The Forever Kiss, page 17
Then she remembered the stark, hot wonder on Cade’s face as he entered her, the raw pleasure in his eyes as he climaxed.
Oh, hell, Val thought. Chocolate makes me break out anyway. She had to put aside her doubts. Cade always knew when she was aroused, which meant he’d also know when she wasn’t. She’d better be genuinely hot when he walked through the bedroom door.
And there was only one way to make sure of that. But what if he caught her?
On the other hand, that would probably help.
Heart pounding, Val pushed the covers down, thought better of it and got up to arrange them neatly out of the way. She fluffed and restacked the pillows into an artistic mound, then crawled back onto the bed to settle against them.
Biting her lip, she slid one hesitant hand between her thighs and pinched a nipple with the other. Hot. Think hot. Think Cade screwing my brains out on the trunk of the car. She pushed away all thoughts of embarrassment, Ridgemont, vampirism—even Beth and the murder of her parents—and concentrated fiercely on the muscled contours of Cade McKinnon’s big body.
The image was so potent it didn’t take long for her sex to grow slick under her stroking fingers. When the door swung open, she was just hitting her second climax.
Val jerked her hands away and snapped upright as Cade stopped dead in the doorway, his eyes widening. Her face went so hot, she knew she was blushing cherry red. Dammit, I’m supposed to be seducing him, not jumping like a virgin, she thought, thoroughly annoyed with herself even in her embarrassment. Shake it off, Val!
Cade blinked and swallowed, raising the breakfast tray he held in both hands. “I, uh…thought you might be hungry.”
“Uh, yeah.” She considered jumping up to wash her hands, then thought better of it. Seduction, seduction…. “A little something before bed would be good.”
Val thought she heard him murmur, “Just what I was thinking.” Cade walked over to the night table and put down the tray. His gaze was definitely beginning to heat. She rose to her knees to examine the tray, less because she was hungry than out of an acute awareness of her own nudity. She’d never done anything like this in her life. I’ve only known him two days! babbled a little voice in the back of her head. She told it to shut up.
“Strawberries,” Val said, surveying the deft arrangement of food. In the middle of the dewy red pile was a bowl of something dark brown. “And…chocolate?" She grinned up at him, realizing he’d planned a seduction of his own. “You read my mind.” She scooped up one of the berries and dunked it in the melted sweet.
Cade watched as she slowly sank her white teeth into the fruit’s firm, red flesh. When he swallowed, he could taste her arousal in the air. His cock lengthened behind his zipper.
She picked up another strawberry and swirled it in the chocolate. Meeting his intent gaze, she grinned wickedly and touched the dripping fruit to one hard nipple. Cade inhaled sharply as chocolate rolled onto the delicate pink tip.
Eyes heavy-lidded, Val stroked the berry over her flesh, painting it in sweet, dark rivulets. “I was wondering,” she purred. “Do vampires like chocolate on their…food?"
“Let’s find out.” He tipped her backwards onto the mound of pillows and swooped down to lick the hard, chocolate-covered peak. It tasted deliciously of candy and Val. With a greedy moan, he suckled it until she whimpered.
When the little point was clean and pink and desperately hard, Cade looked up and met her eyes. “Yep. Vampires definitely have a sweet tooth.”
As she groaned at the bad pun, he reached over to the tray, picked up a strawberry and plunged it into the bowl. With a dark grin, he presented the chocolate-coated berry to the pouting lips of her sex and spread the wet flesh with his free hand.
“Hey!” Val straightened, but before she could scoot away, he slid the fruit into her tight channel. He groaned at the feeling of her around his fingers. She was incredibly wet and tight. “That’s cold!” she protested with a laugh as she grabbed his wrist.
“Actually, I was thinking it’s hot.” He slipped the berry a little deeper. “And very, very tempting.” Going to his knees beside the bed, he buried his face against her sex and began to nibble at the fruit.
Val grabbed his head with both hands and arched into the pillow, squirming deliciously as he took tiny, delicate bites of the berry, stopping frequently to tease her wet flesh. “I didn’t think…” She stopped to gasp. “…vampires could eat.”
“Oh, we can eat.” He pulled the last bite of the fruit from her cunt. “We can also lick, suck and bite.”
She moaned. “Oh, yeah. And you’re really, really good at it… Cade! Ohhhhhhhh, God!”
With a low growl, he buried his face against her sex and sucked the hard nubbin of her clit into his mouth. In seconds, he brought her to a voluptuous, shuddering climax. As she collapsed into the pillows, limp, he rose to his feet and began unbuttoning his shirt with quick, impatient hands.
He wanted in her. And the Hunger was howling now, brought to full intensity by the sight and smell of Val’s arousal. This time he’d give into it and take her. The thought of penetrating her with his fangs and cock made him as hard as an I-beam inside his jeans. Cade stripped off the shirt and threw it across the room, then reached for his fly.
Val opened her eyes to watch him strip with a kind of dazed anticipation. “Yeah, I’d give up tanning beds for this.” As he shoved the jeans down his thighs, she said suddenly. “Change me, Cade.”
He froze in the act of kicking out of his pants. There was a wicked temptation in that thought. To have her, keep her. Forever.
But it wouldn’t be fair to Val. She was hot now, entranced by sex and need, not thinking about everything she’d be giving up. And she could end up getting killed in the fight between him and Ridgemont. “We’ll talk about this later.”
“But we’d be together,” she protested. “And I hate the idea of you being helpless against him again.”
The minute the words were out of her mouth, Val winced—and winced again when Cade stiffened. His gaze narrowed and sharpened on her face. “My sister has been showing her psychic home movies again, I gather,” he said in a low, hard voice.
Damn it, Val. You’ve stepped in it now, she thought.
“What nasty little incident did she unfold before your wondering eyes?" His dark gaze was distinctly hostile now. She looked away from his too-discerning stare and swallowed. Cade swore viciously. “Caroline.”
“He almost killed you,” Val said miserably. “And she just left you there.”
“He almost killed me a lot of times.” Cade’s sensuous mouth twisted into a chilling smile. “So is this pity sex?"
"No! I just think we should…do it. Change me.”
“So you decided to seduce me into it, is that right?" His voice sounded low and silken, but something about it made her eyes widen in alarm. “Oh, I get it. That’s why you had those fingers buried in your tight little body when I walked in. You figured you’d overwhelm my hapless male mind with the smell of wet pussy.”
“No, I….”
Suddenly strong hands clamped around her waist. She yelped in shock as he jerked her off the bed like a man snatching up an errant toddler. He straightened, holding her easily in the air with her feet dangling. Wide-eyed, she scanned his hard, angry face, acutely aware of the sheer muscled width of his chest.
“So you think you’re going to save helpless little me from Ridgemont by nobly sacrificing yourself. Well, maybe you’d better rethink that, sweetheart. Because from where I’m standing, the only one who’s helpless here is you.”
She swallowed. “You’re being a jerk, Cade.”
“And what are you going to do about it?" He tilted her against his chest and shifted his hands until he could cup her thighs in his palms. Despite her instinctive resistance, he spread her legs easily and dragged her body against his. The firm, velvet crown of his cock brushed her sex. He smiled slowly into her eyes, taunting and nasty. “Like I said, you’re helpless.”
She gritted her teeth. “You’ve made your point. Ridgemont can eat your face with my blessings. Put me down!”
Cade smirked, slipping one hand around to support her bottom as he lifted the other to gently cup her breast. “But I don’t want to.” Delicately, he stroked his thumb over her nipple. Despite her outrage, she felt a curl of heat. He lifted her easily until he could nuzzle under her chin, licking the soft, thin flesh just above her pulse. “I’m … hungry.” He lowered her slightly until the head of his massive length pressed against her folds. She squirmed in reluctant arousal. “And you’d make a delicious feast.”
Val bit her lip. “Cade….”
“Maybe I will Change you after all,” he growled, releasing her breast to reach under her body. She felt his cock dig harder against her as he aimed it, seeking the tight opening of her sex. “What man wouldn’t want his own personal love slave? Want to be at my mercy, Valerie?"
He found her channel and gave a shallow half-thrust, just barely entering. Saliva flooded her mouth at the wicked pleasure of the sensation. She closed her eyes. “You’re getting deep into jerk territory, Cade.”
“I’m about to get deep into your territory, Val.” He lowered her, slowly impaling her on the big shaft. He groaned in pleasure as she shivered, her slick, gloving flesh yielding to his width. “There’s a lot to be said for being your master,” he said hoarsely. “I could make you do anything I want, any time I want it.”
She closed her eyes. “You wouldn’t…” She caught her breath as he penetrated another inch. “…You wouldn’t hurt me.”
“Hell, no,” he said roughly, abandoning the pretense of threatening seducer. “That’s the last thing on my mind.” Groaning, he shifted her in his arms. “I’ve got to get a better angle. Hold on, sweetheart.”
Val curled both legs around his waist, keeping him seated as he lowered her back onto the bed. Immediately, he began thrusting in long, heavy lunges that tore a strangled scream from her throat. She squeezed her eyes closed as the massive shaft advanced and retreated, each plunge setting off a burst of light behind her eyes. “God, Cade, doesn’t that thing get in the way when you walk?"
He chuckled in her ear. “No, darlin’, I can honestly say that has never been a problem.”
As he looked down at her, his head spinning from the brutal glory of her creamy heat, she threw back her head and arched her back. The movement threw the long stems of her hard nipples and the sweet curve of her throat into relief. “I’m coming!”
The Hunger drowned him in fire. “Let me drink from you.” She bit down on her lower lip, the delicate lines of her face so sensual in her pleasure he wanted to weep, wanted to roar, wanted to come. “God, Cade, yes! Do it!”
With a moan, Cade lowered his head and sank his fangs deep into the delicate satin skin of her throat. She cried out in pleasure as her blood poured into his mouth, tasting of life and distilled sex. Her orgasm exploded in his skull as her Kith mental shields dropped. He groaned as he drank, savoring each intoxicating mouthful. And came in long, fiery jerks of his cock. Still drinking.
Despite all the women he’d had over a century and more as a vampire, it had never been so utterly hot. He knew without doubt it was because he loved her.
He only wished he knew what the hell to do now.
Chapter Thirteen
Cade! Abigail’s psychic shout stabbed into his brain as he lay curled against Val. You’ve got company!
He rolled out of bed before he was even fully awake, lunging for the sword and shield he’d left propped beside the bed. After Hirsch’s attack at the motel, he’d made sure his weapons were always close at hand.
Throwing his mind out in a quick scan, he frowned. Ridgemont was nowhere around. “Who is it?" he demanded, putting down his weapons to grab a pair of jeans and shove his legs into them.
Val lifted her head in alarm. “What? What’s happening?"
Ridgemont’s sent a hit squad. Abigail flashed them images of men, at least thirty of them, all with Mac-10 automatic weapons. They’d broken into teamsone to disable the security system, one to search the house, another to surround it and block escape. A smaller squad was creeping up the hallway even now.
Hell, Abigail, it would have been nice to have a little warning before they were in the damn house! Cade lunged toward the door. There was no time to get the guns out of the closet. He’d have to make do with his sword.
I was Beyond! I didn’t sense them until now.
Dammit. Where’s Hirsch?
Not here.
Judging from the sunlight pouring through the stained glass windows, it was afternoon. Probably didn’t want a tan. “Get behind the bed and hit the floor,” he instructed Val. “There’s going to be gunfire.”
He jerked open the bedroom door and lunged. His sword speared into the chest of the man who was about to force his way in. The merc howled in agony as Cade picked him up on his blade like a cocktail sausage and thrust him into his mates, who instinctively grabbed him with startled shouts.
This bunch had come into his house to kidnap his woman. Their lives were bought and paid for.
Pivoting, he slammed his shield into the face of the nearest mercenary as the man lunged for him. Blood sprayed. The gunman toppled, dead before he hit the ground. Cade jumped between the three remaining invaders, snarling into their terrified faces with bared fangs.
In this situation, the mercs’ numbers actually worked against them. They couldn’t shoot those high-powered weapons without risking that the bullets would punch right through Cade and into their own allies.
So for thirty crucial seconds, they held their fire. The closest man lashed out with a rifle butt, but Cade was quicker. His fist shattered the mercenary’s skull. Blood and gore splattered his face as the weapon hit the wall and fell to the floor with a clatter. It went off, firing a volley of bullets as mercenaries dove aside.
“Fuck!” somebody screamed. Cade’s shield jolted and rang in his hand as one of the three surviving mercs panicked and fired his Mac-10 into it. The shield had been designed for vampire combat, and its space-age alloy surface didn’t even dent. But the merc adjusted his aim and fired again, and this time the bullet ripped into Cade’s thigh. He snarled in rage, swinging his sword as he whirled. The weapon bit deep. The invader screamed and toppled.
But before Cade could finish off the last two men, the rest of the team thundered into the hallway from the opposite direction. “Shit!” one of them gasped as they took in the carnage.
Cade brought up his shield and bared his teeth at them from behind it. Doing a silent count, he felt his heart sink. There was at least eight of them. There was no way he could take them all before they blasted him to hell and gone. And if they put enough bullets in his chest to destroy his heart, immortal or not, he was dead.
Cringing at the sound of screams and gunfire from the hallway, Val crawled on her hands and knees toward the closet. She was damned if she was going to cower under the bed while Cade fought for their lives.
As she hoped, she found Cade’s athletic bag sitting in the floor next to his tall leather boots. She thought she’d spotted a sawed-off shotgun in the bag the last time he’d opened it….
When she opened the zipper, Val sighed in relief. There was the shotgun, short, black and deadly in its nest of money. She grabbed it. Spotting a nine millimeter half-buried in the cash, she scooped that out too, made sure the safety was on, and stuffed it down the front of her jeans. The shotgun cradled in both arms like a deadly infant, she got to her feet and scuttled toward the door, bent double to avoid any random bullets from the hall.
As her heart pounded in hard, sickening lunges, Val peered around the doorframe, praying none of the mercs would shoot her by mistake while she shot them on purpose.
Bare-chested and blood-splattered, Cade stood surrounded by a mob of black-clad men, pivoting and lunging as he chopped his sword into the invaders like Conan the Barbarian in a really bad mood. Several bodies lay at his feet, none of them moving. Arcs of blood flew in the air with each slash, splashing the white walls. Huge, spreading pools of crimson soaked the cream carpet.
We’re going to have a hell of a time cleaning that up, Val thought, with the illogic of shock.
“Fall back!” somebody bellowed. “We need some fucking room!”
She ducked behind the doorframe and flattened her back against the bedroom wall, her shaking hands clenched around the shotgun. If she opened fire, she could hit Cade. But if she didn’t…. Cautiously, she looked around the corner again.
The men surrounding Cade tried to back off, three going one way, two going the other. He pounced on the pair, bringing his sword across in a hard, diagonal slash that took both men down.
Behind him, one of the retreating trio spun and lifted his Mac-10. The three mercs were standing so close together, she thought their bodies would protect Cade if she fired. Without allowing herself to think about what she was doing, Val leaped into the hallway. She met the startled eyes of one of the squad as he stood less than a foot away. Then she opened up with both barrels.
And realized she’d miscalculated. Two of the gunmen were too close for the blast to spread very far, and the pellets punched into them both. A sickening rain of blood arced across Val’s face, blinding her as a man shrieked in agony.
But she’d missed the third man.
A Mac-10 went off in a rolling, thunderous volley as the third merc opened fire on Cade. With an agonized yell of her own, Val scrubbed a hand desperately across her face, trying to wipe away the blinding, sticky blood. The smell made her stomach heave. Blinking hard, she managed to clear her vision just enough to see the two she’d shot were down.
So was Cade.
Throwing aside the now-useless shotgun, she jumped over the bodies of the dead men and ducked around the assassin who’d shot her lover. The merc snapped his gun around to blast her, then held his fire at the last moment. Val couldn’t have cared less.
Cade lay sprawled face down across one of the fallen mercenaries. The submachine gun had punched a line of bleeding, ugly holes diagonally across his back. Heart in her throat, she grabbed him by one brawny shoulder and managed to turn him over. “God, Cade…” she moaned.
