Missing the Night Read online

  She nodded and looked at the sweatshirt, sweats, and ballet slippers. They fit with embarrassing faithfulness. She flipped her hair out, and it slowly started twisting and curling as it normally did when it dried without being brushed straight. She shrugged and went looking for Stovos. She was looking around when a panel opened, and the boss walked in. “They fit. Reese gets a raise.”

  “Is that how it works?” she smiled.

  “Yup. Come on. Dinner is pot roast, and the triad might be crawling out of bed for dinner.”

  She laughed. “Crawling might be all they can manage.”

  He took her hand, and they walked down the hall to the staircase. They walked down the stairs and to the dining room. Yusen was nearby, and he looked at their clothing, and a slight smirk crossed his lips.

  Yusen held her chair out for her at Stovos’s left side. They sat for a few minutes just talking about the earlier meeting with the accountants, and then, there was movement in the doorway.

  Nessa, Hector, and Tynan wandered in, their bodies actually glowing with satisfaction.

  They paused, and Orvis could feel them looking at her. “Hi. You are looking well.” It was true; they all looked the picture of health, if slightly radioactive.

  Nessa laughed. “I am not going to need to eat for years after that. I am amazed that they are still standing.”

  Hector chuckled and put an arm around her, guiding her to the table. “Sheer force of will.”

  Orvis looked at the lopsided table. “Does someone normally sit here? I can move.”

  Stovos reached out and took her hand. “You don’t need to run because they are here. You know all three of them fairly well.”

  “I don’t want to put anyone out. I had a big lunch.” She looked at the boss for corroboration, but he simply smiled slowly, and she remembered what else had happened at the restaurant. “Oh, geez.”

  Orvis tried to look anywhere else, and Hector was checking his phone. “Hey, they are having a come as you are the weekend after next. Ty, do you want to go?”

  Nessa smiled. “I haven’t been to one of those in years.”

  Stovos smiled. “They can be very entertaining.”

  Orvis blinked. “What is a come as you are?”

  Stovos stared. “You haven’t been to one?”

  “I don’t know what it is, so... no.”

  Hector chided him. “Father. They are for faerie only. She isn’t.”

  The boss sighed. “I am out of town on business until Saturday night, or I would take you.”

  Nessa smiled. “We can take her. No problem. Tolly, it is a party where you can dress in whatever is comfortable for you and strip off your glamours and dance and party with other faerie.”

  The boss’s hand tensed on hers. “I am not fond of the idea of her attending without me.”

  Tynan smiled. “We will take good care of her and defend her honour.”

  Stovos sighed and lifted his phone, tapping quickly with his thumb.

  Nessa smiled. “What are you doing?”

  “Ordering a dress for the event since Cale is processing an order for her that is more flattering to her natural shape.” He grimaced. “And clothing for me, since I will be attending as well.”

  Hector hooted with laughter, Nessa grinned, and Tynan winked at Orvis.

  Dinner was served on individual plates, but a giant tureen of beef and vegetables was set squarely on the table. Orvis wanted to use her fingers, but cutlery was called for. She ate normal human portions, and when Stovos touched her arm and said, “Take what you need,” she lost her dignity and served up twice the original setting.

  Nessa chuckled at Tynan’s wonder. “When I first met Orvis, she was teaching her cousin to hunt. She brought down a deer with her wing blades, and then, she sliced it up with her fingers and consumed it.”

  Orvis murmured, “That was when I had an active cycle. Harpies with PMS are not pleasant to be around.”

  “Your body might recover. I haven’t actually done that before.”

  “I would rather it didn’t. The bursts of violence, the cravings, the emotional swings, they are something I would rather not deal with.” She finished her serving and looked at the tureen again. She went back in for thirds and ate it quietly.

  She couldn’t make herself go back a fourth time, though she wanted to.

  “So, where is the party being held?”

  “The faire grounds. There will be vendors, music, performers, dancing, fight demonstrations, and honour challenges.”

  Nessa smiled. “Oh, those are fun. I like the ones where the guys get half-naked and wrestle. Oh, wait. That was this afternoon.”

  Tynan sighed. “Of course, you do. You get to watch it without getting dressed, though.”

  Orvis chuckled.

  Hector asked a question that Orvis wasn’t expecting. “Are you in a relationship with my father?”

  Stovos snapped. “Hector. My private life isn’t your business.”

  “I am just saying that she is going to have to notify HR in case anyone sees you two together and makes a complaint about you harassing her.”

  Orvis tried to quantify it. “I am not his mistress. Mistresses are paid. I am not his girlfriend, as that indicates actually being seen in public. I am not his lover as I am woefully outclassed, so I guess I end up in the fuckable pet category.”

  Stovos had been reaching for his water glass, and he paused, staring at her. “Explain that leap of logic.”

  “Well, I come when you call. You take care with my appearance, get me little outfits, make sure that I eat, and am providing me with shelter. Since I do draw a pay cheque, I suppose I am straddling the mistress-pet divide.”

  Dessert was set out. Small cherry cobblers with a dollop of ice cream on top. They were hot and cold at the same time.

  Stovos was staring at her intently, and the other three gathered their dessert and left.

  She paused with her spoon against her lips. “What?”

  “You have no idea, do you?”

  She ate the cobbler slowly. “Idea about what?”

  “What you mean to me?”

  She swallowed and put her spoon down. “Can I have your cobbler?”

  Orvis saw him swallow. “Not from there. Come here.”

  He patted his thigh, and she looked at his melting ice cream. She got up and moved to sit on his lap.

  She was reaching for the dessert when he spread his legs, and hers widened. He slid a hand into her sweatpants and stroked her slowly while whispering in her ear. “You are my lover, you are my friend, you are my woman. Do you understand?”

  He slid two fingers into her, and she gripped his wrist and mewled. She spoke quietly and said, “I know what the words mean, but I don’t know what they mean. I haven’t been in a situation like this before.”

  “On a man’s lap with his fingers inside you? I beg to differ. You were in a similar pose earlier today.”

  She shuddered, and his lips nibbled at her neck.

  “Now say the words back to me, so I know you understand them.”

  She swallowed, and his delving digits went deep. “You’re my lover, you’re my friend, I am your woman.”

  “And don’t forget it. That last one is going to be important at the party. Your body is lush enough to draw even the blind.” He licked at the curve of her ear. She didn’t have the reaction a faerie would have, but she shivered, and her nipples scraped against the inside of her sweatshirt.

  Her hips were rocking against his hand, and she was breathing faster; sweat coated her skin. She was just on the edge when he withdrew his fingers and left her halfway to paradise and stuck in hell. Orvis tried to move away from him, but he held her against his chest. “It makes it worse when we are in contact. Doesn’t it?”

  She nodded. “When your lust pulls at me and nothing happens, it aches.”

  “That is the kind of hurt your words caused earlier: ache and frustrati
on. Do not doubt my affection for you again. I have never wanted a woman I work with the way I want you, and I am learning how to manage it one step at a time. The first step is to get you comfortable with your body even if others stop and stare.”

  “I look like an inflatable doll.”

  He lifted her and turned her to face him. “You are beautiful, and I am not the only one of the dark court attracted to large breasts, a small waist, and flared hips. You feel made for my hands. What feels too large for you feels just right for me.”

  He slid his hands under her shirt and pushed the fabric away from the items in question. He palmed each of her breasts, and the fit was perfect. He leaned in and lapped at each nipple in turn before sucking, slurping, and flicking at them. She arched against him and whimpered as the heat and pulse of her clit became all-consuming.

  He smiled for a moment before he returned to the side he had been ignoring, and she arched again, her body slowly throbbing as if she had had an orgasm without the peak. He flicked and tugged again, and the slow arch happened the same way.

  He released her breast and switched again. This time, he slid a finger inside her and left it there as he sucked and repeated the rapid flicking of his tongue. She arched again, and the slow palpitations began inside again.

  He looked up at her. “Can you feel that?”

  She nodded.

  “What does it feel like to you?”

  “Like I had an orgasm and then forgot about it.”

  “That won’t do.” He slid his dessert down the table and set her in its place. Her sweatpants came off, and his jeans were pried open against the pressure of his erection. When his cock was free, she reached for him and he fell toward her, pressing into her slowly. His hands gripped her hips, and they were just the right size as well.

  He advanced and retreated until he was all the way in, and she reached for him, pulling him down so she could kiss him.

  She arched up into him, and he slid against her with a slow undulation that defied every description of sex she had ever read. He was stroking all of her in a slow and deliberate move. All nerves were waking, and her pulse spun out of control. She whimpered, kissed him, and continued to rock against him, trying to pull him down onto her. She wanted the weight, the pressure of him. She shook as she got closer to orgasm, but he continued the slow withdraw and rocking thrust. She moved her hips and finally moved her hand between them. He grabbed her hand and said, “Wait for it. It will be worth it.”

  He kissed her palm and licked it then returned to kissing her as he continued his slow undulations. Orvis was just about insane from frustration when she felt her eyes go wide and the tension broke. She screamed, and Stovos caught it, keeping her song from filling the house.

  It was probably for the best. The siren’s song had been known to kill or drive folks insane.

  He whispered, “Only sing for me.”

  She nodded slowly. She could safely say that no other man could have withstood her.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “I am never going to look at that dining table the same way again.” He chuckled and ran his fingers through her hair.

  “It wasn’t my intent to defile it.” She watched the movie, that he had selected, from her position on the couch with her head cushioned on his thigh.

  He chuckled. “It was definitely my intent to defile it.”

  “Is my not being faerie a problem?”

  “No. Absolutely not. I already have my heir, and he has started his family, so I can create a relationship wherever I like, and I like you. I have for years.”

  She flexed her fingers on his thigh. “I like you, too. Even without the sex, though that is nice, too.”

  He laughed. “I know. You know everything about my work habits. Damn, I wish I was bringing you on my trip.”

  She chuckled. “I know you have to travel the human way, and that much time in a metal can makes me super nervous.”

  “I could relax you. I would like to start having you with me.”

  “In what capacity?”

  “Ostensibly as my admin assistant, but I want you to see the world with me.”

  She smiled. “It sounds nice. I would need to get a passport.”

  He was appalled. “You don’t have one?”

  “Nope.”

  “It was a requirement on the application.”

  “I know. I lied.” She rolled to her back. “Are you going to fire me?”

  He scowled. “I am thinking about it.”

  “Well, I have the documentation now that I was missing when I started. My father’s family had my birth certificate and didn’t want to give it up.” She grimaced. “It has been a negotiation.”

  “As soon as the offices are open, you will put in that application, or I will suspend you without pay.”

  “Great. Then how will I pay for the application?”

  He snorted. “I will give you a raise.”

  “You can’t. Not if we are registering with HR. It will look really bad.”

  He leaned in. “I am the CEO and president. I can give my assistant her first raise in five years.”

  “How are you going to deal with the accusations that I got implants?”

  He smiled. “I will tell them that I check for scars daily and haven’t found anything, and I am really looking.”

  She blushed. “Don’t you dare.”

  “Well, as you have been at several public events and will be again on Wednesday, the time required for healing to occur has not passed. So, you got them out of the way until we started dating, and that is that.”

  “Are we dating?”

  “By normal standards, no. You are usually working at the events we attend. Dating requires free time. So, lovers, companions, and you are my woman.”

  “Why do you say that like it’s a big deal?”

  He grinned. “I wish I could be there when you say it to a grabby faerie, but I am fairly sure you will be mobbed before I arrive. Of course, there are many who won’t believe you, so I look forward to fighting for your honour. I have not done that in quite some time.”

  “Wait. You want me to be bait so you can fight?”

  “That will be the end result. I can guarantee it. But, I want you to have fun.”

  She looked at the window where the snow was piling up. “I am having fun. I am having an evening without planning for a ton of meetings.”

  He slid his hand along the bare skin of her belly. “Where did dinner go?”

  She snorted. “Burned up. Meat always burns up. If I want to gain weight, it has to be bread all the way. But to fly, something has to die.” She chuckled. “Something my grandma said.”

  He chuckled. “Dark faerie like to hunt, so if you eat my kills, we will both be happy.”

  “Good. Hunting is an instinct for me, but I can take a fresh carcass without a qualm.”

  She put a hand over his and directed his grip upward.

  He chuckled. “What about the movie?”

  She grinned. “I would rather skip to the special feature.”

  “As my lady commands.” He leaned over and kissed her upside-down.

  “This looked easier in the movie.”

  He chuckled. “She wasn’t stroking his cock through his pants.”

  She giggled, and she tapped at the button of his jeans. “Can you get this open? With contents under pressure, I don’t want to take a chance at losing an eye.”

  He slowly unzipped and released his cock. She rolled to the side and lapped at the wide head with the flat of her tongue. She took more of his length into her mouth and started to experiment with what made him tense and what made him grip her hair and tell her that he was on the edge. He tasted salty and musky, and she wanted to learn what he tasted like when he came, but he pulled her away from her experiment.

  “Enough, little minx. I don’t want to finish before you start.”

  “I’m good. I had some earlier.” She
pressed her lips together as he removed her clothes and shoes.

  He snorted and set her on the couch while he stripped to the skin. He dropped a cushion on the floor and sat down. He held his hand out. “Now sit in my lap, facing away from me.”

  She frowned and did as he asked. He eased her legs wide and lifted her, easing into her until her weight dropped her into place. He touched her jaw, and she turned to look up at him. He kissed her and cupped her breasts as his hips flexed into her in short thrusts. The jolts put tension and stress in areas that hadn’t gotten much attention before. When he rolled to his knees, he held her against him and pressed his teeth to the base of her neck.

  She shivered and moaned as she got closer to release; his fingers on her clit circling rapidly took care of the rest. She moaned low, and her voice echoed in the space. He thrust upward fast and let out a strangled roar that shook the walls.

  * * * *

  Hector sat up and blinked. “I could have gone my whole life without hearing that.”

  Nessa looked at him and ran a hand up his thigh. “What was it?”

  He cuddled her and Tynan. “The sound the king of the dark court makes when he cums hard. There are some things a child never needs to know.”

  Nessa laughed. “Be happy that he’s happy.”

  Tynan asked, “But is Orvis happy? She is always so serious. Seeing her like that, literally with her hair down, was strange.”

  Nessa was grim. “Get used to it. She’s a friend.”

  Hector sighed. “Right. Getting used to the idea.”

  In the dark hours, the sound rang out a fourth time.

  Nessa laughed at Hector’s appalled expression.

  She whispered a spell that would numb the sound reverberating through the house. She had to admire Stovos’s stamina. If Tolly could get used to having sex, she would be having a lot of it. Harpies were funny that way. They were all or nothing, and Tolly had just found her all. As Nessa nestled back into the arms of her grumpy elf and her amused mage, she hoped that Tolly figured out what that meant.

  * * * *

  He wanted to drop to the side, but Orvis wrapped her limbs around him and pulled him to her. She wanted the weight, the sweat, and the thudding of his heart in his chest. She licked a trickle of sweat from his temple.