Finding Fire: Paranormal Romance (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 1) (8 page)

Not in the mood to play his games, she put her hands on his warm chest and pushed. He wouldn’t move. Instead, he grabbed her wrists and pinned them to the wall next to her head. Before she could tell him what she thought about the treatment, he said, “It must be so frustrating to know there’s nothing you can do.”

She was stunned speechless at the callous words. He had no way of knowing exactly what being helpless meant to her. The powerlessness that used to wash over her as she would just wait for the next blow to hit.

He continued, “This is the second time I’ve had you up against a wall.” He moved one of her arms so that one of his hands trapped both wrists. He lowered his free hand and rested it on her face. He moved his fingers over her cheek and neck until the palm of his hand rested on the base of her neck. She knew he must feel her pulse beating frantically.

He said, “I can feel your fear. You’ve always been this way. I cannot imagine an existence where you know that at any time someone bigger and more powerful than you could do whatever they wanted.”

She shook her wrists and tried kicking him, but he moved in closer so that his whole body rested along hers. “I spent hundreds of years knowing no one could touch me. I knew even Kirill would have to put up one hell of a fight to best me. In one night, Aleksander took that from me. In one night, even the weakest of my kind knew they could have all of
my
soldiers hunt me down and kill me if they even laid eyes on me. In just one night, I was as weak as a young human pinned to a wall by a vampire.” He released her wrists but didn’t back away or move his hand from her neck.

She sighed in relief at the small measure of freedom he’d granted her. “If you can understand how horrible the feeling is, then why do you seem to enjoy pushing it on me so much?”

“It’s your scent.” To punctuate the statement, he bent his head forward and took a long inhale next to her neck. She immediately put her hands on his shoulders, ready to try to push him back. Not the smartest move, considering that if he did bite her, she wouldn’t be able to push him off anyway.

“My scent?” Both of her hands remained on his shoulders. She found herself reluctant to let go of the warm muscles she could feel under his sweater. She told herself it was because he could still decide to bite her.

“You smell so good. It draws me to you. I can’t seem to keep my distance,” he said.

“Wh-what?” she asked. “That makes no sense.”

Before she saw him move, both of his hands were at her waist, and he lifted her up until their hips were at the same level. With a gasp, her arms and legs instinctively wrapped around him. He pressed what was now a formidable bulge at his hips into the vee of her legs.

“Earlier tonight, you said we couldn’t have sex,” he said.

Anna thought his voice seemed much too calm considering the intimate position they were in. She was having trouble breathing and fought the disturbing urge to rub herself against that bulge.

He stared at her, and she remembered that he’d said something. “Yes. Yes. I did say that. De-definitely no sex,” she managed to stutter out.

“At present, I cannot see any reason for that being a good idea.” He bent his head to her neck and took a small nibble. No skin was broken, but the sensation shot right through her. Her hands gripped his hair, and she pushed her hips into his.

“I want you,” he said into her neck before he took another bite. A small moan escaped her at the sensations rushing in her body that she’d never felt before. She tried to keep as still as possible and refused to give in to the temptation he pushed on her.

He must have heard her moan, because he said, “I know you want me too.”

She opened her mouth to reply. She wanted to say something coherent, but nothing came out. Just a little breath of a sound that wasn’t a word at all. He must’ve taken that as an invitation because his mouth covered hers in a devastating kiss.

It was softer than she’d expected his kiss to be. Gentle, testing. But before long, his velvety tongue teased the seam of her lips, and without thinking, she opened to him. She gave up the fight and pulled him in tighter. She kissed him back with a passion she didn’t even know was inside her.

His mouth moved from hers and kissed along her jawline. Her head fell back, eyes closed in pleasure. He followed it upwards to her ear and gave the sensitive lobe a small nip; she bit back another moan. Then his tongue was there to lick away the sting.

The pressure built inside her and she moved her hips even faster. One of his hands moved under her jacket and covered a breast. She arched into the contact, feeling the new sensation that shot right to the core of her.

Then his cool fingers from his other hand dipped under her shirt and touched the bare skin of her waist before it moved toward the small of her back. In a rush, reality came crashing back.

He would feel her scars.
Terror raced through her. Her hands pulled his head back as hard as she could, and she unwrapped her legs from his waist.

“What the hell,” he muttered as he was pushed away.

“I said no.” They were the only words she could manage to form.
What the hell was that?
She was supposed to be terrified of this man, not panting all over him like a drunken sorority girl.

And she sure as hell should never have acted that way around a vampire.

Nicolas seemed just as confused, but for a very different reason. “No? I didn’t hear a no. And I have very good hearing.”

She couldn’t bring herself to look him in the eye. “Earlier tonight. In the bar. Said no.” Full sentences were apparently too hard at the moment. Some English teacher she was.

“I think we can go ahead and agree that the no-sex rule should be overturned.”

At this point, she didn’t want to argue. She wanted to retreat into the safety of her apartment. She fumbled her keys out of her bag, but her trembling hand couldn’t manage to get it into the lock.

Nicolas grabbed the keys from her hand and had the door open in seconds. “Tell me what’s wrong at least.”

As she approached her door, she snapped, “None of your damn business.” She immediately regretted her harsh response. To soften the blow, she added, “I think we can agree it’s not because I don’t want you.”

This time she was able to get the apartment door unlocked on her own, but she turned to face him before she went inside. She wanted to apologize for the mixed signals, but she couldn’t get herself to say the words. She should’ve slapped him the second he kissed her. Should’ve fought him. But the sad fact was that she did want him. She just didn’t want to want him. The only saving grace was that she’d found a vampire bastard who actually respected consent. Instead of forming words, she stood silently, staring straight at his chest because she was too embarrassed to meet his eyes.

He broke the silence. “I should go.”

“Yeah. I’ve had a long day,” she said.
It sounded like the end of a bad date
, she thought.

“We need some way of reaching each other. Can I give you my phone number?”

That startled her out of her awkwardness.
What a casual question for him to ask…
“Sure.” She fumbled the phone out, and they quickly exchanged information.

“I need to get some things taken care of before we can leave, but I will be in touch,” he said. “Good night, Annabelle.” He turned to leave.

As she watched his retreating back, she called out, “Everyone calls me Anna.”

He stopped and turned back to look at her, smiling his wicked smile she was getting used to. “I’m not everyone.” With that, he turned and walked out of her sight.

The next day, Anna slept until well past noon. She let out a moan as she glanced at her bedside clock. If she kept these hours up much longer, she might as well be a vampire.

As she sat up, her back protested, reminding her of the tumble she’d taken the night before. She stumbled into the bathroom and stripped off her shirt, twisting to get a look at the damage. Her back now had some pronounced blue areas. Not the best way to start a day.

She didn’t spend too much time dwelling on the previous night. She had a lot of piled up work waiting for her at her office, so she left as soon as possible to start work on it.

Luckily, she only had one night class that day, so she didn’t have to get in early, though her schedule was still thrown completely off. Between her backlogged office work and class, she couldn’t head home until ten at night. She was bone-tired and her back had been steadily aching all day.

As she loaded her bag up, which was now much heavier with more papers she had to grade, her cell phone went off. She got to it as quickly as possible. It wasn’t until she read the words “unknown number” that she realized she’d hoped it was Nicolas calling her.

The only unknown number she’d talked to lately had been Mr. X, and she was in no mood to deal with his bullshit tonight. She wouldn’t have answered at all, but for remembering that Nicolas was worried why someone was giving his address to a human.

For that reason only, she flipped her phone open. “This is Anna Roberts speaking.”

“Ms. Roberts. It is a pleasure to get a hold of you,” a very cheery and familiar voice said over the line. Anna inwardly groaned. She desperately wanted to hang up on Mr. X.

Even though she couldn’t hang up, that didn’t mean she had to be polite. “What do you want?”

He had the nerve to chuckle. “I’m merely calling to check up on you. Did Nicolas have the answers you seek?”

Instinctively, Anna wanted to lie and say she never talked with Nicolas. But then she remembered that whoever the hell she was talking to had been watching her when she was jogging outside of Nicolas’s apartment. No telling what other times he’d watched her. She got creeped out all over again just thinking about it. To avoid getting caught in a lie, she chose not to answer the question. “Do you have the ‘answers I seek’?”

“Whatever do you mean?” he said, still using that stupid cheerful tone.

“You know me. You know my group. You know I’m looking for a vampire. It makes me curious about what else you know.”

“I don’t know everything. What did you and Nicolas talk about?”

He gave himself away. He did know she’d talked to Nicolas…

She could use this. She could try to lure him into a meeting. A nighttime meeting, as Nicolas had suggested. She tried to make her voice sound more vulnerable and added a hint of fear. “I don’t feel safe discussing this over the phone. Anyone could be listening.”

Let him make something of that.

She was about to bring up the idea of meeting, but before she could, he said, “You’re right. We should meet in person to discuss these serious issues.”

Anna didn’t quite believe this. It almost seemed too easy. Even so, she wasn’t about to fight him on it. “That’s a great idea. When would be good for you?”

“As soon as possible would be best. We should meet tonight at one. There is a spot in Central Park that I frequent. It is very beautiful at night.”

Beautiful? This wasn’t a date. Anna shook her head in bewilderment. “You want me to meet you at Central Park at one in the morning? That’s not happening.” The park was now much safer than it had been in the past, but she wasn’t stupid. Going to meet any stranger at one in the morning anywhere would be a bad idea, let alone in a secluded area of his choosing.

“I guarantee you, Ms. Roberts, that you’ll be perfectly safe.”

Anna rolled her eyes at his attitude. As if she would trust the man who wouldn’t even tell her his real name.

However, she was much closer to trusting Nicolas. If she was going to meet with this strange man, Nicolas would be there as well. He needed her help with Aleksander, so he wouldn’t want her to get murdered by Mr. X.

“Fine. Where is this place?” He proceeded to give her detailed instructions on the spot he wanted to convene. She wrote them down on a random sheet of paper lying around her office.

“I’m looking forward to the pleasure of meeting you, Ms. Roberts.”

“Pins and needles,” she replied before finally she gave herself the satisfaction of hanging up on him.

She wanted to call Nicolas right away, but she had no way of knowing whether she was being watched. Her cell phone could even be bugged. It occurred to her that she was being paranoid, but a person could be paranoid and right at the same time.

She lifted her overflowing bag and headed out of the office. When she finally reached the subway, she stopped at the first payphone she saw. The booth was rundown and covered in stickers, but at least it still had a dial tone.

She held her cell phone in one hand and dialed Nicolas’s number into the payphone with the other. It seemed to ring forever, and there was a brief moment when she didn’t think he’d pick up.

Until he finally did. “What?” Not the friendliest greeting.

What did you say to your new vampire companion, who you almost let have sex with you on the side of your apartment building?
“Um…Hi. It’s me. Anna.”
Apparently one says a lot of stupid stuff.

“Is everything okay? Are you in danger?”

In danger?
Probably because of the strange number she was calling from. “Um, no. No danger.” She lost the power of speech sometimes when she talked with him. “I got a call from our mutual friend.”

There was a pause. “Did you get a meeting?”

“Oh yeah, I got a meeting. He seemed rather eager to meet, actually. He also wanted to know about what we talked about and knew we’d met already.”

“That doesn’t sound good. When’s the meeting?”

“That’s the other strange part. Tonight, one a.m., in Central Park,” she said.

“You agreed to this?” he shouted into the phone.

She remembered recently thinking about how stupid that would be. “Well, I knew you were coming anyway. I figured I would be okay with you watching my back.”

“Tell me exactly where he said he wanted to meet with you,” he said.

She gave him the same instructions she’d been given. When she had finished, she asked, “When should I meet up with you?”

“You aren’t going to see me.”

“What do you mean ‘I’m not going to see you’?” she asked irritably.

“You’re not going. It’s too dangerous. We don’t know why this guy has any interest in you, and he wants to meet in a place he chose. He’ll have the advantage.”

“You’re going alone? What if he doesn’t see me and leaves before you can make him?”

“I’ll work on that,” he said.

“What if you get hurt?”

“If they’re strong enough to stop me, I don’t think you’d stand much of a chance.”

She really tried to be offended at that, but she couldn’t manage it. He was right. If anyone or thing managed to seriously hurt him, she wouldn’t be any help. “It’s too dangerous. Neither of us should go.”

“This is safer than waiting to see who else he will give my personal information to. Besides, some stranger is watching the both of us. I’m very curious as to why he has suddenly taken up interest in us,” he said.

She was beginning to hate it when he made sense.

“Don’t you remember what you asked me last night?” She’d asked him a lot of things and nothing popped out in her memory. Luckily, he reminded her. “You asked that I consider your safety before rushing into anything.”

He’d agreed, but Anna assumed he’d been lying. Did he actually care about her safety? Did she want him to? “I don’t want your protecting me to get you killed,” she said.

He didn’t respond to that. A silence fell over the line. She didn’t want to hang up the phone, but she had nothing left to say to him.

“Will you call me by dawn? So I know you’re—” She was about to say “not dead,” but that sounded too harsh.

“You worried about me, Annabelle?” It sounded strangely like flirting.

She bit her lip. She
was
worried about him. “Well, as you pointed out, you’re not everyone. I would hate to lose that.” She hung up the phone then. She’d already said way too much.

~~~~~

Nicolas stared at the phone as it suddenly went dead. An abrupt way to end a phone call, but Annabelle was strange that way. His mouth hooked up at the thought. It was stupid, him beginning to care about her. If this kept up, they’d both be in trouble.

He shook the troubling thoughts away. He had a lot to do. It was just past eleven, and this meeting was in two hours. He wanted to get there well ahead of time to scout out locations he could observe from.

The best-case scenario would be that he could see this Mr. X coming and recognize him on the spot. That way he could worry about questioning him later. If he didn’t know who the man was, then he would have to find some way of locating him after tonight.

It was a chilly night, but he didn’t put on his jacket as he left the apartment. He needed to sneak around, and jackets were too bulky and tended to make noise. He started down the street at a leisurely pace. Running to Central Park would’ve been faster, but he wanted to conserve as much energy as possible. He considered feeding but decided against it.

He’d fed on the bottled blood in his fridge after the fight last evening and that should hold him over for the night. By the time he’d gotten to the apartment, he’d been damn near ravenous.

The swift anger at the two young vampires who thought to challenge him still prickled at him. Foolish newborns. Just because he was in exile didn’t mean he was powerless. More than that, he was pure, and even at his weakest could best them in a fight.

Even so, he regretted getting pulled into the fight. He’d been so distracted by the breaking of the bottle and the shards of glass shooting toward Annabelle, his logical mind had disappeared.

He’d been so focused on making the son of a bitch pay for the insult. In his anger, he almost forgot about the other one. Annabelle had paid for his mistake.

Even if the second man hit him after charging full speed, Nicolas would’ve been fine. He might have a small bruise that would heal in no time. Annabelle had no way of knowing this. She’d stepped right in front of the vampire without a second thought.

She said she was scared of him, but he had a hard time believing it when she seemed so fearless at other times. It annoyed him all the more that she was afraid for him. She should be afraid
of
him.

She was sitting home and worrying about him right now, when he was probably going to be the death of her. He did feel guilt, but he easily pushed it away. One human life was worth what he was fighting for. There was no telling what Aleksander would do if left to rule unchecked. He needed to stop him, and this human who was stupid enough to help him was his only chance.

She was right when she said they shouldn’t have sex. He was already planning to take advantage of her. No use in treating her even more poorly than he already intended to.

He hadn’t lied about her scent. He was intoxicated on it whenever he was around her. Even the day after she’d broken into his apartment, it had called to him. He hadn’t understood the feeling at the time. He thought it was the anger at being violated that had his heart pounding in his chest.

It was just her who had that effect on him. When he was actually in her presence, it was so much worse. His mouth was always bloody, because he couldn’t keep his own fangs under control. He’d hidden it from her so far, but he didn’t know how much longer he could continue to do so.

Hopefully he could be through with her by the end of the week. Nothing good, besides the thirty seconds of release, could come from them fucking. What would he even do with her in bed? She was a teacher!

He knew what happened when men got women like her in bed. They started talking about the future…making plans. The only future he had for her was death, and that was in the rather immediate future.

That logic didn’t stop him from thinking about being between her legs less than twenty-four hours ago. As scared as she seemed to be of him, she’d nearly exploded under him. He couldn’t help but imagine what they could do together with more time and a bed.

She was very deceptively sexy. She didn’t try at all and dressed like a teenager. Her glasses also helped to hide her from the world. She was no girl, but a grown woman. A woman who would throw herself in front of a vampire for him and rub herself frantically against his cock as if she’d never been turned on before.

Before long, he was walking in a neighborhood known for being dangerous. Women dotted the street, wearing very little despite the cold. He looked for one who met his requirements, but none would do. They were all too skinny, or tall, or short. None looked like Annabelle.

It wasn’t until he was another block down that he found someone who would suit him. She was younger than Annabelle, but that was okay. This unfortunate soul sat against an empty building, eyes glazed over in a way only drugs could cause. He hoped she was lucid enough to understand him.