Love in Fantasy (Skeleton Key) (16 page)

Catching his balance, his jaw drops when he gets a look at the luxurious foyer he suddenly finds himself in. The gold and creams scheme is detailed and only just barely on the classy side versus gaudy. A massive, crystal chandelier hangs above him, and he quickly steps to the side so he isn’t in its immediate drop radius.
Simply hedging my bets
.

The slam of a door startles him, particularly when said door is no longer there. He groans in frustration, convinced his mind is playing tricks on him. With a tall set of gold, double doors being the only exit now, he attempts to open them and finds them locked.
Shocker.
A hum breaks the silence and Wilder’s ears perk, listening. It’s the sound of something vibrating and it’s coming from his pocket. The key. Could it be? It would be awfully coincidental. He shakes his head at himself. It would be par for the course of weirdness; he might as well give it a shot. Extracting the key from his pocket, he dips down to examine the lock and seeing the matching carving, he inserts it into the hole. The tumblers click and he’s able to open the door.

Hesitantly going forward, he finds himself in a bedroom—one he doesn’t recognize. The figure lying on the bed, however, he definitely recognizes her. Padding across the thick carpet, he approaches the bed. Piper is on her back, on top of the covers, her lush, dark brown hair pulled over both shoulders, spilling down her chest. She’s wearing a lavender gown, ruched and snug around her chest; the straightened, silky skirt flows down from her waist to her feet. He smiles when he sees she isn’t wearing shoes; her adorable, purple-tipped toes are peeking out. His hardening cock is a familiar reaction, since everything about this woman turns him on, giving him an erection every time he sees her, hears her, even just fucking thinking about her gets him going.

She appears to be deeply asleep—her long, black lashes resting on her pale, plump cheeks, and her lips, soft in sleep, are pink and completely kissable. His eyebrows raise at the unexpected sight of a rose clutched between her hands as they rest, crossed beneath her breasts. Something about the whole scene . . . the way she’s dressed, her position, even the blue, silk panels hanging from the canopy, the weaved rod iron headboard which looks like a thicket of roses and thorns. It all reminds him of something, but he isn’t able to get a grasp on it.

He sits down next to her and stares, awed by her beauty as always, enjoying the site of her so peaceful in sleep. But, he wants to see her sparkling green eyes, so he runs a finger over her forehead, down her cheek, and across her delectable lips. No response.

“Piper,” he calls softly. “Baby?” This time, he leans over and brushes his lips across her forehead, but she doesn’t stir.
She must really be in a deep sleep
. Maybe . . . he has an idea, though it seems ludicrous. He stares at her mouth for a moment, then decides to try it. His head dips again, intent on giving her a kiss. Before their mouths can connect, a blast of hot wind blows him right off the bed.

“Son of a bitch!” he curses as he lands hard on the ground.
Are you happy now, universe?

“The universe is the least of your worries, Wilder.”

His head whips up and he’s staring into the violet eyes of. . . “Maggie?” he croaks.

A woman stands at another entrance to the room, a set of doors leading to a balcony. He almost doesn’t recognize his obnoxious client in the snakeskin body suit she’s poured herself into. Let’s just clarify, no one. . .
no one
, should ever wear this outfit, doesn’t matter how fit you are, it will still be ugly as sin. This goes triple for Maggie. He’s not being insensitive or judgmental. It’s simply a fact. Maggie’s body had taken a hit from the years of hard drinking, bad food, and no exercise. Somehow, she manages to look emaciated everywhere except the spots where she had sagging pockets of fat.
See? Fact. You feel me?

“You didn’t think I would learn about your precious Piper, Wilder?” she sneers. Anger courses through him as he gets to his feet and takes a menacing step in her direction.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Maggie?” he spits.

She glances at his beautiful, sleeping Piper and when she looks back at him, her eyes are practically spitting fire. “You’re coming with me,” she says in a low tone, sending a cold shiver down his spine. “You can’t kiss her.”

“Maggie, you’ve lost your fucking mind,” Wilder bellows as he stalks towards her. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

An evil grin slashes across her face. “Now, you deal with me, oh Wilder. And, all the powers of hell.” She backs up, out to the balcony and sits on the railing, still smiling malevolently. Without warning, she falls backward into the dark night.

“No!” Wilder yells as dashes outside. He knows it’s too late to save her, but the white knight inside him has to try. Rushing up to the balcony, he grips the rail and looks over, only to be, once again, knocked to the ground by a rush of heated wind.

A large shadow looms over him and he looks up at the source. He blinks, shakes his head to clear what must be a hallucination, and blinks again.

Nope. Still staring at a fucking dragon. A flying dragon.

He jumps to his feet and glances around wildly, trying to figure out how to make himself wake up from this dream. His eyes land on a sword, propped against the wall in the corner of the balcony. His eyes narrow on the weapon and he swiftly walks over and picks it up. Words are carved in the gleaming silver, Sword of Truth. The feeling of familiarity begins to nag him again, but with more force this time.

Maggie, the malevolent dragon, as he’s christened her, hovers over the side of the balcony, watching him. He lifts the sword and she breathes fire, just missing him by inches, and it singes the hair on his arm.

“Are you going to slay the dragon?” she hisses.

Wilder considers his options, reading the words on the sword again. An idea pops into his head. “I don’t think so,” he says thoughtfully. “In fact, I don’t even think this is my fantasy. You are a product of our mixed imaginations. I don’t need to take you out, I have no desire to kill anyone”—he looks her over with disgust—“or any
thing.
I’m just going to be honest.” He drops the saber on the ground and turns back to the room. “Go back to your cave, Puff.”

She shrieks in outrage but he tunes her out and focuses on the gorgeous sleeping woman. He returns to his previous spot on the bed and picks up where he left off, dropping his head and covering her mouth with his own.

Piper gasps and tries to sit up suddenly, effectively banging their heads together. “Ouch.” She winces, putting her hand to her head. Wilder scoots back and lets her sit up fully as he swallows a chuckle, then grasps her face between his palms.

He kisses the abused spot, then looks into the depths of her green pools. “Are you all right?” he queries before indulging himself in another kiss to her sweet mouth.

“Um hmm,” she mumbles against his lips, then pulls back. “Wilder? What’s going on?”

“Well,” he drawls, “I considered slaying a dragon for you. Then, I decided I had a far greater weapon with which to win the fair princess.”

She giggles as he stands and does an exaggerated bow. “I’ll bite,” she says, then giggles again at his raised brow and very interested expression. “What is this magic weapon you think is going to win me over?”

Wilder slowly gets down on one knee by the side of the bed, winking at her as her eyes grow big and round. He takes her hands and kisses each one in the center of the palm.

“I’ll tell you the honest truth, baby. I’ve loved you since the moment I met you, Piper. I wanted to make sure there weren’t any forests of thorns in our way before I took you and made you mine.”

Her jaw had been slowly dropping but now, it snaps shut and she glares at him. “Make me yours? Do I get a say?”

He shrugs. “Not really.”

She sputters but doesn’t seem to have a response, so he decides to move on and gets on on the bed, his body covering hers, forcing her to lay back again. He holds some of his weight off of her, but makes sure he’s pressing into her, connecting them from head to toe. When his hard on settles in the cleft of her thighs, she gasps and shudders.

“You can’t deny it, baby. Admit it,” he whispers. “You feel it in your heart, and I’m betting your pussy is drenched right now, because your body knows it, too. You’re mine.” He starts to kiss his way down her body, his hands traveling all over her, wanting to feel every inch of her. When he reaches the end of the ruching on her top and the skirt begins to flow, he frowns at the diaphones material. He clutches a handful of the lavender silk and rips it from the seam, tearing the whole skirt down the center. Wilder grins at the surprise underneath.

“Hey!” Piper exclaims, her head lifting and directing a pout in his direction. But, she seems to lose all thought when his hot mouth lands on her naked pussy. He groans at the proof he was right; she’s completely soaked. She tastes like peaches and cream, and he can’t get enough. He’s been dreaming about this every damn night. Unable to sleep without fantasizing about fucking her until she’s screaming his name. Deciding not to waste time, he attacks her pussy, rapidly driving her up and pushing her over the ledge.

The sound of his name falling from her lips in ecstasy almost drives him to orgasm, but he manages to hang on to a thread of control. Crawling up, he finds a side zipper on the top of the dress. He lowers it, then impatiently rips in apart to get to her breasts. They are even more gorgeous than he’d imagined; full and round, with tight, pink nipples, the same shade as her lips. Drawing one into his mouth, he moans, discovering they taste every bit as delicious.

He switches nipples and sucks it deep before letting it go with a pop. “Baby,” he growls. She’s too lost in sensation to hear him, so he pinches a nipple hard and speaks louder this time. “Piper!”

She shudders, as much from the stinging pain as sparks of pleasure elicited from his actions. “What?” she pants, trying to focus on him and not the bulge of his cock cradled in the V of her thighs.

“I’m not going to take you until you agree to marry me,” he states nonchalantly. As though he hadn’t just turned her world upside down.

“You’re asking me to marry you?” she asks incredulously.

“Yup,” he answers in the same cavalier tone.

“I—yes.”

Astonished, he asks, “Just like that?”

She nods. “You were honest, so I’m going to be, too. I want to marry you. I want to be yours. Done. End of story.” Her green eyes become mischievous. “Now, are you going to take me or are you all talk and no action?” she taunts.

Action, she thinks later as she lays replete with pleasure and utterly exhausted. Definitely action.

A tingling sensation in her lips wakes Piper, and she rubs her eyes sleepily, shifting to try and relieve some of the pressure in her body.
Stupid, fucking erotic fantasies
.

“Baby?” A low masculine voice washes over her and every nerve in her body sings. “Piper?”

She opens her bleary eyes and finds herself staring at the most amazing brown eyes. Ones she had countless dreams about, ones she’d fallen hopelessly in love with. “Wilder?”

He beams at her. “Hey, sleeping beauty.” Then, he frowns. “You feel asleep in the waiting room of my office. Were you here all evening, baby?”

She thinks for a minute, trying to clear the fog of sleep from her mind. “Um, yeah. I had a cancellation and was already here when I got your text, so I decided to wait for you.”

His frown deepens and he growls, “Why didn’t you respond, Piper? I’ve been going out of my mind with worry.”

Confusion clouds her face. She did respond. She’s sure she had. Picking up her phone, she swipes the screen to turn it on, but nothing happens. “Shit,” she murmurs before looking up and smiling at him sheepishly. “I sent the text and then my phone died. It must have still been in the process of sending. I’m so sorry I worried you, Wilder.”

His face softens but his eyes are completely serious. “I don’t want you to let your phone die while you’re out by yourself, baby. I can’t stomach even the possibility of something happening to you. I’m not all that happy you were alone in my office so late. Anyone could have walked in.”

Piper’s heart starts to beat a little faster the more he says, he sounds like he . . . like he might care about her. As more than a colleague. She tells herself not to hope but it’s impossible when she’s already owned by him, even if he doesn’t know it.

“Your secretary locked up before she left. We both thought you’d be here sooner.”

He caresses her face, and his eyes follow his fingers as they run through her dark hair, pulling it forward over her shoulders. They linger on her breasts for half a beat, then they jump to her lips and seem glued there. She’s taken off guard when he lunges forward and kisses her deeply. Her head spins and she grabs onto his biceps to steady herself. He finally releases her mouth when they need to come up for oxygen. “I’m sorry you had to wait for me, baby. But, fuck, I’m so glad you’re here.”

“You are?”
Please, please, please,
she chants in her head.
Please say what I hope you’re going to say.