In a Dark Embrace (13 page)

They toppled onto the bed. She had hardly caught her breath when Jeremy stood back up.

“Time to go eat,” he said and tugged her onto her feet.

“It won’t go bad in another ten minutes, you know,” she teased but followed him back to the table.

They devoured the rest of the sushi. Then she curled up next to Jeremy on her sofa. He seemed unable to relax. Even after the sex and food she could feel tension pulse in him.

“You’re really wired today, more so than usual. Anything happen?” Lee asked.

He leaned back and shut his eyes for a minute then looked at her with a serious expression. “Missing kid, eleven years old. I spent most of today interviewing relatives, friends, teachers. No leads so far.”

“A runaway?”

“Her parents don’t think so and, even more important, her friends don’t. I’ve got someone tearing apart the family computer to see if she was in contact with anyone—you know, telling some perv in a chat room too much about herself.” He sighed. “She disappeared yesterday afternoon. I’ll be going in to work tomorrow, that’s why I brought my uniform.”

“I guess something this important you have to work the overtime. Are we still on for Sunday?” She let him see her disappointment.

“I’ll take the evening off. Sorry, but it’ll be pretty intense for a while. The longer it takes to find her…”

Lee nodded. Every day that passed increased the probability that the girl was dead. She hesitated then made her offer, “If I can help let me know. I’m good at getting information out of people and I’m good at finding things that have been…buried.”

He gave her a long look. “Thanks. I’ll let you know.”

Lee went to the fridge and took out two beers. Jeremy could probably use one and his tension was feeding into her. “Should we dress and go out onto the balcony?” she asked.

“Nah. I like the view just fine from here.” He grinned at her. She was still in the black corset although she had lost the shoes some time ago.

Lee sat on the other end of the sofa and put her feet onto his lap. He took the hint and started giving her a foot massage. They talked about various topics from the weather to political mishaps making the news. Lee closed her eyes and relaxed. She lazily rubbed against the rising lump at Jeremy’s crotch.

“That feels very nice,” he said. His hand was wrapped around the base of her thigh. She scooted closer and opened her legs for him.

He accepted the invitation and slid two fingers into her moist cunt. “You look so hot in that outfit. I wish I could take a picture of you like that.”

She smiled. “Maybe someday.”

“Don’t you trust me?”

“Would you let me take pictures of you naked?”

He thought about it for a moment. “It could wreck my career if they got onto the Internet. I’m sure the photos would launch another one but I don’t want to be a porn star.”

“My, aren’t we modest,” she teased.

He raised an eyebrow. “Do I have any reason to be?”

“No. I have to admit you have the physique for it. Not sure about the temperament.”

“Yeah. I’m not into fucking some blonde bimbo while guys with cameras watch.” His fingers continued to massage her clit as they talked.

“The bimbo part obviously isn’t a problem so I guess you must have performance anxiety,” she said dryly. Her body was feeling pleasantly tingly—not intensely hot and needy yet just the beginnings of an aching desire.

“You’re not going to let the Melissa thing go, are you?”

“Well, she is a bimbo and you did fuck her.”

“She was a warm, willing body and I was hungry. Haven’t you ever taken a man to bed who had no capacity for intelligent conversation? Some big guy with the brains of a Neanderthal?”

Lee thought about some of her nameless fucks. She’d done it more than once this past year. Met some guy at a club, went to his place, had sex and then snuck out while he was sleeping, leaving nothing but her scent behind. No names. No phone numbers. No attempts at conversation. “Yeah. I’ve been there. Okay, I forgive you.”

He laughed and his hand stopped moving. “Forgive me for a woman I was with before I met you? How far back do you want to go, Lee? You could be granting absolution for a very long time.”

“Don’t brag. I don’t want to know the numbers.” She sat up. “Makes me nervous thinking about communicable diseases. We haven’t exactly been careful.”

Lee frowned as she thought about that. Their meeting in the woods had been so wild it hadn’t even occurred to her to demand protection. And then it had seemed like a case of shutting the barn door after the horses were out. But if he really had been with that many women, maybe she should still ask him to wear a condom. Her powers could heal her of most illnesses but she didn’t really want to try her luck with AIDS.

“Don’t worry about it, my witch. Werewolves don’t get sick. Not ever.”

“What? You’re naturally resistant to everything—colds, the flu, gonorrhea, AIDS?”

“Yep. None of us have ever had so much as a sniffle in our lives.” He pulled her against his chest and bent his head to kiss her.

She pushed him away “What about pregnancy?”

“We’re not particularly fertile but I do usually ensure some kind of protection. You were rather a surprise event. I assume that you—”

“I’m on the Pill.”

He nodded. “Then there’s nothing to worry about.”

She looked at him keenly. “What’s the drawback? My mother taught me that every magic has its price. You’re inhumanly strong, extremely fast, have heightened senses, age slowly and don’t get sick. What’s the price for all that?”

Jeremy growled softly into her ear. “I get hungry. Very hungry.” He nibbled on her throat. “I have to eat probably twice as much as a normal man. I eat dinner before we go out and then have a second meal. And I crave sex almost as much as food. A week without a woman is very difficult for me.”

Lee felt herself go stiff. There might be times they couldn’t be together. What would he do then?

“Don’t think it, my witch. I won’t go running to someone else in your absence. It may be hard but I can do it…and we can always phone each other, yes?” He lifted his head and smiled at her.

“Your body burns calories at twice the speed of a normal person’s. Is that all?”

“No. I told you when we met that I change at will. That’s true but not entirely. I’m driven to change, to run as the wolf. Again, a week without is difficult. The longest I’ve ever managed is two weeks but I was a twitching, snarling wreck by then. I can feel the itch between my shoulder blades already. Tomorrow night you’ll have to excuse me for a few hours.”

“That’s okay. I’ll come out to your place after work but I can go back home for the night.”

Jeremy ran a finger across her shoulders and down her cleavage. “No. Stay. I’ll only be gone for a bit…and I want to wake up next to you.”

“All planned then,” Lee said. She pulled his head down and kissed him. The embers that had been left to glow unattended during their conversation flared back into full flame. “Let’s go to bed, my wolf.”

* * * * *

She woke up the next morning and stretched like a lazy cat. Last night had been wonderful and she cherished every sore spot on her well-used body. The four days without him had seemed like an eternity. Lee admitted to herself that she’d missed Jeremy dreadfully. Missed his smile and the way his eyebrows lowered as he thought about something serious, missed the sound of his breathing during the night and his weight denting the bed next to her. But most of all she had missed the damn fantastic sex. By Tuesday she’d been half-crazy with wanting him. The phone sex barely scratched the surface of her physical craving. They had stayed up very late last night, satisfying each other’s desire. Yet she wanted him again. But it was nearly ten and they both had to get ready for work.

Lee climbed out of bed, casting a long, appreciative look at his muscular back.

Part of her wanted to be with him every possible minute of every day and was upset that he had to work this weekend. But there was another voice in her head saying that it was a good thing he had an important case. It meant this weekend couldn’t be as intense as the last one. Lee sighed. She needed to keep her emotions under control and not get drawn into his infatuation. Yes, she wanted him physically and she had every intention of enjoying the new heat in her sex life. But it was too early in their relationship to start getting attached to him. He might be ready to jump into the deep end but she’d wade in more slowly.

She got into the shower and relaxed under the jet of water for a minute. Her eyes were closed but she felt it when Jeremy woke up. He slipped into the shower and started soaping up her chest. She leaned back to rinse the shampoo out of her hair. His hands massaged her breasts and belly, making her want to purr. Jeremy got down on his knees. Lee shuddered at the feel of hot water and an even hotter tongue.

“Time to do the other side now,” he said after a minute. Jeremy stood, turned her around and started to scrub her back. She could feel his erect cock bumping into her as he worked.

“Are you ready for me?” he asked and slipped a soapy finger up her cunt.

She turned around and pulled his head down for a hungry kiss. Jeremy lifted her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist. He pushed her against the wall and plunged in, immediately setting up a pounding rhythm. Between the cascading water and his demanding thrusts her climax came quickly. Jeremy released his control at the same time and exploded inside her with a growl.

Lee rinsed off the soap and semen, gave him a quick kiss and dashed out of the shower. She was dressed and tying back her wet hair when Jeremy got out of the bathroom.

“You’ve made me late. I’m going to grab coffee and breakfast on the way to work,” she told him. “You can help yourself to anything you find in my fridge or cupboards. Haven’t done a lot of shopping lately but there’s cereal and maybe some frozen waffles.”

Jeremy was pulling clothing out of the sports bag and dressing quickly. “I’ll get something on the way as well. One of these days you’ll make me a meal. You can cook, can’t you?”

“I’m a good cook. Just don’t have time for it when I’m being hounded by a damn wolf nearly every waking hour.”

She eyed him in his uniform and ran a hand up his muscular arm. “This looks good on you. Someday I’d like you to do a striptease for me.”

He laughed. “You’ll have to show me how it’s done.”

“Deal.” She grinned and grabbed him for a quick kiss. “I’ll be at your place around seven.”

“I’ll leave the door unlocked. I might be napping but come on in.”

She shot him a sympathetic look. “You just came off night shift, didn’t you? How much sleep did you get yesterday?”

He shrugged. “Not much but I don’t mind.”

Lee stole another kiss and ran out the door before she got tempted into another quickie. She pitied her Saturday clients. She was already distracted.

Chapter
Ten

Lee throttled down and shifted into first gear as she pulled into Jeremy’s long driveway. She let the bike coast quietly into the open garage. It was a bit earlier than they had planned to meet up. Her last client canceled so she called it a day at four instead of the usual five. She touched the hood of his SUV on the way into the house. It was still warm. He’d probably only just got home from work himself. Lee hesitated. She should have spent the extra hour at home and let him have his nap. But she was here now so she might as well go in.

Lee tiptoed into the bedroom. Jeremy’s deep, slow breathing was audible out in the hallway. She stood over him and admired his sleeping profile. The wildness was tamed, the intellect and biting humor quiescent. He looked innocent, fragile even. Her heart skipped a beat. Oh god, she was getting mushy. All her careful analysis and rational decision making was flying out the window.

Lee slowly unbuttoned her shirt and dropped it on the floor. Her jeans followed. Naked, she crawled into bed beside Jeremy and snuggled up close. Feeling warm and content, she closed her eyes.

* * * * *

A heavy hand was stroking her stomach in a desultory way. She rolled onto her back and they shared a sleepy kiss.

“It’s after eight. You didn’t wake me,” he said.

Lee ran her hand over his scratchy face. “You looked so peaceful. I decided to join you for a snuggle and must have dozed off.”

“Thank you. I love waking up next to you.”

His emotions tugged at her. He was so damn happy to be with her, it was far more than infatuation she sensed. She pulled both her hand and her witch sense away from him with a slight frown.

“You’re probably starving. We should go get dinner.”

“I picked up some chicken and a couple of salads on the way home. Ate some before I crashed. We can have the rest in a little while.” He pressed her down on the bed and buried his face in her chest.

She played with his hair and cautiously unfurled her senses again.

The gush of emotions from earlier was buried under rising passion. Lee relaxed with the change. She rolled onto her side so that she lay in the circle of his arms, Jeremy spooned along her back. For the first time he slipped into her slowly, gradually sinking his length deeper and deeper into her. He held her close and didn’t move except for a slight rocking of his hips. Lee allowed that for a while then pushed him onto his back, rolling with him so she was draped across his hips, pinned into place by his cock. She put a foot on his leg and lifted herself up slightly then dropped down. It wasn’t a position that allowed for a lot of energetic thrusting but the penetration was fantastic. Small movements translated into deep waves of pleasures. It was great, lazy sex. Her orgasm was powerful but quieter than usual.

“I never tried this position before,” Jeremy said. “I like it. But,” he flipped her back onto her side, “I need something more aggressive.”

He pushed in hard and wrapped himself tightly around her. Jeremy had one arm across her shoulders while the other hand squeezed a breast. She was skewered by his long cock and firmly immobilized, encased by his strong body. Lee squirmed and whimpered, a spark of fear suddenly shooting through the burning desire. His arm was nearly at her throat and he seemed oblivious to her struggles as he continued to fuck her hard. Yet, pressing against her bonds, she wanted both to be released and to be pinned even more securely against his chest. It was a strange, lustful panic that made her tremble in his arms. He thrust up into her with short, sharp jabs, his breathing labored and his emotions swarming with possessive lust. She climaxed in uneasy confusion.