Dajana nodded, her eyes huge. Then she looked at the people in the cage as Alannah wired it up again. Dajana spoke in swift, clear Serbian.
A tall man at the back of the group pushed forward, asking questions.
Everyone listened carefully as Dajana answered. Then their gazes all moved to Aran and Alannah and Marit. An older woman smiled brightly at them and nodded.
“They’ll do it?” Marit asked Dajana and Aran.
The tall man must have known a little English, or maybe her tone told him what she had said, for he raised his thumb up and smiled.
Hope was a universal language.
* * * * *
London was brushing out her hair when the knock came at the door. Early.
Her heart skittered. She put down the brush and went to the door.
Remi slid into the room and shut the door again and she caught her breath and let it out again. Her relief was immense.
He held out something on his hand.
She looked down at it. It was a tiny circle that looked like a piece of Velcro. “What is it?”
“It’s a tracker.” He turned it over and over in his fingers. It still looked like Velcro to her. “It can be switched on and off, so she can scan you until Doomsday and not find a single electronic squeak. She can even pat you down, but unless she actually gropes inside your bra cup, she won’t find it.”
“That’s where I should put it?” London asked.
Remi shrugged. “Anywhere you think is the least likely place a searcher would look.”
London looked at it. “Maybe I should put it in my panties, then.”
Remi held still for second. “If you want,” he said. “The only one likely to find it there won’t be with you.”
He was talking about Neven. He knew, then. Of course he knew. He had virtually shoved Neven into her arms.
London could feel her cheeks heating. Awkwardly, she held out her hand. “Here.”
He put the little fuzzy dot on her palm. It was slightly sticky on the bottom. She turned her back to him and unbuttoned her shirt enough to reach into her bra. She pushed her breast aside and placed the dot on the inside of the cup. “How do I turn it on?” she asked, resettling everything and fastening her shirt.
She turned back to face him. Remi had what looked like a mobile phone out and was staring at the screen. “Press it. Hard.” He looked at her. “Try it now.”
She slid her fingers between the buttons and reached into the bra and pressed the dot.
The mobile phone in his hands gave out a little chirp. Then it beeped continuously.
Remi turned the phone so she could see the screen. A map showed, that looked a lot like Google Maps, with a pulsing blue dot on it, right over the road that ran past the estate.
“Now turn it off,” Remi said.
She reached in again and pressed it.
The beeping stopped and the blue dot disappeared.
Remi put the phone away. “It’s just a precaution,” he told her. His hazel eyes were steady. “You can jump away if you feel unsafe. If you can’t, though, this is a failsafe.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly. She touched her shirt against. “It’s ridiculous. An afternoon of shopping and I’m terrified.”
Remi didn’t laugh at her. “That’s because your instincts are trying to warn you. Don’t underestimate her, London. Her appearance is deceptive.” He touched the phone in his pocket. “I’ll be watching this the whole time you are with her. If you trip the tracker, we’ll find you. As fast as we can.”
London gazed at him. How odd that she should feel comforted by Remi, of all people! She had been so terrified of him. Now he was the lesser of two evils.
His gaze met hers and her heart fluttered. His expression was the same one he had been wearing when she had watched him chop wood. Pain showed there and yearning.
Something wrenched at her heart. “Remi…” she breathed.
He didn’t move fast at all. London knew Remi could act faster than the human eye could track and he could have used that speed now. No one could see him but London and she knew his true nature already.
Yet his hand moved slowly up to her face. He lifted her hair up and let it fall off the back of his hand, over her shoulder and out of the way. Then he slid his fingers under it and behind her head.
London’s heart thudded against her chest. A high singing note sounded in her mind, blanketing coherent thought.
She wasn’t going to let him kiss her, was she?
Yes. Yes, she was.
It was the Remi she didn’t know that was looking at her with such profound emotion. This was the hidden Remi.
He eased her closer and closer still, until she was nearly touching him. Her whole body seemed to come alive. Energy crackled between them. Her breath slipped from between her lips in shallow pants.
He was staring at her mouth. A hungry expression was in his eyes.
With the same careful slowness, he bent and kissed her.
It was so soft that at first it almost felt as though he was not touching her. Softness and Remi De Sauveterre had never equated in her mind. Yet his lips were soft. Gentle.
His tongue touched her lips. Tasting.
London let out a breath that shook and it might have been a signal, for his mouth pressed harder, demanding more. Her heart skyrocketed.
His arm was around her back, holding her steady. She was pressed hard against him and he was like a rock. Hardness beneath a soft outer shell, which was right. It was perfect.
Remi turned her around, in a slow spin that felt almost like dancing. Her back was pressed against the wall and he held her there with his body, as his lips moved down her throat, tasting and exploring.
London let her head fall back. She had no thought of stopping him. It was too delightful. Too unexpected. She was burning wherever he touched her, which was most of her.
Why had she thought Remi would be cold? He was blazing against her. Throbbing. His cock was a rigid shaft against her belly.
When his lips reached the bottom of the opening of her shirt, where she had rested her fingers, he stopped and lifted his head to look at her. He was breathing as fast as her.
London was too afraid to speak, lest it shatter the moment. Her mind was full of questions and confusion, although she still did not want this moment to end. She didn’t want this Remi to leave.
He touched her hair. His hand trembled. Then he met her eyes once more. His looked green. Limpid. “Don’t be afraid,” he said, his voice low and rough.
A protest came to her lips. Before she could utter it, he shifted and was gone, the door shutting softly behind him. Then she realized that he had meant she should not be afraid of Sofiya and the shopping trip.
She had misinterpreted. She had been about to say, I’m not afraid of you.
It would not have been a lie, either.
* * * * *
When London walked into the drawing room, where Sofiya stood waiting impatiently, she looked pale. Only she had looked pale since she had arrived. The one time Neven had seen color in her face was in the cavern under Krakatoa.
He wished that he could hold her and tell her everything would be alright, only he didn’t know that everything would be alright. Besides, Kristijan would not do that.
Remi trailed after her. He was frowning, his gaze inward, his thoughts elsewhere.
On the big spread of lawn out in the front of the house, the helicopter started up. It sounded like any motorized vehicle, until the rotors picked up speed and started making their distinct thwocking sound.
London’s eyes grew bigger at the sound.
“Finally,” Sofiya said. She glanced at London. “You’re very British, aren’t you?” she declared, looking her over. “Does anyone have a suntan, there?”
London’s eyes narrowed. “Not everyone is a cliché,” she said shortly.
Neven winced.
Sofiya, though, gave a soft laugh. “She has a temper! We will have fun. Come along!
Come!” She strode towards the front door, her coat flapping on either side of her long legs. Only, the left side hung heavier than the right and Neven remembered the gun he had seen in it.
His heart sank.
London squeezed his fingers with hers and looked up at him. “I’ll be fine,” she assured him. “Or I’ll jump. Either way, I’m fine.” She gave him a small smile, hitched her handbag over her shoulder and followed Sofiya out the door.
Remi took her place next to Neven and watched her leave. “How did we reach this point?” he said softly.
“I screwed up, remember?” Neven said heavily.
The front door shut with a soft thump and immediately, the sound of the helicopter dropped to a muffled roar.
Remi turned to face him. “It isn’t just you who made this happen. Blame Kristijan for insisting she be here every two months. Blame me, for making sure she was on that plane.” His mouth turned down. “At least she can jump away if she needs to.”
Neven was startled by the pain in Remi’s eyes. “Since when did you grow a conscience?”
Remi shook his head. “Forget it,” he said, his voice rough. He picked up Neven’s hand and pulled him towards the stairs.
Neven slowed, pulling against Remi’s towing.
Remi looked back at him. “It’s alright. I know about you and London.”
“As you made sure that happened, I’m not surprised. I’m not the sort of man who can just hop from bed to bed like this.”
“Who’s hopping? This is just a way to distract ourselves, that’s all.” With an impatient sound Remi moved back to Neven and kissed him. It was a hard touch. His arm pulled Neven up against him.
Neven didn’t try to fight him off. It was pointless. Remi was infinitely stronger than him. Mentally, he held his breath, waiting for Remi to let him go so he could explain yet again.
However, the length of Remi’s body against him was hard to ignore. He was completely different to how London fitted against him. Remi was long and hard. And heated, too, especially his groin.
When had Neven learned to enjoy a man’s body like this? Or was it just Remi that made the difference?
When Remi did lift his mouth away, Neven was breathing hard, his body tight with arousal. Remi’s gaze was steady. “Can you think of a better way to distract yourself from thinking about London, than this?”
“Just because I can’t doesn’t mean I deserve to be distracted. I fucked up,” Neven reminded him.
“We all did,” Remi said gravely. “Even London. She should have stayed in England when I didn’t arrive to bring her here.”
Neven gripped his arms. “You wanted her to stay there?”
“Kristijan was missing. Why drag her here if he wasn’t around to notice her absence?” Remi plucked his hand from his arm and headed for the stairs once more. This time Neven let him pull him up to the next floor, arguing to himself that Remi could carry him there, despite any protest he made, if he was determined to do this.
Even in the back of his mind, he did not acknowledge the idea that Remi’s form of distraction was potently alluring.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Remi was clearly in the mood for distraction of the most exotic sort. Even before they reached the bedroom, he had removed Neven’s jacket and unbuttoned his shirt.
The house was silent around them, which bothered Neven more than he liked. It meant no one could interrupt them. It also meant that London was not there, either. The silent house reminded Neven of where she was.
He found himself turning to Remi to dismiss the thoughts. As Remi shut the door behind them and took off the rest of Neven’s clothes, then quickly stripped himself, Neven cooperated willingly.
It’s just distraction, he told himself. He ignored the voice protesting in his mind. London had not made any demands. There had been no discussion about…anything.
Remi’s kisses were long, deep and daze-inducing.
Perhaps it’s just Remi himself, Neven thought. Something about him that lets me do this, that lets me enjoy it.
For he was enjoying it. Every aspect of it. He liked the touch of Remi’s naked body against his. In the cool room, Remi felt nearly warm. Neven stroked his back as they stood together, awed by the softness of the flesh. It was unexpected, in a man like Remi.
Neven tasted him, driven by curiosity to find the differences in Remi from anyone he had ever touched or tasted before. And Remi’s taste was different. Good, but different.
“You’ve never had a vampire before, either,” Remi breathed as Neven moved his mouth over Remi’s neck and shoulder and chest.
“In your hundreds of years, you have fucked everything that moves, I am sure,” Neven said, his lips on the underside of Remi’s chin.
“The truth would surprise you,” Remi said. “So far, it always has.”
“Because I am merely human and have lived so little compared to you,” Neven reminded him. “I don’t mind the surprises. They’re interesting,” he added.
Remi caught and held his face, studying him. A tiny line showed between his brows. “You mean it, don’t you?”
Neven held still, puzzled. “Mean what?”
“You like hearing about…me.”
Neven drew back, astonished. “Why on earth wouldn’t I? You’ve lived…I don’t know how long. At least two hundred years, anyway. The stories you could tell are unlike anything a mere human like me could share. Why is it so astonishing that I would find them interesting?”
Remi’s frown deepened. “Kristijan never cared to hear them,” he said softly.
Neven didn’t like the dark tangent of Remi’s thoughts. He cupped his ass, feeling the hard muscle and liking it. “Enough talk,” he said and kissed him.
Remi cooperated. He seemed to throw himself into it with greater enthusiasm than ever before. His two previous seductions had been cautious, in comparison. Now, he seemed to be trying to learn every inch of Neven’s body. He even ran his tongue over the scars on Neven’s wrists and ankles. By then they had moved to the bed, although Remi still stood at the side of it, moving Neven around as he explored.
The ache for release built slowly underneath Remi’s lingering discoveries. The slow pace meant Neven grew consciously aware of his building arousal, until he was shifting on the bed, tortured with the need to come, his heart screaming and his cock pulsing against his stomach.
Remi turned him on the bed so that he was on his back, with his hips on the edge of the bed. The position alone was suggestive and made his heart climb hard. For the first time, Remi gripped his cock and Neven hissed his pleasure. His cock was almost painfully sensitive and Remi’s touch was electrifying. Remi stroked him and Neven groaned, his eyes closing. This was beyond good.
Remi’s fingers probed between his ass cheeks, pressing up against the ring of muscle and Neven caught his breath.
“Don’t worry,” Remi said softly. “You’ll enjoy this. I won’t hurt you.”
“I trust you,” Neven said. His voice was rough, echoing his arousal.
“There are many who’d say you are a fool to trust me,” Remi told him, as he reached into the drawer of the nightstand and withdrew a tube of lubricant. Of course he would know his way around the bedroom. It was his as much as it had been Kristijan’s.
“Contrary to what you may think, I don’t hand out trust easily. Not anymore,” Neven told him. His heart was pounding as he watched Remi squeeze the lubricant onto his fingers.
“Since someone tried to kill you, I’m guessing,” Remi said, glancing at his scars. “That makes your trust in me even more puzzling. I’ve done nothing to earn it.”
“Nothing obvious,” Neven said and drew in a sharp breath as Remi slid his fingers up against his ass once more. The touch was exquisite. He’d never felt anything like it before. As Remi pushed his fingers inside him, Neven groaned. His breath was coming in heavy gusts just from this light touch. What would it be like when Remi’s cock was there instead?
The thought made his
belly quiver and his cock to pulse.
Remi worked his fingers, teasing and stretching him. “Tight,” he said softly. “You are going to make me come quicker than I have in a century or more.”
“Good.” His voice was hoarse.
“The first time, that is,” Remi added with a smile that was heated. Lust gleamed in his eyes. He pressed the head of his cock up against Neven’s ass. The pressure and touch brought another groan from him.
“Relax,” Remi said.
Remi would be the first man to do this to him, yet it wasn’t the first time Neven had experimented with anal sex. He made himself relax, accepting the delightful invasion. Remi slid inside and held still, waiting for Neven’s body to adjust around him.
“You’re squeezing me, just as I thought you would,” Remi said. His voice was as rough as Neven’s. He pushed in deeper, moving so slow it was almost unnoticeable, except the sensation of being filled, of being taken, was overwhelming.
Neven closed his eyes. This was just as different as he had thought it would be and far, far better than he had suspected it could be. His heart was leaping and throwing itself against his chest. Pre-cum eased from his cock, which was almost purple with pressure.
Remi came to rest fully inside him. His hips pressed up against him and he gave a soft groan. “So good…”
He rocked in and out of Neven in slow movements, getting him used to the sensations. Neven gripped the sheets, fighting off his pleasure. He didn’t want to come yet. Not just yet.
Then Remi curled his fingers around his cock and stoked in time to the thrust of his hips and Neven almost shouted at the powerful combination of sensations. His climax gathered and leapt. “Don’t stop,” he muttered, unlocking his jaw enough to speak. “Faster.”
Remi shook his head. “Faster and this will end right now.”
“End it then. Catch up later.” Then Neven realized he had promised a repeat of this. He let the tiny worry go. He would be a fool to not repeat this. He’d never felt such pleasure before. It was different from anything a woman had ever done to him.
Kiss Across Worlds (Kiss Across Time Book 7) Page 25
