"Are you ready?" I inquired, meaning so much more than the simple question.
"I'm always ready," she said calmly. "P.S.—I like my arm. You remove it again and you lose your head."
"Noted." I grinned and bowed to her. "I'm not guaranteeing that I won't go for your overactive middle finger."
"This one?" she asked as she flipped me off with a grin on her face.
I chuckled and willed my dick to stay asleep. "Yep, that's the one."
"Oh shit," Astrid shouted.
"Shit," Samuel yelled with joy.
"Sammy," Astrid reprimanded him. "Shit is a filthy fucking word. We don't say shitty words like that. You got it?"
"Yep, Mommy. Me got it."
"It's the Baby Demons teaching him that crap," she muttered as she stood up and headed for the door.
"Crap," Sammy shouted and lifted his middle finger to me and Raquel.
"Oh Hell no," Raquel whispered in horror as she watched him wave his chunky little birdie finger all over the place.
"Where are you going?" I called after Astrid as she hightailed it out of the gym.
"I forgot I had a meeting with the motherfucking wedding planner at noon. I'll be back when I can. Don't you two do anything I wouldn't do," she shouted as she left the room.
Well, that certainly didn't leave much.
"Motherfucking," Sammy squealed as they exited the facility.
We stared at each other in silence. Her beauty humbled me. I wanted her to stay. I wanted to throw her to the floor and kiss her senseless. However, that was not the gentlemanly thing to do.
Fuck. What would Astrid do? Grinning at the absurd thought of taking advice from my insane cousin, I decided to stick to the plan already made.
“You still want to fight?" I asked Raquel.
"Sure. I would love to kick your ass," she purred.
"I'd love to bite yours," I shot back.
"If you win, I'll let you… but if I win you have to do my bidding for a day."
Holy Hell—either way I won. "That works for me, Princess.”
“Excellent, my bathroom is filthy,” she purred with an evil smile.
I chuckled and shrugged. She was full of it. The cleaning staff at the compound was outstanding. Her effort to rile me was moot.
“Show me what you got."
"My pleasure," she said as she centered herself and took a defensive stance on the mat.
"No. Trust me—the pleasure is mine."
All mine.
Chapter 6
I was inclined to go easy on her. My mistake.
"After last night I thought I wouldn't see much of you anymore," she said as she violently kicked my legs out from beneath me and tried to pin me.
"You thought wrong," I shot back as I flipped her to her back and held her immobile.
Her body beneath mine was a temptation almost impossible to ignore. However, her need to best me or tear a limb from my body made me push all thoughts of stripping and fucking her to the back of my brain.
"Can we use magic?" she asked as she twisted and attempted to pull free.
"Nope."
Her hips were in line with mine and I could have sworn she was grinding herself against me. Son of a bitch.
"Are you cheating?" I whispered in her ear. Her breasts were smashed against my bare chest and the evidence of my arousal was impossible to miss.
"Possibly," she whispered back with a soft giggle. "Is it working?"
Pressing my erection against her stomach and nipping at her earlobe was my answer. Her groan almost set me on fire. Next move was hers. My fangs had descended from my gums and I knew my eyes blazed green. I studied her lovely face and was delighted to see that her eyes and fangs matched mine. We were both in need.
Leaning into her, I traced her full lips with my tongue. She tasted like Heaven and sin and woman. She opened her lips and invited me in. My head spun and I lost sight of the fact we were in a public place. Actually, I didn't give a damn.
Her eyes fluttered shut and it took everything I had to explore gently. Every instinct I had was to make her mine for eternity, but she needed to be with me on that one. I would wait until she wanted the same thing. I knew in my gut she wanted it—had known for hundreds of years she wanted it, but something stopped her. This time I would find out.
I wanted her body, her heart and her soul. I was going to win. I always won my battles. I'd just never fought one this long.
The burning desire to be buried deep inside of her was all-consuming, but sex was a bad idea. God damn it, wait… Why was it a bad idea? Her body writhing beneath mine had my brain spinning out of control. Yet I knew I had to stop. I would win the skirmish but lose the war if I banged her on the gym floor. Fuck.
"Can't play hide the salami today," I muttered as I disengaged myself. "Can't do it."
"What did you just say?" she asked. Her cheeks were flushed and she was grinning. "Did you just refer to your equipment as a salami?"
"Of course not," I mumbled. Then I groaned as I rolled off her and ran my hands through my hair in frustration. "All right, I did, but it's entirely Astrid's fault. We're not supposed to bump uglies or do the horizontal hula anymore."
"Ummm… okay," she said as she tried not to laugh. "Can I ask why?"
"No."
We both stared at the ceiling for a while. What was my next move here?