Chapter 38

Evie

Garden District, New Orleans, Louisiana

T his dream was more salacious than any she had ever had before. After Cole took her in ways she wasn’t aware existed before last night, she had fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep. But now… now, she was dreaming Cole was between her legs, licking her as if he were starving for her taste. Gods, she didn’t know a dream could make her come, but she was already so close to the edge. She moaned, the noise sounding unexpectedly real to her ears, and her eyebrows creased in confusion. Suddenly, other small details started to come into focus too. She was a little sore. Her left ankle tickled. Her legs were elevated on muscular shoulders. Magic prickled along her flesh, skimmed across her throbbing nipples. Her eyes fluttered open. Yeah. She was definitely awake.

The most important detail of them all was Cole lying in between her legs, alternatively sucking and licking ravenously at her clit while his fingers surged in and out of her, crooked just enough to hit her g-spot. His eyes glinted up at her mischievously as she writhed under his tongue and fingers.

“Cole,” she moaned, dropping her hands to his hair. “Cole, please.”

He shook his head, resting his chin on her pelvis and staring at her. “You’re to call me ‘sir’ if you want me to let you come, Angel. You think you can manage that?”

Evie raised herself to her elbows. At one point, she had read a book on sexual dynamics, and it felt like this fell into one of those categories. Tilting her head, she gazed down at Cole, whose own facial expression was stern. Intense. Passionate. His eyes were swirling with the colors of his magic, but they bore a feral look of possession that she knew was just for her.

“Can you manage that?” he repeated.

In response, she lowered herself back to the bed and said, “Yes, sir.”

The groan that Cole let out was sudden and sharp but not nearly as abrupt as his next movement. He surged up the bed to the pillows, laying on his back, and stared at her. “Come sit on my face.”

“What?”

“Crawl up here and sit on my face, Angel.” He gestured to where he wanted her. She hesitantly followed his orders, hovering over his head uncertainly. “Now, put your hands on the headboard and ride my face while I tongue fuck your sweet little cunt.”

Evie moaned at his filthy words, settling her hands on the headboard before gingerly settling her weight down.

Cole slapped her ass and snarled into her core, “I said sit on my face, belle . So sit on my fucking face.” With her center of gravity off balance from his spank, her full weight dropped, her pussy coming to rest right over his mouth. Before she could move, his hands wrapped around her thighs, holding her to his mouth. “God, I love the way you taste,” emerged from between her legs right before he wrapped his lips around her clit and sucked.

“Sir! Fuck, sir,” she cried out. Suddenly, she was rocking her hips over his face, all decorum and concerns gone. He devoured her like he would die if he couldn’t taste her; it was absolutely destroying her. Her back arched as she moaned above him.

“Please don’t stop,” she begged, barely conscious of what she was asking as he laved her clit with his tongue, lightly teasing it with quick flicks before sucking it back into his mouth. The orgasm he had stirred up while she was sleeping sat just out of reach. “Sir, please!”

One of his hands moved from her thigh, dropping out of sight. Twisting her head, she saw his hand wrapped around his dick, pre-cum welling at the tip as his muscles flexed while he stroked himself. The sight of him so overwhelmed by her that he had to fuck himself was more than she could bear, and her rhythm faltered against his talented tongue. His mouth curled into a smile that she could feel just before his free hand spread her wide with his fingers, curling two of them deep inside her and pumping intensely, rubbing along her sensitive inner wall. “Sir,” she gasped. With one final stroke of his finger, one last firm lick of her clit, her body seized, magic pouring from her as she toppled into an intense and overwhelming orgasm, fueled by the sound of Cole’s shout against her as he came.

Evie was still floating when Cole lifted her off his face to rest beside him in bed while he carelessly wiped his cum off his chest with his shirt, discarded on the floor next to the bed after one of their many act breaks the night before. After chucking it in the general direction of the bathroom and missing wildly if the sound of clothing hitting carpet was any indication, he pulled her into his body, nuzzling into her hair, kissing her forehead. “Morning, Angel.” Neither of them paid much attention to the weeping willow that had bloomed in the far side of the bedroom, thanks to her seemingly limitless ability to magically cause spontaneous plant growth whenever Cole made her come.

She shivered at the feel of his fingers running down her side. “Definitely a good wake up.” Her voice was hoarse, a fact that her far-too-astute lover more than caught on to. Under her cheek, a quiet laugh rumbled.

“I would say. I’m pretty sure we woke up about half of our neighbors. The other ones only slept through it ’cause they’re dead.” His lips settled against her forehead once more. “You’ve got a helluva set of lungs on you, Angel. It’s sexy as fuck.”

Propping her chin on his chest, she looked into his oh-so-familiar eyes. “Why do you call me Angel?” she asked. “Don’t get me wrong: I love it. I just don’t understand why that pet name.”

Cole sighed and paused long enough that she wasn’t sure she was going to get an answer. “When I first started seeing you in dreams, I thought you were my guardian angel.” At her quizzical look, he clarified. “I was a kid and dumb, but you were this absolutely radiant, pretty girl who talked to me, no matter how stupid and angry I was. I figured the only way you would want to talk to me is if you were, I dunno, assigned to protect me.” Her throat clenched at the idea of Cole as a small boy, alone and scared, just looking forward to spending time with someone who was happy to see him. “As we got older, you just got more beautiful, and you became the ideal that every other woman had to live up to. You had to be an angel because it was impossible for someone to be that fucking stunning. When I saw you that night at the construction site, god, it was like I’d gotten struck by lightning. And when we confirmed that you were actually Evangeline Dyeus, this pet name I’ve had for you in my head most of my life became a nickname because—”

“Angel is in my birth name,” she interrupted.

“So you’re my Angel because you’re too beautiful to be of this earth—which, as it so happens, is actually true since we'll be ruling the Underworld soon—and because it’s your name.” He heaved a breath. “And speaking of ruling the Underworld, we have to get out of bed.”

“Why?” Evie hated the whine in her voice, but she was lazy, satisfied, and almost positive that if they got out of bed now, their day could only go downhill from this perfect morning.

“Well, for starters, I need a new phone. If I have to hear that landline one more time, I swear to god, I will not be held responsible for my actions. Then we gotta get you some clothes that you choose rather than my forty-five-year-old assistant. She may have great taste, but it’s not yours. You need to have clothes that make you happy. Plus, we have things to do in the outside world, and—” A murderous look took over his face unexpectedly, and his eyes flashed that intense blue. “I will put anybody who sees you half-dressed in the fucking ground.”

Smothering a smile, knowing that she would be the exact same way if any person were to so much as dare to try and catch a glimpse of Cole like this, much less actually try to touch him, Evie rubbed his cheek reassuringly. “Purely hypothetical. Nobody is ever going to get to see me like this but you. I’m yours, love. Just yours.”

His gaze softened, the fury draining from his face as quickly as it appeared. “So after we go shopping for new clothes for you and a new phone for me—” Her eyes dropped to the melted brick on the floor, her snicker at the memory of him burning it slipping past her clenched lips. “Then we need to go check in at my office because, apparently, a massive earthquake yesterday tore up the building real bad.”

Evie gasped. “Because of us?”

Cole stayed silent, but she could see the truth of it in the tenseness of his jaw and the depths of his emerald eyes.

“Cole.” Her voice was stern. “Don’t try and hide things from me.”

“I would never. Even if I wanted to, I doubt I could get away with it. You have a way of seeing through my bullshit that no one else does.” His mouth kicked up in a gentle smile before he pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “But, in answer to your question, yeah, I think it was because of us. The earthquake happened right around the first time we had sex, and it was bigger than anything New Orleans has ever seen before. Makes sense that we would be the cause.”

Her lips parted, a puff of air sliding through them. The witches’ creed demanded that a witch harm no other living being, but something she had done—technically, they had done—had probably hurt people.

“Hey, hey,” Cole said, no doubt seeing the panic in her eyes. “This is something that was going to happen, no matter what, now that we’ve found each other. And the alternative to us opening the Underworld is far worse. The shades will destroy this world if they stay here longer, and humans… well, humanity doesn’t need any help from the shades to be awful.”

“I know.” She nodded sadly. “I mean, yeah, I know all of that. And I know that this was my choice, and there’s no way we could do this without any violence. I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon.”

Cole tucked a stray curl behind her ear, his hand cupping her cheek. “I get it. You don’t have to bear this burden alone, though, ma petite sorcière. I’m here with you to share in the weight of anything and everything we do.”

Evie’s heart clenched at the man in front of her promising her that she would never be alone or unsupported. They were a team of two. Pushing herself upwards by pressing her palms to his chest, she stretched herself over his body and kissed him hard, passionately enough that they were both breathless when they pulled apart.

“Fucking hell, though, Angel, you do make a compelling case for staying in bed.” Disheveled and aroused Cole was dangerous to her.

“What?” she drawled the word at him sarcastically. “I thought we had ‘errands’ to run.” Her fingers made scare quotes around errands.

“You’re bratty but right.” Cole clicked his tongue and grimaced. “I also need to take you to meet my Uncle Charlie. Would you be okay doing that today or tomorrow?”

Her eyes widened. How had she not realized that she would be meeting his family? “Umm, sure?” It sounded like a question even to her ears.

“You sure?” Cole asked, one eyebrow raised. “We don’t have to yet if you’re not ready. I can put him off for however long you need.”

“No, not at all.” She hurried to explain. “I didn’t think about meeting your family. What if they don’t like me?”

Cole smiled widely. “Oh please, they’re going to love you. In fact, I would be surprised if Charlie didn’t prefer you.” She snorted indelicately at the absurdity of that. “But, and this is never going to happen, if they don’t like you, then fuck them. I lo—” His eyes went wide, and his mouth slammed shut. When he spoke again, his voice was hesitant. “I like you, and that’s all that matters.”

Evie’s heart raced in her chest. He had been about to tell her he loved her, and she hated that he had corrected himself. Because she already knew how she felt about him.

“Alright.” Cole groaned, sliding out from under her. An undignified squeal left her mouth when he scooped her into his arms, holding her tightly as he walked them into the closet. “Time to get out of here, mon ange .” He set her down on the chaise lounge and turned to pick out his own clothing while she picked through her options from the bags on the floor, wondering if it was normal to be terrified to meet a lover’s family.