Quentin’s stomach growled and he recognized the aroma of streaks frying on a grill. He rolled out of bed, intent on halting the group from cooking the essence out of a perfectly bloody steak.
But there was the problem of a lack of clothing. He refused to contemplate donning the rumpled orange uniform he’s tossed in the corner of her closet. And there wasn’t any sign of his bags. He grabbed a towel from the bathroom, knotted it around his waist, and headed for the door.
As soon as he swung the door wide, all eyes turned to him.
“Now that’s your color,” the large, beefy man named Max said, biting the side of his lip.
Quentin swept the room with a glare and hitched the pink bath towel higher. He spotted his bags next to the door. As he retrieved one, chuckles followed him. Quentin stalked toward the privacy of the bedroom to change when the door to the kitchen swung outward and Darcy strode into the room.
Her gaze raked over him, and her cheeks flushed.
Joe followed her out, and his arm curved around her waist. By the interested stares from the rest of the team, his gesture wasn’t a common occurrence. Joe intended to mark her as off limits to Quentin.
Quentin smiled and let go of the towel.
Darcy froze, but her gaze dropped to his cock.
Quentin took his time unzipping his bag. He pulled out a cotton shirt and blue jeans and dressed.
Darcy glanced away and folded her arms over her chest. Her mouth drew into a tight line. If not for the spots of bright color on her cheeks, Quentin would have thought she’d been unmoved by the sight of his naked body.
“We don’t hold with vampires flashing their privates in our homes,” Max said, his rough-hewn features hardening to stone.
“Since, my privates have been a subject of some scrutiny by this group, I didn’t think you’d mind,” Quentin replied to Max, but his gaze didn’t leave Darcy.
Max cleared his throat. “We’re having steak and potatoes before we head out for the night. That artist will be over here shortly to get your description of our perp.”
“Yummy,” Quentin replied.
“The steak or the artist?” Darcy asked, her chin lifting.
“Neither.” His gaze swept over her, telling anyone who looked he’d much rather have her.
Every male back in the room stiffened.
Darcy turned to the door and opened it wide. “Come choose your steak,” she said between gritted teeth.
Quentin moved to follow, but Joe stepped into his path.
“The lady invited me,” Quentin said.
Joe’s gaze narrowed. “I’m in charge of the fire. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Going to make sure I fall on a stake?”
Following Darcy’s straight back through the kitchen and into the back yard, Quentin knew the two had a bone to chew. His hopes for a rollicking night between the sheets with the lady cop were dwindling.
When the outside door closed behind Joe, Darcy rounded on Quentin. “I’d appreciate it if you’d keep your sexual innuendoes to yourself.”
Quentin stepped close to her. “Why so bothered, Darcy?”
Her glower could have scorched the sun. “I have to work with these guys. If they knew—”
Quentin caught a whiff of an aroma other than steak coming from Darcy’s person. He stepped closer and inhaled. “If they knew what? That I fucked you senseless in the shower, and then you crawled in bed with your partner?”
Her eyes widened. “I didn’t—”
Quentin raged. She’d turned to another as soon as she’d left him. A human male, at that! “In case you didn’t know, vampires can’t impregnate a human. We have other means of procreation. We also don’t carry disease. The ultimate safe sex, wouldn’t you agree?”
“What the hell does that have to do with any of this?”
“I’m just reminding you there are certain advantages to a vampire lover.” Quentin’s face hardened to stone. “How could you go to him with the scent of me still on you skin? And my cum dripping from you?”
“That’s enough,” Joe said, shoving Quentin away from Darcy.
“Joe.” Darcy’s stricken gaze held her partner’s for a long moment.
Disgust was written in the sour curl of his lips. “I’ll be in the kitchen. Yell if he needs killing.” Without a backward glance, Joe left Quentin and Darcy alone in the back yard.
Darcy’s eyes narrowed and she pointed her finger at him. “Now, look here. We fucked. That doesn’t give you any hold over me. I could screw an entire football team, and it wouldn’t be any of your damn business.”
Quentin drew in a deep breath to let loose on her, then realized he was angry—over a woman. He’s shared dozens, no hundreds, of women in his lifetime. Why not this one? Then he realized what she’d just said. “While I share your bed, there will be no footballers anywhere near you.”
“Footballers? Football players, jerk. And I didn’t say I was going to share your bed.”
Quentin stepped closer and caught her by the waist, pressing his lower body hard against hers. “Aren’t you?”
“You arrogant ass—”
“Such language! Mustn’t let your temper fly, love.”
She wriggled to escape his hold, but he held her fast. “That’s it! I’m gonna take you down. You and the batwings you flew in on!”
Quentin kissed her. Her hands pushed at his chest, but her lips told a different story. They melted beneath his.
He lifted his head. “Are we having our first row?”
“You bet your ass!” Her hands tugged at his hair and pulled him down for a second kiss. Her lips parted beneath his and her tongue lapped the tip of his.
Quentin grabbed her arms and held her away from his rapidly hardening body. “I won’t share you with your partner.”
Darcy’s gaze fell from his. “Nothing happened.” She looked up. “Nothing.”
He raised one eyebrow. His sense of smell never let him down.
“Not really,” she said quietly. “He stopped it.”
Disturbed that she hadn’t been the one to halt the love play, Quentin’s hands tightened around her arms. “You’ll share my bed.”
“Only until the investigation is over. And the bed’s mine, by the way.”
Satisfied she’d surrendered to his will, he said, “Not while I occupy it. I’m in charge of that particular fire.”
Chapter Four
Later, armed with the sketch of Nicholas Powell, their serial-killing target, the SU team hit the known vampire haunts—the “blood bank” bars and the streetwalkers’ corners. Joe, Quentin, and Darcy however, were headed to the seedier destinations—accessed by invitation only—vampire escorts required.
Places the team had only dreamed of entering before Quentin provided entry.
The first was a nondescript house in a subdivision. Passing swing sets and manicured lawns, Darcy exchanged a glance with Joe. This could be her neighborhood. Suburban Vero Beach hid dark secrets.
“How’d you find this place?” Joe asked, as he turned onto a long gravel drive. The house wasn’t visible from the road. Chain-link fencing surrounded the yard, which was overgrown with vines and the occasional palm tree. The drive ended in a circle with vehicles parked bumper to bumper in a long row.
“Tessa told me where I could find a meal,” Quentin said, quietly.
Darcy fumed. Tessa had been the blonde-haired vamp who rubbed her body all over Quentin’s while they’d danced in a dark corner of the Piki Tiki bar.
“What do we need to know?” Joe asked, all business as he parked the car.
“Just follow my lead and do whatever I tell you.” Quentin glared at Darcy for a moment.
She wondered what that glare meant.
The trio exited the car and approached the front door illuminated by a single naked bulb. A low thrumming rhythm sounded from within the small, square one-story house.
Quentin ignored the doorbell button and pushed opened the door. Joe raised his eyebrows
and shrugged, and then indicated Darcy should precede him.
The smell within the house was pure sin.
Sickly-sweet opium, cannabis smoke, and stale sex hung in the warm air. Music with a heavy, grinding Latin beat emanated from deep within the house.
Darcy’s fingers itched for her bow, but they had come weaponless.
A woman approached them. She wore a pareo, knotted at one hip and nothing else. Her gaze raked over Quentin and she flicked her long, bleached-blonde hair over her shoulder to expose her full breasts. “Hey stranger. Need a pick-me-up?”
“As a matter of fact, I brought my own,” Quentin murmured with a nod to Darcy and Joe.
Her lips formed a moue. “Well, if you need a foursome…” Her fingers trailed across his chest as she passed them.
Darcy wanted to break her fingers, but Quentin’s sardonic glance kept her expression neutral, even as her chin lifted in defiance. She couldn’t really blame the girl. Dressed in a long-sleeved, cotton shirt, blue jeans and sandals, he was a sun god—golden-haired, golden-skinned. Too beautiful to believe.
They entered the living room, which was lit by a single table lamp. Most of the occupants were naked or in the process of losing their clothing. Wearing jeans and a halter, Darcy felt conspicuously overdressed. Most were also engaged in sexual acts. “Quentin?” she began, uneasy with the tableau.
His hand pressed the small of her back, urging her toward a plaid-upholstered couch in the dingy room. “Let’s play,” he whispered in her ear.
Darcy sat on the edge of the seat, her eyes darting to the darkened corners. The couple on the sofa opposite theirs disengaged their lips, and the woman knelt in front of the male vamp to take his cock in her mouth. Would he expect her to do that in front of everyone? “Quentin,” she hissed. “If you expect me to—”
Quentin pressed a finger to her lips. “Do you know these people?”
She shook her head.
“Do you think they’ll recognize you on the street?”
She shook her head again.
“Then hush.” He sat down next to her and indicated that Joe should sit on her other side. He leaned behind her and said, “Start to undress her. We have to look ‘engaged’ or we won’t be approached.”
Darcy glared at Joe who shrugged, then reached for the clasp at the back of her neck. He leaned into her and whispered, “We have to play by his rules. I won’t let this go too far.”
She snorted. It was fine for him. He wasn’t about to be exposed to a group of vampires and sluts with Double-D boobs. The straps of her top loosened. Her hands caught and held the material to her breasts for a panicked moment, and then she let it slide to her lap. “Why is it you vampires can’t go to the drive-thru? Does everything come down to sex?”
“Our bloodlust feeds our sexual hunger and vice versa. It’s just the way we’re made. Relax,” Quentin whispered, and he turned in his seat to kiss her, his hand gliding over the breast nearest him.
With her eyes opened, she saw him nod to Joe. “Don’t enjoy this too much,” Quentin warned.
Joe’s hand cupped her other breast, and he kissed her shoulder. “This is gonna kill me.”
Darcy wanted to protest. She was the one dying here. Both men’s mouths worked on her flesh and mouth while their fingers tweaked her nipples.
Quentin glided his lips along her jaw. “I need blood,” Quentin said, “or they won’t believe I brought you here to feed.”
Darcy pushed the hair from the side of her neck, but he shook his head. “It’s too soon. Joe, give me your arm.”
Joe knelt in front of her and lifted his arm to Quentin. Quentin licked once, and then pierced his wrist. “Fuck!” Joe hissed. Then his head sagged onto her shoulder. “Sweet Jesus.”
Darcy understood the quickening of Joe’s body. Her gaze locked with Quentin’s as she pushed Joe’s head down until his lips grazed her breast. His mouth latched onto her nipple and drew hard.
While she told herself this was just for the job, her body exulted. Her eyelids fluttered and her legs opened to let Joe press against her. Quentin’s hand slid between their bodies and he cupped her sex through her jeans. Mine! His angry gaze said.
Joe moaned and burrowed his head into her breast, alternately nipping her swollen flesh and licking to soothe. His thighs straddled her leg, and he pumped his erection against her.
Darcy grew alarmed as tension built in her belly. Coming for the two of them wasn’t in her job description. And who the hell would she give the credit? Knowing Quentin, he’d demand it.
Surrounded by both men’s scent and warm skin, she was overwhelmed. Sweat broke on her forehead and upper lip. Her hips rubbed against the heel of Quentin’s palm as he ground it into her cunt.
Darcy’s hand curled around Joe’s head to encourage him to suckle. Joe drew her nipple between his teeth and suctioned hard.
The snap to her jeans popped open and the zipper eased down. Quentin’s hand slid inside, and his fingers found her clitoris.
Darcy moaned and her head fell back against the cushion. Forgotten were the mission and the other occupants of the den. With her free hand, she pushed her jeans further down her hips to expose her pussy.
Joe’s mouth left her nipple and licked a path down her belly. He stopped suddenly, and Darcy opened her eyes, ready to issue a protest.
Quentin’s hand was fisted in Joe’s hair.
“All right,” Joe growled.
Quentin disengaged his teeth from Joe’s wrist and let blood trickle down his chin. “Someone’s coming. If I leave you, you’re to play—only!”
Joe lifted an eyebrow. “Of course.”
Darcy rolled her eyes. An inch from orgasm, her body screamed for release and the two of them were dividing territory. “You started this.”
Quentin grasped the back of her head. “And I’ll finish it.” He kissed her hard then stood to greet a tall, slim black man whose avid stare made Darcy want to crawl into a hole and hide.
Joe’s arms encircled her hips, and he drew her flush with his body, covering her from breast to hip. She wrapped her legs around his waist and hugged him tightly. “Quentin’s leaving with him,” she whispered.
“Then let’s continue with the game plan.”
“I think you need to lose some clothing too,” she grumbled.
Joe grinned. “It is hot in here. Will that make you feel better?”
Looking at his broad shoulders, she murmured, “Probably not.”
Joe pulled his T-shirt over his head. His deeply tanned skin was shiny with perspiration. “I see now why you were so blown away.” He grimaced. “He’s a guy, but I was ready to come all over you when he was sucking on my arm.”
Darcy smiled at his look of disgust. “Mind-blowing, isn’t it?”
“I still have a hard-on that could pierce steel,” he said with a crooked smile.
Darcy knew. It was pressed to the juncture of her thighs. Like a kid with her nose pressed to the candy store window, she eyed the wide expanse of muscle that spanned his chest. Her body was primed and well oiled—desperate for release. “He said we could play.”
His expression looked troubled, a frown creasing his forehead. “Not the way I want to.”
Her hands caressed the tops of shoulders. “The team’s not wired in, and Quentin told us to play. Betcha we can find a place to melt your metal.”
Joe chuckled. “I didn’t know you were such a nasty girl.” He leaned toward her and licked her lips. “Is it just coitus that’s strictly against Quentin’s rules?”
She sucked his tongue between her lips and bit gently. “You’re starting to sound like him.”
“God forbid.” He shuddered.
Darcy laughed and framed his face with her hands. “I think it’s fucking he has a problem with. He seems very possessive of my cunt.”
“Don’t blame him,” he muttered.
“But there’s so much else we could do.” She kissed his lips. “I’m so hot now, I can’t wait.”
<
br /> A smile curved his lips. “We’re undercover. Have to play like the natives, don’t we?”
Darcy groaned. “Like I said, he started this.” Will I be able to face Joe in the morning like nothing happened between us? Will our friendship change?
Joe’s grasp tightened on her hips. “Put your hands inside my pants, Darcy.”
She liked the baldness of his command. “Okay. You first.” She unsnapped his jeans and slid down the zipper. His sex sprang into her hands. His cock was fully engorged and hot to her touch. The skin stretching over it was smooth like satin. “Did I tell you how beautiful your cock is?” she whispered.
Joe’s eyes closed for a moment. When he opened them again, his gaze was stark with longing. “Did I tell you, you have the prettiest tits I’ve ever seen?”
Thrilled by the compliment, she blushed. “You’re full of shit. You just want to fuck me.”
His cheeks flushed red, and his jaw tightened. “Hell, yeah. But it’s true. Your nipples are dark pink, like your pretty cunt.”
Darcy’s heart raced, and her hands squeezed his cock.
Joe leaned forward to kiss her lips, and she glided her hands over him, up and down. Squeezing, twisting.
He leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. “I’m already there, baby. I’m gonna come all over you.”
Darcy took his lips in a deep, grinding kiss and thrust her tongue inside while she pumped her hands faster.
He pulled his mouth from hers and gasped. “Shit!” Spurts of white pearlescent cum striped her bare belly.
“There are limits to my largesse.”
Darcy gasped and released Joe’s cock at Quentin’s curt tone. She looked up to see him standing over them, his hands fisted at his sides.
Chest still heaving, Joe reached for his T-shirt and wiped Darcy’s belly clean. “Sorry about that, old man.” Only he didn’t look sorry at all.
“It’s time to go.” After Joe stood, Quentin’s hand grasped Darcy’s and he hauled her up into his arms. “You don’t seem to take instruction very well, my dear.”
My Immortal Knight 2: Love Bites Page 4