"There's no time. Your family—"
My voice died the instant he shoved his hand between my folds and plunged three fingers inside me, pumping hard and fast. He stretched his thumb up to rub my hard nub.
And I came. Just like that. My back arched, my mouth fell open, and my entire body went rigid for a split second before the climax pulsated deep inside me and stole my breath. I clenched the sheets.
Damian covered my open mouth with his, silencing the single sharp cry that burst out of me.
"There," he said, "you're all done."
He jumped off the bed, grabbed my dress, and tossed it at me.
"Are you kidding me?" I asked. "You can't give me an orgasm, then take me out there to meet your mother."
"Get dressed, Heidi. She'll be here any second."
He didn't sound or look panicked. The idea of his mom finding us in flagrante didn't seem to bother him at all. I felt a little shaky, but that might've been from the climax I'd experienced seconds ago. It had been like a bomb exploding inside my body.
I got dressed.
So did Damian, and he found a hairbrush for me too. At least my hair wouldn't flash like a neon sign announcing, "Just got fucked by a hot gypsy." My dress was a little rumpled, that was all.
He gave me a quick kiss. "You look beautiful, baby."
"You're full of it, but your bullshit is sweet."
The door burst inward.
A dark-haired woman stood on the second step, her mouth tight. Her gaze locked onto Damian, then swerved to me. She lifted one perfectly plucked brow, staring at me for a second or two before zeroing her attention in on Damian again. "Buna ziua, fiu. Are you going to introduce us?"
"Mama," Damian said, "you can't barge in like you own the place. It's my wagon, not yours."
"If my boy has taken up with a sallow blonde, it's my responsibility to make sure he's not in over his head."
"You're being rude,Mama. Heidi is my girlfriend, and she's not sallow."
The woman stepped into the wagon and marched straight to me. "Scuze, child, but I need to speak with my son alone."
Damian slung an arm around my shoulders. "No, you don't. Since you haven't bothered to ask, this is Heidi Mackenzie. We're dating. I like her, a lot, and you are not chasing her away."
The woman scanned me up and down, then offered her hand to me. While she shook it, she said, "I am Monica Petrescu, royal seer of the Ludar and divine conduit to the spirit world."
"Cut the crap, Mom," Damian said, though he didn't sound angry.
I leaned in close to him and whispered, "I thought your mother's name was Ileana."
"No, that's her stage name when she's doing her shtick for the neighbors."
His mother shouted over her shoulder, "Adrian, what in heaven's name are you doing out there? Come meet the foreigner our son has taken up with."
A man with salt-and-pepper hair mounted the steps, halting at the threshold. He smiled when he saw Damian. "Hey, kiddo, what's up? Is this your new girl? She's a looker, for sure."
Monica Petrescu shook her head, her lips ticking up into a faint smile. "Introduce yourself, dear."
The man climbed into the wagon and offered me his hand. "Adrian Petrescu. I'm not a royal anything or a conduit, and neither is my wife."
"It's nice to meet you," I said as we shook hands.
Adrian glanced at his wife. "She doesn't sound foreign to me."