Lover Mine (42 page)

In spite of the thundering she sensed in his blood, he kept himself in check. Even when she slid her tongue inside of him. And that restraint made it easier for her as her mind flickered back and forth between what she was doing now . . .

And what had been done to her mere days ago.

To help focus her, she sought out his chest and ran her palms down the pads of muscle over his heart. Easing him back onto the mattress, she breathed in his scent and smelled the bonding he felt for her. The dark spices were unique to him, and about as far as you could get from the sickening stench of a
lesser
.

Which helped her separate this experience from her most recent ones.

The kiss started out as an exploration, but it didn’t stay that way. John moved closer, rolling his massive body against hers, his heavy leg riding up until the weight of it pushed down on her own. At the same time, his arms wrapped around her, bringing her in tight to him.

He was moving slowly, as was she.

And she was fine until his hand slipped onto her breast.

The contact scrambled her, yanking her out of this room and this bed, taking her away from John and the moment with him and landing her back in hell.

Fighting her mind’s defection, she tried to stay connected to the present, to John. But as his thumb brushed over her nipple, she had to force her body to stay still. Lash had liked to hold her down and draw out the inevitable by scratching and pawing at her, because as much as he’d enjoyed his orgasms, he’d been even more into the foreplay of fucking with her head.

Psycho-smart move on his part. She’d have infinitely preferred to just get it over with—

John pushed his erection into her hip.

Her self-control rubberbanded on her, reaching its limit and splitting in half: With a surge, her body bolted away from the contact of its own volition, breaking the communion with him, blowing up the moment.

As Xhex sprang off the bed, she could feel John’s horror, but she was too busy reeling from her own fear to be able to explain. Pacing around, desperately trying to hold on to reality, she breathed in deeply, not from passion but derivative panic.

Well, wasn’t this a bitch.

Fucking Lash . . . she was so going to murder him for this. Not for what she was going through, but for the position she’d put John in.

“I’m sorry,” she groaned. “I shouldn’t have started it. I’m really sorry.”

When she was able, she stopped in front of the dresser and looked into the mirror that hung on the wall. John had gotten up while she paced and gone to stand before the sliding glass door, his arms crossed over his chest, his jaw clenched hard as he stared out into the night.

“John . . . it’s not you. I swear.”

As he shook his head, he didn’t look at her.

Scrubbing her face, the silence and strain between them amplified her urge to run. She just couldn’t deal with any of this, with what she was feeling and what she’d done to John and all that shit with Lash.

Her eyes went to the door and her muscles tensed for her exit. Which was straight from her playbook. For all of her life, she had always relied on her ability to ghost out of things, leaving behind no explanations, no trace, nothing but thin air.

Served her well as an assassin.

“John . . .”

His head swiveled around and his stare burned with regret as she met it in the leaded glass.

As he waited for her to speak, she was supposed to tell him it was best that she go. She was supposed to toss over another limp-ass apology and then dematerialize out of the room . . . out of his life.

But all she could manage was his name.

He pivoted to face her and mouthed,
I’m sorry. Go. It’s okay. Go.

She couldn’t move, though. And then her mouth parted. As she realized what was in the back of her throat, she couldn’t believe she was going to put it into words. The revelation went against everything she knew about herself.

For God’s sake, was she really going to do this? “John . . . I . . . I was . . .”

Shifting the focus of her eyes, she measured her reflection. Her hollowed cheekbones and pasty pallor were the result of so much more than lack of sleep and feeding.

With a sudden flash of anger, she blurted, “Lash wasn’t impotent, all right? He wasn’t . . . impotent—”

The temperature in the room plummeted so fast and so far, her breath came out in clouds.

And what she saw in the mirror made her swing around and take a step back from John: His blue eyes glowed with an unholy light and his upper lip curled up to reveal fangs that were so sharp and so long they looked like daggers.

Objects all around the room began to vibrate: the lamps on the bed stands, the clothes on their hangers, the mirror on the wall. The collective rattling crescendoed to a dull roar and she had to steady herself on the bureau or run the risk of being knocked on her ass.

The air was alive. Supercharged. Electric.

Dangerous.

And John was the center of the raging energy, his hands cranking into fists so tight his forearms trembled, his thighs grabbing onto his bones as he sank down into fighting stance.

John’s mouth stretched wide as his head shot forward on his spine . . . and he let out a war cry—

Sound exploded all around her, so loud she had to cover her ears, so powerful she felt the blast against her face.

For a moment, she thought he’d found his voice—except it wasn’t vocal cords making that bellowing noise.

The glass in the sliders blew out behind him, the sheets shattering into thousands of shards that blasted free of the house, the fragments bouncing on the slate and catching the light like raindrops. . . .

Or like tears.

B
lay had no idea what Saxton had just handed him.

Well, yeah, it was a cigar, and yes, it was expensive, but the name hadn’t stuck in his head.

“I think you’re going to like it,” the male said, shifting back in a leather armchair and lighting up his own stogie. “They’re smooth. Dark, but smooth.”

Blay flicked up a flame off his Montblanc lighter and leaned forward for the inhale. As he took the smoke in, he could feel Saxton focusing on him.

Again.

He still couldn’t get used to the attention, so he let his eyes wander around the place: vaulted dark green ceiling, glossy black walls, oxblood-color leather chairs and booths. Lot of human men with ashtrays at their elbows.

In short: no distractions that could come close to Saxton’s eyes or voice or cologne or—

“So tell me,” the male said, exhaling a perfect blue cloud that momentarily eclipsed his features, “did you put on the pinstripe before or after I called?”

“Before.”

“I knew you had style.”

“Did you?”

“Yes.” Saxton stared across the short mahogany table that separated them. “Or I wouldn’t have asked you to dinner.”

The meal they’d had at Sal’s had been . . . lovely, actually. They’d eaten in the kitchen at a private table and iAm had made them a special menu of antipasto and pasta, with café con leche and tiramisu for dessert. The wine had been white for the first course, and red for the second.

The topics of conversation had been neutral, but interesting—and ultimately not the point. The thread of will-they-or-won’t-they was the real driver of every word and glance and shift of body.

So . . . this was a date, Blay thought. A subtextual negotiation slipcovered in talk of books read and music enjoyed.

No wonder Qhuinn just went for straight sex. The guy wouldn’t have had the patience for this kind of subtlety. Plus he didn’t like to read, and the music he pumped into his ears was metalcore that only the deranged or the deaf could stand.

A waiter dressed in black came up. “Can I get you guys something to drink?”

Saxton rolled his cigar between his forefinger and thumb. “Two ports. Croft Vintage 1945, please.”

“Excellent choice.”

Saxton’s eyes returned to Blay’s. “I know.”

Blay looked to the window they were seated in front of and wondered if he was ever going to stop blushing around the guy. “It’s raining.”

“Is it.”

God, that voice. Saxton’s words were as smooth and delicious as the cigar.

Blay switched his legs around, crossing them at the knee.

As he searched his brain for something to kill the silence, it looked as if no-shit-Sherlock comments about the weather were as close to inspired as he was going to get. The thing was, the end of the date was starting to loom, and whereas he’d learned that he and Saxton both mourned the loss of Dominick Dunne and were fans of Miles Davis, he didn’t know what he was going to do when it came to parting ways.

Would it be a case of
Call and we’ll do this again
? Or the infinitely more complicated, messy, and pleasurable,
Yes, as a matter of fact, I will come over and look at your etchings
.

To which his conscience compelled him to add:
Even though I’ve never done this with a guy before, and in spite of the fact that anyone but Qhuinn is going to be a poor man’s substitute for the real thing.

“When was the last time you were out on a date, Blaylock?”

“I . . .” Blay took a long draw on the cigar. “It’s been a long time.”

“Whatever have you been doing with yourself? All work, no play?”

“Something like that.” Okay, unrequited love wasn’t exactly in either of those categories, although the no-play was certainly covered.

Saxton smiled a little. “I was glad you called me. And a bit surprised.”

“Why?”>

“My cousin has a certain . . . territorial response to you.”

Blay turned his cigar around and stared at the glowing tip. “I think you vastly overread his interest.”

“And I think you’re politely telling me to mind my own business, aren’t you.”

“There’s no business to mind there.” Blay smiled up at the waiter as the guy put two port glasses down on the round table and backed away. “Trust me.”

“You know, Qhuinn’s an interesting character.” Saxton reached out with an elegant hand and picked up his port. “He’s one of my favorite cousins, actually. His nonconformity is admirable and he’s survived things that would crush a lesser male. Don’t know that being in love with him would be easy, however.”

Blay didn’t go near that one. “So do you come here often?”

Saxton laughed, his pale eyes glinting. “Not for discussion, huh.” He looked around with a frown. “Actually, I haven’t been out much lately. Too much work.”

“You said you’re a solicitor in the Old Law. Must be interesting.”

“I specialize in trusts and estates so the fact that business is booming is something to mourn. The Fade has become too full of the innocent as of last summer—”

At the booth next door, a bunch of big guts with gold watches and silk suits laughed like the blowhard drunks they were—to the point that the loudest of them slammed back in his seat and knocked into Saxton.

Which didn’t go over well, proving that Saxton was a gentleman, but not a pussy: “I beg your pardon, but would you mind toning it down?”

The sloppy human cranked around, his belly fat bulging over his belt until it looked like he was going to pull a
Meaning of Life
and thin-mint it all over the place. “Yeah. I mind.” His watery eyes narrowed. “Your types don’t belong here anyway.”

And he wasn’t talking about the fact that they were vampires.

As Blay took a drink of his port, the high-priced liquor tasted like vinegar . . . although the bitter sting in his mouth wasn’t because the stuff had gone bad.

A moment later, the guy banged back so hard, Saxton nearly spilled his drink. “Damn it to hell,” the male muttered going for his napkin.

The fidiot human leaned into their space again, and you had to wonder if that belt wasn’t going to snap free and take someone’s eye out. “We interrupting you two pretty boys sucking on those hard things?”

Saxton smiled tightly. “You are definitely interrupting.”

“Oh, sorrrrry.” The man made an abrupt show of lifting his pinkie up from his stogie. “Didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Let’s go,” Blay said as he leaned in and snuffed out his cigar.

“I can get us another table.”

“You running along, boys?” Mr. Mouth drawled. “You going to a party where there’s all kindsa cigars? Maybe we’ll follow you just to make sure you get there okay.”

Blay kept his eyes locked on Saxton. “It’s getting late anyway.”

“Which means it’s only the middle of our day.”

Blay stood up and reached into his pocket, but Saxton put his hand out and stopped him from getting his wallet. “No, allow me.”

Another round of commentary from the Super Bowl-and-stripper set soured the air even further and left Blay grinding his molars. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Saxton to pay the waiter and then they were making their way to the door.

Outside, the night’s chilly air was a balm to the senses and Blay took a deep breath.

“That place isn’t always like that,” Saxton murmured. “Otherwise, I would never have taken you there.”

“It’s all right.” As Blay started walking, he felt Saxton fall in beside him.

When they got to the head of an alley, they paused to let a car hang a louie on Commerce.

“So how are you feeling about all this?”

Blay faced the other male and decided life was too short to pretend he didn’t know precisely what the “this” was. “To be honest, I feel strange.”

“And not about those charmers back there.”

“I lied. I’ve never been on a date before.” This got him a cocked brow and he had to laugh. “Yup, I’m a real player.”

Saxton’s suave air slipped and behind his eyes, true warmth glowed. “Well, I’m glad I was your first.”