Netherworld: Drop Dead Sexy (20 page)

“Thank you, Charles,” I replied, glad I
remembered such a polite man’s name.

Dan tugged me towards the grand
staircase. “Come on, Brandilynn. Let’s pull ourselves back
together.”

I couldn’t help but look towards the
entrance to the hotel. Somehow I expected Erica and Goons One and
Two to come charging in after us at any moment. “Will we be safe
here?”

Dan’s smile was tight. “Tristan has his
own small army of witches that keep the hotel secure. Erica
couldn’t break in here even with the blood of an
innocent.”

The blood of an innocent? Oh boy. I
didn’t want to know I’d made that ruthless of an enemy.

I still reeled when Dan ushered me into
the hotel room. It looked the same as the room we’d used before,
though maybe all the rooms were identical. I hadn’t paid much
attention as we’d climbed the staircase to see what floor we’d
ended up on, nor the room number on the door. My poor shocked brain
was too chock full of thoughts and worries to notice much right
now.

Dan gently pushed me towards the bed.
“Sit down, baby girl. You’ve had a bad shock, but it’s going to be
all right.”

I glared at him, needing someone to
take my upset out on. He might not have deserved it, but he was
nicely handy for the job. “How can it be all right? The killer
wants to catch me!”

Dan sat down next to me and wrapped an
arm around my shoulders. He pulled me close, and despite my frame
of mind, I inhaled his scent. Musky, with a hint of freshness like
he’d just emerged from a shower. So very masculine. My worrying
inched down a notch, and I burrowed into the hollow of his
shoulder.

His voice rumbled comfortingly. “I know
you’re scared, but you’re safe here.”

“Are you sure? Are you absolutely
positive?” Protect me, my big, rugged man.

Sue me for going damsel in distress.
Some guys just exude the hero type, and Dan fit the bill. I usually
don’t have a problem standing up for myself, but at this moment any
excuse to fold into him worked for me.

“I’ll stay right with you. As long as
you don’t separate yourself if we have to transport again,” he
amended.

That reminded me of what I’d learned at
the police station. “Oh, I have news on where I ended up, but I’d
rather wait until I can tell both you and Tristan.”

Dan’s arm around me tightened, and I
felt him shift to look down at me. I peered up to see a frown
marring that handsome face. “Look Brandilynn, I know we’ve just met
and all, but I’ve taken a liking to you. I need to know if you
prefer Tristan over me.”

I scowled and tried to push away. He
wouldn’t let me, holding me in place next to his strong frame. The
show of strength and domination melted a little puddle inside me,
but I was so not having Dan stake a
‘happily-until-I-find-something-better’ claim.

I gave up trying to put distance
between us, settling for a glare to let him know I wasn’t playing
around. “Please tell me you’re not going to start beating your
chest over me. I’m not somebody’s possession.”

He cocked an eyebrow at me. “I never
intimated you were. But even though casual sex is a mainstay among
the dead, I feel there could be more between us.”

Oh jeez, there it was. I almost had to
laugh at my own trepidations though. I trusted Dan, an admitted
murderer, with my life … er, afterlife. But my heart? Uh-uh. No
way.

I should have lied to him then and
there. He didn’t need to know I had visions of two of us riding
into the sunset together forever. I don’t lie to those whom I
respect however. It’s just wrong. So I sighed and admitted, “I feel
that too, but I’m not comfortable with monogamy. I don’t know you
well enough to swear fidelity to you. It takes a lot for me to get
close to someone.”

The disappointment in his eyes made me
feel very small, almost bad enough to consider taking it back. “You
were never lonely coming home to an empty house?” he
asked.

Boy, this conversation made me
depressed. “I was. Knowing no one is really going to mourn my
passing has hurt more than I can say. Still, you’ve got to admit
you’re asking a lot of me on such short notice.”

Dan considered for several seconds
before speaking again. “I’d like to know who hurt you so bad that
you’re afraid to love.”

My jaw dropped. He’d seen right through
the evasiveness to the heart of the matter. Jeez, was I really that
transparent? With a concerted effort to smooth my expression into
nonchalance, I asked, “What are you going to do, rattle chains in
his attic?”

“I was thinking of jumping out of his
closet and yelling boo.” The corner of Dan’s mouth quirked
up.

Just like that the moodiness was done,
and we shared a laugh. Dan hugged me tight, and then we shared more
than a laugh. He kissed me deeply. Possessively. I lit up like
fireworks. He took my mouth like he owned it with a devouring
sweetness that left me dizzy and incredibly wet. I gave as good as
I got, shoving my tongue in his mouth to sample him thoroughly. Dan
tasted good, as a Marlboro Man should. Okay, I know the slogan
belonged to another cigarette company. Screw the
accuracy.

When the kiss ended, I felt more than
ready to play. Too bad he hadn’t kissed all the common sense away
quite yet, because I had to make sure we understood each other
before our embrace went any further.

I asked him, “Can we leave things as
they are for now? Even if it means sharing me with
Tristan?”

His eyes went tight at the corners for
an instant, and I thought that would do it for fun time. Then Dan
smiled. It was a wry, grimacing expression but still a
smile.

“I’ll let it go if ‘for now’ includes
this—” he kissed me again, making my toes curl with the passion of
it “—and this.” His hands found my breasts and massaged them
roughly, making me writhe excitedly against him.

“And this?” I added, my hand fondling
his erection. The hard length of him assured me Dan had lost no
interest in fun time.

His clothes disappeared, and I had more
than a handful of velvet-skinned iron, hot and eager. “A lot more
of that, please,” he said, his voice low and raspy. “I want to feel
your mouth wrapped around my cock. Now,” he added, apparently
remembering how much I like being ordered around when it comes to
sex.

“Yes Sir,” I breathed, and slid to the
floor to kneel between his legs.

I trailed gentle kisses down his shaft.
Cupping his balls in my palm, I licked them, enjoying the softness
of the skin there. With my free hand, I stroked his penis up and
down while giving his scrotum a very thorough tongue bath. Dan
groaned, his hands in my hair, tightening and releasing in turns as
I enjoyed tasting him.

Then I moved up his erection, my tongue
tracing the vein that ran the underside of his cock. I delighted to
feel it thrum with a pulse, as if Dan still lived. It amazed me
what memories our discorporate selves retained after death. Even
involuntary functions could be recalled in the right
situation.

I followed that throbbing trail right
up to his darkened head, where I paused to lick all around where it
joined to the shaft. Dan whispered my name, then “baby girl” as if
muttering a prayer. A bead of sweetness appeared at the tip of his
cock. I claimed it, rolling his salty goodness all over my
tongue.

Then I twirled my tongue over the
smooth head, going slow to make him moan. Hearing his pleasure at
my service made my nipples and lower parts tight. I love making a
man feel good like this. Don’t ask me why it flips my switches; it
just does. My thighs were already slick from eager juices as I
delighted him.

My lips closed over the head, and I
slowly drew them away, sucking gently as I went, my tongue swirling
until his cock left my mouth. Another moan, and I got a ticklish
warmth in my belly. He loved my work. A girl likes to know her
efforts are appreciated.

Slowly, slowly, I enclosed as much of
Dan’s length in my mouth as I could, one hand gripping the base of
him while I caressed his balls with the other. I reversed course,
rubbing the pulsing vein below with my tongue. He groaned as I took
him again and again and again.

I could have pleasured him forever. I
loved the feeling of his hands tangled in my hair, occasionally
pressing my head down to envelope him more than I was completely
comfortable doing. When I’d softly gag, he’d groan, “Good girl.”
He’d give me a few safe strokes to recover before pushing me down
too far again. I’d known a few guys who had the throat-choke
fetish. Dan was pretty tame in comparison, and I didn’t mind him
enjoying his mastery. I knew if I asked him to stop, he
would.

I didn’t want him to stop.

I varied the speed of my work, getting
him to where he continuously moaned, and then slowing to prolong
the experience. I hadn’t noted much when it came to body heat among
us dead, but Dan felt very hot in my mouth. Hot and hard and smooth
and wonderful.

And alive. It’s true that sex is one of
the most life-affirming of acts. I certainly felt I still belonged
to the mortal coil right now. No wonder the dead were so enthralled
with getting laid as much as they could.

Dan suddenly gripped my upper arms,
pulling me up to my feet. “On the bed. On all fours,” he gasped,
his eyes glazed.

I obeyed, fighting back a grin at the
state I’d put him in as I positioned myself in the middle of the
bed. Dan kneeled behind me, and I readied for a desperately driving
cock to plunge in.

He shocked me by tracing my slit with a
gentle finger instead. “So wet,” he sighed. “You really like sex,
don’t you baby girl?”

“Yes Sir,” I answered. I shivered at
the light touch inflaming my already avid pussy. I’d given him some
really good oral, and I was surprised he maintained enough control
to play with me rather than take what his body ached for. Not that
I was complaining.

His fingers explored me slowly,
investigating every soft fold, discovering the tenderness of each
petal of my sweetest flesh. A fine tremble started in my arms, and
I began to wish for more. I wanted him to touch my clit. To bury
his fingers inside me. I thrust back at him, trying to enfold those
clever digits in my body.

I jumped when his palm cracked against
one butt cheek. “Stay still, baby girl,” he ordered. “It’s my turn
to play with you now.”

I shuddered and something warm and
electrifying zinged through my lower parts. “Yes Sir,” I
whimpered.

He spread the lips of my sex wide,
allowing him to continue his careful exploration even deeper. I bit
my lip at the tortuous examination, my hands clutching the soft
bedspread. Dan’s excruciating attentions brought me close to the
brink, allowing me to peek over the cliff’s edge without actually
going over. I wanted him to fling me down into the abyss below.
I’ve heard orgasm described as ‘the little death’. I wanted it in
all its sweet oblivion, dismembering me in tearing
ecstasy.

I could feel my nether parts swelling
under Dan’s attention, everything he touched growing more sensitive
by the second. Jeez, I was so close, but he kept me at that tip-top
point, perfectly balanced where I couldn’t fall into sweetness.
Maybe if I begged he’d have mercy? I was getting
desperate.

“Please Sir, may I come?”

“Hush, Brandilynn. Stay still and stay
quiet.”

I bit off a groan with the most
tremendous of efforts.

Dan’s finger moved close to my clit,
and I stiffened at the bolt of pleasure that suffused my lower
body. Almost … but not quite enough. He prodded around the pert
nubbin, circling it with a slow, firm pressure that made me
cross-eyed. No moving. No sound. No climaxing. I felt deliciously
miserable under his control.

“Your pussy is as red as a strawberry
and swollen, baby girl,” Dan chuckled. “You must be in hell right
now.”

I dared to whimper.

“You’re going to be so hot and tight
around my cock,” he goaded me. His finger continued to make slow,
lazy circles around my aching clit. I was on fire there, and
desperation grew by the second. Any moment now I would disobey him,
whether to beg for release or provide my own. I didn’t want to defy
him, but a girl can only take so much.

I shook all over, and Dan’s throaty
chuckle shivered up my spine. “All right, baby girl. I’m starting
to hurt like hell myself. But you may not come until I tell you,
and when you do, you will be silent about it.”

Silent? Oh jeez, I’m a screamer. This
was going to be so hard. But with the promise of climax on the
horizon, I would do whatever he wanted.

His thick, muscled thighs between mine
were a relief. I was thanking the cosmos when he plunged his rigid
length deep in me. He buried himself with one powerful thrust, his
hands gripping my hips to keep me from falling on my face. I
stopped myself from shrieking at the burst of pain just in
time.

I swore he might come up out through my
mouth. Dan held still as my tight sheath fought to absorb the
thickness and length of him. At last my clenched muscles relaxed
from the shock of the sudden impalement. And oh my heavens, he felt
good again. So good I thought my head might explode.