Replica(39)

Aggravation filled his eyes, and he leaned forward. “There are some things we shouldn’t discuss here.” His gaze darted forward again.

I looked behind me. Ivan was still sleeping—although I wouldn’t put it past him to be faking—and Leah was still up in the cockpit. I swung back around, lightly resting my hands on the armrests. “I don’t like secrets. Why are you really here?”

He chuckled. “A reporter who doesn’t like secrets? Next you’ll be telling me there’s no Easter Bunny.”

“I ferret out secrets, and right now, I wish I had a giant backhoe to dig into you. You obviously don’t want Lea to know what you’re up to, and yet you expect me to trust you at your word.”

His grin faded and he grew serious. “I have your best interests in mind.”

“Ha!” I snorted. “If I had a dollar for every time a man told me he knows better than I do…” I leaned forward. “Try again, dick weed, because I’m pretty damn sure Lea can rip you to pieces. And I mean that quite literally.”

His eyes darkened. “She can try.”

Time to take a new tactic. I pushed out a breath and gave him a sexy smile. “You think you can take her?”

“I know I can.”

I leaned forward and lowered my voice into a husky whisper. “So you’re strong?”

He looked wary. “I can take a vampire.”

“One as old as Lea?”

“Of course. I’ve killed many.”

“I suppose it’s wrong to tell you that totally turns me on.”

One corner of his mouth tipped up. “Not as far as I’m concerned.”

I moved toward him, settling myself sideways onto his lap, facing the window.

Of course, Lea came down the aisle just then, and her expression turned ugly when she saw me. “Rachel.”

I lifted my eyebrows and gave her a smirk. “I’m not high on vampire blood. I’ve just always wanted to join the mile high club.” I turned to Antonio. “Is there somewhere more private we can go…play?”

Antonio wrapped his arm around my back, digging into my hip. Oh, the cocky bastard. “I know just the spot.”

Lea looked like she was about to rip my head off, but I stood and let Antonio take my hand and pull me to the back into a small hallway and shut a curtain.

“Standing up?” I asked. “Could be tricky if there’s turbulence.”

“Nah…I want to savor this.” He showed me to the seats behind a barrier in the back, presumably for flight attendants.

I gave his chest a hard push, and he stumbled backward, landing in one of the seats. I straddled him and slid a hand down his neck. “I should hate you, you know,” I whispered.

“There’s a fine line between lust and hate, mi amor. I’m just surprised you’re so assertive.”

“I’m about to pull off the craziest stunt of my life. There’s a strong likelihood I won’t survive this. It’s been too long since I’ve had sex.” I pressed my mouth against his warm neck and slid down toward his collarbone. Definitely not vampire. “We’re two consenting adults here.”

“Si, mi amor, we are.” He grabbed the back of my head and kissed me.

Had I not been so determined to see this through, I might have been detoured from my plan. There was no denying the chemistry between us, so there was no pretending to enjoy it. He wasn’t the first bastard to try to use my body against me, though, and the stupid fool couldn’t see he was being played.

He pulled my shirt over my head, exposing my black bra, and I let him. Then I tugged his off too. He looked up at me with lust-filled eyes and I grinned down at him. He was almost where I wanted him.

He grabbed my head again, bringing our lips together in a hard kiss I enjoyed a little too much. At least I wasn’t faking my reaction to him. “Lea can hear us.”

He grinned. “I don’t care.”

“I do. I’m not into voyeurism.”

He gave me an exasperated look. “Do you want me to toss her off the plane?” He looked a little to eager to follow through.

“There’s no need for something so extreme.” I pulled out my phone and opened my music app, picking something with a strong beat and turning it up loud. I wanted answers, and I wanted to run them through my own filter before handing them to Lea. I had no idea if this would actually drown out our conversation for a vampire and a werewolf, but it was worth a try.

I tossed it onto the seat next to him and gave him my best fuck-me smile. Admittedly it was a bit rusty from lack of use, but he seemed to get the meaning.

“I like how you think, mi amor.”