Temptation Rising (10 page)

In the midst of desire he’d felt it, the clenching in his chest that had his protective instincts kicking in. His gaze wandered beyond her, resting on the three shifters stalking her. He didn’t know them personally but he knew what they wanted. Hunger and lust filled their gazes as their bodies prepared to move in. They wouldn’t care that it was three against one. They would use her together until one of them proved dominant. Then that one would take her alone, ravish her until she was useless, and kill her. It was their way, the no-boundaries way Rogues preferred to live. They preyed and they killed, it was as simple as that. And somehow, Kalina had been caught in their snare.

Possessiveness such as he’d never known washed over him and before Rome could think twice he was stalking across the floor determined to reach her before they did. It was close, the scent of Kalina’s fear pushing him closer to the edge of insanity. If they’d managed to get to her, if one of them had put a finger on her … his temples throbbed, his heart thumping wildly. He had to get her out of here.

Finding out what she’d been doing here in the first place would have to wait until later.

She was just about to pass the bar when Eli moved in front of her, stopping her passage. She looked up at him and was probably ready to curse him into next week when Rome stepped up behind her, putting his hands firmly at her waist. Leaning over, he whispered in her ear, “If you scream or try to run you’ll make a scene. They’ll come after you. Your choice is simple, go with me or be taken by them.”

Her body stiffened, the round globes of her ass rubbing against his own throbbing arousal. She was contemplating, her annoyance at him warring with her fear of them, the unknown. What she didn’t know was that there was no way in hell he was going to let the Rogues get within feet of her, let alone take her.

“I won’t hurt you,” Rome said, his mouth watering at being so close to her skin. He wanted to lick her, to taste her once more so that he’d never forget such sweetness.

She gave the barest nod of her head. Eli led the way. They were slipping through the side door in seconds, Rome looking back only once to make sure the Rogues weren’t on their trail. They did not give up easily, especially not when a female was involved. But they hadn’t followed; they’d actually backed away the moment they saw him. He knew that wasn’t due to any respect for his ranking among the shifters. They didn’t give a shit what title he held; Rogues were supremacists with egos bigger than any human or shifter he’d ever met. The fact that they weren’t coming after him gave him pause.

Eli headed down the stairs first with Kalina between the two of them.

“We’re coming down,” he spoke into the com link he, the guards, and Nick shared.

At the bottom of the stairs Eli pulled the door open. With a hand to the small of her back, Rome pushed Kalina through. Ezra pulled up first in the black Tahoe, the back door already swinging open. Eli grabbed it, stepping to the side with a swift nod to Rome. At the signal he grabbed Kalina by the waist, lifting her into the back of the vehicle. The door slammed behind them and they were moving before Rome was completely seated.

Eli would now drive the limo, which Nick had retained and pulled up right behind in the Tahoe. They would go in the opposite direction from Ezra and Rome just in case anyone decided to follow them.

Kalina slid all the way over, plastering her back against the opposite passenger door. “Take me home,” she stated without hesitation.

“Your wish is my command,” he answered, settling back in the seat. Taking out his cell phone, he keyed in her address, sending the text to Ezra in the front seat as well as Nick and Eli. Then he put the phone back into his pocket. “You can relax now, you’re safe.”

Folding her arms over her chest, she huffed. “How do I know that? You don’t look any safer than those guys back there. Oh, and by the way, I’m no damsel in distress. I did not need rescuing, thank you very much.”

No, she was no damsel in distress. More like a spitfire waiting to be ignited.

“You were in trouble. I simply arrived at the right time.”

“Whatever,” she said then turned, pushing her back against the seat. “Just take me home.”

He scented her nervousness and agitation. Or maybe she was pissed he’d interrupted. Whichever, Rome wanted her to feel safe, and his gut told him that the threesome back there was anything but safe to her.

“What were you doing here?”

“What? I can’t go to a political fund-raiser?”

“You don’t look like the type to support Kensington in his race for the Senate.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Is my political affiliation now scrawled on my forehead?”

“I thought you were a number cruncher. It just seems a bit out of place for you to be at a political function.”

She looked at him like she wanted to hit him. His lips twitched at that thought. This woman had a lot of spunk and it aroused something in him.

“I’m well versed in politics as well as other things, Mr. Reynolds. Just because I work in accounting doesn’t mean I can’t think of anything else.”

He held a law degree, was a Faction Leader to more than three thousand shifters on the East Coast, and stood to inherit a place in the Assembly should he ever return to the Gungi. Yet at this moment, instead of strategizing or analyzing what had just happened back there, he couldn’t think of anything except getting her naked.

“Did you know those men? Was one of them the one you were speaking to on the phone to this afternoon?” The thought had crossed his mind that one of those stooges could have been the one giving her a hard time earlier today, and he wanted to know for sure if he was dealing with just a jealous boyfriend or something way more dangerous. Because they were definitely Rogues, and for reasons he wasn’t quite ready to acknowledge Rome prayed it wasn’t the jealous-boyfriend angle.

“I don’t know who they were or why they were gawking at me that way. And you should try minding your own business. My phone call was private.”

“It sounded more than private. Is someone harassing you?”

“Other than you?” she snapped, giving him an angry stare of her own.

“Let’s try this another way. Just so you know, Kalina, I’m not going to let this go. Those guys were definitely gunning for you, and I want to know why. Either you’re going to tell me or I’ll find out on my own.”

She exhaled deeply. “I don’t know them.”

“And the one you were talking to on the phone? Is he a problem?”

“He’s my problem.”

Rome’s jaw clenched. This wasn’t the answer he wanted, but like he said he’d deal with it in his own way. She didn’t have to tell him anything else.

He also needed to deal with this painful erection before his mood became any more foul than it already was. It seemed the hostility between them had only stoked the fire growing in the pit of his stomach.

Suddenly the truck’s interior was a lot warmer than it had been before. In his haste to get her inside and out of sight, her dress had hiked up her legs so that it now showed an enticing amount of skin. The legs he remembered admiring as she’d walked into his office the other day were now displayed like a delicacy. Swallowing hard, he tried to adjust the burgeoning erection that threatened to drive him out of his mind. It had been that way since she’d walked into his office—each time he’d thought of her, remembered her voice, the feel of her writhing beneath him. He wanted her and
desperately
didn’t quite seem to describe how bad.

“You’re incredibly sexy when you’re pissed off,” he said, reaching out to brush his knuckles over her bare shoulder.

Normally he liked women with long hair, figuring it gave them a more feminine look. But the short, spiky cut of Kalina’s hair did something for him, and it fit her feisty personality perfectly. When she turned her eyes narrowed, and she looked at him like a woman ready to fight. Behind his zipper his erection protested, straining to break free.

“We’ve had the discussion about sexual harassment before, Mr. Reynolds. And again, no means no.”

“Call me Rome. It seems highly unusual to refer to a prospective lover so formally.” He
would
be her lover—Rome knew this as surely as he knew his own name. There was something pushing them together; whether it was just circumstances or something more, he couldn’t really tell. And didn’t really care at the moment.

“What? You … we—” She stopped, took a deep breath, then released it in what could only be construed as a barely restrained manner. “You are the boss and I am the employee. We are not now, nor will we ever be lovers.” She jerked away from him and heat soared through his body.

The challenge was clear, and the beast within acted quickly. He was across the seat in seconds, grasping her at the nape of her neck, pulling her to him until she was half sprawled over his lap. She glared at him, her lips parting in surprise just before he claimed them, swiping his tongue across them in one swift stroke.

“Tell me no, Kalina. Say no and I’ll stop.”

Her body shivered in his arms as he pulled her bottom lip into his mouth, suckling until her palms were pressing against his chest. His mouth opened over hers and he plunged into the kiss with all the fierce desire he had inside.

It had been months since he’d had a woman. Of course it had been his choice. Shifters were known for their insatiable and sometimes dark sexual desires. They were created to breed, and if it wasn’t fighting for survival that occupied their minds it was most likely the sexual hunger that ate at them on a daily basis. Rome hadn’t wanted anyone in particular for weeks, and so he hadn’t taken anyone. Not until now, not until Kalina.

Everything about her appealed to him on a level he’d never ventured before. It was strange and yet it felt right. His mother would say fate. To be safe Rome was classifying it as opportunity. Her body was luscious, his hands slipping down her bare back to cup her plump bottom. She sighed, moaning into their kiss her pleasure at his touch. He lifted her leg, adjusted her until she straddled him completely, then let his palms knead her ass, his fingers grazing in between until the heat of her pussy tickled his fingertips.

“Say no,” he whispered.

She should have kneed him in the nuts again. Her teeth could clamp down on his lips and draw blood. Memories of the night she was sexually assaulted sifted on the outskirts of her thoughts, reservations at being touched intimately by a man warring with the sweetest sensations he was arousing in her. She could give in to the fear, to the dark hatred she harbored for the one who’d dared to touch her without permission.

Or … she could just sink into this feeling—this foreign reaction to a man she barely knew. She could let the memories of the last time he’d touched her commingle with the heated dreams she’d had of him in the days since. And she could enjoy.

It wasn’t something she did often, not normally having much in her personal life to enjoy. But this, his touch, the husky rumble of his voice in the dark interior of this truck, did something to her, pushed her to be what she’d never thought she could be again.

A woman.

In the moments since she’d been closed in with him Kalina had felt sexier than she had in her entire life. Her body hummed with anticipation. The way his eyes raked over her said
sex,
pure and simple lust that was now dripping from his every kiss, each touch of his hands along her bared skin. The tips of his fingers grazed her center through the thin material of her dress, and she sucked in a breath. That action lifted her breasts, had the tender nipples scraping along his chest. With erratic breathing and fingers that seemed to operate with their own intentions she gripped the lapels of his jacket, pulling him closer as she opened her mouth to his kiss.

Delving deeper she let her mind clear of all doubts, vowing to take, for once in her life to simply take. When his hands moved past the material of her dress to touch the bare skin of her bottom she hissed, arched her back, and sighed.

“You can’t deny me, because that would be like denying yourself,” he whispered, his lips fanning over the line of her neck as her head fell back. “Did you wear this hot little dress for me? Did you want me to see it and die from wanting to touch you?”

“No,” she whispered.

“Do you want me to stop?” Sharp teeth nipped at her neck, sending spikes of desire straight to her core, now creaming at his silent command. As if he’d known that would be her reaction, his fingers slipped past the thin barrier of her thong, traveling along the dampened folds that opened to her desire. The second he plunged a finger inside Kalina’s world changed. Everything she thought she’d known about pleasure, that she’d taught herself through mechanics and imagination, crumbled. What he was doing, this seemingly simple touch, proved all she’d known was drastically wrong.

“No,” she panted.

“You want more?”

Her breath came quicker, her body inflamed by his touch. “Rome.”

“Yes,” he replied, his finger thrusting deeper, then pulling back.

She whimpered at the loss, pressing herself down on him immediately. “Don’t stop.”

His chuckle was hoarse, rumbling through his chest as he pushed back inside her. “You don’t want me to stop. It’s okay, I don’t want to stop, either, baby. You’re so wet and so ready for me. I want to feel you, taste you.”