Beneath the Skin (de La Vega Cats)

by Lauren Dane

  “Did you get that?”

  Dario had and would be running the plates.

  Then she reached out, shoved his head down and shot right through the space where his head had been. She grabbed the wheel and wrenched it hard toward her. “Speed up!”

  The back of his SUV got clipped but because she’d taken the wheel and moved them enough, he was able to get the car to the side.

  And then she got out!

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  “Damn it! Mia, get back here.” He kept low, following her out her door, keeping the car in between them and their attackers.

  “Listen, I’m no one’s target. Got me? No one’s victim and no one’s target.”

  “There are bystanders all around.”

  “So call the cops. But you can’t and the problem still exists.”

  She stood and stalked toward the car, her arm with the gun in her hand extended. Her face was a mask and it sent a shiver through him.

  The car reversed in a hurry and she squeezed off three shots, all hitting the car as it sped off.

  “Well then.” She put the weapon in her waistband. “I got the license plate for that one too, but I think it’s stolen.”

  He hauled her close. “Are you out of your mind? What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Not laying down for anyone else to kill me.” She paused and sighed. “You’re bleeding. Come on. I can bandage you up at my house.”

  “Mine is a few blocks away.”

  “Fine. Shove over and tell me where. We’ll get there while you call those plates in.”

  Which is how he ended up with her in his house.

  * * *

  She cleaned up the cuts on his arm and forehead as he remained as still as he could. Which was hard enough when she was so close. He just wanted more. Wanted to lean in and sniff.

  He tried to think about the situation. Piece it through. If he focused on that maybe he’d stop thinking about her naked. He should have had Dario come to the house instead of giving him the information over the phone.

  It was just the two of them now.

  “They’re already closing up. You have a very fast metabolism.”

  “That was some really quick thinking back there.” Without the way she’d simply taken over, they’d have ended up in a pretty bad car crash. The chances were good they both would have been all right, but she was already injured enough. Not to mention the not-so-small problem that there’d been passersby who’d have been even more endangered that way.

  “Your window was already halfway down. I’m sorry you got cut.”

  “I can survive. Especially when worse would have happened if you hadn’t been so smart.”

  And then he wanted her. Wanted her more than he’d wanted anything in a really long time.

  She stood between his thighs as she’d been tweezing the glass out of a wound on his shoulder. He made her dizzy. Which was also part of the adrenaline, she knew. But it was him.

  His pheromones changed. Surged and then sort of blanketed her in warm, sexy hotness. This was... Well, she’d never had this before. Her arm throbbed, her leg throbbed, and she really should sit down and rest. But she was rooted to the spot as one of his hands slid up the back of her thigh and came to rest, cupping her ass.

  The heat of him blasted against her chest as his scent rose to her nose. His dreads brushed against her bare arm. His cat was just barely leashed, but he vibrated with all that self-control.

  He tipped his head back and her breath caught.

  She shouldn’t be doing any of this. But she dipped her head just that small amount to meet his mouth and that was it.

  He surged to his feet, his free hand joining the other, cupping her ass to haul her closer. Not that she minded. He was hard against her. A mass of man and muscle that nearly sent her to her knees.

  Which, all things being equal, wasn’t a bad next step.

  His taste slid through her. Her cat approved of his, approved of this man with his hands on her ass, his tongue in her mouth, teeth grazing her lip until she gasped and he growled.

  He opened his eyes and met her gaze, and it shocked her into total stillness. But when she freed herself, she nipped his bottom lip like she’d wanted to earlier.

  He’d been nearly back under control until she grabbed his bottom lip between her teeth and tugged as her fingers dug into the muscles of his shoulder, hanging on and driving him right back to the edge of sanity.

  He exhaled and tried to let go of her ass but found it impossible. His cat wasn’t having any of it.

  She moaned, her fingers relaxing, no longer digging into his shoulders, but didn’t make a single move to disentangle herself from him. His cat eased back a little, but he kept that luscious ass in his palms.

  “Where you goin’?”

  She swallowed with some effort. “Where do you want me to go?”

  He groaned, tugging her close enough to grind his cock against her. “What do you think?”

  “I want you to say it.”

  He smiled, mainly because she had a spine of steel and he liked that about her. But also because she knew what she wanted and she demanded it.

  “I want you to go into my bedroom so I can get you naked.”

  “Was that so hard?”

  “It is, yes. I hope that penchant for demanding your due extends to fucking.”

  It was her turn to smile. “Fuck me and find out.”

  He bent his knees and picked her up, adjusting his hold on her butt. She wrapped her legs around him as he carried her into his bedroom and put her down carefully on his bed.

  “I’m not fragile.”

  He snorted. “You got shot today. If I break you, how can I fuck you?”

  She whipped her shirt up and over her head, tossing it across the room. Her bra followed, and she shimmied from her shoes, socks and jeans. “That’s true. You’re not naked.”

  He remedied that while he watched her get totally naked. Not bothering to hide his hum of satisfaction as she slid the panties from her legs and lay back, totally naked, her gaze roaming over his body.

  “You’re something else.” He got on the bed, kissing the healing skin on her chest and shoulder, and she shivered.

  “I was about to say the same.”

  Her fingertips traced over the muscles of his back as he kissed over her collarbone and watched her nipples stand at attention.

  “The piercings are so hot I can’t quite stand it.”

  He stretched to take her mouth again and she pressed her body to his.

  Skin to skin, she gasped at how good it felt, and he swallowed the sound. He smelled good and felt even better. He kissed her nearly senseless, the scratch of his facial hair only made it better.

  She pushed him back and got to her knees to look down at him. He was...holy shit he was amazing.

  “You shouldn’t put your weight on that thigh.”

  Smiling, she threw one leg over his body and straddled him, resting her weight on his thighs.

  “I like this view.” His gaze moved from her face down, down and straight to the heart of her.

  “What a coincidence.” She flicked her index fingers over the piercings in each nipple. He hissed and writhed a little so she dipped her head to lick over first the left, then the right. He seemed to enjoy that so she filed it away for later. “Love the tats.” His chest was broad and hard with muscle. Her hands slid over warm, taut skin as his gaze never left her. It was...disconcerting and yet really exciting to have him watch her the way he did.

  He was a predator after all. But so was she!

  But not with him. With him she was his prey. This made her shiver a little.

  “Are you cold?”

  “No. Just...delighted.”


  A flash of his smile in the dark.

  She tugged on one of the ropes of his hair. “I like this too.”

  They were to his mid biceps, and they added to the overall badass vibe. Tattoos, muscles, dreadlocks and enough smolder to send a girl’s underpants up in flames.

  She kissed down his neck, pausing to breathe him in at the place where it met his shoulder. Which in retrospect had been stupid because his scent bounded into her system, sending it into overload. Her cat surfaced, pressing against the human skin it wore and his responded.

  He groaned and flipped her, shielding the side she’d been shot on. “That’s better. Now I get to slide all over your body and kiss all your parts.”

  And he made good on that promise, starting at the hollow of her throat. He kissed, nibbled and then licked, tasting her pulse. More kissing across her collarbone and over the healing scars from the attack. She shoved it from her head and just enjoyed it. Especially when he moved a little farther down and found her nipple.

  Unable to tear her attention away, she watched as he licked over her nipple. Slow at first and then he sped up to flick before he sucked it between his teeth. She was sure she should have been embarrassed by the sound she made, but she couldn’t bring herself to be.

  She held on as he found her other breast and did much of the same to that nipple.

  By this point she was so wet and ready she rolled her hips to get his attention.

  But it wasn’t until she dug her nails into his shoulders and growled that he let go of the nipple long enough to meet her eyes.

  “Yes?”

  “Fuck me!”

  He laughed and kissed his way down her belly, insinuating his body between her thighs. “I need to be sure you’re ready first.”

  She was totally ready. But it wasn’t going to stop her from enjoying that first long lick of her pussy. Or the second. By the time he made the third one she’d dropped her protests and let her head fall back to simply enjoy what he was doing.

  On and on he went with that mouth of his and devastated her until she was shaking so hard it felt as if she shattered into a thousand pieces when she came.

  “Holy shit.”

  He chuckled and kissed her belly. The slide of his hair over her skin sent her back into sensory overload.

  And that was before he nudged at her gate, pushing in so very slowly. Thick and meaty, good gracious he filled her up. So much to enjoy about this male. She opened her eyes to find him above her, his face a mask of concentration.

  Her vision was good, even in the dark of the room. Enough to see the bunch and ripple of his muscles as he began to thrust in earnest.

  His eyes opened and met hers, and everything stilled for long moments. He saw right through. Right into the heart of her, which was freaky even as it felt right. Freaky enough for her to wrap her uninjured leg around his stellar ass and pull him in deeper to break his concentration.

  He fucked her hard and deep, each stroke slow and deliberate. He took his time, demanding her response, which she gave. She rolled her hips to meet his thrusts, tightening around him, giving him a little swivel until he growled.

  Smiling, she stretched up to lick over the biceps so close to her face. He tasted so damned good she hummed with it. Which reminded her she hadn’t been able to taste him.

  Perhaps she’d do it next time. If there was a next time. It was only fair.

  He watched her below him, her hair spread around her face like honey. Her tits jiggling perfectly as he fucked her. She was so tight and hot around his cock that he’d worried at first he’d come three seconds after he got inside. And then she’d added that swivel and he’d nearly lost his composure.

  She was small but strong. Toned and nicely flexible, even with a freaking gunshot wound on her thigh. She pulled him deeper with her calf, urging him on with the prick of her nails on his upper arm.

  Her taste was still on his lips when he licked them. He needed more. More of her. More of this. A female who was as unabashed as this one was a treat on just about every level. Porter or no, he had plans to do this again very soon.

  And when she added a back-and-forth movement as he got all the way inside, he knew it was nearly over. His control was frayed and just about worn through. Her scent drove him wild. The heat of her body, the sweet taste of her skin when he leaned down to lick over the swell of her left breast brought his cat closer to the surface. Hers was there as well, but she didn’t try to hold it back. She threw herself into fucking, opening the way between them, letting him in, letting his cat and hers mingle in that space just beneath the skin.

  That was all it took. One last thrust and he came with a snarl, holding himself deep and trying not to rest any of his weight on her right side.

  He rolled off with a sated sigh and she laughed, moving close.

  “Yeah, I’m feeling a lot better.”

  He rumbled a laugh against her face as she rested on his chest.

  Chapter Six

  The last thing she expected to see as she approached her apartment was Gibson de La Vega standing there with an actual smile on his face.

  “Hey. Hope you don’t mind but I was in the neighborhood. Would you like to grab a bite somewhere so I can give you an update on what’s going on?”

  She smiled back. “I’m totally starving.”

  He’d walked with her a few blocks to one of her favorite little Japanese places. “Do you like Japanese food?”

  “I haven’t eaten it very often. But I’m happy to try it if you’ll give me a primer on what’s best to order.”

  He was being very sweet.

  “Are you sure? There’s a great pizza place just across the street if you’d rather.”

  He opened the door. “No. Really I’d like to.”

  The server gave him a long look and showed her boobs to them far more than was proper, but he kept his attention on her as they watched the food move by on a conveyor belt. She ordered hot tea and turned back to him.

  “I sort of lied,” he said when she began to pull plates off for them to share.

  “How so?” She mixed some wasabi with soy and then did it for him as well.

  “I don’t really have an update. But I was in your neighborhood and I was hungry, so I thought I’d stop by.”

  He made her flustered like a teenager. “Well. I’m glad you did.”

  He tried several different kinds of sushi, really enjoying the eel and the tuna.

  “Tell me about your life.”

  “That’s a huge subject.” She grabbed some more tuna.

  “All right. What are you reading right now?”

  “I’m reading Václav Havel’s Living in Truth. It’s a collection of his best essays. He’s amazing. One of my idols. What about you?”

  “The Haunting of Hill House.”

  “Really? I loved that book! I haven’t read it in years.”

  “When I finish you can borrow it. If you let me borrow Living in Truth, that is.”

  “You’ve got yourself a deal. Did you always know you wanted to be the Bringer? Was it like a family thing and you did it because you were supposed to?”

  He sucked in a deep breath. “That’s a long story. But the quick version is that yes, I did know. I was trained from a very early age to do it. It’s something I love. Something I believe I’m meant to do.”

  “I like that.”

  “I feel very fortunate. A lot of people, hell maybe most of them, don’t get to do things they feel born to do.”

  “‘The Bringer is the heart of the jamboree,’” she said softly, quoting the story.

  And he was. The Bringer was justice, not vengeance. The Bringer protected and kept the cats safe. Guarded their rules and laws and found and judged the wrongdoers. It was a big job. One she wouldn�
�t have wanted at all. Being judge and jury had to be pretty damned tough.

  “I try very hard to do that justice. My mother would most likely spank me if I didn’t. She’s very smart that way. A judge in her own right.”

  She enjoyed that he respected his mother so much. From what she could tell, Imogene deserved respect and had raised at least one very decent son into adulthood, so that was a big reason to respect her right there.

  They sat and had more tea and talked books for another hour or so until he walked her back home.

  “Would you like to come up?”

  “Yes, I would.”

  But his phone rang and he paused to answer.

  By the tone she knew he was going to have to leave. Which bummed her out because she wanted to leap on him and jump his bones.

  He put the phone back in his pocket. “I have to go.” He shook his head. “Trouble back at work. I’ll see you soon though. All right?”

  She nodded.

  He stepped close and pulled her to him, his lips brushing over hers once and twice before he settled in for a long, sensual kiss that left her weak-kneed.

  “Bye for now, Mia. Be safe.”

  He held the door for her and she went inside. “You too.”

  And she watched him jog to his car just across the street, admiring that stellar butt of his.

  She might have sighed wistfully.

  * * *

  “You’re looking better than you have in a long time.”

  Mia looked up as her mother spoke. “Thanks.”

  “Apparently getting shot isn’t the key. Does it have anything to do with how much time you’ve spent with Gibson de La Vega?”

  She sipped her tea, thinking over what she’d say. There was something between them. Aside from the amazing sex, which would have been more than enough on its own. But it wasn’t what her mother thought. She didn’t even have time for what her mother thought.

  “You make it sound like I’m with him every minute of the day. He’s investigating what happened to me. I helped him after he got shot. It’s not unusual that I’d be spending time with him. He’s a nice enough cat.” She shrugged.