by Celia Jade
“Yes,” she said, as she retrieved her bag. “But I want you to make my legal issue go away like you promised.”
“I’m true to my word,” he replied as he approached.
“Then do so, and I’ll help your brother.”
His face tightened and she noted the angry blaze in his eyes. She still hadn’t figured out their color. Gray or gray flecked with blue?
“I really wouldn’t want any other authorities, or my brothers, to come knocking on my door,” she added.
“I’ve taken significant charge of the case so you’re safe for now.” His reply was calm, yet there was a trace of tension.
Anger burned in her chest. “For now. You don’t trust me to help your brother, so you cling onto that bargaining tool.”
Another flash of emotion in his eyes, this one inscrutable. “I promise to do my best to clear you completely, but don’t forget you got yourself in hot water, Stephanie.”
His last words pinched a tender area inside her. He was right, of course. Hell, he was doing her a favor.
The trill of her phone interrupted her thoughts. Stephanie looked at the caller ID, which gave her pulse a nervous jump. “It’s my brother, Kyle. He rarely calls me.”
“Don’t answer it.”
The phone stopped ringing short, so it didn’t go into voicemail. She shook her head. “This can’t be good. He must have seen those pictures.”
“Not necessarily. I put a limited access code on the file fairly quickly…but it’s a good idea to avoid talking to your brothers for now.”
She felt her shoulders slumping. “I’m exhausted,” she muttered, and without looking at him, walked through the entrance hall and out the door.
Just as she pressed the elevator button, a muscled hand closed around her upper arm. Even through the leather jacket, the contact sent a jolt of pure sensation through her body. A tiny gasp escaped her as she flinched. He pulled his hand away and she glimpsed the flicker of awareness in his eyes. He’d felt it, too.
Her physical reaction to this man was too intense. It also made no sense on at least a few levels, specifically since she hadn’t figured out how much she disliked him. He was unscrupulous and possibly crooked.
“I’m going home,” she stated.
“Okay. I’ll take you.”
“I just want to be alone right now.”
“I don’t feel right about that—I brought you here, I’ll see you home.”
The elevator doors opened and she stepped inside and stood on the door track. “I’m taking a cab and I don’t want an escort.”
She noted the tension in his broad shoulders and square jaw. When he remained silent, she knew he’d let her go. She stepped back and the heat of his glare sizzled across her skin as the doors closed.
Chapter Five
Stephanie pulled the satin robe over her warm skin and knotted the belt. The long bath soak in essential oils had done a good job easing the tension from her body. She dried her hair and poured herself a generous amount of red wine. She took a sip as she headed for the living room, eager to curl up on the sofa and watch some TV. It was nearing ten o’clock. After flipping through several channels, she stopped on a home and garden network.
Light and cheery. Just what she needed. She tried to enjoy the scenes of lovely European homes, but they barely registered. Her mind kept straying to that smoky-eyed, vampire agent. What the heck was wrong with her? The man was blackmailing her and yet he was stuck in her head. His brother, on the other hand, seemed like a pleasant gentleman, despite his illness. And thank God for that. She’d hate to have to be forced to save the life of a son-of-a—
The ring of the doorbell cut through her mental chat. She put the glass down, unwilling to find out who was on the other side of the door. Whoever it was, they’d bypassed the intercom system. She figured it could be the landlord or one of the neighbors. Barefoot, she padded to the front hall and peered through the eyehole.
No way. Stephanie turned the bolt and opened the door. “Can’t you leave me in peace for one night?” She willed her gaze to scald him, instead, it traveled over his broad build outlined in a short leather jacket and jeans that molded to muscled thighs. An electric ripple arced through her and curled in the center of her sex, making her press her thighs together.
“I’m not here to upset you. Can we talk?” The timbre of his voice carried a note of softness that hadn’t been there before.
She threw her hands up in defeat. “Whatever.” For a moment, she’d forgotten about her flimsy garment, but as she glanced down at herself, she decided she didn’t care. She was too tired to care. Besides, it wasn’t transparent. She felt a sense of wicked amusement in seeing the tension in his face as his gaze lingered on her bare legs.
He cleared his throat. “Eh, I don’t mind waiting if you’d like to change.”
Stephanie crossed to the sofa in a nonchalant manner. “You’ve come to my place unannounced and…” she indicated his civilian attire “…obviously not on official business. Have a seat, Agent Mason.”
Careful not to flash too much skin, she tucked her legs under the sofa throw and turned off the TV as he settled into the loveseat diagonally from her. After a sip of wine she said, “Are you afraid I’d disappear or something?”
She didn’t like him here one bit. On the outside, she managed to appear composed, but hormonal chaos raged inside her body. Other good-looking men had never triggered this kind of reaction. But none were vampires, exclaimed the pesky little voice in her head.
“That didn’t even cross my mind…and please call me Dex.” He paused. “I realized I need to understand your relationship with your brothers so I can better protect you from incrimination.”
She made a delicate snort. “Let’s say it’s a little complicated.” She took another sip of wine.
“If you’re on bad terms, I have to know.”
She considered this for a moment. “We’re not close, but they wouldn’t hurt me…not intentionally, at least.” It was an honest answer.
“Okay. Why were you trying to protect Jason Kelso?”
Absently, she plucked at a loose thread on the throw. “He had an altercation with my brothers a while back and I know they don’t like him, so I wanted to make sure he wasn’t around when they got there. I really didn’t know anything about that blood party,” she stressed.
He inclined his head. “I believe you, Stephanie.” The heat of his gaze moved over her face and shoulders, sending a warm quiver over her skin. She pulled the throw up higher.
“Victor told me your family doesn’t know you’re dhampir. Why is that?”
Her heart rate increased as his question hung in the air. She despised the topic and she’d done a good job burying it deep inside her. Even Maryann avoided broaching it. But ever since this agent had forced himself into her life, she’d risked exposing her secret. His probing should have upset her, even angered her, but instead she felt a hollow ache.
She curled her fingers into the throw and met his gaze. “I’m half-sister to my siblings. My father left Mom when I was a baby. I never knew him, but after I had the genetic test, I figured he’s dhampir and my mother had no idea because she’s never brought up anything to me.” She shrugged. “I just know she believes I’m all human.” She drew in a long breath and expelled it. “On my stepfather’s side, there’s three generations of vampire hunters and you know how that used to be.”
He was silent a moment before saying, “Let me guess—the doctors didn’t bother telling your mother that her child is dhampir because vampire and human mixes are common now.”
“That’s what the genetics doctor assumed…and I was healthy so nothing came up.”
He leaned his elbows on his knees and laced his fingers together. “And you fear your family’s reaction if you told them…particularly your brothers’.”
Stephanie lowered the glass to the table. “I think you get the picture now.” She was surprised to feel an ease of weight in her core.
The motion echoed across her skin like warm goose bumps. She’d wondered what his hair felt like the time she’d sat in his car. She had to put more space between them, clear her head.
“Um, would you like something to drink?” She eased herself off the sofa. “Some tea or coffee…anything?”
When those smoky eyes fixed on her this time, she felt naked. “Agent Mason…” Silently, she cursed the unsteadiness of her voice.
His gaze darkened as it descended over her body. “Call me Dex…,” he repeated.
She inhaled a sharp breath. “Okay, Dex. What do you want—I mean, what can I get you? “
As his gaze came to rest on her hips, he replied, “Can I see it?”
A nervous frown pulled at her mouth and she took a step back. “See what?”
The sudden intensity in his eyes snagged her breath.
“The tattoo.”
The words took a few seconds to penetrate her mind while he pushed off the loveseat and began closing the distance between them.
Stephanie gave herself a mental shake. “Don’t touch me.” Her warning was probably firm, but it sounded weak to her.
He seemed to check himself as his gaze met hers. “I just want to see it, Stephanie…please.” The dark spot stirred in response to his husky request. Restless. Hungry.
Insanity…
Stephanie’s heart pounded, but she was virtually paralyzed, unable to stop him when he went down on his knees, reached out and pushed the robe’s fabric aside, revealing her red panties. She was riveted by the rapt look on his handsome face as his fingers curled under the string and pulled it down a few inches.
He examined the tattoo closely as heat surged to her breasts, her belly, and her sex, dampening the folds. Her body’s behavior in response to this man, this vampire, was robbing her of reason at an alarming rate. His thumb brushed across her flesh and an electric frisson shot through her entire body. Her eyelids drifted shut. Oh God…
“It’s beautiful, Stephanie…it’s you.”
Her heart gave an excited skip and she fought the urge to dig her fingers into his midnight hair and crush his mouth against her skin.
One long finger traced it, making her knees go weak. A moan rose in her throat, which she barely stifled. Other men had admired it, but none had known its significance. Dex Mason knew. This fact combined with his proximity and his warm touch was achingly erotic.
When his mouth brushed against her hip, her legs buckled and her hands grasped his shoulders. “Don’t…”
His other hand slid up her thigh to her waist as his gaze locked with hers. “You’re beautiful…every inch.”
“How do you know?” The ridiculous question spilled from her mouth before she could prevent it.
The heat of his gaze moved over the triangle of fabric that covered her pubic bone, and she prayed he couldn’t smell her arousal, prayed he wouldn’t touch her there. His nostrils flared as a primal sound echoed in his throat.
Then he rose to his full height, gliding a palm up her trembling abdomen, between her breasts and around to her nape where his fingers twined into her hair. He gave a little tug, tilting her chin up as his eyes dropped to her mouth.
“I have a keen sense of things.”
The dark silkiness of his voice warned her, but it was too late. His mouth descended on hers, the contact firing up her blood and sending it through her veins like a silken current. Alarmed by the intensity of her physical response to him, Stephanie pushed at the hard bulge of his shoulders. Immovable. He slanted the kiss with devilish skill, and she whimpered as her mouth parted under his.
He moaned her name into her mouth and then his tongue was inside, flicking and jabbing, sending ripples of sensation along her nerves. With unchecked eagerness, her tongue swept across the sharp tips of his canines and she couldn’t help the sigh of pleasure. Her fingers slipped under his jacket and pushed the heavy fabric. He broke the kiss just long enough to shrug it off and let it drop.
Somehow, she ended up on the sofa with her back against a large pillow and her hands moving over the compact flesh of Dex Mason’s body. Insanity, repeated the voice in her head. But he felt so good, those rock hard muscles…and smelled delicious, like pine and spice.
He’d lifted her leg onto his hard thigh and nestled within the V of her body. He resumed kissing her, only this time he combined his sensual strokes with nips, gently at first, before the sharpness of his incisors grazed the soft inner part of her bottom lip. The slight pain spiked her arousal as her nails curled into him. Stephanie flicked her tongue over the tender area expecting to taste blood, but didn’t.
“You have the same cravings, sweetheart, the innate desire for blood, sometimes even human blood…yet you fight it, like most of us do.” He glided his mouth along her jawbone.
“Never human,” she lied.
He nuzzled her throat and her body arched into him as desire pulsed through her. She released a ragged gasp as his teeth moved over the throbbing vein in her throat, threatening to tear the delicate skin. She knew he’d never bite her throat—it was too dangerous. But the urge to exchange some blood with him was intense.
The urge to do many other things with him was intense.
“You smell amazing,” he said, his voice thick with arousal.
The pleasure-pain his mouth was producing tightened the sweet ache in her sex, which made her wonder if his cock was hard. If she slid her hand into the small space between their bodies she could… No. No. No. This had gone too far already.
“You crave biting…and being bitten…”
“No.” Another lie.
Her breath caught as he gave her a final playful nip, then his moist tongue soothed the now tender area of her neck. She’d have a heck of a hickey tomorrow. He shifted lower while parting her robe, his mouth gliding over the rise of her left breast.
“Where else do you want me to bite you?” His teasing question caused an eruption of goose bumps along her flesh.
“Stop it…” Her nails curled into his t-shirt, tearing the fabric.
“Stop rejecting your nature, Stephanie,” came the swift response as his tongue brushed the edge of her nipple.
“I’m not, damn it.”
That wicked tongue swirled around her taut bud, avoiding the center, driving her mad.
He raised his head and met her gaze. “You’re dhampir. The most beautiful dhampir I’ve ever met.”
Her heart skipped. The thick desire in his voice was unmistakable, but logic was piercing the erotic haze, begging her to put an end to this. He was moving too fast. And why the hell was she letting him?
“We shouldn’t…” She sucked in a tight breath when his teeth grazed the edge of her areola and then his tongue flicked across the tip. Once. Twice. Her back arched further into him as the fingers of one hand sank into his thick hair.
He glanced up at her again. “And, you desire a vampire mate.”
“No!” Although her response was fervent, she suspected it had more to do with her alarming desire for him than anything else.
An arrow of pleasure shot through her as he pulled her aching bud into his mouth and sucked. “Ohh!” Her nails tore into his skin and he made a low grunt and raised himself a little.
A dark flame flashed in his eyes as he looked down at her, noting her long nails. Then the corner of his mouth quirked and he brushed his palm over her hip. “See, sweetheart? Your vampire genes are too much for a human.”
His amused comment snapped her back to reality. Her nails only grew when she was angry, which could only mean she was pissed at herself for allowing him to seduce her. Seduce. It all clicked in her mind. The tattoo he’d insisted on seeing, the flattery. How stupid could she be?
“Get away from me,” she ordered, and yanked t
he loose material of her robe over her breasts.
His body went still for a moment as he frowned. “I won’t apologize for kissing you. I’ve wanted to do that since the second I laid eyes on you.”
She made a tart sound. “Please. Give me more credit than that,” she replied while bending her knee, a signal for him to get up. Their gazes met as she stood and crossed her arms over her breasts to hide her arousal.
“You wanted to see the tattoo to make sure Victor was correct,” she continued.
Confusion flitted across his face before an angry flame lit his eyes. “I know he’s correct. I just wanted to see it for myself.”
“And then you tried seducing me to make me more obliging…to ensure I’d help your brother.”
He expelled a rough breath. “You actually believe that?”
“Why not? You’ve already used my vulnerable situation to coerce me when you could have just…asked me.”
His powerful body tensed as he looked at her for a long moment. If the turbulent emotion in his eyes meant anything, there was a battle going on in his head. Was it anger toward her? Regret?
Finally, he replied, “I don’t deny it, and I wish I’d had a more civilized option, but you know I can’t force you, Stephanie.” A shadow came over his face. “It’s your decision,” he said, and bent to pick up his jacket.
Damn. Even now, he managed to get under her skin. She swallowed the knot in her throat. “I’ll do the transfusions because I like Ray. He deserves to live,” she said quietly.
The tension in his body slackened a fraction, but his eyes were still stormy. He gave a slow nod. “He does. I can’t thank you enough.”
She assumed the odd, gravelly inflection in his tone was relief.
Desire for him still drummed in her body like a live thing. She tore her gaze away from those perceptive eyes. “Please go.”
There was a rustle as he put on his jacket and walked to the front door. “For the record, there was no ulterior motive to touching you. I couldn’t help myself.”
Her breath hitched and she breathed once the door closed. Slowly, she crossed to it and turned the bolt in the lock. Then she leaned against the door and closed her eyes. She’d never had a vampire or dhampir boyfriend for the same reason she hid her nature from her family. Relations with human men had mostly been brief, to satisfy the most basic needs. The short erotic play with Dex confirmed what her instinct had known all along. Only a vampire could satisfy her completely. Damn him.