Protector Unmatched, page 15
“It happens more often than you’d think. Our race is short of female offspring. We don’t have a lot of women. Hence, when we mate, we may choose a human woman.”
She didn’t ask the question that was burning on her lips, how such a match would even work long term, given that the immortal was, well, immortal, and the human was not. Instead, she asked, “And Leila knows what her husband is?”
“Of course. She lives in the compound with him and their twins.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t expected to hear that there would be children. Nor had she expected Pearce to volunteer information.
“Is there something else I can say or do to ease your mind? To make you trust me?”
Trust? She hesitated. Did she have reason to trust him? To her surprise, a few things came to mind immediately: he’d saved her from being caught by the police; he’d found her brother and uncovered his scam; he’d saved her brother from the two thugs; and, last but not least, he’d saved her from the assailant who’d pressed a knife to her throat. Plenty of reasons. But what were the cons? He’d lied to her about who he was. One minus against four pluses. The scale weighed heavily on the trust side. And she did trust him.
But she had questions. “As an immortal you never get sick?”
“Never.”
While she had so many more questions, there was one more thing she had to see eyes once more with her own eyes to cement this new reality in her mind. “Would you make yourself invisible right now? I need to see it, now that I’m calmer. I need to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.”
He nodded, and in mid-nod, he simply disappeared in front of her eyes.
“Are you still here?”
“I’m still standing at the same spot.”
Daphne bridged the distance with two steps and reached out with her hands. She could feel him, his torso, his shoulders. She slid one hand farther up. His face. His lips. She felt him press a kiss to her fingertips, making her shiver. But this shiver was different from the one earlier. It had nothing to do with fear.
“Pearce,” she said, and slid her hand onto his nape.
Though he was still invisible, she felt his body, felt how he pulled her to him, one hand around her waist, the other on the back of her head, cradling it carefully.
“When that guy had you in his grip, when he pressed that knife to your throat, I wanted to kill him,” Pearce said.
“Because you kill evil?” she asked, though she guessed already that it wasn’t the true reason.
“Because I don’t want to lose you.”
Hearing him speak with such emotion made tears well up in her eyes. “But you barely know me.”
He suddenly became visible, and she found him gazing into her eyes. “I know all I need to know.”
She felt herself leaning closer as if drawn to him by invisible strings. Was he doing this to her? Did he have magical skills he hadn’t told her about? Skills of persuasion, maybe. She had to know. “Apart from making yourself and others invisible, do you have other supernatural skills?”
“Yes.”
“Are you using them on me right now?”
His forehead furrowed. “On you?”
“Yes, like using some sort of glamor to make me compliant.”
At that, he suddenly chuckled. “You have a vivid imagination. I told you I’m not a vampire. I don’t do mind control or anything alike.”
“But you just said you had other supernatural skills.”
He nodded. “Yes, one. I can walk through walls and doors—any physical object, really, other than a living being.”
“Oh!” The wheels in her mind were turning. “You mean you can enter any place that’s locked? Like the house I broke into, or my brother’s apartment…” She locked eyes with him. “My place?”
His eyelids lowered in shame. “The night I followed you, you came back here. I watched you get ready for the burglary.”
Her breath caught in her throat. “Did you watch me get changed?”
“I’m not some kind of Peeping Tom.”
“Did you?”
Pearce sucked in a deep breath. “I wanted to, by God. I was craving to feast my eyes on you. But I didn’t. It wouldn’t have been right.”
To her surprise, she believed him. Pearce was a good man. She put her hand on his cheek, and he turned his face to press a kiss into her palm.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Is that a ‘thank you, you may leave now’?”
She slid her hand onto his nape and pulled his head to her. “If you want to leave, I won’t stop you.”
~ ~ ~
Pearce held Daphne’s gaze. He still held her close to his body, and her hand lay on his nape. It didn’t look like she wanted to get rid of him anytime soon.
“I don’t want to leave.”
“Then don’t,” she murmured.
It was all the answer he needed. Without losing a second, he slanted his mouth over hers and kissed her. Her response was what he’d hoped for. Daphne welcomed him. Her body molded to his, igniting his passion for her in an instant.
Their lips fused; their tongues danced with one another. Pearce tugged on her jacket and finally managed to slide it off her shoulders. Quickly, he shucked his own jacket. Her casual blouse provided no barrier. With eager hands, he touched her breasts through the fabric and realized that again Daphne wasn’t wearing a bra. A moan escaped him at that revelation, while farther south, his cock went fully erect and pressed against the zipper of his pants.
To make her aware what she was doing to him, he rubbed his groin against her stomach. Her breath hitched, and beneath his hands, he could feel her heartbeat accelerate. He ripped his mouth from hers and planted kisses on her neck.
“I want you,” he murmured. “Right here, right now.”
Daphne didn’t answer—not with words, anyway. She let her hands do the talking and tugged on his polo shirt, pulling it from his waistband. For a moment he had to take his hands off her breasts and raise them so she could pull the shirt over his head. But as soon as the garment fell to the floor, his hands were back. This time, he slid them underneath the blouse and touched her naked skin.
Daphne trembled, and he recognized the reaction as a sign that his touch excited her. He found her breasts, squeezed them and played with her nipples.
Moans and sighs issued from Daphne’s throat, and she rested her head against the wall behind her. But her hands weren’t idle. She’d found the button of his pants and flipped it open, then pulled on the zipper, but it wouldn’t budge. He knew why: his cock was straining against it. Sucking in a breath, he helped her and managed to lower the zipper and push his pants and boxer briefs down to mid-thigh.
Daphne reached for his cock, but before she could touch him, he snatched her blouse by the seam and pulled it over her head, exposing her gorgeous breasts to his hungry eyes. He couldn’t resist the tantalizing sight of her firm, round breasts, and dipped his head to them. He sucked one nipple into his mouth and licked it with his tongue, while he squeezed both breasts with his hands. He moved his mouth to the other breast, but something distracted him: Daphne was wrapping her hand around his cock.
“Fuck!”
She pumped him, and for a moment, he let it happen. But only for a moment, because if she continued like that, he’d come far too quickly.
He pried her hand off him and met her surprised look. But before she could protest, he pulled up her skirt and pressed the hem into her hands. “Hold up your skirt for me, will you?”
She didn’t protest.
Underneath the hippy skirt, she wore tiny panties. He reached for them and tried to pull them down, but somehow, he was too forceful, and the fabric ripped. The panties fell to the floor. Daphne didn’t seem to care.
He slid his hand to her pussy and rubbed along the slit, making sure she was ready.
“God, you’re dripping, babe,” he said.
“Not my fault,” she whispered on a moan.
“Oh, I take full responsibility, trust me.”
He gripped her thighs and lifted her up, bracing her back against the wall. His supernatural strength aided him in holding her there suspended in the air, while he stepped into her center and brought his cock to the entrance of her body.
There, with his cock poised to penetrate her, he locked eyes with her. Then he lowered her onto his cock, thrusting into her to the hilt. Her tight muscles wrapped around him like a glove, cradling him in warmth and wetness. God, how he loved that feeling of being imprisoned like that, of feeling her muscles clamp around him to hold him there.
Daphne’s breath shuddered. “Oh God, you’re bigger than last night.”
“You can take me,” he said, pressing a kiss to her lips. “Wrap your legs around me.”
She did, and locked her ankles behind his butt. Now he was free to let go of one thigh, so he could do what he needed to do. He brought his hand to where their bodies were joined and rubbed his finger over her clit.
A moan rolled over Daphne’s lips.
“That’s it, babe, let me make you come.” He rubbed her clit in a circular motion, while he rocked his cock back and forth, only an inch at a time. She was right about his cock. He was bigger tonight, because he didn’t have to hold back anymore. There would be no condoms tonight, no restraint, because she knew now that he wasn’t human—though he hadn’t shown that much restraint the night before, even though the condom had dampened his sensations.
“I can already feel your pussy relax.”
As he began to thrust faster, Daphne’s breasts bounced from left to right, up and down. Her nipples were hard points, and perspiration started to gather in the valley between them. He dipped his head to them and licked over one nipple, while farther south, he rubbed her clit faster.
A helpless yelp came from Daphne, and she suddenly spasmed. Fuck! He hadn’t expected her to come so fast. But he welcomed it, because her pussy was suddenly relaxing, and with every wave, she squeezed his cock and pulled him back into her.
“Pearce, oh God,” she said on a husky breath, her eyes a picture of passion and lust, her lips red and wet, her pulse thundering so violently that he could feel it.
Pearce grinned and gripped both her thighs tightly. “Now your pussy is ready for me.”
He began to thrust in earnest now, moving his hips in an ever-increasing tempo. Daphne put her hands on his shoulders and gripped him tightly. A cacophony of sounds of lovemaking echoed in the foyer of her apartment, and Pearce didn’t care if those sounds carried into the hallway of the building. Nor did he care that the light was on and anybody in the building across from Daphne’s would have a clear view of them. All he cared about was that Daphne trusted him and felt as passionate about him as he about her. And that she showed that passion with her body.
He’d never thought he’d meet a woman who had no inhibitions, who offered herself so freely to him. But Daphne was all that. Sexy, smart, brave.
“Tell me you like being fucked like that,” he demanded.
There was a flicker in her eyes, and for a second, he thought she wouldn’t respond, but then she licked her lips. “I love your cock. I love how you fill me, how you thrust so deep and so hard.”
His heart pounded like a jackhammer. “I love plunging into your pussy, taking you, filling you.”
At that, there was a realization in her eyes. “Without any barrier…”
“Yes, skin on skin, flesh on flesh.” He thrust harder, their dirty talk making him even hotter. His arousal was spiking. He wouldn’t be able to hold back much longer.
Daphne dug her fingernails into his shoulders. “Nothing between us. Just you and me.” She breathed raggedly. “I love how you fuck me. As if you can’t get enough.”
He plunged his cock deep and hard into her, practically nailing her to the wall at her back, her words almost severing the last thread of his control. “Fuck, babe, I need to get deeper. I need to take you harder. Damn it, I want you, all of you!”
On his last word, he climaxed and shot his seed deep into her.
Daphne gasped. “Don’t stop.”
He continued thrusting as wave after wave of his orgasm crashed over him. His pleasure was already ebbing when he suddenly felt Daphne’s muscles spasm around him as she climaxed again. Her high prolonged his pleasure, making him drive back into her again and again, until he felt Daphne’s spasms subside.
“Wow,” she murmured, and blew out a breath.
He rested his forehead on hers. “What do you say we move this show to your bed?”
“That sounds good, but I don’t think I can stand, let alone walk right now.”
He chuckled contentedly. “Oh, that was the plan all along. See, if you can’t walk, you can’t run away from me, and I can have my way with you. All night long.”
A soft laugh rolled over Daphne’s lips. “Scoundrel.”
Minutes later, they both lay in bed, naked and sated. Daphne was snuggled up to his side, her head on his bicep, one arm over his chest, one leg across his thighs.
“Can I ask you something?” Daphne said.
“Anything.” He stroked his hand over her hair.
“I’m assuming there’s a reason Stealth Guardians don’t use condoms. Is it because you’re immortal?”
“Like you said earlier, we don’t get sick. We don’t carry disease, so we can’t pass it on.”
“I figured that. But you do procreate—I mean, you mentioned that Leila has twins. I mean, not that it’s a problem. I’m on the pill, you know, but…”
He put his hand under her chin to make her look at him. She was cute when she was nervous. “Yes, we procreate. But it’s not all that easy. A male Stealth Guardian isn’t born fertile. We only become fertile when we bond with a mate.”
“Oh.”
He put one hand on her thigh to tug her closer to him, loving the way her warm body molded to his. “You can ask me anything. I want you to know that.”
He wished she would ask the one thing that he knew he needed to tell her, but didn’t know how. He wanted to tell her that their initial meeting hadn’t been a coincidence. After the intimacies they’d shared, didn’t she deserve the truth? Maybe it was exactly what he had to do: be honest with her, tell her about the vision and hope, by doing so, he could make sure the vision would never come true.
“Thank you,” she said. “So the condoms you got last night, they were just for my benefit?”
“Yeah. I couldn’t tell you that I’m not human and that you won’t have to worry about STDs. It was easier to use a condom and make you feel at ease.”
She hugged him tightly. “Most men aren’t as considerate as you. I understand why you had to lie to me. But I’m glad that you can be honest now.”
God, he felt like a heel that she believed he was one hundred percent honest, when he wasn’t, when he was still keeping the real reason why they’d met from her. He had to set the record straight.
“Daphne, you should know something…” He took a deep breath, but the ringing of his cell phone interrupted him. He’d placed it on the nightstand earlier, in case anybody from the compound needed to reach him with updates regarding Tim’s wellbeing. He looked at the display and recognized the compound’s main line.
“Sorry, it’s the compound. Probably news about your brother.” He pressed the answer button and held the phone to his ear. “Yeah, what’s up?”
“You need to come back,” Hamish said.
“Why? Is something wrong with Tim?”
Daphne shot up to sit and cast him a worried look.
“No, Tim’s fine. He’s healing. Ryder is with him, and Leila and Aiden just got back. But we have a situation.”
Pearce looked at Daphne and said, “Tim’s fine.” He saw her relax. “What kind of situation?” he asked into the phone.
“We found something on one of the thugs. It’s a matter of life and death. You’d better get your ass here pronto.”
Hearing the seriousness in Hamish’s voice, Pearce said, “On my way.” He disconnected the call and jumped out of bed.
“What’s wrong?” Daphne asked.
“We have a problem. Get dressed. And pack what you’ll need for a night. You’re coming with me.” Since Hamish hadn’t been more specific, the problem could mean anything, and if it was connected to Tim’s assailants, then it could also be connected to Daphne. Under these circumstances, Pearce couldn’t leave her unprotected.
“Where are we going?”
“To my home, the compound.”
24
Zoltan had followed Vasili’s signal all over town. In many instances, he’d been able to see whom he met with and what he did. But at no point had Vasili received any packages or handed over any money. When he’d entered an apartment building in the early evening hours, and remained there for two hours without moving, Zoltan had lost his patience and entered. He’d found Vasili’s apartment without any problems and, after receiving no reply to his knock, used a lockpick to open the door.
Vasili wasn’t home. Only his jacket was. He’d ditched it at his apartment, either because he’d noticed Zoltan following him, or simply because he wanted to wear something different to wherever he was going. In any case, the tracker was still inside the jacket’s pocket, but of no use anymore. How Vasili had been able to slip past Zoltan became clear when Zoltan noticed a back entrance to the apartment building. Vasili had evaded him.
Zoltan cursed. He had no choice now but to wait for the crook. In the meantime, he searched the place. He wasn’t surprised to find an array of stolen goods stacked in a closet, together with several guns, knives, and a crowbar. In an iron footlocker, which Zoltan cracked open with the crowbar, he found cash, lots of it. On top of the stack lay an envelope Zoltan recognized. It was the one he’d given to Vasili earlier.
No matter how long he searched and what he ripped to shreds, he couldn’t find the dagger Vasili had promised him, which meant he was probably meeting the thief right now to obtain the item. Annoyed that Vasili had thwarted his plan to find out who the actual procurer was, Zoltan let himself fall into the armchair and waited in the dark.
