“I want to share everything with you,” he said, pressing his weight on top of her. “I don’t want to keep secrets from you any longer. And I don’t want you to keep secrets from me either.”
Those words made her smile into the darkness like a goon. Finally! No more secrets. Complete honesty. Naturally, she could wait until…after they were through…to get all her answers. “You have no idea how much that means to me.” She reached up, found his neck, hooked her hand around the back and pulled, ready to give him the kiss of a lifetime to show him how grateful she was. He accepted her tongue’s forceful intrusion into his mouth, accepted her hands’ thorough exploration of all parts south of his neck, and accepted her unspoken invitation to touch her anywhere he liked.
He found her nipples somehow—it couldn’t have been because they were as hard as titanium—and pinched first one, then the other until she couldn’t drag in a single heavy breath. Then his hand traveled lower, down her stomach to her sodden panties. She just about cried when his weight lifted off her as he sat back. But her sorrow quickly morphed to glee when he pulled her knees apart and traced a line down the center of her moist underpants.
“Mmmm. You’re wet.”
“Yeah. Imagine that. Want to check under the panties?”
“You bet I do.” He stripped her of both underpants and bra. Breathless and burning up, her skin practically on fire, desire bubbling through her veins, Sophie lay there, waiting for his touch in the dark.
He started with her breasts, closed a warm mouth over one aching peak and suckled. Waves of need crashed through her, battering her body, washing away every thought before it reached the surface of her mind. She was left with only sensations. The soft smack of his mouth as he kissed, lapped at her nipple. The scent of her own arousal mixed with the unique combinations of soap and man and something spicy and dangerous that always surrounded Ric. The feeling of his velvet tongue as it alternately laved at her nipple and teased it with quick flicks.
Her growing need took the form of a tightness that started deep in her belly. As Ric abandoned one nipple for the other, that need grew. Heat joined the tension, creating a burning knot deep inside her. It slid lower, between her legs, and she groaned, fisted the coverlet, and opened her legs wider, silently begging for him to soothe the fierce blaze burning there.
She found his shoulder and swiped her tongue along the bulge of a muscle, devouring the wonderful flavor of salt and man. Her fingers followed the line of corded muscles stretching down to his elbows. “Please,” she begged.
Even though she couldn’t see him, she could see his smile in her mind, could feel his joy, his hunger and need. They magnified her own, sending spikes of sharp wanting, jagged and painful, through her body. She cried out, called his name until his mouth pressed to hers and he drank in all her cries. One finger slipped between her slick folds, rimmed the outside of her sex, dragging wet warmth up to her clitoris. He drew tight circles over her nub. Round and round.
Her inner thigh muscles stretched and burned as she parted her legs wider, wider. She needed him inside, needed to be filled, needed to be joined with him again. Completed. Whole.
“Ric. Now. Oh, please.”
She felt him settle between her thighs, touch her knees with his hands. His erection pushed at her and she arched her back to take him inside. He entered her in one swift, mind-blowing stroke. Instantly, her body was ablaze. So full. Complete. Whole. She wanted to cry. She wanted to laugh. She did both, arched to meet his thrusts, and rode upon the waves of bliss his body gave her.
When he reached down to stroke her clitoris, she was driven to new heights of paradise, to a place where there was no division between them, where she was a part of him and he, her, and their minds and spirits were fused. His emotions blasted through her being, making her heart heavy and light at the same time. His thoughts filled her head. His cries sounded in her ears.
With the first spasm of her climax, he stiffened against her and whispered her name into her head. And the words, I’m falling in love with you. The moment he found his release, she confessed as well, “And I’m falling in love with you, too.” After a final stroke, he pulled out of her.
Then there was a thud, a shout, and wild jumping all around her.
Confused, Sophie scooted up to the head of the bed and fumbled for the light. It snapped on, flooding the room with blinding white light. She blinked and squinted, struck dumb by what she saw. It didn’t make sense.
How could he? What was happening?
Ric was nude, standing at the foot of the bed, Julian’s wrist caught in his raised fist, every muscle in Ric’s body flexed tight, hard as steel.
Clearly they weren’t dancing.
In Julian’s hand was a knife. A very large knife with a silver, hooked blade that flashed brightly when Julian’s hand twitched.
“What the heck?!” Sophie shouted.
“It’s not what you think. I swear,” Julian said, his eyes full of surprise, fixed on Ric’s red, rage-filled face.
“Not what I think?” Ric said so low Sophie could hardly hear him. “Why don’t you tell me what I think?”
Julian’s fingers uncurled. The knife fell onto the bed. Sophie stared at it in horror. “I wasn’t…I mean there was someone…” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. You aren’t going to believe me.”
“What’s to doubt? I felt the blade. I turned around. You’re in the midst of a full backswing sure to drive that silver through my ribs and into my heart.” Ric shoved at Julian, but Julian barely budged. The worst kind of rage played over Ric’s features, the kind that made men do crazy things, things like kill other men.
Sophie’s gaze jumped back and forth between the two men. Confused, wanting to believe Julian for some reason but having a hard time ignoring the facts, she wrapped a sheet around herself and stood mute, tense, ready to jump if either man did anything foolish—not that it wouldn’t be foolish of her to jump into the middle of a fight between two vampires.
But a girl had to do what a girl had to do when it involved the man she was falling in love with.
“Please, Ric,” she said. “Don’t do anything stupid—”
“Like murder the bastard? Sneak up on him in the dark while he’s making love and drive a fucking silver stake into his black heart?”
“Yeah. That.” Sophie nodded, knowing her feeble attempt at trying to lighten the mood would probably fail. “You know what the sight of blood does to me.”
“I swear, I don’t know how I got here. But when I figured out where I was, I saw another guy here,” Julian insisted, pointing at an empty spot next to where Ric was currently fuming. “He was right there and I…I swung the knife at him just before he tried to kill you.”
“Nice try, asshole. I know it’s not in your disposition to lie, but I’m not buying this story. Was that other guy by any chance a pal of yours? A convenient scapegoat to get you off the hook? Get out of here before I do something we both regret.”
Sophie let out a heavy sigh of relief. No dead vampires. Ric was still alive. Alive, not lying in a pool of blood on the bed. To think she’d almost lost him. Had come so close. Instantly, she caught a case of the shivers.
“Thanks for not doing anything crazy,” she said, trying hard not to let on how bothered by all this she was. And bothered was a misnomer, actually. Scared poopless, out of her wits, in shock. Those were more appropriate expressions for what she was feeling. She resisted the urge to hurl herself on him and cling to him like a baby. She was not the hurling type. She was not the clinging type. And she was no baby.
She was strong. She was capable. She was independent…and she was not fooling anyone, herself included.
She adored this man and even the thought of losing him made her sick. As if on cue, her insides twisted into a double knot.
She received a grunt for an answer to her thanks, a disgusted grunt that suggested he wasn’t particularly happy with the way things had gone.
She smoothed
her palm down Ric’s arm, wishing she could cast away the anger she saw in his eyes. He was furious. Still. And she bet it would take him a long, long time to settle down. “I admire the fact that you took the high road and walked away from the fight,” she said. “I’ve always admired men who have the strength to do that.”
“It wasn’t my first choice,” he said through gritted teeth.
“I know.” She coaxed him to sit, then climbed up on the bed behind him and attempted to rub away the knots in his shoulders. It was like massaging a pile of granite. Her knuckles cracked. “I never in a million years expected Julian to do something so…evil,” she admitted.
“I did.”
“Really?”
“Don’t trust anyone. That’s always been my motto. I knew he was up to something. No one makes a one-eighty overnight. He’s on the other team. And he’ll try to stop us again, too. I have no doubt he’s still taking orders from that lamia. Even so, this was a very bold step to take. He had to believe he’d succeed to dare even try it. He didn’t try to conceal his face. Nothing. Either he was so convinced he couldn’t fail or he’s a lot stupider than I thought. I expected him to be more underhanded, lead us astray, deliver us into a trap. I hate to see what his next attempt will be.”
“Oh, God.” She sort of regretted the fact that Ric hadn’t killed him now. She wrapped her arms around Ric’s neck and rested her chin on his shoulder, pressing her upper body against his back. His clean scent filled her nostrils and she nuzzled into his neck, inhaling, wanting to store his scent, to remember it forever.
What if he was right? What if Julian did try again? And what if he succeeded?
“What can we do to stop him?” Sophie asked, fighting against the quakes building inside. Now she knew what a volcano felt like just before it got ready to blow. She was gonna blow and blow bad. Tremors started in her belly.
“Be ready for his next move.”
“And then what?” she whispered.
“Stop him.”
A boulder of concrete formed in her throat. Stop him. She could guess how. “Why…why didn’t you stop him tonight if that’s what you intend to do?”
“I wasn’t ready yet.” Ric rested his elbows on his knees and steepled his fingers. “I had to wait and see what his next move was. What if he was telling the truth? I know it’s unlikely. I saw no signs of another man in the room with us, but if what he said was true, then I’d find out about it eventually. And I would’ve realized I’d killed an innocent guy for nothing. I wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt. No. It was too soon. We wait.”
“What about the dragonman? I really don’t want to go there. It sounds too dangerous.”
“We’re going. On our own. To hell with Julian.”
“You think it’s safe?”
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
“Can’t say for sure. You never know with Guardians. The hotel has a computer room downstairs. I’ll look up the Guardian in the phone book and we’ll pay him a visit this morning, while Julian’s sleeping. That ought to reduce the danger factor a bit.”
“Okay. That sounds like a plan.” Still not over the thought that she could’ve lost Ric, just like that, Sophie squeezed him again. The realization that she might still lose him made her stomach leap up her throat. Yes, at first he’d been nothing more than a cute sidekick, someone to help her find the artifacts and save Dao. But now, now he was so much more. He was everything to her now. He was her future—she hoped. “I’m so glad you’re here with me. I mean, I don’t know how I would’ve managed if I’d had to do this alone. I wouldn’t have wanted to.”
“Yeah, um”—he stood up, strode across the room to the door—“I’m going downstairs to find the computer.”
“Sure. Okay,” she said, noting the stiffness in his voice, in his posture. Was he still upset about Julian? Or was there something else going on? “I should check on Dao while you’re gone.” She peered at the clock. It was awfully early. She figured she’d better give him a call anyway. Who knew when she’d get the chance again.
She settled onto the bed, reclined on a stack of pillows, dialed the number, and prepared to talk to a sleepy, grumpy Dao. He hated being wakened.
The phone rang, and rang, and rang. Not home? Odd. Just as she pulled the receiver from her ear, her finger poised over the button, ready to cut off the call, she heard his gravelly, sleep-thickened voice.
“Uh, hello?”
“Dao?”
“Yes. Who’s calling?”
“It’s me, Sophie. I just wanted to call, see how you’re feeling—”
“Sophie? Sophie who?”
Her belly slid to her toes. What had Ric said about confusion? Dao wasn’t confused. No. He was…half asleep. That’s all. “Your friend Sophie. Sophie Hahn.”
“I’m sorry. You must have the wrong number.”
“Huh?” She forced a chuckle. Laughing was the last thing she felt like doing at the moment. “You’re joking, right? Oh, you’re such a crazy guy.”
“No, I’m not joking. But I agree, if this is your idea of a joke, it isn’t funny. Good-bye.”
Her heart stopped. “What? Wait! Don’t hang up.” The phone to her ear, she yelled, “Wake up, buddy! This is Sophie. Your best woman, the one who stood by your side at your wedding.”
“Sorry. I don’t know anyone named Sophie and my friend Bill was my best man. Best woman? What the hell is that? You have the wrong number.”
Click.
“Oh my God. He doesn’t remember me anymore? He doesn’t remember his wedding? He doesn’t fucking remember I exist, and I’m in Chicago, too far away to help him. It’s too late.” She let her head fall forward. Her forehead landed in her palms. “He’s worse. The witch stole his memory. Damn.”
She cried. The tears ran like rivers down her cheeks. It was too much, all of it. Dao’s sickness, and the dueling vampires, and the snakewoman, and Julian’s attempt to kill Ric while he was making love to her, and the dragon guy, and, and…she wasn’t fucking Buffy the vampire slayer. She wasn’t strong enough. She wasn’t brave enough and she wasn’t smart enough. “I want to go home.”
Someone knocked on her door. Three soft raps.
“Oh, God, what now?” Figuring she’d probably regret going to the door, Sophie rubbed the tears from her burning eyes with the bedsheet, then staggered to the door and peered out the peephole.
Ric.
She opened the door and he swept past her with long, purposeful strides.
“I found him, and lucky for us, he doesn’t live far from here. But I want you to stay put while I go have a little chat—”
“Over my dead body. And I mean that literally.”
One eyebrow lifted. “Really,” he said flatly. “You know, I could’ve—and probably should’ve—gone without telling you where I was heading. But I thought I’d do the right thing and come here and explain. No secrets. Remember?” He shook his head, raked his fingers through his hair. “You see what we men have to deal with? We try to give you what you want and you give us grief anyway. And what’s wrong? Why are your eyes so red?”
“I just talked to Dao and he doesn’t know who I am anymore. What’s that mean?”
“Shit.” Ric shook his head. “It means you have probably twenty-four, maybe thirty-six hours tops if what Julian implied is true.”
“Then that settles it. I’m going with you. I’ll go insane with worry if you leave me here to stare at these four walls. I have to do something. Up to this point, you’ve been doing all the work.” When he didn’t agree to let her go, she threw in an argument she figured couldn’t fail. “Besides, what if Julian comes back while you’re gone? Are we sure he was trying to kill you and not me?”
Surprise touched his features. “You have a point. I hadn’t thought of that, just assumed he was after me so that he could have you and more easily distract you from the lamia…but he might…he could…bastard!” He crossed his thick arms over his chest. “You’re co
ming with me but you have to promise to do what I say. We don’t have time to waste arguing. Got it?”
Got it? Despite the fact that she’d won the battle, she saw red. “Don’t talk to me like a defiant child! No one talks to me like that.”
“Sorry! I swear I didn’t mean it to come out like that.” He pulled her to him, held her tightly. He kissed the top of her head and she sighed into his chest. Safe, warm, secure. “Sorry, sweetcheeks. But the thought of you being hurt or worse…makes me crazy. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you. I’d love to just put you away somewhere safe but I know I can’t.”
“No, you can’t lock me in a tower like a princess. This isn’t a fairy tale. It’s an action adventure. You’re Indiana Jones and I’m Willie Scott. We’re in this together. Remember? Partners. You watch my back and I’ll watch yours. I admit, I haven’t felt in control or brave or strong since we left, but I can’t leave you now, hide here like a chickenshit. Not when someone’s trying to kill you, or me…or both of us. And not when Dao’s getting worse. I let one person down once and it cost more than I ever wanted to pay. It cost her life. No way. I can’t let you down too. I can’t let Dao down. I can’t let myself down.”
“Yeah. I remember we originally said we’d help each other. But since we left Detroit, things have changed. A lot’s happened—”
“Tell me about it.” She smiled up at him, despite the fear and uncertainty making her heart heavy. “I care about you. I didn’t see that coming—okay, maybe I did. Sort of. But I didn’t expect to care so much.”
His eyes were dark, his face a mask of tension, worry. “I care about you too. More than I ever thought I could. More than I wanted to.”
Her smile faded. “I don’t know whether to say thank you or I’m sorry.”
“Neither. It wasn’t anything you did.” He kissed her nose. “But you’d better move back a bit or things are going to start happening again.” He nodded down in the general direction of their bodies and she instantly recognized the hard bulge pressing against her belly.
A Vampire Bundle Page 78
