Tempting Gray - Untouchables 02 (20 page)

Her neck was right there. How easy it would be
to take her neck. He licked her from shoulder to earlobe. She pushed back
against him, panting. Grayson couldn’t wait anymore; he found her opening and
pushed deep. She took every single inch of him coating him in her sweet warmth.

“You can do it, you know,” she whispered. “You
can take my neck. I trust you.”

His fangs throbbed, jaw flexed as he fought the
urge to do just that. “No, I can’t.”

He cupped her breasts, arching her back against
him as he thrust into her willing body. Her nipples were tender points he
pinched and tugged on. He couldn’t get enough of her. He had to touch her
everywhere, running his hands down her sides and up her stomach, down her legs
then settling between her thighs. He played her bud very gently. She was so
responsive to his touch.
Perfect
.

“Please, bite me while you take me,” she begged.

The throbbing in his gums was too much. Her
plea couldn’t be ignored. Grayson took her body with ever quickening thrusts.
Then he did as she asked, was helpless not to. Could he refuse her anything? He
was under her spell and it was a beautiful place to be. A paradise.

So he bit her. Right on that sweet spot at her
neck over the jugular. Blood burst in his mouth in a warm rush. She tasted
unlike anything he’d ever had before. Something completely unique and her. It
was sweet, light, and delicate. Her blood fueled his strength. Already his
wounds were healing significantly faster and the hunger—it consumed him.

Grayson had her caught. One hand in her hair,
the other softly circling her clitoris. This bite was completely different than
that first had been. The first time happened as an act of desperation created
from fear. This was pure heavenly seduction. Sucking her blood while filling
her with his cock—unforgettable.

“Oh, god, please don’t stop.”

He didn’t. Grayson sent her exploding with a
final climax, her pussy milking him and sucking his own release from him.
Grunting, he rutted hard and came in thick surges against her womb.

This time after they disentangled themselves
and lay down, he let her fall asleep against him. It took her less than two
minutes to pass out naked sprawled across his chest. She slept with her mouth
open, her face softening. And looking at her then, with the weight of
everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours looming over him, he
knew he loved her.

He’d only ever loved one woman in his life
aside from his mother and step-mother. He’d loved his
bruid
. It had
taken years to become close with Anita, but when he had, he’d given all of his
heart to her and she’d done the same to him. Those years were his happiest. Now
when he looked at Arabella Donahue, he knew it was happening all over again.

He was falling in love.

What did a woman do when she loved a man who
obviously felt guilty over having sex with her?

When they woke up that evening, he hadn’t been
cold or standoffish. He really hadn’t. He had spoken to her, even touched her
on the shoulder while he talked to Sophie. Then, before they left the healer’s,
he’d looked at her for a long moment. Her stomach had fluttered thinking he
might kiss her. An unexpected rush had swept through her. But then he’d combed
some hair back from her face.

He emitted a mixture of hot and cold. Because
if he really regretted sleeping with her, wouldn’t he barely be able to look at
her, let alone touch her? While in the car ride back to Blackmoore Estate,
Arabella found her mind racing. She hadn’t had sex in a long time. Then last
night she up and slept with Grayson—twice. If she had to score the performance,
she’d give it an out of the ballpark homerun.

Arabella figured she knew the answer to his
problem. It was a rather simple puzzle. Not very long ago his mate was cruelly
and savagely murdered. And last night he’d indulged in pleasure with another
woman. She didn’t need to be a psychologist to know the honorable, moral
Grayson was struggling to cope with guilt and maybe even shame this morning.

So the car ride to the estate went by in
silence. All she wanted was to open up and talk to him and for him to open up
and talk to her. But life wasn’t easy. People weren’t easy and emotions were a
complicated business.

When they arrived, Arabella was surprised to
see Dominic storm out of the house before they’d even pulled to a stop.
Felicity, Vas, Diane and the rest of the Blackmoores trailed after him in a
rush like they were trying to stop him.

Grayson hadn’t even shut the engine off when
his door flew open. “Where the hell have you been?”

Shit. Had the rest of his family been notified
at all as to what all happened? Judging by the anxiety and rumpled clothes
everyone had, she was betting no.

Grayson hopped down from his seat. “I got here
as soon as I could. My phone died.”

“Where were you?” Lucas asked, stepping
forward. “We had no word about where you were or if you were even alive.”

“I was at a healer’s house in Arabella’s pack.
We were safe,” Grayson said.

“Why didn’t you come here? We could have taken
care of you.” This from a worried Diane. Arabella could tell this was hard for
Grayson. He looked uncomfortable with all the questions. He wore that grimace
that said he’d rather be any place but here—and probably with a cigarette.

“Let me at least get in the house, then I’ll
explain everything,” he said grudgingly.

Everyone settled down and relaxed at that. The
crowd headed inside like a morbid entourage.

Later, after he’d filled in the family on the
news, though Arabella noticed he left out all the raw parts of the story, she
adjourned back to her guest bedroom. Her duffle bag still sat on the floor by
the bed where she’d left it. She blinked, expecting it to disappear or
something. It felt strange being back here and seeing some of her own clothes.
Because she hadn’t thought she’d escape from the casino.

The mood change came swiftly and hit her as
hard as a wrecking ball.

They were going to kill us.

Quite unexpectedly, tears welled. The hot
droplets slid down her cold cheeks. It wasn’t just because of what happened
with Jericho, but because of last night and
everything
. All the stress
and pressure had been building inside her and she’d dealt, no problem. That was
life. She could do life. But last night—being stripped of her control and her
clothes, being touched by an unwanted stranger—it was the most invasive and
vile experience of her whole entire life.

Even though she showered last night, she could
swear she smelled the blood still on her body. Naked, she ran into the bathroom
and flipped on the shower.

She hadn’t even bothered to turn on the light.
In the dark she stepped into the spray. A shudder wracked her at the cold
temperature. She turned the temperature left. The water grew hot but not hot
enough. She inched the knob further feeling the heat kick up. Her skin began to
turn pink, her nipples pebbled. Squeezing her eyes closed from the stinging
spray, she cranked the knob hard left.

She sucked in a breath. It hurt.
Too hot
,
her brain screamed! But she needed this. The shower drowned out her soft sobs.
Why did she feel so ashamed? She’d done nothing wrong. She knew that, yet she
felt dirty and disgusted with herself.

With the water scorching hot, steam fogged the
bathroom. The stall looked like a storm was coming in. The soap helped to wash
it away, but not much. Five lines scarred her stomach. They would always be a
part of her. The relief that he hadn’t done more couldn’t be greater. But she
still had to wear that monster’s mark for the rest of her life and remember how
he’d looked at her. How he’d touched her and hurt her.

Her skin was raw by time she finished, but at
least she felt better. The tears had stopped giving her time to mend. She
needed to sleep for, oh, a week to properly recuperate after this ordeal. Her emotions
felt ragged and torn. If she could have anything she wanted right now it would
be for Grayson and her to take a vacation. They could just go somewhere, she
didn’t care where. So long as they could let the weight of the world go for a
few days. It would be peaceful and romantic.

Arabella shut the shower off. She stayed there
leaning against the shower wall and sucking in steam while her skin prickled
from the cool air. Then she heard her bedroom door open and close. She froze
like a scared animal.

Please don’t be him.

This was not the time for him to see her like
this. After she’d just finished bawling her eyes out like a baby.

He came into the bathroom and stopped when he
saw her. His eyes roamed over her body seeing everything from her eyes which
showed she’d been crying to her red skin from scrubbing.

“What are you doing?”

“None of your business,” she replied sharper
than she meant to. “I’m taking a shower. I’d like you to leave, please.”

He didn’t turn around as she asked and he didn’t
turn on the light either. Of course he could see much better than her in the
dark. “We have some things to discuss.”

She laughed. “Things to discuss, huh? I’m
afraid I can’t do that tonight.” She was still too raw after her emotional
breakdown.
Please leave,
she begged silently.

He came closer until he pulled back the shower
door. Steam poured over him. He hadn’t taken his eyes off her face. He saw
everything. What a terrifying thought. “I’m not going to do that. You need to
talk this out with someone.”

“Talk what out?” she croaked, her throat dry.

“What happened at the casino? You went through
some things that will take some time to work out. You have to talk about it.”

She shook her head. “Um, nope, don’t think I
do.” She moved to step out of the shower but he blocked her way. Feeling angry,
she pushed him back then grabbed the towel from the wall hook.

He grabbed her about the waist turning her to
face him. “You have to. I know you hate me right now. I get it. But we have to
move past this.”

Anger and frustration prickled her like a
cactus. “Really, and why is that? What’s the rush, Gray?”

He pulled away from her. Never a good sign. “I
need you to find Vincent.”

There had been several times in Arabella’s life
where she’d been so surprised she hadn’t known what to do and thus ended up
stumped, unable to do anything more than blink. There was the time when she
went to visit her father back when she was turning two hundred years old. She’d
expected a small birthday cake shared between the two of them, a movie on the
television, and a good night’s sleep. That’s all. But what had she gotten when
she arrived? A surprise birthday party of a lifetime. He’d planned it
perfectly. There were no cars on the street, no loud noises to let her catch
on, and no one had slipped up on the surprise ahead of time to spoil anything.
So when she’d entered the dark hallway of her father’s house and flipped on the
lights—she’d almost had a heart attack at the shear amount of people standing
there shouting “Happy birthday!” That moment had made her heart stutter, time
skip, and she’d actually looked behind her thinking they might have been
wishing happy birthday to somebody else. She couldn’t remember a time anyone
had ever gone out of their way for her like that. She’d been surprised and
unable to really comprehend what was going on.

Now she had that same reaction. That same
incomprehension stemming from shock. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

“I need you to find Vincent. He’s the only one left.”

Her eyebrows flew up. The towel slipped from
her hand as she padded back into the bedroom. Grayson trailed after her. “Excuse
me, maybe all those orgasms rattled my brain last night, but I feel like I’m
missing something here.” She spun around to see him shifting at the mention of
orgasms
.
Good. She wanted him to think about it. Suffer.

“I hired you to find both Jericho and Vincent
Donato. We’ve only found and eliminated one of them.”

“Well, I don’t want to have anything else to do
with this. I’ll refund half your money.”

He growled, a feral sound she’d only heard him
make when he fought. “I don’t care about the money. I need you to track
Vincent.”

Her heart hurt like a lead knot had taken up
residence there. It stung and it made her nose stuffy and her eyes moist. She
pulled back her comforter and slipped into bed naked. She’d only been up hours
but a great big yawn came and she sighed into the pillow. She was just so exhausted
from everything. She wasn’t kidding about needing that vacation. A week away
would be heaven.

In wake of her silence he asked stiffly, “You
refuse to do it?”

She couldn’t answer at first. “Yes,” she
whispered. Admitting it out loud was much more difficult than she thought it
would be. She spoke into her pillow with her eyes squeezed shut so she didn’t
have to look at him. Like the coward she was.

“Why?” he demanded to know.

“Because I don’t want you to die.”

It took several seconds for him to respond. “I
won’t die and neither will you.”

Her shoulders shook with bitter laughter. “You
don’t know that. You can’t guarantee my safety any more than you can your own.
You’ve taken both of his sons, Grayson. Can’t it stop there?” she asked like a
prayer.

“They killed my
bruid.
I will have
vengeance for her. She deserves the honor killing. I owe her that.”

A tear spilled down her temple. She rubbed it
away with the pillow. “Then we have a problem.” Emotion clogged her words.

The bed dipped, startling her. He sat down next
to her, cupped her cheek and turned her head to look at him. He saw the
moisture around her eyes. “Arabella…” The soft way he said her name had her
blinking quickly to rein in the tears.

“Don’t,” she said.

His thumb caught her tears and wiped them away.
He looked bitter and sad, and as always, beautiful to her. “I am sorry he
touched you. I’m sorry about everything.”

His words struck her last defense, crumbling
them. When she climbed into his lap and he wrapped his arms around her and held
her, she let her tears come. He didn’t judge her for showing weakness.

Maybe he didn’t even entirely understand
everything she was going through right now, but that was fine because she didn’t
either. And nothing she’d been through could compare to him.

With her face buried in his neck, her tears
slowly dried. She was plastered to him, not a part of her not touching him.
Swallowing over the lump in her throat, she whispered to him a truth that had
been in her mind from the moment they met all those years ago. A feeling that
had been planted on that very first day and, upon him re-entering her life,
made that feeling grow.

“Grayson, I love you.”