InsistentHunger (11 page)

“After we get the job done, we can talk about this, okay?”
she said. Gently, she pulled his hand up so that it rested against her stomach.

“You want to read more about how I can turn into a cat?
About how I turned into a vampire because I wasn’t married or because my mother
didn’t eat salt when she was pregnant? I found all sorts of interesting things
on the Internet when I researched today. Is that how we’re going to solve this
case?”

Paige looked over her shoulder, aware of how tall Brady was,
how handsome and just how well-built. It took effort, but she avoided looking
south of his chest. There was only so much temptation a woman could take and
she was pretty close to her limits. “Not everything is right.”

He gave her a slow smile. “No, it isn’t. We can’t solve this
case looking at the Internet and I seem to be out of clothes, so we can’t go
out. We aren’t letting the case slide, Paige.” He shifted and Paige’s eyes
slipped down to his cock. He was hard. Painfully hard from the look of it. She
swallowed and forced her gaze back to Brady’s face. “Please, Paige. I’ve wanted
you for so long. Don’t say ‘no’. Please, don’t say ‘no’.”

He slipped his fingers between the buttons of her shirt and
Paige sucked in a breath. He froze, watching her, but she couldn’t get her
tongue to form any words. He moved to her side and he popped one of her shirt
buttons while his other hand brushed across her ponytail. He leaned closer.

“Brady,” she said, tendrils of fear seeping into the growing
lust.

“Shhh. I just want to kiss. I promise, Paige. I promise,” he
whispered and then his lips were against her neck, kissing a gentle trail down
her neck to her shoulder. He sucked a little harder for a second and Paige
reached out and grabbed his shoulder and arched her back. Her panties were
definitely wet. And her heart was pounding and she was definitely too hot to be
wearing this many clothes, and somewhere in the middle of all those thoughts
was a distant awareness that this was a monumentally bad idea.

Brady pulled back, and Paige realized that he’d worked the
buttons loose on her top. Throwing caution to the wind, Paige shrugged the
shirt off and reached around to unhook her bra before tossing it too. “I’m
going to feel so guilty in the morning,” she said, but then she reached up and
caught his shoulder with one hand and the back of his neck with the other. She
pulled him down toward her and he came, his mouth open.

Their tongues met and Brady pressed forward so that Paige
was caught between his solid mass and the bed. He sucked at her lip and Paige
gasped for air through her nose and pushed herself closer to him. When Paige
finally pulled back, Brady was blinking owlishly, his mouth still slightly
open. The tip of his tongue was visible as it came out just enough to touch his
lower lip.

“Bed,” Paige said. Sitting on the end of her bed, she
crab-walked back into the center and Brady gave her a wide smile that was all
boyish joy.

“Yes ma’am,” he said as he followed her, his hard cock
bouncing as he leaped toward the bed. Paige laughed and reached out to grab his
shoulders when he got in range. Bracing most of his weight on his elbows, he
leaned in and kissed her, hard. His touches were pure need and Paige’s body
responded in kind.

Paige wrapped one hand around his neck and the other around
his waist and pulled him closer. Normally Paige felt self-conscious kissing,
but Brady’s kisses were hungry, desperate, and with every move and every touch
of her tongue, he groaned with desire. Soon enough he was thrusting down into
her, his hard cock pressing between her legs.

Paige was wet and she ached to feel his cock, but that meant
getting her pants off. Arching her back and turning her head, she got some
space between them. Brady was panting, his breath tickling her ear, but then
Paige couldn’t exactly catch her breath, either. It didn’t help that Brady was
damn solid.

“What?” Brady panted. He sucked and nibbled at her earlobe.

“Pants,” Paige said, arching her back again as she tried to
get to her belt.

“Shit. Oh yeah.” Brady slid off her, but one of his hands
found her small breast and traced the edge of the nipple like it was the most
fascinating thing in the world. Paige sucked air through her teeth as her whole
body tightened. Her pussy ached and she could feel the warm, wet heat between
her legs.

“Pants,” she said again, shoving at his arm. She hadn’t been
this horny in years.

“Sorry,” he said after a half second of Paige trying to
squirm her way out of her pants while reaching around him. He shook his head
like a dog coming out of the water and then he slid his hands down her stomach
to her waistband. Leaning close, he placed a kiss on her stomach before
starting to unbuckle her belt. He pulled the belt loose and then unbuttoned and
unzipped her pants to show her white underwear and the dark shadow of hair
below. Brady pulled her pants down and Paige kicked them to get them off as
Brady ran reverent hands over her thighs.

“Brady,” she cried out. Foreplay was nice…really nice…but
she was hot and aching for more. Brady gave her a wicked look and then leaned
in close and sucked her clit right through the white bikini underwear. Paige
cried out and fisted her sheets as Brady sucked harder, his teeth running over
her slit before he sucked her right through the fabric. Squirming, Paige reached
for him, her fingers catching his short dark curls, but then his fingers
reached under the panties and sank deep into her. Paige’s brain whited out for
a second. Time skipped like a needle losing its place on a record and then her
underwear was gone and he was on her, thrusting deep into her.

“Fuck yes. More,” Paige cried and Brady moved faster, their
bodies slapping together as every downthrust filled her, his weight pressing
down on her clit every time their bodies met. Paige hooked her heels behind his
legs and pulled him in closer with every thrust.

Moaning in time with his movements, she felt her whole body
tighten as her orgasm started. Reaching up, she clutched at his strong arms as
he drove his cock in harder and harder. He came deep in her, his back arching
so much that he looked like he was doing yoga, his face twisted with pleasure.
Paige cried out. Her body stiffened and shook with the effort until she fell
back against the sweat-soaked sheets, her breath coming in jerky gasps. With a
final sigh, he pulled out of her and collapsed on the bed next to her.

Paige panted, her breath slowing and her body shedding some
of the fever heat as she tried to recover.

“Can I touch?” Brady whispered his question.

Paige opened an eye and found him looking at her with this
intense concern. “I think you just did.”

“No, can I keep touching?”

“Officially weird question.” She would have said more, but
she just didn’t have the breath.

“When I’m done, sometimes it hurts when someone keeps
touching,” he whispered as if it was a secret. “But I want to touch every bit
of you. I want to hold you and feel your heart pounding.” Laying his head next
to hers on the pillow, he let his hand slide down over her stomach until his
fingers found her slick cleft and then he worked his fingers gently against her
clit.

Paige moaned and squirmed as the echoes of her orgasm
sparked through her body, sending shivers of pleasure through every nerve. She
had no idea what had provided the impetus for their impromptu sex scene, but
she wasn’t complaining. If she’d known he was this good in bed, she might have
dumped all her moral standards earlier.

“Thank you,” Brady whispered. His fingers were still buried
in her cleft, but he had finally stopped moving them and the blood was starting
to move back to Paige’s brain.

“You’re welcome,” Paige said with a little sarcasm. “I’m
pretty sure I enjoyed it too, although I expect the guilt to move in soon.”

“Why?” Brady sounded honestly bewildered.

“Brady.” She stopped and just looked at him. “That was out
of control.”

“Uh-huh,” he agreed happily. He gave his fingers a little
wiggle and Paige shivered with the last lingering traces of pleasure.

“I have never done that.” She ran her hand over his
shoulder. He was so strong and beautiful and dangerous, and sadly the last
trait just made him so much handsomer. He’d been cute when he’d been her
trainee, but now…now he was like chocolate and she sucked at resisting the urge
to devour any and all chocolate within reach. She wanted to devour him.

“Done what? Had sex? I’m not buying that. I mean, you’re
tight, but you aren’t exactly a blushing virgin.”

“We didn’t use a condom. We didn’t even stop and talk about
what we were doing.” Only now did Paige realize how out of control she’d been.
Brady was scared and horny and she was supposed to put the brakes on any
stupidity. Instead she’d hit the gas.

“I didn’t want to talk,” Brady said. He pushed his fingers
deeper into her and Paige arched her back and moaned as her body hungered for
more. He was definitely not rolling over and going to sleep, which was the norm
for most of Paige’s lovers.

“I can’t believe I slept with a trainee,” Paige said to
herself more than Brady.

Brady didn’t answer her immediately. “I’m not really a
trainee anymore.” He slowly pulled his finger out of her, and sadly, Paige just
wanted to grab his hand and put it back between her legs. Instead, she tried to
focus on the conversation and not her body’s willingness to channel its inner
slut.

“So are you giving up on being Brady Ross?”

“If I do, you get the bonus of keeping your ethical
standards intact,” Brady pointed out with one of his grins. He rested his hand
on her stomach and Paige could feel her own sticky juices on his fingers.

“Oh yeah, under your theory, I just slept with a
one-day-old,” Paige pointed out. “Excuse me while I go arrest myself for
pedophilia.”

He rolled his eyes and Paige realized that much of the red
had faded. His eyes still didn’t look quite like his old eyes—the brown was too
pale and faded—but the white was almost white. “But it’s not like I’m actually
one day old. I’m a demon. I might be thousands of years old,” he pointed out.
Then he frowned. “Wait. That makes it sound like I should be arresting myself
for pedophilia.”

“Oh yeah, because you walking into the station to fill out
an arrest paper would go so very well.”

Brady gave her the same grin he used to give her in the
middle of the station when he’d volunteered them for some crap duty. “Can you
imagine their faces?” he asked.

“I can imagine their heart attacks.”

“Yeah, I’ll just explain that I’m actually a
life-force-seeking, blood-drinking vampire,” he said. The grin faded and the
old pain showed through. He laid down next to her and stared at the ceiling.

“Hey.” Paige punched him in the arm. “You came to me. You
came here, not to corrupt a soul or steal life force, but because we’re
partners. Paige Silver and Brady Ross are partners.”

He shook his head. “It’s not the same. Just listen—”

“I’m listening.”

“No, you aren’t.” Brady propped himself up on one elbow.
“You’re waiting for me to say something stupid so you can jump all over it.
Just stop and really listen.”

“Fine. Give me your whole dumbass theory and I will listen
to the entire thing before shooting you down.” Paige got a foot under her quilt
and pulled it up enough so she could grab it. It was chilly.

“Being a vampire is not giving me any powers of intimidation
over you, is it?”

She looked at him. “Hell no,” she said firmly.

Brady grinned at her for a second. “Fine, but listen to the
whole theory before shooting me down here.” He paused, visibly struggling to
find words. “It’s like someone moved out of a house—like you moved out of your
house and the next person moved in and found you’d installed handicapped rails
in the house.” He stopped and glared at her. “Don’t look at me like that. I
know I’m not making a lot of sense.”

“Oh you’re giving yourself too much credit. You’re not
making any sense at all,” Paige pointed out. “And you’re ruining an almost
perfect sexual encounter.”

“Perfect?” His face lit up with a huge grin and Paige rolled
her eyes.

Turning on her side, she gave him a good poke in the
stomach. “So, let’s hear your dumbass theory.”

His grin didn’t quite vanish as he started again. “So I
moved into this house, and the previous owner installed handicapped rails, and
I don’t mind handicapped rails, so I just leave them in there.”

Paige waited for the rest. “And?”

“That’s it.”

“Brady, your theory is missing a theory.”

“Paige, I’m not Brady. I don’t think I ever was. I don’t
feel anything for Brady’s friends or family. I don’t want to go comfort his
parents. I don’t feel like a Brady, and when I look in a mirror, I know one
thing. It’s not me.”

“But—”

“But the house I moved into has handicapped rails, and I
really like handicapped rails, and I can remember Brady calling his best friend
and talking about how hot his training officer was. And I like that feeling, so
I keep it even though it’s my house now, not Brady’s.”

A shiver of cold fear killed the last lingering wisps of
satisfaction as Paige realized what Brady was saying. He was insisting that he
wasn’t Brady, that she’d just had sex with someone she’d met hours ago, that
her partner was dead and she was naked, in bed with the demon that had moved
into the house after Brady moved out.

“But—”

“God, I wouldn’t hurt you. I still like you. I remember
every day you had with Brady. I know how much he loved you. Lusted maybe, but
the feelings were real and I can feel them.”

Paige pulled her hand back, half expecting him to grab her.

“Maybe I’m not right, but the more I say it, the righter it
feels,” he said in an almost apologetic voice. Paige stumbled off the bed as
she ran out of mattress before running out of a need to get some distance.
Brady watched her, his amber eyes full of confusion. Paige reached for her
bedside table slowly, but then Brady was moving—scooting across the bed to
reach for her.