Tempting the Fire (11 page)

She held up her hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. Sorry. Didn’t mean to offend you.”

Cursing, he reached for his bottle of Scotch. “Ah, hell. Can’t blame you for wondering. We did take you captive.” He held up a cup. “Want one?”

“Damn straight.”

He smiled, the one that took away her breath. He splashed a couple of fingers of Scotch into two cups, handed her one, and then held up his own in toast.

“To you and Marlena, the most dedicated cryptozoologists I’ve ever met.”

“The only ones you’ve ever met,” she muttered wryly, and tapped her cup against his.

“Good point.”

They downed their shots, and silence fell in the tent. “Well, what now?” she asked.

“I think,” he murmured, “it’s time for bed. We have to get an early start.”

Her mouth went dry, and all she could do was nod.

“Good. It’s settled.” He climbed onto the cot and rolled toward the tent wall. “You get the floor.”

CHANCE WAS LYING ON THE COT, HOOKED UP TO AN IV, AND

HE looked … pale. Sick. But infinitely more relaxed the closer Marlena got to him.

She was vaguely aware of the door closing, of Sela and Logan and everyone else leaving her alone in the tent.

Suddenly, her heart beat faster. The air changed, her body warmed, her 62

nipples hardened. She was completely and utterly turned on by Chance, despite the fact that he’d morphed into a chupacabra in front of her mere hours ago.

But now he was all man. A gorgeous, albeit tired-looking, man—one she was both frightened of and drawn to, judging by the fact that she was now kneeling next to his cot, taking his hand. Staring down at the tanned fingers twined with hers.

But there was still none of the overwhelming, head-over-heels-in-love feeling she normally got after sleeping with a man. No, this was pure and simple lust.

Apparently, this was normal.

Listen to yourself, Marlena. There’s nothing normal about any of this.

“You’re afraid of me,” Chance said, his voice gruff. She turned her gaze from their joined hands toward his face. His eyes were bright and he appeared to have suffered no ill effects from the massive doses of tranquilizers they’d pumped into him … or from changing into a chupacabra.

How much he knew—remembered—that was another story.

We don’t know this for sure, but in his book, Grady says that chupacabras appear to mate for life, so if he’s bonded with you …

If he’d bonded with her and she left him … My God.

She needed to focus on the mission. Keeping Chance calm. Let Sela figure out what the hell they would do next. “Are you in pain?” she asked, ignoring what he’d said about her being afraid.

He shook his head slowly. “Whatever was happening, it’s better now. Since you walked in.” He paused. “What the hell happened, Marlena?”

“You don’t remember?”

“Bits and pieces. Like a dream.” He made a noise in his chest, something like a purr, but as his expression hardened, it turned into a growl. “Or a nightmare.” He shoved himself onto one elbow. “What did I do? And why do I want you so much?”

When she didn’t answer, because how was she supposed to say that he’d jumped on her, screwed her and then shifted into a beast, he gripped her hand tighter.

“We were talking—”

“I remember that,” he broke in. “Get to the part where … I think we fucked.”

“We did. And then Shep came in, and you went crazy.”

“Why?” he said quietly, his voice low and deadly. “What did they do to me? What did you do to me?”

“You think I did something to you?”

“Why else would I act like that? I’m not in the habit of fucking strange women or attacking people at random.”

“Go to hell.” She shoved away from him. “I’m not in the habit of fucking strangers either, and how conveniently you forget that I was chained to a damned 63

bed, while you were loose.” She was supposed to be keeping him calm, but fuck that. Since the moment she and Sela had been captured, she’d lost all control, and it was time to take some back.

THERE WAS SOMETHING MARLENA WASN’T TELLING HIM. H

ELL, there was something they were all keeping from him—Chance could see it in their eyes. The careful way they moved around him. The way they hustled Marlena in to him when he’d demanded her, even though he was a fucking prisoner.

He didn’t know much, only that his aches and pains went away and all he wanted to do was be with her.

They had to have drugged him. This was a trick.

She wasn’t acting like this was a trick, though, and what had she said about being chained to a bed?

His mind worked furiously, trying to scrape together memories that were way too fluid. It was like trying to ladle soup with a slotted spoon.

He remembered needing her like he needed air. He’d had to mate with her, make her his no matter what …

No matter what. Mate. So … animalistic.

His gut turned over as fresh memories slapped his brain. Even if these people had drugged him with some sort of crazy libido drug, Marlena hadn’t been part of it. He remembered the terror on her face when he … Oh, Jesus.

His hands shook as he scrubbed them over his face as if that would scrub away the reality of what had happened. “Shit,” he breathed. “God, Marlena, I’m sorry.” Sorry? That was lame. And if her glare was any indication, she thought so too.

“You’d better be sorry for accusing me of drugging you or some shit,” she snapped, and then softened her tone. “But don’t be sorry about the rest.”

He blinked at that. “I attacked you. I remember—”

“I didn’t fight you, did I?”

His fists clenched, the way they had around her wrists as he held her for his thrusts. A wave of both heat and nausea rolled over him. “I didn’t give you much choice.”

“I could have screamed.”

True. He hadn’t gagged her or anything. Excellent. Good to know some measure of civility had tempered the caveman instincts. “Why did you let me do that to you?”

Marlena rolled her bottom lip between her teeth, drawing his attention to her mouth. If she’d just move closer … “I don’t know.”

“Maybe they drugged you too.”

“We weren’t drugged,” she said, and as though she’d heard his stray thought about moving closer, she took a couple of steps, bringing with her the 64

heady scent of aroused female.

“We had to have been.”

Her gaze sharpened, and her scent turned bitter. “Why? Because you couldn’t possibly want to have sex with me without the aid of chemicals?”

A low growl erupted in his chest, surprising him as much as what came out of his mouth. “You’re mine. Trust me, I want to fuck you ten ways from Sunday.”

He cursed, punched his pillow so hard it popped and feathers exploded from the end. “Dammit! Goddammit! I don’t know where that came from. I don’t know what I’m feeling, I don’t know why I’m feeling it. And why the ever-loving fuck can I smell every change in your moods?”

Suddenly, her hands were on his shoulders, and she was pushing him back down flat on the cot. For some reason, he calmed instantly, as though she were pulling all his strings and he liked it. “Calm down, Chance,” she whispered.

“Please. You’re going to attract the guards.” Her fingers tightened, digging into his skin, and he nearly groaned from the sheer pleasure of being touched. “I know you’re frustrated and confused.”

“You need to get away from me,” he said, even as he gripped her waist and pulled her down on top of him. “Get. Away.” The words were there, but he was holding her so tight she couldn’t leave if she wanted to. His rational mind screamed at him to get rid of her, but his body and instincts beat the fuck out of his thoughts.

“Get away, or what?” she challenged, and he pressed his hips into her, his rock-hard cock showing her exactly what. “Oh, no.” She shook her head. “You took all control from me earlier. I’m going to take it back on my terms. So let go.

Now.”

For some crazy reason, he did. He obeyed like a fucking pussy-whipped loser. Oh, he still wanted her, wanted to claim her, mark her, fill her with his seed.

But she was absolutely right—she had control here.

“Marlena, look, I don’t understand it, but I need you. I don’t want you to go. I just …”

“Shh.” She slid her palm over his chest and down his abs. And then lower still as he held his breath and watched helplessly.

He could stop her now, tell her he wasn’t sure this was the best idea.

He didn’t trust his voice, but his body had already betrayed him. Badly.

And when she ripped open his pants and put her hand around his hard cock—man, oh fucking man, he hoped she wouldn’t stop.

She stroked him, up and down, and his hips began to rock to the rhythm she set.

“I don’t understand any of this either,” she said. “I was afraid of you when I first came in here. I admit it. I nearly ran out. But I’m not anymore.”

“You should be, but holy shit, keep doing that.”

A little smile tilted up the corner of her mouth, as she moved her other hand between his legs to caress his balls. When she rubbed a finger along his perineum, 65

he swore he saw stars.

“Marlena … don’t stop, okay?” he breathed, and Christ, no one had better interrupt them or he’d kill—“Fuck. Stop. I can’t—”

She shut him up with a finger against his lips. “You can. We’ll figure out what’s going on afterward. But right now, we’re doing this.”

Well. Okay. Far be it from him to argue with his mate.

Mate?

His woman. Yeah. His woman.

Fuck. Whatever. She was his, and like she said, they’d figure out the rest later.

MARLENA BENT AND PRESSED HER LIPS TO CHANCE’S,

DETERMINED to prove that she was still in control … of her heart, at least, if not her body.

The kiss was electric, made her gasp into his mouth. Within seconds, she was crawling onto him. His hands slid along her back, holding her, pulling her closer to him, kissing her like he needed that to live. The kisses intensified, his tongue dueling with hers, and her body responded to his touch, despite hearing the chains clanking … and the fact that he was dangerous as hell in so many ways.

His hands drifted down to cup her ass through her BDUs, and he rocked her against him as his tongue teased hers. She felt the strength in his body surge as he locked a leg over hers as if to keep her from leaving.

There was no chance of that, not when his hand moved to caress her breast between their bodies, his fingers brushing her nipple. Her own hands traveled as well, caressing his shoulders, his biceps. She did a slow grind of her hips against his as he palmed the back of her neck, pulled her mouth to his and kissed her until she could barely breathe. When he finally let her up for air, his voice was thick as he murmured in her ear, “I want you so badly … but I don’t want to hurt you.”

She didn’t bother telling him that he’d hurt her anyway. It was either a suicide mission or a leap of faith.

He shifted so they were on their sides. He pushed the low-slung BDUs off her hips impatiently and stroked a finger along her slick folds, making her cry out softly. The pad of his thumb found her clit as he slid a finger inside her, slowly driving her mad as he tongued her nipple through her already wet T-shirt, making the soft cotton hot against her skin.

“Chance … please … yes.”

He pulled her T-shirt up with his teeth and she impatiently tugged it over her head.

The restraints weren’t holding him back at all. His hands were working their magic as he spread her legs, told her, “Wanna make you come so hard, baby

… make you feel so good you can’t stand it.”

With her job as a Seducer, it was never about her pleasure. Couldn’t be. But 66

this … this was completely different.

She wanted to know if lightning could really strike twice.

She wanted to climax in his arms, from his fingers, his tongue … his cock.

And she told him so, whispered it in his ear and watched him still at her words and then give her a smile rife with desire.

“I’ll do everything you want, honey. As many times as you can stand it,” he promised as he took her pants down and let her kick them off, leaving her naked next to him. “Fuck, you’re beautiful.”

She blushed like it was the first time she’d been told that and looked up at him. The man was beautiful in his own right.

“Come on up here,” he urged, tugging at her hips.

On the small cot, she straddled his face with her thighs on either side and let him pull her sex to his mouth. She swallowed a cry yet couldn’t help but let the moans spill out as he licked and sucked her, holding her in place as she rubbed against his face wantonly. His tongue worked the swollen nub of nerves relentlessly until she couldn’t hold back any longer.

She fell forward, clinging to the end of the cot because she had no balance left as the first orgasm rolled through her. He didn’t stop, though, held her to him as he pleasured her through two more climaxes in quick succession.

When she climbed off him, her legs were trembling. Chance hooked his arm around her thigh and pulled her close. “I’m not done with you yet.”

If she had any kind of self-control, she would quit while she was ahead and leave with beautiful memories of a man who’d actually still wanted her when she left him.

Since she found herself on top of him again, she guessed the self-control thing had gone out the window. Her sex cradled his arousal and Chance traced a nipple with his finger.

“Come on, Marlena, let me in,” he growled, and she lowered herself onto him, slowly let his girth fill her, inch by inch.

She’d been taught to compliment men on their size, but she wouldn’t have to pretend with Chance—he was big and thick, his cock heavy with need.

He was trapped by the chains and still he was somehow in charge, rocking his hips up hard, thrusting into her until she was biting back a scream. Her belly tightened and she forced herself to look him in the eyes, to see his lust-filled gaze for her as he started to orgasm—his pace sped up and her own climax tore through her, a rapid-fire, exquisite release she rode as long as she could.

SELA HAD GRUMBLED ABOUT THE FLOOR, BUT SHE’D FALLEN

asleep nearly immediately. Once Logan saw she was dead to the world, he’d picked her up and placed her on his cot.