“Your face!” She tilted her head toward the driver.
Joe took several deep breaths, and his face reformed into the handsome one she preferred.
“Holy shit! Did you see that?” the taxi driver said, excitement in his voice. “What did you two do to piss those dogs off? Steal their bone?”
*
They booked a redeye flight from New Orleans to Orlando. From there they would rent a car. They’d be in Vero Beach by early morning.
The tickets would just about clean out Joe’s account. He slid the card across the counter.
Lily put her hand over it and presented the ticket agent her American Express card. Joe’s face burned.
“Don’t be mad,” Lily said. She chewed her bottom lip. “This is my fight. You wouldn’t be going back there now if I weren’t in danger. Let me do this.”
Joe let go of his pride. He’d been on unpaid leave of absence since January. He didn’t even know if he still had a job. His stuff was in storage. The suitcase he’d retrieved from his hotel room with all his clothing was still behind Lily’s couch. What the hell did he have to be proud about?
She paid for the tickets, and they headed to the gate. Her small hand slipped inside his, and he gave it a squeeze, reassuring her he wasn’t angry.
Even while he dreaded returning to the place where life as he’d known it had ended, he was glad he wasn’t going there alone.
*
“Can I get something for you, sir?” the pretty stewardess asked.
“A blanket?” Joe said, smiling at the woman. “My girlfriend’s cold.”
“I’m not cold,” Lily said flatly.
Joe dropped his gaze to the stewardess’s chest and raised an eyebrow. “She’s cold.”
The stewardess gave him a grin and opened an overhead bin. The blanket was thin, but would be enough of a screen for what he intended. He raised the armrest that separated their seats and spread the blanket over them both.
“Oh,” Lily grumbled. “You’re just too macho to admit you’re the one who’s cold.”
“Vamps don’t hold the heat very well,” he said with glib amusement.
“I wonder if that’s how you got your cold-blooded reputation.”
Under the blanket, he slid his hand over her thigh and squeezed.
Lily’s eyes widened. A blush crept across her cheeks. “You’re not thinking—”
Joe leaned to the side, and whispered in her ear, “Open your pants.”
“You’re not going to—”
The rasp of his zipper alarmed her, and she stared at his movements beneath the blanket. Already her breaths were coming faster.
“There’s no one around us—the plane’s nearly empty.” He reached for her hand and brought it to his aching cock. “Let’s play.”
Lily gave her fellow passengers, most of whom were already settling down to sleep, a guilty glance, and then Joe heard the slow slide of her zipper. When she met his gaze again, she leaned back against her seat, her eyes begging him to take her.
Joe reached for her tummy, pulled her blouse out of the way, and tunneled his hand into her underwear. Sliding past her belly, he raked his fingers through the soft curls covering her sex.
Lily’s eyes scrunched closed, and her face turned an even brighter pink. Anyone looking their way would know exactly what he was doing.
Which was just fine with him. It had been too many hours since he’d last been inside her. He didn’t care who watched. His fingers parted her folds and speared inside her juicy cunt.
Lily’s hand gripped his cock like a gearshift. Joe grimaced then took a deep breath. “Lily,” he whispered.
Her eyes fluttered open. “Yes?” she asked, her voice high and thin.
“Move your hand.”
She slid her hand away from his cock.
He felt like grunting his displeasure but kept his voice soft and even. “No, jerk me off.”
“Oh!” Her hand encircled him again, but she moved with excruciating slowness up and down his shaft.
He settled deeper into his seat with his legs spread. “You’re killing me, baby. Faster.”
“They’ll see us,” she hissed.
“If you don’t do it faster, I’ll turn you over the seat and fuck you now.”
Shock widened her eyes but her pussy gushed around his fingers.
Sitting side by side, their hands in each other’s pants, Joe couldn’t care less who saw the frantic rustling beneath the blanket.
“It’s not enough,” Lily panted.
“Speak for yourself,” he mumbled, enjoying the friction from the coarse blanket and her hand pumping on his sex.
“There has to be a better way.”
His lips twitched, and he gave her a sideways glance. “Meet me in the restroom?”
“Are you crazy? We can’t both go in there. Someone will see us.”
“Who’ll notice? Everyone else is sleeping.”
“There’s no room—”
“I promise I’ll make it fit,” he drawled.
Lily pulled her hand away. He swirled his finger inside her sex once and drew a wet trail up her belly before he took his hand away. They both struggled with clothing and zippers, grinning at each other like children filching cookies from the cookie jar.
He leaned across her and gave her a smacking kiss. “Take the stall on the left, but don’t lock the door. I’ll be right behind you.”
Lily hurried down the aisle, sure that anyone looking at her flushed face and mussed appearance would guess what she’d been doing—but she didn’t care. Her pussy ached to glove Joe’s cock. With a quick glance to assure herself no one followed her progress, she entered the small restroom and quickly stepped out of her shoes, pushed her slacks and panties down her legs, then looked around for somewhere to hang them. The small overhead cabinet would have to do.
Just as she draped her clothing over the corner, the door swung open, and Joe stepped inside, crowding her back against the toilet.
“Glad to see you didn’t waste any time.” His hands were already unbuttoning his jeans. He slid them just past his hips. His cock bounded out of confinement, poking her in the belly.
She couldn’t resist its invitation and sat on the cold toilet seat to take his thick cock inside her mouth.
“Christ! You catch on fast.” He tugged bobby pins from her bun and speared his fingers through her hair, encouraging her to take him deeper into her mouth.
Lily rocked back and forth, sliding her lips over his cock, sucking hard, and reveling in his gasps and the jerk of his hips as he glided in and out of her mouth. She cupped his balls and tugged gently.
“Baby, stop!” He pulled her hair.
With a last swirl of her tongue along his shaft and around his plump head, Lily lifted her face. “Fuck me?”
“Climb up on the toilet.”
His hands steadied her as she climbed up and turned to face him. He opened his arms, and she clasped his shoulders. Wrapping her legs one at a time around his narrow waist, she lowered her body onto his cock.
She was so ready and wet her vagina rippled as she slid all the way down his shaft.
He held her in his arms for a long moment. Then bracing his feet as wide as he could in the narrow stall, he rocked his hips. The gentle motion wasn’t enough.
“Harder!” she begged.
His hands gripped her ass to lift her, and then he shoved her down on his cock at the same time as he rocked forward.
“That’s it! Faster!”
His breath gusted out on a laugh. “Shhh. Bellow like that again and you’ll wake the whole plane.”
Lily didn’t care. “Don’t stop!”
“I couldn’t if my life depended on it,” he gritted out, sealing his mouth over hers to muffle her moans.
Up and down, he slammed into her, his cock thickening as his body changed. He flung back his head, and Lily watched, helpless with arousal, as he transformed into her sexy, ravaging monster, his movements growing sharpe
r, harder, faster.
“Yes! Please, more!”
Then her body exploded, warm honey gushing from her cunt, making the slap of their flesh sound wet and sticky. Lily bit his shoulder to keep from screaming out loud as her body stiffened and shuddered.
With a last deep thrust, Joe’s cock released a stream of cum that bathed her womb in warmth.
Slowly, he morphed and braced his hand against the wall. His legs trembled, but she refused to let him go. She kissed the deep grooves she’d left on his shoulder, then his chin, and finally his mouth.
When she pulled away, she looked into his face, still tight with strain. “Do you think anyone heard us?”
Chapter Nine
‡
Snuggled under the blanket once more, Lily fought the urge to sleep. Her body was as relaxed as a soggy noodle, but she hated wasting a moment of her time with Joe.
She turned her head, which rested on his shoulder, to look into his face. “Now that I’ve had a chance to catch my breath, do you mind telling me why we’re going to Florida? I know Madame told you to go home, but how do you expect to find our answers there?”
Joe glanced away. “There’s one person left who might know something. Although I hate like hell asking him for a damn thing.”
“Why?”
He looked back, his anger barely banked behind his rigid face. “He made me what I am.”
“Your sire?”
“Yeah.” He must have seen the interested light in her eyes. “Don’t go there. We’re not talking about that—or him.”
“All right. I’ll change the subject. So what do you do in Florida? Besides…vampire things?”
“I’m a cop. Or was.”
She nodded, not the least surprised.
“What?” he said, one corner of his mouth lifting. “Not going to list the clues that gave me away?”
She frowned. “I don’t think I like it when you tease me.”
“Why?” His finger smoothed the lines furrowing her forehead.
“Because I wonder how you read me so well. Do I have a teleprompter on my forehead that repeats my every thought?”
He groaned. “I know you’re dying to tell me. Go ahead.”
She chewed on her lip. He was going to laugh at her. She just knew it. “Well, you have short hair and a well-conditioned body.”
“I could have been military.”
“True, but you knew how to break into my apartment.”
“You didn’t think that was just part of Intro to Vampire? Don’t we all have to break into women’s apartments to feed? I could have been military with a criminal past.”
She frowned. “Well, then there’s the way you walk.”
He raised one dark eyebrow. “The way I walk?”
“Come on. Tell me you’ve never been pulled over for a speeding ticket and seen that little strut cops do when something makes their day.”
“Nope. I’ve never seen it.”
“And you don’t believe it just because you’ve never seen it?” This time, she raised an eyebrow. “And I’m supposed to believe I snore just because you said so? Sometimes you’ve just got to trust.” She grinned. She had him.
His gaze narrowed. “Okay. So I strut.”
Satisfied for now, Lily yawned and snuggled closer. “Wake me when we get there.” She fell asleep with the sound of Joe’s soft laughter beside her ear and his hand rubbing her breast.
*
Joe strutted into the Special Unit’s station house, dreading the coming confrontation.
It was early morning. The time the guys usually returned from patrol and gave their outbriefs to the Captain.
With Lily following behind him, he walked past the long row of empty desks, past the dispatcher’s booth, straight to the conference room. He didn’t bother knocking on the closed door.
A dozen faces, most belonging to teammates he’d known better than his own family, turned toward him.
His old buddy Max Weir muttered, “Just another fucking vampire.”
Joe’s back stiffened.
Captain Springer looked over his shoulder, his eyes widening, a smile wreathing his broad face. Then it slipped, and he darted a glance down the table.
Joe followed that glance to find Darcy in her usual place, Quentin at her side.
Darcy’s face blanched white, and she gripped the edge of the table. Quentin’s arm encircled her shoulder, and he leaned toward her to whisper something in her ear. Then he straightened and glared at Joe.
“I think we’ll talk in a little while,” the Captain said, sending a meaningful look around the table.
The room cleared quickly, except for Darcy, Quentin, and two people Joe didn’t recognize—one a dark-haired male and the other a busty blonde. Some deeply buried instinct told them these two were kin—vampires.
His teammates nodded their greetings as they passed, their faces betraying wariness. Max jostled him, giving him a deliberate shove as he left the room, but his gaze cut quickly to Lily before he left. His eyes widened. Joe didn’t care. His glance was glued on his sire.
Suddenly, Quentin’s nostrils flared, and his gaze narrowed. He lunged to his feet. “Why the hell did you bring that here?” he bellowed, staring past Joe’s shoulder.
Lily gasped and slipped her hand inside his. Quentin was staring at her like she was some kind of monster.
Joe stiffened and gave Lily’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “She’s the reason I’m here.”
“Well, this is a pretty pickle. Do you even know what you have, cub?” The glib murmur pulled Joe’s attention to the brown-haired man sitting on the opposite side of the table. The pointed glance he shared with Quentin marked him as the blond vamp’s friend.
Joe lifted his chin with defiance. “A breeder, or so I’m told.”
“She doesn’t belong here,” Quentin said, looking mad enough to tear his head off. “We don’t mix.”
Darcy, still seated, reached for Quentin’s arm. “Why don’t we sit down and talk? And what exactly is a breeder?”
“The enemy.”
Lily clutched Joe’s hand, trying to still her trembling. The way the tall, blond man stared had her cowering behind Joe. She should just leave. She tugged her hand, but Joe wouldn’t let go. She tugged again, but he simply drew her to his side and put his arm around her shoulders, anchoring her there.
She glared daggers at him, but he never noticed. His gaze remained on the blond one. Then Lily saw the woman seated beside the menacing man. She was slender, with wide-set brown eyes and shoulder-length brown hair. Her face was devoid of makeup, but she was lovely. Her skin glowed with health—at least it would have if she didn’t look like she was about to pass out.
In an instant, Lily guessed this was the woman who’d scorned Joe and stopped feeling sorry for her. The woman’s gaze met hers for a moment, and she gave Lily a tight-lipped smile.
“I think I better go, Joe,” Lily said softly not looking away from the other woman.
The man with the chestnut hair and Irish accent gave her a pitying look. “You don’t even know, do you?”
“That you’re vampires? I guessed that. I also know werewolves are on my ass back in New Orleans,” she said, lifting her chin.
“You’re too valuable for them to let you go. You can give them the next generation of—”
“Vermin!” the blond man spat.
“—cubs. My name’s Dylan O’Hara by the way,” the chestnut-haired man said with a crooked smile. “That’s my wife, Emmy.”
He nodded toward a plump, blonde woman Lily hadn’t seen because she was tucked in the corner next to a box of chocolate-covered donuts. She waved one and giggled, “Sorry, sympathy cravings.” Her eyes widened, and her glance darted to the dark-haired woman.
Lily was starting to feel dizzy. There was so much anger and intrigue going on inside the room, all she wanted to do was leave. “Really, Joe. I want to go,” she repeated.
A glance at his face, and she knew he hadn’t even h
eard her. He stared at Emmy for a long moment, and then his gaze flew to the brown-haired woman.
“That’s Darcy Henry,” Emmy said, drawing Lily’s attention away. “Quentin won’t ever get around to the rest of the introductions. He and Joe have a history.”
Lily felt sick at knowing the source of the competition was wrapped in one willowy-slim woman.
“So do Darcy and I,” Joe ground out, dropping Lily’s hand. His jaw set like granite, he circled the table stalking toward Darcy.
“They are so competitive,” Emmy said. Her tone oddly light given the tension in the room.
Quentin stepped in front of Darcy, but again, Darcy reached up to stroke his arm. “It’s okay, Quent.” Darcy rose, and Lily suddenly understood the tension. Darcy’s belly was round. Obviously, she wasn’t a vampire.
She was pregnant.
Joe stood in front of her, his hands clenched at his sides. “Mine?”
Quentin’s arm slipped around the woman’s shoulders, clearly stamping his possession.
“Your child, yes,” Darcy whispered.
Lily reached for the edge of the table, something to hold onto because her legs suddenly felt like rubber.
“I wouldn’t have left you if I’d known,” Joe said angrily, his words stabbing at Lily’s heart. He still loved her.
“I know,” Darcy said, reaching up to place her hand on his cheek. “But it was for the best, don’t you see?”
Joe shook his head. “Not really. You’re pregnant. I’m responsible. Christ, I was stupid.”
“Water under the bridge—and I’m happy, Joe.”
“With him?” he ground out. And then his shoulders fell. “Is he treating you well?”
“We’re married.” Her smile reassured Lily that at least she wasn’t in love with Joe. “I love him.”
Joe closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. “What about the baby?”
“He’s yours and ours. I’d like you to be part of his life.”
“I will be.”
Darcy nodded, and then she looked at Quentin. “Right?”
The blonde vampire glared at Joe, but he nodded, too. “I don’t have to like it.”
“I’m glad you don’t,” Joe murmured.
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