by Marilyn Lee
“It’s been a while since you and I have been out, Uncle Jay and I just thought—”
“I’m not buying your little miss innocent act. We both know you’re intent on playing matchmaker again, Rayna.”
“What if I am? I didn’t do so badly with Uncle Adrian.”
“Rayna!”
She gave him a cajoling smile. “Oh, come on, Uncle Jay. You liked her. Didn’t you?” Hell to the yes, but he wasn’t some spineless human male to be manipulated by such feelings. And he knew how deadly such an admission would be to Rayna. He shook his head and leaned forward to stare at her. “I’m not in the mood to play anymore of your games.”
She reached across the table to squeeze his hand. “I’m not playing.” He sighed. That’s what he feared. “Rayna, I’m perfectly capable of finding my own women without any help from you.”
“I know that.”
“And in fact, in case you’ve forgotten, I already have a woman in my life.” Hell, if he counted Toni, he had two.
He watched a quick frown furrow her brows before she smiled. “Eliza?”
“Eliza,” he repeated, smiling as he thought of his favorite fem lover. With skin the color of cinnamon, long, dark brown hair, and dark eyes, he’d lately begun to think of her as his new brown girl. He always missed her like hell when she left the country. The four months while she vacationed in Africa usually stretched endlessly before him. He glanced over Rayna’s shoulder to the dance floor. He could see Cayenne and her ex-husband with their arms around each other. When the asshole bent his head to kiss her, Jayvyn curled his top lip and looked away. Right at Rayna.
Although she didn’t glance over her shoulder, he suspected Rayna would know the source of his agitation.
Almost from the moment he and his brothers had found her and taken her into their lives, she’d been wrapping them around her finger. And none of them had been equal to the task of putting a stop to it.
Damn. He’d just given her more ammunition to use against him. If he weren’t careful, he’d fall in with her plans for him as quickly and as helplessly as Adrian had. “I’m content with Eliza.”
“She’s not your blood, Uncle Jay,” she said quietly.
He frowned. For some reason, Rayna and Eliza seemed to dislike each other. “Who is or isn’t my special mate is my decision alone, Rayna.”
“I know that, Uncle Jay.”
“But?” There was always a but with Rayna until she got her way.
“But you two have been dating for over twenty years.”
“And? What’s your point?”
“And she still insists on spending several months a year in Africa connecting with her root s by having sex with any and every man who catches her gaze. While she’s gone, when you tire of Toni, you go on a rampage with a dizzying succession of women who could never mean anything to you.”
“And?”
“And if the two of you were in blood, that behavior would be unacceptable.” He shrugged. “I’ve never claimed she was my blood.”
“Then why keep her in your life?”
“Because our relationship works for us.”
“Why just have a relationship that merely works when you can have one that tilts your world upside down?” Countless years had passed since he’d been so madly in love with a woman that he happily allowed her to dominate his life, his thoughts, and his heart.
“I’m perfectly happy to live in a world that doesn’t do any unnecessary tilting, Rayna.”
“Are you?”
“I am.”
“Oh, Uncle Jay. I want you and Uncle Conner to be as happy as Uncle Adrian is—now that he’s married to Brandi.”
Jayvyn couldn’t deny that his older brother was very happily married—even though he and his wife Brandi had recently learned she would probably never be able to conceive or carry a child. Of course, the prospects of Adrian being able to impregnate her had never been very high. “Brandi is perfect for him, but you’re forgetting one very important fact.”
“Which is?”
“Adrian was ready to settle down,” he pointed out.
“And you’re not ready to give marriage another try?”
Her question stirred painful and bitter memories he wasn’t in the mood to deal with. “That’s none of your concern.”
“It may not be my business, but your happiness is my concern, Uncle Jay.” Jayvyn suppressed a sigh. How was he supposed to be annoyed with her when she made remarks like that, which he knew were sincere? “Don’t you ever play fair, Rayna?”
“Not when I’m dealing with your happiness.”
Damn her. And damn him for never being equal to the task of putting and keeping her out of his personal life.
“What can you tell me about the dumb bastard she’s with?”
He waited for her to make some triumphant remark. Instead, she told him what she knew of Cayenne’s ex-husband.
He listened in silence, occasionally glancing across the room where the couple still danced. Although they no longer kissed, he now had both hands on her big, round ass.
longer kissed, he now had both hands on her big, round ass.
Jayvyn sucked in an angry breath. How the hell could she want a man who treated her as one of many easy lays?
“Aren’t you going to ask me about Cayenne?”
After having watched Rayna maneuver Adrian into falling for one of her friends, Jayvyn knew she now had her matchmaking sights set on him. Even though he’d repeatedly denied any wish to fall in blood and settle down with one woman, he feared Rayna was determined to make him fall for Cayenne. He saw no reason to cooperate.
On the other hand, he couldn’t deny the idea of getting to know Cayenne in the biblical sense, excited and aroused him. The thought of sliding his suddenly aching cock into her pussy and his incisors into her lovely neck sent a rage of hunger through him. While he didn’t intend to allow Rayna to sucker him into a real relationship with Cayenne, damn if he didn’t plan to fuck her senseless and gorge on her blood before he walked away from her.
Rayna shook her head. “I don’t want her hurt anymore, Uncle Jay.” Jayvyn compressed his lips. She’d always had an uncanny ability to “read” him and his brothers. That probably accounted for her lack of fear of them. No matter how they’d raged or what they’d threatened in a futile attempt to gain even a modicum of control over her, she’d never shown an ounce of fear with any of them. Probably because she’d always known that they cherished her and that each would gladly surrender his life to save hers.
“Uncle Jay? Isn’t there anything you want to ask me about Cayenne?” It was unbecoming of a vampire his age to be so easily handled by a human woman. Yet Rayna had been doing that with him and his two older brothers almost from the moment they’d discovered her abandoned outside the gates of the family mansion some fifty years earlier.
He was not going to give Rayna the satisfaction of thinking she could pick his blood for him. “Would you like to dance?”
She frowned. “Not at the moment.”
“Then there’s a pretty brunette sitting alone I’m going to ask to dance.” He rose and walked away from their table before she could protest.
Chapter Two
Cayenne Pepper watched the tall stranger with the dark hair, high cheekbones, and intense gaze walk away with mixed emotions. Flirting with him had probably not been wise—especially with Michael along. His flirting back gave her hope. In case she couldn’t win Michael back, maybe being divorced and on the wrong side of 35 wouldn’t signal the end of worthwhile dating.
“Who the hell was that?”
She blinked at Michael. “Who was who?’’
“Who was the man who just tried to cut in?”
“I don’t know him,” she said truthfully.
“Are you sure?”
He wasn’t the type of man a woman forgot. True Rayna had mentioned him, but Cayenne hadn’t paid much attention. She frowned. His name began with a J. Jason or Jarrod or something like t
hat. “I’m very sure I don’t know him.”
“Well, he clearly wants to know you.”
“How do you know that?”
“He practically started drooling when he looked at you.”
Flattered, it was difficult for Cayenne not to smile. “I don’t know him,” she said again. Recalling the feel of his firm, cool lips brushing against her fingers as he kissed her hand, she inhaled sharply.
Mistaking the sound for lust for him, Michael lifted her chin, and locked his lips over hers in a warm, greedy kiss that made her pussy gush and chased thoughts of the other man from her mind.
“Let’s get out of here and go fuck,” he whispered when he released her lips.
She nodded silently, her heart hammering at the thought of another opportunity to win him back.
They separated to find their friends and tell them they were leaving.
After speaking to her two co-workers, she searched for Rayna in vain before she turned and found the man who looked far too young to be Rayna’s uncle standing in her path.
A tingle danced down her spine. “Oh!”
A tingle danced down her spine. “Oh!”
“You’re leaving with him.”
He made her intention to leave with Michael sound like a crime.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She stared at him. “You ask that as if you have the right to.”
“Never mind my right to ask. Let’s talk about you. You’re going to sleep with him knowing he doesn’t appreciate you?”
With her cheeks burning, she glanced down.
“Look at me.”
She shook her head, keeping her lids lowered.
He bent to speak with his lips against her ear. “You’re not going to get him back by giving him easy pussy on demand.”
Surprised by the venom she heard in his deep voice and by his insulting choice of words, she jerked away. “It’s none of your business who I choose to sleep with!” She turned away.
He caught her hand and turned her back to face him. “I wouldn’t be too sure of that if I were you.” She stared up at him, speechless for several moments until she found her voice. “I am sure of it.” She tugged at her hand. “I don’t even know your name.”
“My name is—”
“Whatever your name is you sure as hell don’t get to tell me who I can sleep with after a twenty minute conversation. And you should know your crude language leaves a lot to be desired. Develop some manners and a little finesse and maybe you won’t have to spend your nights trying to pick up women who have no interest in you whatsoever!”
He tightened his fingers around hers. “Don’t give me that shit about no interest and don’t sleep with him.” Cayenne bit her lip. Why did that almost sound like a command he expected her to obey? “Let go of my hand.” After a long, tension-filled moment, during which she felt as if he were trying to impose his will on her, he finally complied.
She stared at him.
He stared back.
She sucked in a breath. Why was she still standing so close to him? Why didn’t she walk away or at least take a few steps back?
“Who the hell is this guy, Cay?”
Before she could respond, Rayna’s uncle swung around to face Michael. “Your replacement, asshole.” She caught her breath. Oh, no.
“What the fuck?” Michael demanded. “Did you just call me an asshole?”
“Yes. Now what the fuck do you plan to do about it?”
Michael showed his contempt by deliberately turning his back on the other male to look at her. “I thought you said you didn’t know him.”
“I don’t!” Oh, hell. Why had she allowed Rayna to talk her into using her uncle to make Michael jealous? And why hadn’t Rayna told her the uncle in question was slightly unhinged?
“Then let me kick his sorry ass to the curb.” Michael turned and jabbed at the other man’s shoulder. “Back up or else.”
“Or else what?”
He didn’t make any menacing moves or raise his voice, but Cayenne felt a sudden fear for Michael. She turned to look at the man, a pleading look in her eyes. Under cover of the club’s dim lighting, she gripped his hand. Please don’t hurt him.
After a brief stare and a return squeeze, he inclined his head slightly before he tugged his hand free.
Cayenne relaxed. Now to get Michael out of there before the other male changed his mind.
Michael leaned close to him. “Or else I’ll kick your ass.”
Cayenne could almost feel a wave of anger emanating from the other male. Her heart raced with fear for Michael. She slipped her arm through Michael’s and tugged at it. “I need a fuck,” she whispered, desperate to keep him from antagonizing the other man further. She wasn’t quite sure why she was so fearful. At six-five, Michael had him from antagonizing the other man further. She wasn’t quite sure why she was so fearful. At six-five, Michael had about a three-inch and twenty-pound advantage. In addition, Michael had gone to college on a wrestling scholarship.
He could take care of himself. Yet there was something about the other man that hinted at a barely leashed power she doubted Michael could handle.
“Are you going to stand here wasting time trading insults with him or are you going to take me home and fuck me?”
For a moment, when Michael and the other male stared at each other, she feared Michael would provoke a fight he couldn’t win. Then he suddenly smiled down at her. “Then let’s get out of here, baby.” He put an arm around her waist and turned her away.
Feeling compelled, Cayenne cast a brief glance over her shoulder. Rayna’s uncle stood staring in their direction.
Don’t sleep with him.
With the silent words unaccountably echoing in her head, she reluctantly allowed Michael to rush her out of the club, half-afraid the other male would follow them and pummel Michael.
Thankfully, he didn’t and an hour later, she lay in her bed with Michael lying between her thighs. He sucked and bit at her breasts while fucking his big, thick, delicious cock in and out of her flooded pussy with hard, deep strokes that made her shudder with lust and purr like an alley cat in heat. Under his skillful attention, she came seconds before he ejaculated directly into her.
She wrapped her legs around him and clung to him while he shuddered through his climax. Only when he slumped against her, did she release him.
“Damn, girl, that’s still the best pussy I’ve ever had,” he told her as he withdrew from her.
The moment his cock left her body, she knew Rayna’s uncle’s admonition not to sleep with Michael was the cause for the immediate regret she felt. She’d just experienced a great fuck from the best cock she’d ever had. Why should she feel anything but a delicious afterglow?
“Then why are you always so eager to stick your cock into strange pussies?” she demanded.
“What the fuck?” In the act of rolling away from her, he turned to face her. “Please don’t start any shit, Cay.
You know the rules. We’re divorced. I can fuck whoever I like.”
“So can I!” She slipped off the bed. Feeling his seed trickle down one thigh, she inexplicably thought of Rayna’s uncle again and blushed.
“Don’t talk like that, baby!”
She looked back to see Michael, with his beautiful cock still semi-erect and covered with their combined fluids, hop off the bed.
She shook her head.
He walked over to her and took her in his arms. “You know it would kill me to know other men were enjoying my pussy.”
She sucked in an agitated breath. “How do you think I feel knowing you’re fucking other women?” He rubbed his cock against her. “You know they don’t mean a thing, baby.” He reached between their bodies to slip a finger inside her. “You know this is the ultimate pussy. The others are just appetizers.”
“Well, maybe I’d like one or two male appetizers.”
He pushed another finger in her. “Don’t talk like that, baby. This is my pu
ssy and I’m not sharing it with anyone
—especially that half-breed from the club.”
“Half-breed?” She jerked away from him. “How can you say such things about a man neither one of us knows?”
“I know he looked Indian. I know he has blue eyes.”
“Since when do Native American men have blue eyes?”
“He has blue eyes and he obviously wants some of my pussy!”
The thought flattered her so it took a moment for her to refocus her thoughts. “He’s Native American and I’ll sleep with whoever I like—just as you do.”
“The hell you will.” He swept her off her feet and carried her across the room to stretch her on her back on the bed. “Give me what’s mine alone.”
Don’t sleep with him. She hesitated a moment before she slowly parted her thighs.
“That’s what I’m talking about, baby.” Moments later, he lay between her thighs, eating her pussy with all the hunger and delight of a man discovering oral sex for the first time.
She curled her fingers in his hair and moaned her way to a blistering climax. While she lay in the throes of it, he She curled her fingers in his hair and moaned her way to a blistering climax. While she lay in the throes of it, he slipped his fully erect cock back inside her.
She trembled and clung to him. “Oh…Mike Yes. Yes. Fuck me.”
“That’s the plan, girl.” He fucked her hard until he came.
Then they collapsed in each other’s arms. Although thoroughly satisfied and tired, she lay awake after he fell asleep.
A picture of the man she’d met that night seemed to imprint itself on her closed lids. She considered the unmistakable air of possession he’d displayed towards her. Clearly, she’d made a favorable impression on him. He’d certainly done the same with her. What was he doing? Had he left the club with someone? Would she see him again if she returned there alone on the following weekend? Had he really been interested in her? Or had he just taken the part Rayna had designed for him too seriously? Would he think less of her knowing she’d slept with Michael again?
The question troubled her as she drifted into an uneasy sleep. Even with Michael’s arm tossed over her naked body, her last waking thoughts were of the male who had kissed her fingers and called her sweet and managed to sound as if he meant it.
