Chapter 35

Evie

Garden District, New Orleans, Louisiana

L ucidity returned to Evie in phases. The smell of smoke and mint surrounding her. The ache where Cole’s body remained inside hers. The pressure of their combined magic chilling her skin.

She had, of course, had sex before with previous partners, but it had been enjoyable at best, perfunctory at worst. Never in her life had she experienced anything like what she and Cole had just shared on his desk. Her throat was sore from screaming, and she had come so hard she was almost positive she lost consciousness. They had just finished and she should be satiated, but she could easily go again with the man currently sprawled across her.

Not to mention, her magic had never responded like that during sex. It had almost been an active participant, flooding the room, intertwining with Cole’s own. Cole had said that their magic complemented each other’s. It had felt that way in little doses each time they had been intimate before this, but, when he was inside her… it was cataclysmic.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Cole started moving, pushing his upper body off hers. His face was relaxed, but his eyes were intense as he stared down at her. He cupped her face in his hands, kissing her gently before asking, “You okay, Angel?”

She nodded, her heart melting at his concerned look. “I’m wonderful, love.” Her voice was raspy, even to her own ears, cracking on her words.

“No regrets?”

“None.”

"I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"Not at all. I'm perfect."

"Yeah, you are." Cole’s face broke into a broad smile, and he nuzzled her hair, which was an uncontrolled halo around her head from their activities. “Why don’t we go get cleaned up then pick up some clothes you actually choose? As much as I would love to keep you naked for the foreseeable future, I want to make sure you’re comfortable first. Plus I’m pretty sure we have some things to take care of now.” He slid out of her, both of them moaning in unison at the movement.

Her eyes had involuntarily slid closed at the feeling when she heard Cole go, “What the fuck,” softly but emphatically. She sat up quickly, concerned, until she noticed what he was staring at.

Before, his study had been utilitarian, the only pop of color the vibrant painting of his dream of her on the wall behind the couch. Now, though, the room was crowded with flowers and greenery growing from everywhere. Wisteria wound down from the ceiling; bushes had bloomed along the walls, dinner plate-sized rose blooms exploding from their branches in a dizzying array of colors. Lilacs weaved along the exposed beams in the ceiling, and ranunculus had burst into life seemingly through his desk. As if all of that weren't enough, the window beside his desk was shattered around the oak tree branch that had extended its limbs into the room and up toward the ceiling.

“This, um. This happen to you a lot?” Cole’s lips were twitching as he glanced around, taking in everything.

“Besides that night in the forest?” Cole was starting to let loose small puffs of air through a growing smirk. “Other than that, this is new to me.” A mild sense of guilt churned her gut at the glass shards sparkling on the floor from the broken window. “I’m sorry about the window, though. Kind of. I enjoyed myself too much to really be sorry, though, so… I’m mostly sorry?”

Cole finally lost the battle with his amusement, bowing his head down as he howled in laughter. “It’s never gonna be boring with you, is it?” he said, picking her up by her thighs and carrying her down the hall—now lined with arching rose vines that definitely weren't there earlier—to the bathroom. “Time to get cleaned up, Angel, so we can go get you some clothes and see what happens next.”

Evie wrapped herself around him, biting his shoulder lightly. He smelled so good there, even though he was slick with a fine layer of sweat, and he tasted even better. A deep sound rumbled from his throat as she nibbled her way along his collarbone. “You’re not gonna distract me.”

“Not trying to distract you,” she murmured, shifting her weight forward so she could keep biting her way along his chest. “Just want to taste you.”

He turned on the shower. “Angel,” he groaned down at the top of her head. “You gotta stop.”

“What?” She glanced up at him through her eyelashes and, unraveling her legs from around his waist, allowed herself to drop to her feet in front of him. Turning slowly, she sauntered towards the walk-in shower. A small smirk crossed her face when she heard Cole’s feet moving swiftly behind her right before he snatched her into his arms.

With her back to his chest, she could feel his growl before she heard it against her ear. “One of these days I’m going to bend your bratty ass over the bed and spank you until you learn a lesson, but right now, I don’t have the patience for it.” He walked them into the shower, letting her slide down the front of his body in an achingly slow movement while they approached the far wall of the walk-in. “Now... bend over and place your forearms against the wall.”

Hinging at the waist, she braced herself against the side of the shower, exposing herself to the predatory man prowling behind her. He dragged a possessive hand down her back, palmed her ass roughly. “If this gets to be too much for you or you want to stop for any reason at all, say the word ‘marshmallow,’ okay?” Her head bobbed up and down in confirmation, but Cole’s hands paused on her behind. “I need to hear you say it, Evie.”

“Yes,” she murmured. “Yes, I’ll say the word ‘marshmallow’ if it gets to be too much.”

“That’s good. Now I know you might be sore, Angel, but remember that you brought this on yourself.” Her whimper filled the room at the same time he brought a heavy strike down on her ass cheek.

She cried out, her back arching at the sudden pain.

“Fuck,” he bit out. “God, you’re so beautiful.” He struck her ass a second time, this time on the other cheek, slowly sliding two fingers of his other hand inside her as he did so.

She rose to her toes, letting out his name on a keening cry. His fingers alone felt incredible inside her, but she needed more, especially as the pain from his spanks slowly morphed into something brutally pleasurable, her clit throbbing with each hit. Tossing her head back, she sobbed out his name, grinding against his hand, tightening around the fingers he was fucking her with.

With each slap of her ass, each pump of his fingers, he kept up a constant stream of filth in a low, distorted voice. “Look at you, so goddamn needy for my dick. You’re such a dirty little witch, so wet and already filled with my cum but needing me to fill you up again.”

Evie was not above begging. “Cole, please for the love of all the gods, please let me come,” she whined, slanting a look at him over her shoulder.

“How can I say no when you ask so nicely,” Cole teased, lining himself up with her entrance and slamming into her in a single thrust. She cried out, the sound mingling with Cole’s shouted, “Fuck, baby!”

Although he had fucked her slowly with his fingers, his pace now that he was inside her was ravenous, his thrusts intense and quick. He had one arm resting on the shower wall above her, the other wrapped around her waist as he drove his hips relentlessly.

She was screaming now, had no idea when her voice had ratcheted in volume that quickly, but the concert of her ecstasy mixed with his feral demands echoed through the bathroom. “Angel, drop your fingers to that sensitive pussy of yours,” he ordered, maintaining his brutal pace. She obeyed him immediately, strumming her clit desperately, already feeling her inner walls clench around him. “You’re gonna come for me, and, when I fill you up, you’re gonna take every fucking drop of me, aren’t you?”

“Oh gods,” she cried, her muscles tensing as she neared her orgasm.

“There’s no other god here, just me. Now beg your god to let you come, baby.”

“Please let me come, sir,” she pleaded, the honorific rolling off her tongue without thought.

His thrusts paused, and she was almost sobbing for relief when he picked back up his pace, an overwhelming growl pouring from his throat. “That’s right, Angel, come all over your sir’s cock. Make a fucking mess of me,” he ordered.

Her muscles seized around him, and the world vanished into stars as she screamed out his name, clamping down around him, her body writhing in pleasure. Behind her, she dimly heard him bellow, and then he was pouring himself into her, fucking her through her first orgasm and tumbling her into a second.

Cole’s head slumped to her shoulder, his uneven breaths coming hot against her shoulder. “Seriously, I think you might actually kill me,” he breathed. “I’m not sure I’m young enough for marathon sex anymore.”

Evie snapped her head around, glaring at him. Although the coven shared all its worldly goods and convened to share powers for larger spells, there was no way in this realm or any other that she would share her Cole. When she spoke, her voice was frosty. “Maybe let’s not talk about your previous sexual conquests while you’re still inside of me.”

Cole’s eyebrows rose, and he chuckled as he slid out of her. “You jealous, witchling?”

“No, not at all,” she lied, slowly standing before turning to face him. “But just in case, give me their names—”

The chuckle bloomed into a full-throated laugh. “Angel, you’re not gonna curse them.”

How was she the only reasonable one here? Cole was hers, and anybody else who had ever experienced him needed to go. “It wouldn’t be a real curse. Just, like, a little tiny one.”

Cole gripped the back of her neck, his thumb stroking along her pounding pulse. “Look at me,” he commanded. Her eyes flew to his at the stern tone that replaced his laughter. “I’m only going to say this once, because it’s laughable that you think that any of the other women in my past could hold a fucking candle to you. Are you listening to me?”

She nodded.

“You’re it for me, Angel. There will never be another fucking woman in my life that makes me feel the way that you do. None of the women I’ve fucked before-” she harumphed but shut her mouth at the dark look he gave her. “None of them matter now, and honestly, I don’t even remember any of them. You want to know why?” He paused, tightening his grip around her neck just slightly, enough to show he meant what he was saying. “Do you want to know why?” She finally inclined her head in a nod. “Because they weren’t you. You’re the only person I want—have ever wanted—in this damn world, even before I knew your name. Even before I knew you were real . I fantasized about you while I was inside them, wished with every minute that it was you begging me to make you come. So don’t bother thinking about any of them because you are all I have ever wanted. The only woman I'm ever thinking about. I only want you.” Green eyes met hers. “So believe me when I say, you have nothing to be jealous of.”

Chewing on her lower lip in thought, she finally conceded the point by stepping back under the water and drawing him with her.