by Nina Bangs
When he moved down between her legs, she opened to him. He knelt, slipped his hands beneath her buttocks, and lifted her to his mouth.
Even as she felt her orgasm gathering low in her belly while his talented tongue teased and tortured, she knew there needed to be more. Where was her part in all this? She wanted to touch him, talk to him, slow down the pleasure. This may have been how males did it millions of years ago, but he was about to get a sexual update.
“Stop.” Her voice was breathy, and parts of her body wanted to know what the hell she was doing.
Within the blink of an eye, Al shut down everything. It was as though someone had turned off his motor. Except for one part. That part remained long, hard, and hopeful. “You’ve changed your mind.” His voice was flat, expressionless.
But she knew how hard it must have been to obey her. “No, I want to make love to you. Now listen carefully. I want to make love to you. I want to touch you. I want to tell you what I’m feeling.” She paused, trying to think of how to say this in a way he’d understand. “In this time, men and women give each other pleasure. It’s not a one-way street. Let me touch your body the way you’ve touched mine.”
In the silence that followed her announcement, she could almost hear his mind trying to make sense of what she’d said. Time for a demonstration.
“Lie on your back and spread your legs.” She smiled as his eyes widened.
But he did what she asked. Omigod, she didn’t know if she’d survive touching all that beautiful flesh. As he lay there in the darkness, hard muscle moving beneath smooth skin, she could truly believe he was a god of the night.
“I talk when I make love.” Jenna knelt and then leaned over to kiss his neck. She felt him swallow hard beneath her lips. She smiled. “Feel free to talk back.”
Remembering how sensual his hair felt, she purposely trailed her hair over his chest, his stomach, between his spread legs. He jerked as the strands slid across the head of his cock.
“It makes me hot watching you react to the things I do to your body.” If her voice was a little hoarse, it could be blamed on all that want clogging her throat.
“How long do you expect me to last?” He sounded a little desperate.
“Oh, for a little while longer. I haven’t even started yet.”
Even his beast couldn’t stop his groan. “You’re killing me, woman.”
“Really?” She swept her tongue over his collarbone and then flicked each of his flat male nipples with the tip. He flexed those perfect pecs in response. “See, now that makes it all worthwhile.” She leaned down to whisper in his ear. “Want to know a secret? I don’t think I can last much longer either.” She tugged on his earlobe with her teeth.
Al’s breaths came in harsh rasps as his chest rose and fell while a sheen of sweat made his naked body glisten in the darkness.
She skimmed the tips of her fingers over his ridged stomach and watched the muscles clench. “Touching you is magic.”
He couldn’t stay still any longer. Arching his hips, he dug his fingers into the mattress. That put his amazing male package on full display.
For a moment, the wonder of him overwhelmed her. She could barely see past her own need. Had she ever been this wet for a man, felt such powerful anticipatory spasms for one, knew that she’d go crazy if she didn’t relieve that heavy desire low in her stomach?
But he was touching something else, something that yearned toward his sudden vulnerability. She’d bet he’d never laid himself open like this in his previous life. And his trust. No matter how quickly he could change, right now he was not thinking about home security. If she whipped out a knife, she could kill him before he knew what was happening to him.
He trusted her with his life. And she…She wanted to trust him with her heart. Jenna almost chuckled. And wasn’t that the most ridiculous thing she’d ever thought? Sex did strange things to the human mind.
“Jenna.” Her name on his lips was a tortured cry.
She abandoned wayward thoughts and turned the show over to her senses. Kneeling between his legs, she cupped his balls. He shivered, but didn’t move. Leaning over, she slid her tongue slowly over each and felt them tighten in response.
Giving him pleasure upped her own excitement level a thousand times. That hadn’t happened before. With the few other lovers she’d had, touching them had been pleasant but not like this. This was…
Oh, forget it. She was still thinking. Turning her attention to his cock, she grasped him and ran her tongue from base to head.
He bucked beneath her. “Damn it, keep doing that and I won’t—”
She circled the head with her tongue and enjoyed the tactile sensations of velvety smooth skin and heat. So much heat. Then she planted a kiss right on the tip.
“I won’t be responsible for what happens.” He pushed each word out between clenched teeth.
She kneaded his inner thighs, and if she dug her nails in a little too hard, it was just a demonstration of her slipping control. Taking a firmer grip on his staff, she placed her lips over the head and slid lower and lower and lower. Then she tightened her lips and began the up-and-down motion she hoped would give him so much pleasure that he’d never again yearn for his past life. Faster and faster, swirling her tongue around him until…
With fingers she could feel shaking, he reached between her legs and touched her. She might as well have stuck her finger in a light socket, because her reaction was the same. The low moan of unbearable need couldn’t have come from her mouth. She didn’t make sounds like that.
And when he slid his finger back and forth over that sweet, sweet spot, she lost it.
“Now, now, now.” Her strangled cry bore no relation to the Jenna Maloy she knew, but then maybe she hadn’t known herself as well as she’d thought she did. This was someone driven by all that was savage and primordial. He didn’t waste the opportunity. With enough strength for two men, he slipped his hands under her behind and lifted her into the air. Then he planted her firmly on his cock.
She would like to have said she wiggled and teased, eased herself down a little at a time to prolong the pleasure. But Jenna couldn’t say any of those things. She was so wet and ready that she ground herself down on all that hot male flesh and howled her happiness.
The female-on-top position might not have been a natural one for Al, but he adapted quickly. He grunted with effort as he drove up into her at the same time she slammed down on him. The ancient rhythm of sex caught them in its claws and tore away the fabric of civilized behavior. Jenna and his beast were on equal footing right now.
Jenna didn’t even have time to anticipate her orgasm before it was on her, a violent spasm that flung her high and tumbled her end over end. Why all the glass walls didn’t shatter was a mystery to her.
She hung on to the moment, milked it of every drop, and then rolled into the slowly weakening aftershocks. Somewhere she remembered hearing Al’s roar of release.
But as she came down after that ultimate second when she knew she was going to die, because anything that felt so incredible had to kill you, Jenna realized there should’ve been more.
As she breathed in hard gasps and listened to the heavy thud of her heart, she thought about it. Okay, total mystery. Nothing could’ve been more. More was impossible.
Why then did she feel like she should’ve touched something? Not physical. Sort of like if she’d stretched her emotions a little more, reached out as far as they’d go, she would’ve connected with…Connected with what? She didn’t know, but it left her with a vague sense of incompletion.
“You are wondrous, woman.”
Jenna had collapsed on top of him, and now she could feel his voice vibrating in that beautiful chest. She rolled off him to lie flat on her back staring up at the night sky.
Al’s words seemed strangely formal, almost from another time, but they made her feel special in a way ordinary words wouldn’t have.
“You were…” Rarely at a loss for words, she
searched for the right ones now. “You were more. More than I’ve ever known, more than I could ever have imagined. Just more.” She turned to look at him.
Whatever he would have said went unspoken, because suddenly his gaze grew distant. Then with a grunt of disgust, he pushed himself to his feet and reached down to help her up. “Fin wants us to come to his room. He needs to discuss something.” His hands were clenched tightly at his sides.
“Now? Both of us?” She let him slip her gown over her head and wrap her robe around her.
She didn’t question how Fin knew they were awake and together. The old Christmas song about Santa knowing when you’ve been good or bad came to mind. The thought almost made her smile. Fin would make a warped Santa.
Al nodded. “I’ll wait while you get dressed.” He pulled on his jeans and guided her down the stairs and back to her room.
“Doesn’t anyone ever say no to Fin?”
He didn’t reply; he just stared at her.
“Right. I’ll throw something on.” But she couldn’t help wondering what happened to the ones who refused Fin. Well, she wouldn’t be tempting fate to night.
A few minutes later, they were at Fin’s door. Al’s body was still thrumming with its memory of Jenna. His hunger for her was a many-headed monster. Back when his soul had ruled him, all hungers were the same. He hunted, he killed, he ate, he fucked. No mixed emotions about any of his actions. There hadn’t been a lot of thinking going on back then.
Now that seemed like all he did. He wanted her body, but he didn’t want the emotions she made him feel. He wanted her body, but he didn’t want the complications that went with caring about her. He wanted her body, but why would she ever want anything to do with his rage and his soul? Most important of all, something had almost happened up on that roof that must never happen. But how could he stop it when he was determined to have a next time? The conflicts went on and on.
Jenna might not realize it, but Al had no doubt the timing of Fin’s call hadn’t been an accident. Next time he was with her, he’d have to remember to lock Fin out of his thoughts for the duration no matter how pissed it made their fearless leader. In this life, Al was beginning to realize that Fin didn’t need an all-access ticket to his mind.
And in the second before Fin threw open his door, Al dragged his thoughts from their lovemaking long enough to wonder why they were meeting in Fin’s room instead of his office. No one got into Fin’s room.
As Fin swung the door wide, Al’s immediate impression was that for the first time in his memory, the godlike Fin looked almost human. His jeans hung low on his hips, and he wore a sleeveless T-shirt that had seen better days. And the cold calmness of his eyes didn’t look so remote in the early hours of the morning.
Fin didn’t say anything, just waved them in. If Al had been expecting lots of expensive things to go along with Fin’s status as leader of the Eleven, he was in for a disappointment. The setup looked the same as Al’s room, but there wasn’t one thing there that spoke of Fin’s personality. It was a blank slate. Somehow Al had thought that Fin would have tried to power the place up with a few pictures or something. Nothing.
“Have a seat.” Fin had his fireplace lit, and he took a seat in the chair nearest the crackling flames.
If Al was the imaginative kind, he’d find something demonic in the way the shadows played across Fin’s face with the fire in the background. But he had his feet firmly on the ground.
Jenna sat on the couch, and Al defiantly dropped down beside her. His possessiveness didn’t seem to bother her.
“This is an odd time to call us in to see you.” Jenna glanced around. “And why not your office?”
Al knew as soon as he saw the sly lift of Fin’s lips that Jenna had asked the wrong question. But then, she wasn’t used to Fin-the-control-freak.
“You were awake. I was awake. So why not meet? And one place is as good as another. Did I interrupt anything?”
The lift of Fin’s brows was so patently fake that Al wanted to…Al frowned. Why hadn’t he ever had thoughts of violence toward Fin before rising to this time? One of those unpredictable memories tried to surface, a memory of Fin’s face and his own helplessness. He didn’t even try to hold on to the memory, because he knew the pain and the fog were coming. Al wasn’t disappointed. But one day he’d push back that fog and see things the way they’d really been.
What the hell was he thinking? It’d been a long day and his brain was way past due for some down time.
“Yes, you did interrupt something.”
Jenna was matching Fin sarcastic comment for sarcastic comment. Al felt pride in her, and that too was an unfamiliar emotion. Human feelings were dangerous. They distracted him from the important things, like survival.
“What’s up?” He was too tired to play Fin’s games.
“Jude called. He’s received a challenge for his leadership of the states ruled by Katherine. He wants you there, Al.”
Al nodded. He didn’t know why the vampire needed him, but the Eleven owed Jude for favors rendered.
“He also wants Jenna to be there.”
“No.” The word was out of Al’s mouth before Jenna could react.
“Why does he want me?” Jenna was a little less emotional in her reaction.
“It doesn’t matter. You’re not going with me.” Al was certain of that. “For God’s sake, haven’t your recent vampire experiences been enough to convince you to stay home?”
She turned a cool gaze on him. “I don’t like other people making my decisions for me.”
Angry, he turned his frustration on Fin. “Why does she need to be there?”
Fin looked really interested in both their reactions. “I don’t know. Jude said he didn’t have time to explain.” He shrugged. “Jenna will be safe. I think you and Jude can manage to protect her. Just to make sure, I’ll have Utah and Tor wait outside in case you need backup.”
“Are you crazy?” Okay, maybe he shouldn’t have worded it quite like that. “Utah and Tor are torn up from losing Rap. They’ll look for any excuse to wipe out every vampire they see. Who’s going to control them?”
“I will. They’ll only kill if I say so.”
Fin’s eyes didn’t even flicker, but Al got the feeling he’d enjoy the killing. Al could never figure Fin out. The rest of the Eleven loved violence. It was as strong a drive as sex and hunger. They had to constantly keep their souls submerged to function as humans.
But Fin wasn’t like the rest of them. He was cold, calculating, and used violence like an ice pick. If he needed it to get the job done, so be it. But if he could get the same result from just letting the ice melt, he’d choose the melting.
If Al wasn’t so pissed, he’d be intrigued. Was the great Fin actually experiencing an emotion like the rest of them? “I still don’t want her there.”
“Her is sitting right here. And she chooses to go.”
Al didn’t know what was driving Jenna to do something she couldn’t possibly be looking forward to, but someone had to save her from herself. “Give me one good reason why you need to be there.”
“Because I don’t want to be there.” She raked her fingers through that beautiful dark hair that was all tousled and tempting.
Al quickly jerked his mind from that particular precipice. Sex wasn’t on the agenda right now. His first instinct was to react sarcastically to her statement. But one look at her face stopped him. She was dead serious about this. “Explain.”
Jenna sighed and seemed to sink farther into her chair. “I’ve tried a lot of things that I wasn’t good at.” She shrugged. “But that’s okay, because they didn’t matter.”
Was Al imagining it, or did her they-didn’t-matter comment ring false? He blinked. Was some of his humanity asserting itself? Because his soul would take her at face value and not care if she was lying.
“But I am good at writing articles about the weird and wacky. Not that I’m going back to my room to start writing about what I’ve seen
and heard—although I’m keeping my options open for the future—but I take pride in going where the story is.” She dropped her gaze from his.
Al saw where this was headed and tried to cut her off. “This is different. You can’t expect to—”
“Yes, I can.” She met his gaze directly. “I can expect to face each story directly and not let my emotions get in the way. She swallowed hard, and Al felt her reluctance to reveal anything further.
“Every time I’ve faced the reality of the battle you guys are fighting, I’ve become a useless pile of frightened crap. I ran from Jude and you in the park, all I did was throw up while Rap was being killed, and I was so scared at the church that I just stood staring instead of helping.” She was in full disclosure mode now. “I hated that you had to stand and watch with me because you knew I couldn’t take care of myself.” Her expression was filled with self-loathing. “But that ends as of now. I’m going tomorrow, and someday I’ll write about it. And it won’t be a secondhand report.”
“We have something in common.” Fin sounded as if his thoughts were elsewhere. “We both feel that if we can just be perfect enough, we can control everything around us.” Humor crept into his voice. “That’s not true, you know. And there are just so many times in life that we can walk away from a situation we can’t control and convince ourselves we didn’t care anyway.” An underlying bitterness said Fin didn’t think any of this was funny at all.
Al had never thought about what Fin felt. He’d never wondered what Fin had left behind in the place he’d come from. He’d never even thought about Fin coming from anywhere. Fin just…was. Al blamed the fog for his lack of curiosity about Fin. He turned his head to find Fin staring at him. Al turned his attention back to Jenna.
Jenna didn’t even try to hide her discomfort with what Fin had said. She stood and was already headed toward the door as she spoke. “I’m tired. I’ll see you guys in the afternoon.” But she paused before leaving. “Oh, and I have a question for you, Fin. You’re supposed to have saved everyone from extinction sixty-five million years ago. But the Allosaurus went extinct one hundred forty-five million years ago. It must’ve been tough saving a soul that was already gone.” Then she left.
