She'd always had a thing about guys with
short, short hair. The ones with tattoos and attitude. Perhaps it
was a self defence mechanism. She had fallen so easily for her
charming liar of a 'husband' that she'd totally the other way.
Whatever, there was just something about the bad boy image Cy
exuded that just did it for her. Although there was no way she was
ever admitting that to him, or anyone.
His hair was dark but his eyes were a bright
electric blue. So blue she was sure they couldn't be natural. He
had to be wearing contacts.
Teresa snuck another glance out of the corner
of her eye. The car was low slung and powerful. He lounged with
indolent grace behind the wheel, his movements masterful as he wove
the car in and out of the traffic towards their destination.
His hands caressed the wheel as they made a
sharp left turn into the car-park, the dark tattoos across the
backs stark against his skin. Teresa shivered as a longing to have
those hands stroking over her body filled her.
She fought it down. What on earth was wrong
with her? Cy was just the type of guy she should avoid. Although he
had the bad boy image she was sure it was a front. He was handsome
and successful if the car was any indication. They'd said he was a
waiter but she didn't believe that was what he really was.
Probably some rich kid living off daddy's
money as he went through a rebellious phase. And as soon as he was
out of it, laser surgery would take care of those tattoos and he'd
be back into designer threads before you could blink. If he worked,
and that was a big if, it would no doubt be in a luxury office
somewhere as a suit. Maybe daddy owned a bank or something. Not the
sort who'd be interested in a middle aged mother of two who was
carrying a few extra pounds. No, he was the sort whose arm would be
decorated with the latest upcoming stick insect starlet who was
heavy on the breast implants and light on the brains.
Christ, if she didn't stop with the little
glances from under her hair Cy was going to stop the damn car here
and now, pull her into his lap and kiss her senseless. The quick
looks were filled with an interest and speculation totally absent
when he was looking at her. But when she thought he wasn't it was
all there and more.
He swung the car between the rows in the
car-park looking for a spot and refused to feel self conscious
about parking the car himself. If she was looking for a place with
valet parking then she really had the wrong guy. Finally he spotted
one. Right at the back it was half hidden by the bushes surrounding
the car park and shielded from the restaurant by a large SUV. A sly
smile crossed his lips as he headed that way. Perfect.
Cy slid from the driver's seat with as much
nonchalance as he could muster. Which wasn't much given what he was
about to do. So what if she was married? Cy avoided thinking about
her husband, if the man was weak willed enough to let her out on a
date with him, then he deserved to lose her.
Might made right.
She'd bid on a date with a bad boy, so a bad
boy was what she was going to get. In spades. Skirting around the
trunk of the car he opened her door smoothly and extended a hand to
help her out. Her feet emerged first, delicate and finely boned
they were set off to perfection in the strappy sandals she
wore.
Her toenails weren't painted the sort of dark
colour Cy was used to. Instead they had a slight sheen and sparkle
to them. The sort of nails that said she hadn't primped and preened
for hours before she'd met him at the door.
It was different and Cy liked it. Right about
now, although he'd never particularly had a foot fetish before, he
could happily have kissed those delicate feet. En-route to other,
more interesting areas of course.
Slender calves followed, then knees. The red
velvet of her dress was hiked up and revealed curvy thighs that
made Cy's mouth water. Sod the table he'd booked, all he wanted to
do was lay her back on the hood, spread her legs and eat his fill
of a far sexier dessert than any on the menu inside.
His date emerged from the car like a
butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. She was petite, far shorter
than him even in heels but Cy didn't care. He'd always had a thing
for smaller women.
Smaller women with curves just like hers.
None of the underfed rakes who threw themselves at him in the club,
assuming every man found them irresistibly. No, give him a woman
with padding on her bones, a woman he wouldn't break if he got a
little...rough in bed. Or against a wall. Or across a car hood.
*
Despite his dark and brooding bad boy image
Cy turned out to be highly articulate and an excellent dinner
partner. He also knew how to use the cutlery and didn't slurp his
soup as some of the other diners appeared to assume given the looks
they shot towards the couple's table. Teresa sighed. Some people
just couldn't see past appearances.
"So..." she said after the waiter left their
table with the dessert order. Nothing for Cy and, of course, Death
by Chocolate for her. They seemed to be getting on so she felt
comfortable asking a question which was a little more personal.
"What are all the tattoos about? You have a fair few and they don't
seem to be the normal 'love/hate' tattoo's you see. They're
actually quite beautiful..."
She trailed off at his suddenly set look.
From a charming conversationalist he suddenly clammed up and went
quiet, his expression wary. He didn't answer as a small party
walked past them towards a table at the back of the restaurant.
Realising her blunder she dabbed at her lips
with her napkin. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry."
He shook his head. "No, you're not prying.
I...don't talk about them much." His voice was quiet and careful.
Teresa frowned.
"Are you embarrassed about them, is that why?
You know you can get tattoos removed these days? Laser surgery I
think they use."
"No!" His reaction was as sharp as it was
emphatic. The fingers of his left hand rubbed almost protectively
over the knuckles of the other. "I'm not embarrassed about them at
all..." He looked at her curiously. "You really don't realise do
you?"
"Realise what?"
His lips quirked into a small smile that
ignited the fire that had been simmering all night. She shivered
and looked away, unable to hold his gaze. Within seconds though,
she was looking back at him, as though the sight of him was
magnetic.
"That I'm not human."
"You're not? Why, what are you then?"
Her look of surprise was so complete that,
had it been any other subject they were discussing Cy would have
laughed. But it wasn't any subject. It was him. What he was.
Something he rarely discussed with anyone. Most of the people he
kicked about with were paranormals, were part paranormal or had
been around the scene long enough to realise what he was without
asking.
Despite the clans trying to clean their acts
up there was still a large amount of discrimination against Pixies.
They were known as the thugs of the paranormal world. A reputation
not entirely undeserved. Pixie clans or pixies in general, could be
nasty as all hell.
He took a deep breath and looked at her. "I'm
a Pixie. From upstate but my clan...let's just say I don't have
much in the way of family anymore." Cy tried to keep his voice
level but fell short of the mark. No matter how much he tried, the
loneliness and bitterness he felt at his exile always crept into
the words. Someone as sensitive as Teresa was bound to pick up on
it.
"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." She reached
over and touched his hand gently, her dark eyes sincere. Then she
smiled. "So, pixies? What...like on toa—"
Cy moved like lightening. His finger on her
lips stopped her sentence instantly. "Please, no toadstool jokes.
I'd have to spank you," he joked, his eyes warm. Teresa wasn't
entirely sure whether he was joking or not but just the idea of
being spanked sent a shiver through her. In fact, the idea of his
hand anywhere on her sent fire racing through her veins.
"Careful," she threw back, growing more
confident in the light teasing and flirting. It was a minor miracle
in itself since Mario had done such a good job on trashing her self
confidence. "I might enjoy it and then where would you be?"
"Oh, you'd enjoy it. So would I," he
breathed, tracing the outline of her lips with a gentle finger. The
blue of his eyes darkened to navy, the look in them hot enough to
make Teresa blush. She dropped her gaze, looking down into her
lap.
"I bet you say that to all the women," she
laughed, shrugging the comment off. "But thank you. I'm sure you'd
much rather be out with a pretty blonde thing rather than a
middle-aged, plump mother of two."
"You think?" He arched his eyebrow, still
watching her intently as he leaned forwards. "Sweetheart, if I told
you what I would rather be doing...with you...you'd run for cover.
Come on...let's get out of here."
Even though she hadn't had her dessert Teresa
didn't argue. Mind you, she didn't have much of a choice since Cy
rose to his feet and headed for the door leaving her to trail after
him. He paused for a moment by the cashier's desk so she caught up
with him for all of a second before he enveloped his fingers in
hers and pulled her outside into the cool night air.
"You look fantastic." His murmured compliment
as they reached the car took her as much by surprise but not as
much as his next move. Still holding her hand he pulled her hard
against him. One hand slid across the back of her hips to prevent
her escaping. Teresa gasped as she felt the rampant hardness of his
erection press into her. His other hand slid into the nape of her
neck, his fingers winding around the silken strands of her hair as
he tilted her face up to just the right angle for his kiss.
Her body stiffened as her hands slammed into
the solid wall of his chest. Cy paused and looked down into her
eyes. Anger and surprise flared there as they locked into a silent
battle of wills. Would she let him kiss her? He hoped so, because
he wanted to taste her lips more than he wanted to breathe right
now.
"I'm going to kiss you," he warned, hearing
the hitch in his own voice and marveling that one human woman could
reduce him to such a mass of need. He leaned down, holding her
eyes, until his lips were a bare whisper away from hers. She didn't
move, frozen in place and her dark eyes on his. Dark eyes that
smoldered not with anger any more, but need and longing.
Cy groaned. He couldn't resist her.
His lips brushed over hers as he tried to
school himself to be gentle. She was human, not pixie. Not used to
the demands of a full-blooded warrior as a woman of his race would
be. So he would be gentle. Maybe. As much as he could.
Then disaster struck. Far from hardening
under his as he'd expected, and pulling away at the first
opportunity, her lips softened in silent invitation. Surprise
running through his larger frame Cy flicked his tongue along her
full lower lip.
She relaxed, her hands gentling on his chest
as her lips parted. Just a fraction but it was enough. No way was
he going to pass up even the smallest invitation from this
woman.
Pressing her back against the side of the car
Cy took control of the kiss. His hands drove into her hair,
scattering pins as his tongue parted her lips and gained access to
the sweet inner recesses of her mouth. It was heaven. Warm silk and
just a touch of whiskey laced coffee.
Desire throbbing through him Cy lifted his
head. "Whiskey?" She hadn't had an alcoholic drink over dinner and
certainly not whiskey. "You needed Dutch courage before our
date?"
She opened passion-darkened eyes and the look
in them speared Cy. His nipples under the thin tee-shirt peaked and
rubbed against the fabric, the silver rings through them growing
colder by the minute. Pleasure arced through his body, his cock
hardening another painful notch and rubbing against the inside of
his jeans.
She nodded and laughed. The soft sound was
melodious in the night air and Cy was entranced. It was a new
feeling for the Pixie. Usually humans were entranced by him, not
the other way around.
"Yeah, a little. I mean, come on. Me and
someone like you?"
The nerves in her voice were enough to melt
even the most hardened heart. His thumb stroked over her cheek in a
gentle caress even as his lips curled into a sly smile. "You mean a
bad boy like me?" he asked and leaned in to kiss her again.
This time he didn't bother with gentle. He
crushed her lips under his and took what he wanted.
She didn't struggle, just opened up to him
with a sexy little mewl in the back of her throat. He stroked his
tongue along hers in an erotically charged dance, keeping her off
balance as he gathered one of her legs up against his hip. His
fingers hooked behind her knee for the lift then slid under the
velvet.
She gasped at the bold touch but didn't stop
him. His hand slid higher as he moved to nibble on her lower lip,
then planted small kisses along her jaw. His sharp teeth nipped
lightly at her earlobe as his fingertips smoothed over the rounded
curve of her ass.
Oh my god, she wasn't wearing panties. Cy's
arousal hit the stratosphere. So much for the 'touch me not'
attitude, she'd come out expecting some action! He moaned against
the soft skin of her throat and ground his hips against her. A red
mist descended. All he could think about was busting his cock into
her willing softness. He literally ached, shaking from head to foot
as his fingers ventured further.
"Oh yeah baby, that's it," he murmured in
encouragement as she whimpered and rocked her hips against his
hand. Then, finally, he reached his goal and swept his fingers
along her feminine folds. But, instead of the arousal slicked cleft
he was expecting, his fingers touched hot, damp satin.