The Rise of Fortune and Fury (Chronicles of the Stone Veil 5)

His smile back isn’t playful. Instead, it borders on lecherous as he moves back up to his elbow to loom over me. “Want to see what else I’ve learned in five thousand years?” His voice is a deep rumble that I feel throughout my entire body, but most concentrated between my legs.

“I thought I’ve already seen all you had to teach me,” I tease, scooting in closer.

Carrick’s eyes start to glow as he runs his gaze down my body, sucking his lower lip in between his teeth. “One thing I’ve learned is foreplay really shouldn’t be marred by the painstaking and often awkward task of clothing removal.”

I don’t immediately comprehend what he’s saying until, with a wave of his hand, I’m suddenly as naked as he is. I can’t help but laugh in delight. “What else did you learn?”

Carrick rolls partially over me, pressing his palm down into the mattress at my ribs and caging me in. His head hangs low, lips just out of reach of mine. “I’ve learned that magic can be used in foreplay.”

And without him touching me in any way, it feels as if a thousand tongues and fingers are between my legs.

I groan, my back arching and my legs spreading as I’m probed, prodded, licked, and sucked while Carrick remains perfectly still and watches me closely for a reaction.

I manage to pry my eyes open, staring at him helplessly as pleasure takes my body hostage. Magical touches are felt on my breasts, my clit, between my ass cheeks, and inside of me. Within just moments, I’m wracked with an orgasm that shreds me to pieces.

“Fuck, that’s beautiful,” Carrick growls.

I’m delirious, only half aware Carrick is pushing my legs apart and driving himself into me. My legs automatically wrap around his hips, my arms around his neck, and I hang on as he fucks me as if his life depends on it.

I feel like my life depends on it, too.

Our lovemaking is turbulent as I dangle from the slim ledge of a precipice, afraid to fall without him. But then Carrick drives deep, gathers me tightly in his arms, and buries his face in my neck as he unleashes inside me.

So… I let go.

I fall into bliss with him, cherishing this moment in my heart because I don’t know what tomorrow will bring.

CHAPTER 10

Finley

I watch Zora reach for another croissant, which has become her favorite breakfast food, meaning Zaid has made sure there are plenty every morning. He set us up to eat out on the patio even though it’s a little chilly, but once he fires up the outdoor heaters, it ends up being simply perfect.

My elbows on the table, both hands around my coffee cup as it hovers in front of my face, I watch Zora slather butter and jelly on the flaky pastry and then take a large bite. I have no clue if someone taught her table etiquette in the Underworld, but I think the way she attacks food has less to do with manners and more to do with taste and abundance.

I look down at my bowl of fruit and oatmeal, and then longingly at the croissants in the center of the table.

Fuck it.

You only live once, right?

Well, actually, I’ve lived many more than that, but I am currently in this life. Putting my coffee down, I glance at my watch before reaching for a croissant. Before long, we’ll be heading over to One Bean. The interior re-build is done, so there’s nothing left to do but move in equipment, furniture, and decor. Rainey wants to show off her progress today.

It will be Zora’s first foray out of the condo and into the city.

The last three days, everyone has given us space to hang out as we continue to learn about each other. As evidenced by Carrick taking his breakfast in the kitchen with Maddox, Titus, and Zaid while we sit out here looking over the Sound on another uncharacteristically sunny day.

While Maddox is living at the condo permanently now, Titus is not. He explained he has a hotel where he stays in the evenings, but he spends his days at the condo since we continually discuss options, plans, and contingencies. He and I have started working out together in the gym each day… just like old times.

I’ve learned a lot about my sister the last few days, but it’s mainly surface stuff. Most of it revolves around the differences between the Earth realm and the Underworld as she makes continual and delightful discoveries.

For example, the first time she tasted a strawberry, I thought she might faint from pure pleasure. I learned there was no such thing as fruit in the Underworld. There was merely protein derived from animals that were cultivated there—and I shudder at the memory of some I had seen during my dream trip—grain from low-yielding crops grown with artificial sunlight through magic and a handful of vegetable varieties grown the same way.