“What?” she asked irritably.
“You can’t kill us with stakes, sweet. You’d need a blade. Think you’ve got the strength to cut off a man’s head?”
She kept her voice deliberately sweet when she answered him. “If you’re that curious, I’m willing to try.”
This time he laughed, and the silken sound of it sent a shiver of pleasure down Lily’s back. This was ridiculous, sparring with him, deliberately egging him on, though the information about how to kill a vampire was at least useful, if completely nauseating. But she was glad to have pulled Ty back out of cold-blooded vampire minion mode and glad it hadn’t even taken much effort.
“You’ve got a mouth on you, woman.”
She could hear his smile in the words, turning the insult into a sort of backhanded compliment. Lily felt her own lips curving up in return, felt her tense muscles beginning to relax with their easy banter. Ty’s eyes lit as he watched her, cat’s eyes glowing a soft silver through the thick darkness that surrounded them. They were all she could see.
“My mouth is part of my charm.”
“Aye. That it is.” There was a rough edge to his words, and tension flooded back into Lily’s system, though this time it was of a very different sort. She knew he was looking at her lips. They felt warm, as though his gaze were a sort of kiss. Desire, unwanted but undeniable, fluttered nervously in her belly. Disconcerted, Lily tried to shift the conversation back into safer territory.
“Look, Ty. The point is, I won’t mutilate your corpse, and I won’t fry you. I won’t even run up the telephone bill. But you’re not tying me up again.” She paused, wondering if an appeal to his better nature was worthwhile. But the heat in his eyes decided for her.
“Being tied up in a hotel room all day while you sleep, or whatever, really creeps me out. I only managed to sleep yesterday because I was exhausted. Today, I’ll just be sitting here. Please don’t do that to me.”
He hesitated for a moment.
Then his hand brushed hers. Lily pulled away with a jerk, startled by the sensation of his skin against hers, by the way her lack of sight seemed to have intensified her sense of touch. Caught entirely off guard, she could only utter a single word.
“Please,” she said, her voice little more than a whisper.
His voice was soft, husky, and strangely soothing. “Give me your hands,
mo bhilis
. I won’t hurt you,” he coaxed. “I can help you, I think. If you let me.”
It was so appealing, the thought of letting another soothe her, of giving over just a bit of control so that she could rest. And as strange as it was, she felt certain that Ty was sincere in his offer. Just another puzzling piece of what was shaping up to be a very appealing whole.
“Are you still going to tie me up?”
“I can’t take the chance of leaving you free, no matter how small the possibility of you escaping. But it won’t matter to you if you sleep. Let me help you, Lily. I don’t have many gifts, but this is one I’m glad to share with you. One I promise you’ll appreciate.”
She relented. It was an offer she knew she’d be a fool to refuse. Lily wordlessly held her hands toward him, where
they were caught in a grip that was surprisingly gentle. He began to wrap a length of what felt like thin rope around her wrists, binding her hands with a knot that felt intricate even without seeing it. She dipped her head, trying to watch what her eyes struggled to pick up in the darkness. Each subtle brush of his skin against hers was a torment to her, but not because he repulsed her, Lily found to her chagrin. Memories of their first encounter came flooding back, and she felt heat rush into her system as she recalled what it was like to have those hands in her hair, his body against hers.
His lips on her skin.
“Don’t look at what I’m doing. Look into my eyes,” he said. His voice was low, hypnotic, pulling Lily’s gaze right where he wanted it. Her breath caught in her throat at the way his eyes glowed, as bright as twin moons. There was such power there, the sort of strength and ruthless determination that no human could possess. Unnerved, she tried to look away, but she was caught, seemingly unable to move. Panic bloomed quickly in her chest.
“No, no, don’t do that,” he murmured, and again his voice was a balm to her frayed nerves. “Relax, Lily. Just look at me, and let everything else go. Just for now. No more worry. No more fear. Just you and me, here and now. Let go.”
Her breathing slowed. Ty’s words felt like a caress, and she found that it was easy, so wonderfully easy, to focus on the moment so long as she kept her eyes locked with his. As his hands moved over hers, winding the cord, she found it harder and harder to care about him tying her up. His touch was gentle, and Lily relaxed into it. His words echoed in her mind like a chant.
Just you and me… you and me… you and me…
Tynan finished securing her wrists, but his hands lingered on her skin, his flesh cool against her own warmth, maintaining the connection that seemed to sizzle and snap between them the longer it went on. Through her blissful fog, Lily was suddenly very aware of his nearness, of the intense focus that was now entirely on her.
It seemed so natural, so right, to let the peace Ty had given her shift shape and form ever so slightly to become need. Something deep in the recesses of her consciousness wanted to struggle, but Lily turned away from it, wanting nothing but the sanctuary of Ty’s silver gaze. The horrors of the night fell away, leaving nothing but the moment. Her breasts felt fuller, tighter, and desire twisted into a pleasurable little knot deep in her belly.
Long, elegant fingers caressed her hands, and an errant thumb rubbed across her knuckles, sending shivers of sensation up her arms. Lily’s breath grew shallow as Ty’s hands slid up to her elbows, cupping them as he moved closer, slinking forward as smoothly as the cat he could become. Lily drank in the energy he seemed to radiate, the wild scent of him. Her lips parted in anticipation.
The long, seductive sound he made as he moved in, as she felt herself leaning in to meet him, vibrated all the way through her. Lily’s breath caught on a gasp as moisture pooled between her legs, that knot of desire twisting tighter and making her throb.
She
had made him purr like that.
“Lily,” Ty said, exhaling her name like a prayer. “Just a taste. One taste, and no more.”
She had the fleeting thought that he was making a promise not to her but to himself. However, an instant later
he’d slid over her, pressing his lean, rangy body against her own, and Lily could no more hold a thought than she could push him away. He eased her back against the mattress in one swift, fluid movement. Then her arms, the only barrier between them, were extended above her head, and Lily was fused against a form that seemed designed to mold perfectly with her own. One of Ty’s hands skimmed down the length of her, and she arched beneath his touch. In this moment, it seemed pointless to deny the connection between them. All Lily could do, all she wanted to do, was revel in it.
His hand returned to cup one aching breast as Ty rose above her for a breathless second, the lips she had imagined countless times but never tasted barely an inch from her own. And his eyes, glowing in the dark, were beautiful, burning…
Then he plunged in, taking her mouth in a slow and drowning kiss, melting into Lily until thought gave way to pure sensation, until she didn’t know where she ended and Ty began. Her body rose beneath him, restless with the need for
more
,
now
. Waves of pleasure flowed through her, over her as Ty’s mouth, surprisingly soft, moved against her own. He tasted her, tongue rubbing against hers in lazy strokes that deepened as Lily moved against him.
“Sweet,” he whispered against her mouth. He sounded as dazed as she felt.
Yes
, was all she could think as his breathing roughened, as that tight, lean body surged more insistently against hers. Lily shifted, capturing him between her thighs so that the rigid length of him was nestled firmly against the part of her that was now slick and swollen with pure need. He pressed his hips into her once, almost tentatively, on
a shuddering breath that caught on a moan, and Lily felt something within her, something dark and hungry, rear its head.
It wanted to bite, to claw, to take. To
feed
.
It was like nothing she had ever felt before. But it felt good, felt right, to give over to it here in the dark. She surged upward against him, turning the kiss rough, demanding. Her pulse quickened as she began to lick and nip, catching Ty’s lower lip between her teeth and pulling it before letting go. She heard him growl in response, a sound utterly inhuman, and it only fueled the wild need that was pushing her on.
In Ty, even her darker side had found its match.
His hand tightened on her breast, giving it a rough squeeze, then delivering a sharp tweak to the taut bud of her nipple. Lily quivered at the pleasure, the bit of pain that only made it sweeter.
“Shall I take you there, Lily?” he asked hoarsely. “I can feel how close you are…. Ah, gods…” He breathed a word she didn’t understand, Gaelic, she assumed. It was sensual coming from his mouth no matter the meaning. Then Ty rocked his hips into her again, beginning a grinding rhythm that had Lily’s breathing going ragged. She clenched her fists and twisted into him, wanting nothing more than to have her hands on him, to have his hands on her bare flesh. Pressure began to build deep inside her, pulsing in time to Ty’s movement as he continued to devour her.
His breath, shallow and catching, only incited her. His head dropped forward on a raw moan, and she couldn’t think, couldn’t recall anything that had ever existed outside of this. The fact that she was at his mercy gave her a dark thrill that would have shocked her had she been able
to do more than just feel. As did the knowledge that in a way, he was just as much at hers.
She wanted him buried inside of her, wanted to put her hands on him, to explore him without these clothes that chafed roughly between them.
Even then, it might not be enough.
She could feel his heart racing, pounding in time with her own. Could feel him trembling like a man at the edge of his control.
Then he was gone, flinging himself with a furious curse onto the other side of the bed with a force hard enough to nearly send Lily bouncing off her own side. The rusty old bedsprings squeaked in protest, but Ty said nothing. All she could hear was his ragged breathing. And all the lovely oblivion of Ty’s gift, the removal of everything but pleasure and the immediacy of the moment, vanished. A hollow and insistent ache was all that remained in its wake. Soon, it was accompanied by Lily’s confusion and her shame. She had let go, opened up.
And he had rejected her.
Outside, the sun was doubtless on its way up into the sky, the world growing light. But in here, it was time for the vampire to sleep. And despite the toxic swirl of emotions roiling inside of her, Lily decided she’d be damned if Ty was going to pass out without saying
something
to her about what had just happened. Her head was still spinning, and she ached in places she wasn’t even aware could ache from sheer pent-up, unfulfilled sexual energy. Half of her wanted to punch him for taking such complete advantage, and never mind how accommodating she’d been.
The other half of her was seriously considering crawling over there and having her way with him. That was
the half that frightened her, the half she was trying very hard to ignore. But Lily had seen, without a doubt, that she wasn’t alone in this odd bond she felt with him. It was Ty’s reaction to it that had her cheeks burning in the dark.
“Well?” she finally asked, her voice a hoarse whisper. “Aren’t you going to at least say
something
?”
He did. Ty’s ragged brogue couldn’t conceal the contempt, the utter disgust, in his tone.
“Damn you, woman,” he said.
“What?”
“You weren’t supposed to like it.”
Her mouth dropped open. In an instant, everything he’d made her feel withered and dried into something twisted and repulsive.
Never again
, Lily thought, though the taste of him still lingered on her lips, and her mouth was deliciously swollen from his tender assault. She had trusted him. She’d made a mistake.
“You’re a bastard,
Tynan
,” she said by way of good night.
“I am,” he replied after a moment, his voice tight. “And you’d do well not to forget that.”
It was the last he said before his breathing turned deep and even, solving at least one puzzle for Lily about the nature of vampire rest during the day. The man wasn’t dead. He was just asleep. The asshole.
She lay there for quite some time, seething and listening to the slow and steady rhythm of Ty’s breath. Eventually, though she hadn’t thought it possible, Lily drifted off as well.
And dreamed of fires in the darkness.
I
T HAD BEEN YEARS
since she’d been to Chicago.
Lily found she barely remembered it, though really, most of her young memories of trips were little more than mental snapshots of the insides of opulent hotels and an ever-changing sea of nannies. Even if she had gotten out enough in the city to form clear memories of the place, Lily was pretty sure she wouldn’t have been in this part of town, except maybe by accident. She looked around, trying not to gawk at the fascinating sea of people wandering around her. She saw hair in every color of the rainbow, piercings in places she had never considered sticking a sharp object through, and lots of leather and vinyl. And rubber. And metal.