Tempting Gray - Untouchables 02 (21 page)

Arabella dressed in a pair of tight jeans and a
top that flattered her figure and headed off to the kitchen in search for food.
If she was lucky she might even catch Beth and Felicity there too. She’d
managed to bump into them around lunch time—which in the Blackmoore household
was at 9:30 at night—every night since she’d told Grayson she loved him.

Such an idiot.

Naturally, what had his response been? The
memory rushed to the surface like an air bubble trapped beneath water.

He narrowed his eyes at her. Uh oh. She knew
that look. He didn’t like what she had to say. Fuck, fuck, fuck. She just told
him she
loved
him. Not good! He slowly stood and wouldn’t look at her. He rubbed the back
of his neck, then headed for the door. Her body jolted, fighting the urge to go
after him.

“You should get some sleep. We’ll talk
tomorrow.”

No insults. Hell, really nothing at all. Except
for a gentle let down by way of changing the subject.

That happened four days ago. That ‘tomorrow
talk’ he’d mentioned—never happened. In fact, she’d only seen him twice. Once
when he was talking with his family during a meeting. They’d stood in the same
room together and even shared a few pleasant words. Then he’d disappeared. And
not that she was searching for him, but she might have wandered the estate
hoping to catch him. She missed him. She wanted to talk to him, to see how he
was.

The second time she saw him was in passing.
They both ended up on the opposite length of the hallway. He going one way, she
the other. They both hesitated before finally walking toward each other. When
they brushed past by the shoulder she sucked in her breath at his heat and his
scent. Damn. Catching whiff of his yummy scent only made her longing worse.
Then he spoke to her. The first time he’d said anything real to her
since she’d wrongfully admitted her feelings for him.

“Are you ready to track Vincent?”

That’s what he’d said. She’d expected anything
else over that. Instead of hurting her feelings though, she’d grown mad at him.
So she’d snapped back, “Are you ready to tell your family you slept with me?”

His hardening jaw and stormy expression was her
answer. He’d stalked away, his hands clenched. Served him right, she thought.

Now she was elbow deep in the refrigerator the
Blackmoores kept stocked with human food. She grabbed some cottage cheese to go
with her sandwich and stood up. That’s when the kitchen door swung open and
shut. Arabella loved that door the moment she saw it. It was one of those
swinging doors that could open in either direction. It did have a latch from
the kitchen side in case you wanted to keep people out. Though it wasn’t much
of a lock. A solid kick could throw it open. However, right now she couldn’t
say she noticed the door but the man standing there.

He practically glowered. He wore the fiercest
expression she’d ever seen like he was ready to throttle someone—preferably
her. She stiffened at his dominating presence even as her heart started to
race. Could he hear it, she wondered?

She took a big bite of her sandwich and spun
around. There was nothing to do but pretend to be busy so she stood at the
counter and read the label on the back of the cottage cheese container.
Interesting, she thought. Only ninety calories for a half-cup serving.

Please let Felicity or Beth come in here. Or
anyone else,
please. Someone save me!

He came up behind her. So close she could feel
his warmth.

“What do you want?”

“You know what I want,” he said. Her heart
jumped a beat at the sound of his deep voice so close.

“Is it really worth more than your life?” She
didn’t whisper, she demanded an answer with her question and she turned around
as she said it, facing him.

“He won’t be taking it.” He looked so
confident. But she’d experienced firsthand what happened when you messed with
the Donatos. It was not pretty.

“Funny, you also didn’t think you’d be taken by
Jericho, but look what happened at the casino.”

“In every assignment things go wrong. You can
plan and prepare all you want but there will always be missing variables. That
doesn’t mean you don’t go through with the mission. It means you have to suck
it up and just do it.”

Wow, she thought, blown away. This is how he
saw the world? So cut and dried and cold? It was a brutal outlook.

She took a bite of her sandwich. “So what you’re
telling me is you’re a spokesman for Nike.”

His brow furrowed as he narrowed his eyes, then
he took a threatening step forward. She swallowed down another bite and tried
to appear unaffected by him.

“I need your help tracking Vincent. After that,
this is all over.”

“No, it won’t be.” She shook her head.

“They killed my mate. I am fixing it.”

“By trying to get yourself killed too?” she
fired back. The sandwich, the cottage cheese—all forgotten as her temper
skyrocketed.

He bared his lips as he rolled his neck. “I
thank you for your concern, but I will not get hurt. This time all I need you
to do is tell me the location.
I
will go there and end this.”

“By yourself?” She blinked in surprise.

“Depending on the location I might take a few
men with me.”

She couldn’t stand still any more, she had to
pace to relieve some of her agitation. “Let me get this straight. The Donato
family is the hardest vampire family to track because of how well they keep
themselves hidden. Their money and resources surely also help them to stay
hidden. On top of that, you have that family seal with the lion head which
Jericho himself said helps to keep their positions obscure. You come along and
find me, a rare fucking commodity in the Were species—I mean, really, luck you—and
getting into the casino was difficult enough. Or did you forget about that?
Disguises, questions, being
tortured
in a dungeon with no help in sight?”
She was breathing hard when she finished.

“I’m not going to let him win,” Grayson said.
His eyes flared with hot anger.

“What if you don’t have a choice? There’s
always someone bigger and stronger and more powerful than you. Vincent Donato
is that man.”

It took her a minute to realize he hadn’t
responded. Arabella slowly spun around to find him watching her with his brow
pinched and lips frowning. “I know you’re scared.” She sucked in a harsh
breath. “And I know why you don’t want me to do this. But this isn’t about you.”
He started for her like she might bolt at any second. Which she felt exactly
like doing at his shattering words. “It’s about Anita and me. Please, Arabella,
I’m begging you. Do this for me. Find Vincent, track him so I can avenge my
bruid’s
honor.” He spoke harshly, his eyes glossy with fervor.

She crossed her arms, surprised to feel them
trembling. “That’s not fair.” Her voice wobbled and he crossed to her on a
curse.

In the next moment, he swept into her arms and
claimed her mouth with a kiss. The kiss was hard and bittersweet. Feeling his
mouth move against hers again after missing him over the past few days made her
mad with passion. She grabbed the back of his head, thrusting her fingers into
his thick dark brown hair and met him stroke for stroke, kiss for kiss. He tore
away first, breathing hard, eyes wild.

“Find him for me.”

That’s how they were found when Felicity and
Beth strolled into the kitchen. They froze in unison, Beth bumping into the
back of Felicity. Both their mouths hung open at the sight of Arabella clinging
to Grayson with her hand buried in his hair. She yanked it away and stepped
back. But then Grayson did something that stunned her—he wrapped his arm around
her shoulders and pulled her back against his side.

Beth and Felicity’s jaws touched the floor. “What
is going on here?” Felicity asked with faux haughtiness. She looked like she
was about to break out into delirious giggles at any moment or start taking
pictures with her camera phone.

“We were discussing tracking Vincent,” Grayson
said.

“Yeah, you know when Dom and I
discuss things,
we also do it while making out.” Felicity flashed a bright smile then grabbed
Beth by the hand and left where they came from. The kitchen door swung shut;
once again the kitchen turned quiet.

Arabella stepped out from Grayson’s touch. He
tightened his grip on her shoulder before releasing her. “I want you in my bed
tonight. Come sleep with me.”

Her eyebrows flew up and her heart banged like
a timpani drum. “Are you sure?”

He didn’t answer, just gave her a look. It was
all she needed to know he was serious.

“Okay,” she agreed.

Heat flared in his eyes and sound of his
laughter took her by surprise.

“What’s so funny?”

A grin transformed his face into something
sinfully seductive. “I finally got you to agree to something.” He leaned down
and buried his nose at the base of her throat. She gasped and grabbed hold of
his shoulders for balance. “I’ve missed you, Arabella.” He laughed self-deprecatingly.
“Do you have any idea how hard that is for me?” His tongue licked at her neck
reminding her of his bite and flooding her sex with liquid heat.

“I don’t know what you mean.” And she just
leaned her neck a little more to the right so he could play easier with her
neck. She almost laughed. Look at her, not so long ago the idea of sharing her
blood with a vampire had disgusted her. Now? She wanted him to take from her.
She wanted to feed him. For it to be only her who did it.

“You drive me crazy. I should be mourning, not
touching you.”

The blood froze in her veins. He noticed and
pulled back, frowning. “What?”

It was hard to speak over the baseball-sized
lump in her throat. When she finally did, her voice was a croak. “You’re right.
You shouldn’t be touching me.”

His eyes flew open. “I didn’t mean it like
that.” He reached for her but she pulled away.

“That’s all right. I understand. Really, I do.”

Leave now before you make a fool of yourself
and start crying.

He cursed and dragged a hand through his hair disheveling
it. “I’m sorry. Fuck. Come to my room tonight and let me try to fix this mess.”

“You’re always wanting to fix things. While
admirable, not everything can be fixed.”

“You think I don’t know that?” he said
bitterly.

She stiffened. “You’re right, of course.” He
had his dead
bruid
as proof of that.

He looked away, his jaw grinding like he was
chewing tobacco. “You won’t come, will you?”

“No.”

Nodding, he left the kitchen without a word.
Appetite gone, she tossed her leftover food into the garbage.

Arabella glared at her ceiling.

To go to Grayson’s room or not to go. That was
the question. And she had no clue what the correct answer was.

If her heart answered, it’d say
yes
, but
her head on the other hand still warred with indecision.

A brilliant idea hit her and she dashed for her
phone on the dresser and called up Sissy.

She answered with about as much excitement as
Arabella had expected. “Hey, girl! What’s up? Where have you been? Everyone in
the pack’s been talking about what went down at Donato’s underground casino.
Shit is getting real. I’ve been scared for you, baby girl. How is everything?”

“Awful,” Arabella said, the first thing to come
to mind.

Sissy sighed. “Tell momma Sissy all about it.”

Laughing, Arabella told her friend everything.
An hour and a half later her soul felt cleansed. Sissy had listened to every gruesome,
and wonderful, detail of everything that had happened. The casino, Kane, the
mysterious mercenary, Jericho, and of course the sex.

“Tell me it was as good as I want it to be,”
Sissy begged.

“It was even better.”

“Hot damn! I knew that boy was packing some
skills between the sheets.”

Arabella nodded, thinking her friend was quite
right about that.

“Listen, you’ve been through hell, but you’ll
come through it. Just stay strong, take it a day at a time.”

“He asked me to come to his bedroom tonight.”

“And you said yes, right?” Sissy asked,
sounding like she might hurt Arabella if she didn’t’ give the correct answer.

“I—well at first I did, but then we had the
fight. He wants me to find Vincent and I don’t want to do it.”

“He has every right. It was his
bruid
”

“Hey, I thought you were supposed to be on my
side,” Arabella snapped, her humor fleeing.

“Listen, I think I understand both sides to
this. He wants revenge for what they did to his mate. Now that both of the Donato
sons are dead though, Vincent won’t stop until Grayson’s dead. You better keep
watching your neck too. A man like that, wronged in the way Vincent was, he won’t
stop.”

“So you’re saying I should help Grayson to
track Vincent so he can kill him first?”

Sissy sighed directly. “I know it’s not a great
plan but in these kinds of situations no plan is without flaws. People are
going to get hurt. One way or another this battle between Grayson and Vincent
will have to end.”

A crushing weight settled atop her like an anvil.
She felt as though her heavy body was seeping into the ground. Or maybe that
was just her sliding to the floor as her mouth dropped open.

If she didn’t help Grayson, Vincent could kill
him. She’d known the danger all along, had experienced it firsthand. However,
she still hadn’t thought of this. Somewhere in her naive mind she’d thought if
they just didn’t go after Vincent he’d leave them alone. That Grayson, she, and
his family could all be safe and life could go back to some semblance of
normal. Now she realized things could never go back to normal. The world was
forever changed from the moment Grayson killed Domico Donato and could never be
how it was before.

“Should I go to him?”

Sissy answered quietly, the first quiet thing
she’d said all during their conversation. “I would.”

“Thanks, Sissy. I love you.”

“Love you too, girl. Remember, stay strong.”

Arabella ended the call. Emotions warred within
her. Doubt and questions that didn’t have answers muddled with stress.

But she went to her duffle bag and emptied it
onto the bed. All of the meager belongings she’d packed before she left for
this journey looked rumpled and unimpressive. Nothing had any real spark of
color that caught her eye. Hell, it all looked like dirty laundry from being
shoved in her duffle for a week.

“Okay then,” she muttered to herself, stripping
down to nothing. She settled for the white robe that she found in the bathroom.

She took through the dark halls of Blackmoore Estate.
It was quiet, no one to be seen as she skipped across the red running carpet to
his room. When she reached it she hesitated, her fist raised in the air to
knock. She’d said she wouldn’t come. What if he didn’t want her here?

She sucked in a deep breath and exhaled long
and slow. There was only one way to find out.

She turned the door handle, surprised to find
it unlocked, then stepped inside and shut the door quietly behind her. Her eyes
quickly scanned for any sign of him but found none. The bathroom light was on
though and she heard running water. Shoot. She’d caught him in the shower. She
was both relieved and disappointed at the discovery.

A shadow moved across the doorway and then he
filled it, looking straight at her. Neither of them said anything. He was still
damp from the shower. He’d wrapped a white towel around his waist. Her mouth
watered for a taste of him.

“Can I come in?” she whispered.

His eyes trailed up and down her body with that
brow that was forever furrowed. His face rarely relaxed. Enough time passed
that she grew impatient. She headed for him with purposeful strides, almost
swaggering. His eyes lit up but still he didn’t move, didn’t say a word to
acknowledge whether he wanted her here or not. He wanted her. She
knew
.
Could smell it in his rich scent, could see it in his eyes and the pump of his
heartbeat against his chest.

She pulled at the sash keeping her robe closed.
It opened, flapping along her stomach and legs like wings. She stepped into him
and he sucked in a hissing breath.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

She placed her palms over his chest. His small,
flat nipples grazed her hands. “I’ve decided to come to bed with you.”

“You said no.”

“Well, now I’m saying yes,” she informed him.

“Did you change your mind about tracking
Vincent, too?”

She looked away and fought to control her
anger. She swore if she never heard that name again, it would be too soon. “I
don’t know.”

That seemed to surprise him. He leaned closer,
though he probably wasn’t aware of it. “You were thinking about it,” he said,
not a question.

“Maybe,” she admitted, still unable to look at
him.

“Why?”

She looked at him finally. “You know why.” Because
she loved him.

His throat moved as he swallowed hard. “Come
on.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the bathroom.

She saw that he hadn’t just come from a shower
but a bath. His bathtub was one of those oversized, luxurious pieces that could
hold three to four people. He dropped the towel and tugged her robe down, then
he pulled her into the water with him. Although he didn’t set her in his lap,
but on the opposite side of him. This way, she realized, they could look at
each other. Almost like they were sitting having dinner together instead of
lying in a bathtub.

When he touched her foot beneath the warm,
sudsy water that smelled gently of flowers, she jumped. He wore a scowl as he
pulled her foot onto his chest looking at it. She curled her toes to try and
hide and he gave her a reprimanding glare. So she relaxed her foot, but it was
hard.

He touched each of her toes and ran his thumb
across the pink paint on her toenails. Then he began rubbing the muscles in her
foot. Her head fell back as she let him massage her. Her body relaxed and mind
turned to melted butter on his touch.

“You’re really good at that.”

“I know.”

She laughed at his confidence. “You already
knew that? Who got to discover that special gift?”

He was quiet for so long she opened her eyes.
Fuck
.
It was Anita. She could see it written clearly in his haunted gaze.

“I’m sorry,” she said instantly, jerking her
foot back.

As if coming out of a spell, he shook his head,
then he grabbed her other foot and preceded to massage that one. “The night I
mated with Anita, we bathed in a pool of water. It was not nearly as warm as
this, but it was tolerable. I had a duty to perform. I’d just been mated. I had
to consummate that bond. My first time.” The muscle over his eye twitched.

“We were both so nervous. I don’t think either
one of us wanted to do it, but it needed to be done. She suggested the bath, so
we took off our clothes and climbed in, shivering. That’s when I saw her feet.
I remember thinking I liked them. They were dainty and feminine and my mother
used to complain about the pain in her feet from working all day. So I picked
up her foot and massaged it.”

“So you scored with a foot massage?” she
blurted out. Mortification flamed her cheeks. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to
joke about that.”

Except, he had his head thrown back and was
laughing. After he calmed his face looked much more relaxed, the wrinkles
around his eyes and the lines on his forehead not as pronounced. A faint smile
lingered. “There’s nothing to be sorry about it. I’d much rather remember the
good memories with her.”

“I want to help you, but I want you alive more
than that. Can’t you understand why I can’t make that decision?” His hands
stilled and he dropped her foot. She instantly missed the connection.

He stood, sending a rush of water cascading
down his lean body. “I think, Arabella, I know what you need.”

She blinked, confused. “What do I need?”

He held out his hand. She hesitated before
taking it. The second her hand slipped into his though, he tugged her hard then
lifted her up into his arms. He stepped out of the tub dripping water and
making a mess everywhere.

She gave him a silly smile. “You’re making a
mess.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Like I care about some
water.”

He took her into the bedroom, then tossed her
on the bed. Giddy, she laughed as she flew through the air then landed on his
bed, bouncing. His gaze turned hungry as it roamed over her naked body, heating
her wherever his gaze looked.

“I want to tell you something,” he said,
looking dire.

She stilled, eyes wide. “What is it?” It couldn’t
be anything good.

Instead of answering her, he climbed slowly up
the bed and over her body until his elbows trapped her head and his strong body
covered hers. He kissed her cheek, then her ear, and then he whispered softly,
turning her world upside down. “I’ve always known you. And you’ve always known
me. From the moment we met, we knew we were connected. I knew I’d found you.
That’s why, when you said you loved me, I wasn’t surprised. Because, while I’ve
never thought of it as love, that’s what’s between us. Maybe it’s something
even stronger than that, something bigger. And it’s here between you and me.”

She held him close. “Yes, yes, it’s true.” She
could leap for joy that he knew, that he understood and recognized this
thing
that had always been between them. He’d explained better than she ever
could have.

“That’s why I need you to track him for me,
Arabella. I have to finish this so I can move on, too.”

Her throat squeezed tight making it hard to
breathe. She hadn’t seen that curveball coming. “That’s so unfair,” she
whispered, wanting to cry. “Don’t you dare use my feelings as leverage!”

One hand stroked her hair and he kissed her on
the lips. “I’m not, and if that’s what you think I did, that wasn’t my
intention. I need your help, Arabella, so
we
can move on.”

Bam. He sunk the nail in deep. She gasped and
he caught her open mouth in a wicked kiss. She clung to him, kissed him back
harder. When he finally lost it, he dragged one of her legs over his arm to
spread her open, then he slammed in deep. He fit inside her perfectly, touching
every spot like he was meant to.

The headboard knocked against the wall as his
movements increased, pounding her into the mattress. Each thrust sent her closer
and closer to paradise. She moaned and whispered in his ear, telling him how
wicked he made her feel, how much she loved his cock, until, groaning, he
reached between their bodies to flick her sensitive bud and set her off like
fireworks. She came on a wondrous cry.

He slowed things down letting her ride the
waves of pleasure coursing through her. Then he licked her nipple laving
attention upon it until it puckered. When he sucked her breast into his mouth
she felt the sharp edge of his fangs. She gasped and undulated, writhing
against his tunneling cock. It felt so good to be filled full of him in every
way. Like she was made to do this. She threaded her hands through his hair.

“Do it,” she said.

He tugged on her nipple with his lips giving
her a grunt in response.

“Do it,” she said again. “Bite me right there.
I want to feel it.”

The bite came only a moment later. Tingling
started around the wound then dissipated throughout her body. He sucked at her
and with each pull, her sex clamped down on him making him take her harder
until they were both locked in a sensual battle for climax. She came first—on a
wordless cry—as he retracted his fangs, kissed her and pressed deep. His shaft
pulsed inside her with his release giving her everything.