Netherworld: Drop Dead Sexy(34)

Dan seemed to sense my need for immediate gratification, because he didn’t bother with foreplay. He seated himself within me, and I arched to be filled. “Yes,” I breathed. I clutched around his driving length, and he groaned to feel me tighten.

He rose and fell over me, bringing me quickly. I clawed at his back, and he hissed, his eyes dark as he watched my reaction. “Do it again,” he urged, pounding into me even harder.

Warm, bright convulsions rippled through my body and seemed to feed on themselves. Every pulse came stronger than the last, turning my groans into ragged cries, then shouts, then screams. I was dimly aware of Dan’s animal-like grunts as he drove against me so hard that had I been corporeal, I’d have been bruised for weeks. I delighted in his bestiality, and a cataclysmic rush left me shrieking his name at the top of my lungs.

He let go with a shout that made my ears rings. His flesh pulsed hard and long within mine, the longest I’d ever known a man to climax. Dan made strangled noises with every jerk of his cock, like the pleasure originated from his throat. I smiled with the pleasure of a woman who’d served her man well.

My legs drooped from their frantic clutch around his buttocks, thumping to the floor. He gathered himself all around me, closing his thighs around mine, wrapping his arms around me, one big hand cradling my head as he dotted my face with gentle kisses. I reveled in the sensation of being warmed and cared for. Safe.

I could lie here with him like this forever. Eternity with a man like this—





I stopped the thought in its tracks. Dan was a good man. To me at least, I amended, thinking of the crime he’d committed in life. Caring, compassionate, and a true gentleman to a lady in distress. He made it easy to fall into silly thoughts of happily ever after, protective when I was my most vulnerable.

My rational mind knew better and hauled me back to reality. Hard experience saved me from the seductive peace of lying in Dan’s strong arms. I pulled away before I could be coaxed onto dangerous ground.

The afterglow of great sex and being well tended had made me soft with joy. Nothing more.





Chapter Seven





I sat on the couch, engrossed in a recent book by Mark Twain and thrilled death hadn’t dimmed the wry wit and wisdom of my favorite author. Not needing to sleep left me time to read; I was on the second book he’d produced since joining the afterlife. I had twenty more to peruse.

Dan was studying far less lighthearted material. I shuddered at the title of his choice, Twisted Paths: The Snarled Mind of the Serial Killer. He made notes on a piece of paper the library had kindly supplied him with. I’d been astonished to learn that when you used the library’s supplies, they never declined. The building had a memory of its own all right, but to keep his notes from disappearing, Dan had to tuck them in his pocket or store them elsewhere. What the library didn’t possess on the day it burned down ceased to exist in our world the moment you took your attention away from it. The only contradiction to that rule was the new books produced by now dead authors. Those appeared without warning, somehow finding room on the already stuffed shelves. It was weird but fascinating.

Tristan popped into our midst, and I stiffened for an instant before recognizing he’d left his vampire façade behind. He’d become a ghost again, last night’s coldness now missing. He was a dapper, warmly smiling, devastatingly handsome human once more. Thank God.

“Good morning,” he greeted us, his smile sunny as if he’d never chewed an artery in his afterlife.

Dan marked his place and set down his book. He folded and tucked his notes in a pants pocket. “Hi Tristan.”

I waved from my corner of the couch, and Tristan walked over to sit next to me. His dark eyes looked me over, and his smile brightened at my outfit: another joyful sundress, splashed with red and gold tropical flowers. My earrings and necklace matched. It was my seventh wardrobe change in the last four hours.

He kissed my hand. “Any news?”

Dan frowned as he stood in front of us. “She’s started remembering a little.” He related the memory I’d retrieved … okay, been waylaid with … the night before.

Tristan rubbed his chin thoughtfully with one hand while resting his other arm on the back of the sofa behind my shoulders. “So there was someone else present, probably killed when you were attacked.”

I made myself not snuggle against him, firmly reminding myself of his vampire aspect. I had a hard time of it when he was so darn handsome and right next to me. The subject matter of the conversation helped. “I think so, but where’s the body?”

“We’ll have to retrace your steps that last day.”