Tangled (15 page)

Inside,
the house had become a living, breathing entity. People packed the narrow halls
like sardines in a can. The sheets draping the walls clung in sweltering,
wrinkled clumps. Her eyes watered from the humid pungency of booze. Tess was
surprised the cops or public safety hadn’t showed up to shut them down.

Not
surprisingly, the liquor supply was nearly depleted. She headed upstairs to
procure more from the reserves. Sure enough, two plastic jugs of bottom shelf
whiskey idled under Riley’s bed. Securing her bounty, Tess closed his door and
headed back downstairs. Her tread stalled at familiar voice.

She
scoured the lower level until she singled him out.

Her
stomach plummeted.

He
looked like a debauched, Hungarian warlord. His black coat was long and black,
the collar fringed by a beige, animal pelt. Leather pants neither too tight nor
too loose clung to the hardened muscles of his thighs. A fanged necklace dangled
below the dip of his clavicle. Beneath that, his chest was bare. Tess swallowed
and tried not to stare at the firm stacks of corrugated abs, the erotic twin
cut of V-shaped pelvic muscles sloping into his waistband. He’d sheared his
lengthy locks into a deliberately tousled cut, the ends curling at his nape and
forehead.

Along
with the physical change came a complete personality transplant.

His
laughter was too loud, too wild. His gestures animated, his face lively. Around
him people, his people, roared, their own laughter either delayed or overly
enthusiastic.

So
he was back on the powder. She wasn't surprised. Adonis and sober never played
well together. But it was going to kill Cam, who’d placed so much faith in his
turnaround.

Grinding
her teeth, Tess gripped the handle of whiskey and set off for the kitchen.

But
she’d been careless in her perusal. Tess felt the searing presence of his
attention like a laser beam probing for its intended target. She ducked down, a
useless feat considering her height and the gigantic wings springing from her
back.

It
was too late.

Moving
faster than the densely packed house should allow, she felt his hands close
around her midsection before she could escape to the kitchen. “And where do you
think you're running off to?” he growled roughly into her ear.

Awareness
ripped through her: his scent, the warmth of his breath,
the
heat of his touch. “Away from you, obviously.”

“And
here I was thinking we had something going.” He nuzzled the arch of her neck.

“Get
away from me.”

“Aw,
why do you have to be like that, baby?” Tess stiffened as his free hand
possessively traced the prominence of her cleavage.

“Adonis!”
she hissed and swatted his wandering hand. Instead of meeting the action with
truculence, he dissolved into hysterical laughter.

“Who
is this delicious morsel?” A guy with long, scraggly brown hair haphazardly
stuffed under a red beanie grinned dopily at her.

Great.
More junkies.

Adonis’s
arm swung around her shoulders too tight. “Deck, have you met Tess?”

Sleepy
gray eyes lightened with interest. “No, introduce us.”

“What
the hell’s the matter with you? Let go!” she struggled to free herself.

“Let
go? I’ll tell you how this one lets go-”

Tess
threw an elbow into his ribs. He released her with a soft grunt. “Excuse us.”
His friend wolf-whistled as she dragged him into the bathroom.

Tess
tried slamming the door, but it caught on her wings. Yanking them off, she
closed it with renewed force and set down the jug of whiskey. “What the hell do
you think you’re doing?”

“What
do you think?” he replied, his eyes glued to her breasts.

“I
haven’t defaulted on my end of the bargain. What gives you the right to?”

“Settle
down, wildcat.” His fingers plundered her sides, greedily seeking flesh. “Did
it ever occur to you that I like seeing you this worked up?” He nibbled at her
earlobe. “All angry and hot and
wet
.”
 

Her
body revved. No, he probably iterated the same phrase to a thousand girls
before her. “Don’t play like that. This isn’t a joke.”

She
may as well have been talking to herself. His pupils were ebonized saucers
swimming amid pools of bright amber. Wild and agitated, they seemed unable to
focus on anything for more than a second. His aura fizzed with adrenalized
fever. Yet, beneath agitated excitement, fatigue grayed the skin below his
eyes.

“Adonis.”
She collected his hands and urged him to look at her. “What are you on?”

The
genuine concern backed in her tone seemed to catch him off guard. He recovered
quickly. “On? Why do I have to be on anything? Why can’t I just be high on
life? Is it that so hard to believe? That I can be this happy about being alive
and breathing?” He laughed, but it was a harsh, ragged sound, edged with
self-contempt.

“You
know this isn’t you.”

“How
do you know? You don’t know me, Tess. You think you do, but you don’t,” he
said, speaking so fast it came out like one run-on sentence.

“We
should get back to the party,” she said uneasily.

“Why?”

He
pushed her into the sink’s edge. Her body quaked at the feel of his arousal.
This was beyond sick; beyond anything that she could wrap her mind around. Had
three years without sex driven her to such depraved depths? “Didn’t I make it
clear that there would be no second time?” she pushed through clamped teeth.

A
pastiche of hatred, fury, and lust eddied in his eyes. “That’s where you’re
wrong. There was already a second.
And a third.
Now I
want a fourth.”

“Adonis,
please,” she breathed heavily, not fully aware of what she asked.

“What
gets you in the mood, baby? Do you want me to say how you haunt me?” he
blathered on as if she hadn’t spoken. “Your softness.” A finger trailed her
quivering thigh. “Your smell.” His nose coasted the rise of her breast. “Your
taste.” A shudder quaked through her as he licked her throat.

She
tried another avenue. “If Cameron finds you like this-”

Tess
jerked, startled, as he bit her. “He’ll what?” Wild joviality veered headlong
into something darker. “Cameron this and Cameron that. Why is his name always a
mantra with you? Fuck him and what he wants.”

“You
don’t mean that.”

Mischief
glimmered in his eyes. “Oh, but I do.”

Her
heart thundered as he stroked the small of her back, frenzying the nerves into
a mad scramble. “I’ll scream.”

“Then
scream.” His mouth descended hard against hers.

Fire
lashed to her extremities. Somehow doing this with him, in an enclosed, lit
space made it seem more real than the last time. Struggling to rebuff his
advances, Tess sealed her lips, barring him access.
 

Not
to be dissuaded, he soothed fractured indifference with melting licks and
gentle nips. He nibbled at the corners of her mouth, traced her lower lip with
his tongue before sucking softly. His stuttered, frantic movements tapered,
consumed by concentration. His fingers twined through her hair to cradle the
back of her head, almost tenderly.

A
Neanderthal she could handle. One swift knee to his junk would lay him out
flat. A man who cajoled was infinitely more dangerous. It clouded her judgment
and distorted good sense. Her brain strove to regroup, but the signals
crisscrossed, toppling over one another and became lost under a rolling torrent
of heat.

He
deposited a trail of kisses along her jaw, and then down her neck, recommitting
her texture and taste to memory. Pleasure shot down her spine as he chanced
upon a particular nerve. Her limbs trembled with the effort to contain the
involuntary shudder, but he’d felt the fierce reaction. He tugged her hair,
tilting her head back, and delicately gathered the skin between his teeth.

Tess
bucked into his chest as he lightly grated the sensitive patch of skin.
“Adonis,” she rasped.

He
wasted no time and crushed his mouth to hers. She offered no resistance and
locked her arms around his neck. Connecting and disengaging, they worked
furiously against each other, fighting for domination.

Energy
ruptured anew beneath his skin. His hands were everywhere at once. Hers were no
better. She grappled his hair, yanking him close even as she wanted to shove
him away.

Mouth
still fastened to hers, Adonis clumsily jostled her on top of the counter. Her
legs fell apart. He wedged himself between her thighs and swallowed her muffled
gasp as his erection dug hard into her.

Her
resistance crumbled to nil. His piquant flavor, the spiced taste of him, it was
about as much as she could take.

He
divested her of the scrap of material covering her sex with his free hand.

“S-stop,”
she whispered as he wrenched her costume bottoms down, garters and all, and
dragged impertinent knuckles along her sensitive center.

“Stop?
Say it again.” Eyes ablaze with the fury of a thousand suns threatened to
overwhelm her. “One more time and I'll go, Tess. Just one word.”

He
stooped down, maniacal eyes bonded to hers.

Before
Tess could get the words out, the sharp blade of his tongue stabbed into her.
Mouthing hanging agape, she bowed off the counter in shock and mortification.
His grip on her thighs steeled as she tried to scoot away. Tess didn't want to
fall victim to the slick rush of sensation, but it threatened to sweep her in
its tide.

Unlike
the caring treatment he’d bestowed to her mouth, Adonis ravaged her like a man
sentenced to death row who’d been served his final meal. His velveteen tongue
parted her in broad, lapping strokes before sucking hard on her clit.

She
strangled a moan, refusing to give him the satisfaction. She knew he didn’t
hunger for her, but for her surrender. Her submission.

Tess
jerked as someone banged on the door. “Hey, c’mon! I
gotta
piss.”

“A-Adonis.
P-please,” she gasped.

He
paid her no mind, apparently unconcerned with the fifty or so people just
beyond the door. Panic and shame tangled in molten heat as he inserted a finger
into her. The added sensation smashed through her feeble objections.

She
writhed and twisted, half out of fear that someone would stumble in, half from
the wicked play of his mouth.

Another
finger joined its companion. Against her will, her hips began rocking against
his face, unrepentantly taking all that he offered. As if spurred by her
desire, he pumped harder, faster.

It
became too much. The eroticism of potential discovery, the
sight
of his dark head
moving between her legs, the dual action of his mouth
and fingers.

Convulsions
wracked her body, liquefying her bones. As if sensing her impending release, he
hastened his motions, thrusting, sucking,
wheeling
her
into a tailspin that stripped her nerves raw. Her head cracked against the
mirror as she came hard with a cry.
 

He
coaxed her of every last, aching drop, making her orgasm stretch on until her
bones turned to jelly and her breath came in jagged pants. Relinquishing his
hold, Adonis stood, his mouth red and glistening.

Tess
could scarcely move let alone summon the energy to glare. “What the hell.”