Finding Fire: Paranormal Romance (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 1) (17 page)

He gave a deep chuckle. His hands went to her waist and lifted her off the ground. She quickly grasped onto his shoulders in alarm. He walked a few steps and lightly tossed her onto the bed. After a small bounce, she came to rest in the middle of the bed.

He leaned forward and slowly began to crawl up her body. Her eyes were glued to him, and her heart beat in anticipation of what he would do to her next.

One of his hands slid up her jean-clad leg. He paused for a second at the juncture of her thighs and took a quick inhale. As he took a deep breath in, his eyes looked up and met her own.

Her breath caught at the pure eroticism of it.

He then continued his slow journey up her body. His tongue shot out around her belly button, and he gently nipped at the soft skin of her stomach. Her hips instinctively lifted, leaving no doubt to what she truly desired him to do to her.

When he finally reached her breasts, he took his time to explore them with his mouth. He took turns with each until Anna thought she would lose her mind.

The pressure in her core kept building, and she continuously squirmed against him. He had one thigh between hers, and she rubbed herself against it, frantically trying to get some relief.

When she thought she was about to come, he lifted his head. “If men knew breasts like this existed, there would be no such thing as bras.”

Anna wanted to laugh, but she was too far gone for jokes. Instead, she reached out to him and pulled his head to hers. The kiss they shared was wild and frantic. Their tongues played with each other, and their teeth nipped.

His hands reached down to her jeans and undid the top button. She pushed the offensive garment down her hips, along with her panties, as quick as possible. As he bent down to pull the material completely free from her, which took a bit of work because he also had to take off her shoes, she pulled her bra completely off.

When she was completely naked, Nicolas looked her over. She felt self-conscious but was too turned on to care. She looked him in the eye. “Take your pants off.” A rush of power filled her as he did what she ordered.

After he quickly stripped, he came back down on top of her. His cock pushed between her spread thighs, just brushing her entrance, as his mouth pushed down on hers.

She thrust her hips up, trying to get him inside her, but he held himself back, reaching down to grasp her hips and hold her immobile beneath him. Refusing to give up her desperate quest to get his cock as deep inside her as possible, she squirmed against him. Nicolas brushed a palm over her mound and exhilaration filled her as he stroked her core. When he put a finger inside her to test her, she moaned in frustration, and he responded by adding another finger. Her head fell back and she closed her eyes as these new sensations washed over her.

Trying to speak a language he would understand, she lifted her mouth to his neck and took a forceful nip with her teeth.

His hips impulsively thrust forward against her leg, and he growled against her. “You’re so tight. We have to go slow.”

Unable to form a logical argument as to why they should be going as fast as possible, she bit him again. This time her teeth held on and her mouth sucked at the soft skin of his neck.

He let out a grunt, and in a flash, his fingers once again held her hips steady as he slid into her in one long thrust. The pain shocked Anna out of whatever spell she’d been under. She’d known the first time was supposed to hurt, but in her frenzy she’d forgotten everything but the feel of Nicolas.

Her hands went to his shoulders and pushed. “You have to get off.”

“Hold on,” he said in a strained voice. His hands were still at her waist, and his fingers squeezed into her skin. His face was buried in her throat, and she could feel panting breaths against her neck.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting it to hurt like this.”

“Shh,” he whispered into her throat. “It’s okay.” His breath tickled her skin, but his tongue shot out and soothed the spot.

She jerked at the contact. “What are you doing?”

His head lowered to one of her breasts, and he spoke against her. “I’m making the pain go away.” With that, he gave his full attention to the mounds in front of him. Her hands moved from his shoulders to his hair. She intended to push him away, but as his tongue circled a nipple in the same way that had driven her crazy just a few minutes ago, she started to forget why she wanted him off her.

He continued this teasing until the sensation of him inside her began to change. Where there used to be pain, there was now a pressure that begged to be released. “Nicolas,” she moaned. She moved her hips to take him a bit deeper.

He lifted his head up and his black eyes stared down at her. “Do you want me?” Incapable of coherent speech, she just nodded. “You want all of me?” he asked with a small flex of his hips. The friction of his cock against her inner walls caused her eyes to close as a moan escaped her throat. He must have taken that as a yes, because his hips began to thrust against her.

He went slow at first as she got used to his size inside of her tight sheath. Soon she wrapped her legs around his waist and encouraged him to move faster.

The sights in the room changed to a blur of color swirling over them. She gripped him tighter as he rode her even harder, and she met him stroke for stroke.

Strange feelings shot through her and demanded even more. “More,” she breathlessly said. “All of it.”

His tongue stroked slowly up her throat in contrast to the fast pumping of his hips. A sharp pain in her neck was the last thing she felt before she exploded.

The room faded away, and it was just her and him for those few seconds. His hips moved impossibly faster and he drank from her neck. He lifted up his head and let out a roar as he pumped the last few times.

Anna stared, transfixed, at the bulging cords of his neck as his whole body tensed.

When his body started to relax, he didn’t move off her. Their chests pushed up against each other as they both tried to catch their breath.

He laid his head next to where he’d just bitten her and gently licked her wounds. She expected a sharp pain to come from the treatment, but it actually felt rather soothing.

“Why did you bite me?” She would work up outrage later. Right now she was too boneless and relaxed to be upset.

“You asked me to,” he said against her skin.

“I never asked you to bite me.” Come to think of it, she’d been pretty lost in the heat of the moment.
Had
she asked him to bite her?

“Well, let me point out that you bit me first.” She opened her mouth to defend herself, but he interrupted by saying, “And you did ask me. You asked for all of me, remember?”

“All of you!” she quietly exclaimed. “I meant all of,” she looked down at where their bodies were still joined, “
that
.”

He let out a soft laugh. “Oh. I must’ve misunderstood, but in my defense, I was already pretty far inside when you asked.”

She couldn’t help but laugh with him. “You drank my blood because of a misunderstanding? That’s so wrong.”

“Speaking of misunderstanding, I’m sorry about the pain. I didn’t realize...”

“That I was a virgin?” she finished for him.

“Yes, that,” he said. “Care to explain how that is?”

She let out a sigh. “Not really.”

He wouldn’t let it go that easily. “Were you saving yourself for marriage?”

She rolled her eyes. “No, I wasn’t saving myself for marriage. Besides my crazy back, the reason I have been without sex for the past twenty-eight years was that I was saving myself for myself.”

“And none of the men at your school met your standards?”

She raised a brow. “Are you trying to get me to tell you how amazing you are?”

He gave her a cocky grin. “I think your screaming loud enough to deafen anyone in the rooms next to us was enough of a validation for me.” She gave him a mock punch on his shoulder and he laughed. “I’m curious, that’s all.”

“I just never spent much time with any one guy, and one-night stands never appealed to me.” She didn’t want to say too much. Honestly, her back had been the main reason she’d distanced herself from men, and avoided any situation where her shirt would come off.

Though it was true she hadn’t spent a lot of time with men, she wasn’t certain her tryst with Nicolas was any more than a one-night stand.

Well, technically they had done the deed during the day, and they might very well do it again the next day, but she didn’t think Nicolas had any plans for the future. Anna wasn’t even sure she wanted him to be planning for a future with her in it.

And really, was a two-day stand really much better than a one-night stand?

“What made you change your mind about the room?” he softly asked.

“A little late to be asking that now, don’t you think?” She smirked.

“Well, I couldn’t ask you before. You might have changed your mind.”

“Probably best you waited.” She glanced over at the light that peeked through the heavy curtains. “I should get some clothes on.” She got up to go to her bag.

Nicolas’s arms held her still, and he nuzzled her neck again. It seemed to be his favorite spot. “Stay like this. I love looking at you.”

Her brow furrowed. “I can’t sleep naked with you, thinking you’re going to be staring at me the minute I fall asleep.”

“Come on,” he taunted. “Be naughty with me. Sleep naked.”

“I have been plenty naughty with you tonight.”

“I’ll be naked too.”

That made Anna turn to face him. She gave him a wicked grin. “Well, in that case...” She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of Nicolas’s arms around her. The heat of his body and the sound of his heart beating coerced her into sleep.

Anna forced herself to open her eyes as she slowly came back to awareness. She’d never woken up next to a man, let alone a naked one she’d just slept with.

She would’ve liked to quietly sneak off the bed, but Nicolas was already awake and watching her. Of course he was. “Did you get to sleep at all?” she asked.

He smiled at her. “I feel very well rested.”

She frowned. “That’s not an answer.”

He leaned toward her until their lips met for a gentle kiss. She closed her eyes and brought her hand to the back of his neck to pull him closer. She heard a growl from his throat as he gripped her waist and pulled her body flush with his.

Before he could completely entrance her with his kisses, she glanced at the glowing clock on the nightstand. “Do we have time for one more?”

Nicolas lifted his head up and looked at the clock and back at her. “I have a rule for women who are in bed with me.”

Anna raised a questioning brow. “A rule?”

He nodded and bent down to nibble on her neck. She arched into the contact. His breath brushed against her sensitive skin as he whispered, “Women in bed with me are not allowed to look at any form of timekeeping devices.”

Anna laughed and pulled his face to hers for a kiss.

~~~~~

A few hours later, Anna’s body was humming. She wasn’t sure whether it was because of the wild day she’d shared with Nicolas or because she was only hours away from possibly finding out the truth behind that horrible day fifteen years ago.

Nicolas had been so unexpected last night. He’d seemed so loose and carefree. Anna wondered whether all men were like that in bed.

He’d laughed, smiled, and been downright playful. Very different from the lone vampire on a mission of vengeance that she was so used to being around.

However, the happy-go-lucky person he’d been in bed retreated right back into hiding when they were back in the car. They were back to long silences and staring out the windows.

To make it worse, they were so far out into the middle of wilderness that there were no good music stations available.

After about another ten miles, she couldn’t take the silence anymore. “What’s going on?” she asked.

He took his eyes off the road to glance over at her. “What do you mean?”

Anna shrugged. “I don’t know much about morning after—” she broke off to look at the dark sky, “
night
after etiquette, but I have a feeling it involves talking at some point.”

He turned back to the road. “Talking is overrated.”

Anna snorted. “That’s the response you chose? ‘Talking is overrated,’” she mocked in a deeper voice. “Seriously, is something bothering you?”

“Of course something is bothering me,” he blurted out. “We’re going to be to the compound in the next hour, and I’m trying my damnedest to think of a way we will both survive and still get the answers you’re looking for.”

“Weren’t we going to get there and decide on a plan once we evaluate the security?”

His fists tightened on the steering wheel in his frustration. “I can’t think of a scenario where I can get a good look at Aleksander’s guards without them sensing me near. I’ve been gone for sixty years. I cannot assume nothing major has changed with methods of guarding or the layout of the inside of the building.”

Anna looked out at the dark passing forests surrounding them and thought about what he said. “Well then, you’ll have to send me in first.”

He shook his head. “That won’t happen. You’d be defenseless and surrounded by vampires.”

“I’ve spent the past few days with a vampire. I can handle a few more. Besides, I’m not exactly threatening.”

He scoffed. “What are you saying? You want to distract the guards, have me sneak in, get the guards away from you and then go have a talk with Aleksander?”

Anna tried to make her smile look convincing. “Easy, right?”

“What about that sounded easy to you?”

“I’ll say I had car trouble and lead them right out to you.” He glanced at her with an angry scowl, and she continued, “That way I won’t really be going inside with anyone. They’ll walk with me to the car, where you can be waiting.”

“That’s a really bad idea, and I know you’re too smart not to realize that.”

Anna wanted to bang on the windows in frustration. Why was he doing this when they were almost to Aleksander? “Nicolas, I’m so close! I’m literally just miles away from the man who can answer all my questions. You said you’d help me. Me fucking you shouldn’t make you back out on that!”

He clenched his jaw. “I’m trying to keep you alive. You should be grateful.”

“Excuse me if I forget to fall all over myself thanking you. You have been so thoughtful this whole trip. You were so worried about my safety you even
tied me to a bed
. How considerate of you.”

“I apologized for that plenty of times.”

Anna dropped her head into her hands. “Just stop talking. You’re going to take me to Aleksander, just like you said you would. Is that clear?”

~~~~~

Nicolas decided it might be best to follow Anna’s wishes and remained silent.

He really hadn’t put much thought into binding her that first night. He had acute senses and didn’t need much sleep. He never imagined she would wake before he did. He assumed he could get to her and untie the ropes before she had any idea that they were even there.

He hadn’t counted on her nightmares. He’d woken up before she’d emerged from the dream, but she’d been thrashing and twisting too much for him to get at the ropes before she was aware of the bindings.

He’d shared with her one of the darkest times of his existence. It never occurred to him that she’d have her own scars, both physical and mental.

He still didn’t know what the marks on her back were from. Or rather, who. His first thought had been Aleksander, but he’d crossed that out quickly. If Aleksander had done that, she probably would be more eager to kill him.

She’d never knowingly seen another vampire, so it must have been a human. A human who tied her and beat her.

The steering wheel creaked under the pressure of his hands tightening on it. She’d already been through so much, and now she wanted to go running right into a pit of vampires.

When she’d first approached him with her crazy plans to search for Aleksander, he’d thought himself so lucky. A human so willing to die and follow him to into the deepest wilderness.

He’d fully intended to send her in alone to distract Aleksander and his men. He never gave a second thought to what would happen to the mortal left alone with the guards.

She was too full of life to be drained of it. He knew that for a fact. He’d had only a small drink of her, but he could still feel her flowing in his veins. Hell, if he ever got the chance to have another taste, he would become officially addicted. And he’d be damned if he would let someone with that much power over him let herself get killed.

When they were close enough to Aleksander’s compound, he pulled the car over.

“Why are we stopping?” Anna asked.

“We should get some fresh air and go over some things before we do anything rash,” he said.

Anna nodded, but he could tell she was gearing up to fight him again if he refused to take her any farther. She didn’t even get out of the car until she saw that he walked over to her side. She probably thought he was going to drive off and leave her.

He leaned against the hood of the car, to show her that he wasn’t about to run back to the driver’s seat. She glanced around at the dark trees that surrounded them. He watched her carefully. The moonlight shone through the trees and her dark hair shined in the pale light. Even with her baggy t-shirt and her hair quickly and efficiently tied back, she looked beautiful in the backdrop of night.

She moved toward him, and his breath caught in his throat. He wanted to do so many things to this woman. She wouldn’t be leaving him any time soon. He would make sure of it.

She leaned up against the car next to him, and he felt the strongest urge to reach over and brush a piece of loose hair out of her face. Hell, he just wanted to touch her any way he could. “It’s going to be dangerous tonight.”

“That’s not exactly new, though, is it?”

He clenched his jaw. It wasn’t new. The only thing that was new was that he now needed her to stay alive. “You approach the building and try to lure some guards to your car,” he said as she nodded her agreement. He could hear her heart speed up with excitement. He wanted to shake her and yell that she should be terrified, not excited.

“Whatever you do, don’t go inside with anyone unless you see me. I’ll be watching you the whole time. If you feel the slightest bit threatened, you scream for me, okay?”

“Yeah,” she agreed, “that’s smart.”

He pushed himself away from the car and moved closer to her. “Nothing about this is smart.” He backed her closer into the hood. She would have moved farther from him, but he gave her no room for escape. “This will be the stupidest thing you’ve ever done in your life.” He spit out the last word, knowing how fragile hers was.

She at least had the sense to look guilty and averted her eyes from his gaze.

He reached behind him, and she jumped when she saw he pulled out a dagger. The corner of his mouth lifted. “It’s a bit late for me to be scaring you, isn’t it?”

She let out a shaky breath. “I guess you’re right.”

He pulled the light brown sheath that protected the dagger away, and the bright metal shone under the moonlight. He handed the dagger to her as carefully as possible without touching the blade.

She slowly but firmly gripped the hilt. “When did you get this?”

“I had it on me when I was in Central Park.”

He put his hand on her wrist and moved her hand so the point rested over the left side of his chest. “This is the heart. This is what you aim for. This isn’t like cutting food. There will be bone in the way unless you get a really good angle. Push as hard as you can.” He tightened his grip on her wrist to emphasize his point.

He watched her throat as she swallowed nervously. Apparently she had some sense after all. “Vampires are stronger and faster than you. This blade will be your only advantage until I can get to you. So no matter what,
don’t drop it
.”

“Okay.” She breathed out. “Can we move the blade a safer distance from your heart now?”

“One more demonstration.” He moved her wrist and tilted her hand until the blade was at an angle. “There is another reason it’s important that you keep this blade with you.”

He lifted his free arm and shook his hand until his shirt sleeve slid down, exposing his skin to the cool night air. He moved the flat edge of the blade onto his skin.

A crackling sound filled the air and the smell of burning flesh surrounded them. “What the hell?” shouted Anna as she jerked the knife away from his arm. “Why would you do that?”

Nicolas pulled his sleeve back down around his already healing arm. “The blade is silver. Even if you don’t get the heart, you will get a little bit of damage done. Hopefully it will buy you enough time for me to reach you.”

“You could’ve just told me.”

“You need to understand what you’re dealing with, and know the weapon you’re using.” He glanced up at the position of the moon. “We have to get going.”

He saw Anna roll her eyes at him.

“Am I bothering you?” he asked.

Anna let out a short laugh. “Yes, you are bothering me. You’re a very bothersome person.”

He smiled at her assessment of him but couldn’t think of anything to say in response. He held the leather sheath for the blade out to her. “The blade is extremely sharp. You don’t know if you’ll lose your jacket, so your best bet is to keep it in the waist of your pants. Hope those jeans aren’t too baggy.”

She gave him a skeptical look while she tucked the now covered blade into her waistband. “Are you kidding? After all the junk food I’ve been eating this week, I’ll probably have to buy all new pants when I get back to the city.”

He cocked his head and looked at her, not seeing any spot on her that looked too big. He couldn’t fight the temptation to reach out, and his fingertips lightly brushed against her jean-clad thigh.

“Nicolas,” she whispered as she set her hands on his shoulders.

He moved his head until their lips almost touched. “Change your mind. I’ll turn the car around and drive straight to the city.”

“I need to know what happened. I can’t—” She never finished that sentence. His mouth crushed over hers. She met his kiss with equal fierceness.

His hands went to her hips and lifted her so she sat on the hood of the car. Her waist was at perfect height for his cock to rub right against the cradle of her hips.

She moaned and rubbed against him as his tongue showed her exactly what he wanted to be doing with his cock.

Her hands moved to his waist and pushed his shirt up. He groaned and pulled away. He stared into her deep blue eyes, their labored breaths the only sound on the deserted road.