Darkest Desire of the Vampire: Wicked in Moonlight\Vampire Island (Harlequin Nocturne) (8 page)

He hoped to God they would.

Then he felt the mattress dip near his feet. When he opened his eyes and saw her crawling onto the end of the bed, Nick bellowed with fury. “Lainey?”

“Shh,” she whispered, the determined glint in her luminous eyes making him shudder with terror. “It’s okay, Nick. I have a plan.”

“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded, shaking so hard it nearly tumbled her from the bed.

Crawling over his legs, she said, “Last night, when you got...on edge, you calmed down when I touched you.”

“For maybe a split second. That doesn’t mean a damn thing. So stay the hell back!”

“No,” she argued, “because I honestly think I can help. You just need a little TLC, Nick. You just need to be...soothed.”

“Damn it, Lainey!” Completely ignoring his protests, she straddled his waist and leaned down, placing a soft kiss against his chest, right over the furious pounding of his heart. He was breathing so hard and deep he was practically panting, and that was
before
she dragged her pink tongue across one of his nipples. Nick’s back arched as if he’d been struck by a violent jolt of electricity, a rough shout on his lips as he strained against the bonds. And his urgency didn’t have a damn thing to do with the bite on his arm.

Christ, maybe she was right. Maybe she
had
gentled the beast, mesmerizing it, because in that moment all he could feel was a pure, overwhelming, mind-shattering sexual need for connection that he’d never experienced before. But he was drowning in it now, and if he didn’t get to have at least this
one
moment with her—this one stolen moment—he thought it might literally kill him.

He didn’t need to connect with just anyone. He needed
her.
Lainey.

Nick was still struggling to understand what was happening to him,
inside him,
when she scooted higher, putting her beautiful face right above his, her soft hands cupping his jaw as she smiled and said, “Prepare yourself, Nick. I’m going to kiss you now, and it’s going to be our first kiss, so try not to curse at me when it happens, okay?”

He wanted to tell her this was a bad idea—that she should stay away from his mouth in case he couldn’t hold back his fangs—but there wasn’t time. He was already groaning in hunger and need and ecstasy as her hands moved through his hair and she leaned closer, the tender brush of her soft lips against his making him tremble. He opened his mouth, flicking his tongue against her lips, and she responded by rubbing her clever little tongue against his. He made some kind of raw, animal sound in the back of his throat, thankful as hell that it didn’t scare her away as he tilted his head, going in for a deeper angle. She moaned, clutching his hair tighter, her gorgeous breasts pressed hard against his chest, and they were off, their lips and tongues moving together with wild, desperate need, as if they were addicted to the taste of the other’s mouth. And, damn it, he was.

When she finally had to break away for air, Nick lifted his head and drew in a deep breath at the base of her throat, where her pulse was fluttering like mad. “Christ, Lainey. You smell so incredible.”

“You really think so?” she asked, eyes wide, an adorable look of pleasure on her face as she sat up, straddling his stomach.

“Mmm,” he moaned, wishing like hell that she was completely naked and he could feel her against his skin. “Are you wet for me?”

She blinked down at him, the color in her face getting brighter. “What?”

“Between your legs?” he growled, straining against the bonds until his veins were pressed against his skin by his hard, corded muscles. “Are you wet for me?”

“Y-yes.”

His nostrils flared. “Then show me.”

“Show you?” she whispered, looking shy...but intrigued.

Breathing in rough, uneven bursts, he said, “If this is going where I hope to God it is, and you’re going to touch my cock, then I want you naked. Get rid of the shorts, Lainey. Let me see you.”

She pulled that plush lower lip between her teeth, then blurted, “I’m not skinny, Nick.”

“Thank God,” he said with a heartfelt groan. “Because I
love
your body. I love your tits and your hips and those round thighs. And I’d be willing to bet my life on the fact that I’ll love that tender flesh between them even more. So lose the fucking clothes, Lainey. Now!”

A blush covered almost every inch of her skin, but she moved to his side and slipped the shorts over her hips. When she moved to straddle him again, his gaze locked in sharp and tight on the pale ringlets glistening at the top of her mound, his mouth already watering as her warm, lush scent drifted to his nose.

Voice thick and graveled with lust, he said, “Now use your fingers to open yourself up. I want to see how pink and wet you are. How swollen your clit is.”

She shivered, her heady scent getting richer, ripe and sweet and delicious. And because he already knew she tasted even better, he had no doubt he could happily live with his face buried in that sweet little sex and never get his fill of it.

His body shuddered as he drew in a deep, rumbling breath. “Do it, Lainey.”

“I will, but I think...I think you should lose some of your clothes first,” she breathed out, trembling with excitement. “Fair is fair, Nick. If you get to look at me, then I want to be able to look at you.” She scooted down his legs, her smoky gaze locked on the ridge of his hard, thick cock. “You have no idea how badly I’m dying to taste you.”

* * ** * *

As Nick’s breath hissed through his teeth, his stomach went so rigid that Lainey could see each hard, delineated muscle. Her sexy-ass vampire was perfectly ripped, and damn, but the guy was impressively hung. She would have been a little worried about the fit if she wasn’t so freaking excited.

“You should know right now that if you put your mouth on me,” he warned in a raw, guttural voice, “then I’m coming in it.”

“Mmm. Sounds good to me,” she murmured, licking the tight skin just above the waistband of his jeans. He cursed something gritty and harsh, and she smiled, drunk on the pleasure of knowing he wanted her.
Badly
. It was the headiest feeling she’d ever experienced, momentarily cushioning the pain of Ryan’s loss that was buried inside her heart. Yes, the pain was still there, but these stolen moments with Nick were proving that she didn’t have to let it destroy her. That she could still love and laugh and enjoy something good when it found her. And right now, she was going to enjoy the hell out of Nick Santos.

Breathless with anticipation, Lainey knelt beside him and started working the buttons on his fly. A low, continual growl rumbled up from his throat as the backs of her fingers brushed against the rigid length of his cock. Only a thin pair of boxers separated her flesh from his, his heat stunning, the warm, mouthwatering scent of his body only ramping up her need to a feverish pitch. She was so desperate for touch and sight and taste that she was shaking as she told him to lift his hips, wrenching the jeans and boxers down his legs. His erection was even bigger than she’d guessed, and she knew it wasn’t going to be easy to take, but she didn’t give a damn.

“Lainey!” he shouted, making her jump. She blinked, surprised to realize she’d just been kneeling there, staring down at him in a daze. Nothing she’d ever seen had come anywhere close to this kind of hard, masculine perfection.

“Sorry I spaced out there,” she whispered, tossing his clothes on the floor. “You just took my breath away.”

He swore, writhing a little, then parting his knees for her when she asked him to. Deep, guttural curses continued to rip up from his chest as she knelt between his muscular thighs and took his cock in her hands, squeezing and stroking the heavy, vein-ridged shaft. And when she leaned down, licking her tongue across the broad, slick crown, tasting him, he shouted so loudly it echoed off the walls.

When the wolves started to howl out in the tunnel, they both ignored them.

“God, Nick. You taste so good,” she moaned, loving the rough sounds he made as she took him between her lips and started to lick and suck as if she was starved for him. She fisted her hand around the swollen inches at the base that wouldn’t fit in her mouth, rubbing her tongue against the veins pulsing beneath his velvety skin, his flavor salty and warm and completely addictive. This was something she’d only done in the past because she knew it’d been expected. She’d never craved it—never
needed
it—but that was exactly how she felt with Nick. She couldn’t get enough of him and told him so the next time she stopped to draw in a ragged breath.

“You’re killing me,” he gasped, shoving deeper into her mouth. His body was burning hotter, the tremoring of his muscles beneath his dark, sweat-slick skin making the bed shake. She gripped his hips to steady herself, sucking him a little harder...faster. In the next instant, there was a terrible groaning sound, followed by a sharp snap, and then his strong hands were suddenly curving around her head, holding her to him as he arched and blasted into her mouth, a ragged shout on his lips as he came hard and long, the wrenching pulses going on...and on...and on.

Oh, wow. Just holy freaking wow!

Lainey lifted her head when he was finally spent, pressing a tender kiss to the glistening head, surprised that he was still so hard and thick. She wanted to ask him if that was normal for a vampire. But before she could catch her breath, she found herself lying on her back, more than two hundred and fifty hard-muscled pounds of aggressive vampire holding her down.

“Payback,” he rasped with a low growl, the look on his rugged face as he slowly lifted his head and looked up at her from between her legs the hottest damn thing she’d ever seen. And when he lowered his head, burying his face against her hot, swollen sex as he spread her with his thumbs, it was even better than she’d imagined.

His mouth was insatiable, doing things to her that Lainey had only read about in books—and a few she’d never even heard of. He went at her with lips and tongue and teeth, feasting on her as if the provocatively intimate, wildly explicit act gave him even more pleasure than it gave her, which didn’t seem possible. But he seemed starved for the taste and the feel of her, eating at her with a carnal desperation that had raw cries climbing up her throat. And when he replaced his thrusting tongue with two long, thick fingers, hungrily latched on to her clit, and the pulsing waves of pleasure slammed into her with the force of a nuclear detonation, she screamed so loud she wouldn’t have been surprised if people could hear her out on the beach.

He pulled back a little the instant she started to come, watching her sex as she convulsed. He gave another one of those low, rumbling growls, then put his mouth back on her, ravaging her pulsing flesh with a kiss that was savage in its violence. He knew just where and how to touch her to prolong the spasms, making the climax go on and on, until she was limp with exhaustion, every cell throbbing and sensitized.

His mouth was shiny and wet when he finally looked up at her with eyes that were pure, molten gold, the smile on his lips so wicked it nearly sent her into another mind-shattering orgasm. He’d started to crawl over her, muscles shifting beneath his tight skin like a sleek jungle predator, his rock-hard cock looking even bigger than it had before, when he suddenly froze, that sexy, glowing gaze cutting toward the broken chain connected to the manacle on his right wrist.

“Oh, shit,” he gasped, as if only just realizing what he’d done. The shackles were still on his wrists, but he’d snapped the chains and was now free to do whatever he wanted.

Reaching up to cup his hot face in her hands, she said, “Don’t worry, Nick. It’ll be okay.”

He slowly brought his gaze back to hers, the look in those hooded eyes making her breath catch.

“I mean it,” she told him, trailing one of her hands down to his chest and pressing it to the heavy beat of his heart. “I’m not afraid of you.”

He exhaled a jagged breath as he bent his arms, lowering himself until his rugged, beautiful face was right above hers....

Then, in a voice that was far more animal than man, he growled, “You
should
be.”

Chapter 6

B
efore Lainey could ask him why, a deafening screech of sound came from the kitchen area of the bunker.

“Son of a bitch,” he snarled, climbing off her so quickly she’d barely seen him move.

As another horrific sound came from the kitchen, he yanked his jeans on and ran over to the table, then bent down and retrieved the key he’d tossed there. A handful of seconds later, he had the manacles, with their broken chains, unlocked. He left them lying in a heap of metal on the table as he headed toward the large cabinet that sat against the opposite wall from the bed, his fingers quickly keying a combination into the numeric lock. When the door gave a little pop, he wrenched it open, heading back to her with a heavy handgun that he put in her shaking hands. “Don’t hesitate to use this if you need to,” he instructed her in a low, cold voice, the sexy lover she’d known only a moment ago replaced by this hard, focused warrior. “It won’t kill them, but if you aim for the head, it’ll put them out of commission for a while.”

If the wolves were to somehow breach the bunker, they both knew she wouldn’t be able to shoot them all, but neither of them said it. And she didn’t have time to worry about that possible scenario anyway. She was too freaking terrified about
his
neck to worry about her own.

“What are you going to do?” she asked in a choked voice. “What’s happening?”

“There’s an air vent in the kitchen ceiling. I didn’t think they’d find it, but it sounds like one of those bastards is trying to crawl through it.”

“Oh, my God,” she gasped, setting the gun down so she could wrap one of the thin blankets around her naked body as she sat on the edge of the bed.

“If I can kill him,” Nick said, heading back over to the cabinet, “I should be able to set off a small explosion that will seal the vent.”

“But if there’s a vent, why can’t we use it to escape?” she asked, watching him slip a different gun into the back of his jeans, then grab what looked like a heavy black toolbox out of the cabinet.

“We can’t escape through it, Lainey, because it leads right back into the tunnel they’re blocking.”

“Oh. But if you set off an explosion to block the vent, won’t it cut off our air?”

He cut a quick glance at the clock on the wall. “We’ll be okay. There are other, smaller vents that will provide us with enough oxygen.”

He didn’t say they wouldn’t be staying in the bunker much longer anyway. But she knew that’s what he was thinking. Before she could ask him just what he planned if his brothers didn’t arrive in time, he came over, leaned down to put a hard, much-too-brief kiss on her lips, then left the room in another one of those dizzying bursts of speed. The door to the kitchen slammed shut behind him.

No!
Lainey immediately ran to the door, but Nick had locked it from the other side! “You jackass!” she screamed, unable to believe he would just go like that. She’d planned on being right there with him, not letting him out of her sight. Damn it, she hadn’t even gotten the chance to tell him goodbye! What if he didn’t come back? What if he died in there with that freaking monster and she never saw him again?

Sobs rose in her throat, wrenching and raw, as she banged her fists on the door. Then she suddenly remembered the other entrance, but when she reached the second doorway to the kitchen she screeched with fury to find it had also been locked.

“Damn you, Nick,” she croaked, her eyes blinded by tears as she made her way back into the main room, the blanket that was still wrapped around her body dragging on the floor behind her. Though the sounds were muted, she could tell some kind of fight was taking place in the vent. Then she heard the loud
thwump
of a gun being fired, followed by a guttural, bone-chilling roar of pain.

Oh, God...Oh, God. Please don’t let that be Nick. Please...please...please...

If she’d had any doubt that what she felt for him was real, and not just an intense, overwhelming case of lust, the devastating depth of her fear for his safety suddenly made things perfectly clear.

Nick Santos didn’t just mean something to her—he meant
everything.

A second later, a quick explosion went off, violent enough to make her worry for the integrity of the bunker. But the walls and ceiling held their shape, refusing to buckle. She started to pace, frantic with worry and fear, until the door to the kitchen finally opened and he stepped back into the room. As remnants of smoke billowed behind him, he just stood there with his hands fisted at his sides, his massive body glistening with blood and sweat. As his dark gaze locked on hers with a violent, visceral look of hunger, Lainey couldn’t help but tremble in reaction.

She swiped at the tears on her cheeks and somehow managed to say, “I was so freaking scared for you, Nick. Don’t ever lock me away from you again! If you’re going to be in danger, then I can damn well be in danger with you.”

She thought he would say something sarcastic, like tell her she was crazy or delusional, but he didn’t. He didn’t say anything at all. Instead, he kept his mouth shut...and used his battle-hardened body to convey what he was feeling.

One instant he was standing there, staring at her with that blistering gaze from across the room—and in the next, a hard, primitive growl climbed from his throat and he was on her, tearing the blanket away as he took her down to the bed. Ripping his jeans open with one hand, he wrapped a strong, powerful arm around her hips to lock her in place—and then his body was shoving itself inside hers, going hard and thick and impossibly deep. She screamed from the shock and the sharp burn of pain that was already fading, drowned out by the unbelievable surge of pleasure she felt at having him inside her...a part of her.

Gasping for breath, she managed to moan, “God, Nick. You’re, um...
really
deep.”

* * ** * *

Clenching his jaw, it took every ounce of strength that Nick possessed to hold himself perfectly still. “You want me to stop?” he scraped out, shuddering from the way her hot, cushiony sex was rippling around him. He’d only just gotten inside her and the woman was already on the cusp of orgasm.

“No. Don’t you dare stop!” she cried, digging her nails into his rigid biceps.

“You want all of me then?” He buried his face in the tender curve of her shoulder, undone by the way she felt beneath him...around him. “You want me to fuck you with every inch, Lainey? You want them all?”

“God, yes!”

“If I do, I won’t go easy on you,” he groaned, feeling it was only fair to warn her. She was so hot and tight and perfect, he knew there was no bloody way he was going to have any control once he got going.

“After all this buildup, I sure as hell hope not.” With no idea of the danger she was courting, she nipped his earlobe with her teeth. Crazy, beautiful, fascinating woman.

“Then spread your legs for me.” His voice was raw. “As wide as they’ll go, knees out at your sides.”

As soon as she’d done it, Nick braced himself on his straightened arms, grunted a sharp curse as he pulled back his hips, then pushed forward in a heavy lunge, working against her tight resistance until he was nearly all the way in. Watching her flushed face, he pulled back again, loving the way all those plush muscles in her sex clutched at him, trying to hold him inside. Then he told her to brace her hands against his chest, dug his knees into the mattress and drove himself back in with bruising force, the power of the thrust taking him all the way to the root.

For a moment his heart nearly stopped when she arched beneath him with a sharp, hoarse cry on her lips, terrified that he’d hurt her. But she settled back to the bed with a provocative moan, lifted her long lashes to reveal eyes that were smoky with need and curled her lips in the most beautiful, pleasure-rich smile he’d ever seen.

“Again,” she purred, now digging her nails into his pecs, and a thick, husky laugh rumbled up from his chest while a sense of happiness spread through him that was so potent and unfamiliar, he almost didn’t recognize what it was. It made his brain soft...and his dick even harder, which didn’t seem possible.

“Ah, God, Lainey.” Sweat dripped from his face, splattering on her beautiful breasts as he ground himself against her, every brutal inch of his shaft packed up tight inside her. “You’d better hold on now,” he growled just as his control shattered. And, God, did it shatter. The bed bashed against the wall again and again as he rode her snug body with thick, hammering thrusts until the first orgasm slammed into her so hard that she screamed, her slick sheath pulsing around him with such a tight, greedy clasp it damn near stopped his heart. He pressed in hard and deep, then just held there, gritting his teeth, wanting to feel every single ripple.

“Nick,” she gasped, writhing beneath him as she grasped his waist, “drink from me. Take my vein.”

“I...can’t,” he growled, his voice so guttural he wasn’t even sure she could understand him.

“Please,” she whispered, turning her head to the side. “I can take it. I swear I can. I just need to feel that connection with you.”

He needed it, too. Badly. But Nick figured it was a miracle they’d managed to get this far without him hurting her. As desperately as he wanted her blood, he wasn’t willing to risk destroying what they had for it. Not when he might take it too far...or she might decide that having a set of fangs buried in her throat was a hell of a lot more intense than she’d expected. Whether his brothers showed or not, he still had
this
day with her, and he wasn’t willing to lose it if she freaked out and told him to get lost.

“I might be human, but I’m not so easily broken,” she murmured, as if she knew his thoughts...and his fears. “You know that, right?”

“I know,” he grunted. But he was still unwilling to take the chance. As badly as he wanted a bite of that pale, delicate throat, he wanted to keep losing himself in her
more.
And he needed to move again...starting
now.

With his pulse roaring in his ears, Nick let himself go, his hips pistoning between her sprawled thighs as he fisted his hands in the bedding and took her with the single-minded focus of a man making a claim on a woman’s body. It was more than sex. More than raw, aggressive fucking. It was a goddamn act of possession, and when he came the eruption was so intense it bowed his back, a guttural shout echoing through the room as he shoved himself inside her, nudging deeper with each thrust until she was gripping every part of him. Body, heart, soul.

“Feel good?” she whispered when he finally stilled, running her smooth palms down the slick length of his back as he settled over her, bracing his weight on his forearms at the last moment so he didn’t crush her.

“Feels bloody incredible,” he growled, shifting his arms higher so that he could spear his fingers into the wild tangle of her hair, gripping handfuls of the soft, silky locks. With his body pinning hers to the bed, Nick had her under his complete control, and he loved it. Couldn’t get enough of it. Leaning down, he took her mouth with barely restrained violence, kissing her so hard and deep that neither of them could breathe. When they finally had to drag in gulping breaths of air, he buried his face against the side of her neck, licking the soft, tender flesh there. “Did I hurt you?” he rasped, tasting the tears he’d seen slipping across her cheeks as he kissed his way up over her jaw.

“No,” she moaned, hugging him to her as if she never wanted to let him go. “I loved it, Nick. Every second of it.”

He rolled his hips, enjoying the wetness, his chest filled with potent male satisfaction at the fact that she was drenched in him. And as that thought immediately led to another, he froze. “Hell,” he rumbled. “I never even thought to ask you if you’re on the pill.”

“It’s okay,” she murmured, slipping her fingers through the damp locks of his hair. “I am.”

He nodded, knowing he should be relieved. Considering what he was going to ask of her if his brothers didn’t get there in time, he had no right putting a child inside her. But damn if he didn’t feel a fresh surge of lust at the thought of her round and heavy with his babe.

Huh. Guess you could take the guy out of the 1700s, but you could never take the 1700s out of the guy. He might hold his own in the modern world, but there were some old-fashioned sentiments that he found damn hard to leave behind. Though his job made it nearly impossible, he thrived on the idea of a wife and family. Of having that kind of closeness with another person. That incredible sense of belonging.

And this is a waste of my time now that the clock’s counting down.

Biting back a bitter curse, Nick wrapped his arms around Lainey and held her close as he rolled to his back, reversing their positions.

As she settled against his chest, she rested her chin on her stacked hands and stared directly into his eyes. “Why didn’t you take my vein?”

He tried to control his reaction to the provocative words but knew from the catch in her breath that she’d felt him get harder. “Please tell me,” she murmured. “I just want to understand you.”

“I didn’t do it because it’s too dangerous,” he told her, loving the little gasp she gave as he used his grip on her hips to hold her still as he pushed in a little deeper, already hopelessly addicted to the way she felt around him. “If I lost it,” he added, “I could drain you.”

Exasperation quirked the soft curve of her lips. “You wouldn’t. You’d stop before you risked hurting me. And I think that however that bite ends up affecting you, you’re still stronger than it is. I don’t believe for a second that it could ever control you.”

“I wish that were true,” he grated, his thumb rubbing against her soft skin as he cupped her cheek in his hand. “But I can’t stop what’s coming, Lainey.”

“But you can be prepared for it,” she argued, bracing her hands against his chest as she pushed herself up into a sitting position, his cock giving a hard pulse inside her as she straddled his hips. “Did you ever think that my blood might give you more control when you need it tonight? That everything that’s happening between us might be for a reason?” she asked in a soft, firm voice that rang with challenge and conviction. “That you might actually
need
me, Nick?”