Love Bites (2 page)

Without answering his question, she reached out and clasped his palm.

Her body jerked at the current that arced between them. Damn. What the hell
was
that? She’d experienced intense connections with guys before, but nothing quite so feral and all-consuming. It had only been six days since Tate had left for his business trip to Atlanta, which meant it had only been seven since she’d had sex. And yes, seeing Tate and Jed getting friendly had given her an unintended jolt, but this was ridiculous. She was half tempted to climb on the hood and spread her legs.

“Sydney Langdon.” Her name tumbled out without regard to her earlier concerns. Then she fumbled around for something else to say. “Your accent. I’ve wondered where you’re from. You’re not from…around here,” she finally managed. God, he was still cradling her hand.

Yep, her panties were toast. If her nipples got any more erect, she’d be saluting her new friends.

“No. I’m from South Carolina originally. Found it didn’t suit my lifestyle, so I ventured north.” With his eyes on hers, he brushed his lips over the tips of her fingers. “Pity we haven’t exchanged names before now.”

“Yes, pity.” She forced out a breath. “So why haven’t we?”

“You’re always too busy serving and pouring. I didn’t want to intrude.” He gave her a slow grin that made her think he didn’t mind intruding at all. “You look like a Sydney. Actually, Luke, she reminds me of that girl from your show.”

Because he was now speaking to his companion, not her, Sydney took a moment to gather her composure. She was so going to do this.
Them
. She didn’t much care what society said was proper. Besides, no one would ever have to know.

For the next hour—or two, depending on how long she detained them—she’d get to scratch her itch with what she ventured were two really long poles.

She moistened her lips, preparing to speak. But Kellan’s pal took her turn.

“You mean
Alias
? Jennifer Garner? Oh yeah.” The blond man smiled, his lips stretching over straight white teeth that sparkled in the beam from her headlights. “I see what you mean. The dark hair, except this Sydney’s hair is shorter and straighter. The big brown eyes.” His gaze zoomed toward her breasts. “The gorgeous tits.”

She didn’t reply, but not because she was offended. If she’d ever been less offended, she didn’t remember it. She’d already been checking them out, too, though the stormy night hardly helped her efforts. At least the rain seemed to be stopping.

“Hey, Luke, mind the manners. You don’t talk that way to a lady.”

“Oh, I think this one likes it.” Hot on the heels of Luke’s eyebrow wiggle, his mouth turned down in a surprisingly sour expression. “Besides, this was your idea.”

“
This
what? Asking some chick for a ride?” Her voice had finally returned, along with her spine. “Or playing two-on-one, Luke?”

“Lucas Phillips.” The man in question reached into her open window and took her other hand. His grip was different than Kellan’s. Less possessive maybe, but no less arousing.

Kellan’s hold on her hand intensified, as did the potency in his amber eyes. Even in the backwash from her headlights, they seemed to glow. They weren’t brown or hazel. Those shades were too bland to describe their molten color. “We definitely want a ride. But we also want to give you one. If you’re interested.”

Interested
? Hmm, now that was a nice, tame way to put her desire to screw them both until she couldn’t stand up straight. Still, it didn’t pay to seem too eager. “How’d you boys end up walking this way anyway? It’s not exactly the spot for a nightly stroll.”

“Our car broke down.” Lucas motioned vaguely over his shoulder. “Over there. Engine overheated.”

“Don’t have Triple-A?”

“Nah.”

“What kind of car is it?”

“A Mercedes.”

Sydney cocked an eyebrow as Kellan released her and directed a murderous look at his companion. “Wow. Didn’t think those puppies broke down too often.”

“Bad luck.” Kellan smiled, flashing his teeth. “Until you came along, that is. So what do you say? Up for a ride?”

“Depends. Where you guys headed?”

“There’s only one place I want to be right now.” Kellan leaned forward and braced his hands on her car window. As his stomach muscles rippled underneath his wet T-shirt, her thoughts flatlined. “Inside you.”

She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. Her belly clenched when Kellan’s gaze openly followed the move. “Looks like it’s your lucky day, boys, because I love giving rides. But if we’re doing this, I insist on a hell of a lot more than just one.”

Kellan’s eyes never left hers. “Count on it.”

“You’re of age?” Lucas asked.

The phrasing struck her as odd, but she nodded. “Twenty-nine. Both of you?”

Kellan merely smiled, again showing off a mouthful of blinding white teeth much like Lucas’s. There was something almost feral about them, as if they were blades poised to strike. But rather than concern her, the thought only turned her on more.

“We’re above the age of consent, yes.”

“Then let’s go.” She hit the button to unlock her doors. They opened with a deafening click. “You,” she murmured to Kellan, “can sit up front with me.”

***

The two men had taken no more than three steps when Luke piped up. “You sure about this, Kell?”

Kellan snapped a hot gaze toward the man beside him. If Lucas were human, he’d be rendered speechless from the force of that look. Unfortunately, his power had no effect on his similarly endowed friend. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. Lucas wasn’t without his own enhancements, but it was hard to realize the full scope of your gifts when you questioned yourself like a namby-pamby mortal around every turn.

“Strap on a pair, would you?” Kellan lowered his voice, knowing Lucas would hear him at a decibel Sydney could not. “We talked about this.”

“I know.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“You know what the problem is.”

Kellan shook his head and tipped his head back to view the churning sky. The rain had stopped for the time being, possibly a good omen. He could use one.

He didn’t know if Sydney was just a momentary distraction, but he figured a night with her would answer that question. And Lucas needed to get laid by someone. Anyone who wasn’t a certain petite librarian named Emily, a nondescript woman with glasses and a complete disinterest in sex. Especially vampire-bonded sex, since she subscribed to the notion vampires were nothing more than a subject of lore. She knew plenty about that lore, too, and shared her knowledge with the masses during her endlessly boring monthly library chats. The subjects ranged in topic but she seemed to return to vampire and paranormal mythology with frightening regularity.

She was a smart woman, he had to give her that. But she was also incredibly naïve and annoying as hell.

Which brought him full circle to Lucas. Yeah, Kellan was a humanitarian. Vampiritarian? Whatever. Though thinking of his fellow man was only his first priority when he didn’t have a second, Lucas was the exception. His buddy was ailing, and Kellan hated to see that, even if his friend was blinder than three bats. He’d found his damn bonded mate. Most vampires searched for decades—if not centuries—for theirs, and here Lucas was, willing to walk away because Emily had rebuffed his pathetic attempts at seduction?

Fuckin’ A
.

“We made a deal. You said you’d give another woman a chance. A gorgeous babe with tits the size of miniature watermelons wants to fuck us. Both of us. And now you’re fretting and blushing?”

As Lucas pushed a hand through his long hair, leftover rain streamed over the shoulders of his black trench coat. He always dressed in dark colors. Standard B-movie vamp attire. “I’m not blushing. And what’s up with calling her breasts tits? Hypocrite.”

“It’s completely classless, but I’m trying to speak in your adolescent vernacular.”

“Most guys call them tits.”

“Most guys also wouldn’t turn down a hot, juicy pussy.”

Lucas frowned, his eyes blazing. “I’m not turning it down. I’m just—”

“Thinking about Emily again,” Kellan finished. Because Lucas’s mind was almost painfully straightforward, his pal would never guess that Kellan’s attempts to push him toward another woman weren’t what they seemed.

Much as he hated to admit it, Lucas had found his true mate before Kellan had encountered his own. Damned fool just couldn’t accept the truth.

Honestly, he had no interest in sharing a woman with Lucas for more than an hour or two. Especially not this woman, whom he’d had his eyes on for weeks. It was the ultimate sacrifice to offer him Sydney. But he owed Lucas. Besides being the best friend he’d ever had, Lucas had forgiven him the biggest of sins and also allowed Kellan to live in a manner far beyond what his own modest efforts as an artist could provide. Sharing a woman with him, to hopefully prompt him to finally make his move toward Emily, was the least Kellan could do.

“What is taking you guys so long?” Sydney called from inside the car, and Kellan gave Luke a pointed look.

“On our way,” Kellan replied, gesturing to his friend.

“I don’t know why I can’t let her go,” Luke muttered. Still, he did not move.

I do
. Kellan resumed his stroll around the back of the car. Sydney had waited long enough. “Trust me, banging Sydney will wipe all thoughts of that virginal librarian from your mind.”

“I just don’t know.”

Luke might not have realized it, but his refusals were all the proof Kellan needed that Emily was indeed his lifelong friend’s true mate. Normally, vampires were hornier than rutting dogs. Morality wasn’t part of the equation when the fever was upon them, except after they’d found their physiological mate. Then they became almost indifferent when the subject of another female was mentioned.

Almost
being the operative word. Male vampires were still men, after all. Occasionally a pretty female managed to get a bonded vamp’s attention, but she couldn’t hold it. That was the vital difference.

A vampire discovered his fated lover as he discovered many things—through scent. The vagaries of desire could always be discounted, but the potency of blood pheromones could not. Emily had already been put through the scratch-and-sniff test, thanks to her own butterfingered attempt to open a sealed envelope. Instead, she’d slashed her own wrist, and Lucas, one of many in the crowd at her lecture, had to be restrained by Kellan to keep from leaping on her at the podium. Thank God Kellan had chosen to go with him that night—TV offered nothing but reruns—or else their whole existence would’ve been in danger.

Luke couldn’t be blamed for his reaction, either. Most blood was alluring to vampires. But the blood of a mate was the sweetest nectar, almost physically impossible to resist. Or so Kellan had learned at Emily’s lecture. How else would he have heard about the disturbing new trend of youngsters wanting to go vamp? Probably due to all the hype over that series of sparkly vampire movies. Blasted authors thinking they had a right to fictionalize and embellish real life.

Glittering skin. How ridiculous.

Whatever the cause, some vamp groupies had discovered they could alter their blood with drugs to fool new vampires into bringing them into their society for real. Now even mating wasn’t as simple as it once had been. Because these newfangled drugs temporarily altered the blood chemistry of both human and vamp, how could a vampire trust any female he came upon wasn’t amped up on some blood juice meant to trick him?

But that wasn’t the case with Emily. She didn’t even believe in the existence of vampires, though she enjoyed propogating their lore as if they were some fairy tale. There was virtually no chance she’d imbibed a street drug to tempt a man she didn’t find worth her time. She and Lucas were likely the real thing.

Kellan’s mouth curled as he stared hard at Sydney’s car. And no, he wasn’t the least bit bitter.

“I’m just not certain I should—”

“Enough. You in or out?” Kellan lifted his hand to the door. Already his cock was so hard that walking was difficult. He’d endured more than enough talking for one night. “You’ve got ten seconds and then the offer’s off the table. Go find some smoky pub to drown your sorrows in while Sydney and I are enjoying each other.”

“Fine.” Luke nodded, though he made no effort to lose his dour expression. “I’ll fuck her.”

“I’m sure she’ll be thrilled.” Kellan yanked open the passenger door. His irritation at Lucas caused him to forget to check his strength, and he damn near pulled the thing off the hinges.

Sydney blinked up at him, her dark eyes gleaming in the shadowy recesses of the car. “You guys took awhile.” Her pouty mouth drew down in a frown. “Something wrong?”

Thank God they’d been speaking below her range of hearing. “Of course not.” Kellan directed a narrow-eyed look at the back seat as he and Lucas entered the car. The doors thunked shut behind them. “My friend was just having some trouble with his zipper.”

Her eyes widened. “And you had to help him with it?”

The mere possibility of what she was suggesting made Kellan’s jaw tighten until his teeth ground together. “Absolutely not. He’s on his own.”

“Oh, well then—”

He didn’t give her time to finish the statement. Kellan slid across the seat, barely aware of the console’s hard nudge into his thigh. His only concern at the moment was seeing if Sydney’s mouth was as luscious as it looked.

He gripped her chin in one hand, his gaze locking on hers as his mouth closed the distance between them. Sydney’s lips parted at the first sweep of his tongue. She tasted innocent and sugary, like butterscotch candy, but the way her hands traveled down his torso spoke of experience. No virgin here.

He hated virgins. The last thing he had time for was wooing and sweet words. Maybe he didn’t debase women by referring to their tits in normal conversation, but he was all about ixnaying the talk in favor of screwing. From the insistent pressure of her mouth on his, Sydney seemed to agree.

He helped her tug his T-shirt from the waistband of his jeans and groaned when her hands met his bare flesh. God, it had been weeks since he’d been with a woman, which equaled approximately ten-point-six in human years. Maybe more. Her touch was as heavenly as the cooling aloe he’d slathered all over himself after that nasty incident on the beach in Charleston. But even as he reveled in the feeling, he needed more.