Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance (104 page)

There was only Lilly, with her moonlit skin and sunrise eyes. Lilly with her melting kisses and arched body. His focus centered on the thrust of his hips, the bow of her spine, the way her feet locked at the small of his back and her head tossed as he rocked against her, inside her. Pleasure was too soft a word for what he felt. Pain came closer but omitted the bliss that grew until it defined him.

Lilly orgasmed with a husky cry and a rush of damp heat that pushed him over the edge. A moment later, Alex came so hard he couldn’t breathe as the pleasure and pain merged inside him. He’d never felt anything so intense. He tried to loosen his hold, afraid he’d crushed her beneath him, but she held tight, her legs entwined with his as she pulsed around him.

When his heart finally slowed, he rolled onto the bed beside her and tucked her into the curve of his body. They both lay breathless for a while. Replete. But already thoughts and recriminations began to crowd in. What was he doing? This was a human female in his arms. Something so far out of his reach that even now, he couldn’t imagine that he was here.

Her thoughts must have run parallel to his own. He sensed her withdrawal before he felt her move away. He told himself he was relieved.

Lilly dressed hastily, aware of his hot gaze on her as she bent to pull on fresh underwear and soft yoga pants. Embarrassed, she fumbled with her bra and a clean shirt. She shrugged a sweatshirt over it and gathered the pieces of her discarded clothing to toss into the laundry basket.

Anything to avoid looking at the naked man in her bed. Because when she looked at him, she wanted to climb back in.

And no good could come of that.

She didn’t regret what she’d done. Which wasn’t the same as saying it had been a good choice. Like a bite of a donut when the whole box was waiting to be devoured. Now she’d had a taste and of course she wanted more. Already a voice in her head was trying to convince her that the damage was done, so why not enjoy it? There’d be plenty of time for regrets later.

She gave him one last look and caught him watching her with that searching way of his. There was a grim set to his jaw and a guarded gleam in his golden eyes. What was he thinking?

Maybe this was what he did. Earth girls were easy, right?

No, she didn’t believe this had been casual for him, either. That had been crazy, brain-disconnected-hormones-in-charge sex. Her heart still hadn’t slowed down. But wanting more was only going to make it harder when he left. And he would.

He was promised afterlife for getting himself killed by hellhounds. How could she compete with that? Had she not been on that trail yesterday, they would never even have met.

She took a deep breath. “I need some coffee. You?”

He rubbed his face and nodded. He was wondering what she was thinking. She let him wonder. Her thoughts were too scattered, stretching the gamut of her emotions. If he had an inkling of what was going on in her head, he’d run for the hills.

“Not that I’m complaining,” she said over her shoulder as she went to the kitchen. “But if you want some pants, I’m pretty sure my sister had a live-in boyfriend for a while. He left some clothes.”

“Lilly,” he said.

“I don’t know what size they are,” she rushed on before he could say whatever came next, “but they’re better than the ones I stripped off you last night. At least until they get washed. Check in the chest, bottom drawer. Can’t miss them.”

She didn’t stop until she reached the kitchen. She was breathless, close to tears, bordering anger and still turned on. An emotional tornado just waiting to touch down. None of it was his fault, and all of it was his fault.

“Welcome to the human female,” she muttered beneath her breath.

A few seconds later, she heard Alex let loose a frustrated sigh and pad to the chest of drawers. She tried not to listen as he opened the drawer and shut it again, or when he went into the small bathroom and started the shower. But her awareness of him wouldn’t mute.

“You are so screwed,” she told herself.

Because she wanted him, this stranger who didn’t think he was human. She wanted him like she’d never wanted a man before. She’d just had him and she wanted him some more. When he’d stood behind her, his chest a breath away from her back…when he’d smoothed her hair, touched her shoulder. She’d practically melted to the floor. And he hadn’t even kissed her yet.

I never said I wasn’t male.

Understatement of the century. He was so male that he’d fine-tuned every female response inside her, and now she was humming along, just waiting for him to do it again.

He found her in the kitchen just as the coffee finished brewing. Lilly pretended like his presence didn’t interrupt the time-space continuum between her brain and her sex, but she’d never been a great pretender and he could probably feel the heat coming off of her in waves.

In hopes of hiding it, she busied herself filling cups, adding cream to hers. Trying not to notice how good he smelled. Soap, shampoo, and Alex. She wanted to press her nose to his chest and just breathe. He wore a pair of jeans that he’d had to belt at the waist and a flannel shirt that hung loosely over his broad shoulders. It looked soft to the touch.

And she wanted to touch.

Socks covered his feet and a bland expression hid his thoughts from her. But in her mind he was still stripped and taut with wanting, those eyes so hot they’d sizzled through her common sense.

“Your sister’s friend had about sixty pounds on me,” he said with a tight smile.

Lilly was willing to wager that’s all he had. Even dark and broody, Alex was the sexiest man she’d ever met. He made her feel giddy when he came close. She’d seen other women react that way to men, but she’d never felt anything like the yearning that roared to life when he was near.

She took a deep breath and tried to focus. “Are you hungry?”

“Is that what we do next? Eat?”

His gaze snared hers again and she was caught by the beauty of his eyes. What color
were
they? Brown was too mild, green too precise, and hazel not nearly vivid enough. The short fringe of black lash set them off like jewels.

She cleared her throat. “It is if you’re hungry.”

He came around the counter and took the coffee cup Lilly had filled for him while she made a production of gathering the eggs, skillet, and utensils. She couldn’t help it. She felt all twisted up inside.

She shook her head and rolled her eyes at herself. What was
wrong
with her? She didn’t even knowthis man. But perhaps that was the crux of the problem. She
wanted
to know him but he didn’t even trust her enough to tell her where he was from.

“I’m from the Beyond,” he said to her back, reading her mind with that effortless way of his. His voice was so deep, it sent chills down her spine. His words so close to her thoughts that she turned, wondering if she’d somehow blurted out what she was thinking without realizing it.

He leaned against the counter, long legs stretched in front of him, mug held between his big hands. His hair was still wet; his jaw shadowed. He looked dangerous and sexy and she suspected that if he said,
Again?
she’d jump his bones right here on the kitchen floor.

“The Beyond,” she repeated, with an awkward horsey laugh and scalding blush, hoping he couldn’t pluck
that
thought out of her head…and, of course, hoping that was exactly what he’d do. “Is that in Minnesota?”

“Probably not,” he answered, his eyes smiling.

“I didn’t think so.”

She turned back to her eggs, scrambling them with more aggression than they deserved. “So are you going to tell me where that is or make me guess?”

“The Beyond is everywhere, Lilly,” he said gently.

As if he knew all the turmoil she was trying so hard to disguise. She whipped the eggs into submission and poured them into the skillet.

“You mean like heaven?”

“Heaven. Hell. It’s that and all the outliers that meet in the middle.”

Outliers
. “Like hellhounds.”

She chanced a look over her shoulder. Beneath all that sexy, Alex looked tired and sore, battered to the bone. He leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling.

“Like hellhounds,” he agreed wearily.

“So are you one of the outliers, too?” she asked.

He shook his head, thought about it, and shrugged. Great. He didn’t even know.

“The middle—the in-between, where it all meets? It’s not a nice place. I make sure everyone stays on their own side of the fence.”

“And when they get out, you round them up and kill them.”

“It’s what I do.”

“When they aren’t on top of you, you mean.”

He grinned. A devastating grin that she felt right down to her toes.

“This may be hard to believe,” he said, “but it doesn’t usually play that way.”

No. It wasn’t hard to believe at all. She’d had an unimpeded view of all his muscle and strength. It was a wonder the stupid hellhounds hadn’t bolted as soon as they saw him.

“Why did you run away?” he asked in a husky voice.

She knew what he meant. She’d left the bed like it was on fire. What he didn’t realize was the fact that she’d been the one burning.

“Is it because of what I am?” he asked, his voice low and troubled. “What I’m not…”

Human. That’s what he meant.

“Well, that and the fact that you’re a stranger. You may find this hard to believe, but what just happened between us…it doesn’t usually play that way.”

His eyes glittered with amusement, but his question came with a serious tone. “Why did you do it, then?”

A play on her words this time. She’d asked the same thing when Alex said he’d made himself an outlaw by protecting her from Jared.

They stared at one another, the query hanging between them. How could she answer? She didn’t understand this attraction herself. Certainly, the physical aspect was obvious. She would have noticed Alex under any circumstances. But there was something deeper than beautiful eyes and a muscled body that drew her.

Maybe it was the way he listened when she talked. Maybe it was the way he seemed to hear more than just the words she spoke. For her entire life she’d felt…lost. Abandoned children usually did. And even though she’d been taken in by good, loving people, she’d lost them, too.

Lilly had moved on, forged a life. She had friends, if not family, but she’d never had the permanence of blood relations, something that connected her by its very existence. Until her sister had appeared without warning, and for a short, poignant time, Lilly had been part of something more. Then Amy had died and Lilly had felt so empty and alone. The kind of empty that never went away.

But now here was Alex, and Lilly felt a little less hollow. She felt hopeful. He understood what it meant to stand against the tide while it sucked everything you valued out to sea. She felt bonded with him, paired. And it scared the hell out of her.

“Do you have family?” she asked.

“No.”

He paused a moment—long enough to warn her, but not enough time for her to prepare.

“Why don’t you have a mate?” he asked.

The question froze her and pricked at her already jumbled emotions. It was cruel and honest and too painful to answer. She looked away, hurt. Angry that she was hurt.

“Not every woman wants a mate,” she said with a cool toss of her head.

He wasn’t fooled. She could feel that searching stare tracking her movements, seeing beneath the surface.

The eggs were done. Glad for the distraction, Lilly added toast to the plates and handed one to Alex, taking the other for herself. He gave her a quizzical glance, but didn’t repeat his question. Somehow, she managed to hide her relief.

They sat at the small table in the kitchen and ate in silence, avoiding each other’s eyes. There’d been no dinner the night before and they were both hungry. Lilly caught herself wolfing her eggs and made an effort to slow down, but Alex shoveled it in at the same pace, unaware of her inner etiquette lecture, so she just let herself eat.

Her anger drained as she filled her stomach and by the time they’d both finished, she was ready to move away from the emotional volcano and tread on safer ground.

“Why can’t humans know about the Beyond, Alex?” she asked as he pushed away from the table. “Why is it so important to keep us in the dark?”

He shook his head, eyes at half-mast. But she felt the tension running through him. It ignited a fuse inside Lilly that was already too short. He’d either deflect or evade. He didn’t trust her. He didn’t know her. She didn’t know him either, regardless of the fact that her body craved his like it did air and water.

“Never mind,” she said. “Forget I—”

“The walls are coming down, Lilly.”

The darkly murmured statement made her mind stutter to a halt. “The walls between heaven and hell?”

“The walls between heaven, hell, and earth. The walls that separate the hallowed from the cursed. The walls that keep all the monsters in hell’s bowels contained.” He stood and moved to the fireplace. For a moment, he stared at the glowing embers before he bent to add more wood.

“They’re finding ways out of the Beyond even now. Slipping through cracks, easing through doors that shouldn’t even exist. You want to know how hellhounds made it to your backyard? That’s how. If humans were to find out, there’d be chaos.”

“There’s already chaos, Alex. Maybe you can’t see it from up there—,” she waved her hand in the air, “—wherever the Beyond is, but there’s plenty of chaos. Humans are a mess.”

“Not like this. My world is about to implode, and when it does… I fear for you. I fear for all of God’s creations.”

“Why is it going to implode? What’s wrong with it?”

“You mean aside from the demons?”

“Well, haven’t they always been there? What’s changed?”

He thought before answering. Alex wasn’t a man who spoke without thoughtful consideration. Sometimes she could almost see him censoring his words, omitting and revising as he went. But right now he just seemed to be searching for the
right
words, not the safe ones.

“The Beyond has become a dumping ground. Your filth. Our filth. So many condemned and unredeemable souls. There’s no safety valve. No way to release the pressure or dispose of the overflow. There’s not room for anything else. Not anymore.”