to
this
vampire, there was no such protection. Not only had we shared blood, but we’d created a link that went far deeper than mere psychic touch. It was a link not affected by distance or the presence of psychic deadeners. A link that made him able to read my surface thoughts as easily as he drank blood.
Which was why my shields were currently up high. Whether it helped or not I had no idea, because I certainly wasn’t going to risk reading him.
“Is it not usual for those who fight Gautier to be given leave? Why are you going in today?”
“Why are you so damn fixated on this?”
He shrugged. I wasn’t for an instant believing the casualness behind the gesture. “I’m curious, that’s all.”
“Yes, it is unusual. But then, I’m not the usual guardian candidate, am I?”
“No, you are not.”
I frowned at the edge in his voice, but the kettle chose that moment to whistle its readiness, and I turned away from him to pour my coffee.
Bad mistake.
Though my hormones quickly formed a differing opinion as his arms slid around my waist. “Why is it so hard to believe I am here to see you?” His lips brushed the side of my neck, sending a shimmer of delight right down to my toes.
But as much as my hormones had formed a cheer squad for some vampire loving, the itchy feeling he was here for more than just me wouldn’t go away.
“Why did you suddenly show up on my doorstep after two months of no contact?”
“We had contact.”
“One night in two months? Hardly enough loving to keep a gnat awake, let alone a werewolf.”
“Running a multinational business sometimes takes more time than I would wish.” He slid one of my top’s shoestring straps off my shoulder. The brush of his lips against the flesh between my shoulder and neck felt like the touch of flame. “And our deal was you could be with others when I wasn’t there. I’m sure you didn’t go without.”
“Oh, I didn’t, trust me.” I tried concentrating on making myself a coffee, but it was damnably hard when he was so close, so warm, and so very, very tempting. “And you’re saying you had no time to even leave a message?”
“Why did I need to when we were sharing erotic dreams at night?” The second strap slid away with some help from his fingertips, then the top itself was being tugged down to expose my breasts. The warm air caressed my skin, as enticing as the man behind me.
“They were only dreams, Quinn. It would have been nice to have something with a little more substance.”
“Which is what we now have.”
His hand splayed across the flat of my stomach. Heat pooled under his fingertips, flared across my flesh like a flash fire. Lord, his touch was even more intense than I’d remembered.
His hands slid up to my breasts, pushing them together as he began to tease and pinch my engorged nipples. I squirmed against him, wariness momentarily forgotten as every inch of me vibrated with the hunger now flowing through my veins.
As if sensing the fall of reluctance, he began to kiss me, caress me, tease me, until tiny beads of perspiration covered my skin. Until every inch of me was trembling, and I was hovering on the edge of a climax, aching for the release he was keeping from me.
When his caress finally moved down, I groaned in relief. His fingers played around my thighs, close but not close enough to where I actually wanted them.
Needed them
. After a few more torturous moments, he hooked his thumbs under my panties and pushed them down my legs. I stepped free, then toed them to one side. He pushed up my skirt as I widened my stance, then his fingers were slipping through my slickness from behind, caressing and teasing until I was moaning from equal measures of pleasure and frustration. His soft chuckle whispered heat across the back of my neck, then his fingers were in me even as he pressed his thumb against my clit. As he began to stroke, inside and out, I shuddered, writhed, until it felt as if I was going to tear
Learning to Kill: Stories