“Because of your career?”
“I doubt what you smuggle would be of any importance to my political enemies, only the fact that I’m consorting with a known criminal would matter.” She released her breath in a rush. “Illegal drugs and weapons serve one purpose—to hurt people for profit. I couldn’t sleep with a man knowing he took part in that, regardless of how much I was tempted to.”
Alex locked his hands behind his back, bringing the muscular beauty of his biceps and shoulders into stark relief.
Heavens, he was gorgeous. A living work of art.
Her fingers toyed with her spoon before she began to eat again. She was so nervous she couldn’t even enjoy the food, but going through the motions gave her something to do.
“I could lie to you, Briana, just to fuck you.” His blunt statement was punctuated by a rapid succession of images in her mind—images of his mouth on her, his hands on her, his tongue licking her nipples and lapping up the cream between her legs. She saw him as he was dressed now and herself as she was dressed now. He clutched her to him and pinned her to the bulkhead. She could feel him, all of him, his cock driving into her aching pussy with such force her feet left the floor.
Sweat broke out on her skin as her spoon clattered into the bowl. “Oh God…” she moaned, her entire body shaking with lust as the pictures came in a torrent so forceful she could scarcely register them all.
“Or I could make you want me so badly that what I do for a living wouldn’t matter to you.” His low voice was accompanied by the feel of talented fingers plucking at her nipples, then moving between her legs.
It was all in her mind, she knew. The scent of his skin…the warmth of his breath…the expertness of his touch…
Briana pushed back from the table so fast she knocked the chair over. Alexei turned to face her in a graceful movement, completely in control.
“Stop it,” she said, in a shaky voice.
With an arch of his brow, the images and sensations disappeared.
Leaning against the table with one hand, she took shuddering breaths, willing her pulse to slow.
“I wanted you to know, Bree, that I have no reason to lie. You’d spread your legs eagerly if I wanted you to. You might hate us both in the morning, but if all I wanted was to fuck or feed, that wouldn’t matter. Vamps have their Calling for a reason—to survive. Subduing prey is nothing to us.”
He moved toward her with predatory grace, the wide legs of his pants swirling around his bare feet. “But your feelings do matter to me, so I’ll tell you the truth. I don’t smuggle drugs or weapons any longer, but I did at one time.”
“Damn you.” She shivered with desire. “You could have just said what you meant and not tortured me first.”
He reached the table and began clearing it, moving the dishes to the sideboard. “But then you couldn’t be certain.”
“How can I be certain now?” Frustrated by his calm in the face of her falling apart, she cast off any illusions of hiding her thoughts. “I want you. I wanted you before, but now it’s unbearable. I’d fuck you on a crate of blasters at this moment and you know it.” Briana straightened and moved away with rapid strides, determined to get to her room and take care of herself.
But Alex moved too quickly. Before she knew what hit her, she was flat on her back on the table. “Damn it!” she snapped, hitting his rock-hard chest ineffectually with her hands. “I wanted you to wait for it. Beg for it!”
As if he would. He could get it from anyone.
“I only want it from you,” he murmured, catching her flailing fists and kissing the knuckles.
“Why?” She stared up in him, startled by the sweet gesture.
“Does there have to be a reason?” Nimble fingers dipped into the valley between her breasts and lifted the two halves of the sheet away. His breath sucked in sharply at the sight of her nakedness. For a moment she was cold and then the heat of his gaze chased the chill away. She watched in stunned, aroused amazement as his fangs descended and then very slowly ascended again.
“What the…?”
Shaking his head, Alex spread his fingers and ran them over the swell of her breasts until he reached the tips. “Not tonight.” He met her gaze. “Not ever, if you don’t want.” He licked his lips and then bent his head, his tongue swirling around one hard, aching nipple with breathtaking skill before moving to the other.
Bree arched upward helplessly. She wanted him to wrap his mouth around her and suck. She wanted his fingers on her skin and inside her body. She wanted him to fulfill those images he’d shown her earlier. Damn it, she wanted. Badly.
“Uh-uh,” he said softly. “Not tonight. You’re too worked up, too hot for it. You’re not thinking clearly and you’ll need to be in order to make up your mind. I don’t want any regrets between us.”
She pressed her breasts into his hands. “You want me to beg.”
“No, sweetness. I’ve got no problem doing the begging. In fact, I’m looking forward to it.” Alexei leaned over, resting his cheek on her bare stomach, his talented hands kneading her flesh. His tongue snaked out and dipped in her navel. “When you’re ready and not a minute sooner.”
“I’m ready.” And she was. She believed him completely and she trusted him. How could she not? He’d stood between her and a blaster shot after she’d already paid him. He’d had nothing to gain. His concern today had been genuine.
“No, you’re horny,” he argued with a low chuckle. “That’s not the same thing.”
She shifted her fingers through his dark silky hair and sensed the lust he held tightly restrained. There were depths to this man she hadn’t considered, because she hadn’t known about them. She’d been captivated by his physical beauty, but there was so much more to learn, like the glimpse of tarnished honor that surprised and pleased her. He could fuck her now, but he held himself in check. For her.
Alex straightened and removed his vest, arresting her attention with the rippling muscles of his torso. As he lowered himself over her, Briana spread her legs to make room for his body, absolutely and completely unconcerned that she was laid out for him like a feast. The hard, clenched planes of his stomach made contact with the damp flesh between her thighs and she groaned, the fever in her blood rising until her skin was covered with sweat.
Alex’s hips undulated, sliding his ridged abdomen along the folds of her pussy and she gasped as another wave of heat swept through her.
“Could I make you come like this?” he wondered aloud. Resting his elbows on the table, he reached for her nipples and shimmied again. “Just our bodies touching, nothing more?”
“I don’t know,” she said breathlessly. “Could you?”
When he arched a brow, she explained. “Unlike you, I’m not easy. It takes a lot of work to make me orgasm. Most men get frustrated and give up.”
The smile that curved his lips took her breath away. “I won’t give up.” He rolled her nipples between his fingertips, his grin widening as her eyes half closed on a pleasured moan. “I have forever, sweetness, but it won’t take nearly that long.”
“It’s not my fault.” Bree sighed. “I love sex and I love to orgasm. I just can’t seem to do both at the same time.”
He chuckled. “That’s the problem with you humans. You’re always in a hurry. Some things take time and an attention to detail.”
Time. She always wished she had more of it. Especially now. Alexei Night was a luxury to be savored.
Her hands moved from his nape to stroke his spine, loving the way he arched into her touch. She’d heard vamps were very responsive and sensual creatures. She’d like to test that theory by tying Alex to his decadent bed and having her way with him for hours.
“I’d like that too,” he whispered.
“No fair.” Her lower lip stuck out in a pout. “I don’t have the ability to know what you’re thinking.”
He licked her lip and then began to move, stroking his torso along her clit, inciting a riot of sensations that tigh
tened her womb and made her breasts swell in his hands. His taste—dark, exotic and richly intoxicating—flavored her mouth. Bree wanted him to kiss her and let her taste him more deeply, but he wouldn’t give her what she wanted. And he was doing it on purpose, she knew.
“I’m thinking patience isn’t one of your virtues,” he teased. “I’m thinking you like hard, quick fucks, but you don’t get enough foreplay beforehand to orgasm from them. I think your skin feels like satin and smells delicious.”
Bree groaned. She was dying here and he was far too collected for her tastes. Hoping to goad him out of his rigid control, she moved sinuously beneath him, her nails raking his back, her legs wrapping around his lean waist. She lifted her head and bit his earlobe. “You feel so good,” she breathed.
The tightening of his muscles was the only indication that she’d moved him at all.
She rubbed her aching nipples against his chest, torturing herself in her attempt to torment him. “I’ve dreamed of you, Alexei.”
“Lay back, Bree,” he said, his voice maddeningly calm with a hint of indulgent amusement. “Just enjoy it.”
She fell back onto the table. “You suck.”
He laughed. “I will later, if that’s what you’d like.”
Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the feel of his body stroking her pussy and the tight clench of his fingertips on her nipples. Drenched in sweat and aching all over, she arched her neck and whimpered in pleasure.
Yes. Alex’s low purring voice floated through her mind. Don’t think about me, sweetness. My pleasure will be found in yours.
“I wanted to please you.”
You do.
“I-I want to be special.”
You are. His tongue licked the column of her throat, tracing the line of a rapidly pulsing vein.
Locking her ankles together, Briana rocked in counter-rhythm to his movements, allowing the stark eroticism of the moment to sweep through her. Alexei was in her arms, just as she’d longed for him to be, and the pleasure of his embrace went far beyond what she’d imagined.