Edge of Night (2 page)

Biting back a sob of frustration, she could only nod mutely. It was either that or beg. She fished out her car keys and hitched her purse strap higher on her shoulder. Her limbs shook with unsated need, her blood rushing hot and wild in her veins. It took everything she had not to drag him to the ground and say to hell with propriety. She
wanted
him, wanted his hands on her naked skin, wanted to slide her tongue over every inch of his hard body.

His eyes flashed with powerful magic, his fangs fully extended. His telepathic voice filled her mind, the words almost a purr.
“I can sense your craving, Erin.”

“I know.” She turned away, forcing her feet to carry her toward her car. “Follow me home.”

“You won’t mind if I tailgate you on the way there, will you?” His tone was silky and so low she almost didn’t hear it.

Pausing, she glanced over her shoulder at him. “Only if you’re also planning to ride my ass once we get to my place.”

A visible shudder ran through him, and the look he gave her made her sex throb. His smile was one of sinful promise. “Absolutely. All night long.”

That was what she was hoping. Maybe then she could forget the creepy feeling she’d experienced in her restaurant. If anyone could distract her, it was Luca.

The woman had the most luscious body he’d ever had his hands on—long legs that wrapped tight around his flanks and full curves that overflowed his palms. He’d had them both stripped within ten seconds of walking in her front door and dragging her to the floor. After plunging his cock inside her, he paused to let himself savor the feel of her slick sheath squeezing around his shaft. He groaned, wrapped his fingers around her knee and pulled her thighs wider so he could drive himself even deeper.

No matter how long he lived,
nothing
would ever beat the sensation of sliding into a willing woman.

“Luca!” She arched beneath him, her nails digging into his back.

Her face was flushed, her eyes glazed with need. It was a sight he couldn’t get enough of. Cupping her breasts in his palms, he rubbed his thumbs back and forth across the beaded tips. He bent forward to draw one nipple into his mouth and sucked her until she writhed beneath him and begged in soft, incoherent sentences. Gods, it was a fucking rush.

Vampires fed on blood, but they could also absorb erotic energy during sex. It wouldn’t sustain his kind, but the high was incredible, like a hit of the most potent drug. And Erin’s energy was extraordinary. She gave herself over to sex, to him, letting loose on a level that most women didn’t. It could addict a vampire if he wasn’t careful. He drove himself into her wet pussy, felt a wave of her desire wash over him.

He released her nipple, trailing kisses into the valley between her breasts. “
Come, mi sei mancata.
Sweet, sweet Erin.”

He’d had a long, shitty week on a case that took him out of town, and he’d wanted nothing more when he returned than to bury himself in her and forget everything. He’d missed having that tension release, missed the easy straightforwardness of the time he spent with her. No games, no complications. Perfect. Only during sex did all of the chaos and bullshit in his head calm down, so he relished this.

“Faster, Luca!” Her legs clamped around his waist, forcing his cock deeper into her pussy.

He didn’t even bother to suppress the groan that ripped from his throat. Arching his hips, he picked up speed and sank his dick into her again and again, the wet heat of her sex squeezing around him, her low moans ratcheting up his need. Sheer carnal bliss. He could sense the hot rush of blood in her veins, the pounding of her heart. It was a soft song in his ears, luring him, calling up deeper cravings. Feeding and sex often went hand-in-hand for vampires, each pleasure increasing the other. His fangs slid forward and he trailed his tongue along her collarbone.

Her heart skipped a beat, and he could feel her excitement spike. She knew what was coming—they’d fucked too often for her not to understand exactly what he could do to her. He smiled against her skin, scraping her with his fangs, and she shivered beneath him, her hips snapping up in a frantic rhythm that drove him to the edge of madness.

Need gripped his gut, bloodlust twining with wanton cravings. He wouldn’t be able to hold back much longer, and the way she sobbed and clutched him closer, the way her desire flowed over his senses, did nothing to help. Sweat slid down his flesh, his muscles shaking as he pounded into her.

“Please,” she breathed. The soft word combined with the demanding drag of her nails up his back sent him spinning.

It was too much to resist—
she
was too much to resist. His lips skimmed below her collarbone, and he sank his fangs into her tender flesh. The richness of her blood hit his taste buds as she screamed. Her body bowed beneath him, her sex fisting around his cock as she came.

“Oh God.
Oh God!
” Her fingers moved to dig into his ass, and he ground his pelvis down on her clit as he drank from her.

Her scream was a high, thin sound, and she reached climax again. Her energy slammed into him, so hot and erotic it made pinpricks of light flash before his eyes. Gods, he couldn’t hold back his own orgasm, though he wanted to drag this out as long as possible. He’d never gotten his fill of her. Throwing back his head, he hissed and come jetted from his cock. Great shudders wracked him and he kept thrusting, loving the friction of his body in hers. His heart pounded in his ears, drowning out all other noises. He emptied himself into her, filling her while her sex spasmed around his dick. Sinking down, he buried his face in the crook of her neck and wished to never move again. This was as close to heaven as a man like him would ever get.

The smoky sound of her laughter made him smile. She relaxed beneath him, boneless, and sighed. “That…was…
awesome
.”

“Mmm-hmm.” It was the most coherent response he could come up with. The breath filtered out of his lungs, he closed his eyes and let himself drift for another few moments.

Reality returned by degrees. The sweetness of her feminine scent, the softness of her body, the discomfort of the hard wooden floor under his knees. He winced and sat back on his haunches, both of them groaning as his cock slid free of her pussy.

An imperious mew sounded from above them, and they both turned to see Balthasar perched on the back of the couch, appearing peeved. Luca knew that look. The cat was hungry and he expected to be fed. Now. Then again, the cat was always hungry. Though Balthasar was an enormous cat, there wasn’t an ounce of fat on him, and Luca was fairly certain he didn’t want to know what his familiar did to burn off the calories.

Erin’s eyebrows drew together. “Did he come inside with us? I didn’t see him.”

“Neither did I.” He shrugged.

She waved a hand to encompass the room. “How does he get in? I have security systems. Expensive ones—my family insisted. He shouldn’t have gotten into the bistro either, but there he was.”

“From my experience, familiars do what they want, when they want and there’s very little that stops them. Spells, cages, laws of gravity.” He shrugged again. Balthasar had decided that Luca was his person whether Luca liked it or not, and that was that. Even as a kitten, there’d been no way to shake the furball, and by now Luca didn’t really want to. He loved the damn beast, no matter how much of a demanding pain in the ass he liked to be. “I think he wants food.”

“I know he does. I promised him treats earlier.” She startled when her cell phone rang, and she wrinkled her nose, stretching against the floor.

“You’re not going to get that?” Not that he really cared. Luca sat back, braced himself on his hands and enjoyed the unencumbered view of her body.

Slowly working her way into a sitting position, she shook her head. “Nope, that’s my general ring tone, so it’s not someone I know well or they’d have their own ring.”

“Do I have a special ring tone?” He narrowed his eyes at her.

The cell finally went silent and she arched her brows at him. “Of course.”

“Do I want to know what it is?”

Wickedness gleamed in her gaze. “If you didn’t want to know, you wouldn’t have bothered asking.”

True enough, though he wasn’t sure he liked that she knew him well enough to understand that. Or maybe he liked it too much. He scowled. “Tell me.”

“
Pour Some Sugar on Me
by Def Leppard.”

It took him a moment to recall the song, but then he snorted. “Nice.”

Her landline started ringing and she sighed, heaving herself off the floor to get it. “Hello?”

She paused for a moment, frowning. Even his enhanced hearing didn’t pick up a word of what the other person was saying. Unusual.

“They hung up.” She shrugged and set the phone back in the cradle. “Weird.”

He gave her an incredulous look. “So you don’t pick up your cell, but you do pick up your landline?”

“Almost no one has my landline number, so it’s usually just family or close friends who call it.” She tossed her hands up. “I go back and forth between the bistro and the bakery during the week, so my cell number is also my work number. I’m off the clock right now, so unless you’re someone with a personalized ring tone, I don’t want to talk to you.”

Her mobile phone rang again, the general tone, and she stuck her tongue out at it. A few button pushes and she silenced it. “Nope, no one in my contacts list has this number. They can just leave a message.”

“Was it the same number?”

She carried the cell over to her cordless and pushed a couple of buttons. “No. Just a coincidence.”

“Ah.” The hardwood floor was easier to sit on than kneel on, but hardly met his idea of comfortable. He rose to his feet, stretched the kinks out of his muscles, and let the mellow afterburn of orgasm loosen him up.

Setting both phones down, she glanced over at him. “Want some dessert? Since your familiar is sending me into the kitchen anyway.”

“I didn’t have dinner.” He grinned. “Unless you count the taste I had of you just now.”

An expression of exaggerated horror crossed her face. “I am
not
dinner.”

Waving that away, he gave her a coolly superior look. “My ancestors would disagree, little Normal.”

She blew a raspberry at him. “I feel like I’m talking to the shark in
Finding Nemo
. ‘Fish are friends, not food.’ Only about Normals.”

He just laughed at her, holding up his hands in surrender. He could never predict what might come out of her mouth, and he liked that about her. “I won’t have you for dinner, then. Feed me something else.”

Snorting, she turned to walk toward her kitchen. “Seriously, I worry about people who skip meals on a regular basis. They’re just not right.”

“Thanks a lot.” He realized he was standing on his Armani, which didn’t look like it had survived the sex. It was worth the cost of a new suit. He shrugged and followed Erin.

He liked her place—it was as interesting and unexpected as the woman herself. She lived in a condo that made up one entire floor of an old, converted warehouse. There was one floor above her and one below, then the basement had been turned into underground parking and storage closets for each of the condo owners.

The outside walls of the place were exposed brick and mostly made up of windows. The venting and ducts that ran along the ceiling were also exposed, along with the support beams and pillars that held up the building. Everything here was open—the kitchen, living room, and dining area making up one large space. Only the office and a couple of bedrooms and bathrooms were partitioned off by walls. Colorful paintings, furniture and throw rugs made statements that drew the eye, and a long granite-topped island separated the kitchen from the rest of the space. He scooted around it and propped an elbow on the cool surface as he watched her.

A loud yowl pierced the air and he flinched, looking back at his familiar, still poised on the couch, his tail whipping through the air. “Well, get in here if you want to be fed. I’m not carrying you.”

Erin shook her head as she opened her fridge to rummage around. “The two of you, I swear.”

A variety of ingredients were unloaded onto the counter, and he had no idea which were for him and which were for his cat. Erin straightened, let the refrigerator swing closed and reached into the pantry for a few containers and an apron.

She looked down as she was tying the string behind her neck and grunted. “Well, that’ll rule out low-cut tops for a few days.”

“What’s that?” Though he had a good idea what she was talking about.

She swung the apron out of the way and he saw a clear bite mark on her chest. He had to admit he liked the sight, but doubted she’d appreciate that thought. “It could be worse. I could have gone for your neck, then it’d be turtlenecks only.”

She crossed her arms and cocked a hip, the picture of feminine annoyance. “If you didn’t bite so deeply, it would heal within an hour.”

True, but he liked to bite deep. Licking the mark would seal it, but unless it was shallow, it could take a day or three to disappear completely. A vampire bite would never leave a scar, but biting a Normal who didn’t have extra healing abilities meant he needed to make sure to sink his fangs where the mark wouldn’t be seen. Not biting wasn’t an option he’d willingly put on the table, so he kept his mouth shut.