Scratch (5 page)

He stopped beside her. “The clutch and brake levers look
fine, seems to be just cosmetic damage. The engine should still run without a
problem.”

She forced her stare on the bike and not his towering
Michelangelo nudity. “Yeah, insurance will just love me.” She grimaced, making
a move to get up, but failing.

He flicked the Ducati’s stand down. “Here, let me help.”
When he stepped in front of her, his hands out and his legs apart with his cock
stirring into abundant life, she couldn’t even swallow. It seemed almost
irreverent, the lust that stirred hot in her blood when every part of her felt
bruised and sore.

She placed her hands in his. “Thank you.”

Blake pulled her upright. “I saw what you did. Jumping from
the stallion and tackling those men. Very brave.”

Wow. Evidently cat vision really was much sharper than human
sight.

She disengaged her hands from his. “Or foolhardy. Take your
pick.”

His eyes flared with overprotectiveness and another emotion
she didn’t care right then to define. “Since they wouldn’t have hesitated to
take the shot, most definitely brave,” he rasped.

She shivered, the chill that skittered up and down her spine
more from his stark tone of helpless rage and less her near stroke with death.
She managed a smile, averting her eyes yet again when they strayed down, past
the light ripple of his abs and strip of hair that arrowed toward his
thickening cock.

She cleared her throat and waved a hand at the two men still
lying on the ground. “These two aren’t going anywhere in a hurry. But what
about the three who went after you?”

“Taken care of.” His smile didn’t reach his eyes, it was a
cold and glacial smirk that set off another round of shivers, this time in a
whirlpool through her belly. Blake had seen and done many bad things in his
long life. But why did that make her feel as though he could more than take
care of her, if she let him?

“What do you mean?” she managed.

“The fools seemed to have forgotten that cats can climb
trees, and attack from a great height.”

“You killed them?” she breathed.

“There wasn’t time for that, and even if there had been,
shifter law deeply opposes the murder of humans.” He examined her again, a slow
perusal that apparently double-checked she really was okay. “Let’s just say I
enjoyed slowing the humans down for a bit.”

Movement caught her peripheral vision. The conscious man was
dragging himself along the ground, his rifle just a few yards away.

In three strides Blake was over him, pressing a foot onto
his arm. “I could kill you now,” he said softly, “but I choose not to.” His lip
curled. “Yet you try to kill a woman and call yourself civilized—human.”

The younger man groaned, his rifle glinting in the setting
sun, so close yet so far away. “So you’re letting me go? I’m…I’m free?”

“No. I’m going to tear you limb from limb.”

At the other man’s sharply indrawn breath, Blake released
his arm with a disbelieving shake of his head. Retrieving the rifle, he threw
it away. Alexia watched as it arced gracefully through the air and landed with
a far off, dull thud.

Blake turned back to the inert man. “Get undressed. I want
your jeans, your shirt,” smirking, he finished, “you get to keep your
underwear.”

The man nodded, putting on a brave face and speaking almost
casually as he undressed quicker than a man with his injuries should. “You
know, my dad will kill you. Your woman too.”

Blake’s lip curled. “So your father is in charge of hunting
me down?” he asked. At the other man’s nod, Blake stated simply and decisively,
“He can try to take me down, but killing my woman isn’t even an option.”

Blake grabbed the jeans and dragged them on. “Tell me, how
does it feel to have a father with no honor, no principles? A father who
undoubtedly couldn’t care less that I spared his son’s life and all his men.”

The man wheezed in pain as he tugged off his button-down
shirt. When he looked up, shame burned behind his young eyes. “Nothing matters
more to him than killing all the shape-shifters. He won’t stop until you’re
dead—or he is.”

A growl rumbled low in Blake’s throat, the sound more animal
than human. “So be it.” Minutes later he swung a denim leg over the Ducati,
offering Alexia a hand to help her keep balance as she mounted behind him.

He swiveled a little in the seat, focusing on the man still
sprawled on the ground in his underwear. “Your kind can shoot at me all you
want. But shooting at an innocent woman? A human? You’ve crossed the line.”

The man averted his eyes. “I do what has to be done.”

“Tell your father to meet me—alone—at club Shrine. Nine
o’clock tonight.” He fired up the Ducati’s engine, then tossed out one final
instruction, “And tell him to use a white cane so I can recognize him.”

Coming back to the city with her father’s name still in
tatters and the bad guys still after them and wanting to kill them, Alexia
realized it was like coming full circle and everything had yet to be resolved.
A slipknot that had pulled inexorably tighter.

She expected Blake to pull over at some stage and find the
tracker on their bike and dispose of it, before he rented another shabby and
nondescript apartment or motel room. Instead he booked them into a luxury hotel
with stunning views of the ocean and ornate chandeliers sparkling on the
ceilings.

The parking attendant had been bemused but not opposed to
Blake’s request that he ride the Ducati to the other side of the city to
another parking lot, where cruddy old motels lined every street. Of course the
generous tip had been nice encouragement.

Alexia was only glad that having the bike miles away from
them, and the tracker still attached, would keep them safe, even for a little
while.

Her boots echoed along the marble corridor leading past the
hotel’s exclusive designer shops and toward the glass elevators. “I didn’t
anticipate five-star accommodation.” Her eyes skated down her bloodied and
ripped flannel that sat oddly askew over her leather jacket.

He shrugged, and even in his too-tight khaki shirt and
too-short jeans, the movement was all eloquence. “Believe me, I can afford it.
Besides, even without the trace on your bike, my enemies are likely aware now
that I’ve been hiding out in cheap dives. I’m betting this will be one of the
last places the bastards will look for a while.”

They stilled at the glass doors and Blake lifted his hand to
snare her chin, his rough hand sending goose bumps down her spine. “And I
wanted to indulge you. Treat you as a woman should be treated.”

Her mouth dried, her pulse tripping. “You’ve already treated
me exactly how a woman would want to be treated.”

At the hunger in his look her belly cramped with yearning,
her eyelids fluttering closed. Her lips parted and warmth heated her veins as
sexual tension vibrated between them, hanging heavy in the air. She opened her
eyes when the elevator doors pinged and slid apart. He dropped his hand to take
hold of hers, before all but pulling her inside with him. He jabbed the button
for the top floor’s penthouse suite, then turned to her, stark need in his
stare.

They moved together as one. His head swooped, his lips
slanting across hers. She opened her mouth on a sigh, losing herself in his
mastery as he thrust his tongue inside. Heat sparked in her belly, then spread
in a tsunami of need through her body until her pussy was all slick and moist.

His hands cupped her ass and he snagged her against his
erection. “I want you so bad,” he bit out in a groan.

She ground against him, desperate to have him inside her,
filling her, fucking her. “I want you too,” she whispered hoarsely.

The elevator stilled, its doors sliding open. They pulled
apart, gasping for breath. Sensor lights lit up the apartment just outside the
doors, glowing sedately. So normal and yet she felt anything but. Every cell,
every atom pulsed with raging need and want.

Blake slammed the emergency stop button so the elevator
wouldn’t move, and then dragged her back into his arms, his mouth devouring
hers. He moved her back a couple of steps, until the glass wall pressed against
her spine.

“Elevator sex?” she gasped.

“To start off with,” he growled, before dropping to his
knees to thrust off her boots. Her leather pants were next, followed as quickly
by her lacy panties. Cool air caressed her bared pussy and thighs as he looked up,
his eyes glowing. “My turn to taste.”

He placed his big hands at the tops of her thighs before he
spread her wide, using his thumbs to peel the folds of her labia apart to
expose the hard nub of her clit. The first flick of his tongue sent darts of
electricity through the tight bundle of nerve endings and caused her eyelids to
flicker shut. At the second and third lick, her head fell back and she bit her
tongue, shuddering with pleasure.

It would have been bearable if the licking hadn’t been
relentless and each stroke of his tongue that little bit harder. She opened her
eyes and looked down. Oh god. Seeing his dark head between her thighs was
beyond stimulating. But it was only when he looked up and caught her stare,
then pulled her labia wider still before deliberately giving her one long lash
of his tongue that she was pushed a whisper away from orgasm.

“Holy fuck,” she whispered hoarsely, barely able to stand
with her thighs all unsteady and her knees weak.

His attention was once again consumed by her cunt that no
doubt glistened with her juices. With an almost feral growl, Blake leaned
forward, his mouth covering her plump little clit. When he deftly suckled, her
whole body went rigid. Breath whooshed from her lungs and she was propelled
right over the edge, crying out his name as she convulsed, her fingers digging
into his scalp.

And like a cat lapping milk, he stayed at her, drinking from
her until he seemed satisfied he’d taken her all.

In one fluid motion he moved onto his feet and lifted her
into his arms, trapping her between the glass elevator walls and his taut body.
She smiled, sighing luxuriously, seductively as she draped her legs around his
hips and looked up.

His stare narrowed and glittered. His breath, with its
faintly musky, erotic aroma of pussy, feathered her hair. He freed his cock
from the restriction of his jeans and let loose with a low, carnal growl.

She shivered but was totally hot for him. This was just what
she craved. Hard, fast and animalistic.

The head of his cock pushed between her slick folds. She
whimpered, writhing to get closer, to gain him access. But he displayed
incredible self-control when he teased her further, rotating his hips so that
his cock skated across her sensitized clit, her cunt lips.

She gritted her teeth. A protest formed, and then dissolved
into a shocked gasp as he thrust forward and rammed the full length of his cock
inside her, right to the hilt.

He paused, waiting for her muscles to fully adjust. “Are you
okay?”

“Just fuck me,” she demanded.

He groaned at her words, his jaw clenching tight with the
obvious effort to stop himself spilling deep inside her. He pulled out ever so
slowly, dragging his cock almost free, before driving back inside, setting a
rhythmic motion that left her panting and restless, pushed oh so close to yet
another toe-curling climax.

She gave herself up to the incredible sensations building so
quickly within, a need that tossed away everything but the passion of that
moment.

“I can’t hold back much longer,” he rasped.

She gripped his shoulders, her nails digging into taut,
solid muscle. Her pussy contracted, her breath hissed. “Blake!” And then she
was shattering around him, her inner muscles squeezing and releasing the length
of his cock, pushing him into instant climax.

He roared, the sound guttural, primitive, his seed pulsing
and warm.

Her head fell back and she gasped for air, her pulse
jumping. She looked down and caught his stare. She swallowed. “We didn’t use
protection and I don’t have my pills.”

He nodded, lifting a hand to gently stroke along her jaw. “I
know.” His eyes glittered. “I’m sorry…I’ve never been this selfish and
out-of-control.”

“Me neither.”

“Whatever happens, I’ll take care of you.”

“I’ve already said I don’t expect—”

“I do. And I want. More than want. Okay?”

She nodded, and he looked satisfied with that. For now. She
disentangled her legs and they stepped apart. She slipped her panties back on
and carried her boots and pants in one hand as he snagged her other hand in his
and led her inside the hotel room, their tread whispering across the deep-gray
Berber carpet.

“You must be hungry.” His voice came out husky, an
aftereffect of their passion.

Yes, but not for food just yet.

He picked up the receiver of the direct-dial phone and
punched in some numbers.

“Reception? Yes, I’d like a bottle of your best champagne, a
platter of strawberries and half a dozen dishes of your chef’s recommendation
sent up to the penthouse suite. I’d also like a selection of ladies evening
gowns, shoes and underwear…” his eyes gleamed with carnal knowledge as he
rattled off her dress and shoe size with unerring accuracy.

Jealousy licked a dangerous flame deep inside her belly.
Just how much practice at that did he have?

“And a couple of men’s suits, shirts and size-twelve
footwear. Also, could you organize to deliver—”

She tuned out as he rattled off a few more apparent
essentials, trying hard not to listen in, not to feed the insane envy that
pulled her heart every which way.

What was wrong with her? She’d wanted nothing from Blake
other than proof, but even that didn’t seem so important anymore. Not now that
she knew what gaining that proof could do to a shape-shifter…to Blake

Her father would understand the reasons why she couldn’t
prove his claims, why she couldn’t give him back the high esteem and admiration
his name had once carried. He’d only ever wanted her to be happy, and that was
her dilemma. Somewhere along the way her feelings for Blake had superseded
everything else, despite her views on long-term relationships and her desire to
protect her heart.

Blake hung up, a satisfied smile curving his sexy lips. “I
think a shower is in order, hmm?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, instead he swept her right
back into his arms and carried her through to the massive white bathroom with
gold taps. One of her boots clattered onto the floor. She frowned up at him.
“Do you do this often?

He kissed the tip of her nose. “Jealous, my sweet?”

Her heart warmed at the endearment even as she glared at his
too-accurate assumption. “What sort of an answer is that?”

He placed her on her feet. “What kind of question is that?”

She dropped her pants and other boot to the tiled floor as
he leaned into the gleaming white stall and flipped the tap lever. The shower
pulsed into life, steam thickening the air. Unbuttoning his too-small khaki
shirt, he shrugged it off before divesting himself of the badly fitting jeans.
Her throat dried. If a male could be called beautiful, Blake was it.

Sleek and hot masculine perfection.

“Allow me.” He stepped toward her, his fingers making short
work of the flannel buttons before he pushed the shirt from her shoulders, and
followed right after with her jacket and singlet.

Her breasts hardened under his gaze. But he didn’t touch.
Instead he crouched and slowly peeled off her scrap of sheer, cream-lace
panties.

Her breath caught at his molten look. The air expelled from
her lungs on a sigh when he straightened, then he caught her up against him
once more before stepping inside the large shower cubicle. A sheer curtain of
wet heat drummed over them, around them, cleansing and soothing.

Blake turned her around so that her spine was aligned to his
chest, his belly and his rock-hard cock. It had to be his big cat gene that saw
him ready again so soon. The vision of a wild life documentary, which had
showed a pair of big cats repeatedly mating, filled her mind. She closed her
eyes, squirming against him, greedy for him again.

His throaty voice murmured in her ear, “Since you asked,
I’ve had many, many lovers. Too many to recollect.” He used a cloth and
tenderly swiped away the smear of dried blood on her brow. “But none like you.
Not ever.”

The cloth hit the floor with a squelchy thud. He bent,
kissing and suckling the side of her throat while he lifted his big hands to
cup her breasts, using his thumbs to circle her quickly hardening nipples. When
she pressed her head against his chest and looked up, he leaned over, his lips
covering hers in a slow, back-to-front kiss that quickly heated her already-warmed
blood.

She moaned into his mouth, and suddenly she didn’t much care
about all his other lovers. He would be much older than she, it stood to reason
he’d had sex with lots of other women. And what did it matter anyway? History
had shown that she wouldn’t keep Blake around forever. Despite his obvious
interest in her, it wouldn’t last.

Her partners never did.

She ignored the painful ache in her chest and pushed aside
the creeping, inexorable feelings of adoration, of love…

She couldn’t think on that, not now. Probably not ever.

She’d enjoy him and their time together while she could.

Blake pulled his mouth from hers before he stepped back.
Then, clasping his engorged shaft, he guided it between the crevice of her butt
cheeks until the head of his cock nudged her pussy lips.

Oh, Blake. I need you.

With the water pummeling her body, she released a desperate
mewl that was as much emotional as physical. She bent over, offering herself to
him. A willing sacrifice to a pagan god.

“Alexia,” he rasped hoarsely, before he pushed deep inside
her, every long, hard inch making her moan.

He paused, breath hissing, his big hands clasping her hips
to anchor her in place. Then he began to rock back and forth, his balls
slapping against her butt and his cock sliding in and out of her wet cunt until
she was gasping for breath but wanting so much more.

That was when it hit her. She was never going to get enough
of Blake.

The realization shattered right along with her body as she
climaxed, almost sobbing with the exquisiteness that took over her so soon
after her last orgasm. Blake pushed into her hard, once, twice, before he too
came, his cock exploding deep and his breath rushing from his lips.

Sometime later, passion still lingering as they slid into
the complimentary white hotel robes, a knock sounded at the door. Blake pressed
a hard, possessive kiss onto her mouth before he moved to the door. Opening it
with the security chain still attached, he gave a nod, and then pulled the
chain free, ushering in the shop assistant from the boutique in the foyer.