by Tina Folsom
Savannah followed him with his eyes and saw the photo that stood there in a gilded frame. Instinctively, she rose and walked to join him. When she was close enough to get a good look at the photo, she froze. The woman in the picture was a black beauty, her eyes shining with love, her smile infectious.
John turned toward her. “You remind me of her, even though in so many ways you’re different from her. She was Creole; her mother was from the West Indies, her father from France. And she accepted me with all my faults. Because she loved me.” He sucked in a breath. “And now I’m betraying that love. I’m betraying her because I crave you. I’ve desired you from the moment you walked into my office. I yearn to have with you what I had with her. And I feel guilty because of it. And scared. More scared than ever in my life.” His eyes locked with hers for the first time since they’d entered his home.
“Oh, John.” She could barely believe what she heard. So much pain, so much anguish.
He shook his head. “I can’t go through that again. I can’t survive it a second time.” He let out a bitter laugh. “What am I saying? Most people don’t even find this kind of love once in their lives. How can I hope to find it a second time?” He turned away abruptly. “I’ll take you to my friend’s house. I think it’s best for you. At least you’ll be safe there. You won’t have to worry about me coming to your bed and trying to force myself on you.”
“You’re not capable of forcing yourself on a woman, John,” she said. She was convinced of it. A man who could love so deeply, a man who experienced guilt so profoundly, wasn’t capable of hurting a woman he desired.
“You can’t be sure of that. Please, Savannah, please let me take you to Wesley’s house.”
She took a step toward him and put her hand on his shoulder, making him turn toward her. “I want to be here with you. For you. You were there for me when I needed comfort. When I’d nearly lost all hope of finding Buffy. Now I’m here for you. Nicolette would want me to stay to give you the comfort she can’t give you anymore.”
“You know what will happen if you stay,” he warned without malice in his voice.
She lifted her hand to his cheek and brushed her knuckles over it. “Yes, I know what will happen. Because we both want it to happen. We need each other. I don’t know whether what’s between us right now will ever have a chance to flourish. Nobody knows that. All I know is that right now, I need you, and you need me.”
“Savannah,” he murmured, and this time he wasn’t pleading for her to leave. He leaned in, put one hand on her waist and slid the other to her nape. “I’m going to be gentle this time. I promise.”
“I don’t care how you take me, John. As long as you take me.”
25
John slanted his lips over Savannah’s mouth, and, deliberately slowly, he kissed her. This time he wouldn’t allow himself to act like a beast. She was putting her trust in him, offering him a second chance, and he wasn’t going to throw that away. The guilt he felt about betraying Nicolette’s memory was still there, but having shared his story with Savannah gave him a sense of relief. His shoulders felt lighter now, as if some of the burden of his past had been lifted.
Savannah’s lips parted under light pressure, and her breath rushed into him. She tasted sweet and welcoming. She was right when she’d said that he needed her. But she had no idea to what extent. He needed her not only in his bed to satisfy the desire he felt for her, he also needed something else from her. Her blood. And while she offered her body so freely, he doubted that she would part with her blood as easily. So for now, he had no choice but to content himself with what she was willing to share with him.
When the kiss grew more passionate, and she pressed herself to him so his chest crushed her breasts, and his hard cock rubbed against her soft stomach, he drew his head back.
“Easy, Savannah, we’re going to take it slowly this time.”
Her lips were wet, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes dilated. Just one kiss, and she looked like the most enticing tableau of lust and desire he’d ever encountered.
“You don’t have to go slow on my account,” she claimed and ran her hands down his torso.
Before she could reach his groin and play havoc with his good intentions, he imprisoned her hands with his.
“A woman like you deserves to be loved slowly and thoroughly. It’ll give us both more pleasure.” He lifted her into his arms and carried her out of the living room.
In the bedroom at the end of the short hallway, he laid her onto the large bed, then flipped the light switch. The soft light of the bedside lamp cast a golden glow over the room.
He bent over Savannah and reached for the seam of her sweater. She lifted her back and head off the mattress and allowed him to rid her of the garment. Beneath it, she was naked. He ran his eyes over her breasts, then cupped them both, enjoying the feel of them in his palms.
“Tell me, Savannah, why don’t you wear a bra?” He lifted his head to look at her face.
“I don’t like the feel of it, of the tight strap around my chest confining me. It’s like a prison.”
“Hmm.” He dropped his gaze back to the two large globes in his hands and squeezed them, eliciting a soft moan from their owner. “Don’t you know what you’re doing to a man seeing you without a bra underneath your sweater? Don’t you know how tantalizing it looks when you move and your breasts bounce with every step you take? Or do you love it, knowing you’re making our cocks stiff when we see your nipples turn hard in the cold air?”
And just like that, her nipples stiffened in his palms, and uneven breaths left her lips.
“I didn’t know,” she claimed. “It’s just more comfortable.”
“Is that so?” He dipped his head and licked over one nipple then the other. “The moment you walked into my office, I knew I had to lick these breasts. You can’t tell me you didn’t know that. Didn’t you see how you turned me on?”
“Not at first,” she said finally.
“That’s why you made me touch them, didn’t you? Because you knew my weakness.” He sucked one nipple deep into his mouth and licked it vigorously.
Savannah moaned and arched her back, thrusting her chest toward him in open invitation. “Yes, oh! I knew you’d like them.”
John switched to the other breast, gave it the same treatment: long, wet licks and hard sucking.
“Oh, yes, more!”
“I wanted to press you against the wall of your living room, strip you bare, and take you right there. I could barely keep it together. When I got home that night, when I stood in the shower…” He looked at her face and met her eyes. “I took my cock into my hand and imagined it was you touching me.”
Another moan rolled over her lips, and her hips moved as if she wanted to rub herself against him. He could smell her now. She was wet, her arousal drenching her soft petals. Soon, he’d take care of her need, but he’d promised himself not to rush this.
“But it wasn’t enough. There’s no substitute for you.”
“I’m here now.” She reached for his shirt and started opening the buttons.
Happy about her eagerness to undress him, he helped her and tossed his shirt to the floor a moment later. Her hands were on him then, touching, caressing, exploring.
“I love the way your skin feels under my hands,” she murmured, kissing his chest. “And my lips.”
“I love your lips on my skin.” And he remembered what her lips had felt like wrapped around his cock. But tonight, he wouldn’t allow her to do that. Tonight was for her. Tonight, he had to show her that he could be gentle and selfless.
He pulled back and reached for the waistband of her jeans. Quickly, he popped the button open, then lowered the zipper. Savannah was already pushing the pants down over her hips, and John pulled them farther down, freeing her of them, pulling her shoes off at the same time.
She wore black bikini panties and reached for them. But he stopped her. “Allow me.” There was something about helping a woman out of he
r panties, because it gave him the feeling that she was at his mercy, because he was the one deciding when to undress her.
She lay down again, her head supported by the pillow. “Go ahead,” she whispered, a seductive glimmer in her eyes. “Do what you desire.”
The way she said it, the way she offered him carte blanche made his balls tighten and his cock jerk against the confines of his pants. His zipper cut into the hard root and made him bite back a groan.
Gently, he slid his fingers underneath the silky fabric and caressed her skin there, ran his fingers through the neatly trimmed hair at her center, and delved lower. Her hips lifted toward him, inviting him. But he withheld what she was asking for and instead took hold of her panties and pulled them down over her hips, then her legs. Then he ran his hands back up her legs until he reached her thighs. He nudged them apart, and Savannah spread them wider.
When he moved into the space between her legs and dipped his head, Savannah’s chest rose, the pert nipples even harder than before, and she pulled her lower lip between her teeth.
“I should have done this earlier, but when you sucked me, I could barely hold on to my sanity.”
Before she could react, he brought his head to her pussy and inhaled deeply. Her scent filled him, sent more blood to his cock, and made his fangs itch. But he pushed back that particular need. Instead, he licked over her slick cleft and lapped up the juices that oozed from her. Immediately, she writhed beneath him, but he put his hands on her hips and held her motionless.
“Easy, darlin’,” he murmured. “This will take a while.” Because tasting her, licking her, pleasuring her in such intimate fashion felt too good to rush.
“Oh, John,” she said breathlessly.
John lowered his lips to her warm folds again and continued exploring her. It had been a long time since he’d done something like this. Too long. He’d missed this intimacy, missed pleasuring a woman like this, missed feeling her react to his gentle caresses. Savannah’s hips were moving under his hold, and he eased up and allowed her to move, allowed her to rub herself against his tongue for more friction. He indulged her and moved farther up, bringing moisture to her clit, which was plump and throbbing. Demanding attention. He licked over the sensitive nub and felt Savannah jolt beneath him. He eased off for a moment, then did it again. And again.
Her moans and sighs bounced against the walls of his bedroom, mingling with his own groans and sounds of pleasure. He couldn’t get enough of her, couldn’t stop, because feeling her let go and enjoy a few moments of bliss, was what he wanted to do. She deserved it. She needed it. Just like he needed to feel that he could give this woman what she craved.
With every second of their lovemaking, he sucked her harder and faster. He could feel her heartbeat accelerate, hear the pounding of her blood in her veins, the drumming of her pulse against her skin, and knew she was close. He sucked her clit into his mouth and pressed his lips together.
Savannah cried out, just as her body began to spasm. He loved the vibrations that hit his lips as her orgasm engulfed her. It took minutes until she finally stilled, and he lifted his head from between her thighs and looked at her. A tiny rivulet of sweat ran down between her breasts that rose and fell in a rapid rhythm, while she panted, her eyes closed.
He loved that look on her. Relaxed, satisfied, happy. That’s how he wanted to see her all the time.
He slowly rose, not wanting to disturb her bliss, when she suddenly opened her eyes and looked at him.
“John.” Her voice sounded lazy and so familiar. As if he’d heard her say his name like that a million times.
She reached her hand out to him now. “We’re not done.” She pointed to his pants where his cock had created a definite bulge. “Take those off. Now.”
John chuckled. “Detective Donnelly warned me you were a little bossy.”
“Then he’s a good judge of character.” She pointed at his pants again. “And don’t try to change the subject.”
He complied with her order, taking off his shoes and pants, then pulling down his boxer briefs. Just like earlier in the evening, she stared at his cock and licked her lips. But before she could sit up and repeat what she’d done to him during their first encounter, he was already rolling over her. He brought his cock to her center, and gently drove into her. This time he savored every inch of his descent into her heavenly sheath.
“Oh God, it’s even better the second time,” he said to her, gazing into her blue eyes. “I’m sorry I was so rough with you the first time. It’s just…” When she put her hand on his cheek and stroked it, he continued, “…it’s been a long time since I touched a woman. Since…”
Understanding glimmered in her eyes and told him he didn’t have to say it out loud.
“I know,” she murmured.
And because there was nothing else to say, he dipped his head to her face and kissed her. She responded to him, kissing him back with tenderness and passion, kissed him as if she knew everything about him, knew everything that mattered. Because now there was an understanding between them. They would be there for each other, give one another what they needed without any other expectations. Because for now, it was enough.
He relished every second their bodies were connected, moving in perfect harmony, coming together and pulling apart. There was no rush, no hurry this time. No frantic fucking. Instead, they were making love, getting to know each other’s bodies.
Whenever he was getting too close to his climax, or Savannah to hers, John slowed down and drew back until the danger of coming too early was past. Then he started again, first with tender kisses and caresses to her neck and chest, then with leisurely thrusts, before he picked up the tempo and allowed himself to take her harder.
But when he suddenly felt her fingernails dig into his back, and her heels drive into his upper thighs to urge him deeper, he couldn’t resist any longer.
“You wanna come with me, darlin’?” he asked.
“Oh, yes, John, yes, please.”
Thrust for thrust he delivered, drove deeper and harder now, faster too. He could feel her respond, understood her body’s reaction so acutely that he knew how to adjust his angle, how to rub against her, how to touch her.
She didn’t have to tell him how close she was, because he could feel it, could sense it in the way her heart beat against her ribcage and her breath rushed out of her lungs. When she crested, he was right there with her, releasing his seed into her in hot, eager spurts as her interior muscles squeezed his cock like she wanted to milk him of every last drop.
Breathing heavily, he rolled to the side with her, then onto his back, so she came to lay on top of his chest. For a moment neither said anything, but this wasn’t the same silence that had descended upon them after their first encounter. This silence was different, companionable.
John stroked his hand over her hair and brushed several strands from her face. “Savannah?”
“Mmm?” She lifted her head and looked at him.
“I want you to know something.”
“Yes?”
“Whatever happens in the next few days, trust me when I tell you that everything I do will be so I can bring Buffy back to you. There may be things I have to do that you won’t like or that might scare you.”
“You mean like how you barged into the photographer’s place and scared her?”
“Things like that and worse. The work I do can be violent. But I promise you that I’ll never hurt you or Buffy. I’ll do everything to protect you and her. Even if that means I have to hurt other people.”
“Why are you saying that, John?” She lifted herself farther up. “Are you talking about killing somebody?”
He didn’t avoid her scrutinizing look. He wasn’t ashamed of the kind of actions his work sometimes demanded. “If it comes to killing whoever is behind this, I won’t hesitate.”
Savannah shivered visibly, while she appeared to contemplate his words. “Have you killed before?”
“When I h
ad to protect those who relied on me. Does that disgust you?”
“No. I’m relieved. It means I won’t have to kill the bastard who’s behind this myself.”
John reached for her, put his hand to her nape and pulled her head to his. “You’re an amazing woman. So strong. So brave.”
He could love a woman like that.
26
It was around noon when John’s cell phone rang. He’d already showered and gotten dressed quietly, but had let Savannah sleep in. After all, she needed her rest—as had he—and there wasn’t much they could accomplish during daylight hours. He’d been about to snatch a bottle of blood and gulp it down in secret, before Savannah was awake to catch him at it, when the call came. He put the bottle back in the refrigerator and shut it, before answering his phone.
“Grayson?”
“Got some news, John,” Grayson started.
“Let me have it.”
“We got a location on the hacker. Name’s Otto Watson. We traced his IP address to a flat in Marin City. We’re picking him up now.”
“You’re what?”
“We’re going in.”
“We?”
“Yeah, Ryder, the twins, and I.”
“And who the fuck made that decision? Your father’s gonna rip my head off if anything goes wrong.” And so much could go wrong when four inexperienced hybrids ran a mission on their own. They’d taken part in many missions before, including a very successful one not too long ago against a bunch of demons, but those missions had always been directed by somebody with more experience, with the hybrids following orders.
“Relax, John, we’re not novices. The four of us can handle it.”
That’s when it struck him. “Four? One of you guys is supposed to be tailing Alexi.”
“Damian said nothing’s happening with that guy. Alexi doesn’t own any properties anywhere that we can find. He’s a dead end. So I pulled Damian off his surveillance.”
“You can’t just do that.”