by Janice Jones
“Of course,” he replied. He pulled her to a stop in front of a door just a few feet from the Executive Suite at the end of the hall. “Don’t you want to freshen up first?”
She caught her reflection in the mirror on the opposite wall. Her dress was now a completely different color than it had been a few hours ago. Soot and ash streaked her arms, but she looked better than she thought she would under the circumstances. There were bright red scratches on her forearms and cheek, but they were healing. She untangled the band around her ponytail, combed her fingers through the strands and tied it back up.
“Happy?” she smirked at him through the mirror. “Let’s go.”
Adam shrugged and waved her toward the end of the hall.
Of course, Jason had the largest suite on the floor. A four bedroom, three-bath mini-oasis with a wall of glass overlooking the city was one hell of a place to recoup from an assassination attempt. Inside, the entire place smelled like freshness and food.
“Thank God,” she heard Sebastian’s voice before he sailed around a blind corner at her. He lifted her from her feet, holding her tightly against his solid body. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” she huffed, trying to breathe. He placed her gently on her feet again. “Where’s everybody?”
“Xavier and Erin are making dinner,” he said with a nod toward the glass wall that separated them from the night and the city skyline. “He’s in heaven right now.”
She looked over to see Xavier, Erin and Kai as Xavier placed massive steaks on a stainless steel grill. Erin and Kai set a big glass table with candles in the middle as a place setting. When they noticed her, they all rushed inside.
After assuring them she was fine, again, they went back outside with Sebastian in tow.
“Amy and David are with Jason,” Adam said. “The study is this way.”
Jason’s scent overtook her senses as she took a deep breath. He was just on the other side of that door and he was fine. That made her feel better for some reason. The door opened and they stepped inside to see Jason at the desk, while Amy and David sat side by side on a small couch as they looked at a computer screen.
Adam cleared his throat to get their attention.
“Damn,” David croaked taking her in his arms. “You had us worried, boss.”
“Yeah,” Amy chimed in as she gave Alex a quick hug too. “Glad to see you in one piece.”
Alex just smiled and nodded. She was tired of saying she was fine, especially when she didn’t feel very fine.
Away from the desk, she could see the bandages on Jason’s right hand. She could also see the scratches that matched hers on his the right side of his neck. Because he was still pale, they popped out on his skin as if lit from inside.
“Could I speak to Alex alone?” he asked. “Please.”
Adam escorted them from the room, closing it softly behind him.
In his faded jeans and t-shirt, Jason Stavros, millionaire playboy, looked like Jason Stavros, starving artist. His usually styled hair was loose and still slightly damp from a recent shower. She could smell his shampoo as he moved slowly toward her. Maybe she should have taken a shower after all.
His good hand touched her face and he frowned. When his fingertips touched her wounds, it stung just a little. “You look like hell.”
Alex kicked her shoes off as she stepped into his arms and accepted his embrace. “I feel like hell, thanks,” she said into his shoulder. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
He held her at arm’s length for what seemed like forever. Then he led her to the couch, took a knee in front of her and shook his head. The warmth of his hands eased the pain in the stiff muscles of her thighs.
“It could have been much worse, if not for you,” he said lifting her feet to the table. He stepped over them and sat down next to her.
“That’s what I get paid for, right?” she replied, easing her aching head to his shoulder. “Taking a bullet for the client?”
“That was no bullet,” she heard him whisper.
“Bullet, bomb, same difference, right?” she giggled. “Speaking of which, where are we on finding out what the hell happened?”
“You could have been seriously hurt or worse,” he said as he shrugged her head from his shoulder.
“You too.”
“I wasn’t.”
“And neither was I.”
_______________
Jason didn’t have the strength to argue with her about this tonight. To see her this way just made him want to fold himself around her and keep her safe, but she didn’t really need him like that, did she?
“You need a drink,” he said as he crossed to the liquor cabinet next to the door. He dropped a couple of ice cubes in a short glass and poured his best whiskey over them. He placed the glass in her waiting hand, and then he sat down again.
“Thanks,” she said, and took the drink like she did everything else, with confidence.
“Better?” he asked.
“Some,” she answered. The cold glass against her forehead, Alex closed her eyes. “So, where are we on the bomber?”
“Why?” Jason snapped at her, jerking the glass from her hand and then dropping it on the table, surprised it didn’t shatter. “The others can take care of that right now. You’re done being a bodyguard for the night!”
He expected a fight, but she just stared at him with tired eyes. The kiss surprised him more than anything else. As her desire pressed against his senses, he lost his anger and replaced it with lust. Quicker than he thought, he was aroused by her lips on his, her tongue took control, her hands underneath his t-shirt. Then she stopped and pulled back every emotion like reigning in a wild stallion.
“Sorry,” she whispered.
“Don’t be,” he whispered back as he tried to move her closer again.
She moved from the couch and was at the door before he caught her in his grip.
“I need a shower,” she said as she checked her dress with a shake of her head. “A really long one.”
Jason wanted to sweep her up into arms and not let her go until he’d had his fill of all of her, but he pushed down that thought and pressed his forehead to hers.
“Not too long,” he said. “Dinner’s almost ready.”
They emerged from the office hand in hand and Alex asked Sebastian to show her where her room was. She winked at Jason as they left the suite.
Inside the kitchen, Jason waited patiently for her to return to him. Every voice in his head told him not to be jealous of the young vampire she seemed to favor over the rest of the team. She was his and he wouldn’t let a newly turned vampire best him for the affection of a woman.
Chapter 35
The news coverage unfolded before him on mute. Just the thought of hearing one more reporter call this a terrorist attack made his stomach turn. But what other choice did he have, really? None. If the real truth came out, the world as they knew it could explode into chaos.
Conner sat back on the couch in his hotel room with a fierce desire to kill someone for causing all of this commotion, but he didn’t know who to blame. Aiden’s contact inside the FBI kept them briefed as the investigation unfolded. Zu, his third son, had a direct line to the Mayor’s office. He’d been roommates with her son in college. His connections to high-level officials, even through their children, were helpful. Because Jason was a pretty big deal in Las Vegas, the Mayor had pledged to put every law enforcement agency in the city behind the investigation. Zu could get the latest information with a phone call.
But Conner was still nervous about what had happened today. Was it a coincidence, the attempt to eliminate Jason as Conner and his family arrived in town? And why a bomb? There were much more efficient ways to kill a vampire these days. Ways that didn’t leave such a mess. Of course, the human government was uncharacteristically quiet. Conner was sure they had som
e team of super geeks in league with Alex Stone and the Tracker team to find the guilty party. Or they were pissed the bomber failed. Jason was certainly no threat to national security. But maybe this wasn’t about Jason. Maybe this was about Alex Stone. That thought created a throbbing pain behind Conner’s eyes.
“You feeling alright, Con?” Aiden asked from the other side of the long dining table.
Conner gave him a nod as he put the glass of blood to his lips. “Yes. I’m just concerned about this mess.”
“Well, we’ll get it under control. Jason should make his statement in a couple hours; after Ms. Stone has reviewed it, of course,” Aiden chuckled.
“Of course,” Conner growled then took another sip. “Have Jeffrey contact Adam and let him know I’d like to have Jason and Ms. Stone for an early dinner tomorrow night, would you?”
Aiden gave him a strange grin then made the call.
_______________
She wasn’t really interested in the small talk going around the table. In the open air, high above the city, they enjoyed a home cooked meal like regular people. Jason was the perfect host. His personal security team stayed inside the suite, watching them closely through the glass. Even Adam kept his distance. Alex glanced inside from time to time to see him on the phone with a serious look on his face.
“Alex,” Jason cleared his throat and the conversation died down. “The team tells me you’re going to L.A. Kinda sudden, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” she spoke up after Sebastian kicked her under the table. “This can’t wait, sorry.”
Jason gave her a nod, but didn’t look like he believed her. “Be careful,” he replied.
“We’ll be with her,” Kai chimed in. “Don’t worry. She’s safe with us, right Sebastian?”
“Absolutely,” Sebastian smiled.
Jason wiped his mouth politely and looked at both of them with a hard expression. “She’d better be or it’s me you’ll answer to.”
Kai looked insulted, but he gave Jason a nod anyway. Sebastian, on the other hand, looked to Alex like he wanted to throw Jason from the balcony.
“We understand our responsibility,” Sebastian hummed with a sip from his glass. “We look after our own.”
Amy stood and took her plate and Jason’s with her. “Nobody said we didn’t Sebastian. I think Mr. Stavros just wants to be sure we’re being careful, right?”
“I think Mr. Stavros is implying we’d let something happen to her,” he growled as he pushed his empty glass away.
“Oh, I’m not implying anything of the sort,” Jason smiled at him. “I’m telling you, her safety comes first.”
“You think we don’t know that?” Sebastian grinned with a glint in his eyes.
Jason pushed his glass away as well, then sat back in his chair with a same glint in his eyes. “I think it’s too easy to get distracted by all the young flesh that inhabits every corner of that town. You won’t be there to hunt, Mr. Rayne. If something happens to her on this trip, you can be sure that you’ll be the hunted.”
Alex placed her hand over Sebastian’s on the table and his mouth closed.
“Nobody’s getting hurt or hunted, Jason, so relax,” she interrupted. “It’s a quick trip to La-La land and that’s all.”
By the time she and Jason made it inside the suite again, her team was gone and Adam told them Jason’s personal security would patrol for tonight. He and Jason disappeared inside the office again. She thought about trying to focus on hearing the conversation, but her head hurt so much that she decided the added pain wouldn’t be worth it.
Alex eased back against the soft cushions of the plush sectional sofa and sighed. The padded back and seat molded to her body as she willed her muscles to relax. The pain pills she’d popped earlier would kick in soon. After that, it wouldn’t matter what happened, she’d be too relaxed to care. Pulling a stray blanket she found on the arm of the sofa over her legs, her head dropped to the decorative pillow in no time. With some effort, she was able to dim the lights using telekinesis. It hurt like hell, but worth not having to actually stand to do it.
The tension she had felt all through dinner and the testosterone display afterward started to melt away as the drug spread through her bloodstream. The last muscle to relax was her brain. Image after image of the explosion dissolved away at her command. All around her was the blissful sound of silence. She couldn’t hear the guards outside in the hall. She didn’t hear Jason or Adam behind a closed door a few feet away and that was alright with her.
She hadn’t even heard him come out or Adam leave until Jason’s fingers stroked her hair gently. His tenderness made her forget she was angry with him for picking a fight with Sebastian earlier. He eased his thigh under the pillow that held her head so comfortably.
“You can stay here tonight if you want,” he whispered, as his fingers eased through her hair.
“I just wanted to close my eyes for a few minutes,” she replied as she rolled over to see him stare down at her. He brushed a stray piece of hair from her eye and kissed her softly on the lips.
“It’s been two hours,” he said in a low chuckle. “I’ve already made the statement to the press.”
She sat up to yell at him for not waking her, but when she saw the concern in his eyes, she didn’t have the heart. Kicking the blanket off her legs, she gripped the back of the couch to keep herself upright. She kissed him and immediately her need for him grew stronger. Once she straddled him and his hands were under the thin t-shirt she wore, what was left of her anger disappeared. His hands were so soft, but strong. She’d unzipped him before she knew it.
“Hold on,” he moaned. “Not here.”
He pushed them both from the couch and carried her down the hall to the master bedroom. The door slammed shut and locked, as Jason maneuvered them down into the softest bed she’d ever been in. With him between her legs, his mouth took hers again with a passion that exploded through her entire body. Like the other night, they undressed each other like horny teenagers. But, unlike their last encounter, he hesitated to take her.
_______________
“What?” she sighed, pulling his bottom lip into her mouth. “You don’t want to?”
Jason pinned her hands to the mattress in an effort to slow down the pace. The more her naked body touched his and the way her mouth teased as it pecked at his throat, the harder it was to resist the need gnawing at his insides. The animal wanted to feed, now. The man wanted to claim her for his own.
“More than I should,” he moaned as she tried to get him inside her. “But I want all of you this time, not just what you’re willing to give me.”
Positioned between her legs, Jason felt the warm liquid on the tip as he nudged at her opening. The muscles in her thighs tightened with every inch that disappeared inside her. He moved at an agonizingly slow pace—for himself and for her, as he discovered. She moaned with each deep thrust, pulled at his waist with powerful legs because he still had her hands in his grip as she struggled to free them. As much as he wanted to, he wouldn’t allow himself to rush this time. He wanted to make her beg. He wanted her to purr like a cat then scream his name for the entire building to hear.
She flipped them over so that she was on top. Then she smiled down on him with her eyes on fire with desire. “Don’t move.”
As she left him on the bed, she took the sheet with her to the other room. When she climbed back on top of him, he thought she was going to plant the ice pick she had in her hand into his chest. Instead she drew it across her palm with a low hiss. “Open up.”
Jason pushed up on his elbows. Her gesture felt more like an insult than an offer to let him feed from her the way he wanted. Never in his history of sexual encounters had he been denied the pleasure of the bite this way. Human and vampire alike begged for his bite before, during and after sex, sometimes. But not the great and powerful Alexa Stone, no sir!
Rage flared his nostrils.
“Really,” he growled. “Why can’t I take it the old fashioned way? You won’t regret it, believe me.”
He tried wrap his arm around her, pull the sheet away and tried to flip her back underneath him, but he couldn’t. Her hand pressed against his chest and forced him back down. The blood, that he could smell now, seeped through her clinched fist. It dropped on his chest and crawled up his nose. His brain tingled, screamed at the intrusion, but his mouth watered for a taste. Against his will, his mouth opened wide and accepted the hot, sweet fluid with gratitude. As it coated his tongue, he swallowed her offering with a deep moan he couldn’t hold back. Tiny stars exploded behind his eyes as he squeezed them closed. Wave after wave of heat and desire swept through his stomach and his muscles tightened.
The assault on his senses started immediately. As she pressed her body down over his rock hard mass, she rolled her hips, and Jason wanted to scream from pleasure. His nails sank into the tender flesh of her waist and she hissed his name.
As his incisors dropped to razor sharp points, his gums burned and itched in anticipation of more. His mouth watered as her wetness covered him below. She drew her index finger along the edge of one fang and heard the soft skin separate. As her finger slipped into his mouth, he flipped them over which put him back in control, on top, where he needed to be now.
She sucked in a deep breath as her blood filled his mouth. Thick and hot, her blood ignited a flame inside him he was not expecting. His thrusts became as urgent as he sucked at her finger like a baby. With each mouthful, her body expelled even more wetness and he ventured deeper and deeper to see just how far he could go inside her.
She moaned and he pushed and fed until Jason thought he would lose control. Lost in the act of taking his fill, he released his hold on her finger to press her hands above her head on the mattress as the pain to come reached epic portions. He couldn’t remember ever feeling a desire for blood or sex like he did now. As much as he tried to hold on, he felt the need to release, to be freed.