Deadly Is the Kiss (19 page)

Fury narrowed her eyes. “You, of all people, have no right to ask me that.”

He turned toward her, his eyes burning like twin sparks of silver fire. “Either you answer the question, Juliana, or I go track his ass down and get it from him.”

“He held my hand!” she exploded, so angry she could have slapped him. “But that’s it!”

He stalked toward her again, his nostrils flaring as he pulled in a deep breath. “You’re lying,” he sneered. “I can smell him on you.”

“I’m not lying, you bastard.” She flung the words at him, each one biting and sharp. “It wasn’t sexual! He gave me blood!”

“Blood?” He bared his fangs, looking ready to kill. “You took from his vein?”

“Yes!” she hissed, tears of anger and frustration in her eyes as she glared up at his rugged face. She wanted so badly to hate him for what he was, but even more for what he wasn’t. Which was hers. “I thought you were getting a good meal from your little fuck buddy, so why shouldn’t I get the same?”

“She isn’t my fuck buddy,” he snarled, shoving the words through his clenched teeth.

A bitter laugh tore from her chest. “Are you saying that you’ve never slept with her?”

He cursed, pacing away again. “Once.” He cut her a sharp, dark look. “Once was enough. It was a few years ago. I never went back for seconds.”

“Well, bully for you.”

He pulled in another deep breath, and scrubbed his hands over his face a few times. A moment later, when he lowered them again and looked at her, Juliana was surprised to hear what sounded like a rough note of regret in his deep voice as he said, “All I did with Lacey tonight was talk.”

“Right.” Her snide tone made it clear she didn’t believe him.

“Why would I lie, damn it?”

“You had to take her into the club’s back room to
talk?
What’s back there, anyway? Whips and chains?”

“It’s just another bar,” he muttered, starting up that restless pacing again, “with more tables and no dance floor.” Rubbing at the back of his neck, he watched her from the corner of his eye. “And I went with her because I needed…I needed some space from you,” he ground out, the thick words sounding torn from inside him. “It was too much. Everything we talked about.”

Realization settled like a ghostly caress against her skin, and she trembled. “You mean you thought you’d use her to push me away,” she stated, wrapping her arms around her middle, as if she could somehow hold herself together.

He stopped pacing, hands braced on his hips as he stared at the ground. He didn’t deny what she’d said. Instead, he confirmed it. “I realized it was a dumbass idea before we even got into the back room,” he admitted in a low voice. And then, very slowly, his head lifted, that bright gaze locking with hers. “And what about you?” he asked. “You had no right going to that guy for blood.”

Juliana lifted her chin, refusing to feel guilty. “I can feed from whoever I damn well please.”

His eyes narrowed to dark, piercing slits. “If I’m going to be the man fucking you, then I’ll bloody well be the man feeding you.”

“No,” she argued, shaking her head. “That isn’t our deal. In fact, considering everything that’s happened, I think it’s safe to say that our deal is off!”

His jaw tightened as he came toward her, muscles flexing beneath his sweater with raw, predatory power. When he spoke, his voice was little more than a threatening rasp. “Keep pushing me, Jules. I dare you.”

She swallowed, torn between conflicting desires. On the one hand, she wanted to turn and run, unwilling to give him what he wanted. But on the other, she was dying to throw herself against him and claim every ounce of that hard, mouthwatering attitude for her own.

Before she could decide what to do, he got right in her face, looming over her, and said, “If you’re not taking from me, then you’ll continue to feed from the bagged blood Gideon brought us. Do you understand me?”

She was so angry she wouldn’t have been surprised if steam started pouring from her ears. “So I have to keep drinking cold blood while you get it fresh?”

Something in his eyes flickered, frustration molding every word out of his mouth. “I’ve been drinking bagged blood for months now. It won’t kill you.”

Her jaw dropped, but then she quickly shook off the reaction. “It’s a nice story,” she muttered, turning her face to the side. “But I’d be an idiot to believe you.”

“Damn it, look at me!” He took her chin between his forefinger and thumb, forcing her gaze back to his. “I didn’t fuck her!” he growled. “I didn’t even kiss her!”

“You just sucked on her neck, is that it?”

“No. I didn’t.” His breath shuddered past his lips, warm and sweet. “We talked, just like I said.” His eyes narrowed again, and his voice dropped. “But even if I had, what would you be so pissed about? You’ve made it clear that I’m not allowed to suck on yours.”

“And I’m glad I did!” she snapped, trying to sound tough. But her quivering chin ruined the effect.

Suddenly wrapping his hands around her upper arms, he pulled her against him as he lowered his head, his lips at her ear. “Damn it, I’m telling you the truth. I didn’t do anything with the redhead. And do you wanna know why?” He took a deep breath, burying his face in her hair, and spoke in a ragged tone. “I didn’t do anything because she wasn’t the woman I wanted. She didn’t smell right. She wouldn’t have tasted right.” He touched his tongue to the pulse hammering at the side of her throat. “What the hell have you done to me, Jules? I don’t even know who I am anymore.”

Something warm and soft started to burn in her chest. “You…you really didn’t feed from her?”

He lifted his head, staring her right in the eye. “I didn’t. But you fed from the boy. You owe me an apology, Juliana.”

For a moment she thought about pointing out the fact that Josh wasn’t a boy, then decided it would just be foolish to prod his temper. But she wasn’t ready to accept his dictates. Not with the memory of him putting his arm around Lacey’s waist and walking away with her still fresh in her mind. Just because he hadn’t gone through with it this time didn’t mean that he wouldn’t the next. “I don’t owe you an apology,” she whispered, wetting her lips. “We’ve made no promises of fidelity to each other.”

Her voice was soft, thick with pain, and Ashe hated himself for putting her through that. He’d known as soon as he’d gotten close to Lacey, pressing her up against a wall in the back room of the club, that he’d panicked and misread the signs. Juliana wasn’t the mistake he’d needed to avoid—Lacey was. And now he had to find a way to make Juliana understand, to do some serious damage control, because he couldn’t stomach the thought of her walking away from him.

Not just tonight. But ever.

“Do you know what’s the first thing I’ll want to do every time another man lays his hands on you?” he asked, digging his fingers into the soft mass of her hair and tilting her head back.

Her eyes narrowed to sharp, glittering points of light. “What?”

Very slowly, he said, “I’ll want to kill him.”

She blinked at the vehemence of his response. “You’re joking, right?”

He rubbed his thumb over the smoothness of her cheek, thinking she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever known. “You don’t think you’re worth killing for?”

Her laugh was brittle. “Hardly.”

For a moment, there was only the sound of their breathing and the wind gusting through the trees. And then he said, “I disagree.”

She stared up at him, trembling, her eyes filled with the questions she couldn’t put into words.

“I mean it,” he rasped. “I would kill for you. Easily. Without remorse. Again and again.”

“What are you saying?”

Recognizing the fact that he was standing at the edge of that cliff, ready to take that first life-changing step into the unknown, Ashe swallowed the lump of fear in his throat and gave her the words. “I’m saying that you’re important to me, Jules. More important than any other woman I’ve ever known.”

Tears filled her eyes, shimmering and bright. “You’re…important to me, too. And I’m…sorry,” she said with a hard swallow. “I was jealous. That was the only reason I fed from Josh.”

“I don’t ever want any other man’s taste in your mouth. Only
mine,
” he groaned, his pulse roaring in his ears as he shoved the sleeve of his sweater over his forearm. Then he lifted his arm and pressed his skin against her mouth, her lips already parted for her panting breaths. He didn’t wait for her to bite, shoving his skin against the sharp points of her fangs until they dug in with a tight pop. Her eyes went wide, then heavy, her feminine little hands suddenly clutching his arm, holding him to her mouth, her throat working as she swallowed. She took several deep, ravenous pulls, the drawing sensation reaching all the way down to his cock. He thickened, every lush pull making him harder, cranking his hunger up higher…and higher. He wanted the hot surge of his blood flowing through her body, washing away that other bastard’s taste. Wanted to be in every part of her, filling her up.

“I need to be inside you, but I’m not fucking you against a tree,” he scraped out in a thick voice, nipping the tendon at the side of her throat. “I need you in our room, Jules. Need you somewhere I can lay you down and spread you open, without worrying about some damn assassin shoving his claws in my back and trying to take you away from me.”

Without waiting for her response, he tore his arm from her mouth and picked her up, carrying her against his chest. “Ashe, I can walk,” she protested, hoping he didn’t plan to carry her through the middle of the crowded nightclub. She brushed her fingers over her tingling lips, the mouthwatering taste of his blood still warm in her mouth, his unique, purely masculine flavor the most addictive thing she’d ever tasted.

“I know you can. But it’ll take too damn long,” he grumbled, his long legs eating up the ground. Within moments, they had crossed the road and he was setting her down outside the back door of the club, the look in his eyes warning her to move quickly.

“That desperate?” she teased, arching her brow at him.

“Woman, you have no idea,” he grunted, ripping open the door and shoving her inside, his hand hot against her lower back. No more than a minute later, they’d maneuvered their way through the crowd, thankfully without running into either Josh or Lacey. Ashe used the key to unlock their door, his mouth already on hers as he pulled her against his chest and walked her into the room. He kicked the door shut with his foot, then reached back and flicked the lock.

They didn’t even make it into the bedroom, his hands making short work of her sweater and bra as he herded her toward the small dining table wedged into the far corner of the room. Her jeans and panties had fallen only as far as her ankles, her knife still strapped to her calf and her boots still on, when he picked her up, kicked a leg of the table to knock it in front of the mirrored doors of a small coat closet, and laid her down on the chilly surface. Then he pushed between her legs, forcing them apart as he came down over her, his mouth moving over hers as he ate at her low moans, his tongue licking and swirling, driving her wild.

“Do you have any idea how worried I was when I couldn’t find you?” he groaned, kissing his way down her throat, his tongue flicking against her rapid pulse before he worked his way to her breasts. The husky words shook with emotion, the heat of his mouth as he suckled on her nipple bringing a whimper of pleasure to her kiss-swollen lips. She dug her fingers into his silky hair, holding him to her. It was deliciously decadent, having his fully clothed body pressing against her bare skin, his hands stroking with rough urgency, as if he was desperate to touch her everywhere at once.