls, and even the ceiling.

  He caught sight of one hook set a few feet above a straight-backed, armless chair. “Stand up, sweetheart.”

  Kelsey slid off the bed, a smile playing at the corners of her lips. “Do you still want me to talk, or should I be quiet for a while?”

  Quiet might be easier on his nerves, but it defeated the purpose of the whole night. “I want you to talk.” He backed toward the chair, pulling her after him. “I want you to babble. And perhaps, when the time is right, scream.”

  “That depends.” She glanced past him to the chair, as if she’d already worked out his intentions. “How clever is your tongue?”

  “I’m quite meticulous.” Jerking on the chains, he pulled her off balance and caught her when she stumbled against his chest. She was so pliant, a sweet, warm armful, and he enjoyed the contrast of where she was soft and he was hard. “Are you ready to see what a meticulous man can do?”

  “Yes.” Her mouth dropped to his collarbone, and her moan blew hot over his skin.

  She was easy to lift, and a half-spin took them to the chair. He lowered her to the polished wooden seat before lifting her wrists. When he clipped the chain through the hook, it left her arms stretched out above her head.

  Perfect. “Now this is a vision.”

  “Cain.” She breathed his name so quietly that the rattle of the chains nearly drowned out the sound. “Don’t stare.”

  In all honesty, he couldn’t help himself. She was a vision, from her disheveled brown hair straight down to her pink toenails. Gentle curves and soft angles. She couldn’t hide her peaked nipples from his gaze, but she began to fidget, pressing her legs together with a blush.

  When he still didn’t look away, she lifted her chin with an almost defiant look, parted her legs once more and met his gaze. “Fine,” she murmured. “At least tell me what you see.”

  He smiled, and put all the heat he had in him into it. “A beautiful woman who is learning the glorious frustration of impatience.”

  She moaned again and twisted her wrists in the engraved cuffs. “You’re evil.”

  “I’ve heard it said.” His erection throbbed as she squirmed, and he gripped it in his hand, frustrated at his inability to control the physical reaction. Maybe it was the proximity of her mouth, or the fact that her spread legs revealed the slick wetness of arousal. “Would you like my cock in your mouth or my tongue in your cunt?”

  A whimper escaped her. “I want your tongue. I’m so turned on it hurts.”

  He’d been planning to give her the opposite of what she requested, another tease to whet her anticipation, but she looked so hungry.

  And he wanted to see her come.

  Gritting his teeth, he pushed down his own need, wrapped himself in the same dispassionate protections that kept him strong in the face of grief and rage. Then he lowered himself to his knees and pushed her legs wide. “Say it again.”

  “I ache.” She arched off the chair with a tiny groan. “Lick me, Cain.”

  He did. Just a taste, tormenting them both as he flicked his tongue over her clit. Her hands twitched, stopped short by the chains, and a shudder ran through her.

  So ready. He stroked both thumbs through her folds before parting her. He only touched her with his breath this time, feathering it over her exposed clitoris. “Have you ever had to wait this long before?”

  “No, damn you.” She braced her toes on his knees and rocked toward his mouth. “It’s perfect.”

  Perfect. Had he ever been called that before? Hardly, and it made him smile as he slicked his tongue over her cunt, savoring the taste of her as much as the way she moaned through gritted teeth and thrashed against the chains binding her.

  Her thighs quivered. The chair scraped over the floor as she jerked. Soon—impossibly soon—she began to beg. “Right—right there. Please.”

  Release was the one thing he wouldn’t deny her. He concentrated his attention on the rhythm that made her body shake, and she rewarded him with gasps and shudders that built to a silent moment of interminable tension. She twisted above him, took one more sharp breath—and screamed.

  Pleasure. Need. A Siren’s wordless command. Her voice shredded his defenses as fast as he could build them. Cain reeled back as her pleasure crested, staggered to his feet and caught his balance by bracing his hands on the wall on either side of her arms.

  He looked down. Kelsey was flushed and dazed. Beautiful. His cock ached. His body burned.

  She was a Siren, and he wanted to drown in her.

  Kelsey’s vision blurred. She blinked, still trembling with the last rough pulses of pleasure. Cain stood over h
er, his chest heaving, his gaze focused on her like a compass snapping to north.

  He was hard, his cock only inches from her face, and she could feel the heat wafting off him in waves.

  “Oh hell,” she whispered, her voice husky from crying out. “I should have known better than to keep talking.”

  Cain bared his teeth at her, the expression a growling sort of challenge. “My mind may not be under your control, but my body has other ideas.”

  She was still bound, powerless to move. “Take the control back. Tell me what to do.”

  Wordlessly, he moved forward, until the head of his cock bumped her lower lip. She opened her mouth, fluttered her tongue against his ridged flesh...and waited.

  This time, he definitely growled. “Suck me.”

  He was so intent, so focused. “Do you want to come?”

  For a long time, he didn’t answer. His chest lifted with each panting breath, and his gaze burned her with its unwavering intensity. When the word finally ripped free of his throat, it sounded both ashamed and defiant. “Yes.”

  This was no place for shame. Kelsey rubbed her cheek along his shaft and stretched up far enough to bite his stomach. “I want it too.” One more teasing lick, and she took him in her mouth. A different sort of hunger drove her now, the desire to please, to satisfy. To see her lover undone.

  He shuddered. His hips began to move, tiny rocking movements at first, as if testing her willingness. Kelsey leaned closer when he pulled away, then sat up straight, still, and hummed in invitation.

  “God damn.” He stroked his thumbs along her arms. “You want this, sweetheart?”

  Yes. Anything and everything. Part of it was the denial, but the rest of it was an awakening attraction that shocked her with its depth. Cain wasn’t hot because he possessed the willpower and self-control to deny her superficial needs long enough to fulfill her deeper ones.

  He was just fucking hot.

  As if he could see the answer in her face, he clenched his teeth and eased forward in small advances, thrusting deeper into her mouth with his gaze fixed on hers, alert to her reactions.