Obsession

by Jennifer Armentrout

But he looked different. His cheeks were slightly flushed, infused with a glow that hadn’t been there before. He looked like he’d won a boxing match and was ready to go again. And his eyes…they were still a pale blue, but the color was deeper, less milky and more substantial.

  Instinctively I knew. Like putting together a puzzle with pieces of knowledge I had gained from Hunter. He had fed.

  He had killed.

  “Are you going to throw that at me?” he asked.

  My pulse pounded as I stared at him. “I didn’t know if it was you.”

  “It’s me.” He cocked his head to the side, his gaze drifting over me. I shivered. It was feral. Possessive. “You’re frightened.”

  I forced myself to put the vase down, and my hands were shaking as I smoothed them over my hips. I tried not to be so affected by the fact he’d just killed something, but if he hadn’t, I’d probably be dead, and it wasn’t the first time, but it was still unnerving.

  Hunter took a step forward and, intuitively, I stepped back. “And I don’t think it has anything to do with the fact there was a Luxen outside.”

  The urge to lie was too much. “Well, that was pretty nerve-racking. I didn’t know what had happened or if you were okay. You were gone for over an hour and—”

  “You’re frightened of me,” he interrupted.

  Words died on the tip of my tongue. Truthfully, I was a bit frightened of him. Who wouldn’t be? But it was more being scared of what he could do and not of what he was.

  The corner of his lips tipped up. “It’s understandable. It’s very human of you.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I said.

  “It’s a weakness.”

  Irritation rose. “Being human isn’t a weakness.”

  He raised a brow. “It’s not?”

  “No.”

  His gaze was trained on me as he stalked forward. “Come.”

  A quiver started in my stomach as much as I wanted to not feel it. There was something different in the way he walked, the way he looked at me. “Come where?”

  Hunter went into the study, holding the door open. I took a deep breath and then walked forward, spine straight. He crowded me as soon as I entered his study, picking up a strand of my hair and then letting it fall back onto my shoulder.

  I was all too aware of the way my body tensed as he stepped even closer, his chest nearly flush with mine. God, he smelled wonderful—soap and spice. I didn’t like that he was this close, and at the same time I sort of craved it in the way you wanted to do things you should never do.

  Breathless, I struggled to get back to the important stuff. “Do they know I’m here? Will there be—”

  Clasping the sides of my cheeks, he drew my mouth to his. The kiss took me completely off guard. It was fierce, punishing, and hard, but my lips immediately parted. A hot, sweet flush swept through my body.

  He backed me up against a stacked bookcase. The length of his arousal pressed against my belly as his hands skimmed over my arms, down to the tips of my fingers, and to the drawstring on my shorts.

  “The Luxen was looking for you,” he said, unraveling the string with quick, nimble movements. “He is no longer looking for anyone.”

  Muscles in my lower belly tightened as I stood there, my chest rising and falling too quickly. “So they know where I am?”

  “It appears the senator does.” He paused, slipping his fingers under the band of my shorts. His cool fingers brushed my skin, causing me to jerk. He looked up, his eyes locking on to mine. “Only this Luxen knew. He wasn’t lying. When I feed from them, I can pull on their thoughts and memories.”

  I gripped his wrists and a smile pulled at his lips, as if I amused him. “But how did the senator know?”

  “I’m going to find that out.” He lowered his head and his lips brushed the curve of my jaw, then dipped to my pulse. His tongue flicked over the skin there, eliciting a gasp from me. “Later.”

  I could barely breathe or focus. “What if the senator tells another Luxen? I’m not safe—”

  “You’re safe.” His hands lowered over my hips even though I had a grasp on his wrists. “For now.”

  “For now?” I swallowed, but my mouth felt dry.

  He murmured something, and then his teeth scraped against the side of my neck. Unconsciously, my body jerked and he broke my grip, sliding around to cup my rear. I gasped at the coolness of his hands, a startling contrast against how warm I felt.

  This was too fast. I barely knew him. He was something that truly existed beyond my comprehension. My life was a confusing mess right now. How could I be sure of what I wanted or did? There was also this scary, hard edge to Hunter. He was like a wrapped present and I had no idea what existed under the layers, but…

  But I had no one but him right now. As powerful and dangerous as he was, as different as he was from me, I didn’t feel as if he would harm me. And I had no idea how much longer I would even be alive to frolic in my messy life. Did I want to die a practically born-again virgin? And if I did survive this, did I want to walk away denying the intense attraction between us? But most of all? I wanted him.

  I wanted him so badly that I ached, so why I should I deny that? I wouldn’t.

  Chapter 13

  Hunter’s hands were on the outside of my shorts. My fingers dug into the cool skin of his forearms. “Hunter…”

  His mouth was on mine again, kissing away any reservation I had. Hunter kissed like a man staking a claim, like someone who never had the luxury of doing so before. And those hands…those quick and agile hands tugged my shorts down. He broke the kiss long enough to get them below my knees, and then he was back up, his tongue demanding entrance to my mouth as he lifted me off my feet, leaving the shorts in a messy pile.

  “Wrap your legs around my waist,” he ordered.

  My body obeyed his demand without thought. That was the power of Hunter, I realized distantly. He was pure seduction like this, his voice deep and wholly persuasive.

  Hunter growled his pleasure as he pressed his lower half against my core. His erection strained through his jeans and the thin satin of my panties. With his hands cupping my rear again, he rocked his hips forward, drawing a loud gasp from me, and when he thrust forward once more, nudging the bundle of nerves, the intensity of the arousal that swept through me was startling and pushed me into the unknown.

  I grabbed fistfuls of his shirt and tugged up. Hunter lifted his arms long enough for me to drag the material over his head, and then he grasped my hips. I slid my hands over his shoulders, surprised to find them warmer than normal, and I wanted to be skin against skin with him, no barriers, but as he nipped at my lower lip, I couldn’t find the words to tell him.

  “Put your arms up,” he said in a low voice, “and grab hold of the shelf.”

  I gripped the shelf above me, my fingers digging in, brushing the spines of the books stocked there. The movement arched my back, making me feel feminine and vulnerable all in the same moment.

  Wrapping an arm around my waist, Hunter reached up, his fingers digging into the vee of my tee shirt. Before I knew what he was up to, he tore the material right down the middle, jerking my body toward his and then back against the shelf. Books rattled. A few toppled onto the floor.

  Goddamn.

  My breath stalled in my lungs at the display of masculine power. I was pretty sure that nothing in this world could get hotter than this.

  Hunter proved me wrong.

  The bra was the second article of clothing to be ruined in a nanosecond. The flimsy scrap of silk and underwire fluttered to the floor, and then Hunter’s mouth was on the peak of my breast, his tongue circling and then latching on, sucking in tandem with the thrust of his hips.

  Molten lava coursed throughout my veins. Desire swirled inside, dazing and out of control. Raw heat built as his mouth tugged on my breast and his tongue rasped over my nipple. It was all about feeling and the raw, exquisite sensations shooting down to my core, warming and dampening me
. My hips thrust against his thick muscle, seeking, wanting, and needing more. God, he was huge.

  “I want to hear you call my name when you come.” His voice was thick, smoky; his lips moving against my breast. “I want to hear you scream my name.”

  My womb tightened in response. If he kept talking like that, he wasn’t going to have to ask twice.

  The hand on my hip urged me to keep moving, to take what I needed. When he caught my nipple between his teeth, I cried out again, surrendering to what my body demanded, wantonly rolling my hips against his hardness. Tension between my legs built quickly, stealing my breath, shocking me. I’d never come this way before, not with jeans and panties separating flesh, but oh—oh sweet Jesus—the coil tightened deep inside me. My movements became almost frantic. His growl of approval burned my skin, igniting the fire. I was so close…so very close. My muscles locked up and a spasm ricocheted—

  Somewhere in his study, the shrill sound of a phone ringing cut through the sounds of my moans. I had never heard a phone ring in his house, figured there wasn’t one, and that was kind of stupid, but now there was a phone and it wouldn’t. Stop. Ringing.

  “Ignore it,” I said, moving against him in a slow, undulating grind.

  A shudder racked his tight body. Lifting his head, he ran a thumb over my pebbled nipple and bit back a groan. The phone kept ringing.

  “No voice mail?” I gasped out.

  With surprising gentleness, he slid his hands to my hips as he stepped back and untangled my legs. “It’s going to keep ringing,” he said, placing me on my feet. “I need to answer.”

  “Horrible timing.” Standing there in just my panties, I leaned against the bookshelf, trying to catch my breath.

  “I second that.” His heated gaze swept over me and he cursed under his breath. Bending down, he swiped his shirt off the ground. Then he turned to his desk, yanking open a drawer.

  He pulled out a slim cell phone, his eyes never straying from all the exposed points of my body. “The fucking world better be ending,” was the way he answered the phone.

  My eyes widened.

  “Yeah, I know. I took care of it.” He sat on the edge of the desk, motioning me forward with one hand.

  I swallowed. Now that some of the heat had faded a little, I didn’t feel like a roaring sex goddess standing there mostly naked. Thank God there weren’t any windows.

  Inching forward, I moved to cover myself, but Hunter’s eyes narrowed. Keeping my arms at my sides was an extreme display of willpower, but I wasn’t doing it for him. I wanted the kind of confidence he was forcing out of me.

  “You’re a little late on the warning, bud.” Wiggling his finger at me, he coaxed me closer, displaying a half smile when I stopped in front of him. “Like I said, it’s a done deal. It’s been taken care of.”

  I could hear the muffled response of the caller, but couldn’t make out what was being said. And I wasn’t sure Hunter was paying attention, because he reached out, caught my hand, and pulled me into the wide vee of his thighs. I shivered as he gathered my hair, spreading it across my shoulders.

  Placing the cell between his shoulder and ear, he curved one hand behind my neck, effectively holding me in place as his other hand trailed from the edges of my hair to my breast. I bit down on a moan and closed my eyes as his thumb smoothed back and forth.

  “Uh-huh,” Hunter murmured. “I’m paying attention.”

  A grin cracked my lips as his hand slipped away, traveled down my belly. He was so not paying attention.

  “Dex, you’re acting like a vagina,” Hunter said. My eyes popped open. He grinned as he let go of the back of my neck. His other hand crept to the edge of my panties. “It’s true. Ever since Eliza, you freak out over everything.”

  Whatever Dex responded with caused Hunter’s grin to spread into a smile, and God, my heart did a stupid fluttery motion in my chest. I liked Hunter like this…teasing, flirty, and laid-back. And liking that—liking him for anything more than having a mad case of lust for him—wasn’t good.

  I didn’t want to like him—not in the way that made my heart spasm or flutter or do anything that could possibly be linked to developing feelings. Even if my life wasn’t in total turmoil right now and we’d met under different circumstances, he would still be the kind of guy—er, alien—who left a trail of broken hearts across the nation. He would be hard to understand—to even like most times, and even harder to figure out.

  Besides, when all of this blows over, I would leave here, if I were still alive, and most likely never see him again. Knowing that made my chest tighten in the most uncomfortable way. I started to ease away.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, his arm slipping around my waist. “No. Not you, Dex. I don’t give two shits where you’re going.”

  I froze. “Maybe I should—”

  Hunter spun me around, so my back was to his front and my rear between his spread legs. “No,” he said, and I knew he was talking to both of us then. “Serena hasn’t run off again. She’s right here and she’s not going anywhere.”

  I shivered at the sensual warning in his voice.

  Then his hand was under my panties, his fingers skimming the sensitive nub at the juncture of my thighs, and I gasped.

  Oh God, was he really going to do this while he was on the phone?

  He cupped me as he pressed his chest to my back, his breath warm in my ear. “Yeah, I am kind of busy right now.” A finger slipped inside, and I clamped my mouth shut against a moan. My hips rocked against his palm. “No,” he said, voice deeper, rougher. “It’s none of your business.”

  My heart was racing again as he pumped his finger in and out slowly. I arched my back, letting my head fall back on his shoulder. His other hand found my breast, and I gripped his arms.

  Dex said something, but Hunter cut him off. “I’ve got to go.” He left my breast long enough to end the call and the phone fell to the floor, forgotten. “Where were we? Oh yeah, I want to hear you scream my name.”

  The ceiling blurred as a fire swept through my blood. I could feel him against my rear, so hard.

  “Do you do this?” he asked. “Touch yourself?”

  “What?” I gasped as another finger joined in.

  His fingers stilled. “Do you pleasure yourself, Serena?”

  What in the hell kind of question was that? I moved my hips to urge him on, but he placed his other hand on my belly, stopping me. “Are you serious?”

  “What? Is that too personal?”

  “Yes!”

  “I find that amusing considering where my hand is.”

  Well, he did kind of have a point there.

  “And what I’m about to do to you is going to be very personal.” His lips were suddenly against the side of my neck, hot and firm. “So, how often?”

  I refused to answer him.

  Hunter trailed hot kisses down my neck. “Once a week? More?” He pulled his hand away and turned me around. One hand landed on my lower back and his lips…his lips were so close to my nipple, drifting over the swell of my breast. My breath caught in my throat as his tongue flicked over the rosy bud. My entire body shuddered.

  “I bet you do, and the next time?” He teased my nipple. “You’ll think of me.”

  He was so arrogant, but then he drew my nipple into his hot mouth, and I didn’t care. Pleasure rolled through me, and I wrapped an arm around his neck, my fingers digging into his hair. His free hand slipped down and my panties were gone. His hand was between my thighs, fingers brushing over my throbbing cleft.

  Hunter lifted his head, nuzzling my neck under my ear. Then his face was in my hair. “You’re so beautiful. Damn it, you’re so fucking beautiful.”

  My core clenched. Hot, tight shudders racked my body. His fingers were barely touching me and I felt close to tipping over the edge. Again. This wasn’t nice—oh no, this was raw, full of painful need. My hips surged forward, grinding against his hand. Pleasure spiked, making me dizzy and breathless
.

  Hunter growled low in his throat as his hand settled on my hip, stilling my movements. “Tell me what you want. Say the words.”

  Frustration caused my eyes to snap open. He couldn’t be serious. I pushed against his shoulders, but he stared down at me, telling me without words what I must do. Part of me hated him. And the other…well, it wanted to drown in him.

  He wore a wicked grin as his thumb smoothed over my clit.

  “Yes,” I whispered, glaring at him. “Okay. Yes.”

  “Yes, what?”

  My tongue darted out, wetting my lips. “I want you…”

  “You want me to do what?” Again, his thumb brushed over me.

  I groaned. “I want you to make me come.”

  A satisfied smile split his lips. I expected his hand to return to me, but he pulled his hand away, and I was close to punching him. Then suddenly he moved, sweeping his arm across the top of his desk. Items clattered to the floor and a second later I was on my back and his mouth was under my chin, making a slow descent. His dark hair, his lips drifted over my breast. A tiny feminine sound caught in my throat.

  Hunter moved down, spreading my legs wide as they dangled off the desk. Vulnerable—I was completely vulnerable to him. Lightning rushed through my veins as he spread my legs wider and grasped my hips. His tongue glided from my navel to just above the bundle of nerves.

  Instinctively, I tried to close my legs. It seemed a little soon to be doing that. “Hunter…”

  “You’ll like it.” He kissed my inner thigh. “I can promise you that. Open your legs, Serena.”

  The air left my lungs, and slowly, my thighs parted on his command.

  “Wider,” he urged, and I did so. Lowering his head again, he sliced me open with his tongue. My head fell back against the wood and my eyes closed. This was a first. I hadn’t wanted anyone to do this, but sweet Jesus, Hunter—

  Hunter captured my flesh with his mouth, parting my lips with firm, determined strokes of his tongue. I cried out. He sucked like I was the sweetest nectar, his very life force.

  Lost in the raw sensations, I grasped his hair and rocked my hips against his mouth. He growled in pleasure, dipping his tongue in and out. My back arched. My heart pounded. His tongue worked me until I was thrusting unabashedly, panting heavily. The fierce heat was building and building until I feared it would consume me. My body liquefied as he moved on to my clit and added a finger. His sucking and thrusting matched the tempo of my hips. I couldn’t breathe as every muscle locked up, ready for what was surely going to be a mind-blowing orgasm.