The Reluctant Vampire (14 page)

Harper ushered her to the table, and Drina slid in, then moved farther over to make room for him when he started to slide onto the bench seat beside her rather than claim the opposite bench as he had earlier. The moment they were both settled, he caught her chin in his hand and turned her face up to his for a kiss. This time it was a quick, hard one, almost a brand of possession, and then he released her and reached for his Sweet Ecstasy.

He took a healthy swallow, and then set it back and rested his arm on the edge of the table in front of her. Following his lead, Drina reached for her own glass and took a drink. It was as she was setting it back on the table that she felt something feather across her right nipple. Glancing down, she saw that he’d extended his fingers, the tips feathering over her hardened nipple visible through the thin material of her bra and dress.

As she watched, he did it again, just extending his fingers and letting the tips brush across the excited nub. Drina bit her lip and glanced around, but the way he’d positioned himself blocked anyone from seeing what he was doing. When she met his gaze, he asked, “Do you enjoy being a hunter?”

Drina blinked, her brain slow to absorb the idle question. Finally, she nodded.

“Yes.” The word came out in a husky whisper, and she cleared her throat before adding, “Sometimes it gets disheartening, but mostly I feel like I’m helping people, if only by stopping rogues from hurting anyone else.”

“They’re lucky to have you,” he said quietly, and then raised his hand to run one finger along the edge of her neckline, following the V-neck over the curve of her breast and down to where the material met between her breasts. “What do you do for fun besides dancing?”

Drina licked her lips and forced her attention from what he was doing to try to answer the question. “I find reading relaxing, and—” She paused and bit her lip, her body going still as he leaned forward and nuzzled her ear.

“And?” he prompted, his breath tickling across flesh suddenly alive with nerve endings.

“And what?” she breathed, turning her face to find his lips.

Harper kissed her, a long, lazy kiss this time, his tongue sweeping in and then withdrawing before he drew back. His hand drifted away from her neckline, and he reached for his glass again.

Drina shivered at the loss of his touch and reached for her own drink.

“The way you move on the dance floor is incredibly sexy. I found myself watching you and wondering if you were wearing one of the new bra and panty sets Stephanie helped you pick out today.”

She’d just raised the glass to her lips and her eyes shot to his over the rim. His expression was casual, as if they were discussing the weather, but his eyes were fierce. She took a gulp of her Sweet Ecstasy and merely nodded as she swallowed.

He smiled and set his glass down, then returned his fingers to her neckline, running the tips lightly along the edge again. “Which one?”

Drina hesitated. She then smiled slowly, and said, “I think I’ll leave you to find that out for yourself.”

Harper met her gaze and held it, but she felt a tugging at her top, and then he looked down. She did as well to see that he’d caught the neckline with one finger and eased it the slightest bit to the side, revealing the edge of the red lace bra with its black trim. When she looked back to his eyes, she found them burning silver.

“My favorite,” he breathed, his eyes glowing and Drina almost released a nervous laugh. That was what Stephanie had said when she’d insisted she wear them tonight. “Harper really liked these. You should wear them.”

Drina took another drink and managed not to squirm on the seat as he slid his finger under the edge of the bra and ran it lightly downward, brushing tantalizing close to a nipple that positively ached now. She didn’t breathe again until he withdrew the finger and let the top of her dress slip back into place.

Harper turned to pick up his drink again. Another swallow left half the drink remaining. He set it back, and then turned to face her again. Her glass was now half-empty as well. Another half to go for each of them, and surely they could leave? If he didn’t suggest it, she would, Drina decided. This was driving her crazy.

“You’re wearing the matching panties too, of course.”

Drina blinked at the abrupt comment and glanced down as his hand landed warm and heavy on the top of her thigh. She had the mad urge to repeat the words “I think I’ll leave you to see for yourself,” and imagined him sliding under the booth and between her legs to do just that, but then gave herself a shake. They were in a public club. Well, not really public. More private, for immortals only, though they got the occasional mortal straggling in. At least they did in Spain.

“Are you?” he asked, leaning forward to nip at her ear, his hand slipping a little farther up her thigh with the movement.

“Yes,” she breathed.

“I’m glad,” he whispered. “I can’t wait to see them on you.”

She couldn’t wait to show him, Drina thought faintly, her fingers clenching around her glass as his fingers began drawing lazy circles on the top of her thigh through her skirt.

“I can’t wait to take them off you,” he whispered, whirling his tongue inside the delicate shell of her ear as the lazy circles he was making on her thigh moved down the side of her leg now to her inner thigh.

Drina closed her eyes, aware that her breathing had grown shallow and rapid. His fingers had somehow slipped under her skirt, and his bare skin was on hers, sending tingles along her thigh in both directions. Forcing her eyes open, she glanced down to see that the handy-dandy slit in the skirt had given him access. As she watched, his hand slid farther up her inner leg, pushing the material ahead of it.

Harper nipped lightly at her ear, sucked the lobe into his mouth, and drew on it slowly, then released it, and asked, “Do you want to dance anymore?”

Drina gave the faintest shake of her head.

“Then maybe we should drink up and go to my place,” he suggested, his fingers reaching and brushing, light as a feather, against the material of her panties.

Drina gasped in a breath. Her eyes started to close, but she forced them open and lifted the glass to her lips, drinking a good portion of it as she wondered when this had all slipped from her control to his . . . or if she’d ever really been in control. She’d thought she was seducing him earlier, but the tables had turned. Had it been her challenge on the dance floor? Asking if he was good in bed?

Setting her glass back, she turned her head, caught him by surprise, and took his lower lip in her mouth, sucking it as he’d done to her ear. When his fingers then brushed against her again, more firmly, she released his lip on another gasp, her mouth opening slightly on the sound. Harper immediately thrust his tongue inside as his fingers quickly shifted the lace of her panties aside so that he could run his thumb across her core.

It was too much, and Drina had to fight not to cry out or straddle his lap right there in the booth. She could have wept, though, when he suddenly withdrew his fingers, allowing her panties to slip back into place.

Harper broke their kiss just as abruptly and turned to pick up his drink. He downed it in one go, set the glass back and slid from the booth, removing his wallet as he went.

“Finish up, and I’ll pay the bill.” His words were gruff, his jaw set, but she knew it wasn’t anger making his expression tight.

Breathing out slowly, Drina tried to calm herself as she watched him slip through the tables toward the bar. He pulled out his phone as he went. Calling for the car, she realized as she watched him press it to his ear. The car that would take them to his apartment where they would . . .

Cripes, what was she doing? she wondered with sudden panic. It had been centuries since she’d—

Raising her glass to her lips, she gulped down the last swallow, wishing it was Wino Reds or something with some punch to it rather than a drink full of pheromones. She didn’t need to be any more horny; she needed some bloody Dutch courage. Literally.

Shaking her head, she slid out of the booth, and then had to grab the table to stay on her feet as her legs quaked beneath her. Cripes, she was a mess. Over two thousand years old and quivering like an untried virgin. This was pathetic, she decided, reaching for her coat. She slid it on, and then nearly jumped out of it and her skin both when a hand landed on her shoulder.

Harper had returned, she realized, glancing around and managing a smile.

“The car is on the way,” he said, grabbing his own coat and tugging it on.

Drina mumbled what might have been a “Good” or could just have easily been an “Oh God,” and then he had his coat on, had caught her hand, and was leading her through the tables toward the exit.

“Have fun, kids,” someone sang out.

Drina glanced around to see their waitress standing aside and smiling as they passed, and then Harper was tugging her through the door.

Snow and wind hit her in the face as they stepped into the darkness. Drina squinted against it and followed half-blind as Harper led her around the building to a narrow alley leading toward the back. The wind died abruptly once he pulled her into the cover it offered, and Drina sighed with relief. She wasn’t used to this northern climate.

She turned to say as much to Harper, but never got the words out. His mouth was suddenly on hers, his hands and body pushing her back against the cold, hard bricks of the building as his body plastered itself to her front. What followed was an explosion of passion like she’d never experienced in all her life. It washed over her like the fallout from an atom bomb, only to turn and roll through her again, and Drina merely grabbed at his arms and held on as he drove his tongue into her and urged the sides of her coat apart so that he could run his hands over her body.

His hands molded her breasts, her waist, slid down the front of her thighs and then around to their backs before rising to clasp her behind the upper legs and lift her against the wall until their faces were level. Once he had her where he wanted her, he used his hold to spread and raise her legs around his hips.

Drina instinctively hooked her booted ankles behind his waist, helping to take her weight as he pinned her against the wall with his hips. It freed his hands, and he immediately reached one hand to her breasts, using it to tug her neckline and bra aside, baring one to the night air.

Drina gasped as cold curled around her nipple, but then he broke their kiss to lower his head and latch onto it, his hot moist breath bringing on a heat that had her moaning and squirming against the wall. When his teeth grazed the tender nub, she cried out and raised her face to the night sky. Cold flakes flurried around them, landing on her eyelids, cheeks, and lips, and her breath came in small gasps, forming mini clouds that floated heavenward.

When she felt his hand brush against her thigh, moving upward, Drina closed her eyes and held a breath that shot out on a cry when he found her core. Digging her nails into his shoulders, she thrust her hips away from the wall, into the caress, and twisted her head to the side, suddenly gasping for breath, as he slid her panties aside to touch her again.

“Christ,” Harper growled against her breast, and then raised his head to growl almost helplessly, “You’re so hot and wet.”

Drina opened her eyes and lowered her head to meet his gaze, and then moaned as his fingers moved across her tender flesh again.

“I want you,” she gasped, writhing under his touch.

The silver in Harper’s eyes spiked, and he claimed her mouth again.

His fingers retreated then, but she felt his hand moving between them and knew he was undoing his pants. She kissed him more frantically with the anticipation of what was coming, and then a car horn honked.

They both froze for a heartbeat, and then Harper broke the kiss and they both turned to stare blankly at the back end of the car just visible at the curb. Harper dropped his head to her chest with a groan. He gave it a slight shake and straightened again. His hand moved briefly between them again, presumably doing up what he’d undone, and then he caught her at the waist and eased back.

Silently cursing the driver for being so damned prompt, Drina unhooked her ankles and allowed her legs to drop back down to support her. Harper held on for a moment as she found her balance in the thigh-high boots, and then he released her to quickly tug her dress back into place before catching her hand and leading her out of the alley to the car.

Harper had grabbed her right hand with his left, and didn’t let go as he ushered her into the car but followed and closed the door, all while gripping her fingers. He continued to clasp them firmly as he leaned forward to speak to the driver and as he sat back.

Drina peered at their entwined fingers, and then glanced up to his face, worry fluttering through her as she noted that he was staring out the window, his expression grim. She fretted over what was going on in his head for the duration of the ride, but couldn’t think of anything to say to distract him. Her body was still humming from what had nearly taken place in the alley, which, now that she was able to think a bit, would have been a catastrophe, she thought with a grimace. Harper may be putting the reawakening of his “appetites” down to residuals from Jenny, but the truth was they were life mates, and it was said life mates often fainted after sex during the first year or so. They could have been lying there unconscious in the snow for who knew how long had the car not arrived. Okay, so maybe she didn’t mind that the driver was prompt after all, she thought wryly.

Chapter Eight

Harper stared out the window, Drina’s hand warm and soft in his. He couldn’t seem to let it go; it was a lifeline keeping him tethered as his mind suggested the most incredible and impossible things, the wildest of which was the suggestion that she was his life mate. He’d nearly taken Drina there in an alley, up against a wall, during a freaking blizzard, for God’s sake.

Harper wanted to think it was the Sweet Ecstasy, and it just might have been, he acknowledged, but what had happened in the bar itself was plaguing him. On the dance floor and then at the table, when he’d touched her it had caused him pleasure, and not the “it-pleases-me-to-please-you” kind, but actual physical pleasure. Tingles of awareness and excitement had shuddered through his body with every caress he’d given her, urging him on to do things he’d never even considered prior to this night.