Jared (18 page)

“Sweet baby.”

Her hands stopped pushing. Her fingers curled inward.
Her talons teased in tiny pinpricks as she came up on her toes, her lips
parting, her breath mingling with his.

“Yes. Come here.”

He hooked his arm behind her back, encouraging her to
arch farther, widening his stance as her toes nudged his.

“Jared.”

“Right here.”

Her hands slid up his shoulders. “This is so wrong.”

“We’ll figure it out later.”

“Later will be too late.”

He slanted his mouth over hers, licking along the
smooth seam until she shivered.

“Open.”

“Think, Jared. You don’t even know who I am.”

“My vampire does.”

“Your vampire is just horny.”

The word seemed incongruous coming from those lips.
“You make even swear words sexy.”

“I did not swear.”

“Yes, you did.” He extended the talon on his index
finger and placed it at the base of her neck, poking through the material of
her turtleneck, tickling her skin. She shivered, and her mouth took on a softer
cast. “All sexy and enticing. I find I like it when you talk dirty to me.”

With a quick downward movement, he sliced the
turtleneck open and slid his hands under the stretchy fabric.

“Ah, sunbeam, you’re silky soft all over.”

Her fingers dug into his neck as she tugged herself
up. “You’re not soft.” Her breasts rubbed against his chest in short, jerky
movements.

“No, not soft at all.” He cupped her buttock in his
hand. Lushly feminine, the curve filled his palm. He was so damn hard he was
about to break in two.

She grunted and bounced against him. “You’re too
tall.”

She was trying to get into his arms. “Then we’ll
adjust.”

He lifted her up. Her legs immediately came around his
waist, strong and slim, locking them together.

“Oh yeah.”

Kisses sprinkled along his jaw, his neck. And then
back up again. “Do you make love as well as you give orders?”

“Better.” He caught her head in his palm, directing
those kisses to his mouth.

Her fingers riffled through his hair, sliding up
before wrapping in the strands and tugging down. Her “Prove it” dragged a
chuckle past his desire.

“Any time.”

She rubbed those pretty breasts against him, the
slippery material of her bra easing the friction. “I was thinking now was a
good time.”

“I’m not dense, sweetheart. I got that.”

“You couldn’t prove it by me.”

He hooked his talon behind the elastic of her bra
strap and gave it a flick. The severed strap slid down her arm. “In a hurry,
are we?”

“Yes.”

He slit the other strap before walking her back
against the wall, smiling as she jerked when her spine made contact with the
cool surface. He reached for the hem of her shirt and tugged it up until it
caught under her arms. “Let go of me.”

She shook her head. “You feel too good.”

“I’ll feel even better against you without the barrier
of clothes.”

Her head cocked to the side as she considered the
option. Her fingers slid back over his neck, her nails scratching erotically
over the ledge of his collarbone. Her eyes, melting with passion to the color
of warm chocolate, met his. With a witchy smile, she lifted her hands over her
head, crossing her wrists and leaning back, perking those breasts up toward his
mouth, figuratively and literally offering herself to his pleasure.

Desire crashed over him with the force of a tidal
wave, almost wiping out his control. His fangs exploded into his mouth, aching
with the need to accept her offer. He traced the tendon running down the side
of her neck. “Dangerous, sunbeam. Very dangerous.”

Her lids lowered over her eyes, adding a sultry
challenge to her expression. “Afraid you can’t handle me?”

He braced her weight on one hand. With the other he
lifted her shirt up and over. The neck obliterated her expression for a
heartbeat. When he tugged it free, she was still tossing that challenge at him
from behind the shield of her lashes. Her lips curved in the slightest of
smiles.

“Oh, I can handle you.” He wrapped the excess shirt
around her arms, effectively trapping them above her head. Her breasts, small
and tip-tilted, quivered as she took a hoarse breath. He tucked the material
between her arms, locking them in place. His mouth watered, imagining how sweet
those swollen tips were going to taste on his tongue. How perfect her cries
were going to sound to his ears as he sucked and nibbled them to tight points.
“But I’m not rushing.”

Her smile just got more confident. She ran her tongue
over her small sexy fangs and arched her back, pushing her pelvis down on his.
“We’ll see.”

So they would. He lowered his head. She met him
halfway, catching his lower lip between her teeth, licking the inner lining in
teasing little flicks that drove him crazy for full contact. Wrapping her hair
in his hand, he tilted her head, bringing her mouth into alignment with his,
her growl of frustration adding one more intriguing element to the passion
arcing between them.

He caught her chin in his hand, and she pulled him
closer. “Slow down, baby.”

She shook her head, fighting his hold. “You have to
hurry.” Buttons flew everywhere, hitting the floor in little pings of
excitement, as she tore his shirt open. “Why?”

“You have to hurry before it’s over.”

He had to think on that a second. “Sunbeam, are you
worried about coming too soon?”

“Not me, you.”

Now she wasn’t making sense. “If that’s the problem,
why are you rushing?”

“I don’t want to lose the feeling.”

He needed another second. “If you lose it, I’ll help
you find it again.”

She shook her head, leaning forward to lick at his
chest. “Oh no. I know how that works.” Her mouth skated to the right, finding
his nipple with unerring accuracy, lapping it lightly when he wanted her to
bite. “You fall asleep, and I’m left watching you snore.”

No way in hell could he ever fall asleep on her. “I
think you’re safe.”

“You don’t fall asleep?”

He put an end to her teasing by simply lifting her up
while tilting her head back. “I don’t snore.”

“Like that’s some comfort.”

He caught her lower lip between his teeth, pulling at
it gently, measuring her response by the increase in her respiration, the
increase in her heartbeat. “Rai, it’s been a long time for me, so even if I’m
quick off the mark the first time around, I guarantee you I’ll be ready to go
again before you get to missing the feeling.”

She had one hand nearly free of the tatters of her
shirt. “I’ve heard that before.”

Anger cut through his patience. “If you don’t want me
taking you like a barbarian, you’d best not raise the beast by talking of other
men.”

“Raise the beast?”

She twisted so her nipple brushed his lips.

“My vampire side doesn’t like being reminded he’s not
the first.”

She rubbed her breast against his mouth in a blatant
invitation. “If he performs really well, maybe he’ll get to be the last.”

His laugh buffeted her nipple. The small peak drew
diamond hard. He touched his tongue to the flat tip, drawing her taste back
into his mouth, savoring it before answering. “That, my little vamp, is a
given.”

He caught her under the arms, lifted her up, and
tossed her over his shoulder. Her squeal made him chuckle. Her fists thumping
him on the butt had him slapping hers. Another squeal, and then he gave her a
toss onto the mattress.

She landed awkwardly, her hands stretched over her
head, her torso arched, her feet hanging toward the floor. He ripped his shirt
off and let it drop to the floor. Her eyes opened wide as she took in his
chest. Her tongue came out to play over those pouty lips. His cock jerked
within the confines of his jeans. He ripped them open and shoved them down,
barely remembering to kick off his boots as she parted her legs suggestively.
All the while those hands remained anchored above her head in a visible sign of
submission to his need. “Hurry.”

He came down over her, stepping between her legs,
lowering his hips to hers, his stomach, his chest. Everywhere her skin touched
hot embers burst into flames.

Lowering his head, he kissed her cheek, her ear, and
whispered, “All of a sudden, I’m not in that much of a hurry.”

“Darn it!”

“No swearing, sunbeam.”

“That wasn’t a swear.”

“It’s about as close as you get, and if I have to
watch my language, you have to watch yours.”

“I’m not teasing you.”

He caught her wrists just as she was about to slip
them free, pinning them to the bed. “But you are rushing me.”

“I just want to feel good, too.”

The truth hung between them. “Too? Sunbeam, hasn’t
this ever felt good to you?”

“For a bit, but then it’s over.”

Had her lovers been idiots? “Well, tonight it’s not
going to be over.”

Not when he had such a hot, willing woman panting
beneath him, one who aroused his sense of humor as much as his passion.

Two slashes freed her from the constriction of her
pants. He ripped them down and off, along with her underwear. His cock fell
onto her stomach in an erotic little spank. She gasped and arched up. “We’re a
long way from that, baby.”

That got her attention. She shook the hair out of her
eyes and asked, “We are?”

“Oh yeah. I’ve got a lot of tasting, touching, and
sipping to do before then.” She eyed him warily. He grazed his lips along her
neck, just above her jugular. She tensed. “That doesn’t interest you?”

She tucked her chin in, blocking his progress. “Of
course it interests me. I’m just trying not to get my hopes up.”

“Is that why you’re blocking my efforts to get
closer?”

She nodded. “That always is what puts an end to it.”

From “that,” he gathered, she meant taking her blood.
It was easy to understand why previous lovers had lost their heads. Raisa was
the sweetest woman and bound to go to a man’s head.

“You’re with me now.”

“What does that mean?”

With a push of his finger and a smile, he lifted her
chin, tucking his mouth into the hollow beneath. “Go ahead, baby, get your
hopes up.”

He removed the shirt from around her arms. Her fingers
flexed. He could imagine how they’d feel on his skin. Firm. Caring. Teasing. He
smoothed his fingertips over her upper arms, trailing them over the inside of
her elbow, over the roundness of her forearm, to the sensitive inside of her
wrist, encircling it, and bringing her arms down over his shoulders before
turning his attention to her. Her skin was so clear—cream with the slightest
hint of peach undertone. Her lips, full and pouting, had that same peach
tinting their full curves, and above the Slavic cast to her cheekbones, those
incredible eyes. Eyes that looked at him with hesitation, passion, and hope. A
hell of a lot of hope.

“No need to look so anxious, Rai. This is going to be
fun. For you especially.”

“Why especially me?”

“Because I’ve spent every minute since I met you
contemplating which spots on your body would be the most sensitive.” He took
her earlobe between his lips and sucked carefully. Her shudder and gasp were exactly
what he was looking for. “Which would make you shake. Which would make you
sigh.” He bit down. “And which ones make you cry out loud . . .”

“That’s a good one,” she gasped and arched up.

“Yup. I’d say it’s got you warming up nicely.”

Her legs came up around his hips, and the warm, soft
nest of curls cuddled against his groin. “What else have you been thinking
about?”

He skimmed his lips down her neck. “Your breasts. I’ve
had many a fantasy about those pert little breasts.”

“What about them?”

He smiled. Talking turned her on. “I wonder how
they’ll feel against my tongue. Whether you prefer a light touch, or hard.”

He closed his lips over the left nipple and sipped
lightly.

Still holding his face with her hands, more following
than guiding, she gasped. “Hard. Definitely hard.”

He shook his head, not releasing her breast, letting
her experience the new sensation before saying, “I think it’s too soon to
tell.”

Her fingers curled into his hair. Urgency rose along
with lust as she pulled on his hair, begging for the harder touch she thought
she needed.

“Such an impatient lover,” he whispered against the
peachy-pink of her areola, kissing around the puckered surface, smiling as it
drew up tighter, as her nipple prodded his cheek in a potent little demand. He took
it into the heat of his mouth, supping, then sucking, and finally settling in
to suckle in earnest, drawing from her an intangible nourishment that spiked
his passion, his emotions, and his need. A sexual need to be sure, but also a
need for something else. For her. To bind her to him, mark her, possess her. To
own her laughter, her spirit, and that sassy little tongue that could either
make him laugh or moan, depending on how she used it. Rai groaned and arched.
He took more of her breast into his mouth, applying a bit more suction. Her
thighs convulsed around his hips, pulling him closer.