Darkness, Kindled (Fire Spirits 4)

He was so going to kill Trey for this when he got home.

Jai’s spine stiffened at the sudden chill that rippled over him. The trace. Ari?

“Jai?” Jennifer asked softly and he turned back to find her frowning in concern. “Everything okay?”

He was just about to turn to her when a low, female voice echoed loudly in his head, The White King has Ari locked in the ladies’ restroom!

Jai’s heart stuttered at Ms. Maggie’s message, his fists curling with fear. “I’ll be right back. Stay here,” he ordered. He then moved as fast as he could without appearing less than human, pushing through the dancers, his face dark with intent so they’d move.

Finally, he turned the corner to the toilets and poured all his energy into his feet, moving down the corridor like the wind and slamming up against the door so that the wood cracked with the impact.

“ARI!” He roared through the wood, his fists, lit with magic, pummeling into it. What if he was too late? What if he …

Shaking off the panic, Jai took a step back and a deep breath. He glanced behind him to make sure he was alone and then flooded all of his magical energy into his right leg, his jeans glowing.

With a primal growl, he pulled back his knee and slammed his foot forward against the wood, blowing the door almost off its hinges. Without another thought, Jai skidded into the bathroom, his eyes seeking her out.

Relief flooded him.

Ari stood alone, face pale, eyes wide as she stared at him, trembling from head to toe. She was terrified. Impotent fury rushed through him and Jai clenched his jaw at the same time he slammed the bathroom door shut and locked it. She was still shaking. He hurried over to her, the blood rushing in his ears at the thought of what could’ve happened to her. It made his chest burn with fear. In fact, he’d never felt fear like it.

“Are you okay? Was he here?”

Holding her hands out to reassure him, Ari sighed. “He’s gone. I’m okay. How did you know? I didn’t telepath.”

No, but you should have!

His eyes narrowed in anger as he searched her body for injury. She was in one piece. “Just as I felt a warning in the trace, Ms. Maggie spoke to me telepathically.”

If he didn’t have the trace … if Ms. Maggie hadn’t warned him. Shit. The White King could’ve done anything to her.

She would’ve been gone. He’d never have been able to talk to her again … or touch her …

He was a mess. An effed-up, confused mess because all that mattered in that moment was that she was okay, not that he wasn’t supposed to want her. For now he was with her … and he could touch her. His eyes dipped to her trembling lips. Need fisted in his gut.

Nothing else mattered.

There was too much space between them.

Without thinking about the consequences, Jai tugged her roughly into his arms so he could hug her and assure himself that she was safe. The familiar feel of her body against his only sharpened the need and his hold tightened, his heart pounding so hard, they both could hear it.

He felt Ari squeeze him back. “I’m okay,” she reassured him softly. “He just wanted to mess with my head. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t command him. It was hard, but I didn’t, I promise.”

“Ssshh,” Jai hushed, not wanting her to worry that he thought she’d be reckless enough to do that. Ari was honest and sometimes impulsive, but she was smart, and unlike some people, she had a lot of self-control. She amazed him. “I know. I’m proud of you.”

He heard her breathing change—it became ragged as she pulled back to gaze up at him. Everything was there in her eyes. Her gratitude, her relief … her desire. Jai’s eyes dipped to her mouth again. One taste. One taste wouldn’t be so bad …

She tried to take a step back and Jai’s hands tightened around her. He didn’t want her to go yet … he hadn’t had time …

“Jai—”

His control snapped.

He hauled her up against him, his lips crushing down over hers, satisfaction slamming through him at the taste of her.

She melted instantly, her arms wrapping around him, her mouth opening to let him deepen the kiss, his tongue teasing hers mercilessly. And that instant surrender to him was like throwing tinder on the fire. He wanted to be closer.

He wanted inside of her, so deep inside she’d never get him out.

At the sound of her gasp in his mouth, Jai nearly expired on the spot. He wasn’t close enough. Pushing her against the counter, finesse, gentleness, it all was burned away by the blazing heat in his blood. Jai gripped her hips and easily lifted her onto the counter so he could insinuate himself between her legs, long legs that immediately wrapped themselves around him, drawing him closer. His fingers dug into her hips as he nudged against her, groaning deep at the pleasure that rippled through him from the tease. The first time he’d kissed her, there was a spark—a spark between two strangers, and it had made him cautious. Confused him. He hadn’t really taken the time to enjoy the taste of her. Now he was going to enjoy it.

Damn, the girl could kiss, he thought as she licked at his mouth, her pace slowing and drawing him into something deeper, more languorous … sexy as hell. At the feel of her hands on his chest, Jai pulled back. He wanted to feel her too. With his lips. He kissed her jaw, tasting her skin. Was it possible to be addicted to a person? he wondered vaguely, his brain a fog of mush, now that another part of his body was controlling him. Jai squeezed her harder to him as he trailed soft, lush kisses down her neck until he came to her bare shoulder. That naked skin had been teasing him all night. He bit it softly.

She whimpered, the sound full of need.

It was like a kick in the gut.

Jai was done with patience.

She was his and he was having her now.

His hand clasped her nape, drawing her head back so he could look into her flushed face, her eyes bright. She wanted this too. She wanted him …

He pulled her roughly against his mouth, his kiss deeper than before, his body pushing into hers as her legs climbed his hips. Those legs drew his attention. He wanted to touch her, see for himself how soft the skin at the top of her thighs was—CRASH!

The door slammed open.

Instinct had him throwing his body from her and then shielding her, his chest rising and falling as he struggled to get his breath back. There was no one there.

Jai shot a wide-eyed look at Ari only to find her staring back with a mirror-image expression on her face.

“It’s Ms. Maggie,” she informed him hoarsely.

Ms. Maggie? Why …? Jai’s gaze traveled over Ari. Her flushed cheeks, her lidded, dark eyes, swollen mouth, the hem of her dress indecently high … Ms. Maggie had interrupted them before he did something he’d regret.

Shit.

Hell.

What had he almost done? Dammit, he could’ve lost everything just because he couldn’t keep it in his pants! He’d have lost Ari, his reputation, his fragile relationship with his father … Wh

at the hell had he been thinking? And Ari … she wasn’t helping! He’d told her they weren’t anything more than friends and she kept looking at him …

Shit! It wasn’t her fault.

She was an innocent. He was the grown-up. The Ginnaye. And for the first time in his life, he was failing at what he did best. He groaned, rubbing a hand over his head as his taut, frustrated body warred with his self-flagellating mind. “That shouldn’t have happened.”

Ari’s wounded eyes ripped him apart, and watching her struggle to pull down the hem of a dress he’d almost gotten her out of made him feel like crap. And that made him angrier than anything could.

Was he becoming what his stepmother Nicki had always predicted?

“Jai …?” Ari’s voice was filled with vulnerable need for assurance.

Assurance he couldn’t give her.

Enraged, needing her to understand, the growl ripped out of him before he could stop himself. “No. It never happened. I was worried about you and I just … shit!” He hit his palm off the tiled walls, needing the sting of clarity.

She slipped off the counter, struggling with her dress, looking very much like a girl who had nearly given a boy everything only for him to act like a jerk and treat her like she wasn’t worth it.

Guilt pricked him, mixing with the pain of hurting her.

Today was the last time he’d do that to her. She deserved better. “Ari, I’m so sorry,” he said. “The last thing you need is an older guy treating you like crap. You deserve more. And I can’t give you more.”

I’ll never be able to.

She got even, though.

She made him want her even more than he already did. He watched with fascination and admiration as she finally accepted the truth. She shrugged on that truth, even though he knew it hurt her, and she wore it with a carefully controlled expression. She smoothed her hair and straightened her shoulders, looking him straight in the eye with nothing but cool civility.