Kai (A Dark Assassins Novel Book One) (9 page)

For a long moment, he considered what he would do if she refused to speak with him.
 
He’d understood with clarity how rude he’d been when he put distance between them after such an intimate encounter, but before he could come up with the proper apology, the door swung open.
 
A smile lifted the corner of his lips.
 
Liv had been nothing but brave, and he expected nothing less of her, even if she stood in front of him, a blush of embarrassment staining her cheeks.

“I didn’t quite get what you were saying,” he said.

Her fist shot out, and when she punched him in the arm, a laugh rumbled from his throat.
 
He rubbed his arm, a natural human reaction that he must’ve never forgotten, and she rolled her eyes at his action.

“Don’t be obtuse.
 
I know that it didn’t hurt.
 
But if you keep teasing me, I will find a way to make it excruciating for you.”
 
Her hand whipped up and slapped against her mouth, her eyes bulging.

His roar of laughter echoed through the room, and something inside him settled at her actions.
 
She would never hurt him and with clarity, knew she would have never developed a weapon to do just that.

Before she could stumble over her words or express guilt, he snaked an arm around her waist and tugged her close.
 
He hugged her against him for a split second before he stepped back.
 
He enjoyed her uninhibited reactions to him and smiled as her breath hitched at his unexpected contact.

“I should have warned you about the possibility of my venom causing euphoria.
 
I must’ve allowed too much venom to release into your body,” he said.

“I wouldn’t exactly call it euphoric,” she mumbled.

“What…”

Her eyes darted around the room until they settled on the floor.

“Erotic.
 
It was the most erotic experience of my life.”
 
She glanced up.
 
“Does…is that what usually happens?”

Fuck.

The words that fell elegantly from her lips shocked his body with intense desire, and as fast as he could pull his next breath, his cock was pressed against the zipper of his jeans, pulsing.
 

He could smell her arousal, thick and honeyed in his nose, and bit back a groan as he spotted her swollen nipples through her shirt.
 
Because of a growing hunger that had nothing to do with her sweet blood, the next words out of his mouth were gruff and rapid.

“No.
 
I hypnotize them so they can’t remember the experience.
 
If I can’t drink from a target, then I’m provided a volunteer, and after the experience, I wipe their memory of the event.”

“Why didn’t you hypnotize me?”

He opened his mouth to give her an excuse, any number of the ones that he’d come up with to justify his actions, but the truth flew out of his mouth before he could censor himself.

“I didn’t think about it.
 
You allowed me a small taste when I scraped my fang against your wrist, and despite your earlier anxiety, you sank into my arms and trusted me not to hurt you.
 
The moment I tasted you, I couldn’t stop myself from taking more.”

A silence stretched between them as he watched her as she mulled over his words.
 
He listened to her stuttered breathing, and absently wondered at her next question for him, while his sole thought was on how to control his need to taste more than her blood.

His eyes skimmed the counter as he calculated the quickness of his hands undressing her, exposing inch by inch of creamy, olive skin to his viewing, before he set her on the counter and feasted on her.
 
He tried to imagine whether she tasted of honey, or another sweetness that he’d discounted after honey had taken residence in his brain.
 
He thought about his lips traveling over every inch of skin as he exposed her to his view, with slow, torturous movements.
 

Lust, and something more he couldn’t determine at the moment, slammed into him with such force, he dug his nails into his palms enough to bleed and allowed the pain to wash over him so he could regain a small semblance of control.
 
He healed at a rapid rate, so no matter how deep he cut himself, the pain wouldn’t be able to distract him for long.

“Kai?”

His eyes snapped back up to hers.
 
The flush on her face drew him closer, but after one step, he made himself stop.
 
Had she guessed his thoughts?

“Does drinking from me,” she swallowed, “stimulate you sexually?”

A snarl tore from his throat to prevent the words that would come across as a plea.
 
Instead of shrinking at his hostile gesture, a smile played on the corner of her lips as she studied him.
 
Her eyes roamed his body, similar to how he scanned her a few minutes before.
 
But with each demure drop of her eyes, or what felt like a caress of his sensitized skin, heat erupted underneath his skin and burned, unimpeded.

“If you drank a little longer, I would have found my release.”

Unsure whether his heart beat faster from her body’s earlier silent admission, or her verbal one, he stood mute as she stared into his eyes.

“But I’m not quite sure if it was the pleasure of your venom in my system, or because I was able to touch you.”

His arousal made the next words harsher than he would have liked.
 
“It was the venom.”

“I have to admit that I was attracted to you the moment I spotted you.”

“You only saw me for a few minutes the other night—”

“No, months ago, when you first came into the diner.
 
I noticed everything about you.
 
You never ordered anything, never spoke to anyone other than Stella—and that was to dismiss her—and left soon after I did.
 
I sensed that you were near, but I could never catch sight of you anywhere.
 
It drove me crazy that your hood had covered your face, but I found myself anticipating the moment when you entered the diner and my eyes would search you out, more than I would like to admit, even now.
 
I remember it was a Wednesday, three months ago, that you finally lowered the hood, and I could see your face and your silver eyes.
 
I found that handsome was such a pedestrian word for you.
 
And after all of these months, I still haven’t come up with one that fits.”

Her words held no deceit.
 
But in all the times he’d walked into the diner and observed her, they’d never locked eyes or had he even been aware that she’d known of his presence in the eatery she frequented.
 
Yet, she knew the exact day he had rid himself of the covering and could admit, although to himself, that he’d been following her to keep her safe.
 
Humans were fragile, delicate, and although she’d shown daring and cleverness, a surge of protectiveness washed over him whenever she was close.
 
With that need came another, a pull so tenacious that he sensed her in ways beyond the abilities of his vampire form.

When he’d been short with her in the bedroom, he perceived her sadness at being brushed aside.
 
When he’d spoken about Jade, jealousy overwhelmed his senses.
 
As she spoke to Seth, he had been happy and relaxed, and on one occasion, he found himself grinning when Seth asked her about her work.
 

Although he had a mind link with the assassins when needed due to years of training and working closely together, he had never experienced someone else’s emotions, much less as acutely as he seemed to sense her.
 

Each minute he spent with her, he was torn between the growing need to touch and memorize every inch of her luscious body and finding another assassin to keep her safe while he straightened out his jumbled mind.
 
But the latter thought was dismissed as quickly as it entered.
 
He would keep her close.

“Yes, to answer your earlier question, I find you sweet to drink from, but your soft curves and beauty arouse me, inflame me,” he said.

“I want to kiss you.”

Despite the pleasure her statement had created in him, he thought it fair to warn her.

“It might lead to more,” he replied.

“I’m hoping it will,” she said.

Within a second, he lifted her into his arms, and he took his first real taste of her lips.

Chapter Eight

Olivia

Pure pounding bliss rushed through her veins as his mouth mastered her untried one in a move that left her breathless and aching.
 
His soft lips sipped at hers, a teasing lick on the corners of her mouth, before he slowly moved his tongue between her lips, seeking permission in a subtle, yet carnal way.
 

She opened for him in an instant.
 

His tongue swept inside, and at her first taste of him, a frosty mint taste that had her shivering in his arms, she understood what she hadn’t before.
 
A kiss should be intimate and encompassing.
 
He proceeded to show her as his lips mastered hers; each slide of his tongue weakened her knees and caused a surge of hunger so acute, her body throbbed.
 

She sighed into his mouth each time his hands gripped her tighter, as if he worried that she would somehow fall away from him.
 
He branded her hips and waist as he moved her closer to his body, the promise of pleasure her fantasies failed to live up to.

Their bodies synchronized.
 
When he shifted to the right, she would follow; if she leaned back, he would crowd forward.
 
Each movement mimicked, all while their lips and tongues sought more.
 

Somehow, she found herself pressed against the door and opened her mouth to ask—hell, beg—for him to take her.
 
Her legs lifted to wrap around his waist, and his hips surged forward to press her harder against the door.
 
Her head thumped back and a loud moan escaped her throat as his hardness lined against her core perfectly.
 
Before she could plead for more, she found herself alone, her knees weak, close to giving out without his support.

Her eyes captured his.
 
A sliver of silver shone through as he stared right back at her from across the room.
 
Her eyes dropped and she watched his chest rise and fall with deep, harsh breaths.
 
He wasn’t unaffected by her touch, and she savored the evidence of his need for her, but he warred with himself about something her muddled brain couldn’t solve, so she decided to take the decision out of his hands.
 
Without any further thought, she reached for the hem of her shirt.

“What are you doing?” he growled.

Without an answer, she lifted the garment over her head and dropped it.
 
She ignored her trembling fingers as she raised them to the front opening of her bra, and with a snap of her fingers, the hooks detached and she shrugged it off.
 

Her cheeks fused with heat.
 
She’d never been as bold with another man, but she craved him in a way she couldn’t explain.
 
Her mind had taken a hiatus the second he touched her, and she refused to overthink the reasons why.
 
She wouldn’t allow logic to ruin this moment.
 
It was simple.
 
She wanted him, and unless he outright rejected her, she planned to seduce him.
 

Her numb fingers fumbled with the button of her jeans, but at that moment, he lunged at her, sweeping her up in his arms, and plundered her mouth.

His hands skimmed against the bare skin of her waist and moved them higher, until his generous hands cupped her breasts.
 
A harsh cry echoed around them as his thumbs brushed against her tight nipples, drawing out sensations she grew more and more addicted to.
 
A groan of protest escaped when he removed a hand, but when he tugged on the last remaining article of her clothing and the material ripped, she mewed in encouragement, hoping he would hurry.
 

Her hands skimmed underneath his Henley, and she sucked in a sharp breath as she encountered his hot skin.
 
Not leaving him any room to change his mind, she fumbled with the shirt until it rested near hers on the floor.
 

She pressed close to him, searching and finding his mouth after they’d been separated.
 
With his sculpted chest pressed against her soft one, her body felt scorched, as though she’d touched an open flame.
 
Keeping his mouth on hers, he removed the tattered remnants of her clothing, and yanked down his sweats, kicking them out of the way.

“Slow down, darlin’.
 
We have all night,” he growled as he nipped her lower lip.

Her hands splayed on his chest when a sudden thought popped into her head.
 
She blurted out her question before reason planted its ugly head.
 
“Can I touch you?”

A loud groan ripped from his throat, and he dropped his forehead against hers.
 
His breathing sounded as unsteady as hers, but she had no idea when she would have another opportunity to explore a man, much less a man who was as beautiful as Kai.
 
She waited for his answer, not wanting to rush him, or sway him one way or the other.

“I don’t know how long I’ll last,” he said through gritted teeth.

She pushed at his chest until he looked at her.
 
He stepped back and put a little space between them.
 
His silver eyes shone with a brightness that reminded her of the sun emerging from the clouds, and they blinded her for a second.
 
She blinked to break the spell, and looked down at his powerful chest, heaving with deep breaths.