Embrace the Darkness (Darkness Series) (29 page)

A smile touched her lips as she skimmed her palms over his muscled forearms while he reached behind her. He wasted no time pulling off her bra and tossing it to the floor. Then he cupped her breasts, pressing his palms flat against her heated flesh.

“
Je veux te toucher
.
”
His words were barely above a whisper. The husky timber touched off a firestorm in Amber’s blood.

“English. Please.” Breathless, eager, she let her head fall back, pushing her breasts more firmly against his palms.

“I want to touch you—all of you.” With a passionate groan, his lips descended on hers.

His hot tongue swept inside her mouth, an erotic caress that left her throbbing. Aching. She gripped his hair and nudged him lower, need driving her like a general driving his troops to conquer the enemy.

Gerard understood without words exactly what she needed.

Taking one aching nipple into his mouth, he sucked and licked, his caresses hot. Urgent. Then gentle and teasing, dragging responses from her that left her gasping and weak.

Need twisted her into white-hot knots. Breathless, mindless, she reached for his pants, fumbling with the metal button and zipper. He reached for her panties, his hands skillfully sliding them down her trembling legs.

Her muscles jumped and quivered.

Within minutes, they were both naked, his hard body pressing her into the mattress, her hands sliding down his back to pull him closer. His firm buttocks felt like iron globes beneath her questing palms.

To hell with foreplay. She wanted him. Now. But Gerard was a patient lover. He kissed and caressed, his hands stroking and teasing until she thought she would burst into flames. She very nearly did when his lips pressed against her curls, his tongue darting between her hot folds.

Her body jolted in response, her womb contracting in anticipation of his entrance.

Fighting for control, she wriggled out from under him. He slid up her body and kissed her neck. She smelled herself on his breath.

“I’m going to take you slowly this time. When I slide inside you, I’m going to brand you as mine forever and always,” he whispered, touching more than just her body with those sweet words. He touched her soul.

Unable to speak, she kissed him with a joy and passion she couldn’t put into words—a joy dampened by fear—fear of losing him. Gerard was immortal. He wasn’t invincible. And Carl Matheson knew all the ways to destroy him.

Gasping for breath, she ended the kiss, raising her head to meet his intense gaze. His expressive blue eyes sparkled with desire—and something more.

Her heart clenched.

Fear fueled by a desperate need to prevent him from voicing the emotion she saw in his eyes, she pushed him off her chest. Gerard looked as if she’d slapped him.

Ignoring the heartache shining in his eyes, she rolled onto her stomach and reached over the side of the bed for her pants. She unsnapped her handcuffs from her belt and turned to face Gerard. His eyes widened.

She gave him a provocative smile—a smile designed to hide the fear in her heart—fear of the intense feelings he stirred inside her soul.

Reaching for his right arm she said, “I know you could easily escape these, but let’s pretend for a moment you can’t.”

Fire danced in his eyes. His Adam’s apple bobbled.

Without protest, he raised his arms above his head and stuck his hands between the brass bars so Amber could cuff his wrists on either side.

“I’m all yours,” he said, his voice raw.

Need speared her. Hot with wanting, she leveled herself up to straddle his hips. Her body yawned above him, pulsing with a soul-deep desire to have him inside her. She lowered her hips, barely brushing the tip of his erection before rising again.

Gerard thrust upward. Amber’s thighs quivered as she held herself out of reach, sliding over the length of him without granting him entrance.

With a frustrated growl, he sank back to the mattress and relinquished control. Amber felt his restraint—felt him fighting the desire to break free.

“Patience,” she whispered from a throat so tight she could barely get the word out.

He could snap the cuffs as easily as she could snap a pencil, but he allowed her the illusion of being in control. Taking charge, she bent forward and kissed him deeply.

As she slowly lowered her hips, his hot, throbbing erection filled her. Moaning her pleasure, she took in every inch of him until her thighs rested against his pelvis. He jerked upward with a grunt, his hot breath filling her mouth.

Her muscles contracted, contorting her body. He sank deeper, touching her core. A whimper escaped.

For several heartbeats, she held perfectly still, her forehead resting against his—concentrating on that part of her that so intimately connected to him. Her breathing hitched. Her body pulsed.

Fighting a budding urgency, she forced herself to move slowly—forced herself to prolong the pleasure. Palms pressed to his chest, she raised and lowered her hips, gently rocking against him until the pressure became unbearable. Her body quivered on a sigh. Her muscles tightened around him.

“
Bon sang!
” He jolted—his body shaking as he fought to control his physical release.

She felt his pleasure as keenly as she felt her own.

Throwing her head back as she slammed against his hips, she cried, “Yes.” Panting breaths escaped. Her body coiled tighter. She moved faster. “God, yes!”

Gerard surged upward. A growl rumbled through his chest. Amber increased the pace, riding him hard. Racing toward glory.

He bucked beneath her. Her body thrummed—the pressure building until she found her release and shattered above him.

Exhausted and replete, her body slick with sweat, she dropped to his chest with a shuddering sigh. Before she settled back to Earth, Gerard snapped the cuffs and clasped her to his chest.

Surging upward one last time, he emptied himself inside her with a primal groan.

For several moments, she lay across his chest, her legs draped over his as her breathing slowly returned to normal. Gerard held her, his hands running over her back, his touch so gentle it made her ache.

Raising her head, she met his tender gaze. Emotions she didn’t want to feel choked her. Her heart pounded like a steel drum. Her throat constricted.

Forcing a light tone to her words, she said, “I’m going to have a tough time explaining those broken cuffs to the captain.”

He smiled. “Afraid he’ll find out his best detective has a kinky side.”

If she was such a damn good detective, she wouldn’t have needed vampire magic to find Weldon. Her gut twisted.

Nothing in her life was what it seemed. Her father wasn’t her father and she wasn’t a good soldier or a good cop. She was a hybrid freak of nature.

Ignoring the dark cloak of despair settling in her chest, she forced a smile. “I’m not his best detective. But I bet I’m the best sex you ever had.”

Even in her befuzzled state she knew what they’d just shared was more than sex—a hell of lot more. She felt as if she’d given up part of her soul to this man.

Afraid to admit she wanted a future with an immortal, she slid off his body, giving him her back. Before she could scramble off the bed, he pulled her against his chest. His arms banded around her waist. His lips brushed the back of her neck.

“Don’t you want more?” he whispered.

She stiffened. “Don’t get carried away, Frenchie. It was just sex.”

Just saying those cold, hard words brought a lump to her throat. She didn’t know what she wanted from Gerard, or what was even possible, but she knew she wanted more from him than just a mind-blowing screw. She wanted…

Happily ever after?

Yeah. Right. Forever for Gerard was literal. And she was destined to live and die in the normal human fashion.

“Do you think I betrayed you?” he asked softly, his lips brushing her shoulders.

Her breath hitched in her lungs. “What?”

“This wasn’t the result of glamour. I want you to know that,” he said in a solemn voice that sounded like a pledge. “Whatever made you want me was real. I didn’t instigate it. It’s important to me for you know that.”

Her heart melted. Warning bells rang like sirens in her head, cautioning her to tread lightly. She was in grave danger of pledging her undying love to man who could live forever.

The very idea was ludicrous. And so incredibly sad. Turning her head to the side, she rested her cheek against his shoulder. In the stillness of the room, she let her heart feel the love he offered for only a second. Then she slipped from his arms and reached for her clothes.

“Being carefree was fun while it lasted, but we have a lot to do before Vincent and Megan get here. And I need to take a shower.”

Gerard stood. Sorrow shadowed his expression. His smile appeared forced. “Go take your shower and slip into some clean clothes. You’ve had on those same pink undies since yesterday.”

Relieved by his light tone, she relaxed her tense shoulders. “Well, you shouldn’t have dragged me to New York without letting me pack a bag. I had a shower at Vincent’s, but I wasn’t about to borrow Megan’s underwear.”

“You wouldn’t have liked her undies,” he said with an honest to God twinkle in his eyes. “She wears plain cotton panties.”

Amber folded her arms under her breasts, hugging her dirty clothes to her chest. An unexpected stab of jealousy pierced her heart. “How would you know what kind of panties Megan wears?”

He winked. “I’m a vampire. I have my secrets.”

That damn wink did it for her. It eased her mind and her cares.

Why was she stressing about her relationship with Gerard. It’s not like he’d proposed. She didn’t need a commitment to enjoy his company or to sleep with him. They could be friends with benefits. No pressure. No illusions about happily ever after. She didn’t even have to risk her heart by telling him she loved him. What could be better?

She could enjoy his company while it lasted—until she started to get old and wrinkled or he grew bored with his mortal “play thing.”

So, why didn’t that make her feel better?

Not liking her easy solution any more than confessing her love to a man who’d eventually leave her, she drifted into the bathroom and closed the door.

Chapter 20

Dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, Amber sat on the sofa with her laptop resting on her thighs. Gerard sat beside her wearing nothing but jeans. Beneath lowered lashes, she stole glances at his chest. He stared openly at her legs, remembering how it felt to have them straddling his hips.

As if aware of his fantasies, she cleared her throat. A flush stained her cheeks when she began another search of Urban Exploration sites for abandoned hospitals in North Carolina.

An image appeared on the screen, distracting him from his erotic daydreams. He leaned closer, studying the dark, oppressive photos taken at an abandoned hospital in Banner Elk, North Carolina.

“Cannon Memorial Hospital,” he said under his breath.

Amber seemed to be concentrating, reaching out with her mind to find his clone. “He’s not in Banner Elk. He’s further east.”

She scrolled down the page to another abandoned facility. When she opened the link, a warren of corridors with peeling green paint and warped doors appeared on the screen. Buckled floor tiles littered with years of dust and grime. Images he’d seen in his head—images he shared with his clone.

His throat went dry. “Piney Grove Sanatorium.”

Most of the windows were broken out or bordered up, but the grounds looked freshly mowed and despite an overgrowth of kudzu, the building looked sturdy.

Located outside of a small, sparsely populated mountain community northwest of Mount Airy near the Virginia border, it was the perfect location for Weldon’s experiments. Piney Grove was a dying town.

Besides the abandoned sanatorium, there was a country store, a church, a bed and breakfast, a gas station, and a handful of scattered houses. The internet pictures were taken by an urban explorer in 2009 who listed the mayor of Piney Grove as the owner of the facility. Although several paranormal investigators had rented the building in the past, the property was still available for sale or lease. Or, it had been available in ’09, at least.

“Why would anyone build a hospital in the middle of nowhere?” Amber asked as she scrolled through the images. “Even before Interstate 74 diverted traffic away from the town, there wasn’t much to it.”

“Isolation prevented the spread of consumption.” He leaned closer, staring at the haunting images, hoping to get a mental fix on the clone’s exact location in the building.

Amber looked at him. “Don’t you mean TB?”

“In my day, we called it consumption. Before antibiotics, it was the second leading cause of death in America and the leading cause of death in France. Sanatoriums provided rest, isolation, and fresh air. They also provided a food source for hungry vampires who needed to feed without taking blood from healthy, innocent mortals.”

Shame twisted his gut. He wasn’t proud of the lives he’d taken. Telling himself his victims were already dying did little to ease his conscience.

“When the sanatoriums closed,” he continued, unable to look at Amber and see the condemnation in her eyes, “vampires with a conscience found other food supplies. I stole from blood banks long before Vincent offered me the job at Lifeblood.”

The Red Cross was always running short on blood, no matter how much they collected from volunteers. The administrators remained unaware of the real reason for the shortage.

His stomach cramped. He closed his eyes, battling the guilt. The remorse. In France, he’d dined on soldiers mortally wounded in battle. He’d done the same during both world wars. In between wars, he’d found sustenance in sanatoriums and among burn victims after the Chicago fire and other disasters that befell his adopted country. But he had never murdered an innocent.

Still…

He opened his eyes and met Amber’s compassionate gaze.

“What’s wrong?” she asked softly.