BloodBound (6 page)

“Get away from me,” she ordered, and yanked the loose material of her robe over her breasts.

His body went still for a moment as he frowned. “I won’t apologize for kissing you. I’ve wanted to do that since the second I laid eyes on you.”

She made a tart sound. “Please. Give me more credit than that,” she replied while bending her knee, a signal for him to get up. Their gazes met as she stood and crossed her arms over her breasts to hide her arousal.

“You wanted to see the tattoo to make sure Victor was correct,” she continued.

Confusion flitted across his face before an angry flame lit his eyes. “I know he’s correct. I just wanted to see it for myself.”

“And then you tried seducing me to make me more obliging…to ensure I’d help your brother.”

He expelled a rough breath. “You actually believe that?”

“Why not? You’ve already used my vulnerable situation to coerce me when you could have just…asked me.”

His powerful body tensed as he looked at her for a long moment. If the turbulent emotion in his eyes meant anything, there was a battle going on in his head.
Was it anger toward her? Regret?

Finally, he replied, “I don’t deny it, and I wish I’d had a more civilized option, but you know I can’t force you, Stephanie.” A shadow came over his face. “It’s your decision,” he said, and bent to pick up his jacket.

Damn
. Even now, he managed to get under her skin. She swallowed the knot in her throat. “I’ll do the transfusions because I like Ray. He deserves to live,” she said quietly.

The tension in his body slackened a fraction, but his eyes were still stormy. He gave a slow nod. “He does. I can’t thank you enough.”

She assumed the odd, gravelly inflection in his tone was relief.

Desire for him still drummed in her body like a live thing. She tore her gaze away from those perceptive eyes. “Please go.”

There was a rustle as he put on his jacket and walked to the front door. “For the record, there was no ulterior motive to touching you. I couldn’t help myself.”

Her breath hitched and she breathed once the door closed. Slowly, she crossed to it and turned the bolt in the lock. Then she leaned against the door and closed her eyes. She’d never had a vampire or dhampir boyfriend for the same reason she hid her nature from her family. Relations with human men had mostly been brief, to satisfy the most basic needs. The short erotic play with Dex confirmed what her instinct had known all along. Only a vampire could satisfy her completely.
Damn him.

Chapter Six

Dex had felt relief when Stephanie agreed to the transfusions a week earlier, but the anger and the reproach he’d seen in her eyes tore up his insides, nearly choking him. It had eaten him up that night, robbed him of sleep, and still gnawed at him today, a few hours after Ray had received her blood.

She was right to be angry. He could have approached her in a civilized manner and simply talked to her about Ray instead of intimidating her. But he’d been stuck between a damn rock and a hard place.
What if she
’
d refused, especially since her dhampir nature was an issue?
Victor hadn’t made any psychic connection with anyone else. She’d been his brother’s only hope.

He wished they’d met under different circumstances. No other woman roused his emotions so intensely. Good and bad. And he felt them everywhere, running like a fierce current through his veins and his flesh. If they’d met under normal circumstances, he would have already left his mark both inside and outside her sweet body. He would have tasted her blood, whose delicious scent had nearly snapped his control when he’d kissed her.

Stephanie was the sort of woman he’d spend the rest of his life with. He’d stuffed this realization in the gray area of his consciousness during the week leading up to Ray’s first transfusion in an attempt to focus on work. He’d also taken this period of time to research her brothers because there was deep-rooted pain in Stephanie that had to do with the fact that her family might not accept her nature.
What sort of people would not accept their own flesh and blood, would not accept Stephanie because she was part vampire?
Vampire haters. It made total sense, given the family history.

Bounty hunt operations weren’t part of his division, so he’d spent hours going through various reports, comparing the Dubois missions with others. The conclusion he arrived at had turned his stomach in disgust and rage. Their operations had seldom been free of some kind of violence—apparently unjustified—toward the fugitive. He wondered why the hell their superiors hadn’t noticed this. No doubt Stephanie was aware of it, which further explained her attempt to help Kelso.

Not wanting to get the brothers fired for Stephanie’s sake, he’d used his connections with a couple of colleagues in internal affairs, who expedited the Dubois’ transfer to the human bounty hunt division, along with a severe warning.

Dex squeezed lemon juice onto the lightly fried piece of liver, added a generous heap of kidney bean salad to the plate, and walked to the table where Stephanie sat, ignoring the stubborn frown on her lovely face.

“I’m not an invalid. I can feed myself,” she grumbled.

“You recently gave 450 ml of your blood and the doctor’s instructions were specific. Rest for the next three hours, lots of water and iron. Liver and beans contain plenty of iron.” He lowered the plate in front of her.

Her large brown eyes looked up in challenge. “Are you going to watch me eat?”

“No, I’m going to catch a game on TV. Enjoy.”

After the blood transfusion, he wanted to make sure Stephanie was well and insisted on taking her home despite her protests. He was planning on staying the night, too, to ensure that she drank plenty of liquids and didn’t run off to the gym. It was the least he could do. There was one more transfusion scheduled two and half months from today. She was saving his brother’s life.

His heart wrenched again. He longed to pull her into his arms and thank her, but her body language warned him against it. He ached to make love to her for hours because they were a perfect match on so many levels. His instincts were keen enough to recognize this. Physically, their attraction was magnetic, potent. Furthermore, he knew how to satisfy her special urges…and he wanted to fill that lonely part of her soul.

He wasn’t giving up. He’d use a delicate strategy to break through her wall, which she’d erected partly because she feared the attraction that sizzled between them. Her body’s response to him on this very sofa had been natural, hungry. Dex was willing to bet his life’s savings that she avoided intimate relations with vampires because of her family. It was a damn shame, depriving herself that way, but the thought of her being with any other man, human or not, chafed his insides like sandpaper.

He tuned into the sports channel in order to forget that Stephanie was on the other side of the wall. It would be a challenge to get through the evening and the whole night without touching her. Today, she needed rest. After that…

“So, when do you plan on leaving?”

Her question was almost toneless, yet it plucked at his nerve endings. Dex watched her come into the living room with a glass of water in her hand, her slim jeans and snug t-shirt emphasizing her feminine shape. Heat tightened in his cock. She stood a few feet from him, the question hanging between them.

His answer wasn’t going to go over well. Dex cleared his throat. “I think it’s best that I stay the night to make sure you’re well—I’ll sleep on the sofa.”

Her body tensed as her eyes shot a few daggers at him. “I disagree. I feel perfectly fine.”

He considered various angles of approach before replying. “Stephanie, you saved my brother’s life. Ray and I are indebted to you forever and my being here is the very least I can do.”

Surprise flickered in her brown eyes. “I don’t see it that way. I chose to do the transfusions because I want to give Ray a chance to live.” Her gaze held his. “I only asked one thing of you.” The censure was back in her voice.

“No one can trace the pictures to you. I took care of that before the transfusion.”

She gave him a measured look. “
You
traced them to me.”

“Look, it’s not an issue. No one will ever bother you about it.” His tone was absolute and brooked no further questioning.

She inclined her head. “I see. Well, thank you, I suppose.”

“Stephanie, what I said before about being indebted to you, I mean it. Anything you need, no matter what, I want you to come to me.”

Her gaze faltered as she shrugged. “I’ve never needed anyone’s help.”

There was so much loneliness in that statement it practically punched a hole in his heart. Worse, she’d clearly grown accustomed to it. He’d leave her in her comfort zone for a little longer.

When she raised her eyes to his, they were shuttered. “I’m going to take a nap. There’s a spare bedroom just down the hall on the right. Sheets are clean.” With that, she left the room.

That evening, Dex checked in on Stephanie and saw that she was still asleep, her back facing him. The soft curve of her bare shoulder tempted him, as did the glossy curtain of her long hair, but he stayed where he was. She was obviously exhausted. It had been a long day. He watched the rise and fall of her breathing for another minute before heading for the spare bedroom where he removed all his clothes except his boxers, and stretched out on the bed. He tucked an arm under his head, closed his eyes, and grinded his teeth. The need for Stephanie pummeled inside him with angry force. To attempt a restful night would be pointless.

Dex’s body gave up on the restless sleep and jerked him awake. He blinked into the darkness and gave a tired grunt. The glow of the digital clock by the bed caught his gaze: 5:00 AM. He got out of bed and went to the washroom to relieve himself and rinse the sleep from his face. He could make some coffee, quietly, so he wouldn’t wake Stephanie.

On his way to the kitchen, he was surprised to see the light coming through the edges of her bedroom door. With a stab of concern, he crossed the distance and knocked.

“Stephanie…you okay?”

A few seconds of silence followed before she replied, “Yes, I’m reading a book.”

“Can I come in?”

“No.”

“Don’t be childish. Do you have water in there?”

Another pause. “Yes.”

“I’m coming in.”

“Don’t! I’m naked.”

He couldn’t help the chuckle as he pushed the door open.

Stephanie scowled at him as she tugged the sheets up to her neck. “You have some nerve. I told you I was naked.”

“I knew you weren’t.”

She rolled her eyes, but they strayed to his body with surprise and then with female appreciation she couldn’t hide. It gave his manly ego a good stroke.

He grinned as he picked up her empty glass. “You’re not the type who sleeps naked.” He ignored her vexed look and returned soon after with a new glass of water, which he handed to her.

She snapped the book shut and put it on the night table, then took a couple of long sips before putting the glass next to the book. She glowered up at him. “There. Happy?”

She looked like a cat ready to pounce or take flight and that angry pout of her bottom lip made the heat coil in his cock. He sat down on the edge of the bed.

Stephanie bent her knees and said, “What are you doing?”

“I’m not a bad guy, Stephanie. My approach to this was wrong and I apologize, but I was desperate to save Ray. Plus, I bent the rules and cleared you of possible incrimination.”

“I already thanked you for that.”

He hid the smile that her mulish response triggered. “There’s something I want to tell you about your brothers.”

Her shoulders tensed but her gaze held his as he told her about their transfer in a certain amount of detail. “I’m surprised no one had noticed all this time,” he added.

She glanced away as tears welled in her eyes and Dex repressed the urge to pull her into his arms. Her reaction wasn’t a sign of sorrow exactly. More like shame for her brothers.

She blinked the moisture from her eyes and looked at him. “They’re going to be pissed about that,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Too bad. And if they don’t clean up their act, they’ll be out of law enforcement.”

Stephanie gave a nod and her body relaxed a fraction, but her eyes were uneasy as they moved over his shoulders.

Time for a change of subject…and mood.
Dex cupped her knee. “What is it, Stephanie?” She tried to lean away from him. “Do you want me to leave?”

“Yes.” Her response was quick, laced with faint panic.

“Do you hate me?” he pressed on.

Her teeth sank into her lip. She didn’t respond.

“That’s a strong word, isn’t it?” he said. “Do you dislike me?”

“Yes,” she muttered.

“Show me how much, sweetheart.” He slipped his hand under the lower edge of the covers and stroked her bare leg.

“Leave my room, Dex.”

He curved his palm toward the inner side of her leg and as she pressed her limbs together, he yanked the sheets from her grip.

“Hey!” She tried grasping them, but they were out of her reach.

Taking advantage of her outstretched hands, he caught them and eased her back onto the pillow, pinning her hands above her head while sliding one leg between hers. “Show me,” he dared.

She lifted her head and nipped his jaw with an angry little growl.

His pulse jumped. “Ahh…nice. I know how badly you want to bite me.”

Stephanie dropped her head onto the pillow with an exasperated sigh. “I won’t play your games, Dex.”

He clasped both her wrists in one hand and let his gaze travel over her body, taking in her yellow camisole and the small matching briefs, the hard tips of her nipples poking against the fabric. His cock swelled fast and hard. He brushed her full lips with his thumb and traced a path over the fluttering pulse in her throat, forcing back the need to taste that delicate spot. He continued down to her breasts where he circled her taut nipples with his fingers and watched as she tried to control her squirming.

“Stop it.”