Magical Midlife Meeting (Leveling Up #5)(39)

I blew out a breath. I felt too jumpy to network. Like I’d try to karate-chop anyone who came up to me.

“Remember,” he continued, shutting the door and throwing the lock. He undid his other cuff link before starting to unbutton his shirt, walking toward me. “Everyone here is in the same boat.” He pulled his shirt from his muscular shoulders, exposing his perfectly cut torso. He worked at the button and then zipper on his pants, pushing the fabric down and stepping out, toeing off his shoes and then his socks as he did so. He stood nude before me, his hard length at attention. “Elliot Graves has been missing from the magical world for a long while.” He stepped around me, and I felt his lips on the curve of my neck, his fingertips like butterflies across my back before they took hold of my zipper.

“Before that, he was the most cunning, ruthless mage the world had ever known. The crime boss of all crime bosses.” My zipper whirred as it lowered, the fabric of the dress loosening and falling open across my back. “He killed, maimed, and stole his way to an empire. He never took on a partner.” My dress slid across my skin, silky smooth, until it pooled at my feet. “For the first time it seems like he’s inviting people to work with him, and everyone here will be as eager as they are cautious.”

His lips trailed a line of heat down the center of my back. His fingers curled around the sides of my panties before he pushed them down my legs.

“Everyone here is doubtless also wondering if he plans to kill them to make a little more room for his reemergence into the magical world.” He stepped in front of me before sinking to his knees, looking up at me. “No one here has the team we have. No one here is as safe as you are.” His gaze held mine. “You are being professionally wooed by this man. This place, its setup, the expensive gifts… He wants an audience with you, and he is not going through all of this trouble just to kill you.

Not right away. Not before you have an opening to kill him first.” He leaned forward, his cobalt eyes still connected with mine, and licked up my center.

I sucked in a breath, tingles spreading across my body.

He pulled back just a bit. “I need you to go out there tomorrow like you’re headed into battle. I need you to own who and what you are, and take no prisoners. These mages can smell weakness. You can’t show any. I know you’re anxious and stressed, so I will spend a great deal of time and effort helping you relax tonight…” He sucked on the little bundle of nerves at the top of my sex, gently scraping it with his teeth and flash-boiling my blood. “I will serve you dinner in bed after I pleasure you, before pleasuring you again, until you are boneless and unable to keep your eyes open. We’ll sleep in late, and then you will strap on your armor, knowing that you have the absolute best team in the world at your back. And then you will lead us into danger.”

I ran my hand through his dark brown hair…and opened my legs a little wider.

“That’s my girl.” He took to me like he was starving, sucking and licking and making my eyes roll into the back of my head. His fingers dove and retreated as his mouth worked in tandem, winding me ever tighter.

I let the sensations move through me, focused on his ministrations and his proximity, allowing myself to let go. My hips swung toward him and away as his plunging fingers sped up and his suction increased. The orgasm swelled out of nowhere, sweeping me away. I shuddered above him, crying out his name and yanking on his hair.

He gave me a hearty growl before standing and picking me up, carrying me to the bed.

“I don’t want you to hold on to anything tonight,” he told me, ripping back the covers and settling me in. His body pushed me into the soft mattress. “I want you to release it all onto me. Any lingering doubts or worries—release them to me.” He ran his teeth up my throat, and I shivered. He kissed my lips firmly before sweeping his tongue through my mouth. His thrust drove the air from my lungs. “I will hold all of that for you.” He started to move, his eyes on mine, so intense. “I will hold your concerns and your fears so that you can focus on kicking ass. Trust me, Jacinta.”

I sighed, arching back, wrapping my legs around him.

“Mmm,” he said, his thrusts a little harder, a little fiercer, pounding his need into me, giving me a promise of protection.

His heart within my chest thudded a steady rhythm. Something deep inside of me moved, yearned to break free. To explode outward. I swung my hips toward him, feeling my control ebb. Feeling the pleasure build.

“That’s right, baby,” he growled into my ear, striving harder, driving the exquisite bliss through me.

“Harder,” I groaned, out of breath, clutching onto him tightly. He was the only thing in the world at that moment. I lost myself in him, giving myself to him so totally that I didn’t have to think. That I couldn’t think.

My body wound tighter. The sensations rose higher until passion flooded me with a sweet release.

I shuddered against him as he quaked above, panting.

He took only a moment to gather himself.

“This is the first time I’m not on call,” he said. “Nothing will interrupt us tonight. I can completely give in to this never-ending craving for you.” He lifted up between my thighs, his delicious body glistening. “Which position would you like next? Pick any one you want. We’ll get through them all before I pound that stress out of you, I think.” But he didn’t wait for an answer. He just sat on the bed and pulled me up on top of him. I wasn’t surprised to feel he was already hard again, already ready for me. “How about this one?” He kissed me deeply as he guided his hardness into me. Against my lips he murmured, “Are you ready to tell me how you feel yet?”