Slayer's Kiss: Shadow Slayer, Book 1 (8 page)

She reached out to shake his hand, but as she did, the box tilted ominously and slid from Julian’s grasp, crashing to the floor and spilling assorted toiletry items over the carpeted walkway. Julian stopped, then he looked into Kara eyes and laughed, rich and seductive.

At the other end of the hall, the door next to Kara’s popped open and Gavin walked out. He looked from Kara to Julian before his gaze came to rest on the box. “Having trouble, buddy?” His deep voice trailed over her like a kiss.

Julian laughed again, his eyes darting back to Kara. “Just distracted, I guess.” The way he said it made Kara’s nipples tighten against her shirt.

Gavin walked down the hall toward them, perusing Kara’s outfit from top to bottom, seeming to notice how the tight pebbles under her shirt threatened to poke through. “Hi, Kara,” he said. “Haven’t been home to change yet?”

Crap. She should have borrowed sweats from Abbey to walk home. Half her neighbors probably thought she moonlighted as a call girl as it was. Coming from Gavin, though, the question was just plain rude. She wasn’t sure if he’d asked to let Julian know he’d already been with her, or to call her a slut, assuming she’d been out all night with another man. Either way, it didn’t matter. Getting involved with her neighbor was the last thing she needed.

“Here, let me help,” she responded instead, bending over in her short leather skirt to start gathering the items.

“Thanks.” Julian knelt down beside her with a warm smile. “I’m not usually such a klutz.”

Kara glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, taking in the way his tan skin stretched over broad muscles. He looked like a living, breathing Zorro fantasy come to life. Everything about him screamed that he was a capable man who could take care of a woman’s needs. But he was softer than Gavin, somehow—more ready with a kind word, more open with his smile.

“I don’t doubt your coordination for a minute.” Kara raked him with a hot gaze. She couldn’t help it. Her pussy was throbbing—an itch that could only be scratched by one of these men pounding it out of her.

She froze.
Take a breath, horn-dog
.

She dragged air in through her nose and let it out slowly through her mouth. Julian paused and licked his lips, and Kara got the impression again he knew exactly what she was thinking—and that he was thinking the same thing.

Gavin reached down to retrieve a wrapped bar of soap. “I missed you this morning, neighbor. I locked the bottom lock when I left, assuming you had a key with you. Did I do good?”

Yeah, he’d done her good, all right. But he hadn’t allowed her to return the favor. She couldn’t look at Gavin as she collected the towels and various bathroom items, most of which still had the tags on. “Yeah, thanks, Gavin. Sorry I had to rush off.”

“I was a little worried, to be honest. But I got the key copied this morning, like you asked.”

“Thanks.”

Julian looked curious about the exchange, though Kara couldn’t imagine Gavin not telling his friend the gory details of their encounter, right down to the way she’d cried like a proper virgin on her wedding night.

Once the items were back in the box, the three rose to their feet and walked down the hall toward their apartments. Gavin opened the door and held his arm out in invitation. “Want to see how it’s coming along?”

“Uh…” Kara wasn’t sure about the wisdom of going into the place with two men who were virtual strangers, but against her better judgment, she heard herself reply, “Sure.”

Gavin smiled and followed her in, closing the door behind her as Julian took the box to the bathroom. The first thing Kara noticed, besides the fact that the men had obviously been hard at work bringing in the big stuff—like a kitchen table, a large brown leather sofa, an enormous flat-screen TV—was that half the stuff either still had tags on it or looked like it was straight out of the box.

Either Gavin had recently moved out of his parents’ house, or he was going through an ugly divorce and his lady had gotten everything but the shirt off his back. Kara guessed the latter, and it made sense when she thought about his guilt last night and how he wasn’t ready to have sex.

“So, Kara…” Julian stepped from the hall, thumbs tucked in the pockets of his jeans. “I was planning to get takeout tonight from that deli around the corner, and I wondered if you might like to come over as a thank-you for helping us move.” If eyes could be hungry, Julian’s would be devouring her, licking the marrow from her bones.

“Us? Are you Gavin’s roommate, then?” The woman in her thrilled at the thought that she’d be seeing more of Gavin’s black-haired friend, but the apartment manager was peeved. “I don’t think you put him on the application, Gavin?”

Gavin shrugged, all six feet seven inches of him suddenly looking like a little boy caught sprinkling salt on his mama’s prized racing slug. “It’s only until he finds his own place. Besides, it’s a two bedroom and he’s pretty quiet—” Gavin pinned Julian with a sharp glare, “—most of the time.”

Takeout, huh?
It wasn’t as if Julian had offered to tie her up and service her all night long. What harm could there be in a little dinner, besides the fat and carbs? She met his dark, almost black eyes. “Yeah, sure. What time?”

Julian’s triumphant grin revealed perfect white teeth and adorable dimples on his sculpted cheeks. “Six?”

Gavin walked up beside his friend and patted Julian on the back hard enough to jar the smile off his handsome face. “How hospitable of you, Jules. And at six? When you know I won’t be around to…partake in the meal.”

“Exactly. With you gone, there’ll be too much food for one person,” Julian agreed. “But don’t feel bad about leaving me alone on my second night in San Diego. Look—” he gestured to Kara, “—I’ve already made a friend.”

Standing side by side, Gavin had few inches over his roommate, and Kara supposed Julian himself was big enough to get sideways glances as he walked down the street. Gavin put an arm over Julian’s shoulder, then slipped a hand above his friend’s biceps and pinched hard enough to make his knuckles white.

Julian snorted in pained laughter and twisted out from under Gavin’s arm. “Don’t be upset, buddy. We’re not trying to exclude you. Maybe you can eat with us—” he looked to Kara as though they were a couple trying to help out a pathetic, lonely friend, “—next week?”

Kara chuckled, seeing how Julian enjoyed teasing Gavin. “By all means. Maybe I’ll have you both for dinner next week.”

Gavin’s brows shot up and his smirk reminded her of how he’d looked the night before when he’d told her to stop talking and spread her legs for him.

Kara almost groaned. “Have you
over
for dinner.” Every word out of her mouth felt packed with double meaning. But she had to admit, the man-buffet before her did look delicious.

Kara blushed, not believing the idiotic things going through her mind around these two. With the overwhelming sexual current thrumming through her body, she was going to have to resort to one of Abbey’s emergency backup numbers if she wanted to be able to focus at all this week. “Well, I’d better get going.” She edged toward the door. “See you tonight, Julian.”

Julian came to her and took her hand. “See you tonight.” Sliding her smaller fingers through his, he brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it gently. The feel of his lips against her skin and the little zap of static electricity it produced made her shiver with need.

“I’ll walk you out,” Gavin said from behind them, his voice grim. He shouldered past Julian and opened the door.

Kara didn’t argue as Julian stepped back and allowed Gavin to take her elbow. Once they were outside in the hall again and the door was shut, Kara regarded her would-be one-night stand. “I live next door. I’m pretty sure I can find my way back.”

Gavin smiled, an intimate grin she’d only seen when they were alone. He leaned over Kara as she stuck her key in the lock, placing his hand over hers as the metal slid into place. “You don’t need him, you know.” He rotated his wrist over hers until she heard the snick of the door unlocking.

“Huh?” Kara turned to look at him. Was he a mind reader?

He leaned close to her ear. “Look at your nipples. They’re dying to be sucked. I was in a bigger hurry than I thought to forget something as important as that. I planned to remedy the situation when I woke, but you were gone. Just one little note,
Thanks
, when I still had your scent on my face. I’m surprised, Kara. You seemed to enjoy it more than that.”

It was hard to meet his eyes, but she was no coward. “Yeah, I won’t deny I enjoyed it, but I don’t like being the only one.”

Gavin blinked. “Please tell me you’re joking. You don’t think I loved every second of last night?”

“Well, to be honest, you seemed pretty…clothed. Not quite what I was hoping for.”

Gavin leaned into her. “You mean you wanted
this
,” he said, rubbing against her slowly, erotically. It was the middle of the day, and he pressed her up against her door where anyone could see.

Kara’s mouth went dry. Yeah, she wanted it. “Are you offering? ’Cause my answer is
yes
.”

Gavin turned his head away with a frustrated growl, leaving Kara feeling like she wanted to scream. “I want to. I just can’t. But I
do
enjoy you. I want to show you how much pleasure I can give you tonight with my mouth, my hands, my body.” To emphasize his point, he wedged his leg between hers, drew her onto his thigh and rocked into her.

Kara’s skirt hiked as he rubbed against her mound, and her breath hitched in her throat. She groaned, then quickly glanced down the hall, making sure no neighbors were in view. She’d never wanted a man as much as she wanted Gavin Cross. She pulled his head down to her mouth and put her lips to his ear. “It’s not enough. I need you all of you, Gavin.”

Gavin was breathing harder, still rocking against Kara like he didn’t give a shit who saw. “I can’t. Please don’t ask me, Kara. Let me show you another way.”

Kara took his rejection like a slap across the cheek. She reached behind her and twisted the handle, almost falling backward into the room from the weight of the two of them pressing against the door. Gavin stumbled slightly but caught himself as Kara backed through the door and shut it in his face.

When the deadbolt clicked into place, it sounded like Gavin dropped his forehead against the door. “Give it a chance, Kara. Give
me
a chance.”

That was two chances too many as far as Kara was concerned. No man deserved a third opportunity to humiliate her. “Watch the hot water heater now that there’re two of you. We have it set on low. Cold showers are a real bitch.”

She should know. She was going to need one.

Gavin stared at her door a moment longer then stormed back to his apartment, carefully turning the handle when what he really wanted to do was rip the door from its hinges.

“Julian!” he growled, once the door was locked behind him. It would have felt better to shout at the top of his lungs, but he figured that might scare his new neighbors. “Show your face, you son of a human whore.”

Julian stepped out of the bathroom with a sardonic smile and bowed. “You rang, milord?”

The air rushed in and out of Gavin’s nostrils as he counted to ten—he’d heard it worked for humans, and he thought he might as well give it a try—before he grabbed Julian by the throat and put his head through the wall. “What in the name of Og are you doing with Kara Reed? What game is this?”

Julian shrugged and leaned back against the wall, projecting the easy charm of a carefree man, but Gavin had known him too long to be fooled. If it came to blows, his friend would be ready, even eager.

Julian brushed some imaginary lint from his shoulder. “We’re here to keep an eye on her. I thought it would be easier if she and I were in the same room.”

Gavin let out another breath, attempting to calm himself as his hands trembled. “Please, Julian. It was hard enough for me.
You
won’t be able to resist being in the same room with one of our females for that long.”

Julian smiled, leaning his head back against the wall as if he were daydreaming. “And what a female she is. Did you see those lush hips and sturdy thighs when she bent over? I think she could take all of me and still beg for more.”

Gavin arched his brows. “You know she hasn’t reached maturity yet. Her body hasn’t gone through the transition necessary to accommodate these damn—” he motioned to his groin, “—
appendages
. You have no experience with young Demiáre females.”

“And you do?”

“I know it would be like taking a human woman, and I don’t want to chance hurting her.”

Julian grinned. “Oh, please. You’ve had more human women than I can count. I’ll wrap a fist around the base of my cock and she’ll be fine.”

Gavin’s shaft twitched. He’d been thinking the same thing himself. But Kara was a woman he wanted to hold on to with both hands as he pounded his seed into her womb. “
No
. We can’t risk you becoming attached to her, and we can’t risk bringing her closer to maturity. You have a responsibility to your clan. And for future reference, you sack of downy fluff, hurting a woman is the quickest way to get thrown out of her bed. Keep your cock to yourself.”

Julian pushed away from the wall and paced the room. “She’s practically in heat, brother. Her powers may not be coming in, but by the look of her, she’s ripe in every other way. You said our old Aniliáre friend has been visiting her?”

“Visiting her, yes, but he hasn’t
had
her that I can tell.”

“How can you be sure?”

“A dark essence pervades her room, but when I…” Gavin’s voice trailed away and the tips of his ears heated.

Julian stopped pacing and his brows shot up. “What?”

Gavin cleared his throat. He wasn’t sure if he was choked by anger or embarrassment. “There is no flaming way I’m going to describe to you what it tasted like between Kara Reed’s legs.”

Julian sucked in a breath, looking for a moment as if he were having a seizure, until finally, the air rushed from his lungs in loud fits of laughter. “Oh, no.
No, no, no
…” he hooted, grabbing his stomach. “You were checking for him by taste! You are a dedicated bastard!”