Twenty
Cara stood outside the large French doors that led into Aiden’s personal suite. She was a nervous wreck. Her palms were sweating, her heart was racing and her breaths were coming in erratic pants. She closed her eyes and willed herself to relax. She was paying up on a lost wager and nothing more. It did not have to mean anything and it would change nothing between them. He would still be an insufferable, arrogant, pain in the ass vampire that grated her nerves and he would still probably kill her after this was all over and he had used her for all she was worth. She knew too much, had gotten too close for him to let her live. Yeah keep telling yourself that, a pain in the ass voice whispered in the back of her mind. Shut up, she told it. Cara sucked air into her lungs on a deep inhale and expelled it on a slow exhale. After several rounds of the breathing exercise she was calm enough to announce her presence. Before her fist connected with the closed door it opened. Aiden stood in the middle of the doorway wearing a pair of dark grey joggers and a solid black cotton tee that clung to and accentuated every muscle from his torso upward. His feet were bare.
“I’m surprised you showed. Thought you might refuse to pay up or be somewhere planning my certain death just so you wouldn’t have to,” he teased her.
Cara cocked her head to the side and placed one hand on her hip. “You know I hadn’t thought of that. But now that you mention it, let me go grab a few dozen blades and a small militia. I’ll be right back.” Cara took a step backward as if she were turning to leave. Aiden’s arm shot out and curled around her waist. He pulled her inside the door, firmly shutting it and pulling her flush against him.
“Oh no you don’t. You sealed your fate the moment you knocked on my door.”
“Technically you never gave me the chance to knock. But I have a feeling my fate was sealed the moment I didn’t take you out in that alley Vampire.”
Aiden’s eyes twinkled with facetious mirth. “I should be the disgruntled one Hunter. I’m pretty sure it is I who was irrevocably changed that night.”
Confusion marred Cara’s face. “How so?”
“It’s not important at the moment,” Aiden shook his head. “Are you hungry? I can order food,” Aiden offered more so to change the subject than anything else. James was impeccable in his duties to the house and treated every guest with the utmost hospitality. Cara would want for nothing while she was there. James probably had food prepared and available for her at least 6 times a day when the normal human only needed to eat about half that much.
Cara shook her head no. “James must think I’m either a glutton or have a parasite living inside me. He has more food prepared a day than any one person could eat in a week.”
Aiden finally released her and walked over to the minibar that set in the corner of the room. They were standing in a sitting area as large as the one in her room across the hall. There was a mini bar to Cara’s left stocked with top shelf liquors, vintage wines, and expensive champagnes. To her right was a marble-lined fireplace that blazed with warmth. In front of the fireplace lay a large, plush mink rug that probably cost a small fortune. An oversized vintage chase sat against the far wall and an antique chandelier hung daintily from the ceiling. To call the room beautiful would be an understatement. It hinted at extravagance and wealth yet lacked gaudiness. Its decor was elegant and tasteful. It made Cara wonder if Aiden had had a hand in its decoration or if someone else had done it.
“1942 Chateau Margaux?” Aiden held up one of the vintage wines.
Cara eyed him suspiciously. Did he know it was one of her favorite reds? She was tempted to ask but didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. “Yes, thank you.” She moved to where he stood and took the glass he poured for her. She could never pass up a glass of ’42 Chateau Margaux.
Aiden poured himself a glass as he watched Cara wrap her lovely full lips around the rim of the crystal. He never thought he would envy an inanimate object as much as he did in that moment. He had traveled the world and sampled the most beautiful women, human and vampire alike, it had to offer. But not a single one of them could compete with the Hunter before him. He barged into her life with one intent and now found himself wanting to remain in it for an entirely different reason. His hunter was a walking conundrum. She was just as beautiful as she was deadly, as strong and she was fragile, as fierce as she was feminine, as cunning as she was loyal. He’d set out to seduce her. A quick fuck to rid himself of the need he felt to possess her, to dominate her, to feel her lush curves beneath him as he pounded into her flesh from the moment he witnessed her taking the head of a vampire three times her size in that back alley. He did not admit it to himself at the time, but he had held back when he fought her that night. He moved a little slower, struck a little softer, avoided vital organs by mere nanometers. He had started that fight with every intention to kill her, but something within him refused to extinguish her fire from the world. When he couldn’t kill her, he settled on a different path and decided to screw her along the way. He thought one good time would be all he needed to reduce her to another meaningless conquest. A name and face that would quickly blur together with all the rest quickly after their association ended. Now looking at her standing in the middle of his personal quarters on the private island that was his own personal sanctuary, gifted to him by his long dead mother, he knew he had been a fool. He could never forget her. That morning she wore her hair down, allowing her thick auburn curls to cascade down her back in a messy but sexy mane. Their contrast against her graphite-colored eyes was breathtaking. She had etched her way into his very soul. A raging wildfire that set the darkness that normally resided there ablaze. She made him want to keep the monster that lurked beneath the surface at bay.
“Your eyes are turning gold,” Cara informed him more than a little breathless. She was stating the obvious but it was all she could think to say to break the uncomfortable silence that settled between them. The way Aiden looked at her was too intense to even begin to process. It stole her breath away and made her feel as if he was staring into her very soul. It made her think about and yearn for things she knew she would never have. It was all consuming and made her entire body burn from the inside out.
Aiden sat his glass of wine down beside him. “That tends to happen when we feel any kind of strong emotion. Normally I can control it, but I was lost in thought,” he said flatly. Snap out of it, he harshly reprimanded himself. He had to keep the feelings he was developing for the hunter at bay. They would only complicate things and make it harder for him to do what he must in the end. She had a purpose to serve that was far greater than what he might feel for her.
“What were you thinking about so intently?” She asked him tentatively.
His eyes zeroed in on the red button down coat she wore. “You must be rusty in the intimate department. How long has it been Hunter since you last had a lover? You do know we are in the Caribbean not the North Sea?”
His jeering words shook her free of her uncharacteristic timidity. She fixed him with a scathing glare. “First, you arrogant ass, a near blind man could look at me and know I do just fine in the intimate department. That is something I have never had a problem with. Second, unlike many of the brainless twits I am sure you are accustomed to, I have a brain and I know where we are. It is a raincoat. We are on a Caribbean island for Gods know how long. It likes to rain sporadically in this part of the world and I had to put on something to go from my room to yours. I certainly was not crossing an open hallway in this!” Cara threw open her raincoat to reveal delicate black lace lingerie trimmed in red silk.
Her perfect, luscious petite breasts were practically spilling out of the material. Something Aiden would not mind at all happening. In fact, he wickedly thought, he might even help her with that. All it would take was a thought and the lacy material would be in shreds on the opposite side of the room. Then again, he thought as he started toward her with a predatory gleam in his eyes, it would be much more fun to tear it away with my bare hands.
C
ara let out a small little yelp when Aiden collided with her. He made quick work of sliding the raincoat down her arms and casting it aside. He took a step back to admire her without the offending thing on. His gaze traveled the length of her body. She wore a matching bra and panty set. The bra was a low demi-cut that just barely covered the top of her nipples. She had the toned physique of an athlete. The benefit of years of combat training no doubt. Yet her lush curves and smooth, delicate skin added a softening, feminine edge. The planes of her stomach were flat and smooth and her exposed thighs were lush and ample. She sported a pair of black leather stiletto boots that traveled the length of her legs and ended just above her knees. They complemented the bra and panty set perfectly. She was his personal femme fatale. The bulge in his joggers hardened to near painful proportions when he thought about what he would do to her in those boots. He would strip her bare of every stitch of clothing except them. Then he would bend her over a chair, or chase, or whatever the fuck was closest to them and claim her in the most carnal of ways. He would fuck her hard and mercilessly until she came a part just for him and her entire world shattered. He filed the vision away under the mental ways to fuck Cara list he was keeping. At the rate he was going, if she lived for the rest of eternity there still would not be enough time to see them all through. He would start on the list soon, but not yet. For the moment, he had other plans.
The way Aiden looked at her, like he was a starved man and she was his only meal, sent shudders throughout Cara’s body. It made her feel self-conscious and emboldened at the same time. No one had ever looked at her with the intensity that he did. Then again, she had never done this for anyone before either. She had not lied to Aiden. She did okay in the intimacy department. When she wanted to get laid she had no problems doing so. Yet Cara always approached sexual encounters with an sense of detachment. She didn’t get too close. She didn’t feel too much. She kept things light and casual. She got what she needed in the moment and that was it. She never, ever gave more of herself than absolutely necessary and she never let anyone past the barriers she had erected so long ago. But Aiden was different. He made her feel things she should not and want to do things she previously thought laughable. Try as she might to treat him with the same level of detachment as she did near every one else in her life, she could not. He got under her skin against her most fierce protests. Worse, he was barreling through every barrier she had ever constructed. He made her feel more of everything. When she was pissed at him she was consumed with barely contained rage. She wanted to rip him apart and rain destruction down upon his head. When she was turned on by him, she was engulfed in uncontainable passion. She wanted to tear his clothes off and explore every inch of him. She wanted to completely consume him and be completely consumed by him. She had come dressed as she did because she wanted him to feel as utterly out of control as she did around him. Cara knew Aiden did not expect her to actually adhere to his demand to wear something sexy. So she did exactly the opposite. Her aim was to startle him with something so provocative and unexpected that he didn’t know what hit him. From the looks of it, it was working. Well it was until about a minute ago when Aiden’s expression changed from starved to painful.
“What’s wrong?” she asked him.
“You,” he told her plainly.
“Come again.” Cara narrowed her eyes. She would murder him.
“You,” he said again. Only this time he caught her around the waist and pulled her to him to prevent any acts of violence on her part. He ran his hand along the length of her spine and allowed himself the gratification of using the other to cup her perfectly, round supple ass. “I did not expect you to be such a gracious loser.” He swept her hair to one side and drew his nose along the length of her exposed neck. She smelled of freesias blowing in the midst of a summer storm. It was intoxicating. He forced himself to put some distance between them. “I am not as cruel as you think I am Hunter. I have never forced a woman to my bed and I will not do so now.”
“But the bet,” Cara started but Aiden quickly cut her off.
“Was exactly what you called it. A hustle. I never thought you would uphold your end of the bargain so thoroughly. I only wanted you to acknowledge whatever this thing is that burns between us. I wanted to force you to admit your attraction to me. That you want me to sink myself between your thighs as much as I want to, which you admitted when you conceded me your body over your life. You are a born hunter, Cara. You never stop fighting. If you truly did not want me, you would have willingly gone to your death. Still…” Aiden’s words trailed off as he took another step away from her. “There is no question that I want you Cara, but not like this. When I finally have you, I want it to be because you came to me of your own accord. Not because I conned you into doing so.”
Stupid, infuriating, vampire, Cara wanted to scream at him. “Look at me,” she nearly did yell. “I am standing in the middle of your quarters half naked in heels. I am completely weaponless. No daggers, no katana, no throwing knives, no short blade. You said yourself I’m a fighter. No one coerces me to do anything. Ever. If I am here it is because I made the decision to be. Not because I was tricked or made to fear for my life. If this was not something I wanted to do, you can bet there would be a blade hidden somewhere on me. I would wait until you were nice and distracted then use it to slit you from ear to groin.” Cara closed the space between them. “I showed up because like you said I am tired of fighting whatever this thing is between us. So I figure if I fuck you one good time I can get it out of my system and be done with you. Then I can go back to cool indifference as usual.” She practically spat the words at him.
If Aiden were any kind of a gentleman he would turn away from her. Stop this from going any further. He would not do what he knew he was about to do. But he was a vampire not a man at all and he was not raised with an inkling of noble sensibilities. He was raised to be merciless, bloodthirsty and ruthless. He was raised to inherit a throne and subjugate others to his will. He was raised to take what he desired by force and make no apologies for the devastation left in his wake. He wanted Cara more than he had ever wanted anything or anyone in his life. Nothing would stop him from claiming her in that moment, especially something as trivial as contrived notions of virtue. His eyes flashed from their usual emerald shade to a darker forest green now ringed by gold flames. She thought to use him and forget him. Ha! He would possess her. He would claim her. He would brand her from the inside out searing himself into every single cell that she was composed of. He would ruin her for all other men so if she even dared to take another lover he would be but a hollow comparison to himself. Aiden crushed his mouth to Cara’s in a wild and overpowering kiss. Her lips parted on their own accord and she gave as good as she got. She thrust her tongue past his teeth and took from him as much as he demanded from her. He bit down on her lower lip hard enough to elicit a yelp from Cara. It was the beginning of her punishment for having the audacity to think him forgettable. He should not have been surprised when she bit him back hard enough to draw blood. His eyes blazed with golden flames he did not bother to try and restrain. He hoisted her onto his waist, wrapping her legs around him. They crashed into the wall behind them with enough force that it would have shattered Cara’s spine if Aiden did not cocoon her in his embrace. With two quick flicks of his hand he ripped away both her bra and panties. Cara let out a gasp. “Those were expensive…and my favorite pair.”
“I’ll buy you a dozen more,” Aiden growled. He wanted her completely bare but for those godforsaken boots. Damn he was going to enjoy fucking her in them. She would not be able to wear them or any other pair again without thinking of him drilling into her over and over again. He fisted a hand in her auburn curls and forced her head back. He pressed his lips to the base of her earlobe and trailed hot kisses down her neck and onto her chest. He stopped when he reached her left nipple. He sucked it hard into his mouth, allowing his fangs to elongate and graze the tip of it as he did. The sensation sent electric bolts sho
oting out over Cara’s entire body. He untangled his hand from her hair and brought it between her thighs. He slowly slid one finger, then two and finally three into her core. It was tight and hot and it felt like heaven. Aiden nearly came imagining what it would feel like when he replaced his fingers with his cock. It was not time yet though. He still had work to do. Aiden lazily pumped in and out of her as if time was of no consequence and he did not have any other place in the world to be. It was a delicious onslaught that drove Cara mad. Her core clenched around him as she rocked her hips back and forth against his fingers demanding more. He expertly played her like she was his instrument and he was the violinist. Just when she thought she would go insane from the mounting pressure, his thumb found the sensitive bud of her clitoris and pressed down hard. She bit down on his shoulder to keep from crying out too loudly as she came apart around him. Oh no, Aiden thought, there would be no holding back with him. He locked gazes with her as he brought his hand, still coated with her orgasm, to his mouth. He licked her juices off of one of his fingers them rubbed them against her slick folds once more. This time he brought his hands, slippery with her wetness, to her lips. He meant to trace the outline of them with his hands, but his hunter surprised him. She grabbed his hand and wrapped her lush lips around his index finger. She kept her gaze locked with Aiden’s as she sucked on it hard as if it was a much more intimate appendage. Said appendage strained against his cotton pants to be released. He pressed the hard mass into Cara’s core.
“Do you want me?” he whispered into her ear.
Born In Blood (Born Hunter Book 1) Page 13