Sorcerous Flame (Harem of Sorcery Book 2) Read online

  I murmured something incoherent—I was trying to say something along the lines of how I wasn’t going to be able to last very long if he kept this up—when suddenly he pulled up again, removing that delicious tongue, those delightful fingers. But before I could protest, he was reaching for his own button, and sliding his jeans down. He wore boxers, the cutest boxers you’ve ever seen, they had hearts on them, I kid you not. And his eager cock was straining through the front of them, poking its way out through the fly. I giggled, because it was so adorable, so delightful.

  He pushed those cute boxers down, out of the way; I wanted to wave goodbye to them, but I still couldn’t move my arms, and anyway, what replaced them was far, far better. He moved to straddle me, standing on his knees over top of me, letting me get a good long look at him. His cock was just gorgeous, the most perfect cock I’d ever seen. Strong and straight and true; maybe almost just the tiniest bit too big, but somehow, I knew that was not going to be a problem.

  I strained against my confining bra-straitjacket. “Can I touch you?” I moaned.

  Mahlen grinned down at me. “You want to touch me? Really?”

  “Oh, I do, I do…please…”

  “Hmm,” he said, peering down at me as if the situation were really just terribly complicated. “You seem to be all tied up.”

  “You tied me up,” I mock-pouted. “I’m stuck.”

  “Well, your hands are stuck,” he said, knee-walking forward, crawling up my body. “Other parts aren’t.” With that, he leaned forward, putting his hands over my head…lowering his cock toward my face. But moving slowly, slowly…waiting to make sure it was okay?

  Oh, it was more than okay. “Yes,” I whispered, and opened my mouth to take him in.

  He eased that delicious cock into my mouth; I leaned forward to take it in, savoring the taste of him—clean and delightful and musky and…oh, magical. “Mmm,” I purred against him, licking and tasting and stroking—but only with my mouth, as my hands were still trapped, now worse than ever, as his knees held my bra straps tight by my sides.

  He sighed and gasped in a shuddering breath as I took him deeply in my mouth, as deep as I could. He didn’t push; just waited for me to let him know how far he could go. And now he rocked his own hips back and forth, gently, slowly, letting himself ease in and out of me, fucking my mouth so sweetly.

  The pace increased; he couldn’t hold back for long, I somehow knew it, just from his breaths, his gasps. I kept up, matching him thrust for thrust as best I could, just with my mouth, with my body under his.

  Then he moaned, and abruptly slowed the pace, pulling back again, then all the way out. “You’re amazing,” he said, “but I want…” His words trailed off as he ran a hand down the front of me, pausing at my breasts, then lower, lower…he scooted down as well, and then he was straddling my hips, his cock poised at my entrance. He gazed into my eyes. “Grace.”

  “Mahlen.”

  He gave a slight smile. “May I?”

  I smiled back at him; my smile was a broad grin. “Oh, please do.”

  He thrust into me, startling me with the intensity, the strength; he had been moving so slowly, so deliberately, until that moment. I almost came right then; the flash and spark and electricity of touching him was multiplied a thousand-fold when his cock entered me, when we were bound at that deepest level. “Oh my god!” I gasped out, struggling to keep hold of my sanity, gripping him with everything I had. Under me, my helpless hands clenched the sheets, they could do nothing more.

  He moved like a lion, like a panther, claiming and taking and covering me, filling me completely, harder, faster all the time. His eyes held mine, and then they closed as he moved down to kiss me, to claim my mouth as his cock was claiming my pussy. I melded into him, letting our bodies become one, riding the dreamy ecstasy of this connection. I thrust my hips up into him, yet I was helpless as a kitten, I was so much smaller than him, and he had me so pinned. He could just eat me up.

  I wanted nothing better than to be eaten up like this. Forever.

  And yet the heat built…it was purple flames in my veins now, fire shooting through my whole system. The most delicious, life-giving flames anyone had ever felt…my life was made of the flames, I wanted to lose myself in them, give myself to the fire…

  Mahlen’s breath was coming in fast, sharp gasps now, and his thrusts were shaking even my sturdy bed. I clung to him with my legs, now somehow free and wrapped around his ass, I don’t know when he’d let them come unpinned, and I held on tight to the sheets under me, and still we might rocket off this earth and out into space…

  “Grace,” he panted. “I won’t…last…much…”

  I exploded into orgasm, screaming with the intense ecstasy of it in that moment, gripping his cock with my pussy, arching my back to thrust up into him harder, deeper, more. He shouted my name once more and exploded into me, filling me with his essence now as well as his flesh, and with the flames, the heat, the fire. We were one person, we were a supernova, we were magic, bound together forever…

  I fell out of time for a while, I think, riding the other-worldly plane of existence I now lived on, before settling back to this one, with something like surprise. I was still panting, gasping; my pussy was still shuddering, holding on, reverberating.

  Mahlen lowered himself gently, still holding most of his weight off me. He opened his eyes and smiled tenderly down at me, belying the wild animal who had just fucked my brains out mere moments ago. “Wow.”

  I laughed, low and throaty. “Yeah. My god.”

  He leaned down and gave me a deep, soulful kiss. It felt so good to be joined like this—like we were a moment ago in our build to ecstasy, now easing down the other side of that Himalayan peak. Our tongues intertwined like they had been built for each other; he let more of his weight sink down onto me.

  “It’s fine,” I whispered, breaking the kiss a moment to pull him closer. “You feel amazing.”

  “So do you.” Now he let the rest of his weight cover me, like the world’s best blanket. I secretly thrilled at the fact that he didn’t make a big point of how small and fragile I seemed; I don’t want to crush you, said every previous lover I’d ever had (not that there were all that many of them, but still). Mahlen just took my word for it, settling down over me like I was the most comfortable mattress in the world, and kissing me again.

  We floated in that soft sweet comfort for a long while, and it eventually morphed into us kissing side by side in my bed. I tossed a leg over his hip and he reached forward, around my back, and finally—at long last!—unhooked my bra and let it go. “Ah!” I said, stretching my arms forward and pulling him close to me. My hands explored his strong shoulders, his amazing hair, caressed his jawbone and his collarbone, tickled his nipples again.

  “Hmm,” he said, after a while of this. “Maybe I should have freed you sooner.”

  “Regrets regrets,” I murmured, and kissed him again.

  ~*~*~*~

  We slept. When I next woke, it was deep in the night, dark as the other side of the moon. I slipped out of the bed and used the bathroom, trying to be quiet. But my apartment is tiny, and when I returned to bed, Mahlen’s strong arms encircled me, pulling me close.

  “Sorry to wake you,” I whispered.

  “I’m not,” he whispered back. He turned me around in his arms, spooning us together, kissing the back of my neck, nibbling my ear, running his hands through my hair. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured.

  “You’re not so bad yourself,” I said, wiggling my ass against his fast-growing cock.

  He moaned and pressed against me. “Wicked woman.”

  “You know it.”

  His hands moved downward, clutching my hips, moving me against him as his cock pressed against me from behind. I tilted my hips up just a hair and invited him in. He slid in easily, smoothly, sending another wave of shock and delight through me. When had sex ever been electrical before? It was like I had never made love before; my previous lov
ers had been pretend, or practice, or a bit of vivid imagination. This was the real thing.

  He clutched my hips tighter, moving in and out of me with practiced ease as I bucked back against him. Our breaths matched, our gasps building in tandem, and he moaned when I moaned.

  And he cried out when I did, as we came together, strong and furious, gasping and groaning. “Omigod,” I breathed out, when I could make something like words again.

  “I think even the Russian judges would have to give that one a ten,” he whispered.

  I busted out laughing. “See? This is what I love about you. You’re such a dork.”

  “I’m your dork.”

  I wiggled my hips against him again. “Oh, that is the best thing I’ve heard all year.”

  Chapter Four

  The alarm went off way too soon.

  “Oh crap,” I muttered, reaching over to the nightstand to turn it off. But my phone wasn’t there. Where was my phone? Obviously in the room with us, we could hear it, the annoying thing, but…

  Oh, in my pants. Over there by the door.

  I groaned and slid out of the bed, found my pants, dug in the pocket for the phone, finally shut the damn thing off.

  When I got back in bed, Mahlen had his arm draped dramatically over his eyes, like a fainting Victorian maiden. “Why so early?” he asked, his voice slightly muffled. “The shop doesn’t open till ten.”

  “Not to you customer-types it doesn’t,” I said, snuggling against him. “I have to be at work at eight. Which means I have to get to the bus by six forty-five, and the bus stop is six blocks from here.”

  His arm moved from his eyes to wrap around me and pull me close. “If I drive you in, we can leave at seven-fifteen. Maybe even seven-thirty.”

  “Mmm,” I purred, snuggling closer.

  A few delicious minutes later, I added, “I do need a shower, though.”

  “Hmm.” He gave me a deep, luscious kiss. “What a terrible thought, you in the shower. Naked. Wet. Soapy. Hmm.”

  A few minutes after that, I finally pulled away and said, “Okay then. Are you gonna help me with that shower, or are you gonna just take me right here?”

  Mahlen chortled. “Shower, boss lady.”

  My shower (like the rest of my apartment) is very small. That is not, as it turns out, a bad thing. We had to stand so close together, we were spared all the awkwardness of trying to figure out how to cross that divide between trying to get clean and having overt sexy-times. It was pretty much straight to sexy-times. We hadn’t been in there five minutes before Mahlen had me pinned against the wall under the spigot, my legs wrapped around his waist, his cock buried deep inside me, the hot water splashing down over both of us.

  And then he washed my hair.

  So, yay, the getting-clean part worked too. Best. Shower. Ever.

  I was getting dressed for work—different pair of jeans, different T-shirt—and Mahlen was basically just watching me, a little bemused smile on his face, like he couldn’t quite believe he was here. Well, I kind of couldn’t quite believe it either. “You’ll probably want some clothes too, you know,” I said. “If you’re planning to drive me to work, which will require leaving this apartment.”

  “Oh! Right.” Sadly for him, he had to wear yesterday’s clothes. I mean, not that I minded—he looked terrific in them. And guys don’t really have that whole walk-of-shame thing.

  The world: it just isn’t fair.

  “There’s English muffins you can toast,” I told him as I swiped on a hint of makeup. “And I think I even have a little peach jam. No coffee, though, sorry—I always get that out.”

  “You don’t need to feed me.” He stood in the bathroom doorway, still watching me. “I’ll get something after I drop you off.” Then he frowned. “Are you going to eat anything? Want me to toast an English muffin for you?”

  “I usually just get one of those sandwich things at the coffee shop. With the ham and cheddar cheese and all.”

  “Oh, can I do that? Can I bring you coffee and a sandwich thing to the print shop?”

  I put down the tube of mascara and turned to look at him. “Why are you so wonderful?”

  He shrugged. “I’m not. I’m just…you have to rush in to work, and I don’t. Let me take care of you.”

  “Oh honey,” I said, giving him my best lascivious leer. “You are absolutely taking care of me.”

  “Cut that out,” he said with a grin, “or I won’t let you get ready for work. It’s taking all my self-control to stand here and not come in there and ravish you.”

  “Pity.” I turned back to the mirror, unable to stop smiling as I began brushing, then braiding my hair.

  Somehow, we got out of my apartment by seven-fifteen. Even more amazingly, the traffic wasn’t very bad, so he could drive reasonably across town rather than breaking speed limit laws. We were a few blocks from the print shop when he said, “What are you doing for lunch?”

  I giggled. “Are we going to have every meal together from now on?”

  He turned to look at me, unaccountably serious. “Well, I’d like to, but I have to—”

  “Mahlen, Mahlen,” I said, reaching over and patting his knee. “Last night—and this morning—were amazing.” Before he could react to the ‘but’ I could see he thought was coming, I hurried on to add, “And I want to do it again as much as humanly possible, god yes. But we’re both grown-ups, with lives and commitments and schedules and—well, okay, one of us has a job. So it’s all right, in fact it’s inevitable, that we cannot spend every minute together. Or even every meal.”

  “Right, of course.” He smiled over at me, then turned onto the street where the print shop was. “But are you busy for lunch today?”

  I laughed. “No, I’m not. My lunch break is at one.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  Monique has a creepy sixth sense about things. I didn’t see her watching at the window as Mahlen dropped me off, and we didn’t kiss or anything in front of my place of work (I’m not fifteen), but as soon as I walked in, she gave me this huge grin and said, “Well??”

  “Well what?” I said, stalling for time as I went to put my purse and jacket in my cubbyhole, then went to get the main printers turned on.

  Monique followed me to the back. “Well was that or was that not Mahlen O’Connor dropping you off? After I left the two of you here alone last night making goo-goo eyes at each other? And here I thought you were sick.”

  I shrugged, but was unable to hide my smile. “Well he was pretty grateful for the help, and he sold that print for a lot of money, so, he took me to dinner at Columbus House.”

  Her eyebrows rose. “Wow! A lot of money, then. Honey, we’re in the wrong business.”

  “No we’re not. We get paid no matter what. You know how many prints don’t sell.”

  “True that.” She sat down at the drying table and indicated a second chair. “But don’t divert me. He took you to dinner. And he dropped you off this morning. So…?”

  “I’m not the one who changed the subject.”

  She gave me a mock-glare. “Now you are!”

  “All right, all right.” I smiled at her. “I’m feeling much better.”

  “It sure looks like you are!”

  “Really? What do I look like?” Now I was all self-conscious. Can you see amazing sex written all over a person’s face? I thought that was just fiction.

  Monique looked me over, suddenly more serious, though still cheerful. “Yesterday you looked weak, kind of pale. Like someone who had been in bed with the flu all week. Today, you look not just recovered, but somehow stronger than ever. Your color is great, your eyes are sparkling. I don’t know—you just look all bright and shiny and magical.”

  “Huh.” Magical. Emma Foster had talked about magic…which was of course bullshit and not real and impossible.

  Also she’d looked just great. Bright and shiny, I’d almost say.

  Obviously just a coincidence. Nothing to do with anything.

/>   I was spared from further interrogation by a knock at the shop’s front door. “Oh! That’ll be Mahlen with my breakfast,” I said, getting up and dashing to answer it.

  Monique followed me to the front, her grin widening when she saw that he’d brought coffees and little sandwich things for all three of us. “All right, that’s all I need to know,” she said as I unlocked the door. “You have my blessing, girl.”

  ~*~*~*~

  The morning seemed to drag on, probably because I was doing my work and not lounging around in bed with my astonishing new lover. Or maybe it was the lack of sleep I’d gotten last night. Anyway, one o’clock seemed to take forever to arrive.

  But it finally did. Monique returned from her own lunch at the same time as Mahlen showed up to get me.

  “You have an hour?” he asked, as we waved goodbye and left the shop.

  “Yeah. And I probably shouldn’t push it.”

  “Got it.” He looked up the street. “How’s that café on the corner?”

  The one where I’d met with Emma yesterday… “Actually, there’s a little burger place about two blocks away. I’d rather go there.”

  “Sure thing.”

  The burger place didn’t have a lot of seating, but my later lunchtime meant it wasn’t as crowded, so we were able to get a table near the counter. We ordered, Mahlen paid, and then he joined me at the table.

  “You can’t just pay for everything all the time,” I said.

  He gave me an arch look. “Haven’t we been over this?”

  “Sure, but I think it’s good to get things clear at the outset.” And then I felt suddenly awkward. “I mean, assuming it’s an outset.”

  Mahlen reached across the table and put his hand over mine. “Grace. Do you want it to be an outset?”