Sebastian/Aristide (Bayou Heat) (7 page)

“Not fair,” she muttered, her fingers shoving into the tawny silk of his hair.

He turned his head to torment her other breast.

“I never play fair,” he warned her, lifting his head to meet her heated gaze. “I play to win.”

With a motion too swift for Reny to anticipate, Sebastian swept her off her feet and tossed her into the center of the bed, her arms and legs splayed wide.

“Hey.”

“We’re doing things my way this time, remember?” he demanded, covering her with the welcome weight of his body.

She lifted her hands, intending to hold him off so she could tell him exactly what she thought of his arrogance. Only her hands were no longer connected to her brain. Rather than pushing against the hard planes of his chest, her fingers were lingering on a small tattoo of a crouching puma that was barely noticeable against the bronzed skin of his chest.

“I never agreed,” she said, her voice a husky rasp.

Lowering his head, Sebastian nibbled at the corner of her mouth. “Do you need me to convince you?”

A harsh shudder shook her body. Oh, yeah. She was ready and willing to be convinced.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that this was a brief moment of madness, first brought on by the strange sexual compulsion and now by her purely feminine desire.

And perhaps the need to forget the world for just a little while.

Beyond the closed door was her duty to finish the job that had brought her to New Orleans. And impressing her bosses to ensure her promotion.

And, oh yeah, somehow processing the suspicion that she wasn’t entirely human.

Sometimes a woman needed a few hours of fantasy to make her reality more bearable.

And Sebastian was the perfect fantasy.

As if sensing her capitulation, Sebastian growled low in his throat, his hands moving with a possessive confidence over her naked body.

“Spice and musk,” he muttered, his tongue outlining her lips. “I need a taste.”

Reny gave a small squeak as one roaming hand slid between her thighs to stroke through her wet pussy.

“Do you bite?” she asked, breathless.

“Absolutely.” He held her gaze as he dipped his finger into her thickening cream. “But only if you beg nicely.”

Reny dug her heels into the black silk sheets as she arched her hips upward.

“As if…” She forgot how to speak as his finger began sliding in and out of her. “Oh.”

His lips brushed over her cheek, then down the line of her jaw. “Let yourself go, Agent Reny Smith.” He pressed a kiss to the pulse racing at the base of her throat. “Just.” His mouth trailed down her collarbone. “Let.” He covered the aching tip of her breast. “Go.”

Oh, hell. Maybe he was going to make her scream. Her entire body was going up in flames.

Fisting her fingers in his thick hair, she instinctively wrapped her legs around his hips.

“Stop giving me orders and do this thing.”

Pulling back, he regarded her with a lift of his brows. “Do this thing?”

“You heard me.”

“Hmm.” His smile was mysterious. “I wonder if your cat is as demanding as you are.”

She deliberately rubbed herself against the granite-hard length of his erection, not ready to consider what sort of animal lurked inside her. “Does it matter?”

The yellow in his eyes glowed until they appeared incandescent in the dim light.

Bracing himself on his elbow, he altered his position until the tip of his cock pressed against her entrance. “You are going to be all kinds of trouble, sugar.”

She sucked in a breath of anticipation, her pussy parting in welcome as he surged deep inside her with a slow, relentless thrust.

Moving her hands, Reny clutched at Sebastian’s shoulders, her nails digging into his skin. Holy crap. He was huge. Deliciously, heart-stoppingly huge. She groaned. There wasn’t pain. Despite Sebastian’s considerable size, her body eagerly accommodated his entry. But there was a sensual sense of fullness, and a startling intimacy that she hadn’t been expecting.

In this moment she felt utterly bonded to Sebastian. Bonded in a way that seemed far more poignant than two bodies simply having sex.

It was…

No. She slammed a mental door on the dangerous thoughts. She couldn’t afford for this to be more than a meaningless, transitory coupling.

“Reny,” he whispered close to her ear. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she muttered, burying her face in the curve of his neck. “Don’t stop.”

“Christ, I couldn’t stop if you put a gun to my head,” he muttered, withdrawing from her body before pushing back in with a growing urgency. “I’ve never felt anything more perfect.”

He was right.

It was perfect.

The heat and weight of his body as he pressed her deep into the mattress. The intoxicating musk that filled her senses. The beauty of his bronzed face, tight with the strain of tempering his hunger.

But before she could agree, he was once again pulling out and thrusting forward with a rhythm that stole her breath. Yes. Oh, yes. This was what her body had longed for in the depths of the night. This was what she needed.

Savoring the savage pleasure of his possession, Reny raked her nails down his back, delighted by the growl that reverberated in his chest. She dug her nails deeper, rewarded as he angled her head so he could sink his teeth into the vulnerable flesh of her neck.

He did bite.

His hips rocked faster, his hands tilting her upward to meet his deep, steady thrusts.

“Sebastian…please,” she implored, her body coiled so tightly she felt as if she might shatter.

“I told you to let go.” Dipping his head downward, he teased her aching nipple with his lips, pumping with a brutal pace as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

Reny’s breath rasped in the silent air, her focus locked onto the point where Sebastian’s body slammed in and out of her.

She was so close. So divinely close.

And then…pow.

It happened.

With one last surge he tumbled her over the edge, galvanizing her into an orgasm that exploded with blissful force. Her scream of pleasure reverberated through the room, her body shuddering with bliss as he continued to pump into her until he stiffened with his own release, his back arching beneath the force of his climax.

Wrenching open her eyes, she regarded him in horror.

Dammit. He’d made her scream.

Meeting her gaze, he allowed a smug smile to curve his lips. “Gotcha.”

Sebastian purred, basking in the heat of Reny’s body entwined with his own.

Mmm. He was satisfied on a level that went way beyond a good orgasm.

Sated lust was a good thing.

Hell, it was a great thing.

But this sense of…bone-deep rightness…it made him feel as if he’d just won the fucking lottery.

He was in trouble.

The kind of trouble that led a male Pantera into mating for life.

But he didn’t care.

Fate had given him this female and there was no way in hell he was letting her go.

Nuzzling his lips against her temple, Sebastian trailed his fingers over her toned abs, relishing the spicy scent that fully captured this complicated woman.

Sassy, strong, unpredictable.

“That was—” His words were cut short when Reny pressed her fingers to his lips.

“No.”

He arched a brow. “No?”

“I don’t want to dissect what happened between us.”

Propping himself on his elbow, he carefully studied her wary expression.

Her dark hair was spread across the pillows, hidden streaks of red shimmering like fire in the muted overhead light. Her face was still flushed from their combustible passion. And her slender body was perfectly formed to curve against him.

Her beauty was like an incandescent flame that drew him like a moth.

But it was the stubborn set of her jaw that captured his attention.

Reny Smith might have given her body with a generosity that had stolen his heart, but it was obvious her mind refused to accept the inevitable bond that was forming between them.

He smiled wryly. He didn’t know whether to be annoyed with her stubborn resistance, or excited by the thought of continuing the chase.

It would make her eventual surrender all the sweeter.

Leaning down, he nipped the tip of her nose. “Are you always so romantic with your lovers?”

“I’m practical,” she said in defensive tones. “I’ve had to be.”

“Why?”

“When you have your past stolen from you by amnesia you swiftly discover the world isn’t a place for fairy tales.”

Amnesia…hell, that would explain so much.

“You were in an accident?”

“There was some sort of trauma.” Old sorrow darkened her moss green eyes. “I was found hidden in the back of a semi-truck. I had wounds on my wrists and ankles that proved I’d been bound for several days, if not weeks. Maybe even longer. The doctors speculated that I’d been held by a psychopath and my mind had blocked out the memories of my torture.”

Sebastian barely dared to breathe as fury exploded through him. This sweet, fragile woman had been abused by a madman?

It was no wonder she’d been forced to build walls in her mind. Not only to deal with the horror of her captivity, but to contain the cat inside her that had never been allowed to fully bond with her.

Christ, she had to be one of the strongest people he’d ever met to not only survive, but to have built a new life for herself.

His fingers gently stroked her cheek, the need to ease her pain a physical necessity.

“How did you join the FBI?”

She turned in to his light caress, unconsciously seeking the comfort of his touch. “The cops who found me took me under their wing when it became obvious I wasn’t going to be able to find my family.” A tremor raced through her body. No doubt she’d tormented herself over the years with the image of how her parents must have been frantic in their search for their missing daughter. “They encouraged me to apply to Quantico.”

Sebastian frowned. How was it possible that he hadn’t heard of a missing Pantera female?

Her parents would have come to the Wildlands for assistance in searching for her

Unless they were dead.

Which meant the bastard holding her might not have been a random psycho.

“Did they find the man responsible for holding you?” he murmured.

She shook her head. “They searched, but they couldn’t even be entirely certain that’s what happened to me.”

“Perhaps they were looking in the wrong place.”

“What do you mean?”

He absently smoothed a strand of hair behind her ear. “The Pantera have enemies.”

Her lips parted, but before she could interrogate him, there was a series of beeps from across the room.

“That’s the office,” she muttered, wriggling out of his arms to hop out of bed.

Sebastian gave a low growl of protest, but he couldn’t deny an appreciation of watching her naked ass as she moved to pick up her jacket and pull out the ringing phone.

It was a very fine ass, he acknowledged, wishing he’d done more exploring of the lush temptation.

Next time…

His indulgent fantasies of the various ways he intended to savor Reny were interrupted as he watched her expression become grim as she listened to the caller.

Instantly, he was off the bed and pulling on his clothes. Their all-too-brief moment of privacy was over.

It was time to rejoin the world.

“What happened?” he demanded as soon as she ended the call.

She dressed with a brisk efficiency. “There was another mauling.”

“Damn.” Sebastian tucked his shirt in his pants and smoothed back his hair. “I need to talk to the victim.”

“You can’t.”

“Why not?” His brows snapped together as he watched her slip on her sensible leather shoes and tug her hair into a tight ponytail.

Once again she was the starchy Agent Smith.

His cat growled in disapproval.

She lifted her head to meet his annoyed glare. “She’s at the morgue.”

Oh…hell.

Sebastian’s gut twisted with regret. He’d known it was only a matter of time before their enemies took their attacks to the next level, but he’d hoped he would be able to expose them before they actually killed someone.

“Do you know where they found the body?”

Reny grimaced. “It was propped next to the dumpster at the police station.”

“Bold bastards.” Sebastian pulled out his phone and texted the info to Raphael. The Wildlands needed to be prepared in case the humans decided to retaliate. “They wanted to make sure it was found.”

“Yes.”

Sebastian slid the phone back into his pocket. “We need to find the first victim.”

“I agree.”

With an obvious refusal to glance toward the bed that was a visual display of their recent passion, she headed to pull open the door.

Before she could step out of the room, however, he captured her from behind. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he whispered directly in her ear.

“You know this isn’t finished.”

She held herself stiffly, but there was no missing the rapid beat of her heart.

“Don’t push your luck, cat,” she warned.