“You’re thinking too much,” Rik said.
His golden gaze moved to her mouth and a surge of female power moved through her. Judging from his expression he was anything but repulsed.
His chest was rock-hard beneath her and all that warm male skin was hers for exploring. She couldn’t wait to get started. Char dipped her head and pressed her lips to his. Before she could fully enjoy the sensation of his lips against hers, he quickly took over the kiss. His tongue teased hers and her head spun off her shoulders. His masterful touch awakened nerves she hadn’t even known existed.
She ran her fingers over the ends of his tawny hair and found it to be as silky soft as it looked. She gave the locks a gentle tug and he growled, a deep sound that emanated from his chest. It was strangely animalistic and very arousing.
His arms tightened and he surrounded her, overwhelming her with his sexuality and the sheer strength of his well-honed body. His erection pressed into her stomach, turning the flesh between her thighs liquid soft.
He moved his leg higher between hers then swung her over until she was flat on her back on the bed. Braced on his arms, Rik loomed over her, his tawny hair creating a shaggy halo. His lips were damp from her mouth and his eyes glittered with need.
“Your shoulder,” she said.
“My arm.”
“That too—”
“Will live. But if I don’t have you now, I might not.” His voice was low, urgent. “I want you, Char, more than my next breath or my next meal. I need to taste you, to kiss every inch of your body until you beg me to stop.”
She shivered at his erotic, evocative words. She’d never seen a man display such wanton need. She stroked his cheek, enjoying the prickle of beard stubble against her fingertips.
“You scare me,” she whispered.
He shook his head and his silky hair licked at her hand. “You have nothing to fear from me, Char. I would never hurt you.” He turned his head and kissed her hand; his tongue flicked out to taste her palm in that curiously rough caress.
Instinctively, she knew she was safe with him. Rik might be a complete stranger—she wasn’t even sure what his last name was or what he did for a living—but she knew in her soul that he wouldn’t hurt her. This was a man who cherished women; he didn’t frighten or abuse them. She gave a lock of his hair a gentle tug and guided his mouth down to hers.
He growled and it was low, deep and filled with need. He nipped at her lip and she sighed his name.
“Say it again,” he whispered against her mouth.
“Rik,” she sighed.
He laughed and gave her a noisy kiss that scattered her thoughts. He began kissing his way down her throat, then headed for her breasts. As he worked his way over her flesh, he made a soft purring sound reminiscent of a large cat, which was both arousing and soothing at the same time.
He raised his head, ran his hand up her thigh to her hips and unzipped her skirt. The slippery vinyl parted to reveal her black lace thong panties. He urged her hips up before he slid the skirt out from beneath her. Clad only in the thong and killer boots, Rik trailed his hand down her belly then up again.
“Wow,” he said. “You’re gorgeous.”
She tweaked a flat male nipple. “Wow, yourself.”
He dipped his fingers under the narrow band of her panties and slid them down.
“Lift your hips.”
Char did as he asked and he removed them and tossed them on the floor.
“What about the boots?” She lifted her leg and waggled her foot. It had taken about ten minutes to get her laced into them and she wasn’t sure she wanted to wait that long to taste him again.
His smile was dark, hot. “Leave them on. I kind of like how they look on you.”
She laughed and let her leg drop. “Good answer.”
Rik settled over her, pressing his erection into the apex of her thighs. She wrapped her legs around his waist, enjoying the rough friction of his jeans against her skin.
His hands seemed to be everywhere at once, touching, caressing and increasing her arousal to a near fevered pitch. She was just short of begging him to take her, when he stopped and rose.
“What—” She blinked. Rik was standing over her, rummaging through his damaged jacket. He removed several condoms.
What a boy scout! Lucky for her he was prepared.
He began removing his pants and she sat up. “Allow me.” She reached for him.
His hands fell away from the buttons and she took over. She opened his fly and pushed the pants down toward his ankles, when she realized he still wore his boots.
“Your boots are in the way.” She leaned back on the bed and gave him a wide smile. “You’re on your own there, babe.”
He chuckled and made quick work of removing the boots and stepping out of his pants. When he stood, she sat up and wrapped her fingers around the thick shaft of his cock. He sucked in a harsh breath.
“You have a tattoo.” She ran her hand over a black paw print on his hip.
He chuckled then gave his straining cock a pained look. “That’s the best thing you can think of to say at a time like this? ‘You have a tattoo’? Maybe you’d like to exchange recipes while we’re at it?”
She grinned. “Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot my part.” She gently cupped his balls and made a soft cooing noise that made him laugh again. “You have the biggest cock I’ve ever seen.” She stroked the long, hard shaft and cupped the broad head. “It’s just enormous…the biggest in the city, I’m sure of it. Wait, let me get my camera and I’ll take a picture of this bad boy. I think I should call Ripley’s…”
She shrieked when he pushed her backward onto the bed and covered her again.
“You’re headed for a spanking,” he laughed and blew a raspberry on her shoulder. “You’re rotten.”
She snickered. “You have no idea…”
“Not yet, but I will.” His gaze dropped to her breasts. “For now, let’s see how good you taste.”
She moaned when he took an erect nipple into his mouth and began suckling her. Her fingers tangled in his hair and she luxuriated in the feel of his mouth on her skin. His rough tongue lapped at her flesh and she shivered at the added sensation. She’d been right, this man knew his way around a woman’s body.
He slid his hand up the inside of her thigh and through the moist tangle of curls until he parted her damp flesh and touched her intimately. She shivered and spread her legs to give him better access. She ached and burned as he stroked her, her hips following every movement to drag out the sensations. She’d never experienced such intense need, such heat.
Her eyes slid shut and her nails dug into his chest when he plunged his fingers into her. Her hips arched toward him, and throaty noises like she’d never heard were coming from her mouth. Too aroused to care how animalistic she sounded, Char threw herself into the maelstrom of heat and need he’d created.
With a few deft strokes she peaked and release coursed over her. Screaming out her satisfaction, she was vaguely aware of Rik speaking to her in a low whisper. His warm mouth trailed down her throat while she fought to catch her breath.
Wow!
Feeling boneless and lazy, she forced her eyes open. Rik was propped on one elbow, watching her with a satisfied smile on his handsome face.
“Feeling good?” he asked.
She felt so scattered and relaxed she wasn’t sure she could even form a coherent sentence. She licked her lips.
“I think you know the answer to that.” She reached for his erect cock and ran her fingers around the broad head. “But we’re not done yet.” She reached for a condom with her free hand.
“True.”
She made quick work of sliding the thin sheath over his cock. While she longed to linger, she wanted him too much to take her time. He moved between her thighs and she guided him to her. He sank his cock into her throbbing flesh in a slow, delicious movement that left them both reeling. In unison, they groaned.
She arched her back,
relishing the feel of his cock stretching and filling her. She laced her legs around his hips and he began to move, a soft rolling motion of his hips that made her eyes roll back into her head at the delicious friction.
She clutched his hips and their gazes locked. His eyes were dark with an almost feral look of lust that made her melt. It was the look of a man losing himself in the pleasure afforded by his lover’s body. The look of someone taking the ride of his life.
She twined her legs around his hips and he began thrusting in earnest. The room echoed with the squeak of bedsprings and the slap of slick skin against skin. Time receded and she lost count of the times he’d brought her to release. It was as if she’d become a vessel for Rik, to be filled and possessed by him and him alone.
Her head thrashed on the pillows and she sobbed as he pulled her tighter, thrust harder, his fingers digging into her flesh.
She came again, spirals of release moving through her system, when she felt him tense. She blinked to clear her vision of the lust-inspired glaze. His head was thrown back and his body was magnificent, every muscle tense in anticipation of release.
She tightened around him and that was enough to send him over the edge. His arms went rigid and he came with an animal-like roar that caused every hair to stand on end. His skin gleamed with sweat and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders until he fell forward to rest on her.
Her tongue snaked out to taste his shoulder, reveling in the warm, salty flesh. Never had she had a sexual encounter that even came close to what she’d experienced with Rik. It was more than sex; it was making love on a level so primitive, so animal, that she couldn’t even begin to fully contemplate it.
She stroked his tangled hair. Just who was this amazing man?
* * * * *
Rik snagged his cell phone from his pants pocket before it rang for a second time. He glanced at the lighted display as he rolled out of bed.
Trey.
He hit the ‘talk’ button then slipped from the bedroom into the miniscule living room so he wouldn’t wake Char.
“What’s up?”
“Just what the hell did you do this evening?” Trey snarled.
“Hmm, let’s see. Had dinner, met up with Marcus, fended off a rabid werewolf who wanted my head on a platter… Maybe that’s what you wanted to know?” Rik stalked toward the wide windows as Trey swore in his ear.
“Yeah, well, it kind of pisses me off when someone demands I grovel at his feet then comes at me with his claws out,” Rik hissed.
“Lyn is out for blood.”
“No shit.”
There was a moment of silence before Trey spoke. “Marcus told me there was a woman involved.”
Rik glanced at the darkened bedroom doorway. “Yes.”
“Can’t you keep your dick under control for a few hours?”
“Screw you, Trey. You don’t know anything about this.”
“Just what the hell were you thinking, or were you thinking at all—”
“Fuck you,” Rik snapped. “I’ve never let you down before and you’d better keep that in mind.”
“Who is she? Some brainless bimbo from the bar?”
“Back the fuck off, Trey. I don’t work for you anymore, remember?” Rik tilted his head back and forth, trying to loosen up his tense muscles. This conversation was definitely pissing him off. It was all he could do to keep from hanging up. “It’s none of your business who she is and she has nothing to do with this.”
“So you’d like to think,” the other man said. “Lyn wants her bad and, thanks to you, he views this woman as a way to get back at you.”
Rik cursed under his breath.
“She’s in it up to her neck, whether you like it or not.”
He stared out the window into the darkness. The pitch-black paint of his BMW gleamed under the streetlights. The dark was where he and thousands of other Shadow Dwellers were more at home than in the light of day. The darkness was where the deepest secrets lived and breathed; it had sheltered him for more years than he cared to remember. He felt the inexorable pull of his old Hunter lifestyle.
Honor.
Duty.
Act on the will of the Council and protect life at all costs.
He leaned his forehead against the cool glass. No matter how long he stayed away from the Hunters, their covenant still resonated within him as strong as the day he signed their sacred Covenant.
“I’ll take care of her,” Rik said.
The other man sighed. “I know you will. Marcus is already looking for Lyn and he’s called in Santo and Dirk. Right now they’re trying to head off all-out warfare between the cats and the dogs. For now, just keep the woman safe and busy for the next day or so and we’ll see what comes up.”
Feeling powerless and pissed at the same time, Rik muttered his thanks.
“Yeah, you owe me,” Trey said.
The phone went dead.
He propped his arm on the wall and continued staring into the darkness. He never should have approached Char. Before he left the Hunters, he’d never have made such a stupid mistake. Putting a human at risk went against everything he’d fought for and believed in. Meeting her and getting her tangled up in this mess was one of the most colossal mistakes of his life.
The phone rang again and he glanced at the panel, frowning when he didn’t recognize the number. He hit the Talk button then held the phone up to his ear. He didn’t speak.
“You were set up.” The voice held the distinctive twang of the bayou. It was Lyn’s brother, Bo.
“How’s that?”
“Lyn set you up. He told Serena to seduce you so he could use her infidelity as a reason to pick a fight with you.”
Rik snorted. “Did he honestly believe I’d fight him over a one-night stand?”
“Lyn knows you’re honorable, for a were-cat at least. He knew you’d defend your actions and that if he tried to grind you into the dust, you’d fight back no matter what the Council had ordered. Your temper is as legendary as is your sense of humanity. Lyn wants to start a war and you just played right into his hands tonight.”
Rik closed his eyes and allowed his head to drop forward. He’d been played like a patsy, and by a werewolf at that.
Damn.
He forced his head up. “So what are we going to do about this mess?”
“We?” The other man chuckled. “There is no ‘we’ here. You’re on your own, pussycat.”
“Then why did you call? Why are you telling me this if you aren’t going to help me fix this mess your brother created?”
Silence. All he could hear was the faint hum of static on the line.
The other man sighed. “You probably won’t believe this but there are many of our Clan who do not want warfare. While we choose not to join the Council, we also don’t wish to disturb what is already in place for those who decide to abide by their laws. We simply want to be left alone to live in peace.”
Rik snorted. “And you’re going to try and convince me that your brother is one of them?”
“No. Lyn wants what is best for him and his goals. Mikhail has offered him a seat on the new Council, the one the vampire will command once he brings down the current administration.”
Rik swore under his breath. If this were true, then there was no telling what Lyn would do to bring him down.
“My brother wishes to join with Mikhail and destroy the current Council. He’s doing his part in aiding the vampire by starting a war and dividing the Shadow Dwellers from their leaders.”
Rik whistled under his breath. “That’s a pretty serious charge. If this is true, the Council will brand him a traitor and send the Hunters after him.”
“I realize this.” Bo’s voice was heavy. “But I speak the truth, pussycat. Right is right and this isn’t. Lyn is bitter and misguided but there is little I can do to sway him from his current path. Watch your back, as he’s determined to put a knife into it.”
The phone went dead.
Chapter Four
Rik stood in the doorway of the bedroom, watching Char as she slept. She looked like a tumbled angel with her rumpled hair spread out across the pillows. Moonlight filtered in through the blinds to outline her amazing curves.
Humans were such fragile creatures. Their lifespan was brief, and in a blink of an eye, they were gone. It wasn’t that way with a were-cat. Blessed with nine long lives and the ability to heal at an accelerated rate, they could live for many centuries without even using up one of those lives.
Their immortality was both a blessing and a curse.
It had been so long since he’d been human, truly mortally human, that he’d forgotten their constant need to be touched, held. The human need for love and companionship were what drove a human. It was those very same needs that had been eradicated from him long ago with his Hunter training.
After Rik had left Trey’s employ, he’d done little to change his lifestyle. If he wasn’t on the prowl for a sexual partner, he spent most of his time alone, either reading or indulging in his newfound passion for computers and electronics. For him, women were the easy part. The sexual prowess of male were-cats was legendary among the preternaturals and while the humans didn’t comprehend what he was, the human females sensed—on at least some level—his sexual mastery.
He’d done as little as possible to bed them and had enjoyed their company in spades. He loved women, their soft curves, the secrets in their eyes, and if they had a good sense of humor, that was even better. But he’d never allowed himself to want them—to really want them—on anything more than the primitive level of sexual need.
Human females were delicate creatures and they commanded a great deal of attention. Most were high-strung, much more so than a female were-cat, and he’d found none that were worth risking a broken heart over.
But Char was unlike any mortal female he’d ever met. The moment he’d seen her he’d sensed a sort of quiet peace about her, a serenity that came from being confident in herself and her abilities. She didn’t appear to be looking for a man to make her whole, she already was.
Things That Go Bump In the Night 2004 Page 12
