His grey eyes darkened. Had he felt it too? “Just doing my job, sweetheart. Madame Aubrey knows me, knows I only show up when I want something. Someone. Now she’ll tell everyone in the salon that I’m after you. But you have to do your part. This illusion only works if you pretend you want me, Callie, just a little.” He caressed her bare arms, his gaze on her lips. “The passion between Magian matches is not a subtle thing. It is powerful. Undeniable. Electric. If I’m one half of your match, you won’t be able to stay away from me, just as I won’t be able to stay away from you…especially before we find our third and join together officially.”
Callie’s breath came faster. His touch was taking away her ability to think. Had he ever touched her before today? No. Surely not. She would have remembered the sparks, the intensity. Unless it was a part of Harrison’s spell. Her magic, such as it was, reacting to his.
She licked her lower lip, and Tyghe groaned. “We should practice. Pretend you can’t keep your hands off me, Callie. I’ll make it easy on you. Pretend I’m Tucker.”
Her mouth opened to protest and he was there, tongue tangling with hers, lips opening hers wider, taking more, taking everything. Callie closed her eyes and saw swirls of violet and silver sparks burst to life behind her lids.
Tyghe Abbott was kissing her.
He’d driven her crazy with his taunts and sarcastic smiles for over a decade, and now he tasted her like an addict desperate for a fix, like a lover who craved her with a hunger he couldn’t control. And Callie was kissing him back. Kissing him back and loving it.
His tongue slid across hers as his hand glided down her back to grip her hip, dragging her body roughly against his. She took a shuddering breath, the sensation of his hard erection pressed against her stomach making her ache.
Her arms entwined behind his neck and when he growled and lifted her higher in his arms, her legs wrapped around his waist. She felt him moving, felt her back hit the wall and then his hips were pressed between her thighs, his cock thrusting against her through their clothes as he continued to feast on her lips.
No fumbled groping in the car after a dinner date, no sweet kiss at the door after a dance had ever felt like this. Not even her one year-long relationship with Mitchell, the man she had thought she might actually marry, ever made her feel this. This was desire. Hunger.
Callie pulled back to gasp for air. Her outfit and Tyghe’s touch were making it hard for her to breathe. She wanted it gone, wanted to shred it from her body so she could feel him everywhere. On her. Inside her.
Her eyes opened in shock when she heard the shredding sound. She looked down to watch the outfit fall in small pieces toward the ground, merging back together in a neatly folded pile at Tyghe’s feet. But he was still holding her. How…?
“Madame Aubrey didn’t tell you about this particular outfit did she? The designer knew it would be too hard to take off in the heat of the moment, so they charmed it to fall away.” His sparkling eyes met hers and he grinned wickedly. “But only when the wearer really wants it to.”
Callie felt her face heat, but she could hardly deny it. She couldn’t bring herself to feel embarrassed or ashamed either. That would come later. Now she needed him. Needed more. She could feel the rough denim of his jeans against her bare sex, and she rubbed against him, her legs tightening around him. “Are we done practicing?”
His smile disappeared, and his jaw clenched. “Not even close.” He shifted, and she felt his hand cup her damp sex, his thumb searching for, and finding, her sensitive clit. “Wicked little Callie,” he murmured against her cheek. “I know exactly what you need.”
Yes. She felt that electric jolt again as he slipped one finger inside her, both of them groaning at the tight, delicious fit. She bit his chin, rocking her hips against his hand, all instinct and demand. She had no thoughts but this. Him.
“That’s right. Moan for me, Callie. Like my touch drives you crazy. Magian matches love touching. They need it. It strengthens their magic, charges their spirits.”
It felt amazing. The heat in her belly became a fiery blaze as another finger joined the first, the stretch made easier by her liquid arousal. He pumped inside her, faster and faster, driving her crazy with need. She slid her hands into his hair and placed desperate, open-mouthed kisses on his neck. He smelled good, spicy. His taste was addictive.
“Callie, I—” But she didn’t want him to talk. Didn’t want to think. She covered his lips with her own and slung her hips forward, feeling his fingers press deep inside her. Oh God, so deep.
Her climax took her by surprise, like a summer storm, lightning crashing around her, electricity vibrating up her spine and shooting through her limbs. “Tyghe.”
“Yes. Fuck. I can feel you coming around my fingers. So tight, Callie. Would you squeeze my cock that tightly? Callie? Baby?”
Callie felt him lowering her to her feet, heard the worry in his voice as though from a distance. It wasn’t stopping. The waves of energy rolling through her body were growing stronger. Pulsing within her like a powerful drumbeat. Pleasure so intense it was almost pain.
She opened her eyes again and gasped in shock. Violet arcs of light swirled around her, around him. She could see his silver aura around his body, strong with his arousal.
Callie pushed out of his arms, her body tingling more intensely where he touched her. “What’s happening? Oh shit, Tyghe. I feel… How do I make it stop?” How did she feel? Aroused? Scared? Vulnerable? Yes to all of the above. A sudden awareness of her nakedness, and her wild reaction to Tyghe, made her wrap her arms around herself and bend down to reach for the black suit, using the cloth to cover herself.
“Callie, calm down. It’s just the magic. Though it shouldn’t be affe
cting you like this. This only happens when Magians... Shit, Callie, let me…” He reached out to take her in his arms again, his expression gentle, concerned, but Callie didn’t trust that. He would use this to tease her, to make her feel like she couldn’t handle the gift Harrison had given her. Couldn’t handle Magian passion. She should never have lost control. Should never have let him touch her.
She held up her hand. “Stop. Just go. Get out of here.”
Tyghe froze mid step, his eyes widening, expression stunned as he began to walk backwards. A slow, awkward retreat that sent Callie’s eyebrows into her hairline. What was he doing?
He glared, the tendons in his jaw straining as his body seemed to be moving against his will. “Son of a bitch. I’m going to kill Harrison for playing around with this kind of magic. If I’d known—” He bumped into the door, his hand reaching behind him to open it so he could leave. He gripped the frame of the door, the wood creaking as he tried to still his retreat. “This isn’t over, Callie. You can send me away and go back to pretending you hate me. But you called my name as you came. Mine. Don’t forget that.” As he disappeared around the corner, she heard him mumble, “I sure as hell won’t.”
Chapter Three
“What the heck was that, Harry?”