With one leg slung over his shoulder and her other knee pushed out by his strong hand, he spread her open and plundered her with his mouth. Licking and thrusting his tongue inside like he wanted to swallow every last drop of her, he brought her to orgasm, but never let her rest.
When they were completely nude and lying against each other, still tasting skin and exploring hidden hollows of tingling flesh, she forgot everything except what she needed from him. He made her wait, pinning her restless body, teasing her until she whispered begging words in his ear. Ruthlessly unwilling to finish, he brought her to the brink over and over until it was almost unbearable. She raked her nails down his back.
His hands slid over her ass and squeezed. “Finally a peach.”
“Merrick,” she rasped, half groaning, half growling a warning as he explored her creases.
When she was panting and writhing and would have promised him anything, including the last drop of her blood, he finally covered her with his body and sheathed himself inside her slick heat.
Cool and hard as stone, he thrust slow and deep, then fast and hard, riding her body through several mind-shattering orgasms.
He might be hers, she reflected afterward, but she belonged to him, too. And if anyone ever wondered why a woman might fall for a bad-to-the-bone ventala, they would only need to spend a night with Merrick to understand in vivid detail.
She lay spent for a while, her mind blissfully blank of anything but the aftershocks of so much amazing sex. Her muscles were warm and loose. Her flesh tingled and throbbed. Her entire body felt soft and sore and sated.
Eventually, she propped herself up on an elbow and looked him over. “Well, that wasn’t smart,” she said.
He didn’t bother to open his eyes. “No?”
“I count two bite marks and six scratches on you, and I can’t even see your back. I may have drawn blood.”
“You may have,” he said, his voice sexy and satisfied.
“Maybe next time, you won’t tease me so long.”
“Or maybe next time I’ll tie your wrists to the headboard.”
She laughed softly and pressed her thumb against the corner of his mouth, which was curved into a wicked smirk. “Sure, if I’m too much for you to handle, but there goes your reputation.” She bent forward and kissed his neck, then climbed from the bed.
“Where are you going, baby?” he asked.
“To shower. You rest.”
She was only under the warm water for a couple minutes before he joined her.
“I thought I locked that door,” she murmured.
“You did.” He poured some shower gel into his hands and lathered her shoulders and back. She didn’t pull away from his strong fingers, and her muscles thanked her for it.
When she turned and slid her slick hands over his body, the shower turned much longer than she’d intended. Afterward, they dried and dressed in a silence as soft as the sheets.
She dropped a couple ice cubes from the ice bucket into a tumbler, added scotch, and squeezed some fresh lime that she’d asked the staff to stock in the small fridge.
She took a sip, then handed him the glass. After a couple swallows, he set the glass on the nightstand. She picked it up and took another sip, glancing at the clock for the second time in ten minutes.
“Tobin?” he asked.
She nodded. “I can go alone.”
He retrieved the glass and swallowed the rest of the scotch and gave her another slow kiss. “We both know I’m coming with you.” He put the medallion on, transforming again. He stretched his muscles before buttoning his shirt. “You want to check on your dad before we meet Tobin?” he asked.
“No, afterward is fine.” She put her arms around his neck and kissed him, licking the scotch and lime juice from his lips. When she leaned back, his mouth chased hers and prolonged the kiss for a couple more minutes. It would be so easy to fall back into bed with him. At the moment, that was the only thing she really wanted to do.
“Later,” she said with a smile as she extracted herself. “I need to hear what Theo Tobin has to say.”
They finished dressing in a companionable silence, but she felt the intensity of his gaze on her.
Once they were outside on their way to the glass house, Alissa shivered. It had already been cold, and the temperature had dropped farther. Alissa burrowed her left hand deeper into her pocket for warmth while holding the rail with her gloved right hand. She glanced at Merrick, but he didn’t seem bothered by the cold. She followed the winding cobbled steps upward. She could see the lit glass house at the top, sparkling like a jewel box.
Her foot caught on a step and she stumbled. Merrick grabbed and steadied her.
“Thanks,” she said, pulling herself toward the rail. Her right foot caught again on something that wasn’t stone. “James,” she murmured, pressing the toe of her right boot gingerly on the obstacle.
With one arm around her waist, he moved her to a lower step behind him and turned on a small flashlight.
“Oh!” she gasped when she realized that what she’d tripped over was a pale stubby arm. Merrick leaned forward and spread some bushes apart to reveal Theo Tobin’s lifeless face.
Chapter 28
Tamberi Jacobi had woken after surgery and insisted on being taken home immediately. Lying in her own California king bed with morphine dripping steadily into her vein, she felt light and cheerfully homicidal.
Cato sat next to her bed with maps opened over his lap.
“Hold them up so I can see them.”
“Why the hell do you need to see them?” he growled.
She smiled. He was still furious that she’d been so badly wounded.
“C’mon,” she said.
“No, you lie there and enjoy your buzz. We’re going to have to find this place without you now, so I’ve gotta friggin concentrate.”
“Told you what the demon tells,” she slurred. “The girl will know the way by instinct. And without her, there’s no point going. So if you can’t find it after you touch down, make her show you. Bring the maps, and let’s walk through the plan again. You’re reviewing anyway. I may as well…may as well help.”
“Yeah, you’ll be a big help,” he scoffed, but he grabbed the papers and sat next to her on the bed.
“Hope your boots are clean.”
“Filthy,” he said with a teasing grin.
“Push that downer—down arrow on the morphine drip. I need to focus.”
He glanced at the pump and shook his head.
“C’mon! I can’t reach it myself, and my head’s spinning like a top.”
“You’ll be in pain.”
“I’ve had my guts ripped open and put back together. I’m supposed to be in goddamned pain.” She giggled. “Fuck. That’s not supposed to be funny. Push that button.”
He pressed the down arrow twice and then leaned back and spread the map open in front of them.
“Here’s where we’ll land,” he said, pointing. “It’s less than ten minutes to the meeting spot where he’ll have the girl waiting.”
“He’d better.”
“If he doesn’t, we’ll go get her.”
“And make sure there are no witnesses.”
“I friggin know. Anyone who sees anything dies.” He pointed. “We’ve got this ridge, so there’s no way for anyone to get behind us, but we’ve got to be careful here because—”
“I think I’ll come.”
“What?”
“I can be on the helicopter. What difference does it make if I sit here or if I sit on the copter?”
“You’re on a friggin morphine pump.”
“We’ll bring it.”
“You’re a goddamn lunatic, you know that?”
“Take that Sharpie marker and draw a bull’s-eye on the wall, then give me your gun. If I can hit the center, I get to come. If I miss, I’ll stay here.”
“Tamberi, for fuck’s sake.”
“C’mon. You know you want me to come with you,
and I don’t want to miss a black ops trip into the Etherlin. Or the chance to see the opening! This was my goddamned plan.”
“Then you shouldn’t have let Merrick almost gut you.”
“That bastard. I am going to cut out his heart before I cut off his head.”
“Not if I get to him first.”
Tamberi gave her brother’s arm a squeeze. “Go on,” she husked. “Go draw the bull’s-eye.”
Tobin’s glassy eyes stared at them.
“He’s dead,” Alissa said breathlessly. “He must have fallen,” she said, looking up the cobbled stairs. They’d been salted, so she hadn’t found them slippery. “Or maybe someone pushed him.”
Merrick skimmed the beam of light over the surrounding area, then he bent and patted the body, coming up with a cell phone. He pressed several buttons, eyes scanning, then he pocketed the cell. He clicked off the flashlight, plunging them back into darkness.
“Do you think he fell?” Alissa asked.
“No,” Merrick whispered. “His body would’ve landed on the other side of the path if he’d slipped and fallen. There are scuff marks in the dirt where someone rubbed out his boot prints after dragging the body into the bushes. Follow me down,” he said.
She stiffened, straining to hear any sounds, like the footfalls of a killer, but silence settled around them. She kept a palm on Merrick’s back and moved as he did, carefully, quietly.
They were near the bottom when she heard voices and trampling feet hurrying toward the steps. Four beams of light bobbed around the path’s curve. She paused, but Merrick continued.
“Mills,” he said, announcing himself. “Escorting Miss North back to her suite.” The beams swiveled up to Merrick’s face. “I assume you’re looking for the victim. He’s twenty-four steps up. In the brush to the right of the path.”
“Hang on, Mills,” Grant said. “Alissa, are you all right? What were you doing here?”
She hesitated. “Theo Tobin asked me to meet him. We were on our way to the glass house when I tripped over his—body.”
“Does your father have any reason to be angry at Theo Tobin? Has he done anything, taken any pictures, that would’ve upset your father?” Grant asked.
“What? No, my dad’s had very little contact with the outside world until Dorie brought him here. Why do you ask?”
“Your father came to tell me about the body. There was a blood-covered rock in his pocket with bits of hair on it.”
Her jaw dropped. “He had no reason to hurt Theo Tobin.” That I know of.
“Do me a favor,” Grant said. “Go to the central security office and wait for me there. You, too, Mills.”
“Is my dad there?”
“Yes.”
“This way, Miss North,” Merrick said, nodding his head in the direction of the main building.
“Yes, okay,” she said, cutting a path between the officers. Close behind her, Merrick was silent as a grave. She looked back twice to make sure he was still there.
When they were a few feet from the door, she heard something light hit the dirt to her right. She started to turn, but a hand on her back pressed her forward.
“Tobin’s cell. We never had it or saw it.”
“You looked at the messages. Were there any calls from the room that you and my father are staying in?”
“No, but I recognized one of the last texts Tobin sent. It was to Cato Jacobi’s number at the syndicate. Tobin said that he was in, all the muses were here, and that he suspected that I was here, too, in disguise.”
“He was working for the ventala?”
“So it seems.”
“Do you think my dad killed him?”
“I don’t know, but Tobin said he was in and warned them I was inside, too. The syndicate may be planning to take you from here. If they came from the northwest by helicopter, they wouldn’t have to go over Etherlin airspace. They could land on the road or the helipad. The security detail here isn’t like it is in the Etherlin. And the Jacobis may have another inside man. I don’t think Tobin’s the one who drove your car out the night you were drugged, because he called the Crimson to let me know he was coming through my territory. He had to know I’d ask questions, and he would’ve suspected that I’d come after you in the Jacobi territory. If he’d been in on their plan from the beginning, why would he have called me? I think Tobin was pulled in after the fact.”
She looked around at the darkness, half expecting someone to lurch out of the bushes. “Well, the person who drugged me certainly wasn’t my dad. He’d never knowingly hurt me, and he’s not organized enough in his thinking to carry out some complex plot involving black magic.”
“Agreed,” Merrick said.
“The person who drugged me is probably the one who killed Tobin.”
Merrick nodded. “Listen, if they interrogate you and tell you they know who I am, you’re to say that you had no idea. You thought you were having a relationship with Mills.”
“Why would they— Oh, we have to assume the other inside man knows from Tobin or Jacobi that you’re here and could’ve told ES.”
He nodded. “I paid Mills a lot of money to be off the grid for a few weeks, but ES isn’t new to security. Mills turns up out of the blue as your new bodyguard. Merrick is missing from the Varden. Tobin is dead after just being on the other side of the wall. ES will dig.”
Icy panic slithered down her spine at the thought of Merrick being caught in the Etherlin. “Then you should leave now. My father and I will go as soon as we’ve had a chance to talk with Grant. He can assign us a security detail for home.”
“Remember what I said. No matter what they say, don’t let them rattle you. As far as you know, I’m Mills, and that’s what you answer every time they ask.”
“I heard you. Now you hear me. I want you to take the car and go. I’ll be fine here. They’ll arrange my transportation down the mountain. I’ll contact you as soon as it’s safe.”
Merrick leaned forward so that his mouth was close to her ear. “No.”
“Don’t you dare argue with me about this. It’s just as dangerous for you here as it is for me.”
“I’m the bodyguard, remember? I stay on the mountain until you’re off.”
“You were never just a bodyguard. I care about you.”
He kissed her neck just below her ear, and his mouth lingered. Drawn in by the intimacy, she pressed close, inhaling his scent.
When he finally stepped back, the cold nipped at her nose and cheeks, a sharp reminder of where they were.
“If you want to help us, be the ice queen. If you act nervous or anxious, they’ll think you’re hiding something, and they’ll keep you here until they’ve opened you up. Stay calm.”
“I can handle myself. I don’t need you to stay. In fact, I’ll be better focused if I know you’re gone and I don’t have to worry about you.”
He gripped her upper arms tightly. It didn’t hurt, but it got her attention, quieting all the thoughts racing through her head. “Alissa, pay attention. Nothing anyone says or does will make me leave you here alone. Accept that and work from there.”
“Why won’t you leave, James?” she asked softly.
“You know why.”
Her heart thumped, and she stared at his face, waiting.
“If something happens to you, I won’t care that I got away,” he said, then paused, staring down into her eyes. “If you don’t come, I can’t go.”
Yes, emotionally fearless. She blinked away her tears and slid her arms around his neck. After pressing a kiss to the side of his face, she whispered, “All right. We stay together.”
Chapter 29
Central security occupied a bigger area than Alissa had realized. She and Merrick were ushered into an interrogation room. The security officer who led them through the outer area into the back was friendly and apologetic toward her. He offered them drinks. When they declined, the young officer turned to her.
“You missed dinner, Miss North. The kitc
hen is sending a plate of the grilled salmon for you. Director Easton said to have them send one for Mr. Mills as well, so it’s on the way.”
“Mr. Easton said that my father was the one who discovered Mr. Tobin’s body. May we see him?”
“I can take you to see him. Mr. Mills, would you have a seat here please? It shouldn’t be much longer before someone’s free to talk to you about what you saw.”
“I’ll stay with her,” Merrick said.
“No, sir,” the young man said, stepping forward to block Merrick’s way. “Please have a seat.”
Merrick’s expression hardened. “Someone died under suspicious circumstances. As Miss North’s bodyguard, I should stay with her.”
A pair of officers entered the room swiftly. Alissa’s gaze darted from them back to Merrick, but he remained perfectly still.
Stay calm. Merrick won’t lose control.
“Mr. Mills,” the young officer said. “Etherlin Security will be taking over Miss North’s personal security until the conclusion of the investigation. You didn’t have advanced clearance to be at the center. I’m sure you understand our need to be cautious.” He gestured to a nearby chair. “We appreciate your cooperation.”
Her heart thumped harder in her chest. Merrick didn’t argue, but he didn’t sit either. The intensity of his cool gaze on the security officers seemed to make them nervous because she noticed them widening their stances, fingering their weapons.
“Is the other interrogation room nearby?” Alissa asked, using her television interview voice, pleasant, upbeat. She didn’t want to leave Merrick, but her instincts told her that if she stayed for them to fight over, things between ES and Merrick would escalate.
“Your dad’s just down the hall,” the young officer said.
Alissa forced a smile. “Lead the way.” To Merrick, she added, “I’m sorry about this, Mr. Mills. I’m sure they’ll sort everything out quickly. I’ll be right back.”
“It’s no problem,” Merrick said evenly.
As Alissa followed the officer, she heard one of the others say, “May we see your weapons, Mr. Mills?”
All That Bleeds Page 25