That’s what his head said. If only the hunger for sex that had ruled him for most of his existence didn’t scream something entirely different.
JAKE SPENT THE NEXT several days doing anything—everything—but having sex with Nikki.
They watched bronc riding at the fairgrounds on Monday. Went to the movies on Tuesday. Played poker with the Greyhounds on Wednesday. And watched the parade and fireworks on Thursday.
They also talked.
Jake filled her in on the details of his design business, and Nikki told him about her dream of buying out the space next to hers and adding massage and spa treatments to her list of services. She found out that Jake could handle a horse even better than a motorcycle, and he discovered that she hated artichokes and cabbage. He liked Tim McGraw and she went nuts over Toby Keith. He could touch his nose with the tip of his tongue, and she could tie a cherry stem into a knot with hers. She loved romantic comedies and he appreciated a good Western.
By the time Friday rolled around Nikki was actually starting to think that maybe there was more to Jake than his craving for sex.
Maybe he was different after all.
She turned the idea over in her mind as she got ready for the dance that night.
As much as the notion excited her, it really didn’t change anything. So what if he was a decent guy? He still had temporary written all over him. He was leaving on Sunday.
Thankfully.
She’d not only had a week of really incredible dates, she’d also had enough mishaps to prove that the apple hadn’t fallen too far from the proverbial tree. She’d forgotten two perms and a set, and slept late three—count them—three times because they’d stayed up so late talking. She’d forgotten to pick up Aunt Izzie’s dry cleaning. And when “Real Good Man” by Tim McGraw had came on the radio, she’d nearly buzzed off little Tommy Tanner’s right ear with her hair clippers.
She was living in a fog. Excited. Exhausted. Fixated.
Just the way Jolene had been with any and every man in her past.
Unlike Jolene, however, Nikki had gone out of her way to make up for her neglect. She’d compensated her clients with free gift certificates and she’d bought Aunt Izzie a new subscription to Reader’s Digest—much to the old woman’s delight—and she’d even offered to sponsor Tommy’s baseball team.
Bottom line, everyone was happy.
Including Nikki.
Wrong man, she reminded herself for the countless time. He’s all wrong and you know it.
If only being with him wasn’t starting to feel so ridiculously right.
“YOU’VE SNAGGED THE perfect man,” Charlie told her as he handed her a cup of punch later that evening.
They stood in the center of the Skull Creek Community Center. A dance floor had been set up in the middle and littered with sawdust. On a portable stage off to the side, a band played a lively George Strait tune. Boots slid and cowboy hats bobbed. A large row of lights sprayed colored beams in all directions. In the far corner, fountains flowed with lemonade and tropical punch. A row of cloth-covered tables offered up everything from sausage on a stick to pigs in a blanket. There were also all sorts of desserts, including homemade pecan pie and peanut-butter fudge.
“He’s not only handsome and sexy,” Charlie went on, motioning toward the front entrance where Jake had gone to meet Ethel Culpepper, “he’s also thoughtful.”
“He is,” Nikki admitted as she watched Jake take the old woman’s arm and lead her toward a nearby table reserved for the residents of the retirement home. Her gaze shifted to the small cluster of wildflowers attached to her own wrist. He’d actually brought her a corsage.
“It’s a dance, isn’t it?” he’d said when she’d simply stared at the box as if she’d never held one before.
She hadn’t.
She’d gone to the prom with Ernest Bierbottom, who’d been allergic to any and everything. Not only had he not brought her so much as a lone daisy, but he’d spent the entire time wiping at his eyes and complaining about the floral arrangements situated around the room. Then he’d complained about her dress and how the dye in it made his hands itch and he’d griped about the tablecloths and how the starch made his throat feel tight. He’d been a hypochrondriac, and the first of many in a long line of angst-ridden men.
Nikki lifted the corsage to her nose and inhaled. The sweet smell filled her nostrils and sent warmth spiraling through her.
“You look really great,” Charlie told her. “What did you do? Call Darlene for advice?”
“For your information, I did this all by myself.” She glanced down at the short, fitted yellow dress and the strappy black stilettos. She’d bought the outfit on a whim last year when she’d been in Austin for a hair show. One of the models had been wearing it and she’d looked so good.
The woman had also been ten years younger and ten pounds lighter.
When Nikki had first tried it on, she hadn’t looked nearly as pretty. Even more, she’d felt awkward. Exposed.
She still felt that way.
For a good cause, she reminded herself.
While Jake had been on his best behavior, that didn’t mean the sex maniac didn’t lie just beneath the surface. With her cover-everything-up clothes, she’d made it easy for him to retreat and play the perfect gentleman.
No more.
It was time for the real Jake McCann to step back up to the plate and show what he was made of. Despite his claim to the contrary, he really was no different from every other man in her past.
There wasn’t anything special about him. Nothing memorable. When he walked away, she would forget him as quickly as she’d forgotten everyone else.
Nikki clung tight to the thought as she tugged at the Lycra hugging her thighs and smoothed her hem. She’d almost had him back at the house. She’d seen the hungry look in his eyes when he’d drunk in the sight of her. But then he’d handed her the corsage and she’d nearly busted into tears, and so the moment had been lost.
But the night was young.
“There you are.” Darlene’s voice rose over the cry of a fiddle as she came up to Nikki and Charlie. “Either you dance with me or I’m boycotting sex for the next month,” she told her husband.
Charlie winked at Nikki. “Duty calls.” He took Darlene’s hand and steered her toward the moving mass of people.
Nikki watched as they twirled and swayed in a sensuous rhythm that made her own heartbeat kick up a notch. While she’d enjoyed spending time with Jake, she’d missed the sex. Which made her mission tonight twofold—prove Jake wrong and satisfy her own lust.
“What do you say we show them how it’s done?” Jake’s deep voice slid into her ear as he came up behind her. Her heart skipped its next beat and a thrill shimmied down her spine.
She smiled. “Lead the way.”
JAKE TRIED TO SLOW the rush of excitement as they moved onto the dance floor and she stepped into his arms.
The fast country song slowed, fading into a sweet, hip-swaying tune that required a lot more contact than he’d anticipated. Her arms slid around his neck. Her full breasts pressed against his chest. Her pelvis cradled his crotch as she moved against him with a soft, subtle side-to-side that sent a bolt of electricity straight from his hard-on to his brain.
The closeness stirred what lived and breathed inside of him and his muscles tightened. His erection grew, straining against his jeans, begging for the woman who rubbed against him with every movement of her lush body.
Her hair tickled the underside of his jaw and her soft breaths echoed in his head. She smelled sugary-sweet, as potent and intoxicating and addictive as the fluffy cotton candy she’d been eating when he’d first met her.
He’d known tonight would be hard—that he would be hard—the moment she’d opened the door and he’d seen her decked out in her short, tight dress. She had deliciously long legs and plenty of curves, and he felt every one as he held her tight. Her warmth seeped inside him and his blood rushed faster.
&
nbsp; He slid his hand lower, from the small of her back to the swell of her sweet, shapely ass molded by the snug dress. His other hand pushed underneath the spill of her hair to cup the back of her neck.
“It’s warm out tonight,” he told her, eager to say something to distract himself from the sexual awareness vibrating between them. “It should be a damned sight colder for October, don’t you think?”
“I’m definitely hot.” She tilted her head up and her gaze met his, and he saw the split second of need that gleamed in the honey-gold depths. She licked her lips and murmured, “You look really good tonight.”
“So do you.” So much for talking about the weather.
“Good enough to eat,” she added. Her soft words pushed past the frantic beat of his pulse and chipped away at his determination.
She obviously wanted him. And he wanted her.
More so now than ever.
He’d had the dream again. And again. And each time the images had became sharper, more distinct.
He’d seen the whites of Nikki’s eyes when the hand had slid around her neck, and he’d smelled the pungent odor of her blood as it had spilled from her throat…
Sam was close. So close now that Jake felt a constant buzz of energy. The air trembled and his nerves hummed and the hunger for sex grew more fierce with each passing moment.
He needed Nikki in the worst way.
And judging by the way she was coming on to him, she needed him just as much.
Because she’d finally admitted that he was, indeed, different from every other man in her past?
Hardly. She was grasping at straws. Desperate to keep from admitting the truth.
She pressed her body to his, teasing him, pushing him toward the edge of sanity in the frantic hope that he would turn out to be every bit the sex maniac she thought.
Kiss me.
The silent plea echoed in his head, testing his resolve. His throat tightened and his lips tingled and he was close…So damned close to backing her up against the nearest wall, pressing his body to hers and tasting her full, sweet lips.
One taste, his conscience whispered. Then you won’t want her as much.
Big friggin’ chance.
He’d already shot that theory to hell. No woman had ever tempted him back for seconds. Or thirds. He knew that no matter how many times he kissed Nikki or thrust deep inside of her, it wouldn’t be enough.
He knew that long after he left Skull Creek he would remember her. She would haunt his thoughts, fuel his fantasies, set the bar for any and every other woman who came after her.
He wanted to do the same for her. He wanted her to think about him, to fantasize, to remember.
He stiffened, fortifying his resolve, determined to resist the lush invitation of her body. He wanted to hear the words. He needed to hear them.
Different.
But Nikki wasn’t of a mind to talk. She was all about action as she slid her arms around his neck, pulled his head down and touched her lips to his.
14
“MMM…YOU DEFINITELY taste good enough to eat,” Nikki murmured when she finally came up for air.
Jake’s eyes blazed, a molten silver that made her face burn as he stared down at her. He wore a hungry expression, his body stiff and tight beneath her hands. He was so hard that when she moved just the slightest bit against him, he flinched.
She snaked her hands up around his neck and pressed her body that much closer. She closed her eyes and let the music take control. She swayed, rubbing her own pelvis against him, feeling definite evidence that she was turning him on and pushing him to the edge.
He held himself rigid, but at the same time, his arms wrapped around her and held her as tightly as she held him. She chanced a peek to see his determined expression, the stern set of his jaw.
Okay, so maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t a sex maniac.
The thought struck just as the song ended and he turned. But then he took her hand and hauled her outside, and she knew he’d reached his limit. She followed him through the parking lot, barely keeping up with him as he wound his way around car after car in search of her SUV.
They ended up near the end of one deserted row, far away from the blaze of lights that marked the entrance to the community center.
She stood by, breathless and anxious, while he reached into his pocket to fish for her keys. His erection stretched the crotch of his jeans, pulling the material so tight that he couldn’t get his large hand deep enough.
“To hell with this,” he finally muttered. He pushed her back up against the car, wedged one muscular thigh between her legs and dipped his head.
This time he took the lead and his mouth devoured hers.
Mission accomplished.
Yet she didn’t feel the expected surge of victory. The only thing she felt was desperation. To feel his body closer, his tongue deeper, his arms tighter.
Nikki’s toes curled and her nerves came alive and a sizzling heat swept through her. She’d missed this so much. She’d missed him. Her hands snaked around his neck, pulling him closer. Her aching breasts pressed against the tight material of her dress.
He splayed one hand at the base of her spine, pressing her closer, while his other came up to pull her neckline down until he’d exposed one breast. The air whispered across her nipple, stirring it to life a split second before the wet heat of his mouth closed over her, catching the tip between his teeth. His tongue teased and laved for a delicious moment before he drew her in, sucking so hard that she felt the pull between her legs. She clutched at his shoulders.
He caught the hem of her dress, his fingertips sliding up the inside of her thigh. His rough touch rasped and stirred as he went higher until he touched her slick folds.
“Christ,” he growled. “You’re not wearing any panties.”
“The dress was too tight,” she gasped. “I couldn’t.”
“Or you didn’t want to?” He stared down at her, into her. One fingertip played at her slit, trailing back and forth, driving her as crazy as she’d made him earlier.
“I…” She caught her bottom lip as he dipped a finger into her steamy heat.
“I didn’t catch that, sugar,” he prodded. “You left them off on purpose, didn’t you? Because you’ve been thinking about us? About this?” He pushed his finger deeper and she gasped.
“Yes,” she urged. “I—I missed you.”
The admission slipped past her lips before she could stop it, and a knowing light fired his gaze even brighter.
The news seemed to send a renewed sense of urgency through him. He slid his finger another decadent inch before withdrawing. He thrust again, in and out, gliding deep and working her into a frenzy. He caught her lips for another fierce kiss.
She closed her eyes, giving herself over to the exquisite sensation. She grasped at his shoulders and moved her bottom, drawing him deeper. She was so close—
The end.
He stiffened, every muscle in his body drawing tight as his hand fell away. A growl vibrated in her ears.
“Jake?” Nikki’s eyes popped open—and that’s when she saw him.
His eyes blazed a furious red. His sensuous mouth parted and his lips drew back, revealing a very lethal-looking pair of fangs.
She blinked.
Fangs?
They were still there. Still gleaming in the moonlight.
Impossible.
Shock jolted her, followed by a wave of panic that crashed over her, tugged her under and refused to let her come up for air.
No way.
No friggin’ way.
He whirled then, and that’s when she saw the man that stood a few feet away from them.
He was just as tall and as handsome as Jake.
And his fangs looked every bit as lethal.
“No!”
The sound of her own voice roared in her ears, drowning out the thunder of her heart. The ground seemed to shake. Her face blazed and her knees buckled.
And then everything
went blessedly black.
JAKE CAUGHT NIKKI before she crumpled at his feet. He swept her legs out from under her and hiked her into his arms. Turning, he came face-to-face with the vampire who’d come up behind him.
It seemed Garret Sawyer had saved him from the hunger not once but twice now.
Only this time Jake wasn’t half as thankful as he’d been that first time. He’d been desperate for blood back then, while this time had been purely sex.
Purely Nikki.
He cradled her in his arms and eyed his business partner. “You’re a long way from Houston.”
Garret held up his hands. “Relax, man. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He crossed the short distance to Jake. His eyes, which had fired to life out of pure instinct when Jake had whirled on him, had cooled to an icy blue. He wore faded jeans, an Orange County Choppers T-shirt and worn biker boots. A red-white-and-blue bandanna covered his cropped brown hair. A tiny silver skull dangled from one ear. “I thought you could use some help.”
“I thought this was just another wild-goose chase to you?”
The older vampire shrugged. “It is. But if it all pans out, then you’ll need my help. Sam’s not going down without a fight.” When Jake didn’t say anything, Garret added, “Look, I’m sorry I tried to discourage you, man. I’ve been searching for my own maker for so long that I’m just burned out.” He shrugged. “Being a vampire has its perks.” He winked. “You can fly like a superhero. Lift cars like the Incredible Hulk. Wow all the ladies like Brad Pitt. It’s a charmed afterlife if you think about it.”
“We don’t rule the power, man. It rules us.”
Garret shrugged. “There are worse things.” His gaze shifted to Nikki and a somber expression slid over his face. “You’re feeding. He must be close.”
Jake nodded. “I can feel him.”
“That explains why you freaked just now. I thought you were going to rip out my throat.”
“When I felt you behind me, I thought you were him.”
“No such luck, my friend.” He spared another glance at Nikki. “She’s not your usual style, but I can certainly see the attraction. I can feel the energy coming off her.”
Love at First Bite Bundle Page 13