She pulled his erection out of his pants and stroked it up and down as he suckled her.
“If you don’t stop that this will be over before it’s started,” he growled. He shifted to her other breast and took the nipple between his teeth. He nibbled it, smiling against her when she gasped in pleasure. In response she moved her hand faster on his throbbing cock. He yanked at her zipper, pulling frantically at her pants. “God, kitten, you’re killing me.”
“Good.” Ruby wiggled slightly as he pulled her pants down, sighing her pleasure when he stroked and petted her soaking wet pussy. He pinched her clit almost roughly, smothering her scream with a kiss that practically devoured her.
With a quiet oath Leo tore his mouth from her. He took her hand off his cock, tugging and pushing till he had her positioned facing the wall, both hands spread, her ass cocked back and waiting for him. “Does it excite you to know the figments are watching us, kitten?” He stroked her ass, holding her in place within the cage of his body. He leaned against her, brushing his erection between the cleft of her buttocks in a hypnotic rhythm.
“What? Who? God, Leo, could you fuck me already? I’m dying here!”
Leo laughed under his breath at the rough tone of her voice. In one swift move he sheathed himself in the tight, wet heat of her body, stealing her gasp of pleasure with another rough kiss. She felt tighter this way, unable to spread her legs because of her pants down around her knees. Her pussy clung to his cock, holding him to her, reluctant to let him go.
Leo ended the kiss and looked down as he thrust his shaft in and out of her body, watching the gleaming length sink in, each move causing the woman under him to moan and gasp in delight. When she tried to wiggle her ass in an attempt to get him deeper he slapped it, causing the globe to ripple enticingly.
Her gasp at the sting of his palm turned to a moan as he gave her what she wanted, moving deeper into her as he pushed her hard up against the wall. One hand held on to her hip and pulled her to him, back and forth, forcing him in even further. The other hand dipped down between her thighs and began strumming her clit between his two fingers.
“Oh, oh God, Leo, that feels so good.”
“Yeah, it does. Can you come for me, baby?”
She did with a muffled shriek even before he was done asking. She bit her lip to keep from screaming, something Leo didn’t like. He wanted to hear her scream, but it was too late. Leo felt the climax rip through her and, with a surprised cry, felt himself come deep inside her. He pounded into her as the last rippling echoes of her climax set off his own.
Leo shuddered against her. Golden sparkles drifted around them and settled on her skin like fairy lights. Inside and out, he surrounded her, filled her senses until nothing else existed but him. He collapsed against her, pushing her almost roughly into the bricks, both of them gasping for air. She rested her cheek against the brick, her face turned towards his. A satisfied smile drifted across her face.
His breath tickled her ear as he whispered against her, “Mine.”
With a sigh, she closed her eyes. “Yours.” He felt his breath hitch before he buried his face in her neck with a contented sigh.
Chapter Six
When Ruby opened her eyes, they were back in the hayloft. She was on her stomach, her pants down around her knees. Leo lay over her like a dead man, panting lightly, his nose still buried in the side of her neck as if breathing in her scent. With a huffed little laugh, she whispered, “I gather not everything just now was an illusion?”
“Nope,” he breathed against her neck.
She shivered at the intimate sensation. “All I can say is, that was one hell of a mind fuck.”
“Gives a whole new meaning to the word, doesn’t it?” The rich satisfaction in his voice made her grin. She could feel his lazy smile against the side of her neck. One of his hands reached up and tangled their fingers together as he slid off to the side. He cradled her in his arms and she settled against him, content to be held.
The lay together like that for a while, getting their breath back and enjoying the feel of each other, until thoughts and feelings began to race through her head again. “Leo?”
“Yeah?”
“How old are you?”
He sighed, pulling his softened cock out of her body and rolling onto his back. “Are you sure you want the answer to that?”
She looked over at him, his glamour down, that gold-dusted skin even more exotic in the mundane hayloft they were in now. “Yeah, I want to know.”
“I’m ninety-three years old.”
She blinked. “Wow. You look good for your age.” When he sighed wearily she pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, trying to reassure him. “I know. Elves are immortal, right? Unless someone kills them?”
“Try long-lived rather than immortal and you’d be closer.”
All of the impossibilities of a relationship with Leo began to rear their ugly heads. “That means when I’m old and wrinkly—”
“You won’t be.”
The note of complete certainty in his voice confused her. “Uh, give me about forty years and I will be.”
He shook his head. “That’s the other thing I need to explain to you.” He sat up and began pulling up his pants. “You’ve heard the stories of a man riding off with a Sidhe lass to Underhill, only to return three hundred years later and age all of those years in one day?”
“Um, yeah. I think a lot of people have heard that story.”
He zipped up his pants, and then looked at her. “It’s true.” He shrugged at her complete shock. “Okay, the part about Underhill isn’t true. The not aging part was.”
“And the aging-three-hundred-years-in-a-day part?”
He took a deep breath. “Also true.”
“Leo…”
He couldn’t help but respond to the sudden fear in her voice. He held up one hand. “Please, let me explain.” With infinite care, he pulled her jeans back over her hips, batting her hands away when she went to do up her zipper. It was his right, his privilege to care for his mate. “When a Sidhe finds his mate, he binds her to him. There are three steps to the bonding, the first being the Claiming.”
“What’s the Claiming?”
He looked up at her, then back down at the ground. “Do you remember the golden light that surrounded us just as we came?”
He heard her suck in her breath. “That was the Claiming?”
He looked into her eyes and nodded, holding his breath all the while. This was the part that scared the crap out of him. She could reject him utterly at this point, deny the mating and pull away from him. He wouldn’t be too surprised if she did. In the grand scheme of things, they’d only really known each other for three days. Although she wouldn’t really be able to go very far, now that the ritual was halfway done.
He watched her absorb the implications. “Do you choose your mate, or is it a fate kind of thing?”
He was surprised. He thought she’d have more questions about the Claiming. “The gods choose our mate for us before we’re even born. If we’re extremely lucky, we find her or him during the current life; if not, we hope, no, pray we may find them in the next.”
“So, there’s no choice?”
He didn’t like the slow, considering way she said that. “The moment I saw you, no other woman would do. Before the other night, do you know how long it had been since I’d had sex?”
“No.”
“A year.”
She blinked, stunned. “A year?”
“You went seven.” His grin was lopsided, he knew, but this was too important an issue to screw up with a lame joke.
“But…your reputation…the blondes you escorted all over the place…”
“I dated, occasionally, but I didn’t really…click…with anyone. Couldn’t figure out why, at first.”