Chapter Four

Danice looked at Mac, looked at the bare floor, the empty chairs, the sterile bathroom and back at Mac. Her eyes narrowed. “So make me some. ”

He shook his head. “I can’t do that. ”

“You said you could do magic. Is this suddenly too complex for you? ”

“Okay, let me rephrase. I won’t do that. ”

Danice stifled the urge to smother him with a feather pillow and took a deep breath. Contrary to her outspoken demeanor and forward reputation, she was not the sort of woman who woke up next to strange men on a regular basis. Men, yes, but she usually at least knew their names. Since this particular experience counted as a first for her, she figured the universe owed her a little leeway.

“Look, ” she said, using her most reasonable, court-is-in-session tone, “I realize that what happened between us might have given you the wrong impression about me, but I’m not playing games here, and I want to go home. Now. ”

Those blue-grey eyes had the nerve to look sympathetic. “Trust me, I know this isn’t a game. No matter what you might like to believe, I didn’t get us into this situation, and I have a sinking suspicion that I’m not going to be able to get us out of it, either. ”

He rose from the bed and headed toward the hotel room door.

Danice squealed. “What the hell are you doing? You’re naked! ”

He grinned. “If you’re embarrassed, cover your eyes. ”

And miss the sight of the finest male butt that had ever blessed her field of vision? She didn’t think so. But she still offered a protest when he threw back the security latch and pulled the door open onto nothingness.

Literally. There was nothing on the other side of the door, not a hallway, not a sidewalk, not a parking lot. Nothing. Not even sky. Just a great, blank grey space without a cloud to fill it.

Danice blinked and stared. “What is that? ”

“Nothing. ”

“Well, I can see that. I meant, what—”

“No, really, ” Mac interrupted, gesturing to the grey space. “It’s literally nothing. As I suspected, we’re in limbo. ”

“Limbo is a mid-priced hotel room? ”

Mac shut the door and turned back to face Danice, who had to struggle with every instinct and hormone in her body not to stare straight at his crotch. But she still noticed he had an erection. At that size, it became a little hard to miss.

“Not exactly. ” He waved away the bedspread she held out to him and stretched, gloriously nude, across the end of the bed where he could watch her. “If I’m right, we’re not really in a hotel room. This is just a spell. An illusion to make us feel more comfortable while we’re floating around in the grey stuff out there. ”

Dear Lord. Her head started to throb. “Then none of this exists? You’re saying that we’re really just floating around outside, and I’m not actually even wearing this sheet. ”

Mac grinned. “Exactly. ”

“Then you’d better damned well close your eyes, buddy, until we find a way back! ”

He laughed and reached out to tug the sheet. “Relax. That’s the theoretical part, but the reality is that our minds are both too human to not see all the things the spell wants us to see. For all intents and purposes, you’re fully covered. ”

She sighed in relief. “Good. ”

“We could change that. ”

She should have smacked him for that, but he said the words so hopefully that she couldn’t bring herself to do it. He was too charming for her own good. She forced herself to give him The Look. “Or we could not. ”

He pouted, and damned if it wasn’t cute, too. “Well, what else do you suggest we do? I doubt we’re going anywhere else anytime soon. ”

“How can you say that like it’s no big deal? Aren’t you the least bit curious to find out why we’re here and who sent us here? I mean, I assume this wasn’t some sort of spontaneous blip in my reality, because I’m pretty sure it’s never happened before. So what the hell is going on? ” She batted his hand away from the hem of her sheet. “And will you cut that out? I’m surprisingly unaroused by your insistence on using sex with me as a way to kill time! ”

That was probably the last thing she should have said. His eyebrows lifted and an expression of surprised comprehension gave him a wicked look before it settled into a grin that was positively devilish.

“Is that was this is about? You think I only want to have sex with you because I have nothing better to do? ” he purred, grabbing two handfuls of sheet and using it to pull her closer, close enough to grab and tumble onto the bed with him. “Because I’d be more than glad to show you how wrong you are about that. ”

He loomed over her, a huge, golden presence with his hair falling like a curtain around them. She wanted to wrap herself up in that hair and feel the silky soft brush of it against her skin. Her fingers itched with the memory of its texture, and she bit back a groan.

His mouth quirked. “I’d enjoy showing you, Danice. ” He settled his weight on top of her, bracing his forearms against the mattress and brushing her numerous tiny braids aside so he could cup her head in his palms. He tilted his hips more directly against her, and she felt his erection pressing against her belly until his heat seared her through the cotton of the sheet. Then he caught her gaze and winked, and all of a sudden, something ripped the sheet away, leaving nothing separating his skin from hers.

Danice gasped, but her legs shifted instinctively, parting just enough to allow his cock to nestle against the warmth between her thighs. She could feel exactly how much he’d enjoy showing her, and the thought threatened to drive her crazy.

She closed her eyes when he lowered his head, moaned when his tongue stroked over the curve of her jaw, danced down the side of her throat and flicked over her collarbone. Then he set teeth to skin and started nibbling, and a violent shudder quaked through her.

“In fact, there are a lot of things I’d like to show you, Danice. ” His lips curved against her skin, feathered over lush curves and invaded sensitive hollows. “I’d like to show you the difference between a man and a changeling. The way subtle magic can make your skin come alive with feeling, or the way it can amplify each sensation until your nerves scream for respite. ”

His hands shifted, stroked over her shoulders and beneath her body to cup her hips and urge them higher against him. “I want to teach you how to hear the voices of a thousand choirs of fae singing songs of ecstasy and want. ”

His tongue flicked across her nipple and the nub immediately swelled and tightened for him. Between her legs, another nub began to swell, this one coated in the thick, sweet honey of her need. “I want you to know that for the fae, arousal is not a biological imperative, but a spiritual one. I don’t need you because I’m hard; I’m hard because I need you. ”

His thighs urged her legs to part, and Danice gave up pretending to protest. She spread her legs in wide welcome and wrapped her calves around his lean waist. She hooked her ankles together behind his back and fisted both hands in his hair, pulling the length of it forward over his shoulders. The scent wrapped around her as surely as his body did, redolent of sandalwood and clove, moss and man. She brought a handful to her face, breathing in the scent of him before rubbing the strands against her cheeks like a yard of living silk. He chuckled, but she decided he could laugh at her all he wanted. She was too far gone to care.

His chuckle rumbled into a moan when she rubbed the sole of one foot high against his inner thigh, and became a growl when she untangled one hand from his hair and closed it over one firm cheek of his ass. She raked her fingernail lightly over the inner curve, and he shuddered, yanking her hard against him and positioning himself so his cock knocked against her entrance, trembling for a chance to be inside her. She could almost hear the way he gritted his teeth in a desperate bid for self-control, and it gave her a small sense of satisfaction. At least she wasn’t the only one in this bed who would kill to be fucked right now.

Arching her hips to take the very tip of his cock inside her, Danice opened her eyes into narrow slits and looked up at him with clear demand. “If you want to do all those things to me, ” she said, her voice raw and low with need, “why don’t you stop talking about them and start doing them! ”

Digging her heels into the small of his back, she clenched her hands in his hair and thrust her hips up toward him, hard and fast, forcing his cock deep into her waiting pussy.

“Lady! ” His hoarse shout sounded as if it had been ripped from his throat, but it didn’t sound much like a protest. The way he threw back his head and braced her for the quick shove of his hips didn’t feel like a protest either. It felt like heaven as he forced every last inch of himself deep, filling her until she thought she could feel his cock nudging against her heart.

“More. ” She breathed the plea, barely a whisper, but he answered with a slow, intense rhythm that wound her tighter and tighter with every driving thrust. Her hands abandoned his hair and gripped his shoulders for support. She could feel the mattress shaking beneath her and the slick sheen of sweat coating his muscles and hers. She expected to see sparks where their bodies rubbed together, especially where the base of his shaft massaged her clit on each stroke. When he grunted and adjusted his position to slide a fraction deeper, her eyes flew open, and she swore she did see sparks.

She cried out, and he grunted an answer.

“Now! ” he roared, as his big body tightened above her, and Danice happily obeyed, her own muscles spasming, pussy clenching to milk the cock that poured a flood of heat inside her.

His weight settled on top of her in a hard, sweaty heap, but she surprised herself by not caring in the least. The man might be part of the weirdest experience of her life, but he made a damned good blanket. She could have fallen asleep right there, if not for the naggingly familiar voice that shattered her peace.

“Well, I see we’re not the least bit unhappy with where we’ve landed, now are we? ”