Rule Breaker: A Novel of the Breeds (18 page)

“You’re taking far too much for granted,” she retorted furiously, yet she wasn’t fighting him either.

She was breathless.

She could feel the blood heating, pounding through her veins, the sensual side of her nature weakening far too quickly.

She ached for him. The flesh between her thighs became hotter, wetter, her clit throbbing as her sex melted and creamed for him.

It was impossible to deny she wanted him when her body refused to cooperate and remain cool and unresponsive.

“I haven’t yet,” he said softly as she tilted her head back to stare up at him. “But I’m certain I will before the night’s out, Gypsy Rum. I’m very certain of it.”

Before she could argue the statement or tell him to go to hell, he brushed his lips against hers, his tongue flicking in a quick little lick against her lips before he pulled back no more than a breath of distance.

The pleasure was shocking.

It held her in his arms, staring up at him in confusion as impulses, hungers and needs began firing through her body with a heat she hadn’t expected.

It surprised her.

Shocked her.

His lips had lifted just far enough from hers to tease her, to make her wonder if he would speak, and when he did, if his lips would stroke against her again.

His gaze was locked on hers, unblinking, the blue of his eyes deeper than Cassandra’s, more mesmerizing, holding her, making her wonder at what she saw reflected back at her.

There was so much in his gaze. A hint of another color, perhaps, a world of hunger, of need, a deep, brilliant pool of male lust so vibrant it made her wonder if he was even aware he was revealing it.

“Why?” she whispered.

Why her? Why was he pushing this when it was more than obvious she was hesitant to begin anything with him?

“Why not?” It wasn’t the question, but the tone of voice, the look in his eyes, that shocked her.

Steel-hard determination, pure male hunger and narrow-eyed possessiveness struck at her, wrapped around her and made her wonder if she was smothering from fear, or breathless from anticipation.

“Leave with me,” he asked her then.

Eyes widening before she could stop the reaction, she parted her lips to refuse, though forming the word didn’t come easily.

“Just to talk.” His finger landed against her lips, holding back what she wanted to say but couldn’t. “I want you, bad enough to wait if I have to. But if I have to wait, at least torture me for a few hours.”

“And that would be enough for you?” she quipped mockingly despite the flush of arousal that was beginning to heat her body.

God, how long had it been since she had allowed herself to want a man? If she even thought she would be attracted to one, she ran in the opposite direction as fast as possible.

“It’s more than I have otherwise.” The seductive roughness of his voice stroked against her senses as she wondered why she wasn’t trying to run as hard and as fast as possible from him.

Gypsy breathed in slowly, deeply.

“I promise, no means no,” he said.

For a moment, she wondered if he could read her mind, if he knew things about her that even the Unknown didn’t know.

Things no one should know.

Slowly, she nodded, her senses exploding in disbelief as she realized what she had done. Then he was stroking his hand along her arm, catching her hand in his and drawing her from the dance floor.

There were too many eyes watching, she told herself. She had to leave alone. She couldn’t leave with him. If she did so, then the rules would change. She would no longer be everyone’s “friend” and would then be seen as a possible fuck instead.

That could destroy her ability to do the job she had been doing for so many years now.

She had to stop this.

She had to make him let her go.

So why was she moving with him instead, allowing him to curl his fingers with hers, hold her hand possessively as they moved through the exit and into the parking lot?

His arm slid around her, his fingers curling over her hip as he drew her closer.

“Your car?” he asked, pausing just outside the door.

Gypsy swallowed tightly. “My car. My apartment.”

He nodded, following her lead to the Jeep, silent, watching her as she slid behind the wheel before he moved to the passenger side.

She was surprised he didn’t insist on driving. She was surprised when he simply slid into the seat, buckled his seat belt and stared back at her expectantly.

“I’ve lost my mind,” she muttered, then activated the engine, lowering the roof and then sliding the vehicle into gear and pulling from the parking slot. “This is not the smartest thing I’ve ever done.”

“Do you always do what’s smart?” he asked.

“If possible. Always, if possible.”

He smiled back at her rather than assuring her it wasn’t possible this time.

She had lost her mind tonight, but she promised herself she would find it as soon as he left. The second she was alone again she would find it, lock it up tight and make sure he couldn’t steal it from her ever again.

CHAPTER 10

She was going to make him crazy.

Rule could feel it coming.

The need to touch her, to taste her and to have her was burning through his system, engorging his cock and tightening his balls to a near-painful degree.

Watching her dance on that damned dance floor, her body swaying and moving against those other men as she laughed and flirted with them, had caused more than one growl to escape his control.

All that had kept him from tearing those men apart was Dane’s order that the enforcers at the bar converge on her and ensure that she wasn’t the contact their suspected spies were passing information to.

Jonas wanted that link, just as he wanted to know the threat they could become where Claire Martinez was concerned.

Jonas was certain Gypsy was connected. He was certain she was either one of the links who gathered the information and reported it to an upper contact, or one of the last links in the chain of information.

Protecting her ass was becoming difficult. Hazardous maybe, because Jonas was just a little too complacent about the direction and lack of results in this investigation.

Added to that, her parents’ attempt to smuggle that damned audio recorder into the meeting was only increasing the attention on Gypsy, as well as the suspicion.

And none of it mattered right now.

Tonight, he didn’t fucking care what Jonas was doing, was up to, or how he would handle it.

Tonight, Gypsy was his, in whatever way he could claim her, and as often as he could make it happen.

Giving her the information about the recording device her mother had brought to the meeting would wait. Not long, but it would wait.

...

Pulling the Jeep into the small parking lot of her apartment, Gypsy parked, activated the roof and waited until it was secured before turning the motor off.

She drew in a hard breath, even as the scent of her need intensified, along with her confusion.

She wanted him, yet she didn’t know why she wanted him. Why she was burning for him.

Stepping from the vehicle, he moved to the driver’s side, opened her door and waited until she slid from the seat, swallowing tightly.

“I have a car coming for me in two hours,” he told her, his lips quirking into a grin as her gaze flashed up to him. “Rest assured, sweetheart, what I want will take far longer than two hours to even get close to finishing. You’re completely safe for the night.”

He made a mental note to send Dog the message to pick him up at the appropriate time. He had a feeling it wouldn’t do to allow her to catch him in even the smallest white lie.

“I haven’t figured out what made you decide you should even be here,” she told him, though she turned and led the way to the stairs leading up to her apartment. “You’ve just totally destroyed any peace I have when I go out at night now. Every Tom, Dick and Breed will think he can go home with me now.”

Oh, he didn’t think so.

He’d make sure every Breed who considered it knew the hazards and informed Tom and Dick of the claim already made on her.

“I don’t think it will be the problem you’re imagining,” he told her, though, as she unlocked her door, her fingers tightening on the knob in preparation of turning it.

His fingers closed over hers slowly, stopping her.

Gypsy stilled, her head down, breathing hard. The warmth of her spread from her back to his chest, his entire body aching to feel her in ways he knew she wasn’t ready for.

“I want you,” he told her. “Until I ache with the need for you. But I won’t take from you, Gypsy. I want nothing that isn’t freely given. Nothing that you don’t want just as badly as I want it.”

She paused for long seconds, obviously battling not what she knew he wanted, but what she wanted as well.

“I believe you.” She finally nodded, but that hint of fear still lingered in her scent. “Sometimes, what a person wants isn’t always best for them, though.”

He released her fingers, allowing her to turn the doorknob and push the door open before he carefully, casually maneuvered himself inside the apartment ahead of her.

His senses registered everything in less than a heartbeat. The animal genetics that raged so strong inside him were closer to the surface tonight, even before he’d left the hotel.

The scent of her permeated the apartment, sliding over his senses like a sensual caress. There were more subtle, softer scents. Those of her family, perhaps friends. There was no scent of sex or male intimacy. No other man had placed his mark on her territory as he intended to place his tonight.

“The light switch is on your left,” she told him, waiting, her irritation edging along her scent now.

His lips quirked as he reached out and flipped on the light before drawing her inside.

“Sorry, habit,” he assured her. “Some habits are better not broken, no matter the situation.”

She nodded, moving into the apartment and closing the door behind her, automatically stopping to lock the deadbolt as well as the heavy chain lock between the door and the frame.

“I’ve lived here since I was eighteen,” she told him, though he swore he could feel something that she was leaving unsaid.

“Your sister still lives with your parents?” he asked, following her from the small foyer into the combination kitchen and living room.

“The apartment downstairs.” She gave a little shrug of her shoulders. “She moved into it last year.”

The apartment was large, open and roomy. Large windows dominated three walls, while the other held an open door that revealed her bedroom and a large, neat bed.

She turned on several low lamps before moving into the kitchen.

“I have some wine,” she told him, hesitating at the combination bar and counter that separated the two rooms.

“That’s fine.” He nodded. Not that he cared much for wine, but he could feel her nervousness building as he watched her.

Tilting her neck as though to stretch the tightness from it, she moved into the kitchen area, reached beneath the cabinet and pulled free a surprisingly recognizable wine.

It was one of the sweeter wines, he saw. The same brand the Pride Leader’s wife preferred when drinking a glass before going to bed.

She opened it, filled two wineglasses, then set aside the empty bottle. Handing one glass to him, she led the way into the living room.

Rule watched as she curled herself into the corner of the couch, watching him as he sat, not too close to her, but not too far away.

She was too nervous.

He could feel her, ready to jump and run at a moment’s notice as that elusive scent of fear strengthened marginally.

Turning his head, he stared at her for long moments, suspicion biting at his control as he sipped at the wine, watching as she did as well, and seeing the fine tremor in her fingers.

Fuck, he couldn’t do this to her.

“You never date. You never allow any man to dance too closely to you and never allow them to even consider that they could have a chance to leave with you. You’ve had no lovers, and you’ve had no relationships. Yet you’re twenty-four years old and I know you’re not a cold woman. The warmth of you flows over my senses, and the scent of your feminine need has me so hard I’ll carry the brand of my zipper on my cock long after I shed my pants. So tell me, Gypsy,” he asked her, watching her stiffen until she was so tense a good wind could have broken bones, “why is your life in deep freeze?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she lied, and that lie filled her entire expression as well as her scent.

“I intend to share that bed in there with you,” he stated. “And don’t bother denying any chance that I’ll make it there. We both know I will. Before I do so, I’d like to know any obstacle that would stand in the way of the pleasure I can give you.”

“Aren’t you just as cool as you can be?” When she lifted her head, those witchy eyes glared back at him as she gripped the wineglass with both hands now. “You just state your intent and think I’m going to just follow along with you? Just because you decree it?”

Reaching forward, he placed his own wineglass on the low coffee table before turning back to her and lifting his brows. “It’s a thought. I could live with the idea of it.”

“Well, bully for you, badass.” Gripping the glass in one hand once again, she lifted it to her lips, finished it, then all but broke the glass when she placed it on the table as well, but with a much heavier hand. “I knew this was a mistake.”

She moved from the couch with a suddenness that had absolutely no attempt at subtlety.

He’d played with her in the past weeks, letting her get away, letting her run.

He was tired of watching her run.

“Oh, I don’t think so.” He was at her side, the fingers of one hand shackling her wrist as she stared back at him in surprise.

“I’m tired of being bullied by you.”

He had to laugh at that. At the very thought of it.

“Bullied by me? Or having the truth become an object you can’t push away like you push away those cowboys when they try for more than just a dance? I’m not bullying you, Gypsy, but neither do I intend to watch you run any longer,” he promised her.

...

He wasn’t going to watch her run any longer? What she was going to do was kick his ass out.

“From what? You?” Her lips curled in derision. “Really, Rule, do you think you’re the only Breed who’s come on to me? Trust me, you’re not.”

“I’m the only one you’ve ever left with.” The smile that shaped those too-damned-sexy lips should have been a warning.

In the next second he’d managed to swing her around, pulling her against the heat of his chest and holding her securely against him.

Why wasn’t she fighting him?

She knew a few moves of her own, and she’d used them more than once to escape holds that were more forceful than this one. Yet she couldn’t make herself fight. She didn’t want to fight.

And that was far too dangerous.

“What are you doing to me?”

Gypsy couldn’t force any of this to make sense.

This wasn’t her. She didn’t tell her secrets, not any of them. If she trusted anyone with one of them, then she would be tempted to trust more. And she knew better than that. Yet she wanted to tell him her secrets. She
needed
to talk to him, needed him to listen, to understand the why of so many things.

“I think we’ve talked enough—”

“I watched my mother die.” His head turned to her, his eyes so brilliant they burned.

“What?”

“In those labs,” he told her, his voice rough. “I’ve never spoken of it to anyone, including the brother forced to watch with me. We had two young siblings to protect. If we showed emotion, they would have been killed instantly. But we were forced to hear her screams and the screams of the Breed she loved as they were dissected while still living. The memory of those screams, of hearing the death of the woman who fought every day of her life to find a way to get her children, no matter that they were forced upon her, out of those labs, torments my nightmares. So should you awaken to my screams, perhaps you will simply awaken me, share your warmth and your courage with me, as I would do for you should the nightmares come to you as well.”

The offer shattered her.

She felt her lips tremble as she stared into his gaze, saw the torment, the loss, the pain he suffered in a way that only made him stronger in her eyes.

“I would hold you through those nightmares if you allowed it, Gypsy.” His fingers cupped the side of her face as he stared down at her.

“If I could,” he continued. “I would hold the nightmares at bay for you.”

“If I could, I would throw you out of my apartment and out of my life,” she whispered painfully, her fingers gripping his forearms, feeling the hard muscles beneath the tough flesh as she stared up at him. “I don’t want you here. I don’t want you messing with my head and ruining my plans and my life.”

“And what plans have I ruined, little Gypsy?” he questioned her gently, his eyes disbelieving as he brushed a soft kiss over her lips. “Your plans to exist like the perfect frozen little princess? To deny yourself something so basic as this?” The backs of his fingers caressed down her cheek, her neck, sending tingles of pleasure racing through her.

“You’re the reason Jonas offered my parents a chance at that contract, aren’t you?” she accused him, the way she’d been maneuvered still chafing at her.

He grinned. A self-satisfied, smug smile. “I would hate to have to attend the parties and gatherings I’m certain you’d send me to alone, if you could.”

Her frown turned to a glare. “Because of you I have to wear a dress I had designed just for another event this fall. A ball that’s damned near impossible to be noticed at without a dress as intriguing as it is unique. Your last-minute invitation to that Breed ball just ruined those plans.”

The dress wasn’t really the objection she had to it, Gypsy admitted. Hell, she’d admitted it to herself hours ago.

“Why do I sense far more than your ire that a dress is being sacrificed?” he asked gently, and she hated him for that gentleness.

She hated him for making her want to reveal things he had no need to know and to force her to attend a party she’d had no intention of attending.

“I hate being manipulated,” she bit out between clenched teeth, moving to pull from him, expecting him to let her go.

Instead, his hold only tightened as a flash of male, dominant sexuality sparked in his eyes.

“And I hate aching, hungering for a woman who wants me just as desperately yet finds herself too terrified of the past to take what she wants.”

The accusation struck far too close to the truth.

“So, should I just sleep with you and thank you very nicely for fucking me once you’re finished?” she demanded with mocking sweetness. “Did you think that damned contract would get you into my bed, Rule?”

His lips curled with just a hint of amusement. “A man can hope, but I have to admit, I wasn’t betting on it.”

“You’re an arrogant ass,” she accused him roughly.

And she was insane. Somewhere she had managed to lose what common sense she possessed.

“It’s time you le—” She didn’t have a chance to finish the rest of the demand. His lips came over hers with a powerful, dominant force that had a surprised moan slipping from between them. Her hands rose to his shoulders, nails digging into the material of his shirt as she was drawn to her tiptoes, suddenly so desperate to get closer that the need was exploding through her senses.