3. Ellie

The next few days passed slowly for me. At ends now that I'd finished my job at Outpour, I had to create things to do that would keep my out of my apartment until late at night when I'd stumble into bed.

I'd spent Sunday hiking up in Snoqualmie, Monday hanging around my mother and visiting with friends, catching up on what I'd missed the past six months at the university. Yesterday, I'd walked until my legs felt like they'd fall off, window-shopping downtown and through Pike's Place market.

I'd visited my mother again, seen a movie, bought and read a book…

Staying busy was hell. I wanted to relax, to use this downtime to recuperate from my nightmarish stint as a bartender. The money had been great, but the hours had started to suck my back into a place I didn't want to go — Dark.

Due to my heritage as a Djinn, I thrived at night. I could tolerate the sun well enough, but my body and soul flourished during after sunset. Yet another black mark against Cadmus. Taking the job at Outpour had thrown my entire chemistry out of whack. I'd spent the last three nights staring at the ceiling, still not used to sleeping in the early a.m.

Those stupid Storm Lords. They should have stayed in Tanselm, in a parallel world humans had no idea existed. Were it not for their unwelcome presence in this place, in my world, I would even now be sleeping peacefully, resting up for my job teaching English 101 at the university. A job currently taken by Jane Rascombe, that miserable suck-up.

As if losing the teaching position to Jane weren't bad enough, my nights had been restless with erotic memories and fantasies of the Earth Lord who'd broken my heart.

I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep — all because of him. Sighing at the expectation of another long, uneventful day, I stared at the ancient ceiling light, aware that one bulb needed replacing. Right on that thought trailed the question of what I'd do today to avoid Cadmus.

My door crashed open, and I gasped, my heart racing.

"That's it." Cadmus, wearing a pair of low-slung denims and nothing else, stalked into my room and stopped at the foot of my bed. His eyes were a dark brown, mirroring his irritation. On Cadmus, annoyance looked way too tempting. He breathed in deeply and drew my gaze to his sculpted chest.

I swallowed audibly, blinking up at him. Had any man ever looked so fine? He could have posed for any fitness magazine, or better yet, for designer underwear, showcasing those tight, smooth abs and rock-hard thighs.

A sucker for a muscular body, I was having a hard time hanging onto my anger as I stared at him.

"It's been three days. I'm so bored I'm going out of my mind." He held up a hand to stop my reply. "Not your problem, I know. But until I'm back at home, I'm making it your problem." Breathing hard, Cadmus let his gaze trail down my face to linger on the hollow of my throat, where my pulse wouldn't stop racing.

"I'm open to suggestions," he murmured, drawing nearer. "Maybe we could work off some of my energy together."

I scrambled to a sitting position, not wanting to be prone with Cadmus anywhere close by. "Hold it! I agreed to let you stay here, but that's all I'm agreeing to. What did you do that they kicked you out of Foreia, anyway?"

He flushed, and I waited, more than curious.

"I got a little rough with Jonas' brothers."

I frowned. "Jonas doesn't have any brothers."

"Well, that's what he called those giants he pals around with in Foreia."

"Oh, the other warriors." Jonas had no siblings, but he did have several cousins. I was his favorite, and the feeling was mutual. But from what he'd told my about his fellow Djinn warriors, the bond between them was unbreakable. The rebel Djinn acted like family, and I could only imagine what Cadmus had done to interrupt that.

"Was it a woman?" I asked wryly, having no problem believing that.

He scowled. "No. I'm not into Dark — ah…" he stumbled, picking up right where we'd left off.

"Go on." I crossed my arms over my chest. "You're not into Dark, evil Djinn. Or, you know, women like me."

He ran a hand through his hair, the action showcasing the corded muscles of his biceps. "That's not what I was going to say. The few women I met in Foreia were Djinn warriors. The only thing those women were selling was anger, and all directed my way."

"Poor Cadmus." I chuckled, pleased when his eyes narrowed. "So much Earth Lord and no one to share him with. You should have just stayed in Seattle where you could have screwed as many human women as possible. I think Beth's still pining for you at the club. Maybe you should look her up."

I know I sounded petty, but I couldn't help it. I normally liked myself. Cadmus made me doubt my worth, which annoyed me.

He said nothing, staring at me with a quiet intensity I found more than unnerving.

"What?" I snapped, keenly aware of my thin nightshirt.

He shrugged. "You seem awfully interested in my sex life for a woman who's gone out of her way to avoid me. Could it be you're afraid of what's between us?"

I pushed off the bed and clenched my hands into fists, barely refraining from socking him in the mouth. I didn't stop moving until I stood within punching distance.

"Afraid? If anything, I'm afraid I'll forget why I got involved in the first place and throw you out on your fat, conceited head. I'm avoiding you because I can't stand being cooped up with a man who's made no bones about his distaste for ‘my kind.' I still have trouble believing you may one day be king."

I paused and poked him hard in the chest, glad for the anger that darkened his face. "After all the Djinn have done for you, if you do become overking, you'd better not forget us." I forgot for the moment that I had no interest in Djinn affairs. "Jonas and my father put their lives on the line for you, as have the others. So try to have a bit of princely decorum when you get back. Recognize their efforts at least, even if they are just, and I quote, ‘unclean, Dark deviants.'"

He stared at me in silence, and I wondered if I'd gone too far.

After a moment, he replied, his voice husky with apology. "I said those things to you in anger, and for that I apologize. I certainly never meant that you were any of that. The Djinn I've met since being stuck with Jonas are different from what I'm used to. I can't — I won't — in good conscience ever call you evil or unclean." He cleared his throat. "When you first confessed what you were —"

"Who I was helping," I corrected.

"— okay, who you were helping, I felt betrayed. I trusted you, Ellie. I told you things I'd never told anyone else, only to find I'd given vital information on the Storm Lords to the enemy. To a woman I thought was the enemy," he amended before I could protest my allegiance once more.

I guessed he did have a right to distrust me. I'd done a favor for my father by befriending Cadmus. And in my dad's defense, what would be best for Foreia and the Storm Lords in the long run. But Cadmus only knew he'd confided in Ellie Markham, a human woman who smiled and talked with him.

"It was a bit more than smiling and talking." Cadmus reached up to caress my cheek, reading the stray thought. "I'm sure your father never asked you to go so far distracting me."

His finger grazed my lip, and I did my best not to tremble. "Ethim il Ruethe would no more allow his daughter to touch a Light Bringer than make love to one. Cadmus, stop touching me."

"No. Don't forget what we once shared. I don't."

Before I could protest, he planted a gentle kiss on my lips and pulled back to study me.

I felt it all. Tenderness, care, and inhumanly hot, dark possession.

This time when he lowered himself for a second kiss, I met him more than halfway. I could barely think as he buried me in feeling. He clenched my shoulders, pulling me closer. My breasts pushed against him, my nipples prodding through cotton to feel the hard wall of muscle under sprigs of dark, silky chest hair.

He pulled away from the kiss to stare at me. "By the Light, Ellie. I can't stop thinking about this. About you," he admitted and kissed the curve of my cheek.

His hands slid down my shoulders, caressing and stroking before moving toward my breasts. I wanted to stop him, but he found my nipples and toyed with them until I couldn't think.

His erection strained against his jeans. With every touch of his lips and tongue, he thrust against me, his urgency increasing. I gripped his thick hair to hold him close. Slanting my mouth under his, I slowly took control of the kiss, causing him to groan my name.

"Ellie. Baby, more." He gasped when my mouth left his to trail down his throat.

Unfortunately, his words and the way he'd said them sparked a memory.

"More," he said before pulling me on top of him. I slowly eased down, encasing his hot cock inside me. Riding him as he teased my breasts, I stared into dark brown eyes filled with heat, with power, and with affection I returned far more than was good for me.

Another image. His eyes clouded then darkened with rage when he learned my father's identity and my real reason for being at Outpour. He refused to listen to me after that, refused to hear the painful truth I was a heartbeat from declaring. Instead he shouted at me and shocked me with words that turned my world upside down.

"No," I rasped and pushed away from him. What was I doing letting Cadmus Storm back into my good graces?

"Ellie," he cajoled. "We're just getting started."

Oh no, not that slumberous look that made me melt into a puddle at his feet. I deliberately focused on the pulse beating at his neck.

"I'm not doing this again. Not with you." I refuse to let you hurt me like you did before. I kept mythoughts to myself, deliberately shielding myself from him.

"Ellie, I hate to break it to you." His soft voice lured my into looking back at him. "But you can no more deny this than I can."

"You're wrong." I took a deep breath, aware the movement created a delicious friction against my taut nipples.

"Am I? You want me." He flashed a dimple that made him even more enticing. "I remember how much you like my touch." He studied me, fixating between my thighs. "You get so wet for me. Remember how I licked you all over, then made my way back up your body to suck your nipples into hard little points? How I brought you to orgasm over and over again with just my mouth and hands?"

I wished I could forget. As it was, I ached to revisit the past.

His eyes wandered to my navel. "Still wearing it?"

He'd been fascinated by my belly ring and apparently still was. I had no intention of telling or showing him I never took it off.

"Look, Cadmus," I said, trying to catch my breath. My hands itched. I could still feel him beneath my palms. "It's way too early for this."

"I'm not moving until you're under me, or we go out and do something."

I was way too close to saying yes to the first option. I cleared my throat. "Fine. I guess we can go out and ease your princely boredom." Anything to get him out of here before I jump him and lose all self-respect. "But I won't make lo— I won't fuck you again."

His good humor left him, and he stepped closer. "Oh honey, we'll make love again." Shocks of elemental power yanked me into his waiting arms. "Don't worry, my little Djinn." I hated his strength, his presumption that he could have me again. That he made me want him. "I won't force you. The next time we fuck, you'll be begging me for it."

He kissed me hard then let me go and turned on his heel, slamming the door shut behind him.

I fingered my throbbing lips, staring at the closed door with alarm. I wanted him more now than I ever had, and I'd just agreed to spend time with him. Not good.

Since I couldn't stay away from him physically, I'd have to emotionally distance myself. If I could think with my head instead of my hormones. I groaned and slumped back onto my bed.

I had no job, no means of avoiding Cadmus, and no discipline when it came to my traitorous, unruly body.

The way things were shaping up, I'd be begging him to take me by the end of the day.

And both loving and hating myself for it every minute.