Tall, Dark and Paranormal: 10 Thrilling Tales of Sexy Alpha Bad Boys

by Opal Carew

  Bracing her hands on either side of his shoulders, she rubbed her pussy against his erection before slowly and deliberately taking him inside her.

  Drake closed his eyes for a moment, savoring the feel of her pussy as she surrounded him. He couldn’t remember being with a woman who fit around him so perfectly. Or knew how to ride him so damn good, he thought as she placed her hands on his chest and slowly undulated her hips.

  He cupped her ass, urging her up and down. As she bounced, her long hair fell over her shoulder to both brush against his chest and give him tantalizing glimpses of her nipples as her breasts jiggled. The sight was enough to make him groan.

  Drake tightened his grip on her ass and thrust into her harder. Simone began to breathe faster as she gyrated more wildly on his cock. The way she was moving felt incredible. He could feel every time her pussy squeezed and relaxed, as if she was urging him to come.

  But he wasn’t ready yet. He wanted to just lie back and watch Simone enjoy herself. He wondered if she knew how beautiful she looked right then, her face all aglow, her eyes half closed, her lips parted. Damn, she was gorgeous.

  His orgasm started before he even realized it. A long, slow drawn-out release that had him clenching his teeth as he felt his whole body tighten. He tried to hold back and wait for Simone to come, but there was just no way.

  As his cum splashed into her, she caught her lower lip between her teeth and let out one long, continuous moan, and he knew she was coming, too.

  Afterward, Simone fell forward on his chest, her breathing ragged, her pussy still enveloping his cock. Putting one arm behind his head, Drake wrapped the other around her.

  “You know what I could really go for right now?” she said softly.

  “A nap?” Drake asked, his eyes half closed.

  She laughed and lifted his head from his chest to look down at him. “That does sound tempting, but I was thinking more of gelato.”

  He lifted a brow. “After Chinese food?”

  “Sure. Ice cream goes with everything. And there’s this great little Italian café around the corner that makes the best. Let’s go get some.”

  Simone didn’t wait for him to answer, but instead grabbed his hand and jumped off the couch, pulling him with her. If he had a single brain cell still working in that head of his, he would get his ass out of there before some part of his body started looking as if it had reached its expiration date, but Simone looked so excited about going out for gelato he decided to put off leaving until they got back. It wouldn’t take more than thirty minutes anyway. Just to be on the safe side, he ducked into the bathroom to check himself in the mirror while Simone got dressed. Luckily, he didn’t see anything to make him think he was going to turn anytime soon.

  When Drake walked into the bedroom a few minutes later, Simone was just pulling on her jeans and he stifled a groan as she wiggled them over her curvy hips.

  “Ready?” she asked, turning around to face him.

  To make love to her again? Hell, yeah. He didn’t think he’d ever get enough of her. But he knew she was talking about the gelato. “Whenever you are.”

  She grinned and shoved her feet into a pair of low-heeled sandals. “Let me just grab my purse.”

  Simone was right, the café did have some of the best gelato Drake had ever tasted. And watching her lick the Italian ice cream off the spoon ten minutes later made him extremely glad he hadn’t gone back to his empty apartment yet.

  As he walked Simone back to her place a little while later, he told himself he couldn’t put off leaving any longer. He tried to think up a convincing lie to tell her. Maybe something about another deadline he had.

  Simone was just unlocking the door to her apartment when Drake’s cell phone rang. He considered letting it go to voice mail, but then realized it could be Beck. Pulling it out of his pocket, he held it to his ear without looking at the call display.

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s Beck. You have to get out of your apartment. Now.”

  Drake’s brow furrowed as he followed Simone inside and closed the door. “I’m not at my apartment. I’m at Simone’s place. Why?”

  His friend let out a sigh. “Good. Stay there.”

  Drake’s frown deepened at that. “Why?”

  “Because I finally tracked down that old Voodoo woman of yours. The bad news is she’s in New York and looking for you.”

  Drake’s hand tightened on his cell phone. “Why the hell would she be looking for me?”

  “From what I gather, she somehow found out you’re in a really good place right now and she went back up there to put an end to it.”

  How could that old bat know he’d found happiness with Simone? And what the hell could she do to make him suffer any more than she already had? Drake wanted to ask Beck if he knew what she had in mind, but he didn’t want to talk about it in front of Simone. He was just about to step out in the hall for some privacy when he saw Simone wrinkling her nose.

  “Ugh. What is that?” she muttered. “It smells as if something died in here.”

  Drake hadn’t noticed it before, but at her words, he sniffed the air. Shit, it did smell as if something had died in there.

  “Fuck,” Beck swore. “Drake, grab Simone and get the hell out of there. Now!”

  Frowning in confusion at his friend’s words, Drake was about to ask Beck what he was talking about when two men came out of the kitchen. At least Drake thought they were men at first. But one look at their black, rotting skin, lifeless eyes and shambling gait told him they weren’t human. They were zombies. And they were going straight for Simone, who was standing there rooted to the spot, her eyes wide with shock as one of the ugly bastards reached for her.

  Chapter Ten

  Shit.

  Drake snapped his cell phone closed and shoved it in his pocket. Grabbing Simone’s arm, he pulled her behind him and kicked the zombie closest to them square in the stomach. The force of the blow sent the creature flying backward and knocked him to the floor. The second zombie didn’t even look at his fallen accomplice, but just continued to stagger toward Drake and Simone, his arms outstretched, his mouth opening and closing as if he couldn’t wait to sink his teeth into them. The one Drake had knocked to the floor was scrabbling around in an effort to get to his feet, but he wasn’t having much luck. It was as if the thing didn’t have complete control over his limbs.

  Drake grimaced. These zombies weren’t anything like him. For one thing, they couldn’t talk. All they did was moan and let out low, guttural noises. Their eyes were different, too. They were cold and black and absolutely devoid of life. Their skin was so decayed and rotted it made his worst day as a zombie seem like a minor case of eczema in comparison. The clothes they wore were just as tattered and decomposed as they were. If he didn’t know better, he’d think they had just dragged themselves out of their own graves.

  Well, Drake wasn’t about to let the bastards get anywhere near Simone. He picked up the nearest weapon at hand, a straight back chair by the writing desk along the wall, and swung it at the zombie coming toward them.

  The chair broke in several pieces, leaving Drake holding the back portion. The creature stumbled and fell to his knees, but otherwise showed no outward sign Drake had even hit him. Unlike the first zombie, though, this one seemed to have better coordination because he had no trouble getting to his feet.

  Drake swung his makeshift weapon at the zombie’s head as hard as he could. The impact was brutal and what was left of the chair shattered into even more pieces.

  The creature went down again, his head smashed in and tilted at an unnatural angle. The amount of damage Drake did should have put the bastard down for good, but the damn thing got back to its feet and advanced on them again just as it had before. When the zombie tried to snap at them this time, it couldn’t because the bottom half of its jaw was hanging off.

  Behind Drake, Simone let out a scream that was loud enough for the entire apartment building to hear.

  Jus
t then, the first zombie managed to get to his feet and now both creatures were stumbling determinedly in their direction.

  Drake looked down at the piece of chair left in his hand. It wasn’t much more than an eight-inch section of jagged spindle. This was worthless. He’d need a weapon a hell of a lot more serious than a wooden stake to stop these damn things. Getting Simone to safety was more important right now. Throwing the scrap of wood at the zombies to slow them down, he turned and pushed her toward the door.

  “Run!”

  Drake glanced back over his shoulder as he followed Simone out of the apartment. Damn. The piece of wood was sticking out of one of the zombie’s eye sockets and the thing didn’t seem to care at all. It was as if they didn’t even feel pain. How the hell was he supposed to stop these things? Swearing under his breath, Drake slammed the door shut. Hopefully, that would slow them down.

  Simone threw him a terrified look over her shoulder as they ran down the hall. “What the hell were those things?”

  “I’ll explain later,” he yelled. “Right now, we need to get out here. Keep running.”

  She didn’t argue as she hurried down the steps. Drake followed, stopping in the lobby just long enough to look back up the staircase to see if the zombies were behind them. Though he didn’t see them, he could hear them staggering in the hallway above them. Letting out a few choice expletives, he pushed Simone out the front door, then grabbed her hand and raced down the sidewalk.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “Somewhere far away from here.”

  They ran for four blocks before Drake glanced over his shoulder again. Though people on the street were looking at him and Simone as if they were crazy, at least there weren’t any zombies chasing them down the street. As far as he could tell, they hadn’t even come out of the apartment building. If they were lucky, maybe the bastards would fall down the steps and break their necks. But since the damn things were already dead, he supposed it wouldn’t kill them. Or would it? He had no idea. In the movies, nothing could ever seem to kill them.

  Interested in putting as much distance between them and the zombies, Drake led Simone down first one side street, then another and another until he finally pushed her into the shadows beside the steps of a brownstone. People walking by glanced at them curiously, but Drake ignored them. It was a little late at night for a jog and neither he nor Simone were exactly dressed for it, but fortunately, this was New York, a place where no one stuck their nose in anyone else’s business.

  “We have to call the cops,” Simone said breathlessly.

  Drake put his arms around her and darted a quick look out at the street before turning his attention back to her. “Those aren’t the type of things you call the cops about.”

  She trembled in his arms, her eyes full of fear as she looked up at him. “What the heck were they?”

  He hesitated, trying to figure out what to tell her. Luckily, he didn’t have to come up with something because at that moment his cell phone rang. Knowing it had to be Beck calling to find out why Drake hung up on him before, he pulled it out and flipped it open.

  “What the hell is going on, Beck?”

  “Man, when you hung up on me, I didn’t know what the hell to think. Are you and Simone okay?”

  Drake’s arm tightened reflexively around her. “We’re fine. Why didn’t you tell me that old bat sent…?” He glanced at Simone, his mouth tightening. “Those things after me?”

  “Because I didn’t know. But when I heard Simone say something smelled as if it had died in her apartment, I figured it out pretty damn quick. And if that old Voodoo woman sent her zombies after you, then she’s probably not far behind. Which means you need to take Simone and go somewhere safe.”

  Was Beck on drugs? “There’s no way I can do that and you know it.”

  “There’s more to this than worrying about Simone finding out you’re a zombie, Drake. She’s in as much danger now as you are. That old bat has obviously figured out Simone is the reason you’re happy and apparently she’s pissed off about it enough to come out of hiding after eight years. I don’t want to think about what she’d do to Simone if she got her hands on her. Your little zombie curse may look like a walk in the park in comparison.”

  As much as Drake hated to admit it, Beck was right. Simone was in danger because of him, so it was his responsibility to protect her. He only prayed he didn’t turn into a zombie before they could find a way to get this Voodoo bitch off his ass. He didn’t want Simone to find out what he was.

  “You’re right,” he said into the phone. “Any idea where can we go?”

  On the other end of the line, Beck let out a sigh. “What about my place?”

  “If she knows about Simone, she knows about you. Two minutes with a phone book and she’d figure out where we went. We’re going to need to go somewhere else.”

  “Good point.” Beck said. “Okay, listen. I worked a case for a guy who has a cabin up in the Catskills. He’s out of the country and he owes me a favor, so he won’t mind if you stay there. I’ll text you with the directions. He doesn’t keep the place stocked with food, so you’ll need to get some supplies, but he leaves a key hidden in a fake rock beside the front steps.”

  A fake rock? Drake didn’t know people really used those things. “You sure there’s no way she can find us there?”

  “I don’t think so. There’s no obvious connection between the guy who owns the cabin and me anymore. And there’s definitely nothing to tie him to you.”

  “Okay,” Drake said. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Listen, I can’t get a flight out of Louisiana until tomorrow at the earliest, but I’ll come up to the cabin as soon as I can.”

  “Sounds good,” Drake said. “Listen, watch your back, okay? If she can’t find me, she could come looking for you.”

  “I will.”

  Drake snapped the phone closed with a sigh.

  “What was all that about?” Simone asked.

  He reached up to gently brush her hair back from her face. “I’ll explain on the way.”

  She folded her arms and lifted her chin. “On the way to where? Why do we need to go anywhere? Who were you talking to and what the hell were those things in my apartment?”

  “Simone, it isn’t safe to talk here. I’ll tell you everything once we’re out of the city.”

  “Out of the city?” In the light coming from a nearby streetlamp, her eyes glittered with unshed tears. “I’m not going anywhere with you until you tell me what’s going on.”

  Drake clenched his jaw. Damn, she could be stubborn. And from the determined tilt of her chin, she looked as if she was going to stand her ground. While picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder was tempting, it wasn’t really an option, so he reluctantly told her what she wanted to know.

  “I was talking to my friend, Beck. He’s a private investigator.”

  “Was he the friend you were helping out the other night when you couldn’t come over for dinner?”

  Drake shook his head. “No.”

  She said nothing as she considered that. “Okay. What about those things that attacked us in my apartment?”

  That was a little trickier. Somehow, he didn’t think she would believe they were average guys wearing really good Halloween masks. “They were…” he hesitated. “They were zombies.”

  “Zombies?” She stared at him incredulously. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “I wish.”

  She shook her head. “That’s crazy. Zombies aren’t real.”

  “I know it’s hard to believe, but you have to trust me. Zombies are very real and as you just saw, very dangerous.”

  Her brow furrowed. “Okay, let’s just say I believe you about the zombies. What were they be doing at my apartment?”

  “They were after me.”

  “You? Why would zombies be after you?”

  “Because I got on the bad side of a Voodoo priestess a while back and she’s o
ut to make me pay. Now that she knows about you and our relationship, she wouldn’t hesitate to hurt you to get to me.” He cupped Simone’s cheek. “I’d die before I let her hurt you, I swear. But I can’t keep you safe here in the city, which is why we need to leave.”

  She chewed on her lower lip, indecision clearly written on her face. He held his breath, praying she would agree. Finally, she nodded.

  “It’s hard not to believe you after seeing those things for myself.”

  “Does that mean you’ll come with me?”

  She nodded again. “Yes, but only if you tell me where we’re going.”

  His mouth twitched. Yeah, he supposed he should have mentioned that. “Beck knows a guy who has a cabin up in the Catskills. We can hide out there until we figure out what to do.”

  “I don’t suppose we can go back to my place to grab some stuff, can we?”

  “I don’t think that’d be a good idea. We can pick up whatever we need on the way.”

  Simone didn’t look pleased at that, but she nodded anyway. Drake gave her a quick kiss on the lips, then checked for zombies before taking her hand and heading toward the parking garage.

  * * * * *

  Simone wondered how she and Drake were going to get up to the Catskills. A cab would cost a bundle, but she didn’t really like the idea of taking a bus, especially at this time of night. Drake surprised her by leading her to an old, four-door sedan in a nearby parking garage.

  “I didn’t know you owned a car,” she said as he opened the door for her.

  “It isn’t mine. It’s Beck’s. He’s out of town, so he let me borrow it.”

  Simone nodded. While most people in the city didn’t bother to own a car, she could see why a private investigator would need one. How else would he be able sneak around and take incriminating photos of sleazy guys cheating on their wives? She looked over her shoulder into the back seat, expecting to see a pile of old coffee cups and take-out containers, but it was surprisingly clean.