She went still in his arms for a moment before pulling away and reaching for the soap, handing it to him without making eye contact. “Thank you.” Her words sounded forced. “I’m glad we got that out of the way, aren’t you? Now we can focus on the contest.”
Mac washed himself without taking his eyes from her. What was she up to now? She’d stepped onto the stage and pushed herself into his life, throwing herself at him, giving herself to him…and what? He was supposed to leave now that she’d gotten what she wanted?
To hell with that. “If you really want to thank me you’ll go dry yourself off, walk to the middle of the room and get on your knees until I come to you.”
Dark eyes met his, startled. “Excuse me?”
He rinsed himself off, his cock hardening again in his hand as he studied her body. “I want you to know I won’t neglect your breasts. They are too delectable to ignore. I will be spending quite a bit of time on them, but only after I give you the spanking you’ve been asking for. The one you so richly deserve.”
Her cheeks flushed and she pushed her wet hair away from her face. She liked the idea. “Now?”
“I could be taken at any moment,” he mused, still stroking his erection. “Now is all the time we have, Rose. And the longer you hesitate, the longer I will punish you by making you wait.”
She left the shower and he forced himself to hold back. To give her time. He needed a little of that himself. He licked his lips, still tasting the tang of her blood on his tongue, knowing nothing would ever be as sweet. No woman would have the same allure.
If he were going to die soon, he would be grateful that he’d been given such a succulent last meal.
He planned to enjoy every bloody drop.
Chapter Four
She might need to adapt her plan again, Rose mused as she knelt naked on the plush rug of her hotel bedroom and waited to see what Mac would do to her. She wasn’t sure a few days was going to be enough, but any longer and her sisters would come looking for her. Not because they worried about her well-being, but because those were Magnolia’s rules.
If she said she hadn’t found him, would they know she was lying?
The instant Mac’s desire touched her in the shower she’d known he was there. She’d been planning to go to him anyway, unwilling to wait for what she wanted so desperately. His bold move made it easier. Better. And the sex had been exactly what she’d known it would be. Powerful. Wild and potent.
The tenderness afterward had thrown her. Vampires weren’t tender. If she were being honest with herself, neither were most demons, but all the vampires she’d ever known could have been made of cold stone.
Mac was anything but cold.
He wanted to spank her. She shivered deliciously, impatient for his touch. It was another way she differed from most of her sisters. Magnolia, Ivy and a few of the others loved to make men kneel. To dominate. They used their wiles to crush their partners beneath their heels and force them to beg for pleasure.
Rose had no desire to conquer…she just wanted to play. Wanted to be touched, to be marked. By Mac.
What was it about him? Most of his kind were attractive, even beautiful. In fact Mac was probably the most ruggedly masculine vampire around, broad-shouldered and thickly muscled from his days as a highland warrior. He was big all over—she smiled, remembering how completely he filled her. Claimed her, the way a shifter would. Tugged her hair as he bit her, his lust drowning her with its power.
She slid her hand between her thighs, needy again. His passion matched hers, despite his so-called restraint. She’d touched it. Knew it. He wanted to play just as badly as she did.
An idea started to form in her mind. A way to surprise him while still obeying his command. To give them both an unforgettable night, and to fulfill her brand new fantasy.
She looked around the luxurious suite and watched as the walls disappeared, replaced by an open cottage of stone. The carpet faded, leaving nothing but a smattering of hay on the dirt floor. The fireplace blazed, heating her skin as she—in nothing but a sheer chemise—knelt facing the front door, her arms stretched wide and over her head where they’d been tied to two firm posts.
Rose bit the inside of her cheek. He’d never been with a demon before. Would he appreciate her ability to project—to bring a fantasy into reality? The door opened. She was going to find out.
Mac came out of the bathroom, calmly drying his hair with a towel—until he noticed what she’d done. “What in the hell—”
She glanced down and licked her lips. He was born to wear a kilt. Maybe she could talk him into keeping it for their performance. No woman in the audience would be able to resist him.
He noticed it and swore again. “Rose, what did you do? How?”
“What are you doing, you rogue?” she demanded, lifting her chin in challenge. “You’ve pillaged our land, and now you’ve got me bound and at your mercy. What will you do with me? Demand a ransom?”
“Is this a trick?”
She struggled lightly against the rope. “Tell me, brigand. Is it a ransom you’ll be after?”
Play with me.
Mac studied her, his jaw tense and his cheeks flushing with blood. “I have to admit I was content to leave all the pillaging to my father, lass. But in your case I think I could make an exception.”
He strode toward her and Rose sighed in relief and need. He was going to play. “I said answer me, you heathen. What are you going to do with me?”
He stopped directly in front of her, the plaid of his kilt even with her open lips. His fingers came down to caress the side of her neck where he’d bitten her. “The right question is, what am I not going to do to you? Because right now, seeing you tied up like this for me? I can’t think of a thing I don’t want to try.”
She licked her lips again. “Will you make me pleasure you with my mouth?”
He groaned. “I believe I promised you a spanking, dear Rose.”
“Yes,” she panted. “Yes, I deserve a long, hard spanking for even thinking about you lifting that kilt and filling my mouth with every inch of your thick, salty—”
He covered her lips with his fingers, stopping her words. “You could tempt an angel out of heaven, demon. And I’m no angel.” His words were no more than a rough whisper. “But I will spank you first, Rose. I will show you I mean what I say.”
Stepping away from her, he walked around the posts until he was behind her. “You’re my prisoner and you have to obey me if you ever mean to see your clansmen again. Get on your feet and let me see my prize.”
Rose got to her feet, trembling, allowing herself to fall into her role. To lose herself in the forbidden fantasy. “I’m no man’s prize.”
“Oh, but you are. Look at you.” He wrapped his fists around the back of her dress and pulled, tearing it easily until it was held up only by the position of her arms, the back open to reveal her skin to his gaze. “Fashioned to fill a man’s hands and sate all his hungers. You are a feast worth any price.”
Mac moved in behind her and cupped the cheeks of her ass tightly, his breath hot on her neck. “This ass, Rose. This round creamy handful of flesh is mine, isn’t it? I can fuck it, I can bite it, and I will spank it. Because I desire it. I want to hear you scream.”
Yes! “Never.”
He moved to her side, her arm over his shoulder as he placed one large hand low on her stomach, sliding down to her thinly covered sex. “Bend forward, Rose. Far as you can.”
She bent over. “You can force me to obey you,” she challenged. “But I will never submit.”
“You will,” he murmured roughly, positioning himself firmly at her side. “You must.”
The way he said the words made her believe he meant them. But he was just as caught up in the fantasy as Rose. Her Scottish warrior. Her wild lover determined to steal her innocence and her heart.
The first cupped smack landed on her right ass cheek and she cried out in delight. “No!” she denied. “No man is allowed s
uch liberties.”
“No man except this one.”
He spanked her again, harder this time, making Rose hiss and close her eyes for a moment to savor the sting. The fingers of his other hand pressed against her clit as the rhythm of the spanking increased. Again and again. Her ass, her hips, between her legs.
Each time he stopped, he caressed and then squeezed the burning flesh roughly, biting her ear, talking to her all the while in a voice thick with desire. “You love it, don’t you, Rose? Your ass is pink and lush and made for this. Tell me.” He spanked her faster…harder…the sound of flesh connecting with flesh echoing in the small cottage. “Tell me you’re mine. That you’ll give me what I want. Whatever I want.”
“Yes, Mac. Yes, whatever you want. I love it. Don’t stop…oh, please don’t fucking stop.”
She was close. His desire and hers were indistinguishable as she took the passionate energy inside her. She was going to come just like this. Tied up and spanked by a fugitive vampire who made her beg for more.
He stopped. “No!” she cried out raggedly. “Please, Mac.”
Mac was in front of her, pushing her long hair behind her ears and caressing her cheek with the same tenderness that had frightened her before. She met his crystal blue gaze and he smiled tightly. “Get back on your knees, lass.”
She hadn’t come. She was shaking with the need to. Quivering on the edge. She wanted to argue with him, to drop the illusion and find her own release despite him.
Rose got on her knees. She couldn’t deny him what she wanted so badly. It wasn’t in her to even consider it. But she did drop character long enough to send him a half-hearted glare. “Are you trying to drive me crazy?”
Mac tilted his head, stroking his beard. “Maybe I am. No one wants to take that kind of trip alone, my dear.”
“There’s this saying about driving a demon crazy with unsatisfied lust...”
“How does it go?”
“Don’t ever do it.”
Mac chuckled, making quick work of his kilt until it dropped to the floor, leaving him naked again. “I’ll try to remember. Open your mouth, love.”
Rose was hungry and greedily complied, feeling the demon inside her demanding everything. More. More. More. It was a sentiment she wholeheartedly agreed with.
He was delicious. She couldn’t get enough. She licked his shaft and lowered her head, loving the feel of him hitting the back of her throat. She wanted all of it. All of him. Everything.
More…more…
“Fuck,” Mac swore and his fingers tangled in her curls as he sought to control her. “Fuck, Rose. Jesus, you can’t—oh Christ you’ll make me…Fuck.”
Yes. That. She needed him. Needed to feel him inside her. With a thought the ropes disappeared and she lifted her mouth, pushing him with all her strength until he was on his back on the hard floor. “Fuck, Mac,” she demanded through her haze. “Need it. Want it. Now.”
She could see herself through his eyes—her dark hair wild around her face, her eyes glowing red—but she couldn’t stop herself from straddling his hips and lowering her body onto his thick, delicious cock. That. She arched her back and shouted his name. That was what she needed.
“Mac!”
“I’m here,” he growled, his fingers digging into her hips. “Take it, Rose. Ride me.”
As if she had a choice. Nothing could stop the beast that had her in its thrall. The greedy soul that screamed and snarled and moaned for him. For Mac. She leaned back, her hips pounding against his, her teeth bared as she desperately sought her release.
Her body was on fire. Burning. Boiling. She could smell him. Her vampire. He smelled like Scotland. Like sex. Like her. She needed to mark him—needed his mark on her again.
She bent over him, her breasts heavy. “Bite me,” she whimpered. “Bite me, vampire. I want it. Need it.”
Wanted to be inside him, coursing through his veins as she rode him to paradise.
He groaned roughly. “Oh, Rose. Wild Rose.” Mac sank his fangs into the curve of her breast and she cried out.
“Yes!”
Her hips were pumping faster than any human could withstand, but Mac’s sounds of pleasure told her he could take everything she was giving and more. He was her match. Passion for passion. Need for need. Impossible to believe, but she could sense it. Feel them melding—their bodies in perfect harmony as the carnal melody beat through their blood.
Blood. He was taking so much of her in. She was feeding off the frenzy that was his desire. She needed more. “More!”
Mac rolled over without lifting his mouth from her breast, his hands lowering to her thighs until her knees were pressed against her chest and her legs were bent on either side of his head.
Deep. So deep. “Yes! Mac, yes.”
He growled again, the sound making her shudder as he powered inside her, jarring her with each strong thrust. Taken. Consumed. That was what she needed. What her soul craved. What her body desired.
“Fuck me. Yes, oh, yes harder. More. Take more. Take it all… Fuck, I’m coming. I need to come. Mac.”
They shouted each other’s names as they climaxed together, Mac’s lips red with her blood. She lifted her head to lick them clean and they kissed as the shockwaves washed over them.
He rolled to his side and pulled her close, the scene disappearing to reveal her hotel room, the plush rug cushioning them.
After long moments of focusing on trying to slow her racing heart, she heard Mac chuckle. “That is one neat trick you have, Rose. I could smell the burning peat, the hay on the floor.”
She shrugged. “It’s pretty common, really. Most demons can do it.”
It was true. She wasn’t like Saint or her sisters—she’d never discovered a special gift that was hers to harness.
“So what are we singing tomorrow?” She wanted to change the subject.
“I don’t know if I could. If we should,” he mumbled. “Tomorrow is almost here, and I’ll need at minimum another week in this suite before I can keep my hands off you in public. The way you affect people who knows what kind of riot we’d start with such a large audience.”
“Maybe you’re right.” Rose bit her lip. If she’d thought about it instead of acting impulsively and volunteering him for this performance, she would have realized how much danger she was putting him in. Las Vegas belonged to the demons, though vampires liked to pretend they ruled here.
Either way, this was the last place Mac should be.
She still wanted him. She wasn’t ready for this to be over.
“We could leave,” she offered, lifting up on her elbows to study him. “Have a check waiting for Jolene and Hobie and disappear someplace where no one could find us. I’m sure Saint would help.”
He opened one piercing blue eye and stared at her. “Says the hunter who came to turn me in.” Now both eyes were open, but his expression was inscrutable. “I never asked…what price lured out your Garden? What did they offer you for me?”
She ducked her head, but he was right there, sitting up and tugging her onto his lap, his fingers under her chin forcing her to meet his gaze. “What price?”
“My freedom,” she whispered. Then she shook her head, dislodging his touch and burying her face in his neck. “No, I mean, the vampires offered a large bounty. According to Magnolia—the biggest we’ve ever had. She said you really got under their skin because of the show. The ego thing. They can take humans playing them on the big screen…they even laugh about it. But the idea that one of their own could get away with it, without asking, really dinged their pride.”
Rose bit her lip and smiled apologetically. “That’s what she said anyway.”
Mac was smirking. “I can see how vehemently you disagree with her.” He sighed. “I have to believe there is more to it than that.”
“You have friends, Mac.” Rose placed her hand on his chest. “The vampires I know have underlings and bootlickers but they don’t have the kind of friendship that they saw you shar
e with Thomas and Saint. They don’t have ghosts willing to volunteer to reveal themselves and put on a show out of loyalty instead of fear. You’re unique, Mac. I think they’re jealous.”
“It is better to die an envied man than an idiot, I suppose.” Mac kissed her forehead, lifting her off his lap and carrying her to the bed.
Rose frowned as he set her down. “Sometimes it’s better not to die at all. Run away with me, vampire. Hide.”
He put his hands on his hips and sent her a stern look. “Vampires do not hide.” When she lifted one eyebrow, his eyes started to twinkle. “Occasionally we go out of our way to be unavailable, I’ll admit, but we don’t hide. And I’m done with it in any case.”
“Why?”
He pounced, gripping her wrists and holding them above her head as he straddled her thighs. “Why did you say ‘freedom’? Explain it to me and then I’ll answer you.”
Damn it. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Now, Rose.”
“I made a deal with my sisters ages ago. To stay until I could afford to buy my way out of the family business. They agreed because…” she shrugged, looking away from him, “…because I’m ordinary. I was a member of the Devil’s Garden for aesthetics—six demon beauties—not because I had any particular aptitude or skill for the job.”
“You found me,” he murmured.
“Luck,” she responded, unimpressed. “I’ve wanted out forever. I hate the hours, and I’m not a big fan of the company. I wanted a chance to find my own path and to stop working for the damn vam—”
Mac smiled when she bit her lip. “It’s okay. I don’t like them either.”
She glared at him. “Then why are we still here?”
“Because I’m Jolene’s hero, Angus the brave,” he grinned. “And I do like the title.”
She knew. “Great. So we’re singing in Vegas?”
“We are.”
“We should practice.”
He started kissing her neck…her breasts…her stomach. Oh, that felt good.
My Vampire Idol Page 4
