Real Vampires Have More to Love (11 page)

“What’s funny?” He slipped his arm around me at the bottom of the stairs.

“Me, us. Always ending up in bed together. It beats talking when we’ll only fight anyway.” I reached up and brought his head down to kiss his lips. “I know you’re worried about me. I love you for it. Be patient. Give me a night to remember. Tomorrow night, I promise we can take this threat seriously.”

He pulled me tight against him and kissed me deeply until I felt that centuries-old connection I needed so badly. “I love you, Gloriana. I don’t want to live forever if it’s in a world without you.”

Tears filled my eyes. “Jerry. That’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“It’s the God’s truth, but if you tell Valdez I spouted such drivel, I’ll call you a liar.” He kissed my nose, then hit the code to open the security door. “Stay here and let me check to make sure the coast is clear. Just because you ran a Westwood off once doesn’t mean she’s stayed away.”

“Thanks.” I smiled, totally pleased with him, while I waited for him to come back for me. For once I’d relax and let him take charge without a lot of objections. Vampire Viagra. I’d taken it accidentally once with the wrong man. It had made me wild, but I’d been left unsatisfied. It enhanced a vampire’s sexual pleasure and prolonged it. Since we already have amazing libidos and the males can last pretty much all night long, this was going to be quite a night. I remembered that it took a few minutes to get going so we’d swallow our pills in the car on the way to Jerry’s house. Then once in his bedroom . . .

 

We never made it to the bedroom. Jerry opened the back door and dragged me into the kitchen. The granite counter-top was cold but solid, and I landed on my back, ready to take him on top of me. Thank God, my bum seemed to have healed and it didn’t hurt, or at least not enough to slow me down.

My skin was tingling, on fire. I couldn’t bear the touch of even a stitch of clothing on my body. Jerry had ripped off my sweater in the car. I’d shucked off my boots there too. My jeans and thong were near the door. Jerry ripped my unsexy bra apart down the front, and it was destined for the garbage. Jerry’s shirt hung from the doorknob, and his shoes and pants lay tangled in a heap near the dishwasher.

“Jerry!” I tried to drag him down on top of me.

“Gloriana!” He slapped my hands away, then grinned and leaped on top of the counter to stand behind me. He was being playful. I loved it. He lifted me until I faced him. Good thing he had twelve-foot ceilings in this house.

“You realize mortals would think it’s nasty to make love on kitchen countertops.” I pressed myself against him, rubbing my breasts against his chest and lower.

“We’ve never cooked anything here. If Damian ends up selling to mortals, he’ll have it cleaned.” He teased my nipples, then gently gathered me in his arms and lowered me to the cold granite again. “This is a proper use for a kitchen. Perhaps I can have a meal while I’m here.” His grin was full of fang.

“Perhaps. But seems like you want more than a drink from me.” I reached between us to grasp him. “You’re as hard as this stone beneath my bum. Are you feeling as wild as I am?”

“Like if I don’t have you in the next moment, I’ll disgrace myself?” He leaned down to take my nipple into his mouth, suddenly rough and hungry. When he raked his fangs across it, he drew blood and I moaned.

“Don’t wait.” I guided him into me and lifted my hips. At the same time I arched my back and dragged my own fangs along his shoulder. We were bleeding and moving and grinding into each other, as we became more frantic. We’d never abused each other, and yet this was more thrilling than I could remember. Jerry savaged my other nipple, and I gouged his biceps with my fingernails before I sank my fangs into his jugular.

“God, yes!” He cried as he plunged into me again and again. He grabbed my legs and flipped us over until I was on top, still connected to him. I rode him hard, releasing his neck so I could sit up and take him deeper inside me. He’d licked the wounds on my breasts clean, and I felt them healing already.

I looked down and saw his eyes closed as he strained to give me all of him. He pulsed inside me, and I reached down to squeeze his sacs, then raked them with my nails.

“Gloriana. Love!” He came with a warmth deep inside me. Answering spasms shook me from my toes to my heart. I collapsed on top of him and lay there, listening to his answering beat. Faster than usual. The Viagra, or what we’d just done?

Usually we’d lie together and bask in the afterglow for a few minutes. But not this night. The VV made Jerry pull me up the stairs at a dead run. His bed was a king with a comforter that he tossed aside before he flung me down.

“Madness, but I’ve got to have you again. Right. Now.”

I stared up at him. Oh, yes, he was good to go again, and so was I. I held out my arms, and with a Scottish battle cry that made me laugh, he fell on top of me. He sheathed his sword inside me and grinned.

“I haven’t been this randy since I was a lad chasing milk-maids into Da’s barn.” He stroked me, making me gasp at the pressure and the pleasure.

“Catch many?” I shoved him until we sat facing each other.

“A few. God, Gloriana, tell me if I hurt you.” He held my hips as he pumped into me.

“Tell me if I hurt
you
.” I growled and bit his ear, then licked it clean, savoring the salty sweetness of his blood as release shuddered through me again. I tightened my legs around him and held his shoulders as I screamed and fell back on the bed. He came with me, still moving, still hard inside me while I saw stars and moons and a crazy Scot looming over me as intent as if he were drilling a well.

“I . . . I can’t stop.” Not my normal in-control Jerry, he was panting and flushed.

I pulled his face down to mine, mouth to mouth, tongue to tongue. I let him know I could go as long as he could, longer. I grabbed his ass, pressing him deeper, and held on until he finally, finally surged one last time. He collapsed next to me, his body slick with sweat and streaks of blood where I’d scored him with my nails when I’d come yet again.

“Dear God in Heaven. That drug.” He turned his head to stare at me, then touched my nipple with his fingertip. “You’re bleeding again. Sorry. I don’t remember doing that.”

I leaned over to lick away the blood smeared along his hip. “I don’t remember you doing it. I was too crazed.” I sighed and laid my head on his chest. “Still feel, I don’t know, like I’ve got an itch inside me that can’t be soothed.”

“Not sure I like this Vampire Viagra.” Jerry ran his hand down my bare back. “Where’s the finesse, the foreplay?”

I grinned. “You been reading sex manuals, Jer?”

“Give over, Gloriana. I watch cable. I try to do what pleases a woman. Even a milkmaid liked a bit of sport before she’d lift her skirts in the hayloft.”

“I’m getting jealous.” I eased my knee over his rising erection. Again. So soon. And I felt that rising urge myself. Crazy. “You’ve always known how to please me.” I nudged him with my knee. “And when there’s time, your foreplay is—”

I squealed when he abruptly rolled me off of him, then grabbed me and carried me toward the bathroom.

“If we’re to have another go, then we’ll shower first.” He kicked open the bathroom door. “God help me, if the drug allows it, I’ll show you finesse that’ll have you screaming my name.”

“God, yes.” I landed on my feet and pulled him into the huge double shower. We discovered that the VV still rode us hard. Jerry took me standing against the tile wall, the soap giving us something new to play with and Jerry a chance to show that finesse he was so proud of. Scream his name? Oh, yeah.

I took him on the bench seat with the warm water pounding against the middle of my back. This time he shouted
my
name and almost knocked a hole in the tile wall when I used some of my own finesse. By the time we’d towel dried and collapsed back on the bed, dawn was near and we could hardly move.

“Guess that stuff’s not too bad as long as you don’t care about the niceties,” I said as Jerry gathered me into his arms.

“Niceties? You mean like making love instead of sex? Guess it would be okay for an occasional hookup.” Jerry yawned and watched for my reaction.

“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.” I laughed at his expression. “Okay, fine. I’ll admit I’d tear out the throat of any bimbo you hooked up with, so don’t go there.” I snuggled against his hard body, then trailed a fingertip down his stomach. “And don’t get me started on what I’d do to you.”

“I stand warned.” Jerry kissed the top of my hair, which I’d blown dry in his bathroom while he’d played with my breasts and kissed erotic paths all over my body, front to back, exclaiming over my various healing bruises and bites. I’d put off explanations of those he knew
he
hadn’t given me, and he’d let me.

“This VV is dangerous. Do it too often, and you’d never get any work done. I’ve been neglecting my business lately, and that’s got to stop.” I had trouble getting too worked up over it though. Eight orgasms—or was it ten?—will do that to you.

“Your business won’t matter if the Westwoods get their way. We need to talk about that, Gloriana.” Jerry propped himself on one elbow and stared down at me.

“I know. I’m taking this very seriously, Jerry. I am. But can we put this discussion off until we wake up in the evening? Right now I’m limp from being well served, and I don’t have it in me to get into this life-or-death stuff.” I smiled up at him and put my hand on his jaw, rough with the start of his daily beard.

“I won’t argue with you. But heed me, my girl. You’ll not keep things like this from me again. I
am
going to keep you safe. Sappy sentiment or not, I love you. I will kill the man or woman who hurts you. But I’d rather keep them from trying.”

“I know. I’ve always known it. I love you for it. Thank you, Jeremiah. Now lie back. The sun’s coming up, and I’m out.” I fell back, the darkness claiming me. I prayed Jerry didn’t live to regret his vows. I sank with a shiver of foreboding.

Seven

Jerry’s housekeeper, a shifter who worked during the day, had left my clothes, cleaned and folded, just outside the bedroom door. My cell phone, keys and credit card were piled on top. My boots, no longer sticky, sat neatly next to them. I guess she’d gone out to the garage and found them and my sweater in Jerry’s car. Jerry obviously paid her really well. I checked my phone. Six missed calls and three messages. One from the shop, the rest from the Austin police department. Gulp.

I didn’t bother to listen, just called the shop.

“Vintage Vamp’s Emporium, Lacy speaking.”

“It’s Glory. What’s up?”

“What isn’t up, you mean. The police have been here. Seems they arrested a gang of guys behind the shop last night who were holding your picture and carrying enough weapons to start a revolution. They have questions.” Lacy sighed. “All those cops in here haven’t helped business.”

“I’ll bet. I have a bunch of messages I want to ignore.”

“What are you going to say?” Lacy spoke to someone next to her. “I’m taking this to the back room. Erin’s handling the front.” I heard a thud. “Door’s closed. Rafe came down and gave me the four-one-one. Westwood. He’s haunting you from the grave!”

“Yeah, it’s the pits.” I sat on Jerry’s bed. He was downstairs, returning some business calls in his home office. We hadn’t had our confrontation yet. Lucky for me, unlucky for Jerry, there was some kind of crisis in a company he owned in Florida. I wished I could sneak out of here before he could grill me. I hated to ruin the afterglow of a hot night.

“What do you want me to say if the police come back?”

“That I’m coming in.” I glanced at my watch. I needed to go home and change. Clean or not, I wanted clothes that hadn’t touched Vivien Westwood’s thigh. “I’ll be there in an hour. I’ll make up a story that should satisfy them. For now, we don’t know who David Westwood is or why he’s carrying around my picture.”

“That’s exactly what I said. That the guy must be psycho. Running around with a crossbow. I mean, how weird is that?” Lacy paused. “Glory, this is serious. You want me to get my family on it? We can handle a mortal, no problem.”

Lacy’s a were-cat from a large and powerful family. “Thanks, Lacy, but I don’t want to answer to your mom if anything should happen to you or one of her other kittens.”

“You’ve been good to me, Glory. Mom knows that. Say the word, and we’ll have every cat in Travis County out at the Westwood ranch ready to do a little scratch and sniff.” Lacy snarled. “We’ll show that dipstick what happens when he messes with a friend of ours.”

“Appreciate it, but I don’t want to drag anyone else into this. Blade and I are on it. Let me see what we can figure out.” I heard the bedroom door open. “Got to go. Thanks for handling things.” I ended the call, then met Jerry’s gaze. Time to face the music. I just hoped it wasn’t a funeral dirge.

I laid it all out for him, all the little details I’d left out before. Richard’s help to get David out of my shop and how I’d gotten the police involved on his second try. Then my little adventure with Viv as a cockroach.