Secrets of the Jaguar (Crimson Romance) (14 page)

If the circumstances were different, he would relish the moment. He knew Michelle was finally feeling at home with him, that she could let loose, be herself. She was finally beginning to think of him as a man. But then she spoke.

“Bite me.”

Okay, maybe not.
He gritted his teeth. He wanted to drink from her. And after that, he wanted to make love to her. Then he wanted to wake up next to her, and give her another day she would not forget. But he didn’t just want her to think of her as a vampire. He was a man, first and foremost.

“I said bite me. Drink from me.” Her blue eyes glowed against her olive skin, full of determination.

“What exactly,” he seethed, desperately trying to control his temper, “is your motivation behind this idea? I hope you know it is not your brightest. Have the nightmares of the vampires in your vision dissipated so quickly?”

“First of all, the evil things in the vision were unfathomable, not like you. Second of all, maybe I’m concerned about you and I know you’re hungry. Maybe I care about you and so it makes me insane thinking about you drinking from anyone else.”

He could only shake his head before she continued. “Michelle. I will never drink from anyone again. I will only get my blood from butchers.”

“And maybe I’m curious.”

Raging disappointment socked him in the gut. It was all he could do to walk away from Michelle and lock himself in the bathroom.

• • •

Michelle could have sworn she heard Duncan growling. When the water came on, she hung her head in defeat. Apparently the conversation was over. Walking to the window, she peered out over the Alameda. The locals were packing up their stands as darkness settled over the park. .

Digging through her suitcase, she plucked out the jammies she had bought specifically for the trip. Silky shorts in baby pink with hotter pink pinstripes and a matching tank from Victoria’s Secret. She had hoped the pattern was girly enough that Duncan wouldn’t get the idea this outfit was meant to seduce him.

It was.

In the store, she’d fantasized about Duncan running his hands over the silk. It had been the most exciting minutes she had ever spent shopping.

As the water in the shower shut off, she examined herself in the large mirror. She brushed her dark hair, wavy now from the rain, and let it fall against the silk top. She felt beautiful and coquettish. But her plans of seduction went blank as Duncan stepped out of the washroom. With only a white towel wrapped around his waist, he walked toward her, his gaze dark and solemn, like a man filled with desire and resolve. Her tongue went dry as she watched the long, hard body approach. Beads of water remained on his hard chest from the shower, and his hair was silky and wet dripping onto his face.

“You mean to test the boundaries of my chivalry, do you?”

He stood so close to her that only a feather could fit between them. His strong biceps rubbed against her shoulders, and he trailed his fingers down her back. He whispered into her ear, “You are determined to delight the animal in me instead of the gentleman.”

Michelle’s body sizzled with anticipation. She wasn’t scared, only excited, ready for him to introduce her to reckless passion.

His fingers went quickly from tracing down her back to gripping the sides of her ribs. The silk allowed his palm to slide around her body and in an instant his strong grasp was lifting her by the bottom of her silky shorts.

Together they collided on the bed. She panted, unable to hide her nerves and rampant excitement. When she opened her eyes to drink in the heavenly beast in her bed, Duncan’s sharp white fangs permeated the darkness. She still wasn’t afraid. Instead, she thought they were beautiful. Hot. She raised her body off the bed, her chest meeting with his. And slowly she eased her lips to his, pressing her body into his.

He pulled his lips away for only a second, still close enough that she could feel his breath against her skin. In a low intoxicating voice, he broke the silence. “You’re the most beautiful creature in the history of this world.” His lips came crushing down on her once more, his hand exploring the silk and skin before him.

Duncan moved his lips to her neck, sucking and licking, tickling her senses with passion. “Taste me.”

But Duncan didn’t waver from his position.

“Bite me.”

He leapt up from his position, his eyes furious black stones. “We’ll continue this passion when you’re ready as a woman, not a masochistic little girl who just wants to play with fire.”

He looked away from her, as if the sight of her pained him. “All I wanted was to give you pleasure. But you only want pain.”

She shrank away. Both shame and anger lit fire to her cheeks. Duncan stood like a statue in the dark. Embarrassed and hurt, she quickly got up from the bed and threw open the window in tears.

“Michelle.”

Before he could figure out that she wanted more than fresh air, Michelle transformed into the black jaguar, ripping out of her silk pajamas. The shorts and tank top remained in sheds on the ground as she leapt out the three-story window into the dark.

Duncan fought a primal roar. Instead, he misted out of the hotel room and into the park where Michelle would have gone. Filled with trees and statues and covered in the darkness of night, he knew she would find cover from late-night wanderers.

Duncan wasn’t sure if he really had a functional heart, but he swore something was about to tear its way through his chest. Worry and shame ate away at him. He’d been angry when he spoke to her, but it had been true. He hadn’t planned on getting so close to her. He needed his head clear to deal with Tzinacan and whatever treasure existed, but most of all, to keep Michelle, his treasure, safe.

And hope to God she never found out he’d lied to her.

“Hey, handsome.” The voice carried a well-practiced sensual tone to the Spanish- accented English. He turned with very little amusement.

The woman was tall and curvy, her stance shoving her breasts toward him. Her clothes left hardly anything to the imagination, but he didn’t care to look. He would have laughed if his mind wasn’t already preoccupied with Michelle’s sudden departure into the park.

“Estoy occupado.” He gruffly informed the drunken mujer that he was busy, and brushed past her.

The woman was quick on her gaudy high heels and caught up to him. “
Te hablas muy bien, guapo.
” The beautifully tanned woman was obviously not used to rejection as she pouted her lips, leaning close into him as she complimented his Spanish.

Her face, heavy with dark shades of makeup and fuchsia lipstick, quickly faded into the simple beauty of Michelle’s face, for that was the only face that occupied his mind.

Michelle’s pale pink lips were often naked, along with her blue eyes that needed no extra adornments. The soft, subtle curves of her body he often fantasized about exploring. The smile that affected both his body and his heart. Just thinking of her made his lips turn upward and his cock go hard. An approving grin from the woman in front of him made him realize she’d noticed his reaction and thought it was for her. Lost in thoughts of Michelle, he forgot he was still staring at his new undesired acquaintance.

She brought one hand to his chest to feel up his hard abs and her other arm behind his head to bring him to her for a drunken make out. He caught her arm in the blink of an eye and restrained her. His firm grip moved her back, an arm’s length away.

“I said I am not interested.
Vete
.”

Finally reading the aggression and fury in his eyes, the woman appeared to sober up and run off.

Duncan spotted movement across the park. He watched as his jaguar climbed into one of the thicker poplar trees. Perhaps he should let her have a moment to herself. Scanning the perimeter with the clarity of his night vision, he was assured the various mariachis and drunkards didn’t seem to pose much of a threat.

As he planned how he would apologize and explain to Michelle, he sensed a new presence. He swung around, catching the neck of a vampire in his strong grasp. One arm remained calmly at his side while the other palm slowly crushed the creature’s windpipe.

The vampire seemed to be a young local — younger than himself both in human and vampire years — and he wondered if the newbie had spotted the jaguar.

“I’ve heard vampires taste like shit. So I wonder why you dare approach me when you could get drunk off the filth straggling home from the bars,” Duncan interrogated the man in Spanish. He squeezed the throat even harder, and only a gurgle escaped. “That’s what I thought.” He smiled a little, happy to have an outlet for the anger ready to burst through his calm exterior.

After he loosened his grip just slightly, the vampire’s hands went to Duncan’s iron grip, struggling to pry his fingers loose. Duncan obliged, but just slightly. “
Tengo … un … mensaje
.”

With that, Duncan relaxed his grip still more. He was curious what message could be had for him in Mexico City.

“
El Viejo dice dese presa.
” The old one says to hurry up
.
“
El Viejo esta mirando.
”

So Tzinacan was following him, was he? “
Y tu? Tu que quieras?
” Duncan asked the vampire in Spanish what he was after, still squeezing the windpipe as he saw fit.

“
El Tesoro de
— ” But before the youth could eek out what treasure the vampires sought, a dark force collided with them.

The black cat screeched and Duncan realized Michelle had spotted him from the tree and was now sinking her claws into the vampire. He quickly took charge of the situation and reached into the chaos of claws and fangs to snap the vampire’s neck. Grabbing hold of her strong feline body, he used his might to subdue the jaguar’s fury and mist back to the hotel room before anyone saw them.

They arrived only a second later, but Michelle was a woman again. He quickly grabbed the blanket off the bed and covered her naked and shivering body with it.

“Thanks.”

He hugged her body, drying it with the soft fabric. “Your senses are even better than I imagined.”

“I hadn’t realized you underestimated me.”

He held Michelle tightly in his arms, admired her cute chin pointed up at him in challenge. “Don’t worry; I’ve learned several important lessons today.” Turning his gaze from the window back the young woman in his arms, he smiled gently and thumbed her chin. “I am sorry.”

“Don’t worry, men often underestimate women. It’s media programming.”

He laughed and planted a kiss against her lecturing lips. “That’s not what I meant, darling. I am sorry about my reaction earlier. You are an incredible woman, sexy as hell, and I am sorry that I wasn’t man enough to handle the passion with more grace earlier.”

“I — ”

“Let me finish.” Kneeling at her feet, he continued. “When I give in to the passion I have for you, trust me, you will get all of me. I don’t know what that means exactly because I’ve never felt about anybody like this before. You are an incredibly special woman. I want everything to be perfect.”

“I trust you.”

He stopped breathing. The words were a dagger to the heart. “Please don’t tell me that. I am not yet deserving.” It wasn’t long ago, Tzinacan attacked Michelle, who was completely unprotected. She had trusted him when he had said he had disposed of the vampire, but she had no idea her attacker was alive and well, or dead and well anyway. With plans to procure her for himself no less. Over Duncan’s already dead body. He would die another ten times before he let Tzinacan’s plans come to fruition, whatever they were. Duncan’s fangs began to elongate as his mind writhed in fury, but Michelle didn’t seem to notice.

The corner of her mouth came up in a curious half-smile “When you tore that vampire off me and snapped its neck, I was both afraid and in awe. I see a different side of you every few minutes it seems. But it only makes me feel bound to you more. I think our greatest gift is that we can be ourselves with each other; I’ve never felt more special than when I am with you.”

• • •

Her grand speech seemed to be taking effect. He looked down at the ground and smiled, looking deliriously handsome. “That’s all I want, to make you realize how special you are and to put a smile on your face always. Hold on — ”

He disappeared from the hotel room. Michelle looked around, waited for a moment, and when she realized that she was still alone, she dragged the blanket with her onto the bed and flipped on the TV to surf the channels on Mexico City cable. Too tired from her tussle with the vampire from the park to get redressed, she finally settled on the only English program she could find, a crime scene investigation show. Halfway through, a thick mist formed in front of her vision and Duncan was standing before her with a Victoria’s Secret bag. She hit the mute button.

“Sorry it took me so long to return. The nearest Victoria’s Secret was in El Paso, Texas.”

She smiled from ear to ear at the unexpected present. Duncan looked more handsome than words as he stepped forward and sat on the bed next to her, letting her take the pink striped bag into her hands.

Reaching inside, she found silk. Duncan shifted on the bed and ran a hand through his hair. “Judging from the clothes I brought for you the first night we met, I thought these would fit.”

Her smile became so wide, her cheeks hurt. Pulling out the silk, she realized Duncan had brought her the same pink pajamas she wore earlier.

Michelle was speechless.

“I’ve never misted across a distance so quickly. I had to stop in many towns on my way north since I couldn’t travel the whole way at once. I almost got motion sickness; I was popping in and out of the villages so fast.”

She launched, her fingers leaving the silk and grasping his body as she kissed him. A moan escaped her lips and Duncan returned her excitement by scooping her up off the ground and holding her against his chest.

While her legs wrapped tightly around his waist, his hands massaged her back and his tongue explored her mouth. When he moved his lips to her neck, his kiss halted.