A Demonic Bundle (52 page)

He sloshed a little of the toxic mixture on his oxford shirt on his way to his mouth, supporting her theory this might be one toast too many.

He just chuckled as he wiped the liquid off with his hand, which made her laugh, too. He wasn’t an obnoxious drunk, just a jovial one, and she decided maybe she was enjoying the distraction.

She set down her drink, her hand lingering on the coolness of the glass. She absently circled her finger around the rim, her thoughts skipping back to Maksim. He was so close, but a lot of good that did her.

Okay, maybe good ole drunk Cameron wasn’t much of a diversion after all.

“What do you do for work?” Cameron asked as if he’d read her mind and was trying to do a better job for her.

Sorry Cameron, but there’s fat chance of that.

“I’m the director of a community center,” she said.

“No way! I work at the Micro Center. It’s a computer store.”

Jo stared at him for a moment, trying to decide if he was making a joke. She concluded he wasn’t, but laughed anyway. Because he was so sincere in their almost eerie kinship that what else could she do.

“Wow, that’s so spooky,” she managed to say once she stopped laughing.

“I know,” he agreed wholeheartedly, his eyes widening at the very thought.

Jo laughed again, but the laughter died on her lips as Maksim walked past them. His green eyes sought hers, leaving no doubt that he was aware she was here. Without even turning to follow his path, she knew he stopped and took the stool on the other side of her.

To confirm her thoughts, she heard him call out to the bartender.

“Hey sweetheart, mind bringing me another down here?”

The bartender smiled at him, clearly pleased with his endearment. She nodded and bounced off, happy with his attention.

As most woman would be, Jo supposed. And the idea rankled her.

Jo didn’t turn around, but she could feel him right behind her. His presence was like a physical touch across her back.

Maksim didn’t bother to slide the stool next to Jo away from her. He wanted to be in her space. He wanted her aware of him. But if she was, he couldn’t tell.

“Do you like being a director?” the guy who was standing far too close to Jo’s other side asked. He swayed slightly, and Maksim could see he was pretty well wasted.

Jo’s voice was muffled slightly, because she wasn’t facing him, but Maksim could still make out her words.

“Umm, yeah, I do.”

“Do you have pottery classes?”

Maksim raised an eyebrow and fought the urge to roll his eyes. Jo had given him the deep freeze just to go out and talk to this winner. He didn’t know whether to be insulted or amused.

“No,” Jo said slowly, clearly finding the guy’s question a little strange too. “No, we don’t.”

“Ah, that’s too bad. People like to do pottery.”

Maksim shook his head, unable to suppress his disdainful amusement.

“I guess that’s true,” Jo said.

“You know, you have really pretty eyes.”

Any hint of amusement evaporated, and Maksim couldn’t help looking at the guy.

The schmuck touched Jo’s hand, which had stopped swirling seductively around the edge of her glass. Maksim gritted his teeth as he watched the man’s thumb brush over the soft skin of her fingers. Jo didn’t pull away.

Before Maksim thought better of it, he shifted, his arm grazing Jo’s back. She straightened like an elastic snapping into place, aligning her spine, but she still didn’t look at him.

The guy rocked toward her. “You smell nice, too.”

Maksim scowled at the man, but the stupid, leery drunk was too lost in his interest in Jo to notice.

“Thank you,” Jo said, and still didn’t move her hand out from under his. Maksim fought the urge to pull her away. Pull her away and kiss her senseless.

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

Maksim couldn’t stop himself from turning on the stool to face the two of them. Now this he wanted to hear.

“No. I don’t.”

Technically that was true, Maksim supposed, but that didn’t matter at the moment. Her words still made him see red.

He hooked a hand under her elbow and tugged. She slid around on the stool like the seat spun on its own. Her dark eyes snapped open wide and her lips rounded into a perfect “o.”

“The hell you don’t.”

Maksim pulled her against him, so she was only half on her stool and mostly leaning against him.

And he kissed her soundly.

J
o froze for half a second, then melted into Maksim’s embrace. His lips moved possessively against hers, his teeth tugging at her lower lip, his tongue mingling with hers in an intimate way that made her whole body tingle.

Then she realized that someone was tapping on her shoulder.

“Um, excuse me.”

She jerked away from Maksim, looking over her shoulder at who was interrupting her. Interrupting one of the most sensual moments of her life. She frowned, not immediately recognizing who was speaking to her.

Finally her brain kicked in. “Cameron?”

Her new friend nodded, looking decidedly more sober than he had before. “Is this really your boyfriend?”

Jo opened her mouth to deny it, but Maksim reached around her and extended his hand.

“Yes, I am. I’m Maksim Kostova.” His voice was civil, but there was no mistaking the possessiveness, the resolve.

Cameron frowned at Maksim’s hand, but did accept, giving a quick shake.

“I’m sorry, man,” Cameron said, stepping back from Jo, establishing the appropriate amount of space between them. Clearly he didn’t want to upset Maksim further.

Jo glanced at Maksim. A smile curved his lips, but there was coolness there, a hard cast to his green eyes.

“Not a problem. I know what a stunning woman she is. I’d be chatting her up, too, if she didn’t already belong to me.”

Jo shook her head slightly, feeling as if she had to be having some weird dream. Or she was on a reality show where the host jumped out and told her the whole thing was a joke. A spoof.

Maksim caught her hand, tugging at it.

“Come here,” he muttered roughly, right beside her ear, his voice causing ripples of arousal to shimmy down her spine. His broad chest brushed against her back. Another shiver made her vibrate with need.

He pulled her again, and she found herself sliding off her seat and between his legs. Then he situated her so her bottom was nestled against him, his arms wrapped around her waist. She held herself stiff, trying to comprehend what was happening, trying to decide how she should react, and definitely trying to ignore the very aroused, very hard penis prodding her rear end.

“Okay, well, umm,” Cameron looked around as if he too wasn’t really sure what he should be doing. After a few more befuddled looks around the bar, he raised his cup.

“Good to meet you.”

Jo wasn’t sure if that was directed at her or Maksim. Or maybe both. Despite his obviously impaired equilibrium, Cameron managed to stride away at fairly impressive speed.

Before Jo could turn to confront Maksim, Erika returned, her pacing slowing as she spotted them. Her dark brows were drawn together in puzzlement.

“Hey there,” she said once she reached them, clearly not sure what to say. Not unlike Jo—it was bewildering to say the least.

“Hi Erika,” Maksim answered tucking Jo closer to him. Not that he could get much closer without being inside her.

The idea of that made her shiver despite her confusion, which was starting to transform into irritation.

“Am—am I interrupting something?”

“No,” Jo said, trying to wriggle away from Maksim, but his hold didn’t loosen.

“Not at all,” Maksim agreed, his voice smooth and sexy and slightly amused, which made Jo’s ire flare even more.

“Okay,” Erika said, her gaze flickered between the two of them and she clearly didn’t believe their protests.

To prove that, she gestured over her shoulder. “I think I’ll head back downstairs to listen to the band.”

“No!” Jo reached out and caught her friend’s wrist. She didn’t want Erika to leave. Jo didn’t know what she intended to say to Maksim, and having her friend there as a buffer seemed like a good choice.

Erika looked down at where Jo’s fingers locked around her arm. But she smiled, giving her a reassuring nod. “Sure.”

Jo released her and Erika slid onto the empty stool she’d left before she’d gone downstairs again. Before more weirdness started in Jo’s life.

This might not be potentially paranormal, but it was just as strange as everything else in her life these days.

The arms around Jo tightened just slightly, adding to her confusion. Okay, maybe she could see him being jealous about another man’s attention, but what was he doing now? They’d had an arrangement of just sex. And even that had ended this morning. And she’d wanted it to end.

She’d thought he had, too, from his reaction to her coldness. And she hadn’t pegged him as the type to grovel.

But this wasn’t groveling, exactly. It was staking his claim. But she hadn’t expected that at all—ever.

“So, how are you enjoying working at the Community Center?” Erika asked in an obvious attempt to get the situation somewhere normal.

“I like it,” Maksim said, his face right beside Jo’s. His voice reverberating through her. Making her react. “And I think I’m good with the kids. What do you think, darling?”

Jo gritted her teeth. Why was he doing this? What was the point? She knew he was mad at her. Was he trying to make her look like a fool?

She couldn’t understand his plan.

He rested his chin on her shoulder, leaning his head against hers. “The kids seem pretty fond of me, don’t they?”

Well, no matter what the reason, he was manipulating her, and Jo did not like it.

“Well, these children are starved for attention,” Jo said, keeping her gaze directed at Erika and her voice even and pragmatic, “so they readily attach to anyone who is kind to them.”

“She doesn’t like to give me too many compliments, does she?” He chuckled and then pressed a kiss on Jo’s cheek.

Jo jerked away. “Don’t do that.”

“What? Are you embarrassed to show our affection in front of Erika?”

Jo didn’t answer. What was he doing? Why?

“You don’t mind, do you, Erika?”

Erika regarded Jo for a moment, then shook her head. “Of course not.”

Jo started to make a face at her friend, but Maksim’s fingers caught her chin and turned her face toward him.

“See, she doesn’t mind. So you shouldn’t, either.”

He leaned forward and kissed her. The kiss wasn’t aggressive or possessive, just a sweet clinging of his velvety soft lips with hers.

It unnerved her more than his first kiss of the evening had. And her body instantly hummed with intense need.

To Jo’s dismay it was Maksim who pulled away, and it took her a moment to realize that Erika was feigning a coughing fit to get their attention.

It worked for Maksim, while Jo had noticed nothing but him. She could feel her cheeks burning at how easily he got her to respond. But then, she wasn’t denying that she was attracted to him. She just knew they wouldn’t last. Not with the bombshell she was hiding.

“I think I will head downstairs. It sounds like the band is on break,” Erika said. She smiled, although the stiff curve of her lips revealed she was uncomfortable.

“No,” Jo said, her voice breathless, but still insistent, “please stay.”

“I really think you two have some things you need to discuss.”

“No, we don’t,” Jo said quickly.

“No, sweetheart, Erika’s right,” Maksim said, leaning forward so he could see Jo’s face. “We do have a lot to discuss.”

Jo opened her mouth to argue, because her gut told her she didn’t want to be alone with this man. Not in the strange mood he was in. But then she realized she had to talk about it. She needed to understand why the hell he was doing this.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Jo nodded, letting Erika know silently that she would be fine. Whatever Maksim was, he wasn’t dangerous. Well, not to anything but her heart. Which just seemed so crazy, given her initial opinion of him and the short time she’d known him.

“Okay,” Erika said, “I’ll be right downstairs near the stage, if you need me.”

“Thanks,” Jo said.

Erika gave her one more searching look, then headed down the length of the bar to the stairs.

As soon as she was gone, Jo tried to pull away from Maksim, but he kept her firmly positioned between his legs.

“Let me go,” she gritted out.

“In a minute.” Maksim’s lips nibbled the side of her neck. His lips were warm and wonderful, just the right amount of pressure, the right amount of nips and suction.

Her knees threatened to give out as she lost herself to the sensation.

But it was his fingers brushing gently over her belly that managed to snap her thoughts back to what was she had to do. And it wasn’t leaning back against his solid, broad chest, letting him make love to her.

She yanked away, turning to face him, making sure their bodies weren’t touching in any way.

“Maksim, why are you doing this?”