Bite my fire, p.32
Bite My Fire, page 32
He put his mouth to my clit and sucked. I hit the ceiling. He sucked me into nirvana, into heaven. Sucked until I was a bundle of nerve endings. Until I shot to my feet because I was about to blow.
Bo rose smoothly to his feet too, grabbing my waist and turning me into my desk. I seized the edges, glad I had when a second later he rammed his thick cock into me from behind. He filled me in one powerful thrust.
His claws nailed my desk on either side of my head. He began to ride me with deep, steady strokes. My vagina heated like paper on the edge of flame.
“I love your hair,” Bo said. Each word was punctuated by a stroke. “Your gorgeous mass of curls shudders every time I thrust. Pure seduction. Hell, Elena, everything about you is seduction. Your body. Your smell.”
“What about you? Your clever hands. Your massive shoulders. Your sweet words.” I groaned as he grew bigger inside me.
“Not nearly as exciting as you. Your beautifully shaped breasts. Your heat. Your pulse.”
“My blood?” I turned my head, exposing my throat.
“Elena.” Bo bent over me, his mouth plummeting to my neck. His fangs flashed white and pierced deep.
Lightning cracked. Thunder rolled. My whole body ignited. Wave after wave of climax rolled through me. Bo swelled and burst, filling me with liquid pleasure.
After, he sat in my chair and cradled me in his arms like an infant. I smiled sleepily at him. “Sex?”
He smiled back, and I didn’t imagine the tenderness there. “Love. I love you, Detective.”
Happiness bloomed inside. For some reason it wasn’t so threatening now, maybe because it was so right. “I love you too, Bo.” I snuggled a bit. The serenity fountain burbled, sounding a little giddy. “How long have you known?”
“That you were the one? First time I bit you.”
“Really?” I thought back to that first stunning orgasm, pressed to the floor of the Fudgy Delight. “Wow. Lucky I had that accident.”
“The fall was an accident. The kiss wasn’t.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No. I needed to taste you.”
“Why?”
“I can find anyone I’ve tasted. You were always out, alone, at night. With increased rogue activity. Totally clueless.”
“Hey, I object.”
He smiled. That sensuous curve still made me want to surf his waves. “I wanted to protect you, Elena. I maneuvered you into that kiss so I could bite you. I wasn’t counting on your taste, though. Like I’d been with antimatter—instant annihilation.”
“Huh. And I thought it was the perfume. Don’t ask.”
“I’d never smelled or tasted anything so good.” His eyes lit bright red, and I was surprised to see his fangs come to full attention.
“Yeah, but after that, it seemed you were trying to, well, not avoid me, ’cause you showed up everywhere I was.” I frowned. “But you weren’t as enthusiastic.”
“My reaction that first time scared me. My mentor explained that there’s a taste that signals a perfect lover. A mental strength that makes it long term.”
“Are you saying I’m your vampire love slave?”
He lifted his head to eye me strangely. “Just what have you been reading, Detective?”
“Um…”
“I was attracted to you, which frightened me. But I had to keep tabs on you. You were investigating a killing done by a vampire. Smart and determined as you are, it was only a matter of time before you figured out the truth.”
“So you did try to throw me off.”
“Only for your own good, Detective.” He nipped little kisses down my neck, and I shuddered. “But I got tired of fighting both you and myself. So I decided to woo you instead.”
“Woo me. That’s so old fashioned.”
“I’m an old-fashioned kind of guy.”
“Yeah. So you said. Skirts.”
“Don’t give up the thongs. I can modernize.”
Just before dawn, Bo carried me to my place. Drew the curtains and made love to me six or seven times before I passed out from sheer exhaustion.
He was still there when I woke up a few hours later. “Elena. I have something to ask you.” His expression was very serious.
“I’m clean,” I said. “No STDs.” No opportunity, which for the first time looked like a good thing.
Bo laughed. “I can’t get them anyway. Actually, I was going to ask two things.”
“Ask, already.”
“I’ve waited lifetimes for you, sweetheart. Would you live with me?”
Pleasure flooded me, followed by caution. “Live with you? Where? I thought the apartment building is full up.”
“Yes…but I hoped you wouldn’t mind sharing my room. The common areas are fairly good-sized.”
“Your bedroom upstairs?”
“Um, no. Downstairs is the one I actually use.”
“I remember. One to sleep, and one to make love. Although why two…?”
He flushed. “If we want a human partner…not that I’ve had any in the past few…we can’t bring them to a room without windows. Causes too many questions.”
“But you expect me to sleep with you in the basement. Where it’s dark, with no windows.”
His flush deepened. “It’s safer for me that way.”
“Uh-huh. Bed or shallow grave?”
“Elena…” His cheeks went brick red. “Bed. I’m not…we don’t…”
I smiled. I’d made Bo Strongwell sputter. “You don’t sleep in a coffin?”
“No! Or a grave, or anything but a nice warm bed.”
“And the dirt floor den, what’s that for? Mud wrestling?” I pretended to think on it. “That might be stimulating. Watching you and Thor mud wrestle.”
“Elena!” He turned bright red. “It’s where we rest up. Re-energize. But we don’t sleep there.”
“Where you re-energized for that bout of mind-blowing sex?”
His flush faded. “Which one?”
“Um, yeah.” I relented. “As it so happens, I’m a night person anyway. And windows are overrated, especially when you’re trying to sleep during the day.” I thought about it. “Besides, my friend Nixie is salivating to get out of her parents’ house. My place is cheap. She wouldn’t have to teach those satellite classes anymore.”
Bo’s eyes raised, cautiously hopeful. “Is that a yes?”
“That’s a yes.” He whooped and reached for me, but before he could show his appreciation, I stopped him. “What’s the other question?”
“The other…oh, yes.” If anything, he turned redder. “I didn’t use any protection. Tonight, or all the other times.”
“But I thought you couldn’t get STDs. And if you can’t get them, you can’t pass them on, right?”
“Yes, but…” Bo cleared his throat. Looked awkward. “Have you considered having children? Um, with me?”
“Oh, shit, am I pregnant?” And if I were? “You’d be on hook for half the feedings, buster.”
“I could do that.”
“And half the diaper changes.”
He made a face, but nodded.
“Well…”
Almost wistfully he said, “Mrs. Cook has missed having babies in the house. She had six children. And twenty grandchildren.”
“And they lived with you? All of them?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t kill them?”
Bo managed to look offended. “No, of course not. They’re children, Elena. They need to be nurtured.”
Wow. I was right. Primo daddy material. “Yeah. Okay.”
“Okay?” he echoed, almost as if he didn’t remember what he’d asked.
“If you’re up for it, I am. I’d rather plan, but—”
I was cut off by him sweeping me into a tight, joyful embrace. “Elena! I’ll make you happy, sweetheart. I’ll be the best husband a woman ever had.”
“Husband! Put me down, I didn’t say I’d marry you.”
He set me down. “But—”
“You didn’t ask.”
“Oh, Elena.” Bo retrieved his pants from the floor, dug into a pocket. Going down on one knee he held up his palm to me. Something glittered in it. I peered closer.
Light flashed, so bright it blinded me. “Ow! Hey.” I clamped my eyes shut.
“Sorry.” Bo chuckled. Then his voice went soft and serious. “Elena O’Rourke. Detective extraordinaire. I love you to heaven and beyond. Will you marry me?”
Eyes tightly shut, I stuck out my left hand. “Well, it’s about time, Viking. Yes. I’ll marry you. ’Til death…do we part?”
“We’ll talk about that later.” Bo took my hand and slipped something on my finger. When he released my hand, unexpected weight dragged it toward the floor.
“Whoa.” I opened my eyes, blinked. Rubbed them and blinked again. “What is this, the fucking Koh-I-Noor? Can an apartment manager afford this?”
Bo’s beautiful lips curved, his blue eyes sparkling like a sun-drenched sea. “I’ve spent centuries amassing a fortune. I’m more than a billionaire. I thought you knew that.”
“Uh…no.” I sank onto the bed. Bo Strongwell, Viking Building Manager—a billionaire? I would never, ever, ever look down on someone because of their profession again. “So why don’t you build a mansion? Or a palace?”
“My kind is powerful, Elena, but very few in number compared to humans. And still vulnerable. To sunlight. To bazookas.” He smiled.
“But rich.”
He rose and sat next to me. “Even so, we must stay secret, for as long as we can. Though it’s getting harder.”
“Why? Is someone going to give away your secrets?”
“Not intentionally. But some of us are getting incautious. And there are so many more of us, now.”
“More rogues?”
“Yes. But also more vampires, period.”
“But still only a handful compared to billions of humans,” I murmured. “We humans can help, you know. I can help.”
He drew a sharp breath. “I thought we had this conversation. I don’t want you policing vampires on your own, Elena. It’s not safe.”
“Not alone.”
“Detective Ruffles isn’t enough—”
“Not Dirk, you. I can patrol with you, as your backup. As your partner.”
“You and me?” He blinked. “I don’t know, Elena. I haven’t worked with a partner in, well, decades. Generations.”
I touched him gently. “I’m not Ruthven, Bo. I won’t betray you.”
“No.” He put his hand over mine. “You’re not anything like Ruthven.”
“That lameass. I’ll be a much better partner.” I grabbed him around the neck, planted a big kiss on his lips. “Prettier too.”
“Much prettier.” Bo laughed.
“Besides, if there are any humans around, I can deal with them.”
“I suppose it would help to have someone to get the humans out of harm’s way. But partner…I don’t know.”
I could see he wasn’t going to accept it easily. “I could at least make sure people don’t see you chopping heads. And I could solve crimes like the Case of the Punctured Prick—without revealing the v-population exists.”
“The Elena Strongwell Vampire Detection Agency?”
The name, “Elena Strongwell”, made me shiver. Bo was such a strong, darkly erotic male. And I was marrying him. “Sure, after I get in a few more years with the department.”
“I could use the help,” he said reluctantly. “But not a partner.”
“Bo, hate to break it to you but I’m already doing the job.”
“What?”
“Partners have an equal stake. Equal responsibility.” I caressed his cheek softly. “I went after the murderer. Solved the case. When it comes to justice, I’m your equal.”
Bo stared at me as if I’d nailed him with a rock. “You’re already my partner. Huh.” Then, slowly, he smiled. He took me in his arms, rolled me under him on the bed. Thrust into me. “Elena, you’re beautiful, you’re brilliant—and you’re damned sneaky. My wonderful fighter for justice. Partner. And sexy as hell.”
Fighting for justice. Sounded like my calling. Like our calling.
As I raised my hips to meet Bo’s, I amended that. Not our calling. But who we were.
…
I raised the weapon, pointed it at the headpin of the gang. “You,” I said in my toughest cop voice. “You’re going down.”
“If you don’t gutter it again,” Alice said.
“A little quiet, here,” I said. “This isn’t easy.”
“Because your fiancé keeps goosing you,” Nixie said helpfully.
“He isn’t goo…whoops!” The hot pinch to my behind made the ball squirt from my hand. It thudded onto the boards and rolled promptly into the gutter.
“Damn,” Alice said. “Next time I get the shrimp and the Viking on my team instead of Bombs-away and Preggers.”
“Hey,” said Gretchen. “I heard that.”
As I sat, my cell rang. I pulled it, noted the ID with resignation. The mayor’s office. “Hold for the mayor,” Heidi barked.
A click. “Elena, meine Freundin, congratulations on your arresting of the killer! The Schrimpf case is solved. The tourism is saved. I am so happy.”
“Thanks, Mayor.”
“The Mayors of Urban Centers United Society no longer tease me. I am so very happy. Heidi is also happy, which is making me so very, very happy. I can tell she is also happy because she is using her softest whi—”
“Good, good. I’m glad you’re happy and Heidi’s happy and the whi—I mean, everyone’s happy. Glad to be of service.”
“Ja, well I put in the good word with the Chief of Police for you. But surprise! He is already promoting you. So alles ist gut, ja?”
“Yeah, everything’s good. Bye, Mayor.” Chuckling, I shut the phone.
Gretchen leaned over. “You know, Elena, I said you changed, and I was right. You have changed, a lot.”
I remembered when she said that. When she was angry. When our bonds of sisterhood had cracked. “Yeah?”
“For the first time, I think you’re happy.”
“Oh.” Just like that, the crack was gone. I watched Bo gliding up to the line. Perfect form, perfect grace. He slid into the release like a pro. And all that perfect male was mine. “Yes. I think you’re right. I am so very, very happy.”
Just as Bo’s ball cracked into the headpin, his hip started tweedling. While the rest of us watched the ten pins at the end of the lane practically explode, Bo turned and pulled his phone. “Strongwell. Yes, Thor. Of course. I’ll be right—” He looked at me and smiled. “We’ll be right there.”
I stood. “Sorry, everyone. The neighborhood watch just called. Bo and I have to go.”
We got into our street shoes, and I picked up Bob and my new backup knife from a rental locker. The knife I slid into my jeans, into a secret holster Bo had sewn inside, just like he had for his patrol blade. “Where are we headed?”
“Northwest. Two rogues were sighted near the Meiers Corners work camp.”
“Is one of them Vlad?”
Bo’s eyes got faraway, as if checking an internal map. “No, he’s still inside.”
We hit the street. “Maybe they’re trying to break Vlad out.”
“Hope so.” Bo grinned. “I’d like a good fight.”
When we passed the AllRighty-AllNighty, I said, “The night we met, I was called in on a robbery and the strangest thing happened. There was a wind…and it tied Scout knots.”
Bo smiled. “Even then I couldn’t resist running my hands through your hair, Detective.”
“Oh.” I blushed. “Are we near those rogues, yet?”
“Around the corner.” Bo smiled. “Ready—partner?”
I grinned back, wide as a mile. Partner. That felt so damn right. “Oh, yeah. Let’s go.”
The love doesn’t end here…
Don’t miss the next book in the Biting Love series, Biting Nixie. Nixie and Julian have chemistry off the charts, but his secret could fully push them apart. These opposites are giving a new meaning to attraction.
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Acknowledgments
Thanks go to the dedicated professionals who shared their expertise with me. Any errors are my own.
About the Author
I write steamy paranormal romances and wickedly fun romantic adventures, stories that crackle with action and love. Challenging, smart alpha men—and women not afraid of a challenge. And oh, do the sparks fly when he meets THE woman guaranteed to infuriate and inflame him most.
In real life I’m an author, a spouse and mother, a flutist, a computer geek, and a binge-TV-watcher of The Flash, Elementary, NCIS, and Wynonna Earp.
Discover the Biting Love series…
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Assassin’s Bite
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