by J. K. Coi
She turned to him with a smile, and he thought she was going to continue their verbal sparring, but her smile faltered. “Baron,” she started, hesitating. “We can’t stay like this forever. We’re going to have to deal with those skeletons that are overflowing our respective closets. And while this has been an enjoyable interlude, it isn’t real. You know that, right?”
“Shh, there’ll be time enough for reality later.” He knew what she wasn’t saying out loud. She still didn’t trust him. And while he couldn’t blame her for how she felt, surprisingly he was hurt by it nevertheless.
He hushed her with a finger to her lips, then leaned forward and replaced it with a long, wet kiss.
They went slowly, using the water and the soap to lather and tease each other. He ran his hands over her breasts, palming their weight and teasing her nipples to hard, sensitive points. He loved how she sighed and whimpered under his tender ministrations, how her body blossomed and trembled from desire that she couldn’t deny.
She traced the hard planes of his chest, abs, waist, her eyes hungry as they followed the progress of her slick, soapy hands. She headed downward, and his cock kicked up against his abdomen in anticipation of her touch. Her laughter was throaty and teasing. He tipped her face up to his so that he could kiss her nice and deep, working her with his tongue.
When she wrenched her mouth from his, her eyes were dark like cobalt and her breathing came fast. “You said I would get my turn,” she warned with a coy smile that jumpstarted his heart.
He couldn’t help but marvel again over his colossal stupidity of the last two years. What the hell had he been thinking to give this woman up without even a fight?
She was light and laughter—she was air to him.
“So I did. On your knees, woman,” he commanded.
Max kissed her way back down his chest, the warm water sluicing over their bodies in long rivulets. When she settled before him on her knees, she ran her hands slowly from his calves up his thighs, her thumbs inching inward as she reached his groin.
God, she loved his body. Big and powerful, he was all hard planes and smooth sculptured muscle, every inch of which called her to touch and taste.
Closing a hand around him she squeezed, making him groan. She leaned in to taste him and he shot an arm out to brace himself against the glass wall of the shower enclosure, which made her laugh wickedly before she swirled her tongue over the tip of his cock. She cupped his sac while her mouth moved on him. For several minutes she indulged herself, using her tongue and her mouth to torture him like he’d so recently done to her.
“God, Max,” he moaned, one hand in her hair, holding her to him. “Harder. Suck me harder.”
She complied with pleasure, her hands enfolding him, up and down, while her mouth pulled. His hips began to move, his cock thrusting into her mouth, and she took all of him, happily.
It wasn’t long before he drew her up by her arms and turned her abruptly to face the clear glass of the shower wall. He let out a low growl and ran hot kisses along the length of her spine. With the cold tile pressed against her breasts and Baron’s raging heat at her back, Max was more than ready. His urgency excited her, and she arched her back toward him eagerly. When he pulled her hips into the cradle of his thighs, she braced herself, putting her hands flat against the glass.
“Spread your legs.” He kicked them open himself.
She felt him poised at her entrance, waiting, and she tilted her ass higher to accommodate him. “It’s going to be hard and fast, Max. I can’t do it any other way right now.”
She laughed, desperate for him to fill her. “Why would you think I’d want it any other way?”
His hand was at the small of her back, rubbing in circles. “I just…I haven’t exactly been gentle with you, and…” Though his voice was apologetic, his hard body was insistent as he pushed inside her from behind, entering her just a fraction of an inch. She couldn’t help the hiss that blew past her lips, and she rotated her hips in an attempt to entice him deeper.
“Do gentle later.” Her voice came out rough and gravely. She tilted her hips up and back, sliding her body onto him, taking him as deep as she could without any help from him. The water pounded down upon them both, steam rising from their bodies, though she thought they probably could have generated enough of it on their own without the water’s help.
“Oh fuck, Max,” he groaned. “That’s so fucking good.” In one long thrust he surged forward, sliding right to the hilt. His thighs slammed up against the backs of hers and her breasts jiggled with the delicious force of it. She kept her hands braced on the wall as he pulled almost all the way out, and then pushed home again. And again. He reached around her for her breasts, his fingers pinching her nipples to hard points.
“Yes. God, yes.” She was a creature of sensation, insistent on her own pleasure, unable to form a coherent thought or sentence except to demand more. “Baron, touch me.”
His grunted reply was followed quickly by the slide of his hand between her legs. A shot of electricity through the very core of her made her weak in the knees and her wobbly legs were about ready to collapse beneath her. Baron wrapped his arm around her waist as he continued to stroke her, continued to pump in and out of her, his movements turning frantic as they both crested the ragged edge of release.
She could feel his breath over her shoulder, hard and heavy as he kept up the frenzied pace. Max shouted as the wave hit her in fierce pulses, and she tilted her head back, feeling the water streaming over her closed eyelids and into her open mouth. Behind her Baron stiffened with his own release, then he folded himself around her, both arms holding her close, his face buried against her neck.
Long moments later, he turned off the cooling water. They stepped out of the shower and went back into the bedroom, both of them wrapped in great big terrycloth towels.
Reality started to settle in as she realized that she still had no clothes to wear but for the pants and ruined shirt Baron had lent her earlier. It was time to go home.
“What time is it?” she asked.
Baron glanced at her sharply, obviously picking up on the strained tone of her voice. He checked his watch, a nice, obviously waterproof Swiss Army job that looked expensive. “Early,” he said. “Six a.m.”
Wow. Had they really spent the whole day together? The whole night? Talking and arguing and making love? It was definitely more than she thought would happen when she started out to find Baron. But now it didn’t seem enough. Was this all she would have to last her through the days and months and years ahead?
“I had better be going.” She pulled on the oversized pants and started looking around for a shirt. “Jackson wants you to come home. He’s sick, Baron. He’s dying. And there isn’t a lot of time left.”
Baron simply watched her, his face a stone mask.
Max didn’t know why she should be surprised. “Fine. You obviously don’t care, since you haven’t even asked about him. So whatever. You can come or not.”
He gripped her shoulders and turned her to face him. “Max, you can’t go.”
“You can’t stop me.”
He was going to try to argue with her, she could see it in his eyes. But maybe he had seen something in hers as well, because he didn’t. He stood down. Stepped back. With a sigh he said, “Maybe, maybe not. But the sunlight sure can.”
Max flinched. Damn it. So that wasn’t part of the myth. She really wasn’t going to be able to go out in the sun. She felt the loss sharply, like a dagger to her breast. “Ever?”
His eyes were sad as he shook his head and reached for her. “I’m sorry, baby.”
She jerked out of his grasp and stalked away, arms crossed in front of her chest. Where the hell was that shirt? “Don’t call me that. And don’t you dare say you’re sorry.” She could feel the tears threatening at the backs of her eyes. Damn! She hadn’t been this close to crying so freakin’ often since…well, she never cried. And she sure as hell wasn’t going to start now. She wou
ld die if Baron saw tears in her eyes.
“Look,” he said, “for now, let’s just wait. I know you need to get back, but I can’t let you go with the vampire still out there. He’s keeping his eye on all of us right now, trying to gauge our reactions to what he’s done, and he’ll use you to hurt me again if he thinks he can.”
Max blinked to clear her vision of the pesky, useless tears that she couldn’t seem to get rid of. Her laugh was a brittle, sharp sound. “Well, then I might as well go tell him right now that he’s wasting his time,” she snapped. “Because we all know everyone is dispensable. He couldn’t possibly use me to hurt you.”
She thought he winced, but otherwise Baron didn’t rise to the bait. She didn’t know whether to feel relieved or disappointed. Part of her still wanted that knock-down drag-out fight to relieve the tension between them. But that was just asking for trouble, since Max and Baron both knew how close she had come to losing what was left of her humanity the last time her emotions had taken a swan dive.
“Max—”
She shook her head. “Forget it, Baron. Just leave me alone.”
He sighed and after a long, silent moment, he turned toward the door. “I asked Diana if she wouldn’t mind lending you something to wear. You’re a bit taller than she is, but she said she probably has a few things that would fit you.” He paused. “I’ll leave you alone for a while. Don’t leave the premises.”
She snorted, her indignation plain. Yeah, as if she could.
He glanced back, his expression cold as his gaze raked over her before he walked out the door without a word. Max swore as she realized she was still standing in the middle of the room with her arms crossed protectively over her naked breasts.
Damn.
Chapter Fifteen
Max paced. The rug was going to have a hole worn through it if she didn’t stop soon, but she was too wired, her nerves strung out so badly she felt like a junky who’d gone without a hit for one too many hours.
She had to get out.
It had already been proven to her in graphic, wet, naked detail that her carefully established firewalls would not hold against Baron. In fact, given the last several hours, she was surprised she hadn’t already fallen at his feet and begged him to give them another chance together. She may have given in to her baser needs, but thank God she hadn’t done that…at least not yet. But she could feel herself losing ground in the battle to remain detached and get out of Chandler without giving her heart to him all over again.
She was still as angry as hell with him, but surprisingly, a lot of the old hurt just wasn’t there anymore. And okay, he had saved her life, let her drink his blood and finally spilled the sordid story of why he left.
But that was no reason to simply forgive all the pain he had caused. Max couldn’t forget that if she hadn’t been forced to come to Chandler looking for him in the first place and ended up a late-night snack for a vampire instead, she would still have no idea what Baron had been doing all this time. No idea why he’d ditched his only family, and the ridiculously foolish girl who had once found herself falling in love with him.
Well, she wasn’t that girl anymore, and it would take more than a sob story and some acrobatic sex to change her mind about him. Whatever his issues, the truth was that he hadn’t trusted her enough, hadn’t wanted her enough, hadn’t believed in them enough, to give them a chance at a real love. Instead he had made excuses for why they couldn’t be together, excuses why he couldn’t be the man she needed.
And that was fine. Let him wallow in his excuses, because she didn’t need him. Max would go back to her life and forget that Baron ever existed.
Hell. Even she didn’t believe that.
She cocked her head to the side. Someone was coming down the hall. Odd, she knew it was Diana. Somehow she could sense the other woman.
There was a light knock at the door. Max hesitated but went to open it and sure enough, Diana stood there smiling, her arms overflowing with a selection of women’s clothes.
“How are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m going stir crazy, to tell you the truth.” Max stepped aside to let her into the room. “I’m not used to being cooped up like this.”
“I understand how you feel.” Diana put her pile of folded clothes neatly on the bed and turned to face Max with a smile. “There have been a few times when Alric believed it wasn’t safe for me to be alone at home and initiated what he calls the lockdown procedure. And I know Amy’s been through it with Rhys a few times too.”
“I guess being an immortal demon hunter could give a guy some control issues,” Max joked. “It must be frustrating to live with such overbearing men.”
Diana grinned. “Oh, sure. But you’d never believe the perks.” Her teasing wink left Max with no doubt whatsoever of the kinds of perks Diana was talking about.
“It’s like that, is it?” She laughed.
Diana sobered and said, “Baron told me you’re anxious to get back to your friend. Is he doing okay?”
Max bit back the nasty comment that sat on the tip of her tongue. It probably wasn’t a good idea to vent her frustrations with Baron to his friends, no matter how understanding Diana seemed. “I just got off the phone with his doctor. There isn’t a lot of time. He’s stable for the moment, but that could change very quickly.”
Max sensed Diana’s anxiety. She could tell the woman was nervous. Nervous because…Diana knew Max could read her thoughts and was worried about distressing her.
Oh jeez, as if my thoughts aren’t distressing enough. Max doubted anything Diana came up with was going to faze her.
The sensation of having someone else’s fears and worries running through her head was very disconcerting, and Max put her fingers to her temple in an attempt to block them, then quickly dropped her hand, not wanting to make it obvious that she was reading Diana like an open book.
But how was she even doing such a thing? How could she be picking up on another person’s thoughts? Obviously it had something to do with the vampire inside her—Max still refused to think of it as part of her. She wasn’t ready to face those kinds of truths just yet.
“Thanks for the clothes, Diana. Baron said you had a few things that I could borrow. I appreciate it. I don’t know what happened to my bag after…”
“It’s really no problem.” Diana waved her off. “I just brought you a pair of jeans and a fresh shirt, and I thought you’d probably appreciate a bra and some underwear. I bought a nice set last week that I haven’t worn yet, so you can keep them.”
Max felt like the worst sort of beggar for having to accept the other woman’s charity, especially Diana’s pretty pink lingerie, but she would take the garments nevertheless. The only alternative she had was to keep wandering around in Baron’s clothes, and that was unacceptable. She had to get away from the scent of him somehow. It was too intoxicating, distracting her thoughts, making her want. “I’m sorry to be an imposition, but thank you.”
“Don’t worry about it. Baron is a good friend and I’m glad that I can help you both, even if it’s only by going shopping. Some hardships are necessary.” She smiled.
Max chuckled. “I can reimburse you for everything once I get back home.”
“Uh, sure, but don’t feel obligated. Consider it a gift.” Diana dropped her eyes to the floor and Max frowned. Well, hell. Diana was trying not to think it, but she clearly didn’t believe Baron had any intention of letting her go home.
Max could have told her not to bet the farm on Baron’s ability to keep her here when she decided to go, but felt it would be prudent to adopt the more diplomatic course and keep her mouth shut. Her battle was with Baron, not Diana.
“Can I ask you something?” This mind reading thing was really freaking her out.
“Of course,” Diana replied. “Ask me whatever you like.”
How was she going to put this? “Don’t take this the wrong way, but…”
Diana smiled. “You’re reading my thoughts, aren’t
you?”
“I’m not trying to,” Max protested with a frustrated sigh. “I don’t even know how I’m doing it, and I can’t seem to stop it. More specifically though, my question is why am I doing it with you? I can’t seem to read Baron’s mind, and I didn’t notice that I could with Alric earlier. When we met yesterday, though, I think I got a wave of something from you—although I didn’t understand what it was at the time—but then it seemed to just stop, so I didn’t think much about it.” Max turned to sit on the bed.
Diana laughed. “I know, and I’m sorry about that. If it’s too much for you, I can leave you alone.”
“No,” Max replied hurriedly, not wanting to lose the other woman’s company just yet. “I just don’t understand what the hell is going on. With any of this.”
“It must be difficult for you.” Diana came forward and sat primly on the edge of the bed beside Max, conscious of the hem of her pencil skirt. “You can read me like that because I’m human. It’s harder with the boys, since they’re Immortal. An older vampire like Devon might be able to pick their brain, but they have strong psychic barriers that a newbie vampire like yourself wouldn’t be able to breach.”
Immortals, vampires and psychic barriers. Max had to wonder how Diana, as a human, had found herself caught up in all of this, and how she was able to speak so matter-of-factly about such things. “Okay, I can understand that…I think.” She nodded. “But what happened yesterday in the kitchen? Why did the feed suddenly just stop?”
Diana smiled. “I think Baron probably noticed what was happening and blocked your ability so that you wouldn’t be able to read my thoughts.”
“Baron?” Baron was able to do that? “Is that some kind of monkey trick all the Immortals have, then?”
She shook her head. “No, actually. Although all Immortals end up with some kind of psychic ability when they come out of the transition, it’s different for each of them. For example, Alric can move things around with his mind, which is kind of nerve-racking when you walk into a room to find the TV remote coming straight for you.” She smiled. “Rhys gets visions of the future in his dreams—warnings, really. And Baron has the ability to sense another’s psychic talent and take control of it temporarily.”