Amaury's Hellion (12 page)

“This is a free country.”

“For some people maybe.”

He was different from the two vampires she’d fought the night before. He could have killed her a dozen times since he’d captured her, yet he was intent on questioning her instead. It gave her hope that he wasn’t sent by the same guy who’d dispatched the other two vampires.

“Listen, I have no beef with you. If this is your territory, bro, I’ll just be gettin’ out of your hair, alright?” She tried her best street-gang lingo on him. If she could convince him she was just some low-level con and not scouting out vampires, maybe he’d let her go.

“What do you want?”

Like she was going to tell him. Hell, the guy was insistent.

“Zane!”

His head whipped back to the voice behind him. Several figures came toward them, all still cast in dark shadows.
Great, more vampires
. Her survival chances had just dwindled exponentially.

“What’s going on?” the same voice inquired. The man came into view. The first thing Nina saw was the large scar which reached from his chin all the way to his ear. Gruesome. She could tell that at some time in the past he’d been handsome, but the ugly scar had put an end to that.

“This man just attacked me!” Maybe she could create some confusion and appeal to someone’s sense of chivalry toward a woman, not that she got her hopes up. They would only get trampled.

“Nina?”

Now there was a voice she definitely recognized.

Amaury pushed into sight, a stunned look on his gorgeous face. Damn, the man was still as handsome as the night before. She hadn’t imagined it.

“You know her?” Scarface with the ponytail asked.

“Zane, let her go. Now!” Amaury ordered the vampire who was still keeping her imprisoned. Zane showed no intention of letting her go. On the contrary, it felt as if he tightened his grip on her.

“Don’t tell me she’s one of your floozies!” The female voice surprised her. Nina glanced in her direction. If there ever was a woman who could be called a
femme fatale
, it was this one. Black leather pants, a tight colorful top, boobs galore. And an absolutely flawless face framed by short black hair. Some girls had all the luck.

“Shut up, Yvette! Zane, let her go,” Amaury repeated his command.

“Who is she?” Zane was clearly not willing to give in.

“None of your fucking business.”

“It is when she’s spying on Scanguards.”

“Nina, you weren’t spying on Scanguards, were you?” Amaury’s conspiratorial look was subtle.

“Of course not. I was just waiting for you.” She hoped nobody could hear the shaking in her voice.

“You’re dating a human?” The vampire with the ponytail and scar gave Amaury a scolding look. “May I remind you of what we discussed two nights ago?”

“I know what we discussed, Gabriel. No need to remind me. I’ll take care of it.”

“Really?” Yvette interjected.

“Yes, really.” Amaury sounded pretty pissed off.

“You’d better. No exposure.” Gabriel made an indication to Zane to release her. Nina felt his reluctance to do so. The bastard had obviously hoped to do a little harm, and he was still blocking her.

“I think I’d rather do it myself,” Zane insisted. “I don’t think you can be trusted to wipe her memory. You’re too biased.”

Wipe her memory? How were they going to do that? By drilling into her skull?

Zane and Amaury shot daggers at each other. If looks could kill, well, luckily they couldn’t, or at least she didn’t think they could. But what did she know about what else vampires were capable of?

“Nina, step away from him and come over here.”

She suppressed the urge to give Zane the finger and was only too happy to comply with Amaury’s command. Better the vampire she knew....

She noticed the look Yvette gave her when she finally stood next to Amaury. Her next comment came as no surprise.

“Is she
that
good that you’re willing to betray your friends?” The woman let her gaze travel over Nina’s body, making her feel like she was undergoing an inspection she had no chance of passing.

“Stay out of this, Yvette,” he growled.

“That good in bed, huh?” Yvette tossed a cold smile at Nina. “Watch out—he’ll take what he wants and doesn’t give a damn about the consequences.”

Nina was at a loss of how to respond. She was glad she didn’t have to. Gabriel cut off the conversation.

“That’s enough. Amaury, you know what to do. If you don’t take care of this situation, I will. Or worse, Zane will. Do we understand each other?”

There was a slight hesitation from Amaury. She noticed how his hands balled into fists. “Loud and clear.”

He turned and grabbed her arm. “Let’s go.” The gruffness of his voice didn’t bode well for her immediate future.

Nina had no idea why he hadn’t just fed her to the lions, but rather had taken their wrath upon himself to get her out of the precarious situation. She watched him from the side as she struggled to keep up with him, his hand still clamped around her arm in a none-too-gentle manner.

“Where are we going?” she asked him once they were out of earshot of his vampire friends.

“Somewhere where we can talk.”

“Talk about what?”

Amaury stopped and jerked her toward him. The furious look he gave her made Nina hold her tongue. “We both know you and I didn’t have a date, so cut the crap. You’re lucky I could fool my friends. But now you owe me an explanation.”

Again he pulled her along.

“Slow down! I can’t keep up with you.”

“Unless you want me to sling you over my shoulder, you’ll keep up.”

Nina ignored the shiver rolling down her back.

Caveman!

Eleven

Nina was driving him mad—stark-raving mad. The moment Amaury had witnessed Zane manhandling her, he’d seen red. No—crimson, scarlet, purple! What the
hell
was she doing there, spying on them outside the offices? And clearly she had been spying. No
way
was this encounter a coincidence.

Amaury grunted to himself as he let them into the apartment and locked the door. His decision to get her out of there had been a simple gut reaction. He hadn’t thought about the consequences at all. The only thing he could think of was to get her away from Zane.

He knew Zane all too well, and his interrogation methods were anything but gentle. He didn’t want Nina to be subjected to his brutality. Zane followed the directive in a straight line, he was loyal and fiercely protective of his brethren, but his methods were questionable at best.

To imagine Nina suffering at Zane’s hands turned Amaury’s stomach. And not just for the obvious reasons. Even if Zane wasn’t as brutal as he was, he wouldn’t want the other vampire’s hands on her.

“Woman, you’re giving me a headache.”

“If that’s the case, why don’t I leave you alone?” She made an attempt to brush past him toward the door, but he held her back and turned her body toward him.

“Nice try, Nina—if that’s even your real name.”

She tilted her head up in defiance. “Like you’re on first-name terms with the truth.”

Touché!

 “And Nina
is
my name,” she added.

 “You might as well make yourself comfortable, since you’re not going anywhere.” He released her shoulders before he could give into the urge to pull her against his body and punish her with a kiss.

“Go, sit.”

She didn’t move. “I’d rather stand.”

“Suit yourself. And start talking.”

“Looks like the fog burned off—”

He cut her off. “About why you were lurking around outside Scanguards.”

“I wasn’t lurking.”

Her innocently fluttering eyelids wouldn’t work on him. Neither would those plump red lips she’d pushed forward in protest.

“You weren’t waiting for
me
, that’s for sure. Looks like we have a veritable Buffy on our hands.”

“You’re calling me a slayer?”

“That’s what you are, aren’t you?” Amaury let his gaze drift over her slender form. She was tall for a woman, well built with muscles that would put the average human male to shame. But she wasn’t strong enough to fight a vampire, and especially not one like Zane.

“I’m not a slayer.”

“Then what are you doing seeking out vampires and killing them? In my book, that’s slaying. And don’t even try to deny it. I was there, remember?” But he wasn’t thinking of the fight with the vampires; rather, his mind conjured up images from later that night, images of her naked breasts. With an impatient shake of his head he tried to rid himself of the mental picture.

“That’s the thanks I get for saving your ass? If I hadn’t killed that guy, you’d be dust right now!”

Nina did have a point. Frankly, he had no idea why she’d saved him when she could have taken the moment to run for her life. Instead, she’d courageously jumped onto that vampire and staked him.

“And my ass wouldn’t have needed saving in the first place if I didn’t have to come rescue you.”

“I didn’t ask for your help.”

She braced her hands at her hips, pushing her open jacket clear of her chest. Was he hallucinating, or did this simple action make her breasts appear more voluptuous?

“You didn’t need to. It was pretty clear from where I stood that you needed help.” The recollection of her fighting alone against those two vampires sent an ice-cold shudder through his bones. He could have lost her so easily.

Lost her?

“Arrogant jerk!”

“Insolent brat. I’m in the right mood to turn you over my knee and paddle your stubborn ass.” The moment he said it, he felt a bolt of desire shoot through his loins. The image of her naked derrière made his cock twitch in anticipation. How he would love to feel her skin under his palm.

She narrowed her eyes. “I would like to see you try!”

Amaury heard the fury in her voice. Her cheeks colored a deep red, and her chest rose heavily with every breath she made. Every time her breasts pushed against the fabric, he could spot the hard nipples that topped them. He wasn’t the only one getting excited by the situation.

“Don’t tempt me, woman!” But he was already tempted. “You have no idea what would have happened if I hadn’t stopped Zane. Do you think his parents gave him that name?”

He pinned her with a furious look. “That sick bastard chose that name on purpose. His idea of irony. Nobody’s quite sure whether he’s all that
sane
. You’d do better to stay away from him.”

“Like you are any less insane than he is!”

She compared him to Zane? Now she’d have to pay …

Before she could even blink, she was bent over his thighs, her behind pointing up.

“Don’t you dare!” she screamed at the top of her lungs and thrashed her legs.

The first slap of his palm onto her backside stopped her next word. Amaury didn’t trust himself to pull her jeans down, lest this situation end somewhere else entirely. But if she continued to struggle, maybe he would have to strip her after all.

“You jerk!”

He gave her another slap, this time a little harder. And a third and fourth one.

“Ouch!” Her protest sounded unconvincing.

He slapped her again, then smoothed his palm over the spot he’d just spanked and stroked gently.

“Stop that!”

Amaury realized that her voice had a little less determination in it than when she’d insulted him. He grinned and noticed suddenly that his headache had waned. In the staff meeting his head had been ready to explode, and even outside during the confrontation with his friends, he’d still had a splitting migraine. But now that he thought about it, somewhere between him walking home with Nina and now, his head had cleared. In fact, he felt great!

Nina twisted under his hold.

“Will you behave now?”

Amaury took her silence as a yes and turned her to him so she sat in his lap, which she immediately tried to vacate. He stopped her—Nina sitting in his lap felt right.

“Now we talk.” That was if he was able to listen with her delectable derrière rubbing against him as she continued trying to get out of his lap. She could shift all she wanted. He wouldn’t stop her. Did she have any idea her grinding was the reason for his growing erection?

“What am I? A child sitting on Santa Claus’ lap?” she bristled and crossed her arms.

“Trust me,
chérie
, Santa Claus is not as big as I am.” He pushed his groin against her thigh to emphasize his statement and felt the tightness in his pants. If he made another move, he would burst.

She was clearly annoyed now, sending an acid look his way. Maybe she had finally run out of verbal insults to hand out.

“I’ve had bigger.”

Bigger? He’d show her.

“I doubt that very much. Maybe you should do a proper comparison before you make statements like that.” Amaury took her hand and pulled it toward him, placing it firmly onto the bulge of his pants.

Nina tried to pull away, but then her mouth dropped open, and he felt her palm squeeze him lightly through the fabric. “Oh.”

 The warmth from her hand shot through him, and he pushed against her, encouraging her to squeeze again. He could question her later. There was no rush.

“Touch me.” He looked at her face, and she finally met his gaze. Then her hand moved along his steely length, exploring him, measuring him. He sucked in a quick gulp of air and with it her scent. Slowly, he moved his head closer to hers until his lips hovered less than an inch over hers.

“I want to feel your hands on my skin,” he whispered against her mouth, his breath mingling with hers.

“You’re wearing too many clothes.”

Her response made him chuckle. “Why don’t you undress me then?” He liked the idea of her taking charge, of her hands easing open the buttons of his shirt, lowering the zipper of his pants.

“Maybe later.” Her lips brushed against his. “Are you doing this?”

“Doing what?”

“Making me want to kiss you.”

Nina wanted to kiss him? No objections here.

“I’m not using my powers on you.” Only those which any man would use to seduce a woman. “I don’t need to. We both know we want this.”