Kiss of the Vampire(55)

Muscles bunched beneath her fingers. He looked down at her. His tongue swept out, leaving his lips moist and inviting. Even the hint of fangs peeping over his bottom lip was sexy. Memories of their time together, of the joining of their bodies twisting on soft, silky sheets swirled in his darkened eyes. Memories she shared. He bent toward her.

“Don’t,” she whispered, putting her other hand against his chest. She wished she’d sounded more sincere. Wished the hand against his chest was firm and determined instead of soft and giving.

“I have to.” He brushed his lips over hers once, twice.

She should tell him no and mean it this time. This was where she should push him away and tell him to go screw himself. He’d walked away from her, he had no right to touch her anymore. She should tell him that, but she couldn’t. She was as desperate for a fix as he seemed to be.

His mouth settled over hers, open, seeking, and with a hoarse moan she leaned into him, lips parting to allow him entrance. He stroked his tongue along hers, rolled his hips forward so she could feel his growing erection against her belly.

She’d missed him. Missed his smell, his smoldering intensity when he looked at her with desire darkening his eyes. Missed feeling like she’d finally found her home.

He kissed a path to her ear, gave her lobe a light nip, not hurtful but enough to send a shock of arousal jolting through her. He cupped her breast, thumb rubbing across the tip. Fire raced from her nipple to her core. She let her workbag fall from her shoulder and lifted her arms, twining them around his neck, tangling her fingers in his dark, silky hair.

His mouth, warm from the heat of her body, slid down her neck, planting kisses down the corded tendon. Nix moaned again, head tilting without her permission, giving him unhindered access to her throat.

He felt so good against her, so right. As much as she’d tried to deny her feelings, there was still something here. For both of them, she thought.

“As hot as I remember,” Tobias muttered against her skin. His tongue swiped a hot path over the pulse pounding in her throat. “If only you weren’t…”

She stiffened and shoved at him. She had a feeling she knew what he’d been about to say, but regardless the fact that she was something he wished she wasn’t was enough. Too much. “Get away from me, fang boy.” She was half demon. She couldn’t change her parentage any more than he could. She bent to grab her purse.

“Nix—”

She shot upright at the same time he bent forward, almost knocking him in the chin with the top of her head. Only his fast reflexes saved him. She tossed the bag through the open window of her car, not caring when it bounced from the passenger seat onto the floor, spilling most of its contents. “What is this, Tobias? Play with Nix week? You come blowing back in town, the big, bad hero riding in to save the day, and what? Just need to get your rocks off a little bit for old times’ sake?”

“Honey—”

“Don’t call me that!” Her horn buds burst from beneath her skin. She gave a raspy groan at the agony. Pain radiated through her skull, setting up an echo behind her eyes that she knew were now mostly yellow. She doubled up her fists against the desire to beat the hell out of him, but she couldn’t lose control of her demon side. She wouldn’t. The torturous ache rode across her shoulder blades and up the back of her neck as her muscles tightened with tension and rage. She took a deep, calming breath and promised herself an extra long tai chi workout once she got home. “I’m going to make my report to the council, then I’ll go see my mother. I’d appreciate it if you’d keep your word and not say anything about the demon scent until after I talk to her.”

His lips thinned but he didn’t say anything. When she yanked open the car door and nearly nailed him in the gonads, he backed away with a mumbled oath.

She smiled sweetly at him through the pain that now rode around and around her skull. The best thing to do to alleviate the burn was to go completely demon. But every time she did that she ran the risk of losing her humanity, of losing her mind. She’d let Finn bring it out in her at the club, she’d been so frustrated and angry. She wasn’t going to let go again. She had to prove that she could be around Tobias without ill effects. Prove that the inherent darkness of his nature didn’t call to her, making her already volatile temper and demon tendencies that much harder to control. Prove it to him, to herself.

Nix got in the car, strapped herself in, and drove off. This time she refused to look in the rearview mirror. She didn’t care if he was all alone. He deserved it.

She used the ten-minute drive to the council headquarters to rein in her anger, to drive the demon deep inside where it belonged. Making her report was going to be challenging, it always was, and it wouldn’t help her to start off by being all hyped up.