Tara arrived just as she was settling in, and she made a seat for her friend next to her. Nina kissed her cheek. She’d known Tara for years, and it had been she who had talked Nina into joining the writer’s group after John died. Her mood darkened slightly, and though she smiled at the right places in the conversation, she didn’t really want to join in.
Dizzy and a couple more girls arrived soon after, and predictably, the table got even louder, drowning out the rest of the bar.
The more she sat there, the more her nerves got to her. What had she possibly been thinking? Nina knocked back her second glass of wine and wished she was anywhere but there.
She fiddled with the white gold band on her right hand and knew she had to go. What had made her think that coming to a bar and picking up a man would be a good idea? Visions of her husband filled her mind again as she longed to feel a physical connection. Any connection. That’s what had urged her out tonight: to see her friends. Nina’s body ached with an unfulfilled need that no vibrator could ever reach.
This was a bad idea. It was time for her to go. Call it woman’s intuition or that the creepy club had bad juju, something weird was happening, and tonight was definitely the wrong time for her to be feeling lonely. Nina stood up, about to make her excuses to the girls, hoping they’d be as supportive as they always had been, when something came over her.
Nina felt strange down to her toes.
It was like she was drunk, loved up, and floating—all at once. She stumbled and grabbed the back of her chair to steady her jelly-like legs. Everyone around her seemed to be moving in slow motion. Nina looked around at the room, surveying her friends first. They looked the same as her. She reached out her hand to Tara but missed her shoulder. The sparkly teeth guy she saw earlier headed toward them and grabbed one of her friends. She tried to speak but couldn’t form the words before they were gone again.
People were dispersing from the room quickly, and Nina knew there was something wrong with this place. She should have known it with a name like the Blood Bar. Legs that were barely keeping her upright began to fail, and she slumped to the floor. What the hell was happening to her? Was she drugged? Nina let her eyes close. Surely if she just slept a little, this would all be over with soon, but her body was screaming at her. Hot lust coursed through her veins, and she shuddered.
“I’ve got you.” A deep voice tugged at her, and she reluctantly opened her eyes to gaze at a strong chest.
“Who…hell…you?” Nina frowned, realizing her words weren’t quite coming out as planned. Her eyes slowly travelled up a strong, stubbly jaw, over full, smiling lips, and finally landing on beautiful gray eyes. She gasped, finding it difficult to breathe. Her every fantasy she’d had in recent months filled her mind, and lust cascaded through her body until she felt so out of control in his arms, she thought she might melt.
Nina lifted her hand to his face and traced his jaw, his smile becoming more of a grimace.
“Take me to bed.” Her fingers covered her mouth, and Mr. Gray Eyes smiled once more.
CHAPTER TWO
Her motion sickness, or whatever it was, was starting to leave her. Nina looked around at the bodies in the bar. Friends whom she’d been drinking with moments before were gone. Half-empty glasses and bottles on the table the only reminder there’d been anyone sitting there.
“Where are my friends? What’s happened to them?” She was still in his arms, and he was carrying her across the room. A fact she was well aware of, but was in no rush to rectify. He smelled wonderful. So good, in fact, she could imagine herself running her tongue along his neck, tasting every part of him.
Nina ached, being so close to a man not her husband. Need grew sharp and strong between her legs, and she shifted in his arms as ripples of pleasures started low in her belly. Oh God, what was she doing?
“Are you okay?” Her eyes had fluttered closed, so she reluctantly opened them.. Instead of pulling her out of her orgasmic fall, it took her deeper. The swirls of sensation rose, and she knew he could see her wanton desire right there in her eyes.
Nina didn’t care what he thought of her as she pulled herself closer to him and whispered into his ear, her lips tenderly nibbling at the skin. “Fuck me, please.”
He sucked in a breath and looked down her body which was now on fire. “I need to get you out of here. This isn’t real, it’s—”
A commotion started at the back of the bar, and Nina noticed a few of the girls she’d been with, but already the man was striding off with her in his arms. She looked over her shoulder. Things were…strange back there. “Hey, I need to see if they’re okay—”
Mr. Gray Eyes barged opened the fire exit door with his hip and stepped through. The chill of the evening made Nina shiver, and once more made her aware of her body. Taking a few deep breaths, she hoped it would clear her mind.
He didn’t stop walking until he came out of an alley and onto a quiet, unlit street, dropping her next to a large 4x4 truck. Nina had noticed his limp, and she hoped she hadn’t been too heavy for him. Embarrassment edged over her lust slightly, knowing she had to keep herself under control for a few moments until these strange feelings passed.
Nina steadied herself before looking at the man in front of her. His dark, slightly curly hair was a little on the long side, and it looked like he hadn’t shaved in a few days. Nina unconsciously licked her lips. He was everything she could have hoped for in a one-night stand. All she wanted was to forget she was a widow for a night and to just feel again.
“What, err, happened back there?”
“I’m Sam Mc—”
“No, I don’t want to know your surname.” Did that sound too obvious? The look on Sam’s face said it did. Something occurred to her. Her brain was slow to catch up, but pieces started to fall into place. “Was I drugged?”
“Not completely.”
What the hell does that mean?
Sam stepped forward and into Nina’s personal space, and her heart kicked up a thousand beats. “Why did you and your friends come to the bar tonight?”
“It was just suggested by someone in the group, that’s all. That’s how it happens. Why?”
“Can you remember who?”
Nina screwed up her face and thought, ignoring her nipples which were trying to reach out and grab Sam. “Maybe Jane? But she wasn’t there this evening.”
Sam nodded and looked over her shoulder, his finger playing with a little dimple on his chin. Nina was so distracted by that little dimple, she hadn’t realized he was looking at her again. She coughed, trying hard to keep her cool and make it through the next few minutes.
“So, what’s it to you anyway?”
“It’s my bar. And I’d like to know why it was freak central tonight.”
Nina nodded. “You know, I got a weird vibe from some of the men in that bar.”
Sam threw back his head and laughed before stepping even closer. “I wasn’t talking about the men.”
***
Sam told himself for the thousandth time to ask for this beautiful woman’s number, take her out to dinner next week, and date her. Do it right. She was special. Half of his instincts were telling him so. Every other instinct was telling him to take her up on her offer and bury himself inside her right now.
He stood so close to her, he could smell the strawberry scent of her shampoo. Sam reached down and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear so he could see her better. She was each one of his fantasies come true, from her long blonde hair to her gorgeous blue eyes.
“Are you gonna tell me your name?” He watched her pulse as it pushed hard against the skin of her throat.
“Nina.”
He said the name over and over in his mind as his hand cupped her face. Just one kiss would satisfy him, and then he would send her home. Just because she’s horny as hell from a siren song didn’t mean he had to take advantage.
Even as he was saying the words and bending to take her lips, he knew he was in trouble. Sam didn’
t want to stop. Ever. He wanted her in whatever way he could get her. Even if the siren song had gotten her into this state, he needed to be the one to bring her down from it.
What started as a small taste quickly turned into so much more. Nina pulled his head down toward hers and held him there, pushing her body into his, and he was hopeless to resist.
Sam picked her up and wrapped her legs around his hips, her skirt rising, and laid her back against the door of the truck. He didn’t care where he was, he needed to be close to her, needed to be inside her. Sam’s leg ached so he shifted slightly, cursing under his breath, and then it was just him and Nina—nothing else.
Nina ground her hips against his dick, and he groaned. He hadn’t had sex in months, and at this rate he wouldn’t make it. Sam took her mouth once more while he reached up and under her sweater, finding her bra. He could barely hold himself together as he maneuvered the material and saw the black silk covering milky-white skin.
“You’re perfect.” The words came out in a sigh, and he’d never felt so out of control and into a woman like he did at that moment.
Nina encouraged his hand to explore her breasts, pulling down her bra and exposing her nipples to the cold Scottish evening. She was lost; he could see it on her face. And a part of him—the part that knew it was wrong to be taking advantage of her when she had no idea what the fucking merman had done to her—felt guilt. Sam’s hand slowed it’s movement, and his head that was just about to dip and bite that hard nipple stopped dead.
“Nina, we shouldn’t be doing this.” The words hurt to speak, and he wondered if he was the stupidest man in the world for turning her down. Her head, which had rolled down, came back up, and she looked him in the eye. Her pupils were dilated as her tongue darted out to moisten her lips.
Sam tried to step back to loosen Nina’s legs from around his waist, but she held fast and hard and refused, wrapping her ankles.”No, I want this. I want you. Please don’t say no.”
Sam knew he was going to hell, but he couldn’t walk away from her. Not now.
Their frantic hands made light work of ripping Nina’s knickers off her before unbuttoning Sam’s jeans. The street was dead; the only sounds were their heavy breathing and the wrapper of the condom ripping. He pushed her against the car and devoured her mouth, his dick hovering close to where he knew he needed to be soon.
Sam reached down to stroke her pussy, finding her wet with need. His fingers slipped inside, and it was all he could do to keep his legs from buckling beneath him. Sam clenched his jaw and took her mouth again.
“Are you ready, baby?” Sam said as he pulled away from her mouth.
Nina’s hair was wild, and her face was flushed, but she eagerly nodded before pushing herself onto his dick and all but screaming her pleasure out to the world. Sam fucked her quickly, and Nina gave as good as she got and writhed in his arms.
He’d never felt this way with a woman. Before or during sex. He hoped the feeling lasted to afterward too.
“Oh God, I’m coming, Sam. Thank you.” Just her words sent him over the edge, and his buttocks clenched as he thrust for the final time inside her before his breathing came back under control.
Sam’s face was buried in her hair on her shoulder, and he looked at the side of her face, searching for a reaction, but her eyes were closed. “We should, err, probably get dressed since we’re in public,” Sam murmured to her. He didn’t want to, though. Sam wanted to stay inside her forever but, well, they were also in a residential street, and they’d been lucky that no one had stumbled across them already.
Where Nina’s face had been open before, she was closing down now. He could see it plain as day.
“Err, yeah, right. If you’ll just put me down.”
Sam realized he still had her held firmly against him by her ass. Her skin was soft and made him want to explore further. It was also cold. That was the reason he shifted and slowly let her drop to the ground, in the end.
He pulled off the condom and threw it into a nearby trash can as Nina began to adjust her clothes, never looking him in the eye.
Sam heard a commotion then approaching from the alley they had escaped down minutes ago. His regulars would be on top of them any second, and any one of them, especially those with extrasensory abilities, would know they’d just had sex. And they’d make sure they’d stand around and rib them. Sam wasn’t sure whether his and Nina’s tentative relationship could handle that. And he wasn’t willing to risk it before he had a chance to show her they were right for each other.
Sam stepped toward her moments before the crowd would turn the final corner in the alley and see them. She’d barely had a chance to pull her top down before she warily met his eyes.
“I can explain. Honestly.” Her momentary confusion was overshadowed by fear as Sam took hold of her by the waist and shot twenty feet up into the air and back over the rooftops of the terraced houses. He knew she was probably going to scream, so he clamped his lips over hers and watched her eyes as they widened.
This was going to take some explaining.
CHAPTER THREE
“What the hell?” Nina gasped, pulling away from his lip lock, Sam’s eyes never leaving her own.
Nina could have sworn, after mind-blowing sex in public, she was hovering over a dirty old chimney, closer to the stars than she should have been. But that couldn’t be true. And neither were the sensations her delusional mind was throwing up about her quickie, either. It must just have been pent-up frustration. It couldn’t be true. None of it. She was simply going insane. Through lack of sex and human contact.
“I can explain.” Sam had already said that, yet they were still here, him looking sexier than any man should and her without feet on solid ground. And feeling more confused by the second.
Voices momentarily distracted her, and she glanced down to see a small gathering of people. Some of whom she recognized from the bar. Nina could have called out to them, but she was still caught up on the fact she wasn’t where she was supposed to be. And she didn’t like heights. Her stomach flipped, and her hold on Sam tightened as one of her hands found the collar of his T-shirt and held on for dear life.
“I’m gonna throw up,” Nina whispered to him, and Sam’s eyes widened. He looked at the dispersing people below, and before she could double over and empty her stomach of the two glasses of wine she’d consumed too quickly, they were moving through the air again at an alarming rate.
“Sa-am, please,” she hissed as the cold air whipped at her cheek. Nina closed her eyes and wound her legs around his thighs that were only slightly hindered by the skirt she was wearing.
“Trust me, Nina.”
Trust him? She didn’t even know him, her mind chastised. But it was something deeper—her heart maybe?—that told her he was different. Hell, he’d brought her to orgasm just minutes before, and she still tingled from him being inside her. Sam had to be different because she felt different.
Even if this was supposed to be a one-night stand.
Definitely a one-night stand.
Nina opened one eye and looked at his face. His dark hair fell easily over his brow in a curl, and his tanned, hard face was held in concentration.
“Sam?”
He glanced toward her, a smile tugging on his lips, and their journey abruptly stopped, her feet now touching the ground. She staggered, but his arms were tight around her, the heat of his body holding off the chill of the night. “Are you okay?”
Nina nodded. Confusion and lust kept her voice low as she spoke. “What are you?”
Sam chuckled softly and pushed away an errant strand of hair from her face. Nina staggered back away from him and instantly felt cold, not being close to him. She shook off the feeling. She really did need more male companionship. A fact she should remedy after the amazing sex she just experienced.
Sam made no move to pull her into his arms again, but his smile lessened. “I’m…a gargoyle.”
Nina listened but didn’t know wheth
er to laugh or cry. The man could fly, and now he was telling her he was a gargoyle? But weren’t gargoyles supposed to be made of stone and sit on top of buildings all day?
Nina stuck out her hand and poked him in the chest, paying more attention to his body than when she’d made love to him—well, almost. “You feel real,” she said quietly, not quite believing she was having this conversation with him.
“I am real.” He grasped her finger and placed her palm over his chest. “My heart beats, I bleed red, and I fall in love.”
Nina’s breath hitched, but she ignored it, taking a couple of steps and putting a little distance between them. She didn’t quite know where she was as she stood there, looking into the night. She glanced up and down the small road, lit only by a couple of lamps on the pavement. “This can’t be happening to me. All I wanted was to have a quiet drink with my friends, and then this happens. You happen.” Nina wouldn’t admit that her priority in coming out this evening was to do exactly this – well the sex part, not the flying in the air bit. She just wasn’t expecting it to be so mind-meltingly amazing. And of course she’d thought she would be doing a human being. Not a flying lawn ornament. “I need to go home. Will you point me back toward my car?” Nina didn’t want to face him again. It was all just a little bizarre, and she didn’t want to look into his eyes, knowing her body craved him.
She felt his breath on her exposed shoulder and shivered. Nina could so easily step back into him and ask him to make love to her again. But she wasn’t looking for a relationship. She wasn’t looking for anything from him. Guilt assailed her, and she thought of her husband. She couldn’t bear loving anyone only to get hurt once more.
“I can take you home.” Sam’s hand softly touched her shoulder and slid down her arm.
“No.” Nina stepped away and turned toward him, bracing herself for the tumult of feelings. “This was a mistake. Thank you, but I need to go home—back to my life.”
The Protectors: The Blood Bar Chronicles, Book 2 Page 9