Amaury's Hellion (16 page)

He slammed the receiver down and let out a frustrated shout. Once he found her she would be punished. Slowly, severely, and without mercy.

Fourteen

For the second time Nina looked at the text message.

Mezza9 2nite careful he nos who u r,
the message read.

Apparently Benny had decided to give her one good-bye present before he left town to save his bony ass. She couldn’t tell whether the information was genuine. Most likely it was another trap. She had to assume as much. However, this time she would be prepared. Expecting a trap and walking into it well prepared, she could make it work to her advantage.

It was worth a try.

After the things Amaury had said the night before, she’d developed serious doubts about his involvement in Eddie’s death. The sincerity in his eyes had given her pause. And his insistence that Scanguards was investigating internally had chipped away a little more at her previous certainty.

Now she would put all her chips on the man who’d hired Benny to send her into a trap. Since he’d wanted her out of the way because she was looking into Eddie’s death, her conclusion was that he was involved. In what capacity, she wasn’t sure yet, but she’d find out, one way or another.

But before she was ready to go and seek him out, she would have to stock up on weapons. This time she’d go in armed to the teeth. She needed another silver chain at the very least. Even though she wasn’t sure who the person was, she had a hunch he would turn out to be a vampire. And she wasn’t going into the lion’s den without protection.

She grabbed her leather jacket from the chair and put it on, stuffed her keys into her pocket and released the door chain. As she opened the door and stepped outside into the dark hallway, something massive blocked her exit.

“Going somewhere,
chérie
?”

Nina’s heart stopped. Her immediate reaction was to bolt, but she didn’t get a chance. Amaury backed her through the open doorway and slammed the door shut behind them. In her small studio he looked even larger than usual.

Oh hell, he looked pissed. She hadn’t counted on him finding her. Well, at least not this fast.

“What do you want?” She lifted her chin, trying to look brave, when she felt anything but.

He cupped her shoulders and pressed her against the wall. “I want to warn you.”

Nina’s breath caught in her chest, as she watched his eyes penetrate her.

“Never,
ever
tie me up and leave me aroused without finishing what you started. Do you get that?”

She nodded automatically.

“I’m going to give you another chance to redeem yourself. One mistake, and I’ll deliver you right into Zane’s capable hands.”

She swallowed hard. “Zane?” Hadn’t Amaury been the one warning her about Zane? And now he wanted to throw her at his mercy? So much for all the bullshit about him wanting to offer her protection.

“Now, you’ll do exactly as I say. Do we understand each other?”

She understood all too well as she caught his gaze sweep down her body. “Let go of me!”

She jerked against his hold, but his grip was iron-clad.

“Take your jeans off.”

“No!” She hit her foot against his shin, but the effect it had on him was negligible.

“Careful, Nina. You don’t want to piss me off even more,” he warned, his voice tight. “I’m telling you one last time: strip.”

His command made Nina shiver. She hadn’t imagined this would happen, at least not this way, not here, not with him being so angry. Least of all had she imagined that it would turn her on like it did. Just the way she felt unprepared for the shame and guilt that flooded her. What kind of woman was she that she felt aroused by a man commanding her to strip? Had she no self-respect left? Or was it proof that her sexual history had tainted the way she saw sex, that anything twisted, anything violent was the norm for her?

With shaking fingers she tried to open the top button of her jeans, but failed. A second later she felt his warm hands on hers, assisting her. The button sprung open.

“Pull the zipper down.” His hot breath teased her neck. “Slowly.”

She did as he asked, unable to fight him or herself.

“Now, push them over your hips.” Was his voice getting hoarse?

“Please, don’t do this,” she pleaded with him, making one last attempt to stop him.

His lips grazed her neck, then nibbled at her earlobe. “You’ll have to learn this lesson. Do it.”

A few moments later, she’d stripped out of her jeans. She felt naked in her small panties. Amaury’s thighs brushed against hers. Strong, powerful muscles.

“Do you remember what you did to me last night?”

“Yes.” Her throat was dry. She remembered all too well.

“No, you don’t. You’ve never felt as frustrated as I did last night. May I demonstrate?” He didn’t wait for her permission.

His hand stroked her hip before he slipped it between her legs, touching her through the fabric of her panties. She sighed involuntarily. His touch wasn’t rough as she’d expected, but gentle, teasing. Had he not come to punish her after all?

“I was so fucking hard for you last night,” he continued whispering into her ear while his finger ran along her folds. “I was in agony with wanting to be inside you.”

Her breath hitched at the thought of it. He wanted her—he still wanted her. The thought elated her.

Amaury’s hand drew up and briefly slipped over her clit, before he let it slide into her panties. Nina held her breath as he traveled through her curly mound of hair, then stroked lower. The heat shooting through her core made her exhale sharply. When his finger touched her naked sex, she realized she was wet and yearning to be taken by him.

“I wanted my cock in you last night. To fill you, again and again. I wanted to eat your pussy and make you come with my mouth.”

The images he was projecting together with his probing finger at her core, made her break out in an instant hot flash. His mouth nipped at her earlobe, not helping either. Instead of trying to stop him, she tilted her pelvis toward his hand. This was madness. But she didn’t care. He was different from other men. He hadn’t come back to hurt her, he’d come to give her pleasure.

“I wondered what you would taste like,” he said and dipped his finger into her. Her hips bucked toward him, wanting more, but Amaury instantly pulled out and away from her. She looked up at him and saw how his finger came to his lips, and how he sucked it into his mouth, licking it clean.

“Delicious.”

Nina gasped and felt her knees buckle. He was seducing her, plain and simple, and she had no defenses. They had all crumbled, and she hadn’t even seen it happen.

“Amaury, please …” She had no idea what she wanted to ask him or tell him. Her brain was mush. His scent was all around her, enveloping her in a cocoon of desire.

Maybe he had understood what she was unable to tell him, because his hand came back, and again he slipped it into her panties. He penetrated her once more, then withdrew instantly and pulled his finger up and over her clit, circling it slowly.

“And I was wondering what it would feel like if you came for me, if your muscles clenched around my cock, milking me, making me spill inside you.” Amaury spoke slowly, his voice husky and calm at the same time. This was not the voice of an angry man. He wasn’t hurting her with his touch. Instead he was tempting her to surrender to him.

Her hand had a mind of its own as it suddenly reached for him, finding his swollen shaft hidden behind the fabric of his pants. She felt how hard he was for her. Before she could enjoy the heat under her palm, he gripped her hand and pulled it away.

“No touching. Tonight, I get to touch you, not the other way around.”

Nina looked into his eyes and was drawn into the blue of them, their depth, their beauty. She wanted nothing more than to kiss him, touch him, feel him inside her.

“Kiss me.”

He shook his head and went back to his task of touching her. His thumb stroked over her center of pleasure, first very lightly, almost as if by accident. But she knew nothing he did was an accident. While his lips kissed alongside her neck, a neck she offered him without fear he would bite, his finger slipped into her tight sheath. Slowly and steadily he drove deep, then withdrew. Every time he plunged deeper she tried to hold onto his finger by tightening her muscles, but every time he withdrew, leaving her wanting.

“More.” She didn’t care that she begged. She was beyond foolish pride.

“So you like that?” His voice hummed against the dent at the base of her neck. “Tell me what you want.”

She moistened her dry lips. Finally he’d give her what she needed. “More.”

“More of what?” Amaury withdrew his finger completely.

“Please. More. More fingers. Deeper.” She was unable to form a coherent sentence. All she could think of was the pleasure he gave her with his touch.

“Like this?” He drove two fingers into her channel.

Nina bucked against him. “Oh, yes!” Her muscles pulsated around him as she tried to stop him from withdrawing. But she couldn’t prevent him from his intent to leave her bereft.

“How about your clit? Do you want me to touch it?” His hand hovered and she tilted her pelvis toward him. But he pulled back. “You have to ask for it.”

“Amaury, please, touch me.” She would say anything to have his touch back, to have him finish what he’d started.

He didn’t make it easy. “Where?”

“Touch my clit.” Her breath was ragged, her voice low.

A second later, Nina felt his thumb stroke her where she needed it most. She leaned her head against his shoulder, breathing in his male scent. She needed this man, this vampire. There was no reason to deny it. He awoke everything female in her. When she was near him she felt like a bitch in heat. She was disgusted with herself for her weakness, but she couldn’t fight against it any longer.

Amaury knew exactly how to touch her, how to create all those delicious sensations in her body that rendered her nearly delirious with pleasure. Without a doubt she wanted him, couldn’t wait to feel his strong body claim her, brand her. And she knew it was how it would be: a fierce claiming, a powerful possession. Because he had the power over her body to make her surrender to him.

And surrender she would, not caring what he would do once she did, as long as his body was there to soothe her need, to fill that gaping void, to quell her thirst for more.

“Make love to me,” she heard her own voice beg.

***

Amaury heard the words he’d waited for and released her from his embrace. Reluctant, for sure, but nevertheless determined to execute his plan. She had left him aroused and wanting the night before. Now he would return the favor. It was the only way to pay her back.

His cock protested vehemently as he pulled back, but for once he wouldn’t listen to his dick. She was ripe for the taking, begging him, but he wouldn’t, as much as it pained him.

“Good night, Nina.”

He turned and stalked toward the door, anxious to leave quickly so he wouldn’t lose his resolve.

“You can’t leave now!” There was a twinge of desperation in her voice. Had he also sounded like that the night before?

“Watch me.” Amaury stepped through the door and shut it behind him. He heard Nina’s voice calling for him as he walked through the dark corridor, but he didn’t turn back.

When he walked into the cool night air, he braced himself for a moment. God, he wanted that woman. He’d tasted her arousal and her blood, and both were the sweetest tastes he’d ever had. He could lose himself in her.

At first it had seemed like a good plan to do to her what she’d done to him: arouse her and then leave her unsatisfied. But touching her this intimately, tasting her arousal, and feeling her response to him, had gotten him more randy than a sailor after a twelve-month tour on board a ship. And half as refined. The way he felt right now, he’d do her in the street in full view of the entire city and not give a rat’s ass about exposure. Or common decency.

He had to get out of here, before he went back, threw her onto the floor and took her like the savage he was, not caring if she wanted him or not. Only eager to still his own lust.

Amaury clicked the remote for the car and heard the familiar beeps. His black Porsche was parked only a few yards away. Normally he didn’t use the car for short trips downtown, but Gabriel and the others were expecting him for the first set of one-on-one interviews with the employees they had selected during the staff meetings.

The car door was jerked out of his hand and slammed shut just as he opened it. He recognized the foot that had hit the door.

“You’re not leaving!” Nina’s furious voice was right behind him. He swiveled to face her and wished he hadn’t. Her eyes still showed signs of arousal, but now they were interlaced with anger. The combination was lethal. What man would ever be able to resist a woman who looked at him that way?

“Go back home, Nina.” He tampered down his urge to grab her.

“That’s all you’ve got to say?” He saw the hurt in her face.

“You should stay away from me.” He was no good for her. Eventually he would hurt her, and it would be worse than what she felt now. If he was smart, he would wipe her memory of him right now and be done with it. But all his smarts had deserted him for the night.

“You’re rejecting me, after the way you touched me?”

“That’s right.” His throat felt tight, and he couldn’t breathe.

“Fine. Go, leave. I don’t need you. There are plenty of men in this city who’ll take what I’m offering. And what do I care who it is? As long as he’s got a big dick, there’s no difference to me anyway! Somebody will finish what you’ve started.” Nina turned on her heels.

Had he heard right? Another man? She was going to sleep with
another man
?

Amaury snatched her by her jacket and pulled her back to face him. She was going to let another man touch her, kiss her, make love to her? Over his fucking dead body!

“Get in the damn car!”

She shot him a surprised look.

“Now!” Before he lost it and took her against the car door to assert his claim.