Caleb (47 page)

She
yelped. “Watch the claws.”

“Sorry.”
He slid his hand over her hip, tucking his fingers under the hem, pulling it up
as he searched for the material he expected to find, discovering nothing but
bare, warm flesh. “Son of a bitch, you’re not wearing any!”

She
had the gall to look smug and raise her eyebrows while her hips cuddled the
leap of his cock. “What part of ‘I’m not wearing any’ did you not understand?”

“The
part that said you weren’t teasing.” All that lush femininity had only been a
flip of that nonexistent skirt away all night? The knowledge skipped along his
veins like wildfire in front of a dry wind.

“Hmm.”
She unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. “I prefer to think of myself as
accessible.”

“To
whom?”

She
touched her tongue to the center of his chest. His heart stuttered and then
took off doing its best to break free. The growl burned from within as her
scent drifted up to him. She was aroused, vulnerable, and eager.

Her
“Who do you think?” revealed sass and humor, but not one wit of caution. He was
really going to have to work on his intimidation when it came to her. “Unbutton
my pants.”

“I
thought you’d never ask.”

The
five little brushes of her knuckles as she worked him free stroked his cock
with the hottest of touches. Her hand slipped inside the opening as he took the
two steps to the chair.

“Now
you’re getting the idea.”

Amusement
rode double with pure, unadulterated lust as he shook his head and sat. The
chair creaked a protest. He paid it no mind. “You keep a man on his toes, Allie
girl.”

“Good.”
Her hand was hot and warm as it surrounded his hard flesh. Very careful as he
worked it free. “Oh.”

“What?”

Her
smile was smug, her gaze greedy. “You’re very hard.”

“Knowing
that little ass is only a toss of a skirt away has that effect on me.”

She
pumped him through her hand, the whisper-light touch driving an agony of
pleasure straight to his balls. “I have that effect on you?”

“Oh,
yeah.”

She
straddled his hips, pumping her hand up and down his shaft, drawing his
pike-hard cock away from his body with each long stroke. He could feel her heat
and moisture just a breeze away. She went up on her toes, teetered, and then
steadied as he caught her hips in his hand. Her muscles flexed as she lowered
herself, fitting him to the sweet well. Her grip switched to his shoulders as
her head dropped back. “Hmm, you feel good.”

Good
didn’t half cover it. “Not as good as you feel to me.”

He
arched his hips up, spreading her that first tiny bit.

“Ah!”

In
the next instant, he felt the edge of her talons cutting through his shirt.
“You liked that.”

“What’s
not to like?”

“Not
a darned thing.” A hand on her hips kept her poised for the next inch, which he
fed to her one increment at a time. She was too damn tight for much else. He
moved his right hand in, dipping his thumb between the hot, wet folds begging
for his touch, seeking and finding that sensitive little nub. Her head snapped
forward, her forehead hitting his collarbone with a muted thud.

“More.”

Caleb
pulled back, ignoring Allie’s whine and gently thrust back in, rubbing his
thumb in slow circles as he did. “There you go.” She took a bit more this time,
but not any easier.

“Stop
teasing me, Caleb.”

“I’m
just warming you up.”

Her
laugh a low, husky rasp rubbed along his lust, coaxing it higher. “In case it’s
escaped your notice, I’m trying to have a quickie here.”

“I’m
getting there.”

She
bounced in his hands, impaling herself in tiny increments on his cock.

“Quickie
means fast.”

“I
prefer thorough.”

Her
fangs grazed his chest, snapping his entire being to attention. “But I want
quick.”

He
rubbed again, his breath suspending in an agony of anticipation of the bite.
“You’re too delicate for quick.”

“Trust
me . . .” She stood on her toes on the inhale and then dropped down on the
exhale. Her frustrated mewl when he caught her thighs threaded through her
words. “There’s nothing delicate about me.”

On
that they were never going to agree. Everything about her was delicate and
fragile. Infinitely feminine, infinitely sexy, but very delicate. Even if she
couldn’t see her own vulnerability, he was well aware of it. Her lips slid up
his chest, her tongue lapping at the sweat on his skin in burning flicks of
impatience. “I could prove it to you.”

“How?”

She
nuzzled her face into the hollow of his throat, her fangs pin-pricks of erotic
promise on his skin. “You could let go of my hips and let me call the shots.”

He
tilted his head to the side, granting her access to the spot she needed. “Too
dangerous.”

“Afraid
I’ll screw your brains out and put paid to your delicate notions?”

“More
like I’m afraid you’ll hurt yourself in your impatience.”

“You’re
big, baby, but not that big.”

In
truth, he was getting bigger every minute, part because of his response to her
challenge despite his efforts to remain calm. His vampire side swelled at the
challenge, eager to pick up the gauntlet. “Dangerous words.”

To
prove his point, he pressed a little deeper, letting her feel the changes
happening. Her breath sucked in on a gasp.

A
glance at her eyes didn’t reveal the caution that should be there, rather a
greedy anticipation that found an equally greedy “Yes” inside him.

“Let
me go, Caleb.”

His
vampire side didn’t want to do anything else. His human side held on tight.

“I
want to feel you in me, Caleb.” Her tongue flicked over her lips. “Hard and
deep. Don’t you want that?”

“Eventually.”

She
raked him with her teeth, her talons, the tight grip of her velvety walls. “I
want it now.”

She
bit down, ecstasy shot through him with debilitating force. His shout echoed
around them as his grip loosened. Her laugh followed his shout; airy sweet and
confident, it ended on a groan as she dropped onto his length.

“Jesus,
Allie.”

He
grabbed for her, sanity returning too late. She’d taken him all, her body
shook, her inner muscles rippled around him. He dug his fingers into her
buttocks, which quivered against him. Fear ate like acid at his desire. “I told
you, nice and easy.”

Her
fisted hands opened on his shoulders. The right one slapped at his muscle.

“Caleb?”

The
wall between their minds dropped, and he was assaulted with a powerful
projection of feminine power mixed with uncertainty and determination. And an
incredible amount of frustrated desire.

“Shut
up and make love to me.”

Caleb
took a breath, lifting her. Immediately, delight and passion thrust to the
center of his being, different than his male lust, less centered, more mental.
Sweeter. At least to him.

He
held her suspended on his length for one heartbeat, savoring the sensation and
her pure enjoyment of his possession. When Allie shuddered and dropped her head
back, he lowered her again. Slowly, feeling her pleasure at the overstretching.
The almost pain that made her breathless. He took her passion as his, and sent
his own back along the connection, amplifying the pleasure he found in her
heat, the ecstasy he felt when her muscles contracted around him. Her eyes flew
wide and locked on his.

“Yes,”
he groaned with the remaining fragment of his voice. “That’s good.”

Arms
shaking, legs braced, he lifted her again, the erotic slide of flesh on flesh
bringing him close to the peak. He ground his teeth, resisting. She wasn’t
there yet. This time when he lowered her, it was easier, her body adjusting. He
let her linger on the descent, tilted her hips the inch forward necessary to
bring the thrust of her clit in contact with his pubic bone. Allie gasped that
way he liked, and rocked against him. Pressing down with his hands, arching up
with his hips, he brought her that much closer to the delight that had her
inner muscles milking him in a prelude to release. “That’s it, baby. Take what
you want.”

He
lifted her, Allie’s “No” barely past her lips before he dropped her back down.
Her grunt came hot on the heels of his. The spike of her lust burned through
the tattered thread of his control.

“Now
that was a sweet little sound. Let’s see if you can give me some more sexy
little noise.” Threading his arms under her calves, he lifted her legs up,
grasping her waist, doubling her forward, leaving her stretched. Open.
Helpless. He pressed down with his hands, forcing her to take more. She did,
with a groan and a whimper that couldn’t be confused with anything other than a
plea for more. More of his cock. More of his passion. More of him. Wild and
primitive, the vampire rose to comply. He lifted. She rapped his shoulder as
her eyes closed on a shiver of joy and her head dropped back.

“That’s
it, Allie girl. Take what I can give you.” He lowered her. “All of it.” His
cock throbbed and swelled as it struggled to satisfy her craving. “Every inch.”

This
time when her rear met his thighs, her breath caught for another reason. He
lifted her again, man surrendering to vampire as he took her harder, faster,
not letting her control the pace, not letting her do anything but accept the
passion he forced between them. Faster and harder, his grunts blending with her
cries, his shouts with her screams as she gripped him in a stranglehold. Her
muscles made intimate demands of their own, squeezing him so hard he thought
his head would explode, before releasing him, only to contract in rhythmic
flutters that caused a different explosion. He slammed her hips down one last
time, grinding her against him as the agony detonated in an orgasm so powerful
he lost thought, lost control, lost a sense of anything except the need to fill
her with his seed, his love, everything. She was his. His.

“Caleb.”

Her
whisper reached out to him. He threaded his hands into her hair, his breath
sawing in and out of his lungs. “Are you all right?”

Her
head dropped into the support of his hand. Her lids dipped over her eyes. She
looked sleepy, sated, and hungry. “Very pleasantly bruised.”

He’d
hurt her. “Shit.”

Soft
hands on his wrists stopped his instinctive withdrawal. “Stay in me.”

“I’m
too much.”

Now
that passion had faded he could feel the intimate discomfort that edged on her
satisfaction. He let her legs drop to the floor.

“You’re
perfect.” Her mouth grazed his chest. “I’m hungry.” His cock, which should have
been spent, jerked in interest. Allie’s laugh breathed across his
ultrasensitive skin, setting his cock to dancing within her again. Caleb
pressed her face to his pectorals, trying to ignore his body’s renewed
interest. “Feed.”

“You
don’t have enough.”

She
was his mate, she carried his child within her, he would always have enough.
“I’ll feed later.”

“You’re
sure?”

He’d
never been more sure of anything. “Yes.”

Her
bite was a leisurely exploration. Her lingering feeding reflected the sated
state of her body. Hot, slow, and as arousing as hell. His cock swelled and
throbbed. Her hips rocked on his. “Jesus, Allie.”

She
withdrew her fangs from his chest long enough to whisper, “Like this.”

She
rocked her hips on his, massaging him gently, delivering pleasure with her
body, inside and out. “Come for me like this, slow and sweet while I feed.”

Her
teeth sank back into his chest, and he sank into the sensuality of the moment,
giving her control, letting her take them both over the edge with the
tenderness that was so much a part of her, anchoring himself on the emotion
pouring out of her, out of them. Coming on a sigh as she shuddered around him,
filling her anew with his seed as she closed the wound on his chest with her
tongue, giving her more when she cupped his face in her hands, giving her every
last bit of him as her subconscious reached out to him in a delicate truth he
knew she didn’t want him to know.

I
love you.

THE
door to the kitchen swung open. Allie leapt off his
lap with a screech, yanking at her skirt. He got to his feet more slowly,
scanning with his senses for the only thing that would have had Derek breaking
into the kitchen despite his orders to keep out. He didn’t find anything he
didn’t expect. Derek’s gaze dropped to his open pants. The right side of his
mouth quirked up. “Sorry.”

Across
the room Allie had her skirt down and her legs pressed tightly together,
looking embarrassed and furious. With him, the were, or herself, he didn’t
know. Derek pointed to the window with the end of his rifle. “We’ve got
company.”