Lover's Bite. Maggie Shayne

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      “Maybe.” She sighed. “So where are you taking me, then?”

      “My place. It’s not much, but it’ll have to do. We’ll have time tomorrow night to make alternate arrangements. Right after I have a conversation with Mr. Argent.”

      “All right.”

      She didn’t think he required her consent at this point, but she gave it. It was odd how it felt almost as if he were trying to protect her. It would be easy to believe that—too easy. So she refused. There had to be something in this for Jack. In the end, there always was.

      At least she knew for sure now that he hadn’t been the one selling information on her to the tabloids.

      Jack pulled the car into an empty parking area off the side of the road. They got out, and he locked it up, pocketed the keys and said, “This way.”

      “Oh, Lord. We’re not sleeping in the woods, are we? You didn’t find a cave or a hollow tree or something equally putrid, did you?”

      He looked at her briefly and kept on walking, up a hill, across a tree-dotted field, into the woods and then out of them again. The sky was beginning to fade to a lighter shade of gray. Sunrise wasn’t far off.

      Then she saw the cemetery and stopped in her tracks. He kept right on walking through, right up to the biggest crypt in the entire place. It was huge, ornate, made of gray stone, and came complete with a gargoyle guarding its roof.

      “You have got to be kidding me.”

      “Do I?” He opened the heavy door and looked back at her. “It’s quite cozy inside. Come on now, you don’t have time to be fussy.”

      “I’m not being fussy, but for God’s sake, Jack, could you have come up with anything more clichéd?”

      “Nope. I tried, but this was the best I could do. Come on. We don’t have all day. Or all night.”

      Shaking her head in disgust, she walked inside. He closed the door behind her, but it didn’t matter; she could see perfectly well in the darkness. There were blankets and pillows spread over a bier, a lantern on the floor, and his backpack leaning in one corner alongside a cooler with the Red Cross’s logo on the front.

      “Sustenance?” she asked, nodding at it.

      “Help yourself. Unless…well, if you want you could, um…” He tipped his head back a bit and ran his forefinger over his jugular. “Eat me.”

      “In your dreams, Jack.”

      “Sometimes, yes.”

      She punched him in the shoulder and moved toward the cooler to take what she needed from inside. “Any bodies in here?” she asked.

      “Nothing recent. I think the newest has been here fifty years.”

      “That’s a relief, at least. No decomposing corpses to sleep with.” She finished the blood and returned the empty plastic bag to the cooler, to be disposed of later. Then she stretched her arms over her head as the lethargy began to creep in. She reached for a blanket, tugged it from the bier.

      Jack gripped the corner and pulled it from her hands. “It’s safe to sleep with me, Topaz. We’ll both be dead to the world in a few minutes. There’s no time for me to seduce you, even if I was planning to break our deal—which I’m not, by the way.”

      “So sue me for not trusting you.”

      “You’re not fooling either of us. It’s yourself you don’t trust.”

      “Oh, please, you’re not all that hard to resist.” She let go of the blanket, and then, to prove her point, she peeled off her clothes, stripping down to her bra and matching panties, and climbed into the makeshift bed. It was surprisingly soft, and she realized he’d equipped it with an air mattress. “Nice touch.”

      Smiling to himself, Jack peeled off his clothes, as well, and got in beside her, wearing only his boxer-briefs. He pulled the covers over them both, but he was careful not to touch her. There was a mere inch of space between them, and he rolled onto his side, facing her, so close she could feel his breath on her cheek.

      “You can kiss me good-night if you want to,” he said.

      “Why on earth would I want to?”

      He shrugged. “To thank me for my help. To show some gratitude that I’m trying to keep you safe. To—”

      “To shut you up?” She rolled onto her side, facing him, and pressed her lips to his. It was a peck. It was brief, and firm, but when she pulled back, she could still feel those lips under hers. He had the softest lips. He always had. Her heart softened a little, and she leaned in again. This time she pressed her mouth gently against his, pulling back when he parted his lips and began moving them in that way he had that always drove her wild.

      She could still taste him.

      “Sleep well, Topaz,” he whispered.

      “No choice about that.” Thank God, she thought. Because if there were, she knew she wouldn’t sleep at all. Not with him this close. Not with every night they’d ever spent wrapped around each other replaying in her mind.

      She felt the sun’s energy rising, and with a rush of gratitude, she let her eyes fall closed.

      5

      When her eyes fluttered open at sunset, Topaz stretched and rolled onto her side. Someone was there—a familiar someone—and, still half-asleep, she nuzzled his lips with her own. His hands buried themselves in her hair, and his mouth captured hers. A mouth she knew, one she relished, one she loved kissing. And so she did. Her lips parted, her arms wound around him, and the kiss heated and grew until they were trying to devour each other.

      And then, suddenly, she pulled free and lay there gasping, panting, hungering—and wide awake.

      “Don’t stop,” Jack murmured. “Baby, don’t stop. Not now.” He reached for her.

      She held up a hand, palm facing his chest. “You promised you wouldn’t touch me, Jack.”

      “And I haven’t.”

      “What do you call trying to swallow my tongue just now, then?”

      “You started it.”

      “I did not.”

      “You kissed me first, Topaz.” He got off the bier and pushed both hands through his hair, heaving a sigh. “Hell, woman, I’m only human.”

      “No, you’re not.”

      “You know what I meant.”

      Reluctantly, she nodded, unable to meet his eyes, knowing he would see the naked hunger glowing from her own.

      “Topaz, come on. We both want to. You know it’s the truth.”

      “Forget it.”

      “You СКАЧАТЬ