Body Temperature and Rising - Book One of the Lakeland Heatwave Trilogy (20 page)

‘He never came.’

Instantly all eyes were on her. ‘What?’ Tara said.

‘He never came. In all the times he was with Serina Ravenmoor, in all the times they had sex, he never came, not once, and yet he was hard all the time. When he was with me, he was always hard.’

When Fiori realised the attention in the room had turned to her, she shifted uncomfortably in the chair and raised an unconscious hand to her throat. ‘We had sex a lot,’ she said avoiding everyone’s gaze. ‘But no. He never came. He said he was holding his energy for when it most mattered.’ She forced herself to look up at everyone. ‘He said the power of sex could build upon itself indefinitely, and he bragged about how long he’d held himself, how long it had been since he last came.’ Fiori shook herself as though she were waking up from a deep sleep. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know why I never told anyone. It’s just that …’ Her voice drifted off and her eyes misted. ‘I really don’t like to talk about it.’

Tara moved to her side and pushed her hair away from her face. ‘But you have to talk about it, Fiori. We all know what we face. The tiniest detail may be important.’ She turned her attention to Sky, who shook her head.

‘He never came with me either, though I wasn’t alive long enough to think that so strange.’

Still shivering a bit from her scrying experience, Marie pulled the throw tighter around her shoulders. ‘He came before he died. It’s the last thing he did.’

The room was suddenly deathly silent, all attention on Marie, as she continued. ‘When he tried to take me at Lacewing cottage the last time, I saw a flashback, almost like what I saw just now through my mirror. There was a woman, a blonde. She had a lead pipe in her hand. He grabbed it from her, almost with his last breath, said something about a sacrifice. Then he shoved it up his arse.’ Marie found herself blushing hard. ‘And I saw him ejaculate just before his heart stopped, just before his breath left him.’

There was a long silence. Both Tim and Anderson moved closer to Marie, and she found comfort in their nearness. 

‘So he feeds on sexual energy and holds on to it,’ Tim said, thinking out loud. ‘And he’s been holding on to it for all these years. Is that possible?’

‘The holding of sexual energy is an ancient practice,’ Tara said. ‘In some ways that’s what celibacy is supposed to be, holding that sexual energy for another kind of creative force. Some eastern religions practice it, and of course, Catholicism. In some places it was traditional for soldiers to abstain before battle, for players of sport not to have sex with their wives or lovers before they played. It’s not unusual. But that he’s held it for all of these years while at the same time he’s drawn to and feeds upon the sexual energy of others is staggering.’

‘And may offer a clue to his possible demise,’ Anderson said, as though he were reading her mind. ‘Clearly he is drawn to the sexual energy with which Marie and Tim Meriwether have infused our little family. They are the only living members upon which he can feed. As far as I have seen, he has no interest in the sexual energies of those of us who no longer live, and of course it is not Tara’s sexuality in which he is interested.’

Tara bit her lip and nodded agreement. ‘I’m the captive audience for whatever show he intends to put on involving Marie and Tim.’

‘We’re the entertainment,’ Tim said, squeezing Marie’s hand.

‘If we’re the stars in his performance, and at the same time he’s drawn to our sexual energy,’ Marie said, ‘then we can also be the bait to draw him in.’

‘Marie,’ Tara held her gaze. ‘You do understand what that means, what you’re up against.’ She looked up at Tim. ‘What you’ll both be up against.’

Suddenly both Tim and Anderson held Marie’s hands in a suicide grip, and she gave as good as she got. ‘We’ve known from the beginning what we’re here for,’ Marie said, ‘and I think I can speak for both of us when I say I’ve had enough. I want it over with. I want Deacon gone.’ This time the trembling that shook Marie was not panic but anger. Everyone in the room nodded agreement. 

Tara blew out a harsh breath. ‘We aren’t sending you as sacrificial lambs, Marie. Not this time. You may be the bait, but we know what you’re capable of, and what you can do together has yet to be tested. You won’t just be the bait. You’ll also be the trap.’ She looked around at the three ghosts who sat silently. ‘And the Elemental Coven, well we’re not to be trifled with.’ 

Marie squared her shoulders. ‘Then what do we do?’

Tara studied both Tim and Marie for a long moment while fingering the pentacle at her throat. At last she spoke. ‘You’ll need to go home to Lacewing Cottage, both of you. And you’ll need to take Anderson with you, and the three of you should have no problem drawing Deacon in.’

‘The three of us? I don’t understand.’

Anderson laid a warm hand on Marie’s shoulder. ‘It is sex magic, my love.’

Tim shifted nervously next to Marie, but said nothing. 

‘I need you to be all right with this, Tim,’ Tara said. 

He spoke between barely parted lips. ‘I’ll do whatever has to be done. Nobody wants the bastard gone more than I do.’ He shot Fiori a quick glance.

‘Good. Deacon will be drawn to the hottest part of the flame, and you three, I have no doubt, will generate an inferno. Add to that the fact that Anderson is a master of Ethereal magic, and I think we’ll be ready for him.’ She sighed. ‘As ready as we can be, anyway. The rest of us will cast the spell and make ready to draw him in and bind him.’

Chapter 20

Fiori would not allow the return to Lacewing Cottage before stuffing everyone with roast chicken and all the trimmings topped off with raspberry and white chocolate pavlova. They would all need their strength, she said, and none of the Elementals ever argued with Fiori where food was concerned. But by the time the last of the pavlova was eaten and the coffee was served up, Marie had the sneaking suspicion something else other than the fabulous meal was going on. 

She sat between Tim and Anderson, and even if she hadn’t been able to see that they both had fly-bursting hard-ons, the way they both squirmed and shifted and the smell of Tim’s heat would have been a dead giveaway. She was sure they both could smell her lust, even above the delicious scent of the meal, and she was more than a little bit worried that the cushion on her chair would be wet before the table was cleared. It was early evening when the three finally left for Lacewing Farm, amid a flurry of embraces and well-wishes from the three remaining witches. 

Anderson took Marie by the hand and pulled her into the back seat of Tim’s Land Rover. Before Tim had the engine started, the ghost had her blouse open and a heavy-nippled breast excavated and pressed to his lips. Up front Tim adjusted the mirror so that Marie could see his eyes. Then before he started the engine, she heard the zip of his fly, and he wriggled and shifted in the seat. She saw his eyelids flutter, heard the hitch in his breath, then he revved the motor and they were off.

It wasn’t a long drive, but Marie was sure the windows would have been steamed had they not been wide open. Anderson had greedily freed both her breasts and suckled them alternately while one hand found its way up under her short denim skirt and into her panties. All the while his erection, straining at his black trousers, rubbed and gouged against her thigh. Though she couldn’t see what Tim was doing, he was definitely driving with one hand on the wheel, and the way he was struggling to breathe left little doubt where his other hand was. That only made Anderson’s stroking and tweaking feel even hotter.

They barely got out of the Land Rover before Tim, making no effort to zip himself in – though Marie doubted he could if he wanted to – dragged her bodily from Anderson’s gropings. Then he took her mouth for himself and yanked aside the crotch of her panties to finger his way in between her creamy folds. 

Anderson shoved in next to him, as close as he could get, and went to work kneading her breasts and kissing and nibbling any bare skin he could find. There was getting to be more and more of it by the second, as they all three stumbled and pushed their way toward the door of Tim’s cottage.

‘They did something to us, didn’t they?’ Tim gasped when he came up for air. ‘Some sort of spell.’ Then he went back to eating her mouth as though he hadn’t just had Fiori’s four course meal.

‘Magic was not necessary,’ Anderson breathed, nipping at a tender spot on Marie’s nape. ‘We three are not in need of their assistance where the pleasures of the flesh are concerned.’

They shoved and groped and pushed their way into the lounge. There was a fire built in the fireplace and an open bottle of wine breathing on the coffee table, accompanied by three glasses. Marie figured Tiggs and Finney had taken care of that on Fiori’s orders. 

As both men tugged her down into the pile of cushions on the stripped wood floor, she took the initiative. She guided Anderson’s right hand from her breasts down to rest on Tim’s erection, which was shoving at her thigh. And it was as though everything was suddenly freeze framed. The only sound, the only hint of motion was their own desperate breathing and the crackle and dance of the fire. 

Tim shoved his way free of the tangle of arms and legs and crab-walked back against the sofa, his chest heaving like it would explode, his eyes locked on Anderson.

Marie held her breath, not knowing whether she should apologise or laugh and blow the whole thing off. She didn’t have to do either. 

Anderson gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and moved to sit next to Tim. ‘Intuition has long been one of my gifts, Tim Meriwether. Am I wrong in believing that you wish more from me than just to watch me share the pleasures of Marie’s body with you?’

‘No. No, you’re not wrong.’ Tim ran shaky fingers through his hair. Then he took a deep breath, and glanced from one of them to the other, his gaze coming once again to rest on Anderson. He squared his shoulders and offered a twitch of a smile. ‘No. You’re not wrong.’

Anderson didn’t give him time to contemplate. His large hand slid to the nape of Tim’s neck, and he pulled him into a series of kisses, at first gentle and fleeting, little more than brushes of the lips, flicks of the tongue, like dragonflies skimming the surface of a pond. Tim’s nervousness was palpable in the charged atmosphere of the room. But so was his arousal.

‘I’ve never been with a man before,’ Tim whispered. ‘God that sounds so cliché.’

Anderson cupped his stubbled cheek. ‘But you have imagined how it would be, have you not? All men have. It is a part of our nature to love our own flesh and the shape of it. Therefore we cannot but love it in others of our sex, though it may not be a love we consciously allow ourselves to feel.’ He nodded at Tim’s still bare penis. ‘If this is the gift you have been regularly offering up to our Marie, then I most certainly understand why sharing your bed pleases her so.’ He spoke no more, but took Tim’s erection deep into his mouth in long hungry slurps. And Tim’s startled gasp was quickly transmuted to little grunts of pleasure. With one hand, Anderson cupped and caressed Tim’s full balls, and with the other he stroked his own cock through the fabric of his trousers, Marie was amazed his fly could maintain integrity under such pressure. 

Tim curled his fingers in the ghost’s dark hair and ground his hips into the cushions as each tight thrust of Anderson’s mouth expertly brought him closer and closer to the edge. And when Marie was no longer sure if Tim was even coherent, he surprised all three of them by bringing his hand to rest against Anderson’s penis, and the ghost sighed his pleasure at the touch. ‘Shall I show you my manhood, Tim Meriwether? Shall I let you touch my flesh?’ He didn’t wait for an answer but released his erection for Tim’s inspection.

Cautiously, A little awkwardly at first, Tim caressed and fondled Anderson’s heavy cock. ‘Is this for me or for her?’ He nodded over his shoulder to Marie, who now watched in voyeuristic bliss.

Anderson gave Tim’s penis a solicitous stroke. ‘By now, Tim Meriwether, surely you are aware how effortlessly and completely either of you can harden me.’ He took Tim’s mouth again, this time with no doubt as to where their foreplay was leading.

Marie had fantasised about watching her two beautiful blokes have sex, but she never imagined it would actually happen. With a shudder, she pushed back the sudden thought of why they were actually in this position. Before she could dwell on it, Anderson pulled away from Tim’s tongue kiss, still caressing his cock. ‘My dear Tim, can you not imagine the affect our lovemaking must be having on our Marie’s burgeoning womanhood? I think we can both attest to the deliciousness of her swollen arousal even before we fondled each other’s members. Can you not smell her delectable scent like perfume on the air?’ 

‘Mmm, like perfume,’ Tim agreed breathlessly. 

‘Would you not then like to taste the seat of her pleasure while I familiarise myself with your anxious sex?’

Tim scrambled to pull Marie into the rough and tumble, shoving up her skirt and pushing aside the crotch of her panties to bury his face in her pussy. Meanwhile, Anderson tugged at the farmer’s jeans until they were down over his hips and Tim practically went through the roof at the first feel of Anderson’s tongue against his anus. He murmured something warm and incoherent that vibrated intriguingly against Marie’s clit. 

‘Does it please you, my tongue on your nether hole?’ Anderson whispered against Tim’s arse.

‘God yes!’ Both Tim and Marie spoke in unison. 

Anderson chuckled. ‘My dear Marie, somehow I knew my attention to Tim Meriwether’s lovely backside would please you. Only move to one side ever so slightly, Tim and do not be so greedy, for I long to look upon our Marie’s dewy, sweet sex.’

Tim shifted slightly to one side, and Anderson sighed his appreciation, then with his eyes locked on Marie’s wet pussy, he licked his middle finger and applied it with a single wet thrust to Tim’s anus.

‘Oh God,’ Tim breathed and shuddered so hard, Marie feared he would come.

‘Shall I continue,’ Anderson said, kneading Tim’s arse cheeks.

‘Please,’ Tim gasped, raising his butt closer to Anderson’s efforts.

‘Then perhaps you would do us the honour of pushing aside Marie’s blouse and fondling her exquisite bosom. The swell of her nipples through fabric teases me so terribly. Good. Very good indeed, and now tell me, Tim Meriwether, is she not very close to her first release?’

‘I think you might be right,’ Tim grunted.

‘And shall you do the honours?’ 

‘It would be my pleasure,’ Tim said, giving her breasts a good kneading before he lowered his face once again to her pussy. He slid his tongue up from her perineum the length of her gash as deep as he could reach, then at the apex of her vulva, he pulled her distended clit into his mouth and suckled hard, and she nearly bucked him off with her orgasm.

Anderson chose that moment to drizzle Tim’s anus with warm saliva and insert another finger. And Tim froze.

‘Shall I stop, Tim Meriwether,’ Anderson’s voice was tight with his own arousal, ‘or do you wish me to continue?’

‘Will it hurt?’ Tim asked.

‘Perhaps a little, but if there is pain, I promise it will be quickly forgotten in the pleasure that follows.’

‘You don’t mind?’

Anderson smiled down at Tim’s backside. ‘My dear Tim Meriwether, I have had such delicious fantasies of penetrating your lovely nether hole as you can scarcely imagine.’

Tim laughed nervously. ‘Oh, I think I can imagine just fine.’

‘Then I shall take that as a yes.’ But as Anderson began to move the two fingers inside Tim’s anus, Tim cried out and shoved the ghost away, rolling onto his side in a foetal position. ‘No,’ he gasped. ‘Not yet. I don’t want to come yet, but I’m too close.’ His breath came in great racking gasps. ‘Just please, just give me a minute.’

Marie slid down and took Tim’s head in her lap, caressing his hair, while he reached upward to cup and fondle her breasts. Anderson moved into a spoon position and laid a careful hand on Tim’s flank. His own breath was rapid, and Marie could tell it was difficult for him not to thrust against Tim’s bare arse, but he held very still. ‘We are at our leisure, Tim Meriwether.’ As he spoke, he eased Tim’s jeans and underpants the rest of the way off and wriggled out of his own as well. ‘It is for this purpose we have come.’ He snuggled close again. ‘We may share our pleasure as long as you desire it, and as long as our Marie gives us leave.’ He looked up at Marie and gave her a hungry smile. ‘Perhaps it would please you if I should penetrate her lovely sex until you are ready. That is if she would be so kind as to allow it.’ 

The words were barely out of Anderson’s mouth before Tim was shifting her, positioning her until she was on hands and knees with her legs wide apart, giving Anderson the perfect view of her heavy pussy lips, While Tim continued to caress her breasts. She heard him gasp at the sight of Anderson pushing into her accommodating hole with a satisfied grunt. Then the ghost began to tweak her clit with one hand while the other kneaded the swell of her arse cheeks in turn. 

‘Is she not the epitome of loveliness, Tim Meriwether?’ Anderson breathed. ‘And I think she shall relieve her needs once more on my manhood. Ah, such a pleasure it must be for the fairer sex to have the gift of release at their will as often as pleases them. And such an exquisite lust our Marie has. I think that she could endure such pleasure endlessly. Come, Tim Meriwether, come and pleasure her lovely tight nether hole with your mouth, and we shall bring her to release together.’ 

The addition of Tim’s tongue to her arsehole made it impossible for her to hold back, but just as the orgasm burst through her, Anderson pulled out. ‘Show our lovely Marie her release.’ He nodded to Tim’s amulet. Immediately, Tim understood, lowered his face so that he could see her pussy, then angled his mirror so that when she looked down between her legs she could also see the trembling writhing of her engorged splay, dark and slick and convulsing. 

But it was Tim who gasped and would have lost his balance if Anderson hadn’t steadied him. ‘Oh dear God,’ he breathed, trembling all over. ‘Is that –’

‘That is what our dear Marie is feeling, Tim Meriwether, yes indeed. And I feel it too.’ Anderson was once again fondling Tim’s anus, as they all watched until Marie’s cunt had calmed to small tremors. ‘Now then, I think that we shall make use of her abundant ambrosia,’ Anderson said. And in Tim’s mirror, they both watched with tight breath as Anderson fingered in between her pussy lips until the cup of his middle three fingers was drenched with her cream, then, he inserted those same three fingers into Tim’s anus. 

Tim growled like an animal, pressed back hard onto Anderson fingers and nearly in the same instant shoved forward into Marie’s wet cunt.

Anderson chuckled between tight breaths. ‘I have such appreciation for a man who knows what to do with his member and when to do it, Tim Meriwether.’

So did Marie.

‘Jesus, I haven’t had this much sex in ages,’ Tim breathed.