Lucas (32 page)

“Never,” he lied. “But I’m a possessive son of a bitch, Kathryn. As long as we’re doing whatever this is, no one but me gets to see your underwear.” He lowered his mouth to her neck and bit softly.

“Oh, ah,” she said, her breath coming in pants. “What if I—”

Whatever she was going to say was lost in her gasp of surprise as he slipped two fingers between the wet folds of her sex. Jesus, she was hot.
Slick and silky and so ready for him.

“That’s it,” he growled. He pushed her against the wall next to the window and ripped away her new lace panties, tossing them aside. Shoving his pants down and freeing his cock, he lifted her up and slid between her legs. She responded just as eagerly, wrapping her legs around his waist, her arms over his shoulders as their mouths met once again, kissing hungrily. Lucas sank his cock into her creamy center, feeling the warmth of her body surround him, her channel so tight,
her
trembling inner muscles caressing him as he thrust as deeply as he could. He paused for the space of a breath, holding perfectly still, feeling the pulsing of her pussy all around him, her heart pounding against his chest, her breath warm and moist along his cheek. They hung there for a long moment. And then he started moving, slowly at first, easing himself in and out,
relishing
the satin glide of her juices along his shaft. With a long, slow thrust, he plunged as deeply as he could go, feeling the touch of her cervix against the head of his cock. Kathryn made a noise deep in her throat and did a little ripple of her shoulder muscles from side to side, like a cat that’s had a taste of catnip. One side of his mouth lifted in a grin. He liked that—the idea that he was her catnip. Kathryn’s eyes flashed open to meet his, and it was kindling to the flame. Suddenly, he had to have her, had to hear her screaming his name. He growled and began slamming in and out of her body, not going for finesse but for completion. He needed to spill inside her, to mark her in a way that no one else could.

Kathryn was making little noises with every thrust of his cock, gripping his shoulders and digging in with her fingers until he knew he’d have bruises by the end of the night. It made him happy. He wanted to carry her mark, too. He lowered his mouth to her jugular, feeling the plump vein beneath his tongue, the rush of her blood, faster now as her heart began to dance in anticipation.

“Lucas,
Lucas .
 . .” she was moaning now, a lover’s plea as he fucked her hard and deep.

“Kathryn,” he whispered, and sank his fangs into her vein, pushing past the slight resistance of her soft skin, the thin wall of her pliant vein, and then her blood was rushing down his throat like dark honey, heated and smooth.

Kathryn’s legs
scissored
around his hips, her nails scraping his back. Her pussy clenched around him as the orgasm rolled through her body, her blunt teeth sinking into his shoulder as she screamed, her hips bucking against his until he felt his own climax building in his balls, roaring down his shaft and filling her completely.

Lucas retracted his fangs and licked up the last few delicious drops of her blood. He kissed the small puncture wounds, knowing they’d be sealed in seconds and completely healed in hours. Kathryn hung onto him, her arms limp around his neck, her legs trembling in reaction to their explosive lovemaking.

He glanced down at himself and chuckled. He was still more than half dressed. His pants were around his ankles, and at some point his shirt had been ripped open, but he still wore his jacket, and his tie was still in place. Kathryn lifted her head at the sound of his laughter. She followed his gaze and started laughing, too.
Until he saw a tear drip from her eye.

“Kathryn?”

“What is it between us, Lucas? It’s
like .
 . .”

“Spontaneous combustion,” he supplied.
“Fire and gun powder.
I get near you, and I have to touch you. I touch you, and I have to be inside you. Not later, but right
now.”

“Exactly,” she agreed.
“Sort of.
I mean, in my head, I’m saying
no thanks
and walking away, and the next thing I know I’m all over you.”

“So, it’s
all your
fault, then.”

“How do you figure
that?”

“Vampires are predators, Kathryn. When you run, my instinct is to run after you, and I can run a hell of a lot faster. So if you’d just throw yourself at me first thing—”

“In your dreams, asshole,” she snapped, rapping her knuckles on the back of his head.

“
Ow
,” Lucas said, laughing. “You’ve got some muscles, woman. And speaking of
muscles .
 . .” He palmed her butt with both hands, lifting her higher. Kathryn’s eyes widened as if just realizing they were standing the way they’d ended, with him buried between her lovely, long legs which were still wrapped around him.

Her face heated.
“Oh, my God.
This is what you do. Look at me! I’m
up against a
wall!
Naked!
And in full view of whoever happens by—”

“I told you. The glass is one-way.”

“Whatever. Put me down, you big oaf.”

“
Oaf
she says now. That’s not what you called me when you were creaming all over me a moment ago.”

“Lucas!”

“What?”

“You can’t just say things
like .
 . . I thought we agreed this attraction between us was unhealthy. You
know,
the whole fire and gunpowder thing?”

“I never agreed to any such thing. It is definitely explosive, however.
A fast-burning flame.
And the best way to deal with that is to let it burn out naturally. We need to spend several days having wild sex in every way imaginable. You know, to get rid of this unhealthy impulse.”

“You would think that. Besides, we tried that the other night as I recall. It obviously didn’t work.”

“
Pfft
. That was nothing, my sweet. A flame this hot needs more than a single night.”

“You’re just trying to get me back into your bed.”

“I don’t need you in my bed; I already have you up against my wall.”

She blushed again. He loved making her blush.

“I wish you wouldn’t say things like that.”

“Like what? Are you not up against my wall?”

“Lucas,” she began sternly,
then
gasped as he began moving inside her, taking advantage of the moisture from her recent orgasm which had left her pussy warm and creamy and perfectly lubricated.

“Shall we set fire to the wall,
a
cuisle
, or would you rather use the bed? It’s a very nice bed.”

Kathryn didn’t answer right away. Her eyes were closed, her expression dreamy as he glided slowly in and out of her sexy body. She licked her lips slowly, and it was Lucas’s turn to groan.

“You’re killing me here, Kathryn. If you want to move to the bed, tell me now, or it’s going to be too late.”

Her eyes fluttered open. “Bed,” she managed.

Cursing the undignified position he found himself in—only Kathryn could have driven him so insanely hungry so quickly that he left his shoes on, his pants around his ankles—he nonetheless
cowboyed
up and delivered. Unwilling to pull away from Kathryn’s welcoming heat, he cupped her ass with his hands, holding her in place as he toed off his shoes, then stepped out of his slacks, leaving them in a pile on the floor. Kathryn’s legs tightened around him as he carried her to the bedroom, their mouths feeding on each other as if they hadn’t just brought each other to mutually screaming orgasms moments earlier. She was right about one thing. This attraction between them was hotter than any he’d experienced in his long life. And he could see it ending only one of two ways—either they’d stick for a while, maybe a very long while, although he wasn’t willing to go too far down that path, even in his thoughts. Or they’d burn out quickly and end up hating each other.

Either way, he thought, as he laid her on the bed and proceeded to strip off his jacket, shirt and tie while still managing to keep his cock buried inside her, he intended to have her in his bed every night as long as it lasted.

* * * *

Kathryn scraped her fingers through the fine, black hair on Lucas’s chest.
Lucas’s hard, muscular, gorgeous chest.
Why couldn’t he have been a troll instead of a god? She’d have been in and out of
South Dakota
, no looking back, eyes straight ahead and looking for her brother, and then back to
Quantico
. Instead, she was all twisted up in vampires and secrets and one
gorgeous
lover. And, sure, she was making some headway in finding Daniel, but she was losing her heart in the process. She sighed.

“Whatever you’re thinking,
stop
it,” Lucas grumbled, his deep voice sated and sluggish.

“Who says I’m thinking anything?”

“You sighed.”

“I breathed.”

He laughed. “If I said the sky was blue, you’d say it was green. Though, I haven’t seen the daylight sky in so long, it might well
be
green by now.”

“The sky is still blue. And I’m not that bad.”

“Oh, aye, you are. But I
lo .
 . . can’t keep my hands off you anyway.”

Kathryn heard the catch in his sentence and wondered what he’d been about to say. She thought about possibilities and found herself smiling goofily. She hit the brakes hard on that thought.
Time to change the subject.

“So, how old are you?” she said quickly. “I mean, you told me the other day that only lovers could ask that question, but I’m pretty sure I qualify now.”

“No doubt of that.”

“So, fess up, old man.
How old?”

“I was born in
Kildare
,
Ireland
in 1785.”

Kathryn blinked. “But that makes you,” she did some quick math in her head, but Lucas beat her to it.

“Two hundred and twenty-seven years old, give or take a month. I was born in winter, that’s all I know.”

Kathryn sat up, staring at him in disbelief.

“You must have had some idea,” he said, gazing back at her calmly.

“No. I mean, well, yeah.
But .
 . . I don’t think anybody, at least not anybody in authority, knows you’re that old. I
mean . 
. 
look
at you! I know twenty-year-olds who don’t look this good! Are all of you that old?” She knew she was rambling, but couldn’t stop herself.

Lucas only grinned. “You think I look good?”

Trust him to pick out the one flattering thing she’d said. “You have a mirror,” she said dismissively. “And I’m sure you spend plenty of time in front of it, too. So don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“Fine,” he replied, sounding completely put upon. “No, not every vampire is the same age as I am.”

“Are you never serious?”

“Believe me, Kathryn. I can be deadly serious when the situation calls for it. But lying in bed, naked, with a beautiful woman I’ve just fucked until she screamed my name—” He laughed when Kathryn gave him a threatening glare.
“—is not normally a time that calls for solemnity.
However.
Just for you,
a
cuisle
.”

He pushed himself up on the pillows and put his hands behind his head. “There are many vampires younger than I am, and a very few who are much, much older. The important thing to remember when dealing with vampires, Kathryn, is that age and power
are
not necessarily the same thing. I’m two hundred and twenty-seven, and that seems old. But I have several vampires in my territory who are far older than that, and they are sworn to my service because I protect
them
, not the other way around. If one of them were to challenge me, he’d be dead before he got the words out. That’s how it works. Humans speak of leaders holding the lives of their followers in their hands, but with vampires, it is quite literally true. My vampires have blood in their veins and air in their lungs because I make it possible.”

Kathryn studied this new, serious Lucas. If all one saw was the public face, the handsome playboy charming his way through a crowd, it would be easy to underestimate Lucas
Donlon
.
Fatally easy.

“How does it happen?” she asked softly.