Cirque Du Minuit (Cirque Masters 1)

“I want to see if you are strong. And if you are scared. Afraid, girl?” he asked with a tilt of his head, and a pout she wanted to slap right off his face.

She grabbed the pair of silk tails from his hands. “My name is not ‘girl’ and I’m not afraid. And you damn well know I’m strong enough--Fuck!” A sudden gust of wind sent a hailstorm of round, pointed seedpods down from the tree to pelt Kelsey’s head and shoulders. She brushed off the offending nuggets and glared at Theo when he chuckled. She didn’t think even one had hit him. God, this irritating man. Had she ever found him attractive? Had she really writhed under him in ecstasy?

She turned away in self-loathing and self-protection. Yes, she had, and yes, she wanted to again. She wrapped the dingy, tacky silk around her fists, testing the strength of it, even though she’d already seen it hold his weight.

“Are you sure this is perfectly safe? That branch isn’t going to break?”

He gave her an unctuous look. “If you fall, I’ll catch you.”

Kelsey tsked and started to climb. The material was surprisingly easy to grip, either from the rosin she’d used or the rosin he’d put on there before. She climbed hand over hand, letting go of one of the tails to hike herself up the other one. Words of an old lullaby came to mind. Rock-a-bye baby, in the treetop. When the wind blows, the cradle will rock... Wind blew hair in her eyes, but it wasn’t strong enough to blow her around. But the branch above her... She looked up, pausing. She was about ten feet from the branch. Her arms were growing tired. If the bough breaks, the cradle will fall, and down will come baby--

“Wrap your leg around,” Theo called from below. “If you get tired, make a lock for your foot.”

More on instinct than any real know-how, Kelsey slipped her foot around the silk a few times and then pushed down. The “lock” held. She could stand, in a way, and take a little pressure off her arms. She wrapped a hand around the gray-white fabric too and felt more secure. She was enjoying her feeling of victory when the silk she was hanging on began to sway.

“Theo!”

He was below her, dragging it to one side, then the other.

“Are you trying to make me fall?” she shrieked.

Theo grinned. “Fall? No, girl. I’m trying to make you fly.”

“I’m not ready to fly just yet,” she said, hating the panicked sound of her voice. The branch above her creaked. She looked up, then down to see Theo climbing the other silk, almost abreast with her.

“How much do you weigh?” Kelsey asked shakily. “I know that’s a thick branch, but--”

He reached out a finger and put it to her lips. “This tree is stronger than you can imagine. The silk is strong. I am strong.” He paused to wrap his leg in the silk as he hung beside her. “What about you? Strong enough, Kelsey? Brave enough?”

She resisted the urge to look down, instead keeping her gaze locked on Theo’s darkly animated eyes. “I just need a little time to get used to this, okay? Before you start scaring me again.”

Theo blinked in innocence. “Scaring you? Moi? I don’t know what you speak of.” He reached out to her, pulling her close, both of them swaying thirty feet up, limbs wrapped in diaphanous silk. “You be a good, brave girl, and I’ll let you come back my place after, eh?”

She always imagined him as dark, threatening. But up close he had light, tiny freckles on the bridge of his nose. His arm tightened around her. His lips were so close she could feel their warmth. “You want, Kel-zee?”

He always said her name like it was something sleazy. His closeness was crippling her defenses, overwhelming her pride, her wishes to snub him. She sniffed in a poor--and fake--attempt at disdain. “We’re working together on this act now. We shouldn’t sleep together.” Like you and Minya. She didn’t say the words out loud but she knew he heard them.

He blinked a few times, pursed his lips. “Ah, okay. We must act serious.”

“We’re thirty feet in the air!”

“Come, we fly,” he said, checking her grip and the wrap around her leg. Then he transferred to her silk and before she could think of anything to say that didn’t sound cowardly or idiotic, he made them move. He did it so easily, like a child pumping a swing. They flew back and forth and then in an arc, around and around. It felt slow and yet fast, relaxing and yet terrifying. She stared at the hand above her, the tight, gripping fist. It took her a while to realize his other arm was around her waist, one more attachment point to this flimsy fabric holding her above the earth.

“You like this?” he asked, his voice a low rumble against her ear. Did she like it? It was fun, swinging back and forth. She felt secure, for the moment.

“Sure, I like it, Theo. I just don’t understand why in holy fuck you couldn’t let me get used to all this back at headquarters, where there are soft, cushy mats.”

“Because we build trust,” he said matter-of-factly, disengaging from her and spinning her silk as he swung on his own. “Do you trust me?”

It was such a loaded question, but in her nervousness she spit out a careless answer. “I would trust you more if I had a safety line.”

She saw a flash of anger in his eyes, but then it was gone. “No safety lines in aerial silk,” he said. “Aerial silk is your safety line. You twist in it”--he indicated her locked hand and foot--“and it holds you. Simple.”

She held his fathomless gaze. “I’m sorry, Theo. I didn’t mean anything-- I didn’t mean to say--”

“In aerial silk, I am not responsible for your safety. You understand this?”

Theo’s mouth had gone tight, his manner cold and pedantic. He started to teach her the basics of the craft, showing her the various ways to grip and wrap the silk. Kelsey soaked it all in, feeling chastised. She’d liked him better as the playful acrobat scaling the tree and swinging her around. Now he was a strict teacher, his eyes scrutinizing every movement, every line of her form.

He explained about climbs, wraps, and drops, about flying and balancing, about friction and contortion, about elegance and the pose. They were up and down off the silks. He demonstrated some tricks by himself way up high, fearlessly, and did other things near the ground with his hands on her, pushing and pulling at her body to show how it was done. His fingers traced her muscles, arranging her arms, pressing on her shoulder. He smelled like sweat and cologne, and fresh air. Kelsey started to resent the silk fabric between them, wishing to touch, unimpeded, the startling hardness of his body. The unexpected softness of his skin.

You want?

Oh, God, yes. I want.

“You paying attention?”

His sharp voice brought her fantasies into focus. She met his gaze, caught fixating on the pulse at the base of his neck. “Yes,” she lied. “I’m paying attention.” I want. I want.

His gaze dissected her. He would have to be blind to not perceive how badly she craved him. His rough kiss, his body bearing down on hers. He stared at her, and she could see the animal wildness he usually kept in check, written right in the taut planes of his face. He guided her down off the silks, hurrying her with impatient hands. She leaned away from him as they stood, a self-protective movement.

He drew her back, his fingers spread against her waist, then pushing at her waistband. He plunged one hand down the front of her leggings. She put a hand on his wrist but he didn’t stop, and she didn’t really want him to.

“You said we can’t do this, no? Because we work together?” He mocked her, his fingers slipping through the evidence of her attraction, her need.

“I didn’t say we c--can’t,” she stammered. “I said we shouldn’t.” She drew in a soft breath as he found her clit. He manipulated it expertly, lightly, giving her bursts of pleasure that teased but didn’t satisfy. She panted under his desultory gaze. The silks billowed free behind him. She watched them in a kind of trance as his fingers left her. He stripped off her shirt and bra, peeled down her fitted pants. He wasn’t gentle, or rough...just intent.

Theo lifted one of her hands. ?

??Take it. Hold the silk above your head.” She didn’t understand at first what he wanted. Impatiently, he wrapped her hand, locking one wrist in the white length. He took the other silk and this time Kelsey bound herself, gritting her teeth against chattering even though she was warm. Hot. She was burning up for him.

“Hold on to the silk,” he ordered. Then, in one liquid motion, he went to his knees and lifted her legs over his shoulders.

Oh Jesus fucking God! She almost started to cry. The relief, the gratification. He held her ass in his hands and parted her pussy lips with his thumbs, licking, teasing in persistent strokes. She threw her head back, suspended by the silks. Her arms strained to hold tight while the rest of her body twisted and jerked, seeking to assuage the ache he was building inside her. I want, I want...

“Oh God, Theo,” she gasped. She tried to pull away from the torment of his hot mouth. She wanted more than teasing. She wanted him inside her, possessing her. His lips were driving her crazy. “Fuck me, Theo. Please!”

He shook his head. “I have nothing. No condoms.”