Darkest Desire of the Vampire: Wicked in Moonlight\Vampire Island (Harlequin Nocturne) (7 page)

His response was dry. “Maybe because that’s in books and this is the real world?”

She shot him a curious glance. “Are you saying that you don’t have accelerated healing abilities?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying.” Was it his imagination, or was his voice getting huskier? Clearing his throat, he added, “But it depends on the wound. A wolf bite is one of the few injuries that a vampire can’t heal from quickly.”

“Ahh,” she murmured, as if that made perfect sense to her. She continued to carefully work her way across the raw bite marks and asked, “If you knew it was a werewolf pack that has been doing the killings here in Moonlight Bay, why not just hunt them down and destroy them?”

“You don’t think I’ve been trying?” he muttered. “But the bastards are good at covering their tracks. Someone’s taught them and taught them well.”

Lifting her head, she gave him another questioning look. “Taught them what?”

“How to avoid detection by my species.”

“Hmm. You mean like a rogue vamp?”

Nick lifted his brows. “A rogue vamp?”

“You know what I mean,” she murmured, lowering her head again as she returned her attention to his arm. “A criminal vampire who knows how to keep from being found. As a vampire himself, or herself, he or she would know tricks to keep you from finding them, right?”

“Yes,” he admitted, thinking she had to be the most unusual, fascinating human he’d ever known. “But we don’t know why the wolves would have this information. My brothers have been up in Seattle talking to a few sources, seeking answers. So far, we haven’t found any.”

“If you knew they were using the caves for their kills, why not simply set up a stakeout?”

“We’re not idiots, Lainey.” His voice was getting a little tighter. “We tried that. But they knew.”

“Hmm. Sounds to me like you have a mole in the system.”

“Yeah,” Nick muttered, rubbing his free hand over his face. Whoever it was, he just hoped the bastard wouldn’t do anything to keep his brothers from reaching them in time.

“So how am I doing?” she asked with a grin, dabbing a fresh wipe on the wound. “Are my first aid skills up to scratch?”

“If you hadn’t been so tempted by books, you could have been a nurse,” he murmured, feeling a little uncomfortable giving the compliment. Or maybe it was just how good she made him feel that had his nerves jumping.

“A nurse?” She wrinkled her nose. “I like the idea of helping people, but that would have never worked out. I can’t stand the sight of blood.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment, simply watching her clean the wound with sure, careful strokes. His blood had quickly soaked through the fresh cotton square and was now staining her fingers. “You’re holding up pretty well with mine.”

She smiled a little as she glanced at him through her lashes. “I guess that makes you special.”

He kept staring at her slightly crooked smile until she finally asked, “What? Do I have food in my teeth?”

“No,” he rasped, his voice rough with emotions he didn’t dare think about or try to put a name to. “But you’re very beautiful.”

She blushed. “That’s sweet of you to say.”

God, she was insulting. “Please stop saying that. I’m a lot of things, but
sweet
isn’t one of them. Neither is angelic or heroic or any of the other crap you keep throwing in my face.”

“I’m entitled to my opinions, Nick. And I happen to think that you’re sweet and more than a little scary at times—” her lips curled “—though the sexy helps smooth out those sharp edges. My best friend would go crazy over you. Bailey always does go head over heels for the bad boys.”

“But not you?”
Of course not her. Get real. Why would she choose a killer over someone who can give her a family and a white picket fence?

“I—” She broke off from whatever she’d been going to say, took a shaky breath and looked right at him. “Why did you almost kiss me?” she blurted.

“What are you talking about?”

She licked her lips, the look in her eyes hot and soft. “You left me when I tried to kiss you this morning. You know, when you had me against the wall. But before I took my shower, I could have sworn
you
were about to kiss
me.
Why?”

“Why does any man want to kiss a beautiful woman?” he muttered, rolling his shoulder with a fresh wave of agitation.

Her throat worked with a nervous swallow, but she managed to keep her voice steady as she said, “Then you
are
attracted to me? You really want to...”

“Fuck you?” he supplied when she didn’t seem capable of saying the words.

“Yes,” she said on a breathless sigh.

“I do,” he ground out, knowing damn well she didn’t understand what kind of danger she was courting with her questions.

She shook her head, her white teeth biting into the sexy swell of her bottom lip. “I find that so hard to believe, Nick.”

With his thoughts going in so many different directions, he could only imagine what kind of look was on his face. “Why? You’re...
Oh, hell, Lainey.
You’re not a
virgin,
are you?” He couldn’t have sounded more appalled if he’d tried.

A husky laugh slipped past her lips. “No. I’ve had a few relationships over the years,” she told him, wrapping fresh gauze around his arm. “They never lasted very long, but a few of them were...sexual.”

At that moment, it was a good thing for her ex-lovers that he was trapped in this bloody bunker. If free, Nick knew he’d have had a hell of a time keeping himself from doing something stupid. Like tracking her exes down and making it clear why they should
never
go near her again.

Not that I have any right to do it. But it would sure as hell make me feel better.

Needing a distraction from the dangerous direction of his thoughts, he asked, “What happened with the men?”

“They left me for other women.”

He made a derisive sound under his breath. “Human males are such idiots.”

She gave a careless shrug. “They were both going through bad times.”

“So you helped them and then they betrayed you?”

Her expression was pinched as she leaned back in her chair and looked at him. “I guess you could say that.”

Oh yeah, he would definitely enjoy getting his hands on the bastards if he could.

“Is that why you don’t see yourself as beautiful?” he asked, thinking he understood her a little better now.

The color in her cheeks got brighter, the drawl in her speech a little more pronounced. “I didn’t need their betrayals to see what I am,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Like I told you before, I have a mirror, Nick.”

“Then surely you know that you’re...”

“What? Chubby? Short? Quirky?”

“I was going to say beautiful again,” he said in a low rumble.

She snorted. “You’re such a smooth liar.”

“I don’t lie.”

Eying him with an expression that was equal parts pleasure and skepticism, she asked, “Are you...trying to tell me that you’re interested in me?”

“No!” he said so sharply that she flinched, making him feel like seven different kinds of shit. “I’m sorry. I, uh, didn’t mean it like that.”

Wait a minute? Had he actually just
apologized?
And since when did a centuries-old vampire say things like “Uh”? Damn woman was making him dotty!

“Don’t worry about it,” she murmured, using her hair to conceal her expression as she pushed to her feet. But he didn’t let her get away, holding out his uninjured arm to block her path.

“Lainey, I...” He exhaled a frustrated breath, trying to figure out how to explain. “Just trust me when I say that a woman like you is
not
for me.”

“Ahh.” He could feel the force of her stare against his face like a physical touch but kept his gaze focused on the rapid pulse at the base of her throat. “So you go for the tall, swizzle-stick look, then?”

With a wry grin, he shook his head, his hot gaze moving slowly over her curvy form, lingering on her breasts and thighs. “No. I actually prefer a woman to feel like a woman, not an ironing board.”

She didn’t say anything, but Nick could sense that she didn’t believe him. Her confidence had taken more than one hit in the past, and he wondered what was
wrong
with the human males she’d known. How had they not lost themselves in lust for her? Been charmed by her quirky sense of humor? How had they not been awed by her bravery and loyalty?

Or maybe that had been the problem right there. Maybe they
had
been all of those things and just didn’t have the balls to handle how she made them feel. In each century of his life, Nick had seen humans run from the things they wanted most, but he had never really thought of the flaw with anything more than confusion. But now...now he felt a raw, blistering fury at their petty reactions. Those men had run because they were too afraid of not being able to keep her happy and eventually losing her, whereas Nick was forced to hold himself back from what he most wanted because he was terrified of taking her fucking life.

And on that note, he knew it was time to put some more distance between them.

Lowering his arm, he started to move back to his feet, but she chose that moment to lean over, picking up one of the bloody wipes that had fallen on the floor, and Nick found himself staring down at a smooth, feminine shoulder. The neckline of his shirt had slipped to the side, revealing the creamy expanse of flesh, and his breath seized in his lungs.

Unable to resist, he lifted his hand...and ran two callused fingertips over that incredibly tender skin.

* * ** * *

“So soft,” he breathed out, sounding more like he was talking to himself than to her.

Lainey tried not to let the joy his words gave her show. She knew damn well it would just make the sexy vampire even more skittish than he already was where she was concerned.

He had a wary look in his dark eyes when he finally dropped his hand and lifted his smoldering gaze to hers as she straightened. But she couldn’t stop herself from asking, “If you enjoy touching me, then why the whole ‘a woman like you isn’t for me’ line?”

“It’s not a line. It’s the truth.”

“Why then?”

His nostrils flared. “Because I’m a goddamn vampire.”

“And I’ve read
Twilight.
I—”

“Just stop,” he suddenly growled, holding up a hand. “And. Don’t. Even. Go. There.”

She blinked, then started to laugh. “Okay, I get it. I wasn’t trying to say that you’re some work of fiction. But if real vampires are anything like the ones in the romance novels, then it’s possible for you to touch a human woman. Maybe not simple or uncomplicated...but it
is
possible.” With a shrug, she added, “Just look at Sookie on
True Blood.
”

“Jesus Christ!” he roared, surging to his feet so quickly that his chair fell over behind him. “This isn’t a fucking TV show! Open your eyes, Lainey, and use your head. I’m a vampire who’s been bitten by a bloody werewolf. Exactly how do you think this is going to play out? It’s a goddamn full moon tonight!”

She took a moment to think about what he’d just said, and suddenly all those cryptic remarks about his brothers arriving in time started to make sense.

“That’s what you meant last night, isn’t it? You’re worried about the full moon tonight, aren’t you? About how it will affect you.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said in a low voice, sounding as if he was suffering the torments of the damned.

“And you think you will?”

“I don’t know what to think,” he forced out through his gritted teeth, backing away from her. He didn’t stop until he came up against the wall behind him.

“Explain, please.”

He looked to the left of her as he said, “When a werewolf bites, its blood enters the victim’s system. Humans either change or die, but every vampire is affected differently when bitten by a wolf. They might take on all the physical attributes of the beast—or none of them. Some completely lose themselves to the wolf’s feral hungers and end up having to be destroyed. Others are capable of mastering the more aggressive hungers of the beast and accept them as a part of his or her nature. But there’s no way of knowing how a particular vampire will be affected until the first full moon after their bite.”

“So why borrow trouble? Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

He cut her a sharp, furious look from the corner of his eye. “I’d rather not risk your life on a maybe.”

“And what if I said that I trust you not to hurt me?”

“Then I’d say you’re being an idiot,” he muttered under his breath.

Rolling her eyes, she said, “Wow, Nick. Don’t try to spare my feelings or anything.”

“I don’t have the privilege of worrying about your feelings, Lainey. I’m trying to keep you alive.”

“Nick, I—”

“No! Just drop it or I’m putting you back in those damn chains.”

She huffed with frustration. “Why did you even have me in them in the first place?” she demanded. “Because you thought it’d be easier to deal with me? I’m surprised you didn’t put me in a gag and just leave me in here all alone, trying to pretend I don’t even exist!”

“The gag’s not a bad idea,” he growled, looking like he could chew nails. “And I put you in those chains because I was worried you would try to attack me.”

Confusion filled her gaze, a little notch etched between her brows. “You can’t really think that I’d hurt you.”

“It’s not that. But I’m worried about how the wolf’s blood in my system will make me react if you try. I could be...violent and end up doing something that can’t be taken back.”

Her head tipped a bit to the side as she studied him. “And now you trust me not to attack you?”

“Either that,” he muttered, “or I’ve lost my goddamn mind.”

Chapter 5

T
he woman was trying to kill him. That was the only reason Nick could think of for this incessant flirting that was slowly driving him mad. He didn’t believe for a second that she truly understood just how badly he craved her...or how aggressive he could be when it came to sex. An aggression he knew damn well was only going to be magnified by the werewolf blood churning through his system.

After she’d washed his blood from her hands at the kitchen sink, he made them a late breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast. Watching her eat was more arousing than any strip joint he’d ever visited in his long lifetime. She had a good appetite, and the way her full lips closed around her fork each time she took a bite made it damn hard for him to sit still. When she nibbled on a piece of bacon, then ran her tongue over her lower lip, leaving it shiny and wet, he finally exploded with a sharp, clipped, “Stop torturing me, Lainey.”

Her eyes went wide. “I didn’t know that I was. I’m just eating, Nick.”

He stifled a groan as he closed his eyes. More to himself than to her, he said, “I
can’t
fuck you.”

“I know,” she whispered. “But, um, if you
hadn’t
been bitten, would you be trying to get me into bed with you while we’re stuck in here?”

He opened his eyes again to glare at her. “No.”

She scowled at his quick, gruff reply, then gave him another confused frown. “Why not, if you’re attracted to me?”

Because even if a miracle happened and I didn’t hurt you, we’d have an even bigger problem to deal with. Because I have a strong feeling I’d want to keep you, golden girl.
But he didn’t say any of that out loud. To Lainey he simply muttered, “Because it isn’t done.”

“You mean even if you weren’t worried about the bite, you wouldn’t sleep with me because I’m human?” She sounded thoroughly insulted. “Didn’t we already establish that that wasn’t a valid excuse?”

“And like I said before, this isn’t a work of fiction. I’m a danger to you in ways you can’t even imagine.”

Pushing her empty plate to the side, she said, “Then explain it to me.”

“For one, I have enemies,” he said in a low voice, sprawling against the back of his chair. “Ones who would be ruthless about going after any woman I was involved with. The kind of enemies who don’t have any qualms about hurting innocent people.”

“So did my brother.”

“Not like mine,” he snapped.

She cast a pained look toward the door. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

He cursed under his breath but didn’t argue. After a minute or so of awkward silence, she went into motion, busying herself cleaning up the plates, and he helped by carrying their coffee mugs into the small kitchen. He felt like a total ass for pushing her away, but didn’t see that he had any other choice. She was hurting and worried and seeking a way to take her mind off everything that was happening to her. He’d only make it worse by ignoring his conscience and taking what he badly wanted.

“Nick?” she finally murmured, keeping her back to him as she set the last plate in the drainer beside the sink.

“Yeah?” he grunted, knowing he had it bad when he got hot just watching a woman wash dishes. He was growing increasingly restless, his heart thundering, fangs heavy in his gums, his body burning with heat. But was he being driven by the sexual needs of the vampire...or the primitive hungers of the wolf? And how was he going to make it through this day without losing his goddamn mind?

She kept her back to him as she gave a little cough, then quietly said, “I know you said we can’t have sex, but can we...can we at least have some fun together?”

Fuck.
She was definitely trying to kill him. If she suggested anything other than a game of Parcheesi, he was going to need to dunk himself into a tub of ice water. “Doing what?” he asked, forcing the words out through his clenched teeth.

* * ** * *

Taking a deep breath, she turned around to face him. “You said you were attracted to me.”

“So?” he muttered aggressively, staring to the right of her. “That doesn’t mean—”

“We don’t have to have...intercourse. We could just do other things,” she blurted, cutting him off, “to...each other.”

He froze, but Lainey could feel the hunger and energy pulsing beneath his skin, like an electrical current flowing from him to her. He swallowed, then locked that hot, scorching gaze with hers. “Yeah?” His voice was low...
husky.
“Like what?”

She sucked in a quick breath for courage, determined not to cower like a wimp. But she could feel the heat burning in her face as she said, “We could...that is, you could let me, um...I could use my mouth on you.”

He shuddered, and a low, guttural sound vibrated in the back of his throat, predatory and raw. “You want that?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” Nick stalked toward her, unable to keep his distance, as if a powerful force was drawing them together. “Because you’re hurting inside? Because you think we’re going to die in here?”

Shaking her head, she said, “No. I could use those things as an excuse to do something reckless, but it wouldn’t be the truth.”

“And what’s the truth, Lainey?”

She tilted her head back the way she did whenever he got close and she wanted to see his face. “The truth is that I’ve wanted you since the first second I saw you. And despite the crappy situation we’re in, I want you more with each moment that goes by. If we make it out of this, I know you’re going to walk away from me. When that happens, I don’t want to regret not getting as much of you as I can while I’ve still got the chance.”

He stared...in shock, unable to believe the things she’d just said to him. He’d never known a woman who was so open and honest about her feelings. So courageous and full of life. And when she reached out and pressed her palm against his bare abs, that was it. Nick couldn’t have kept himself back from her then if the fate of the world had hung in the balance.

Swearing every foul-mouthed curse he could think of inside his mind, his Spanish and English all garbled together, he grabbed the front of Lainey’s shirt and ripped until buttons were pinging off the cabinets and sink. Then he yanked the ruined shirt off her shoulders, letting it slither to the floor, leaving her in nothing but the tight black boxers. She immediately raised her arms, trying to cover her naked breasts, her cheeks pink with embarrassment.

Breathing hard and rough, he said, “Lower your arms and let me look at you.”

She licked her bottom lip as she looked him up and down, her precious face bright with color. “Can’t we turn down the lights a little first?”

“No,” he grunted. “I want to be able to see every inch of you. You’re fucking gorgeous, Lainey.”

“Hardly,” she scoffed, just as her pretty brown gaze settled on the distinctive bulge of his hard-on, the buttons on his fly straining to the point he was surprised they hadn’t burst open.

“You think I get this hard for just anyone?” he growled, flexing his hands at his sides, shaking from the effort of holding himself back.

“I...uh...”

“I
don’t.
” Unable to stop himself, Nick reached out and ran two fingers along one of her trembling forearms where it crossed her chest. Lifting his heavy-lidded gaze to hers, he said, “You started this, Lainey. You’d better be damn sure before we go any further because I’m not going to let you hide from me. I’ve been dying to get you naked and wet and under me from the moment you hit town.”

“I’m not hiding,” she whispered.

“Do you want me?”

“God, yes. I want you more than...” Something soft and vulnerable spilled through her gaze, and he could see her slender throat work as she swallowed. “Just trust me when I say that I want you a lot, Nick.”

Curling his fingers around each of her wrists, he pulled them away from her shoulders, uncrossing her arms. “Then get your nipples wet for me,” he told her, letting her wrists go.

“Wh-with what?”

Nick lifted his gaze from her gorgeous breasts and gave her a slow, sin-tipped smile. “What do you think?”

She took another nervous swallow, panting, but couldn’t seem to find her voice. It was such a fascinating contradiction, the way she could be so bold and determined one minute, then turn shy and uncertain the next. He found it an incredible turn-on, which wasn’t helping the situation. Lowering his gaze again, Nick stared at the bounty before him and ran his tongue over his upper lip. His voice little more than a guttural rasp, he said, “Your breasts are beautiful, Lainey. But I want to be able to eat your taste off them.” Looking her right in the eye, he said, “Make them slick for me.”

“Like this?” she whispered, slipping her hand into the front of the boxer shorts.

“Yeah.” His nostrils flared as he watched her touch herself, his jaw clenched so tight he could feel a muscle pulsing beneath his skin. “You know what to do.”

Her lashes lowered, concealing the look in her eyes, as she pulled her hand from beneath the waistband, her slender fingers glistening. Being as tall as he was, Nick caught a glimpse of pale gold ringlets before the elastic band snapped back into place, a low growl rumbling in his throat as he watched her touch those trembling fingertips to a tight, berry-pink nipple.

“And the other one,” he ground out, leaning forward and caging her in with his body as he braced his hands on the counter behind her.

Curling her fingers, she painted the other nipple until it was shiny and wet, and his mouth started watering. She was panting harder now, her lush breasts quivering with each shallow breath, the sight and scent of her juices on those pink little nipples making him burn with violent, visceral hunger.

“More,” he growled. “I want them wetter, Lainey.”

A mischievous glint sparked in her eyes, and she grinned. “You like being bossy when it comes to sex, don’t you?”

Nick smirked. “I’m a vampire, Miss Maxwell. I like being bossy in
all
things.” He stepped closer and snagged her wrist, lifting her hand up to his mouth. “But I’m getting a unique kind of pleasure out of being bossy with you.” With a curl of his lips, he whispered, “Guess that means you bring out the worst in me.”

“Or the b-best,” she stammered breathlessly, when he sucked those glistening fingers into his mouth and cleaned them with his tongue. Her taste blasted against his senses with more force than he’d expected, making him groan, a surge of foreign thoughts and emotions flooding through his mind. They should have freaked the hell out of him, but he was too lost in her to care, his body throbbing with the need to claim her as something that would belong to him...and
only
to him...forever. How she could taste even better than she smelled he didn’t know. But she did.

“You look so freaking sexy doing that,” she whispered, her brown eyes wide and bright, glittering with passion.

“You taste incredible,” he growled when he finally pulled her fingers free, his voice thick with lust. “Now tell me to touch you.”

He didn’t have to instruct her twice, her voice a soft, husky plea. “Yes. Please, Nick. Touch me. Right now.”

His hands shoved into the back of the shorts, over her lush ass, and he gripped the soft globes in a tight, possessive hold. Jerking her onto her toes, he took one of those slick, pink-tipped breasts in his mouth and nearly died. Her nipple was small and sweet on his tongue, the sounds she made as he sucked on her damn near turning him inside out. He moved his mouth to her other breast, hungry for the feel of her...the intimate taste. His fingers slipped between her legs, touching tender female flesh that was swollen and wet, and he wanted so badly to thrust his fingers inside that tiny opening, feeling her from the inside. Wanted it more than anything in the world. But he...couldn’t.

Oh, shit. Christ... He couldn’t do this!

With each thundering beat of his heart, Nick could feel the aggression surging inside him, powerful and addictive, fed by his craving for this fragile human. His fangs were only seconds away from dropping, his fingertips burning for the release of his talons, his pulse raging as scenes from a nightmare played through his brain. Ones that showed him completely losing control with her.

“Nick! What’s wrong?” she gasped as he stumbled back, then turned and staggered into the main room, his ragged breaths coming hard and fast. He could feel her come up behind him as his frantic gaze darted around the room, searching for an answer. For a way out of this.

“Nick! Answer me, damn it!”

“I’m losing control.” When his narrow gaze skimmed over the bed and the manacles lying there, he growled, “You need to use the chains on me.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” he barked, heading for the bed as he reached into his pocket for the key that would lock them. “Do it,” he snapped, careful not to look at her as he lay down and clamped the manacles around his thick wrists. There was just enough room inside the adjustable shackles for them to fit, but he needed her to lock them.

Edging closer to the bed, she shook her head as she wrapped her trembling arms across the front of her body. “No, Nick. I won’t do this to you. I
trust
you.”

“Fuck trust!” he roared, glaring up at her. “Lock the damn manacles and then tighten the goddamn chains!”

Tears tracked down her cheeks as she shook her head again, taking a step back, refusing to help him save her. Stubborn, infuriating, beautiful woman. She was going to be the fucking death of him!

Or the other way around—which was exactly what he was trying to avoid.

“If you won’t do it, then I will,” he snarled, cursing viciously as he used his knees to hold each manacle in place while he locked them with the key. When he had both wrists imprisoned in the steel, he reached up, struggling to tighten the chains until his arms were stretched over his head. Then he tossed the key across the room, watching it bounce across the cold metal floor until it finally came to a stop beneath the table.

Closing his eyes, Nick breathed a ragged sound of relief.

“Will they hold you?” she asked shakily, the direction of her voice telling him that she was now standing at the foot of the bed.