Passion Bites: Biting Love, Book 9 (5 page)

Luke stared, flabbergasted. “Then why the hell didn’t the alarm go off?”

Julian snarled at Luke. “Who knows? It’s your brother’s damned system.”

“
Exactly
,” Luke snarled back. “Logan and his wife are exacting about every last detail. They put the
anal
in computer
anal
yst.” It was inconceivable that the system would totally fail, and fail silently at that.

But that could only mean someone had turned it off.

“Gentlemen, this is shit.” Julian was as near as he got to shouting. “Reece, Mr. Hinz, gather the able-bodied and zero the evidence.” Code for removing vampire parts and blood so that humans not in the know wouldn’t find out. “I’m going to locate Logan. Maybe he can tell me what’s going on.” His fangs flashed as he spoke. “I’d like to get this resolved before the sun comes up. I still have to chaperone my daughter’s end-of-year field trip.” He started for the stairs.

Angry knocking came from the front door.

“
What
is it now?” Julian whirled and stomped back into the foyer, death evident in every step.

Luke did not envy whoever had dared to interrupt the male.

Julian threw the door open, so obviously furious that Luke winced when he saw who it was.

Alexis Byornsson stood on the stoop, fists on hips, expression stony, blue eyes just short of sparking.

“You are not taking
my
townhouses.”

I glared up into Julian’s blue eyes…no, actually they were a distinct shade of peeved violet.

“They’re not
your
townhouses.” The lawyer gritted the words around canines a mite longish, and his tone promised death and dismemberment, not necessarily in that order.

Anybody else would’ve been crapping pants’ loads of bricks.

But those voice and eye tricks reminded me of hospital administrators, focused on the almighty bottom line instead of patient care. I’d battled enough of them who’d wielded tone and expression like blunt swords. I wasn’t that impressed.

Besides, I’d had a trying night, and though I ate healthy and exercised, at thirty-nine the little aches and pains of aging were knocking at my muscles and joints.

If he was cranky, I could be cranky right back.

I kicked up my jaw and met him stare for stare. “Yes, they are. Those townhouses are
mine
.”

“They’re not yours until you pay for them.”

“I put down earnest money plus a security deposit. Ten thousand dollars.” My throat thickened on the words. That ten thousand was all I had. As a physician I made a fair amount, but hefty school loans and a somewhat open hand with my patients, shelters and other charities insured I’d hemorrhaged most of my savings. Yet when the opportunity came, I had to jump on it with everything I had left; Lizelle needed me. “Those buildings are as good as mine, and you’d better
back off
.”

“You dare to tell me
I
should back off?” Julian surged forward—not a psychological trick this time, but real emotion goosing him.

I flinched away.

Before he could force me off the stoop with his sheer presence, long male fingers curled around his biceps, slim but insanely strong because they immediately checked him.

My body stirred at the strength in those artistic fingers.

The face belonging to the fingers appeared in the doorway a moment later, a movie star’s gorgeous close-up framed by hair of sunshine—and eyes glittering red-gold in the electric light.

Luke Steel.

My body rose up and shouted
halleluiah
. I gave it an annoyed whack. Sputtered, “What are
you
doing here?”

Luke slid past Julian onto the stoop, a lazy smile curving his lips. “Saving you from a tongue lashing.”

Tongue lashing? If it were Luke’s hot tongue…
argh.
“I can hold my own in an argument.”

“Even with a lawyer?”

“Especially with a lawyer.” I glared around him at Julian.

Julian glared back, violet eyes shading angry red—until Luke popped an elbow back into his gut.

“
Oof.
” Julian’s eyes cooled to blue. “I don’t have time for this. Steel, deal with her.” He spun and stalked off.

Leaving me face-to-face with six-three of graceful power.

Chapter Five

Deal with her.
I could think of a few ways Luke could deal with me, most pleasantly.

Then he folded his arms, plumping biceps and chest, and mere
pleasant
flew out the window as my pelvis went watery and my fingers itched to explore those mounds of masculine power. I looked up into his face hoping to see that he was as aroused as I was.

He gazed down at me with exasperation tinged with compassion, the kind of look my parents used to give me when I wouldn’t stick to the plan.

Damn it, I’d been sidetracked again. “Emerson!” I yelled past Luke’s body, past my own body’s annoying desires. “You can’t get out of this that easily.”

Luke said in his deep voice, “I can see you’re upset. Let’s talk somewhere private.”

This time I felt firsthand the strength in those long slim fingers as they wrapped gently around my biceps, and he tugged me down off the stoop and onto the grass beyond the circle of porch light.

My feminine engine revved double-time, and I wanted to go with him simply to see if I could make his eyes turn all the way gold.

But I had the Grand Plan and it involved getting Julian away from my townhouses. Sex was a distraction.

“Nice try, Steel. Julian!” I tried to shake loose.

Luke simply bent, putting that model-gorgeous face near mine, and breathed in. “What is it about you?” His breath out was warm on my skin. “Your scent…” He slowly drew another breath. His eyes closed, lashes long crescents against his chiseled cheekbones. His expression… Shockingly, it was bliss.

“My scent?” Brain function shorted out, and I was reduced to echoing him. I barely recognized the husky whisper emerging from my swelling lips.

His eyes opened, fired red-gold. “Your hair smells exquisite.”

He reached for me.

I can’t explain it. I’m a rational human being. Sex is pleasant.

But something about him spoke to everything in me, called deep within to hidden churning pools of lust I didn’t recognize, hadn’t even realized I had. My whole body quivered on the cusp of
exquisite
as his strong fingers buried in my hair, releasing the pleasant scent of my shampoo.

Then his hot mouth—hot breath, hot lips, hot thrusting tongue—found mine, searing churning pools into geysers of explosive desire.

Plans fell away. My body surged, my brain threatened to go offline, and I was overwhelmed by sensation.

His kiss at the clinic was light, effervescent. This kiss was serious. He held my head captive and thrust his tongue deep, claiming my mouth. Claiming
me.

Not sensation. Misleading, short-circuiting
feeling.
But even as I faltered, my body yearned into him, my mouth opening under his. He tasted of raw desire.

His free arm wrapped me from shoulder to hip, a cocoon of strength. My hands fell to his chest. Broad, solid heat under my fingers reassured me, fired me higher.

So much feeling. But strangely, with him, I also felt safe.

“What is it about you?” He kissed down my throat, his steamy breath rumpling my flesh with goose bumps of pleasure. “I can’t keep my hands off you. Or my mouth.”

What is it about
you?
I wanted to moan in return. I hadn’t felt like this in forever, not since the incident that…not for decades. I could have kept from giving myself to his hands, and, oh yes, that talented mouth—but I decided not to, wanting, no
needing
to know where this churning, geysering
feeling
went. I arched my neck to give his lips and tongue better access.

He traced a river of heat along my shivering skin with lips and teeth and tongue, down to the top button of my shirt. Where he stopped.

I held my breath.

“Your breasts…” He took me by my upper arms, bent, and began to kiss and lick me through my shirt. “They’re a
feast.
”

His heat shimmered through thin cotton and bra. He cupped the globe in one hand and licked and nipped the tip until my nipple was taut and poking hard against damp cloth.

Then he closed his lips around me and suckled.

Desire sang through me. I arched into his mouth with a gasp.

Sex was a nice, enjoyable release of endorphins. With Luke Steel, his mouth and hands on me, sucking my nipple through my clothes like a live brand…it went beyond enjoyable straight to paradise.

“Come inside with me,” he murmured as he sucked and licked and bit. “I have a basement guest room here. The door locks.”

Locked door…privacy…naked flesh writhing on the bedspread
flitted through my head.

A more rational part tried to add that, if I stayed, I’d have another chance to confront Julian. But it was only window dressing for the fact that I wanted to go with Luke to his room. Behind that locked door.

To let him spread my thighs and do wicked things with me.

I shuddered greedily at the thought. “All right.”

He lifted his head, gave me a fierce smile and took my hand to lead me into the townhouse and downstairs.

But inside the darkened room, when he moved to flip on the lights, I stopped him.

“Wait.”

I was thirty-nine and kept in shape, but frankly Luke was the kind of man who could have the hottest women he wanted. Women with bodies like new Ferraris. I didn’t want to put him off with my slightly used family-ready Volvo.

He growled with displeasure but did as I asked, leaving the light off. But he also left the door open a crack. As he removed his belt and laid it on a dresser, my eyes adjusted slowly.

Illumination from the hallway dusted a huge bed into reality.

It sent a shock of desire through me. The bedspread was perfect for that writhing, naked flesh. But… “That lock won’t do any good if you leave the door open—hey!”

He swept me off my feet.

Giddy butterflies swooped in my stomach. I laughed and wrapped my arms around his neck, his braid sleek against my skin.

As he carried me to the bed he said, “I don’t want you left in the dark. No one will dare bother us.”

He laid me gently on the spread then immediately climbed on top, as if he wanted me desperately. Yeah, that got me past any self-consciousness or nerves pretty damned fast. He covered me with his big potent body, sending my anticipation soaring. Slowly he lowered himself onto me until his weight was deliciously heavy, pressing me into the bed. He wasn’t controlling, but he was masterful, managing to push all my body’s buttons.

I wriggled under him, to see how far he’d take his possession.

He lifted slightly, signaling he’d back off if I wanted. But as counterpoint, he pushed his hips into me. A sizable bulge nestled behind his zipper, and it felt surprisingly, wonderfully potent. He blinked a moment at me, as if he too was surprised. But when I moaned my pleasure, a nonverbal request for more, he snared my wrists and planted them beside my head then took my mouth in a kiss so hungry it thrilled me down to my toes.

Translation, he’d take dominance exactly as far as it aroused me.

His control was exquisite. He knew when to excite me with his considerable strength and when to back off and tease. When to nip and when to caress. He seemed to have an instinct about it.

When he buried his mouth in the crook of my neck, I gasped. Talk about buttons. Desire shot straight to my sex, lust curling hot in my pelvis.

Clever fingers went at my blouse, undoing buttons with speed and ease. His mouth followed their path, lingering on my cleavage, teasing the scalloped edge of my bra, then tantalizing me by skipping to my midriff.

As he shifted down, I used the momentary lift of his body to spread my thighs. When he settled back in, it was with his wide ribcage between my legs, his breastbone against my sex.

Heat and pressure sent what was already awake soaring. I groaned. Damp went to wet and began to spread.

His deep groan twined with mine. Reaching up with one hand, he massaged my breast through my bra, still moist from his suckling, while he deliberately pressed his body into my groin in a slow sensual rhythm.

Oh yes, when it came to lighting a fire, fanning it, making it
explode
, this man knew how and when, with flawless timing.

Kneading my breast with one hand, he used his tongue to delicately explore my navel, the heat of his breath sending delicious shudders through me. His other hand traced up my ribs, sliding under the bra cup, directly onto private flesh. The pads of his fingers painted fiery lines up the curve until index and thumb closed around my taut nipple and gently, rhythmically
pinched
.

I gasped and arched. It pushed me into his hands, his mouth, his body. Heat and need crashed deep inside, bursting into a flush of perspiration.

He dragged himself up my body, deliberately grinding. A rumble came up with him, the low, rolling vibration like a lion purring. In the near-dark, his eyes glowed like ingots, searching my face for cues I didn’t know I was giving until he seized my mouth in a searing kiss, not asking but demanding.

My whole body melted in response.

Sex with other men was fulfilling. I knew exactly how to maximize mutual pleasure. Sex with Luke was adventure, daring. The wild unknown, yet I felt absolutely secure.

When I was yielding and panting and pliant, he flipped my bra up, bent and fastened onto one naked nipple.

Bright need splashed, waves of desire slapping against the shore of my body, rising waters pushing me higher. Heart racing in excitement, I took his face, raised him to my mouth, and battled back with tongue and teeth. I undulated against him with the urge to move. His weight, all hard hot muscle, made me feel like I was scrubbing against a cliff.

With a growl of encouragement, he began grinding into me, thrusting his big body in counterpoint to my own rolling hips.

I slid my hands down his neck to his shoulders for purchase in the growing storm. His shirt was damp; he was excited too, driving my own arousal sky-high.

His mouth left mine. I whimpered a protest, but he kissed down my jaw, nipping at my throat, his teeth exquisitely sharp and stinging tiny thrills along the flesh, melting my protest into moans. I was getting swollen and sodden where we banged hips against each other and my breath was coming in soft gasps.

With a hand, he cupped my naked breast. What overflowed most men’s palms filled his perfectly. Glancing up at me, eyes glowing under heavy lids, he licked down my collarbone and breast to the tip…and nipped.

I arched in reaction, smacking against his big body, barely moving him. He growled and nipped again. I writhed, but he contained me with his weight. Frustration added sharp piquancy to my desire, a spiraling arousal so heady I was ready to explode.

And then he slid his hand from my breast, down my ribs onto my hip…and lifted himself slightly, just far enough that he could possibly slip that hand between us. I stopped breathing. His lids lifted again and I could see, not so much a question there, as an offer. He would take me to paradise. All I had to do was give him some sign that I agreed.

Here’s your sign.
I grabbed his wrist and pushed his hand into my pants.

He chuffed a surprised laugh. But he was already burrowing down into my pants, fingers thrusting under my panties. Onto my sex.

Into
my sex.

“
Yesss.
” I was live-wired from nipple to slit and the thrust of his finger banged close the circuit. My every nerve and muscle contracted with
do me now.

With a chuckle, his hand started moving, hot finger sliding in and out. My thighs clamped around him as his hand rode me. A tide of need rose in my throat. A whimper rose with it and tumbled out.

Clamping on to my nipple with his steamy mouth, he began to suckle, sending more bright bolts between breast and sex. As he sucked, sleek hard fangs grew against my skin, setting everything primitive inside me to begging.

I had a sudden craving to be bitten, to lie naked and writhing under him as he thrust into me and sucked at me and pierced me with his fangs.

“More,” I panted, trying to lever my breast into his mouth, trying frantically to push my flesh into his sleek canines, knowing intuitively that his bite would transport me into ecstasy.

“Yes,” he rasped, teasing his fangs along the globe. As flashes of pleasure sparked in my breast, he pressed his thumb into my clitoris, and he began to ride me even harder with his hand. Driving his finger deeper, he tugged my clit over and over until I was ready to explode.

“
More.
” I demanded it, grabbing his head and trying to thrust his fangs into me.

Instead, he raised himself with a snarl on one elbow over me, still riding my sex forcefully with his hand. I whimpered and pled wordlessly. In the near dark his eyes were red-gold ingots, and his fangs were more felt by the ancient awareness rippling over my skin than actually seen.

Shivers wracked me, crisscrossing and reinforcing. I was going to come, it was inevitable, and I wanted—no, I
needed
him to bite me.

“Luke,” I gasped. “Please.”

“Alexis.” He groaned my name. “Come for me, darling. Give me your pleasure.”

“You too. Bite me.”

He stilled instantly. “What?”

“Bite me.” I scrubbed my hips against his hand, seeking that pinnacle of ecstasy, craving his fangs to drive me there. Drive me over. “You’re a vampire.
Bite me.
”

“Ah.” His eyes closed, and an earthquake shudder went through him. “I don’t know how you know, but…I want to. So much I’m practically mindless with want. But you don’t know what you’re asking.”

Passion brightened my vision; I saw the conflict ride him in the hard bricks of his muscles, the tic in his jaw, the white of his nostrils, the clench of his eyelids.

“You. Penetrate me as I come, fangs or cock. Unless you get naked in the next two seconds, you’d better bite.
Bite me now.
”

His eyes opened, blood red, beautiful and terrible. “Are you sure?” His fangs flashed as he spoke, long and sleek and fearsome in their elegance.