ROMANCE: Vampire Romance Collection (Menage BBW Young Adult Paranormal) (Vampire Shapeshifter Romance Short Stories) (8 page)

“Then excuse me.” She stuck out her chin in defiance and went to move around him, but he stepped in her way, blocking her. “I said, excuse me,” she said, meeting his stare, challenging him.

In that moment, something deep inside of him stirred, churned his stomach, clenched his chest tight. If he needed to breathe, he probably wouldn’t be able to right now. What was this odd effect she had on him? Whatever it was, he didn’t like it one bit.

“Buck isn’t available today,” he said smoothly. Upon arriving, Carson had disposed of Buck. Max would probably be angry, but Carson had done his brethren a favor by getting rid of Buck. The man was a leech, always jeopardizing Carson’s kind with bringing tourists to the island.

A brief look of disappointment flashed behind her eyes, but she quickly masked it. “Oh, well, do you work for Buck? I need to rent a boat.”

Carson’s grin grew bigger. She was making this much too easy on him. “Yes. I’m Buck’s…partner. My name’s Carson. And you are?”

“Marissa.” Hesitantly, she reached out her hand and took his, her gaze still locked on his. The warmth of her hand shot through him, landed in his gut like a rock. He yanked his hand back quickly.

“Do you have any experience driving a boat, Marissa?”

For the first time since encountering him, she glanced away and shook her head. “No. I was hoping I could pay someone to take me where I need to go.”

“And where do you need to go?”

“Mohalah Island.”

He was impressed with how steady her voice was. Not many people could say the island name without a certain amount of fear. He couldn’t deny how she intrigued him. “Now, why would you want to go there?”

“I have reason to believe my friend is there.” Marissa rummaged through her purse and pulled out a sheet of crumpled paper. “Angie. She was last seen with this man.” Marissa pointed to the picture on the paper. “That’s not his real picture, but I’ve confirmed his name is Jonah, and that he’s on Mohalah Island.”

Carson resisted the urge to growl. Damn Jonah. What a fool! Carson shook his head. “As a native of this island, I can assure you, there is nothing and no one on Mohalah Island. You are wasting your time.”

She narrowed her eyes and frowned. “I appreciate your concern, but I’m not leaving until I’ve been on that island, until I’ve seen with my own eyes that Angie isn’t there.” She crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to back down.

Damn, she was stubborn. Carson shifted on his feet, hesitation swirling through him. He’d never hesitated about anything before, but the longer he stood here with this woman, the more he realized he didn’t want to kill her. If he could just convince her to go away, Max would never know the difference.

Carson sighed. He couldn’t take her to the island. But he knew if he didn’t appease her, she’d just find someone else who would. He could use the bait and switch tactic. Make her believe he was going to take her to the island, but not actually do it. He’d use the boat ride to convince her otherwise.

***

Marissa gripped the boat tightly, holding on for dear life as the boat rocked and swayed from the force of the waves.  She didn’t understand why the ride was so rocky when the water looked so calm. It didn’t make any sense. But at least she was finally getting to the island. Maybe, within a few hours, she’d find her friend and be able to go back home. She was starting to miss her own bed, the routine of daily life.

“Hold on!” Carson shouted.

Marissa couldn’t hold on any tighter, but that didn’t stop Carson from hitting the wave head on, causing water to crash up over the side of the boat, soaking her from head to waist. “Damn it!” she cursed loudly.

Carson turned, gave her a smile over his shoulder, his dark eyes sparkling with amusement. She wanted to jump up and strangle him, but he was too damn sexy to die. She frowned, tried to ring the water from her shirt. She tried to stand, but the boat swayed, and she was knocked backward.

“Think you could stop for a damn minute?” she shouted at him. Despite his good looks, he was infuriating.

After a moment, Carson slowed the boat to a stop. He shut off the engine and turned to face her. “I think there’s some spare clothes down below if you want to go take a look.”

Marissa scowled. She could only imagine what type of clothes they were. Probably overalls and wading boots or something ridiculous. But what other choice did she have? She couldn’t spend the day in wet clothes, especially when she had no idea what conditions she’d encounter on the island. All she needed was to get deathly ill.

“Fine, lead the way,” she said reluctantly.

Carson opened a small door on the side of the cabin and motioned for her to go first. Marissa walked cautiously down the few steps, keeping her hands on either side of the wall to keep from stumbling. Even though she couldn’t hear Carson following behind her, she could feel him. His presence was imposing, yet she didn’t feel threatened by him. In fact, it was just the opposite. She felt…safe. Everything about this trip, about her search had been surreal, but meeting Carson took the cake.

His arm brushed over her shoulders as he reached around her to flick on a light switch. The swift, gentle touch made her stomach flutter and her heart race. What was it about this man that made her feel this way? She had zero interest in men or dating. She had more pressing matters to deal with. Yet, she couldn’t fight the attraction she felt to him.

“Over here,” he said, waving an arm toward the small three drawer dresser. He pulled out a plain white T-shirt and tossed it at her.

Marissa caught it and frowned. A white T-shirt? That was perfect. Her bra was soaking wet, so she’d have to take that off, too, which would make her breasts exposed to him because white didn’t hide anything. And she seriously doubted she’d be lucky enough to find a spare bra in there.

“Doesn’t look like any of the pants will fit you.” Carson pulled out a pair of jeans that were big enough to fit four of her in them. “But… These might work.” He held up a pair of sweat pants with a drawstring waist.

She sighed and took them from him. Not ideal, but at least they were dry. “Thanks.”

Carson nodded.

The way he was staring at her… It was both erotic and slightly creepy. His gaze was so intense, dark. Intriguing. She wanted to get to know him better, to know who he was, what he liked. And if she was being brutally honest with herself, she wanted to know what he felt like in the most intimate way. She wanted to feel his hands and lips on her, feel him inside of her. Marissa’s eyes widened. Where the hell had that thought come from? She shook her head, noticing the small smirk on his face. “Can I ask you something?”

He nodded again.

“I read online that Mohalah Island is home to vampires. Do you know anything about that?” She studied his face, looking for any hints that there might be some truth to the legends, but he remained stoic, giving away nothing.

“Do you believe in that sort of thing?” he asked after a moment.

Marissa shrugged. “Never really thought about it before. Do you?”

“Yes, I do.”

She took a small step back, shocked by his admission. She fully expected him to laugh, to blow her off as crazy. She never expected him to actually agree with her. “So… Is there any truth to those legends? Are there vampires on that island?”

“If there are, will that change your mind about going?”

Marissa laughed. “No. One way or another, I need to find Angie. Even if she’s…” Marissa swallowed hard, unable to say the words. “Even if she’s not okay, I need to know.”

“For what it’s worth, I think you’re wasting your time going to the island. You won’t find her there.” Carson crossed his arms over his chest.

She glared at him. How could he be so sure she wouldn’t find Angie on the island? Well, no matter, she wasn’t going to let him sway her. “Thanks for your concern. Is there somewhere I can change?”

A slow grin crept over his face. “You can change right here. I promise not to look.”

Marissa let out a harsh laugh. “I don’t think so. You can just go back upstairs while I change.” How had they gone from casual talk about mythical creatures to flirting?

“Or I could help.” His grin grew bigger, his eyes darkened even more.

Her breath caught in her throat, and she suddenly felt very dizzy. Something about the way he was looking at her caused a stirring deep in her womb. She couldn’t explain it, and that terrified her. She didn’t want to feel this way, least of all now, in the midst of searching for her best friend.

Carson stepped toward her and took hold of the hem of her shirt. His gaze was locked on hers, a silent plea passing between them. He wanted permission, and she didn’t want to deny him. She licked her lips and remained quiet. Slowly, Carson eased her wet shirt off over her head. Then he unhooked her bra, dropping it to the floor with her shirt. Her nipples were hard from a combination of the wet clothes, the cool air, and his heated, hungry gaze.

“We’re really going to do this?” he asked.

Marissa suddenly felt very foolish. She crossed her arms over her breasts. “Isn’t this what you wanted?” She knew she hadn’t misread his signals. He’d walked right up to her and removed her shirt and bra for Christ’s sake. That only meant one thing.

He smiled and tugged on her arms, guiding them down to her sides so she was once again exposed to him. “Very much so.”

Those three words made her so excited. It had been far too long since she’d been with a man, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a one night stand – hell, had she ever had a one night stand? She didn’t think so. “I want to do this, too,” she whispered, feeling empowered, brazen, careless. Besides, when she finally found Angie, Marissa could tell her all about the time she had sex on a boat, in the middle of the ocean with a man she’d just met.

***

Carson couldn’t believe she was going to let him fuck her. Hell, he couldn’t believe he was actually going to do it! Not that he wasn’t attracted to her or aroused by her because he was – a lot – but he’d been sent to kill her, not fuck her. Max would have Carson’s head if he didn’t do as instructed. But there was something about Marissa, something exciting and intriguing. And that was a hard thing to find for a vampire who’d seen and done everything.

He wasn’t going to stand here and debate the pros and cons of being with a beautiful woman. Carson took her face into his hands and crushed his lips to hers. The moment he felt their mouths seal to each other, her tongue playing with his, he knew he’d made a mistake. There was no coming back from this, no way he could hide who he was from her. He wasn’t sure if he really cared. If they had sex and he revealed his true self then at least she’d know the truth and they could start dealing with it. Sporting fangs while they made love probably wasn’t the best way to tell her though.

She moaned into his mouth, and his brain felt like it was going to explode. He normally had sex with other vampires, which was great because it was uninhibited, rough, but there was something so  damn sweet about having a human at his mercy. Carson effortlessly scooped her up into his arms and carried her the short distance to the rickety, makeshift bed in the corner. He lay her down and then brought his body down over hers.

Marissa put her hands on the back of his head, her fingers exploring his hair, and she held him to her, pressing their bodies together. There was definitely no going back now. He could feel his dick getting hard, and he willed it go down, but the damn thing had a mind of its own. “Carson,” she moaned into his mouth. “Please… I want you.”

Hearing her soft plea was like a branding iron to his heart. There was no way he would deny her. He couldn’t even if he wanted to; even though he knew it was the right thing to do. She opened her legs, her thin cotton shorts did nothing to mask the wet heat radiating from her sex. He could feel it through his pants, and it drove him to the brink of wild animalistic frenzy. Calm down, Carson, she’s human. You don’t want to hurt her. He brought his hand down to her knee and dragged his fingers up the length of her thigh and around to her ass, gripping it firmly and pulling it to him so that her leg was bent, her foot resting near his waist.

He wanted to tear the clothes from her body and plunge his cock deep into her, claiming her in a way he hadn’t claimed another woman in a long time. But he forced himself to slow down, to enjoy this, to savor every second of their time together. Depending on how things went, it might very well be their last. “Are you sure this is what you want?” He had no idea why he kept asking her. Maybe he was hoping she’d change her mind so he wouldn’t have to be the bad guy.

“Yeah,” she said with a faint smile.

“So do I.” He claimed her lips again in a slow languid kiss that had her gasping and rotating her hips beneath him, grinding her sex on his erection as her nails grazed along the nape of his neck. “My sweet Marissa.” He knelt between her legs and removed her shorts. She was exquisite. Her breasts bare and exposed to him were perfectly shaped mounds. Her nipples were hard, and he couldn’t resist leaning forward and taking them into his mouth. She moaned and arched into him as he drew her nipple into his mouth, tugging it between his teeth before circling it with his tongue.

“God that feels good.” Her voice was a breathless whisper, but to him, it was as if she’d shouted her approval. It drove him crazy to know she liked his touch and wanted more of it.