Banshee Seduction (Montgomery's Sin Book 1) (17 page)

He blinked himself to awareness. His vision wavered drunkenly and then focused on perky floral wallpaper that almost incinerated his eyeballs. Pastel pinks, lime greens, and yellows assaulted his senses. He slammed his eyes shut, convinced he must have a migraine. He squeezed them open again and let his gaze roam the room. He was surrounded by useless-looking cushions in the same shades as the wallpaper. He flicked one off his head and heard the decorative beads rattle as it fell to the uneven floor. If he didn’t have a migraine before, he sure as hell was about to get one.

Thick, cold sludge filled his fragile stomach, and the sharp contraction tightened his throat in defense. The vibrant wallpaper could possibly be responsible for that too. The heavy weight pressed on his chest restricting his breathing didn’t help.

He tried to engage his brain. The last lucid thought tripping through his painful head was of an ugly woman who squirted oil on him and scraped harsh nails over his naked chest. Tempted to look at the damage, he cracked open his eyelids and peeped from between his lashes. Shit. His worst nightmare. Not only was he in the woman’s bed, but the pressure on his chest was her, wrapped tightly around him like she was never going to let him go.

He drew in a long breath—froze as the woman moved. The sweet smell of lilies assailed his nostrils and shimmered sweet memories through his senses. He stared at the top of her head as she nuzzled her cheek into his chest and heated his loins with unnatural enthusiasm considering the state of his brain. Concern at the uninvited response encouraged him to move. The only woman he responded to like that was Ginny. Perhaps the alcohol had confused his sensory perception as well as his brain.

Straight white-blonde hair trailed thick and lush over his skin. Relief and desire combined together to blaze a hot trail and warm his blood. It was Ginny. Clothed in pajamas, she sprawled on top of him while his arms naturally snuggled her in tight.

His mind refused to engage. Still dredging through thick clouds, it faltered, confused and lethargic. How had he managed to get there?

His body didn’t have the same dilemma. His hard shaft bobbed, nudged between Ginny’s cotton-clad thighs, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head with the intense pleasure of her closeness, his breath lodged in his throat. Her tiny kitten mewl had him praying for mercy.

She wriggled against him; her lips grazed his nipple, and he ground his teeth, unable to bear the contact any longer without being inside her. He rolled to his side, allowed her body to slip off his, and regretted the loss of her closeness. He sympathized with her moan of protest, but he needed to understand what had happened.

Thick oily nausea still rolled through his stomach and encouraged him to move away from her. Puzzled at the peculiar skew of the bed he’d originally attributed to his hangover, he perused the angle of the room as he reached backward with one foot, trying to find the edge of the mattress.

“Matt?”

Warm and husky, her voice melted his heart. She raised her head. The clear, bright cerulean of an early morning sky met his eyes.

“Shit.”

His foot encountered nothing but fresh air. The jerk of his body rocked the bed precariously in seesaw fashion and had him flailing for a moment before he flipped backward off the edge to hit the floor. Pain radiated through his shoulder while every bit of air whooshed from his lungs. All thoughts of an amorous encounter jolted from his tender innards as the bed swayed back to its original position.

A piercing squeal almost burst his eardrums. He tracked his gaze along the drunken slew of the bed just as slender fingers grasped the mattress. Ginny hauled herself up to peer over the edge of the mattress at him. Big eyes filled with compassion warmed his heart.

“Did you hurt yourself?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

He bolted upright, coming nose to nose with her. Heat flooded him as her eyes took a lazy perusal of his very naked body.

“Do you mind? You make me feel like a sex object.”

A sweet, innocent smile plastered her luscious lips. “Not in the least. I’m developing.”

He considered if she developed any more, she’d be a danger to all mankind.

A silken lock of her hair slipped from her shoulder to dangle in front of his face and glow bright white. Sorely tempted to stroke it, he sat up straight and draped his arm between his legs to stop her from staring at his obvious arousal. She simply moved her attention to his chest. Her sweet tongue made an appearance and gave a subtle swipe of her lips, leaving them pink and shiny and him hard and horny.

He circled his free hand to indicate the bed. “What happened?”

She gave him a smile. “Some huge monster belly flopped on it and broke it.”

“Oh.” He tried to trail through memories of the night before, but his mind was empty. Absolutely nothing registered from the moment he stood on the stage. He had no knowledge of how he’d gotten there, and less idea of why Ginny had let him in. Stranger still was the fact that he was naked, and she wasn’t.

Giving in to temptation, he reached out to stroke the smooth sheen of her hair dangling in front of his face.

“You owe me a bed, bud.”

“Me?” Insult warred with confusion. What had they been up to, and worse still, why didn’t he remember the night before? Had he taken advantage of her? If he had, he felt certain he would have remembered, and surely he wouldn’t feel so desperate to have her again already. He surveyed the destruction of her bed. On second thought, he was always going to want her, no matter how many times he had her.

His mind might be a haze, but his body told him it was unsatisfied.

He blinked at her as she arched an eyebrow at him.

“Yep. It was definitely you. You may have been in disguise, but I’d recognize you anywhere.”

He met her eyes; knowledge glowed in their depths. He slapped his hand against his forehead and regretted it as a sick pain shot through his head, making his still tender brain rattle around inside. “I shifted.”

In the quiet of the morning, her serious tone pulled his attention to her. “You certainly did.”

He dropped his hand back down to his lap and scanned the room. “I broke your bed.”

“You did that too.”

She seemed to be taking it very much in her stride. All he could hear were subtle hmmms and haaaas in his ears, as though the screeching banshee voices were feeling mellow and…possibly fulfilled? Guilt tightened his chest. How could he have had wild sex with her and not remember? He hesitated before asking, “Did I cause any other damage?”

A long silence filled the room as she refused to answer, but he needed to know something else. “Why did you let me in?”

Her quick reply still gave nothing away. “Because you needed help.”

He inclined his head. She was such a sweetheart, it was a wonder she hadn’t been hurt before—worse than men running howling from the bedroom with blood pouring from their orifices.

He quirked a small smile. No blood on him. So far. He met her intent gaze. “Was I a dragon at the time?”

“Yes.”

That explained it. He couldn’t have sex with a human when he was a beast. “How did you know you were safe? I could have eaten you.”

The small quirk of her eyebrow and twitch of her mouth had him wondering. “You offered.”

Her damask white skin flushed prettily, and her eyes darkened to sapphire. Desire heated his chest, and the dragon inside squirmed with contentment. Her shy smile coaxed a responding one from him; her graceful shrug squeezed his heart.

“I never felt threatened by you. You weren’t well.”

He reached up to where she peered at him over the edge of the bed. He skimmed his fingers over the smooth skin of her cheek. “Ginny, I’m sorry I hurt you.”

Refusing to meet his eyes, she dipped her head, breaking contact with him while she stared at her hands gripping the edge of the mattress. “You didn’t.”

He felt her embarrassment and knew with absolute certainty he had. “I don’t mean last night.” As she flicked a look at him, he knew she understood what he meant.

She gave a careless shrug. “It doesn’t matter.”

He rolled to his knees, felt the mattress dip and tilt as he leaned on it, and she slid toward him. Surprise widened her bright eyes as she came to a halt almost nose to nose with him. A musical hum filled his head.

“It matters to me. I’m sorry.” He touched his lips to the tip of her nose. “Please accept my apology.”

She gave a hesitant nod, and as he raised his hand again to cup her cheek, her eyelids fluttered closed. This time his lips met hers as he leaned on the broken bed. Sweet music swelled in his mind.

The bed skewed precariously, and her body slipped toward the edge. She gave a squeak of surprise as he automatically reached out, took advantage of the game play, and snatched her lush form off the mattress to hug her close to his chest. He parted her lips with his own and slipped his tongue inside her mouth, investigating the honeyed interior while he roamed his hands over her sumptuous curves.

Her warm, early morning fragrance overwhelmed his senses, making him crave more. The fire in the pit of his belly sent flames licking through his veins. Finding the temptation too much, he slipped his hand under her pajama top, slid it over the warm, velvet skin of her waist and onward to cup her breast. Passion rose to nip, hard and painful. He needed to claim her, make her his, but the desire that swirled hot and savage contended with the need for patience and tenderness. The fiery inferno blazed, and his dragon clamored for him to take their mate.

Her soft whimper wrenched back on his desperation and gentled him as he rolled her body under his so she lay on her back on the thick, plush pink rug. He drew back to stare into her flushed face and her laser-bright eyes. The invitation of her soft, parted lips was too much to resist. He took her mouth with his and molded her breast in his hand. Aware of her stiffened nipple against his palm, he gave it a gentle squeeze. His heart constricted at the eager moan he elicited from her and the echoed soft mellow murmurs of encouragement from the voices winding through his mind.

He dipped his head, cruised his lips over the silken skin at the neckline of her top, and pressed his nose into her cleavage to absorb the fragrant, welcoming scent of her. His dragon could smell her desire, wanted to take, ravage, possess. Matt ignored it. This time was for Ginny. She needed his tenderness, his patience. The dragon would just have to wait; though it roared and demanded, he was not to be rushed.

Her lush body vibrated under his. He pushed the T-shirt upward, skimming her tender flesh to make her body writhe and…

Zap!

“What the f—”

An electrical charge filled the room, and his head shot up, eyes narrowed to see what the static interference was. A soft billow of smoke came from his nostrils, and the dragon whispered, “Kill.”

A large, energetic lump floundered around under the duvet, emitting strange squeaking noises as the bed rocked unsteadily and dumped the thing off the edge. It flopped in an ungainly heap at their feet and beat itself free of the restricting covers. Roni’s head emerged, and her normally perfect hair stood up like a fur ball from her head; her face glowed a bright, unnatural red. Wide with horror, her jet-black eyes met his.

“Oops. Sorry.”

Thunderous hammering pounded on the apartment door to fracture his skull with painful vibrations while his dragon howled in frustration.

The lush curves of the woman under him shook with laughter and drew his attention back to her. He stared as she raised her hand to cover her mouth while she giggled, and despite his exasperated disbelief, he couldn’t resist smiling.

He glanced at the model, by all accounts frozen to the spot. Another barrage of banging followed. Reluctant to move and expose his private parts, he met Roni’s frantic gaze and gave a small incline of his head toward the direction the sound came from. “You want to get the door for us?”

As if released from her stupor, Roni wrenched herself free of the covers, scrambled to her feet, and raced for the door, the first inelegant move he’d ever seen her perform.

The loud beating sounded again. She paused, glanced back over her shoulder, and allowed her gaze to cruise over them, a sly smile sliding over her mouth as she recovered her composure.

“Sure. You make yourself decent. I’ll get the door.” The skinny woman cat-walked the rest of the way across the room, and then paused and glanced back again with a twitch of one perfect eyebrow. “Nice ass, by the way.”

His mouth dropped open as she gave a cheeky wink at Ginny and floated out of the door, her dignity intact in the blink of an eye.

Frustration juggled with amusement and then slammed into protective mode as Daniel barged through the open doorway into the bedroom, brow pulled low in a deep frown. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

The woman beneath Matt stiffened. The dragon inside unfurled to give a dangerous growl. “Mine.” He pulled back his lips and bared his fangs, gratified to see Daniel freeze.

The quiet gasp from Ginny had him glancing down at her. She raised her hand and smoothed her fingers comfortingly over his face, no fear of his dragon in evidence. Her soft touch quelled the desire to kill.

“It’s okay. It’s only Daniel.”

Sullen, he grunted at her, stirred by the way her mouth twitched up at the corners.

Roni dashed in, breathless.

“I’m sorry. He got past me…umm, somehow.” She rubbed her fingertips against her forehead, her delicate brow wrinkled in confusion.

Matt coughed to grab their attention. “Do you think we could have some privacy? Naked here!”

Roni’s frown cleared, and a bright smile spread wide, displaying her gleaming white fangs as she admired his naked ass. “Difficult to miss.”

Daniel hissed as though she’d scorched him. He launched a pile of clothing at the broken bed before he beat a hasty retreat, calling over his shoulder, “I’ll be in the kitchen. Be quick. We have a problem.”

It took a little longer for Roni to move. She hesitated until Ginny raised her head and peered at her. “You want me to stay?”