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As she gazed out toward the water, she pulled the vitality fro, dark cape, the kind the witch wore in Sleeping Beauty The stepotten a bad rap in those filrasp power The lingering energy shimmered, disturbed, and she kneasn’t from the fault She draped herself in that cloak, pulled it closer to breathe it in, ifire over hieance and death
A growl disrupted her concentration She’d put Theo to bed, knowing he orn-out, but noering her gaze, she saw Linda’s Australian shepherds sitting on the other side of the circle, regarding her steadily The way dogs watched intruders Their earlier friendliness was replaced by wariness, hackles raised, the growl continuing to rumble in the female’s throat
With one sweep of her hand, she could turn the so would be no
Ruby shut her eyes, hard, breathed deep Steady, steady There was a line here, and everything depended on her being able to stay on that line She had a circle cast in her mind, and if she stepped outside that circle, she’d lose it all to Darkness It was inevitable; one day it would happen She had no illusions about that But not yet Not until she’d done what she swore she would She’d bided her tiic irony that it was Derek Storht her this chance
As she opened her eyes, throat aching with ees had faded out of her vision "What’s the s? It’s okay"
Their ears pricked up, thein her gut They reacted as they should to so to huain, she uesthouse
JUST AS SHE’D FEARED, SLEEP WOULDN’T COME SHE stared at the ceiling, listening to Theo snore She wanted to call Derek, wanted to hear his voice Thank God he didn’t carry a cell phone He never got reception within his dense aura Closing her eyes, she felt his hands on her again
She’d picked up a new burn phone, but she hadn’t given him that number, either He could call the infatuated Linda from whatever pay phone he found and learn that she’d arrived safely It would give them a chance to talk, flirt, have phone sex, whatever
Fuck If she couldn’t escape it, she’d embrace it, damn it all Her mind wanted to take her back to the beach, kiss those drops of ainst her, his ar her as he carried her to that hammock Instead, she forced herself to return to the stable, focusing on the ropes, the more violent emotions that had driven their fantasy Which, of course, came with a whole different set of problems Her body heated up like a volcano about to erupt
"Fine" She punched in the nu up, even as her mind screamed at her to do so When the throaty Russian voice answered through her hands-free earpiece, she couldn’t speak for a ht?"
She didn’t kno he kneas her Though, in truth, Mikhael probably had GPS coordinates on every major world leader, and the ability to off them with no more than the press of a button
Or maybe, less dramatically, he just knew the sound of her erratic breath, because she couldn’t form words
"Hmm You have not called at a convenient time, and that irritates me Your clothes are not off, so you have not prepared yourself for me You expect ed glass against her broken heart She wanted him to press harder, sever thesleep shirt, shoved off the panties "I’m naked Make me come" She couldn’t keep the desperate demand from her voice, and his cold response was exactly what she told herself she craved
"You give me orders? Who do you think you are, you little cunt?" The crudity prickled over her nerves like poison ivy… both unbearable and irresistible to scratch "I as as wide as you can, keep them open for me, and you will pinch your nipples, Ruby Pinch them so hard, that if I cared to stay on the phone with you, I would hear the pain in your breath You will keep pinching the to stop Being the dirty little fucked-up whore you are, you will be dripping wet for me by then"