She was, after all, hungry for a different kind of feast.
When the owner was gone, the room seemed both quieter and smaller. Eileen was aware of Erik’s watchful presence. He seemed larger to her, more brooding and intense, and she tingled in anticipation of what they would do. It wasn’t just the firestorm that made her body sing with excitement.
Eileen unwound her scarf and smiled at Erik. “I feel like I came to stay with a lonely auntie.”
“As do I,” he agreed with a rueful smile. “She won’t be listening at the door if she’s gone to the store, though.”
“True. Do you care?”
He smiled, his features softening. When he smiled, she felt as if he let his guard down with her. She felt as if he trusted her. “No. Do you?”
Eileen smiled back at him. “No.”
Their gazes clung for a hot moment; then Erik cleared his throat. “First things first,” he said. “I have smoke to breathe.”
“Duty before pleasure?”
“Something like that.” He took off Eileen’s wet coat and hung it over the back of a chair, close to the radiator. He took off his own jacket and did the same. She liked his gallantry, too. It would be like him to fulfill Shadow’s wish to send word to her sister, and Eileen wasn’t so sure that his wife hadn’t realized what he’d done.
“Why not have a bath to warm up?” he suggested. He cast her a hot look, one that made her shiver in anticipation.
“How long does it take to breathe smoke?”
“It depends upon how impenetrable I want the barrier to be.”
Eileen arched a brow.
“This will be a fortress when I’m done,” he said, his tone fierce.
Eileen liked his protectiveness enough that she wished this weren’t just going to be a fling. But she wasn’t greedy—she knew what she was getting into, and she was sure it would be worth the price of admission. She took one glance into the large and luxurious bathroom, spied the claw-foot tub, and didn’t have to be persuaded.
“Good idea,” she said, and went to check the bath foam.
Rose scented. Perfect.
When she returned to the bedroom, Erik was standing by the window, his arms folded across his chest. He was taking deep breaths, breaths so long and steady that Eileen was amazed. She watched him surreptitiously as she tugged off her boots and wet skirt.
It couldn’t be her imagination that he shimmered around the edges. His silhouette seemed to be traced in a sparkling light. It was hard to discern exactly where his body ended and where the air began.
What was the physiology of the Pyr? Erik seemed solid enough and real enough when he kissed her, but as she watched him now, he seemed ethereal. Not quite there.
Eileen couldn’t look away, even as her thoughts raced. How old was Erik? She had a sense that the story she chased was several hundred years old, even though it had no firm date attached to it. Shadow’s story had been told by her student’s grandmother, who said she had heard it from her grandmother. Four generations at roughly twenty years apiece put the latest date for the story in the late nineteenth century.
It could have been older than that, which meant that Erik was at least a hundred and twenty years old.
And Louisa would be a century dead.
Eileen watched Erik and wondered about the parts of the story he hadn’t told her. She didn’t want to interrupt him to ask but she was curious. He seemed almost meditative, breathing deeply and regularly. He certainly was focused on his task. His eyes were partly closed, and were glittering in the slits. She had the sense that he was fully aware of what she did and where she was.
Self-awareness made her shiver, but not in a bad away. Could invisible dragonsmoke really protect her from Magnus and his thugs? It seemed to have worked at Lynne’s house.
Eileen hung her skirt in the bathroom and tucked her boots under a radiator. She flung her stockings over the radiator in the bathroom. All the while, she kept circling back into the bedroom to study Erik, fascinated. When she was naked, she pulled on the thick white bathrobe left in the bathroom and shook out her hair. She drew the bath with the supplied bath foam, inhaling the scent of roses that wafted from the hot water.
Rain slanted against the window and she shut the curtains, welcoming the sense that she created a refuge from the storm. The room was warm and the light romantic. Maybe rain was romantic. She smiled, knowing that Erik would try to persuade her so. She could hear his steady exhalation, a reminder that she wasn’t alone. That was romantic. She dug a handful of condoms out of her toiletries bag and cast them across the counter.
Erik was sufficiently perceptive to take the hint.
Eileen started to hum. She combed her hair, working out the tangles from their morning of adventure. The water rose high and hot in the tub, and the bathroom filled with steam. She turned off the water and ran her hands through the froth of scented bubbles.
Eileen pivoted at a slight sound and found Erik on the threshold of the bathroom. He braced his hands on the frame and surveyed her, his expression hot.
Hungry.
His gaze danced over her bare feet, lingering on the electric blue nail polish, then slid up her legs. She could feel his perusal as keenly as a caress. He eyed the spot where the robe parted, where her cleavage was displayed, and visibly caught his breath. She saw him swallow, saw his fingers tighten on the frame, saw the line of his jeans change. She knew what he wanted.
Her.
“Lady’s choice,” he whispered, his words echoing in the small, tiled space. The rain pattered on the window as they stared at each other.
It made Eileen feel powerful that she could incite desire in this man who had such capabilities, who had lived so long and undoubtedly seen so many women. She was glad that he saw no need to change her, just accepted her as she was. Wanted her as she was. She liked that he was tough but vulnerable, and that he trusted her enough to let her glimpse his old wounds. She appreciated that he still gave her the choice, that he didn’t just take what he wanted.
It meant that she would give him more.
Eileen lifted her chin and smiled at Erik. She unknotted the belt of the robe slowly, then shifted her shoulders so that the bathrobe tumbled to the floor.
Erik stared with such awe that she felt like a goddess.
Chapter 13
When Eileen dropped her robe, Erik’s world stopped.
W His imagination hadn’t begun to do her justice.
Her skin was as creamy as he’d expected, her nipples every bit as rosy. Her curves, though, were more dramatic than he could have guessed, her waist small and her breasts generous. She was slim through the hips, athletic and strong as he’d imagined, but more feminine than he could have believed.
Her hair was a magnificent shimmer of red-gold hanging down her back to her waist. There were freckles across her shoulders, a playful smattering that matched the glimmer in her eyes. She stood with confidence, comfortable in her own skin and with her body’s allure.
He was reminded of his father’s stories of the Valkyries come to collect a man’s soul. Eileen was an irresistible siren, merciless in her demands and impossible to evade.
Erik didn’t want to evade her. If she wanted his soul, he was hers. Her eyes shone blue, sparkling with a mischief that was vital and alluring. He was awed that she chose to be with him.
But there was no doubting her desire. She wasn’t shy and she didn’t pretend to want anything other than what she did. Eileen was an open book, and Erik liked her directness a lot.
They were both fans of honesty, but that wasn’t the only thing they had in common.
She walked toward him, her movements elegant and rhythmic. He admired the sway of her hips, the slight bounce of her breasts, the dance of her hair. The mingled scents of rose from the bath and lavender from her own skin kicked his desire to a fever pitch.
He had breathed dragonsmoke high and deep, weaving it together with his usual fastidiousness. They were safe for the moment, co
cooned behind his protective barrier, although Erik expected Magnus to challenge him within hours.
He would make the most of what time they had.
He waited for Eileen, knowing that his desire was evident but leaving the decision with her. It would have been easy to pounce on her and take what he wanted, but he suspected that she was a woman who preferred to make her own choices.
He was content to give her what she wanted.
As she came toward him, promise in her eyes and her smile, the firestorm raged through his body. Erik was aflame with desire for her, burning with the heat of a thousand infernos. This firestorm wasn’t going to be overlooked, and here, within the security of the smoke he had breathed, he could give it all of his attention.
He could surrender.
He wasn’t surprised by the ferocity of the spark when Eileen plucked at his sweater, but the lust that rocked through him nearly took him to his knees. She flattened her hand and slid it beneath his clothing and across his stomach, learning his shape with a bold caress. A flurry of sparks lit in the wake of her investigating fingers, heating Erik’s blood to a boil.
“You’re overdressed for this afternoon’s activities,” she had time to inform him before he bent his head and caught her mouth beneath his own.
Heat surged through him from their kiss, lighting bonfires across his skin. Eileen locked her arms around his neck and stretched to her toes, arching against him. He groaned and caught her close, deepening his kiss with demand. Her hands were in his hair again, pulling him closer, and she pulled back to nibble his bottom lip, teasing him with teeth and tongue.
Her skin was soft, so beguilingly soft that he wanted to run his hands over her entire body. His fingers moved against her of their own volition, sliding over the satin of her skin. He cupped her buttocks in his hands and lifted her against his erection, loving how she ground her hips against him.
“You need to get naked,” she breathed against his mouth.
“So you’ve noted,” he teased, and released her with reluctance. Her lips were reddened and swollen from his kiss, inviting him to kiss her again. She was so close, so warm, so fragrant that he didn’t want to waste time with practicalities.
He peeled off his sweater and T-shirt, and Eileen’s fingertips never left his skin. Her hands ran over his shoulders and back as he undressed. He knew she was reassuring herself as to his shape and he didn’t mind.
In fact, he loved the sizzle that followed her questing fingertips. She awakened every increment of his flesh with her touch, igniting him and stirring him.
He pulled off his boots and socks, casting them aside. He dropped his jeans and discarded them, then kicked off his underwear. Eileen looked. There was no hiding his reaction when he turned to face her, and Erik feared that she might be alarmed by his size.
But Eileen wasn’t shy. She considered him with a dawning smile, then reached for him.
To his shock, she locked her hand around his erection. They stared at each other for a potent moment as she caressed him. Erik’s mouth went dry and he felt a tremble begin deep within himself.
Eileen smiled and he knew she had seen the effect of her touch upon him. For once, he didn’t mind having his secrets laid bare.
Erik let his hand rise to tangle in her hair. It was silky, the curls twining around his hand as if to ensnare him. He caught a fistful of it, loving the color and sheen of it, liking the sense of being entangled. He suddenly wanted to feel her hair against his skin, cast like a net across his body, holding him fast against her side. He wanted to wake up entwined with Eileen, and awaken her with a slow caress.
But he’d be gone within hours. And she would despise him.
Again.
The truth sent a pang through him, made him want to linger over the pleasure they could give each other.
Eileen must have seen something in his eyes, because her fingers stilled. She licked her lips and Erik watched the progress of the tip of her tongue, yearning.
“So, what’s different about a Pyr in bed?” she asked softly.
Erik guessed her concern. “Nothing.”
Her fingers tightened briefly on him and she arched a brow. “That’s not nothing.”
Erik swallowed as she slid her thumb across him, and he lost the thread of the conversation.
“I mean, do you change shape?” Eileen whispered, her busy fingers kindling his desire to a fever pitch.
“It’s a fighting pose,” Erik managed to say. “We shift only for defense.”
A glimmer of humor lit her eyes. “So, if Magnus attacks us while we’re, um, busy, it could get interesting. Otherwise you’re just the way you are now.”
“He can’t attack us,” Erik said with ferocity. “He can’t cross my dragonsmoke. Don’t imagine for a moment that you aren’t safe with me.”
She looked at him and he could see a dozen questions in her eyes. He knew he couldn’t make promises to her, but he had an irrational urge to do so.
She closed her eyes then, and bent to brush her lips across his bare chest. She caressed him with long, slow strokes and Erik gritted his teeth at the pleasure of her touch.
“I won’t last,” he protested, trying to lift her hands away.
“Of course you will,” Eileen argued, but Erik didn’t believe it. He caught her hands in his and had one glimpse of the sparkle of her eyes before she bent to take him in her mouth.
He fell back against the wall at the inferno that rolled through him. Eileen dropped to her knees in front of him. His hands found her hair again, his fingers locking into its silken abundance. Her tongue slid over him, stoking the firestorm.
Erik looked down at her and his heart clenched. Her toes curled into the thickness of the white fringed rug, looking luscious and delicate. Her hair cascaded over her shoulders, the light playing in its curls. The ripe curve of her rosy buttocks tempted him, as did the curve of her calf, the crescent of her arched foot, the indent of her waist. He closed his eyes and groaned when she slid her nails gently across his testicles.
He wouldn’t last, if she kept that up.
She’d kill him, if she kept that up.
“Save that for the second round,” he said, and she must have heard the tension in his voice. She cast a playful glance upward and he took advantage of the moment. He bent and claimed her mouth again, framing her face in his hands. She tipped her head back as he kissed her deeply.
When they paused to catch their breath, he bent and caught her up in his arms. He strode to the bath and set her gently into its warmth. She laughed as the bubbles slid around her curves. The foam eased over her skin, swallowing her, and her hair fanned across the surface. She looked up at him and crooked a finger in his direction. She could have been a mermaid, or a siren calling him to destruction.
That Valkyrie, perhaps, knowing as well as he did that he was doomed to die in the battle ahead.
Erik would answer her call either way.
When he stepped closer, Eileen pointed to the vanity. Erik saw the packages of condoms and understood. Would they impede the firestorm? Erik doubted it. He put one on beneath her watchful gaze and was rewarded by her smile.
He climbed into the bath, pulling Eileen into his arms as the water enveloped their bodies. The bath tub was long enough that he could stretch out with Eileen lying on his chest. She curled against him and steam rose from the bathwater as her curves pressed against him. He kissed her again, then slid his fingers through the water to her breast.
The bubbles made the water slick and slippery. Erik ran his hand over the fullness of her breast, savoring how the nipple tightened even more. He bent his head, blew aside the bubbles so that she shivered, then took her nipple in his mouth. He flicked his tongue against the peak. Eileen moaned and Erik liked the way her fingers tightened convulsively on his nape.
This was only the beginning.
He let his hand ease deeper into the water and slide to the top of her thighs. Her skin was smooth and soft, and he felt a jolt of d
esire when his fingers found the slick heat between her thighs.
Eileen gasped, then parted her legs.
Erik slipped his fingers through her pubic hair, excited that she invited his touch. She lifted one foot out of the water and braced it on the side of the tub, the bubbles dripping from her toes. He saw the arch of her wet foot, the way the foam glistened on her toes, the rosiness of her skin, the unlikely blue of her nail polish. She was a woman full of surprises and he was amazed by the power of his desire to discover them all.
He’d do the best he could in the time available.
Erik felt the heat gathering in Eileen, saw the steam rise from the bath with greater intensity. He caressed her slowly, still toying with that nipple. He heard her heart beat more quickly and felt his own synchronize with her rhythms. The water was hot and getting hotter. Her breath came faster. Her blood pumped with vigor. The firestorm was coaxed higher and brighter and Erik didn’t want to surrender to it yet.
He didn’t want it to end.
Eileen moaned and writhed as his fingers moved with purpose. She said something he couldn’t understand, then caught his chin in her hands. She pulled his mouth to hers and he teased her, keeping their mouths apart while their tongues danced in the steamy air.
The sparks leapt and played between them, painting Eileen’s features with a golden glow. She laughed and ran a line of kisses along his jawline. He bent and kissed her ear, blowing gently so that she shivered. She arched her back again, sending her hair across the surface of the water, and he kissed her neck. The sweet scent of her deluged him, and he slid his fingers inside her with a decisive gesture.
Eileen gasped and trembled on the cusp of orgasm, but he pulled his hand away.
“Tease,” she accused, then straddled him in the bath. She caught his wrists in her hands, keeping him from caressing her. Her knees were locked around his chest, the width of the bath keeping her from slipping. She knelt over him, her skin rosy from the bathwater, the foam dripping from her breasts, the wet tendrils of her hair sticking to her shoulders. Erik was captivated by the sight of her.