“I want to be making love to you when I come,” he told her. He drew her to her feet and kissed her, hard and deep.
For a moment, Kiera forgot that she was in charge and lost herself in Hunter’s breathtaking kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body tight to his, putting just enough space between her thighs to fit his erection. But she’d been having too much fun teasing and pleasuring him, so when her head cleared from that first waft of fog, she once more pulled away.
“Kiera,” he said in warning tones, his predatory nature fully revealed in his posture and expression.
She grinned, entirely unintimidated. “Behave yourself, Hunter Teague. Remember, tonight I’m running the show.” She ran a finger along his shaft once more, watched the flame dance in his eyes. “I promise not to disappoint.”
He took a shuddering breath. “I’m cooperating to the best of my ability, but if you don’t hurry this along I’m going to ravage you against the wall.”
Deciding that he was indeed near the point of losing all control, Kiera relented and started toward his bedroom, shedding clothes as she went, Hunter hot on her heels. By the time she passed through the bedroom door, she was naked, her clothes strewn in a line behind her.
When they neared his bed, Hunter reached for her, then caught himself just as she was about to give him another gentle reminder. He lowered his hands back to his sides.
“Lie down,” she commanded, jerking her chin toward the bed. He raised a single eyebrow, but hesitated only briefly before he obeyed. He lay on his side, propped on his elbow, and watched as she opened the drawer in his nightstand. She stuck out her lower lip as she picked up the single box of condoms that remained. “Looks like we’ve decimated your supply,” she said as she opened the box and shook out the final two foil-wrapped packages. “We’ll have to make these count.”
“Believe me, I plan to get my money’s worth out of them. Now get over here!”
She laughed and opened one of the packets, putting the condom on the pillow where it would be in easy reach when needed. Then she climbed onto the bed and pushed on Hunter’s shoulder until he lay flat on his back. She straddled him, covering his chest with kisses once more. When his groans grew desperate, she lifted her head to meet his eyes and decided she had tortured him enough. She put the condom on him, the touch of her hands making his back arch with pleasure.
Kiera slowly, deliciously lowered herself onto him. Waves of heat radiated from their joined bodies, leaving her breathless. Hunter reached for her breasts, and she was too suffused with pleasure to argue with him. She leaned into his hands, rocking her hips gently, wanting to draw out the pleasure as long as possible.
Hunter tolerated her deliberate pace for a few delicious minutes; then, Kiera gave a startled gasp as he pitched below her. Before she knew quite what was happening, she found herself on her back, Hunter thrusting hard and deep on top of her. She wrapped arms and legs around him drawing his head down to hers so their tongues could dance.
The bed creaked and groaned in protest as the power of Hunter’s thrusts shoved them both up to the headboard. A groan escaped Kiera with each breath and she dug her fingernails into his shoulders, her hips rising to meet his. She had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming when the climax seized her. Hunter followed close behind, letting out a roar that was probably heard throughout the ninth floor.
Kiera closed her eyes and tried to slow her gasping breaths, her body limp and sated. Arms and legs slid away from Hunter’s body and she lay still as she listened to the pounding of the blood in her ears. She wanted nothing more than to lie like this forever, Hunter’s body hot and heavy above her. But he needed to withdraw and get rid of the condom. She opened her eyes to remind him of the necessity.
Words died in her throat when she saw his face. No hint of color remained in his cheeks, and misery filled his eyes. Her heart clutched to see his distress and she reached up to touch his cheek gently.
“What’s the matter, Hunter?” she asked.
He closed his eyes, but that did nothing to hide the misery etched into the lines of his face. He sat up and withdrew from her.
“Hunter?” she prompted. But then she saw the reason for the change in him and she felt as though her heart had stopped.
The condom had ruptured.
Seconds dragged by as Kiera tried to absorb what had just happened to her, as she realized what she had first taken for misery on his face was actually guilt. Her heart slammed painfully against her chest, and though she knew tears would come later, the fury was so great that for the moment her eyes remained dry.
“You bastard!” she shouted. “You heartless, soulless bastard!” She jerked herself away from him, disentangling her legs with some difficulty. A sob rose from her chest and her eyes burned, though the tears remained lodged within her. She lurched off the bed. “How could I have been so stupid?”
Hunter grabbed her arms. She tried to jab backward with her elbows, but she couldn’t get enough momentum to do more than annoy him.
“Kiera, wait,” he said, his voice maddeningly calm.
“Let go of me!” She tried to tear her arms from his grip, but he was far too strong. What kind of idiot let herself fall into bed with a man who’d admitted lying to her, trying to seduce her under false pretenses? And what kind of deluded wishful thinking had led her to think he would suffer the tortures of the Unseelie Court to spare her?
She felt sick to her stomach, and his fingers dug harshly into her flesh. “You’re hurting me!” she cried, but his grip didn’t slacken.
“I’m sorry. But I need you to hear this even though I know you won’t believe me. Kiera, I didn’t do it on purpose. I swear to you.”
But his words fell on deaf ears. She remembered how he’d interrupted the blow job he’d obviously been enjoying. And she remembered how he’d been unwilling to lie still beneath her. She’d thought he was enjoying giving up control, but he had seized it back whenever she’d jeopardized his mission.
“I’ve heard it,” she snarled. “Now let me go!”
Hunter released her arms. She stumbled forward, and it was only by the greatest willpower that she refrained from running naked out into the hall to escape him. She snatched up her clothes, buttoning her shirt unevenly, sticking her bra and panties into a pocket. Shoving her feet into her shoes, she rushed toward the front door as if pursued.
She was dimly aware that Hunter had followed her out to the living room, but she didn’t look back as she yanked the door open.
“I love you.”
Hunter’s voice followed her, but the words didn’t even slow her down as she slammed the door behind her and ran down the stairs with tears now pouring freely down her cheeks.
Chapter 14
Hunter removed the remains of the ruined condom, flinging it violently away from him as his knees gave out. He landed heavily on his butt, sitting naked and stunned in the middle of his living room.
He remembered Bane handling the bag of condoms, remembered the goblin suggesting he use ones that had been spelled to break when Kiera was fertile. Bane had brought him the spelled condoms the next day, but Hunter had thrown them away, just to be sure he didn’t accidentally use one. He might have thought that tonight’s condom really did break because he’d been too vigorous, but every instinct told him that wasn’t the case.
No, Bane had somehow tampered with the ones he’d taken from Hunter. That was why the damned goblin had played keep-away with them, why he’d acted like he didn’t think Hunter needed them. It had all been a ruse. Had Bane tampered with the condoms just as extra insurance, or had he already guessed that Hunter was growing attached?
Damn Bane, damn the Queen, and damn him right along with them! He should have told Kiera the story he and her mother had devised the moment he first saw her tonight. If he’d done that, he’d be dead by now, but Kiera would be safe, or at least as safe as he could make her. But he hadn’t been able to bear the thought of going to his death
without making love to her one more time, and now they were both paying the price.
The condoms had been spelled to break if Kiera was fertile. Which meant she very likely was now pregnant. But she wouldn’t let him near her to try to protect her and the baby. Not to mention that he probably didn’t have the means to protect either of them effectively. It wasn’t as though he’d been capable of protecting even himself.
Was it hopeless? Was there no way he could save Kiera and their child from the evil of the Unseelie Court?
Despair weighed heavily on his shoulders, and he hadn’t the strength to rise from the floor. He’d never felt so helpless before, not even as a seven-year-old child watching his father’s execution. At least then, he’d been secure in the knowledge that there was nothing he could do. Now his soul screamed that there had to be something he could do.
But Hunter was powerless to undo the damage he had already done . . . as long as the Queen lived. It was through her flesh and blood that the child would be tied to the Unseelie Court. If she were to die, then she’d come back to life in a new body—a body to which Hunter would no longer be related by blood.
It was a crazy thought. Hunter was a good fighter, but the Queen was an enemy beyond him. She was guarded by goblins at all times, and Hunter doubted she could be killed by anything but iron. His chances of getting near her with an iron weapon were slim, to say the least, but he had to at least try.
He was dooming himself to a slow and painful death whether he succeeded or failed. The idea had lost its power to terrify him. He’d already accepted the necessity of his death. He would gladly accept the pain as well, as long as it gave Kiera and their child a chance.
If he failed, though . . . If he failed, he had to give Kiera the best possible chance to save herself and their child. If Finvarra knew his daughter was pregnant by the son of the Queen of Air and Darkness, then whether he cared about his offspring or not, he would move heaven and earth to keep the child out of the Queen’s clutches. Life as a pawn in Finvarra’s court wasn’t what Hunter would wish for his child, but it was far better than growing up in the Unseelie Court.
Somehow, Hunter had to convince Kiera to go to her father for help if he failed. She was far too wounded and angry to let him in her apartment or answer her phone or even read a letter that he passed her. He needed a messenger. He briefly considered calling Cathy, but her maternal fury was more than he was willing to face. She and Conan might hunt him down and kill him before he escaped to Faerie, for they were no more likely to believe his innocence than Kiera.
Then he remembered the flighty Jackson James, who had started all the present madness with his hopelessly romantic matchmaking. His heart aching, but his resolve firm, Hunter dragged himself up from the floor.
****
Kiera’s eyes were swollen from crying. She bent over her bathroom sink and splashed a handful of water on her face. The water’s cold bite helped drag her from the heartsick stupor she’d been in ever since she’d left Hunter’s apartment.
Hunter’s betrayal hurt in every pore. How could she have allowed herself to trust him after she knew the truth about him? What an utter fool she had been! She probably deserved the pain she was in, just for being so stupid.
Into that fog of pain intruded a memory—Hunter’s soft, despairing voice whispering I love you as she fled.
She didn’t believe it, of course. He wouldn’t have betrayed her like that if he loved her. And it was impossible to believe that the breaking of the condom had been an accident, not under the circumstances. Still, there was some small, desperate part of her that wanted to believe it had been, wanted to believe that under his Unseelie facade lay a good man with a good heart.
The doorbell rang. Kiera stepped out of the bathroom and stared at her front door. It had to be Hunter, coming to try to explain his way out of everything now that she’d had some time to calm down. She wasn’t about to give him the opportunity.
The doorbell rang again, and was shortly followed by Jackson’s voice. “Kiera, I know you’re in there,” he said. “Let me in.”
She shook her head in confusion, frowning at her watch. It was almost midnight. What the hell was Jackson doing here at this hour? In theory, she could use a shoulder to cry on, but she wasn’t sure she could stand to see her oldest friend just now. It was because of him that she’d fallen into Hunter’s bed in the first place.
Kiera shook that unworthy thought out of her mind. It was no one’s fault but her own that she’d ignored all logic and let Hunter in past her emotional guards.
She still didn’t much want to see Jackson until the wound in her heart was a little less raw, but she knew better than to think he’d go away if she ignored him. She swung the door cautiously open just as Jackson was reaching for the doorbell again. He let his hand drop back to his side when he saw her.
“What are you doing here, Jackson?” she asked in a tear-ravaged voice.
“May I come in?”
She would have said no, would have told him now wasn’t a good time, if she weren’t so sure he knew that already. How he knew, she couldn’t say. Her shoulders slumping in defeat, she stepped out of the doorway to let him in. He stepped inside, then pushed the door closed and suddenly enveloped her in a hug.
Tears stinging once again in her eyes, she clung to him, absurdly grateful for his warm and comforting presence. For a long moment she remained in his embrace, trying not to think at all. Then he gently released her and guided her toward her bedroom. She was too numb and dispirited to ask him again what he was doing here.
Once in her bedroom, Jackson bade her sit on her bed, and she obeyed without thought, leaning her back against the wall and clutching a pillow tightly to her chest. Jackson disappeared into her closet and returned carrying a small suitcase, which he opened and laid on the bed beside her.
Everything still felt strangely unreal, but Kiera found her voice. “What are you doing?”
“I’m helping you pack a bag. You need to spend some time at your mother’s.”
She shook her head, the break from reality now worse. “What are you talking about? And what are you doing here?”
He pushed the suitcase aside and sat on the bed beside her, his eyes full of concern. “Hunter called me.” She winced at the sound of that name. “He told me what happened and asked me to get you to your mother’s house ASAP.”
She rubbed her face, amazed that after what had happened Hunter would have the gall to try this. “Absolutely not!” she declared. “Hunter does not get to order me around, not after what he did.”
“Well, here’s the thing, Kiera: he says you’re pregnant.”
The word was like a lightning bolt. Her hands clenched into sweaty fists and her heart leapt into her throat as she fixed Jackson with a disbelieving stare. “What?”
He looked sheepish and distinctly uncomfortable. “I’m not sure how much of this I’m buying, if any, but I’m trying to keep an open mind, since I’ve told you to do that any number of times. Hunter says there was a spell on the condom, and it broke because you were fertile.” His cheeks turned slightly pink, and Kiera thought that at any other time she would have teased him for his embarrassment. “He says you have to get to your mother’s house and put yourself under her protection before anyone but him knows, or you’re likely to be abducted by goblins.”
She groaned and closed her eyes. God, it was even worse than she’d thought. And after his pathetic attempts to persuade her of his innocence, here he was coming right out and admitting his guilt by telling her about the spell on the condom. The bastard! She tried to summon some righteous anger, for maybe anger would give her the strength she needed to face this horrible night. But the anger wouldn’t come, the despair so strong no other emotion could take root.
“Let’s pack you an overnight bag,” Jackson said, standing up once more. “Whatever’s really going on, you’re obviously in pain, and I think you’re best off going to your mother’s house.”
She w
ould have argued, but somehow it seemed like that would take too much energy. Besides, she seriously doubted she had the strength of will to win an argument with Jackson in her present state of mind. Since packing a bag and going to her mom’s seemed like the path of least resistance, she mutely rose from the bed and started grabbing clothes at random from her dresser drawers.
****
Kiera hadn’t said a word during the brief cab ride from her apartment to her mother’s house. Jackson hadn’t complained. He merely sat there and held her hand tightly, offering his silent support, for which she was so grateful she couldn’t express it in words. He could have just dropped her off and then taken the taxi back to his own apartment, but he paid the driver and accompanied her to her mother’s door, still holding her hand.
“I can take it from here, Jackson,” she tried, surprised to find she still had a voice.
“I’m not leaving until I’ve seen you safely delivered into your mother’s hands,” he said, reaching out to ring the doorbell.
It took a while for her mother to come to the door. The house had been completely dark when the cab had pulled up, which meant her mother had been asleep already. Maybe Kiera should have waited until morning to come over. She slanted a glance at Jackson, and decided she’d never had a choice in the matter.
When her mother opened the door, she was wearing a white terrycloth robe, and her skin was almost a perfect match for its color.
“Kiera, honey, what’s wrong?” she cried.
A big, nasty lump had formed in Kiera’s throat and she couldn’t force out any words. Jackson nudged her shoulder, and she flung herself into her mother’s arms.
“What is it?” her mother asked, sounding even more desperate.
“Hunter claims to have gotten her pregnant,” Jackson answered for her.
Kiera’s mother gripped her shoulders and pushed her away to look into her face. Kiera fought the tide of tears, knowing she wouldn’t be able to speak a coherent sentence until she somehow regained control of herself. The look of stricken compassion in her mother’s eyes nearly set her off again.