Scarlet Heat (Born to Darkness) (20 page)

I gave him a smile in the mirror as I put on some
lip gloss.

“You clean up nice, for a werewolf.”

“And you’re not so bad for a vamp,” he growled,
his eyes roaming over my reflection in the mirror. “In fact, you look fucking
gorgeous.”

“Thanks.” I could feel myself blushing at the way
he was looking at me. In the mirror, I could see my cheeks getting pink.

“Hey,” he murmured stroking one finger lightly
over my hot cheek. “What’s wrong—can’t take a compliment?”

“You’re just embarrassing me,” I said, not
meeting his eyes. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” His deep voice seemed to go right
through me and the delicious scent of leather and fur invaded my senses, making
it hard to think.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Like…like you’re the big
bad wolf and you want to eat me up.”

The minute I said the words I regretted them.
They were too charged with meaning—too easy to misconstrue. Especially when I
could feel the heat of his big body climbing my skin like an electric current,
and his warm, masculine scent was driving me crazy.

“Of course I want to eat you, baby,” he murmured,
catching my eyes in the mirror and holding them with his own, which had
suddenly gone wolf gold. “There’s nothing I’d like more.”

“Victor…” I shifted uneasily, pressing my thighs
together tightly under the thin dress. “You know what I mean.”

“And you know what I mean, too,” he growled
softly. I saw his nostrils flare and wondered if he was smelling me
too—smelling my heat. God…I crossed my legs even though it was awkward to do
standing up and looked away.

“We should go,” I whispered.

“Yeah. I guess we should.” He cleared his throat.
“But Taylor…”

“What?” I glanced up, meeting his eyes again.
They were still brilliant gold.
Say it,
I
thought.
If you’ll say it first I might
be able to give in. But I can’t be the one to bring it up. I
can’t.

Victor opened his mouth and then shut it again.
He shook his head.

“Nothing. Let’s go.”

I followed him out of the bathroom, feeling
uneasy. The weight of things unsaid between us was like a rock around my neck.
I could feel the heat overtaking me—the need to touch myself coming to the
forefront of my brain, crowding out more rational thoughts and fears.

I knew from experience that touching myself
wouldn’t help, but that didn’t stop my pussy from getting swollen and hot or my
tight nipples from chafing against the soft material of my dress. I wished I
was one hundred percent sure about the LeeAnn thing. And even more, I wished I
was less inhibited—that I could erase the past six years of my life and not
have so much baggage in the way of getting what I needed. But that was
impossible. I was stuck—mentally and physically stuck—and there didn’t seem to
be anything I could do about it.

We were silent on the way over to the club—a
place in Ybor City called
Caliente.
I
kept seeing Victor’s nostrils flare and wondering if he was going to say
something but he didn’t. He just stared straight ahead and drove, reminding me
uncomfortably of our first trip together, on the night he had taken me from
Under the Fang
to his house.

He found a space in the parking garage and we
walked through the echoing building and three blocks down to the heart of Ybor
City. It was a trip I probably wouldn’t have wanted to make on my own—through a
dark alleyway and over an abandoned railroad track overgrown with weeds. There
were always reports of drunk college girls getting themselves into trouble down
here—mainly because of drunk college boys who didn’t seem to understand the
word “no.”

I was a vampire now and much stronger than I had
been when I was college girl myself, but I was still glad of Victor’s looming
presence by my side. It was rough walking in heels though—going over the
railroad tracks my foot slipped in the loose gravel and I tripped and almost
fell. Supernaturally strong, I might be—supernaturally graceful, not so much.
Victor caught me by the arm, saving me from a nasty fall, and I smiled at him
gratefully.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Instead of letting me go, he
slid his hand down my arm in a gesture that sent sparks of desire through my
entire body. “This okay?” he murmured, taking my hand in his.

“Sure.” I struggled to control my breathing,
hoping my voice didn’t sound too ragged. “It…it’s nice.”

“Good.” He gave me an intense look, his eyes
flashing gold. “Come on, let’s go dance.”

It was Friday night so
Caliente
was hopping. Most of the clientele seemed to be a bit
older than the college kids that populated the other clubs, and quite a few of
them seemed to know what they were doing. I watched in awe as they whirled
around the dance floor, their feet blurs of motion as they performed the
intricate moves.

“Lots of professional dancers come here,” Victor
explained, raising his voice to be heard over the pumping Latin music as we
threaded our way through the crowd, searching for a table. “Good place to
practice, you know?”

“I guess…” I was getting more and more nervous
about the idea of dancing in public. I’ve never been much of a party girl and
as I said before, I’m not especially graceful. When we finally found a table, I
was content just to sit and watch.

Victor got us some drinks—scotch for him and red
wine for me.

“I know you can’t drink much of it,” he murmured,
handing me the glass. “But I thought it might help you loosen up some.”

“Thanks.” I accepted the glass and took a sip.
“But we don’t, uh, process alcohol that way. I literally
can’t
get a buzz. Well, unless…”

“Unless what?” he asked, taking a sip of his own
glass.

“Unless I drank from someone who had been
drinking.” I nodded at his scotch. “Then I would feel the same effects they
were feeling.”

“Hmm.” He nodded thoughtfully. “So I guess I
should be careful how much I drink if I don’t want to get you drunk.”

“Well, it’s not like I’m going to bite you here
in
public.”
I protested, feeling my
cheeks get hot. Feeding from Victor was a very sensual experience—for both of
us, I believed, although he had never admitted it out loud. But he never failed
to get hard when I drank from him so I was certain it must be affecting him in
some
way.

Victor grinned at me. “Why shouldn’t you drink
from me? Lots of dark corners in here. Just because we’re in public doesn’t
mean we can’t be private.”

I shivered at the thought of biting him in
public. Of watching him bare the strong column of his throat for me and letting
me sink my fangs into his flesh. The heat came rushing over me again, making me
shift in my seat and cross my legs.

Victor’s nostrils flared. “Taylor…”

“Why don’t we just dance?” I blurted, standing up
so quickly I knocked over my wine.

He caught my long stemmed glass before it could
topple and put it back on the table without comment.

“All right,” he said, taking another drink of
scotch and standing up. “How much do you know?”

“Nothing,” I said. “You’ll have to teach
me—sorry.”

“Don’t be.” He took my hand and led me to a
slightly less crowded corner of the large dance floor. “Watch,” he said, placing
my hand on his shoulder and cupping my waist. He took my other hand in his. “The
man leads. As I’m stepping forward, you’re stepping back. It’s an eight
beat—one, two, three, pause. One, two, three, pause…”

I looked down at his feet, trying to catch the
rhythm. It seemed simple enough. After a minute I was able to follow, although
I admit I stepped on his toes one or twice in the process.

“Good, good,” Victor murmured encouragingly.

“How did you learn to do this?” I asked,
concentrating on getting my feet right.

“My big sister—the same one that picked out your
dress. She made me come with her when she took lessons so she never had to
worry about getting a partner.”

“You’re really good,” I said admiringly as he
moved me around the dance floor.

“You will be too,” he assured me. “You’re getting
it—you’re just a little stiff. Here…”

He spun me around suddenly so that my back was to
his front. Then he put both large hands on my hips and began to move me in time
to the thumping, Latin beat.

I bit back a gasp as we moved, my body finding
the perfect rhythm at last now that his front was flush against my back. The
music pumped and all around us couples were flashing by in the dark but I
barely even saw them—my entire attention was given to Victor—his hands on my
hips, his body against mine.

His big body covered me, surrounded me. His scent
filled my senses—leather and fur and warm shafts of sunlight in the forest but
something else too—a heat that matched my own. The dark spice of masculine
desire emanated from him, making me dizzy with lust. The heat flashed through
me so fast and hard I could hardly keep my feet. I needed him…needed him so
much—
too much.
My nipples were
suddenly tight little points and my pussy felt so wet and swollen I had to
spread my legs to control the ache.

“Victor,” I gasped, turned back to face him. “I
need…I need…”

“Say it,” he rasped, his eyes going gold. “Say
it, baby. Tell me what you need and I’ll give it to you.”

I wanted to say it—wanted to beg for his help so
badly I could taste the words on my lips. But somehow they wouldn’t come out.

“I…” I dropped my eyes, unable to meet that
hungry golden stare. “I…I’m thirsty,” I said at last, when nothing else could
come out.

He lifted my chin and looked at me. “That’s it?
You’re thirsty?”

I bit my lip. It wasn’t what I had wanted to say
but now that it was out, I couldn’t take it back.

“I’m sorry. I know we’re out here in public. I—”

“We can find a little privacy.” Taking my hand,
he led me to a dark corner of the club. There was no one there in the
shadows—just a dusty exit door with a push bar and a few high-backed bar stools
that had probably been moved to make more room for dancing.

Victor put one of the stools against the wall and
sat down on it. The sitting position put his neck right in line with my mouth.
The first button of his shirt was already open but he unbuttoned another one
for me and spread it wide, baring his throat for me. Then he drew me between
his spread legs and pulled me close.

“Go on, baby,” he murmured. “Drink.”

Suddenly I was so thirsty I could barely stand
it. It was as though the heat growing in me, having been denied one outlet, was
taking another. My fangs were out and throbbing, my throat dry as a desert. I
couldn’t help myself. I took a step forward, leaned over him and struck.

His big body jerked as my fangs pierced his skin
hard and fast. And then he was pulling me to him, one hand in my hair and the
other on my back.

“God, baby,” he growled hoarsely. “Feels so
fucking good when you do that. Go on, get your fangs in me
deep.”

My whole body felt like it was on fire. My
nipples were so sensitive and tight the soft material of my dress seemed intensely
irritating and my panties were soaked with my juices. Yet the thirst continued
unabated.

I drank him in, swallowing deep, hungry gulps of
his delicious blood. Then, somehow one of his thighs was between my legs and I
was grinding against him, pressing hard to feel the rough denim and the hard
muscle beneath it rubbing my tender pussy.

Something inside me told me I should be careful.
When a vampire’s bloodlust and fuck-lust combine it can be a lethal mixture for
the hapless person they’re having sex with and feeding on—especially if they’re
doing both at the same time. But Victor was strong. He could take it if I got a
little wild, a little out of control.

I wasn’t taking it easy on his neck—my fangs bit
deep in a way that had to be painful. Yet, Victor didn’t seem to mind. He had
his hands on my hips again, urging me to grind harder, pressing me down against
him in a way that made me sure he could feel the heat of my pussy against his
thigh. I dug my fingers into his broad shoulders and sucked harder—rubbing and
drinking at the same time, feeding two desires at once.

But not nearly as much as I needed to.

More, I needed so much
more.
Quenching my thirst was only a substitute for the heat. I
understood the truth of what Victor had tried to tell me when he first explained
what was going on. My body wanted to be taken—bred. Fucked hard and long by a
male who knew how to do it right. By my mate.

If I could have given in to my body’s needs and
the heat urging me on, it wouldn’t have been a problem. But under the waves of
desire, I still felt those awful memories surging. Fear and my past still held
me back by the finest thread. I couldn’t help feeling like I was close to
breaking that thread, though. If I could only—

“Well, well, what the fuck do we have here?” A
deep voice snarled in my ear. A putrid smell like wet dog assaulted my nose and
a heavy hand suddenly landed on my shoulder.