“Hmm. Beautiful, but I don't see any trees. Specifically, no trunks.” She slid him a sly glance. “Gotta have trunks.”
Excitement flared in his eyes. “Trunks? Sure, I can find you a trunk.” His expression said he'd find her a trunk even if he had to gnaw a tree down with his own teeth and drag it into the break room.
His eagerness made her laugh, but beneath the laughter desire stirred. She knew tree trunks and memories of Conall would always be intertwined.
Memories? A sad word, because each day of her existence would be filled with all the things he said and did, tucked away to be taken out when she felt lonely. Yes, even with him always with her, she'd be lonely, because Conall O'Rourke would never let himself feel deeply about a Kavanagh.
Did she want him to feel deeply? Maybe, yes.
He clicked the remote and a scene from the Saguaro National Park in Arizona filled the screen. All cactus and brilliant blue skies.
“Ouch. Saguaros are awesome, but kind of prickly for what I had in mind.” She sighed and snuggled closer as he gave in and put his arm across her shoulders.
The click-clicks became more desperate as scene after scene flashed across the wall. “Where the hell are the forests? Who chose these freakin' scenes?”
Gerry slid her fingers over the top of one muscular thighâteasing,
hoping
. “They were all shot during the day. Any night scenes?”
Click, click. “No. The vampires use this room the most. They like pretending they're out on a sunny day.” Click, click, click!
“So what're we going to do with the mob in my dungeon? Oh, and don't forget the Siamese diva outside the door.”
Click, click. “Fo and Gabriel only have to be here when I'm sleeping or if we're hunting paranormal entities. Ganymede's a freeloader. He'll leave when we cut off his food supply. Asima? I don't think anyone except maybe Ganymede or Morrigan could make her go away. But at least she's outside the door.” Click! Click!
CLICK!
Gerry watched the screen anxiously. If a tree trunk didn't appear soon, Conall was going to put his foot through the wall.
“Trees.”
He sounded like he'd just run a marathon.
But there they were. A forest of glorious trees in fall's brilliant colors. Like Pavlov's pooches, she immediately started salivating for Conall's hot bod. Okay, so she didn't need the trees to do that.
Taking her hand, he dragged her from the couch and over to the left side of the screen where one large maple tree stood, its leaves rustling in the crisp breeze.
“This trunk good enough for you?”
From the heat in his gaze, she didn't think he gave a flip whether the trunk was perfect or not. “Wonderful trunk.” She fixed her gaze on those broad shoulders along with the sculpted pecs and abs clearly delineated by his black T-shirt. Down, down her gaze glided to his strong thighs and muscular legs showcased by worn jeans.
Was there any part of this guy that wasn't a savory sensual treat? She had to get him naked to do a more detailed investigation. There must be at least one tiny spot on him that was just ordinary, maybe a mole or an ugly toe. Something.
As he lowered his head to take her mouth, she tangled her fingers in all that thick dark hair. No need for preliminaries. She parted her lips for him and welcomed his tongue, parried his every move as she let his taste of hot male animal carry her to the next level of sexual excitement.
He'd taken an instant leap up two levels if his erection was any indication. She walked her fingers over the bulge. He groaned as he transferred his magic mouth to the swell of her breasts. Sparkle's easy-access top worked perfectly.
Gerry's thoughts became a blur of need, overpowering everything rational, as Conall slipped her top off and then made short work of her bra. He didn't just free her breasts to his touch, he freed everything sexual dammed up since she became vampire. The flood threatened to sweep her into stormy seas with no lighthouse in sight. Oh well. Drowning in sex wasn't a bad way to go.
Before her brain locked the door and took off to party with the sluts living on the ground floor, it gave a shout-out to Sparkle.
“Lookout needed. Now.”
If Sparkle didn't hear that, Gerry hoped Morrigan was doing her bitch act far, far away. Because Gerry didn't think she'd be able to stop this time.
She leaned back against the screen. Nope, wasn't a tree trunk, but she'd save that fantasy for another time. Gerry didn't need a fantasy when Conall was sliding his tongue across each nipple and then nipping gently before closing his lips over a hard, super-sensitized nub.
He did the suction thing, and her enhanced senses jump-started every nerve in her aroused body. Tiny nerve messengers put on their running shoes and raced to her brainâher brain was still kicked back drinking a wine cooler with the aforementioned slutsâso they could deliver the news. The little guys were so excited all they could say was “Wow, wow, wow.” Her brain thought that was pretty cool and went back to party some more.
As each nipple became the power center of her personal universe, she wanted to do her amoeba imitationâabsorb him into her body so the pleasure would go on and on and on from the inside out.
“Oooh, Gabriel, that looks like lots of fun. Turn up the volume so I can hear the groans. I wonder what it feels like to get all naked and then kiss and touch until every inch of your body is slick and hotâ”
Damn. Gerry tried to block out Fo who was shouting to be heard above the TV. Now, if she could just get Conall's T-shirt off.
He rolled her nipples between his fingers as he sank to his knees and kissed a heated path over her stomach. Whimpering, she grabbed his shirt and pulled.
He obliged by pausing long enough to yank it off and fling it on the floor.
Gerry closed her eyes as she slid her splayed fingers across the wonder that was his muscular back and shoulders. There couldn't possibly be anything more sensual than warm, bare male flesh.
“Yo, Fo and Gabriel. Hot video you got there. Sort of reminds me of what turns Sparkle on. When we visit this island I bought in the Caribbean, I pretend to be a pirate. My wicked lady gets off on pirates. See, my ship sank, but I manage to crawl ashore. Naked. Hey, whatever makes my sweetie happy is okay with me. She meets me on the beach wearing nothing but her whip. Big freakin' whip. She spreads those long, long legs and thenâ”
Ack!
Focus on Conallâhis fingers, his mouth.
Sometime during Ganymede's little sexual trip down memory lane, Conall had rid her of her shorts and panties. Spreading her legs, she assumed Sparkle's position. She didn't have a big whip, though. She'd put it on her shopping list.
“Do you think you could hold that position while I smash a TV and strangle a cosmic troublemaker?” Conall's voice was a low rumble filled with arousal and frustration.
“No.” She locked her fingers in his hair to keep him there. “Leave me and you're dead.”
His soft laughter prickled across her super-sensitized skin. “And right here is where I want to stay.”
He demonstrated exactly where he wanted to stay. Reaching around her hips, he clasped her cheeks in his big hands and massaged them as he drew her closer.
Hey, she understood body language, and her body was screaming, “He's going to put his mouth
there
.” The realization dragged a moan from her.
Crash!
“Sparkle Stardust is here to protect all those who want to have sex without fear of interruption from vindictive old crows.”
“Jeez, babe, you didn't have to break down the door. It was unlocked.” Ganymede sounded like he had his mouth stuffed with chips.
“I looove your outfit, Sparkle. Gabriel, can I have one just like it?”
Conall's grip on her behind tightened, and he growled low in his throat. “Where's my sword? I feel a killing spree coming on.”
“Easy.” She tried to soothe him while her fingers itched to wreak mass destruction on the whole bunch of them. “Where were we?”
“Right here.” He put his mouth high on her inner thigh and swirled his tongue over her skin. Warm, wet, and pretty spectacular as coming attractions went.
Gerry was a weak-kneed wuss. She knew that because the higher Conall's magic tongue slid up her thigh, the more her knees shook.
“I won't be standing much longer.” Was that wispy excuse for a voice hers?
“Won't have to.” Ignoring her startled squeak, he picked her up and deposited her on a nearby chaise longue. “It's not a tree trunk, but you won't have to worry about bark burn.”
“Caw! Caw! Someone get this damn cat off my tail feathers before I donate her gut to some needy stringed instrument.” Morrigan?
“You'll be missing more than a tail if you don't leave Conall alone.”
“Get lost, Asima. I'm the lookout around here. Hello? See my skintight and very awesome black, kick-butt bodysuit? Notice my black boots with the four-inch heels? Do you have a sexy black mask? I don't think so. Cast envious eyes on my guns and knives. I'm ready to rip a strip from some goddess booty.”
“I don't need help from a slut queen to take down this oversized bag of feathers. Go sell some gumdrops, Sparkle. I'm a messenger of Bast. I can do it all.”
“Uh, Sparkle? Love your ass, honeybuns, but it's blocking the screen.” Ganymede sounded grouchy.
Conall knelt on the floor beside where Gerry sprawled naked on the chaise. He rested his forehead on her tummy and whispered curses she'd never heard before.
Gerry smoothed his hair with trembling fingers. “They will
not
cheat us out of our orgasms. Get naked, O'Rourke.”
She half expected him to proclaim that he'd found his self-control hiding under the coffee table, and they had to stop before Morrigan fought her way past Asima and Sparkle.
He didn't. Instead he stood and shucked his shoes, jeans, and briefs.
If she'd really had to breathe to live, Gerry would've been doing the openmouthed guppy gulp. He hadn't lost any of his wow from the first time she'd seen him naked. Conall was all smooth, supple flesh and gleaming muscle.
His erection jutted thick, long, and hard. She wanted to wrap her fingers around it and let his heat melt any misgivings about what was happening in the other room.
She moved over as he knelt beside her. Reaching out, Gerry ran the tip of her finger around the head of his cock. He sucked in his breath.
“Where were we?” His smile was a flash of white teeth.
“We wereâ”
“Hiss! Meeeow!” Crash!
“She got my tail feathers. I can't freakin' fly without them. I'm about to kill me some cat.”
“Useless Irish goddess. Bast is an Egyptian goddess. Only Egyptian deities are worth working for.”
“Does no one understand that I have the totally sexy outfit, so I get to do all the killing? Back off, bitch kitty, because Sparkle Stardust is in the house. Mede, I'm busy. Make Asima go away.”
“Look, Bat Babe, I'm a war goddess. I'm more powerful than whatever the hell you are. I'll swing you by that red hair and then bounce you off all four walls.”
“Yo, asshole, leave my woman alone. You won't be doing any flying without your head, either.”
“This is fun, Gabriel. If we had human forms, we could punch things. Oooo, Sparkle just landed a good one.”
“I don't know, beautiful mama. If we were crows, we'd have wings and beaks. Look, Morrigan landed on Sparkle's head. Now she's peckingâ”
“No, cats have the best forms, cuddle daddy. Asima climbed all the way to the top of the iron maiden. Now she's going to leapâ”
“Hell!” Conall flung himself to his feet and strode to the music system in the corner. He rooted through the CDs. “Damn, no loud bands. Only sounds of nature. Who chose this crappy stuff?”
“Any
loud
sounds of nature?” Something to cover the noise of destruction on the other side of the wall.
“The wind?”
“It'll work. Turn it up all the way.”
The wind roared and whistled. Gerry controlled the need to hold on to something.
Conall looked grim as he lay down beside her. “Anyone who interrupts us is dead meat.”
10
Primal need drove Conall as he slid his fingers over her breasts, her stomach, and up her inner thighs. Gerry caught his urgency and nipped his shoulder.
He tensed.
“Don't worry. I won't bite you.”
Even though I'm really, really tempted.
She sighed. “Hey, if you want to deprive me of the yummiest orgasm of my life, who am I to go all whiny on you. Of course, I don't know for sure if it would be that great, because I've never done the biting-while-making-love thing. But that's what I hear.” Was her smile playful and perky enough? “The bite is dessert, though. The main course will fill me up completely, so who needs dessert?”
Memememe.
She'd always been more a sugar than spice kind of woman.
His smile was slow and so sensual she wanted to roll on top of him and ride him into the sunset.
“You can sink your teeth into any part of me you want to, vampire lady.”
Something heavy lifted from around her heart. He wouldn't say that to just any old vampire, would he? “Then why the ohmigod moment when I nipped you?”
“I heard something crash against the wall.”
“Oh.” Enormous relief.
“Sparkle and Asima are buying us some quality time. Let's make our lovemaking worth a goddess's tail feathers.” Scooting down, he knelt between her legs.