The Recruit (Book Three) (6 page)

“Whoa! I never
said anything about fucking.” He gave her a shocked look.

“I – like hell
you didn’t!” She sputtered indignantly. “You just said I wanted to
be naked and underneath you.”

“Yeah, but I
didn’t say anything about fucking. Sounds like someone’s
projecting.” He replied.

She stared at
him with her mouth open for a moment before shutting it with a
snap. “You’re impossible.”

“Did you know I
play the guitar?” He said suddenly. “I do a mean Elvis
impression.”

She watched as
he mimed playing a guitar before gyrating his hips at her.

“Hey, little
lady.” He did a surprisingly good imitation of Elvis’ voice and a
smile crossed her face when he curled his upper lip at her before
pretending to slick his short hair back.

He grinned
delightedly. “A closet Elvis fan, I see.”

She forced
herself to stop smiling at him. “I hate Elvis, and you’re
delusional if you think that guitar playing will make a woman drop
her panties.”

“It worked in
college.” He shrugged. “Well, when they were actually wearing
panties. Curiously enough, women were rather anxious to go commando
around me.”

“Oh my God, you
were totally one of those hipster douchebags, weren’t you?”

He nodded.
“Guilty as charged. I used to have long hair and the coolest
fringed leather jacket. It was seriously the best jacket ever. I’ve
been looking for its replacement for years but – “

“How on earth
did you go from being a hipster douchebag to this?” She interrupted
impatiently.

He shrugged
again. “Same story as most people in the program, I bet. I was
attacked by a vampire when I was walking home one night from my job
as a barista.”

She snorted.
“Of course you were a barista.”

He laughed.
“Anyway, a vampire attacked me and was about to drain me dry when
this woman came along and saved my life. She kicked the shit out of
that leech before finally stabbing him through the heart with a
stake.”

He rubbed
thoughtfully at his smooth jaw. “I thought I was going crazy,
obviously, but Sharon convinced me that what I had seen was real.
She was on assignment in LA and I stayed with her for a few weeks
while I tried to sort out what I had seen. It can be a bit,” he
hesitated, “jarring to realize that there are vampires and
werewolves, not to mention other paranormals, in the world.”

“Yeah.” She
muttered.

“Sharon urged
me to try and go back to my normal life but there was no fucking
way I could do that. One night in bed, I – “

“In bed?” She
raised her eyebrow at him.

“What can I
say? The ladies love hipster douchebags.”

“Not all of
us.”

“
Anyway
,
I told her that I wanted to join the program. She took me to the
facility and the rest is history. I was turned into the hard body,
smokin’ hot, killing machine you see today.”

He gave a short
bow and she snorted loudly. “What about college?”

“I dropped out,
obviously. I was only taking general studies and was mostly using
it as an excuse to get laid. Honestly, before the vampire attacked
me, I had been just drifting through life. My parents were killed
in a car accident just after my eighteenth birthday and I really
had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Joining the program
gave me something to focus my energy on, something to help dull the
pain of losing them, you know?”

“I’m sorry for
your loss.” She said softly.

“Thanks. I
spent a few years travelling the world on different assignments but
I was a natural with guns and when I was offered the job to be the
new weapons instructor, I took it. I enjoy teaching.”

“Do you miss
LA?”

He shrugged. “I
was tired of the city. LA is full of fake people and the women –
let’s just say there was nothing real about them. And I mean
nothing.”

He suddenly
grinned. “Thanks to spending most of my life in LA, I can count on
one hand the amount of times I’ve seen and touched tits that were
real. What is with women and fake breasts? It’s like handling
rubber.”

His eyes
dropped to her small breasts, and she blushed and crossed her arms
over her chest. “Stop looking at my tits.”

“I can’t help
it.” He said cheerfully. “Yours felt great.”

“Shut up!” She
groaned. “We agreed to forget that happened, remember?”

“I never agreed
to that.” He replied immediately. “C’mon, Selena. I’m attracted to
you and you’re attracted to me.”

“Sorry, I’m
not.”

“Bullshit!” He
grinned at her as she flushed again.

“Listen, I’m
not into guys who are in love with someone else, alright?”

“Who am I in
love with?”

“Hannah.”

He burst out
laughing. “I am not in love with Hannah.”

“Why? Because
she’s a Lycan now?” She glared at him.

He gave her a
puzzled look. “No, because she’s in love with Will. Being a Lycan
has nothing to do with it. Did I give it a shot with her? Hell,
yes. She turned me down flat.”

“I’m turning
you down flat.”

“Ahh, your lips
say no but your eyes say yes.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her and
she had to stop herself from grinning again. “What’s wrong with
having some fun?”

“I’m not
looking for just a fun time. If you want to have fun with someone,
try Leanne. She’s always willing.”

He shuddered a
little. “Yeah, tell me about it. She’s already hit on me a few
times. She’s a nice girl but definitely not my type.”

“I thought
women in general were your type.”

He shook his
head. “There’s so much about me that you don’t know, Selena. I’ve
got layers.”

“Like an
onion?”

He gave her a
delighted look. “No, layers like a parfait. A delicious, creamy
parfait.”

She rolled her
eyes as they skirted around a fallen log. “Listen, Reid, this is –
“

She gave a
squeak of surprise when he suddenly pushed her to the ground,
dropping down on top of her.

“Hey!” She
shoved at his hard chest, ignoring the tremble of desire that went
through her. “Get off me! What are you – “

“Shh!” All
trace of humour had vanished from his eyes and he lifted his head
and stared over the top of the fallen log with the gaze of a
predator. “Something’s out there.”

She raised her
own head and scanned the dark forest. After a moment, she
whispered, “I don’t see anything.”

He frowned. “I
heard something as we were – “

He paused and a
small smile crossed his face. “Cool.”

“What’s cool?”
She strained to see in the dark and was just reaching for her night
vision glasses when he caught her hand and put his mouth to her
ear.

“Look to the
left, slowly.” His warm breath made her shiver and she carefully
turned her head.

Dots of light
could be seen flickering through the trees and as they grew closer,
she breathed, “What are they?”

“Fireflies.” He
murmured.

She frowned and
whispered, “They’re much too big to be fireflies, Reid.”

He chuckled
softly. “Paranormal fireflies, Selena. Have you never heard of
them?”

She shook her
head as the bouncing bits of light flew toward them. She jerked in
surprise when they grew close enough for her to see them
clearly.

“Wow.” She
whispered.

“Like I said,
cool.” He shifted against her and groaned softly when she
absentmindedly parted her thighs so he could settle between her
legs. She didn’t notice. She was captivated by the fireflies, and
he studied her face in the glow of the firefly light before turning
back to the fireflies.

The fireflies
were, in fact, tiny naked people no bigger than his thumb. They
glowed with a soft yellow light and Selena watched delightedly as
they flickered from plant to plant. Their wings fluttered rapidly
and they made a low humming sound as they flew.

“What are they
doing?” She whispered as about a dozen of them hovered over a low
bush dotted with purple flowers.

“Drinking the
nectar.” He couldn’t resist stroking her firm thigh through her
leather pants. “They’re addicted to the stuff.”

He frowned
slightly. “In fact, I’m pretty sure they must be drunk on it
because they rarely show themselves to humans.”

“Maybe they
don’t know we’re here.” She replied.

“They know.” He
cupped her thigh in his hand and pulled experimentally as she
studied the fireflies.

Her thighs
widened further and he lifted her leg and pressed it against his
hip as his cock hardened in his jeans.

“There’s so
many of them.” She whispered.

He pressed his
erection against her core and was rewarded by her hips arching. He
uttered another soft groan and kneaded her thigh as, without
realizing it, she began to gently press her pelvis against him.

“They’re so
tiny, so delicate.” She whispered. “I wish I could – “

She held her
breath as two of the fireflies glanced up at them and then slowly
flew toward them. They weren’t flying in a straight line, they were
weaving and bobbing about unsteadily, and Reid lowered his mouth to
her ear again. “See, they’re drunk.”

She smiled as
the two fireflies hovered in front of her face. They were both
female and their long dark hair went down to their ankles. They
studied her as carefully as she studied them before the smaller of
the two whispered into the other’s ear. They both laughed, a tiny
sound like tinkling bells on the wind, and she smiled at them as
they laughed again.

“They like
you.” Reid whispered into her ear. She pressed her hips against him
again, barely registering his resulting moan, and stared
delightedly at the fireflies.

“I like them
too.” She raised her hand slowly toward the fireflies. They gave
each other startled looks and immediately zipped away to join the
others still gathered around the flowers.

“Damn it.” She
muttered.

“They’re very
shy.” Reid reminded her in a throaty whisper as his hand moved to
her ribcage and rubbed slow circles.

She sighed and
stared up at the night sky as her pelvis pushed and retreated in a
gentle motion against Reid’s erection. “I know, I just – “

Her eyes
widened as she finally realized what her body was doing. “Shit!”
She whispered and pushed again at his chest.

He captured her
hands and raised them above her head, pinning them lightly to the
hard ground before smiling down at her. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?
What’s wrong?” She scowled at him, the fireflies forgotten
momentarily. “I was dry humping the weapons instructor in the
middle of the damn forest, that’s what’s wrong!”

“Was?” He bent
his head and licked her mouth. “I hate to tell you this,
sweetheart, but you’re still dry humping me.”

She realized
with horror that he was right and forced her traitorous hips to
stop moving. “Get off me, Reid.”

“Are you sure?”
He nuzzled her neck and she shivered against him.

“I – I’m sure.”
She was a little ashamed at the obvious need in her voice and bit
back her groan of disappointment when he sighed and sat up. The
fireflies froze in the moonlight and then scattered into the trees,
their light gradually growing dimmer, as Selena scooted backward on
her butt before standing up.

She wiped at
the ass of her pants as Reid rose gracefully to his feet. “Selena,
I – “

“No.” She shook
her head and backed away from him. “I need to get back to my patrol
section. Please, Reid.”

He sighed again
before nodding. “Be careful, alright?”

“I will.”

He disappeared
into the dark.

Chapter 6

“You’re not
eating the strawberries.”

“I’m sorry?”
Hannah ate the last of her steak and licked her fingers before
staring at Will. He had gone to the cafeteria kitchen and brought
back two steaks and a carton of strawberries.

“The
strawberries.” He pointed to the untouched bowl of strawberries in
front of her. There was an odd tinge of sadness in his voice that
she didn’t understand, and she studied him carefully before
reaching for a strawberry and popping it into her mouth.

She chewed the
sweet fruit and swallowed before reaching for another. “You owe me
a really big apology, Will.”

“I know. I’m so
sorry, Hannah. Please believe that I bit you because I was
desperate to save your life, not to – “

“I know that.”
She interrupted irritably. “I know why you bit me and I’m more
grateful for you saving my life than I’ll ever be able to say. You
owe me an apology for just running out on me afterward.”

He winced. “I’m
sorry. I was upset and I needed to think, to clear my head, and –
“

“I know.” She
softened and reached out to squeeze his hand. “I can only imagine
how terrible it was and what a difficult decision it was to make. I
love you, Will.”

“I love you
too.” He replied hoarsely.

“Still, you
shouldn’t have just left like that. I needed you.” She sighed. “But
considering that I faked my own death and left you, I’d say that
what I did was still a hell of a lot worse.”

He laced their
fingers together as she picked up another strawberry. “How are you
feeling? Have you – have you shifted fully yet?”

“Yes.” She bit
into the strawberry, licking the sweet juice from her lips, and
then stiffened before inhaling. “Stop that, Will.”

She could smell
his arousal and her body had reacted instantly.

Take him!

“Sorry.” He
replied.

“Listen, I have
a whole new respect for you and your ability to resist temptation
when we weren’t a couple.”

He smiled a
little and she returned his smile. “I mean it. I swear to God, I’m
dying to fuck you again already and smelling your arousal really
isn’t helping.”