The Mammoth Book of Hot Romance

by Sonia Florens

  “That is the most original proposition I’ve ever received.”

  He actually chuckled. In better circumstances she might even have thought it a sexy laugh. Come to that any circumstances were better than this. “I’ll work on it,” he replied.

  “You’re serious, aren’t you? You’re not talking about a bit of hand holding and kissing.”

  He shook his head. “I’m afraid I have to fuck you.”

  “That ans a new one. Never heard ‘I have to fuck you to save your life’ before. Forgive me if I’m not quite in the mood.”

  He crossed the four or five feet between them. “I can get you in the mood.”

  Assuming she wanted him to. Which she didn’t. “There’s no other way out of this?”

  He cocked his head at the door towards the thuds and yells and screams the other side. It was far worse than before. Ella shut her eyes. Not with any great expectation of opening them and finding she was dreaming. She opened them; he was taking his arms out of his shirt.

  “That’s a bulletproof vest?” She’d never seen one before and really didn’t care to see one right now, but she was just the weeniest bit curious. She swallowed as he smiled.

  “Touch it. I won’t bite.”

  It wasn’t his bite that she was worried about. He took her hand and pressed her palm against his vest. The fabric was smooth under her fingers, but beneath the slick fabric was something harder, textured, not his skin. “Does it really stop bullets?”

  He nodded. “Yes. Hurts like the dickens. The force knocks you over most times and you get one hell of a bruise, but yes, it stops them.”

  “It’s awfully thin.”

  “That’s the cover. Inside is the Kevlar. Let me show you”

  Anything to delay and maybe talk herself out if this. He pulled down the zip and slipped his arms out. Underneath he wore a thin white T-shirt: a tight-fitting, chest-clinging, white T-shirt. He held out the vest to her. It was warm from his body, but the weight was a shock and she almost dropped it. “You wear it all the time you’re on duty?” This was insane, he was stripping off, preparing to fuck her and they were discussing body armour.

  He must have been thinking the same. He took the vest and tossed it aside, before putting his hands on her upper arms. He held her gently but there was no denying the strength in his fingers. Hell, she’d seen what he could move.

  “Look,” he said, his voice low, “I know this isn’t what you want. Wasn’t what I expected this evening either, but we don’t have all night. I’ve got to get back out there and help keep order. I won’t hurt you. I won’t harm you and you’re a hell of a lot better off in here with me than out there.”

  Given the continuing and escalating noise, to say nothing of the clear and outspoken threats a few minutes earlier, she wasn’t about to argue that point.

  “Damn it! All I did was nip into the building for five minutes.”

  “After Mr Bryce clearly requested no one linger in the building this evening.”

  Fair enough and she usually followed directives from the principal. “He said the floors were being waxed.”

  “That’s what he was told to say.”

  Made sense, she supposed. He could hardly announce there was going to be bloodshed and mayhem. “So, no one knows what really happens here on these occasions?”

  He gave a sigh. “Other than those who need to, no. Now, do you want me to take your clothes off or will you do it yourself?”

  Her throat went dry. Bone dry. It hurt to swallow. He wasn’t kidding. He was deadly serious. Wrong choice of adjective that. She shivered and looked into his deep blue eyes. She’d always rather liked Officer Willard. If she’d met him at a party she might well have gone home with him. She took a deep breath. “You know we could both lose our jobs if this ever comes out?”

  Yes, his chuckle was sexy. “I sincerely doubt anyone in that lot outside will report us, and I won’t tell a soul.”

  She had no alternative. “I’m not really in the mood.”

  “You will be,” he promised, untucking his T-shirt and ping it over his head.

  Oh my! The tight fit of the cotton had implied a nice body underneath. It was stupendous, just enough muscle to ripple as he pulled off the shirt, then settle to lovely male curves as he tossed the garment aside. “Not too bad, is it?” he asked.

  “No.” Oh, what the heck? Here was a magnificent specimen of man offering to fuck her and save her life. She definitely had no desire (wrong word again) to be mauled and eaten by the vicious lot outside. What the dickens was she hesitating for? As he unzipped his pants, she took off her coat and kicked off her remaining shoe.

  “Good.” As she slipped of her jacket and started unbuttoning her blouse, he nodded with approval. Whether with approval over her acquiescence or admiration of her bra, she had no idea. Wasn’t sure she wanted to know. At least he was personable, intelligent and clean. Best get this over and done with, insane as it was, and she’d go home for a stiff drink. Correction: several stiff drinks.

  She took off her blouse, fumbled with the hook at the waist of her skirt and lowered the zip. Seemed she was wearing a lot more than he was. As she stepped out of her skirt, he was down to tightie whites that left virtually nothing to her imagination.

  He crossed the room, giving her a good view of the tightest butt she’d ever tried to ignore, and came back, carrying a rolled-up gym mat over his shoulder.

  Show-off.

  “There,” he said, as he pushed aside a stack of music stands and spread out the mat. “That’ll be more comfortable than the floor.” She was down to bra and panties now. Her fingers froze at a sudden piercing yell from the other side of the door. “Here, let me do that.”

  He reached behind her and unsnapped her bra with a flick of his fingers, tossed it aside, and covered her breasts with his long fingers. “I meant what I said,” he told her. “I won’t hurt you but I will fuck you hard until you climax under me. I’m marking you as mine.” He leaned to whisper in her ear, his breath warm on her skin. “After I’ve had you, no one out there will ever dare touch you. Trust me.” His lips came to the side of her neck and brushed against her skin. She let out a little gasp, as his hand slid down to her belly. “This is just the beginning. It’s going to exceed your wildest imaginings, my dear Miss Carrack.”

  It already had. Just not quite in the way he intimated.

  His hand traced soft circles on her belly as his lips brushed up the side of her neck and caressed her chin. Then they were on her mouth. His mouth pressed on hers, as one arm came around to support her shoulders. Her lips opened under his and the tip of his tongue touched hers. It was a gentle kiss, a sweet caress of lips and tongue that went on forever. His hand came up the back of her neck and held her head steady as his mouth played hers.

  Despite her worry, hesitation and uncertainty, she responded, let out a little sigh and relaxed into his embrace as he kissed on, sliding his mouth off hers to kiss her chin, her cheeks, her eyelids and then return to tease her lips again.

  Eyes shut, she blocked out the place, the time and the circumstances and gave herself over to the sweet seduction of his kisses.

  He broke the embrace, lifting his mouth gently off hers. “Not so bad, was it?”

  She smiled. Talking seemed an awful lot of effort.

  He picked her up in his arms and carried her over to the gym mat. “You know,” he said, as he lay her down on her back, “when Pixies mate we prefer out of doors, under a moonlight sky.”

  “Not in the band storeroom on a sweaty old gym mat left over from the last wrestling match?”

  “No,” he replied, stroking her breast, “but we do like a challenge.”

  One glance up and she decided it wouldn’t be much of a challenge. Mind you, he was male and she was as good as naked, a fine upstanding erection was pretty much a given.

  He lay down beside her, still wearing his tightie whites, but that was fine with her. Even if they didn’t hide anything, he was still partia
lly, or more accurately, sparsely clothed. A good thing too. She was still not quite convinced of the necessity of all-out, full-powered sex. But lying here, with his arms around her and his lips in her hair, beat facing the ravening mob in the gym.

  He stroked up across her belly and gently caressed her breasts before leaning over and taking a nipple in his mouth.

  If nothing else about this evening proved the world had shifted on her, this did. Never in her entire life had pure pleasure coursed through her veins in such a wild torrent.

  She threw back her head, let out a long, slow groan and hoped he’d never stop.

  She almost got her wish.

  Seemed for an eternity that he kissed one nipple then the other as he stroked and caressed every inch of her body. At some point her panties went AWOL. She really didn’t need them anyway.

  Sensation built and peaked until it shot through her in wild, cascading ripples. It wasn’t really possible to climax from kissing, was it? Apparently it was.

  “Are you really a Pixie?” she asked, after she got her breath back and her heart slowed to somewhere near normal.

  He leaned over her, grinning. “You doubt it?”

  “I’ve not had much experience of Pixies to measure by.”

  “You don’t need any,” he replied, easing down her body and settling between her legs.

  The next few minutes, hours, whatever, rather faded into a blur of gasping joy and more orgasms than even a maths teacher could count.

  She actually passed out and came to, as a limp mass of humanity, looking up at him smiling above her.

  “Wow!” Not very eloquent but he seemed quite satisfied. Except, he hadn’t come. Unless it was after she’d passed out. One glance below the belt convinced her he hadn’t. “What about you?” Fair was fair after all. He’d saved her from the ravening hordes, he deserved his turn.

  He shook his head. “I don’t think you’re ready for that yet, Miss Carrack. Besides, I need to get you out of here.”

  Three

  “Through there.” She looked at the door where the hordes still ravened as ferociously as ever.

  “Won’t be a problem. Not now. They’ll smell me on you and not one of them would dare.”

  “What really is going on there?”

  “I told you: a turf war. The Vampires and the Werewolves never did get along and now they’re in the close confines of the city, it’s worse than ever. So we let them fight it out every couple of months. Helps defuse tensions all around.”

  “Who are ‘we’?”

  “I can’t tell you that. It’s not allowed.”

  But carnage in the school gym and wild sex in the storage room was. “Why the heck do they live here if they can’t stand each other?”

  “Come to that, why do you live here? There aren’t many nice, middle-class families left in this neighbourhood these days.”

  That was the truth. “I grew up here. Until Dad remarried and we all moved to Virginia when he got a new job. After college, I moved back to help take care of my grandfather. I got a job here and, when he died, I inherited his house and stayed. I’ve a nice house on a rough street in a tough neighbourhood, but I’m known by a lot of people. No one has ever bothered me until tonight.” A death threat from a stoned parent didn’t really count.

  “Better get dressed.”

  He was gentleman enough to help her. If “gentleman” was the precise term for a Pixie. He’d enjoyed it as much as she did. She should have been shocked, indignant, embarrassed. Instead she was … sated. “Who really organizes these turf wars?”

  “Never give up do you?” Didn’t need brilliance on her part to pick up his impatience. Well damn, if she’d risked her life, might be nice to know exactly why it had been in danger.

  “I’m a nosy old teacher lady.”

  He put his arm around her and brushed the inside of his arm against hers. “We do. The Pixies. We’re the peacekeepers around here. Ever wondered that for a run-down neighbourhood we have no street-corner drug dealers and the crime rate is pretty low?”

  “Low” wasn’t the adjective she’d have used, but it was nowhere near as bad as Moss Side or Hallowhill. “Not really.”

  “Don’t think too much about it,” he said, pulling away. Her arm stung as he brushed hers but eased off as she gave it a rub. Must have caught on his watch band.

  “All set?”

  “I’m still missing a shoe and a set of maths tests.” If only she’d graded them last night. Of course then she’d never have come back tonight and would have missed the best sex of her life.

  “I’ll find them,” he promised. “Let’s get going.”

  The din amplified when he opened the door. There was blood on the floor. And the walls. A body missing both legs crawled towards them, and at least ten or eleven furry things were leaping and snarling at the pale ones that she guessed had to be the Vamps.

  The entire lot stopped, froze and looked in their direction as he took her hand in his and raised her arm as they walked forwards.

  This was many times worse than talking Billy Weston into handing over his butterfly knife.

  “He’s marked her,” the one on the floor said, looking up at them.

  The mob moved back, every single one of them, leaving a wide passage to the main door. She walked out, none too happy to have that lot at her back but if Officer Willard wasn’t worried, she’d follow his lead.

  Outside, in the now pitch dark that seemed to give him no problem, he found her tests scattered behind the dumpster. No luck on her other shoe but if that was her only loss of the evening, she’d not complain.

  He walked her to her car and insisted on riding home with her. Parting with an absurdly formal, “Goodnight, Miss Carrack,” and a handshake, of all things.

  A handshake after what had gone between them was ridiculous, and probably the ultimate in smarts.

  The next morning, she might have managed to pass the whole incident off as a wild dream. Apart from feeling incredibly relaxed – ridiculous after the horrors of the night, but there was no denying he’d given her one grandmother of an orgasm to say nothing of the extras, and she couldn’t ignore the splatters of blood on a couple of the crumpled test papers. As she stood under the shower, she noticed an odd blue mark on the inside of her left forearm. A bruise? After last night, a pale bruise was hardly surprising. She must have knocked it, flailing her arms about during one of her many orgasms.

  She dressed, grabbed her usual coffee and bowl of granola and realized she’d have to face Officer Willard at some point in the next seven hours.

  She was tempted to call in sick. Then the thought flashed through her mind that she ought to wonder about the state of the building, but that wasn’t her responsibility. Although it might make ainteresting topic of conversation in the teachers’ lounge.

  The building looked the same as ever. Mr Paget, the custodian, was muttering about a toilet roll jammed in the second-floor boys’ bathroom. Seemed any damage to the building was a secondary concern. Peter Brougham, the wrestling coach, was fussing down the office phone, seemingly far too het up about a wrestling match against Central High to be bothered by blood and guts on the gym floor.

  Interesting. The Pixies really must have cleaned it all up and that was too much to worry about faced with a line for the copier and a message to call a particularly irritating parent ASAP.

  Ella was tempted to go down to the gym and peep but, on reflection, decided it would be some time before she’d willingly go down the hallway to the gym. She encountered Officer Willard in the office, but got away with a smile and exchanged “good mornings”.

  But he caught up with her later. Didn’t take much effort to check her schedule and figure out her planning period. She’d nipped out to the wide ledge that overlooked the cafeteria roof. In days past, it had been a gathering point for smokers, but since no one smoked in school any more, it was usually empty apart from a couple of rusty lawn chairs. She often popped out there for a few minutes o
f peace and quiet. Seemed he knew that and was waiting for her.

  She could have backed out and left him leaning against the parapet, but that seemed churlish after he’d protected her from dismemberment and given her the best sex she’d ever known. Besides, she didn’t want to leave. A wildness came over her and all she wanted was him.

  As Ella met his eyes, he smiled. For a fleeting second she wondered if he would kiss in daylight as well as he did in the gloom of the storage room. A few seconds later, she was finding out for herself.

  She crossed the few yards that separated them and threw herself at him, wrapping arms around him and pressing her mouth to his. She was beyond reason. Just as well. Reason would have held her back. Wild need and longing propelled her forwards.

  Not that he needed a second urging. She was surrounded by him, enveloped in his arms and the heat of his body and as good as lost in the power of his kiss. For a second, the thought flashed through her mind that this was not professional behaviour, neither was last night come to that, and here she was lip to lip while she as good as plastered her body against his.

  Not that he was fighting to get away. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her to him, as he backed her against the wall. His mouth was on hers, hard and hot and wondrous. His tongue caressed hers, his lips pressing hard as he enthusiastically stroked her hair, and his other hand was inside her blouse.

  As she feverishly kissed back, reaching her tongue to curl against his, his knee came between her thighs and she spread her legs to rub against him.

  Just rubbing was nowhere near enough. A wildness invaded her brain, engulfed her reason and completely eradicated common sense. With a deep moan, she held on to his thigh with hers and rode him. Her skirt shifted up and all she had between her clit and him was a thin pair of panties. Realizing her need, he pressed his thigh closer to her core and joined in the rhythm.

  Insanity wasn’t the word, but she didn’t care. She needed him, lusted for him and ached for release.

  It didn’t take her long. Passion and sensation built as her blood thrummed in her ears and her body sang with pleasure. Nothing mattered but his arms supporting her and his leg between hers. She was barely conscious of her cries. His hand was on her breast and the wildness of skin on skin drove her higher. As his fingers foundher nipple, she rode him harder and faster until her body burst into climax and she collapsed with a great groan.