Hurt her as kiss her.
Bite her as caress her.
Suddenly, the chilly cave felt a lot warmer.
As Riker sauntered toward her, the heat cranked up even more. “What are you doing?”
“Doing?”
He gestured to her paper figures. Flustered and embarrassed, she tried to sweep the creations into the bag, but he crouched down and captured a bird.
“They’re silly things I make sometimes.” She shrugged dismissively. “Terese taught me.”
“Terese taught you origami?”
“She taught me to focus my fidgeting.”
Riker studied the tiny bird in his palm. “So this is a nervous thing?”
Nervous didn’t quite cover it. Stressed out beyond belief? Yeah, that. “You’ve never been nervous in your life, have you?”
“Vampires can be nervous,” he said. “And afraid.”
He settled down next to her and ran his finger over the bird’s angular head, almost as if it were alive. The sight of such a rock-hard warrior carefully stroking something so fragile filled her with an odd sense of warmth, as if something inside her was melting. “And I wasn’t always a vampire, you know.”
“Your eyes do give you away.” Sliding a covert glance at him, she wondered what color his eyes had been before he was turned.
“Blue,” he murmured.
“I almost believe you can read minds.”
The amused tilt of his mouth drew her gaze.
He really did have perfect, lush lips made to please a woman, and her own lips tingled in remembrance of the kiss they’d shared. She still couldn’t believe it had happened. She’d read once that intense situations made people bond quickly and behave in ways they normally wouldn’t, and while she wasn’t sure about the bonding thing, the rest was spot on.
Because never in a million years would she have thought she’d kiss a vampire.
“I know people,” Riker said. “You said you’re a researcher. That means you’re curious. So . . . blue.”
She didn’t like that a vampire had read her so well.
She also didn’t like that she now knew what color his eyes would be when he was intensely aroused, which was the one time a turned vampire’s eyes reverted to their natural color. But even then, the color would be enhanced with an intense, erotic glow said to render the opposite sex powerless to resist.#p#分页标题#e#
“Wait . . . so why, when you were on top of me . . .”
She paused, desperately seeking words to make this less awkward, but all she could do was think about how her face was on fire with mortification.
“Why didn’t my eyes change color?” His gaze snapped up to hers, a cruel glint reflecting off the silver surface. Suddenly, the cave was cold again. “I guess I wasn’t that turned on.”
She was both relieved and insulted. Definitely irritated. She snatched the paper bird away from him and shoved it into the bag.
“Do I have time to get some rest?”
“You have all night.”
Yawning, she settled back against the cave wall.
She didn’t need all night. Just a few minutes of sleep would do . . .
“Nicole.”
Riker’s hushed voice pierced the darkness.
“Nicole.” She felt herself being shaken. “We have to go. Someone is coming through the rear entrance.”
Groggy, disoriented, she opened her eyes. “What?”
“You fell asleep. You’ve been out for hours.” He didn’t wait for her to wake up. In an instant, she was in his arms, and they were darting into the early-morning light at the front of the cave.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on for dear life as he leaped off the ledge and hit the ground at a dead run. He moved silently, his powerful strides barely touching the ground. Branches slapped at them, but mostly, everything was a blur until, miles later, he jerked to a halt and set her on her feet.
“Do you hear that?”
“No,” she whispered, her voice sounding strangled to her own ears. “Poachers?” The very word knotted her gut with dread.
“I wish.”
Vampires burst from out of the forest, and if Riker’s expression was anything to go by, these weren’t the good guys.
Chapter 12
Six massive vampires surrounded Riker and Nicole, bodies laden with an extra fi fty pounds of weapons each. Blood in various stages of drying was spattered on their fatigue-style clothes, and the stench of death clung to them like a leech. They looked hungry but not for food.
For killing.
This was one of those times Riker missed the feel of cold steel in his hands, the sexy curve of a trigger under his fi nger, the sure weight of an automatic weapon that would take out all of these assholes in seconds. Riker didn’t miss being a human, but he definitely missed the guns.