CHAPTER ELEVEN
This was what she’d
wanted. She’d planned on inviting Jace up to her room to test her
theory about her visions, but the way he gripped her hand with such
obvious anger gave her second thoughts. And third
thoughts.
The man was
pissed. She’d suspected he might be, so
the tension-filled silence as they waited for the elevator to reach
their floor shouldn’t have affected her so strongly. But it
did.
Her skin practically
itched with apprehension.
She could get Jace
into bed; there was no doubt in her mind—attraction still buzzed
between them beneath everything else—but she didn’t want their
first time to be tainted with anger. She wanted them to be the
people they’d been earlier this morning. People who could laugh
together, who were obviously sharing something more than their
bodies. Even if it was foolish to want something more than sex with
Jace Lu, she didn’t care. Even if being with him was actually in
some way responsible for bringing on her horrific
visions.
She couldn’t imagine
how such a thing could be possible, but she couldn’t ignore the
evidence. No visions until she and Jace had kissed for the first
time, and then—bam—two incidents right in a row, both times right
after she’d been in a deep lip-lock with Jace. The timing should
have been enough to bring back her suspicions that he couldn’t be
trusted, but it didn’t. She trusted Jace, and, as unexpected as it
was, she could tell he cared about her and wanted to
help.
All the more reason
to make sure she was honest with him from here on out. Which meant
she should tell him about her plan before she put it in motion. A
heads-up that she might go mental on him midnooky would probably be
appreciated.
“Jace, can we talk
now?”
“Are we in the room?”
His chilly tone invited no further comment. Good thing she’d never
needed an invitation to speak her mind. At least, not with him. No
matter how brusque he could be, she felt comfortable with Jace. He
could never intimidate her the way even her big brother
could.
“I can tell you’re
upset,” she said in her most mollifying tone, “but I need to
tell—”
“Upset doesn’t cover
it,” he snapped. “You disobeyed a direct order.”
“I didn’t realize I’d
signed up for the military,” she snapped back, her clear-the-air
intentions fading fast. Where did he get off? Hadn’t she made it
obvious she wasn’t going to put up with this kind of
crap?
“And you put yourself
in danger by going back to your apartment,” Jace said, ignoring
her. “The place where you were pushed down the stairs less than
twenty-four hours ago.”
“I
didn’t—”
“Don’t lie to me.
I’ve seen you when you know the layout of a place. Half the time no
one can tell you’re blind,” he said. “There’s no way you fell down
the stairs of your own apartment building. You—”
“Fine, I might have
been pushed. By the invisible demon you don’t believe in. I also
heard a woman telling me to run, just like I heard a woman
screaming in the ruins. So I’m still feeling invisible demons and
hearing imaginary women. Are you happy now?”
“No, I’m not happy. I
think it’s pretty clear I’m not happy.” He pulled her out into the
hall when the elevator doors dinged open.
The smell of freshly
cut flowers filled the air, reminding Sam of the arrangement she’d
been taking to the Choes. She wondered if those flowers had really
been on the floor of the murder scene, the way she’d seen them in
her vision, and if so, how they’d made it from the Dumpster to
their apartment. Jace was the only one she knew of who’d seen her
throw them away. It was just another little fact that should have
made her wary, should have made her run the other way when Jace let
go of her hand to slide the key to their room into the card
reader.
But she didn’t. Jace
wasn’t capable of killing someone in cold blood, just like he
wasn’t capable of hurting her, no matter how angry he
was.
“Putting yourself in
danger for a change of clothes was a dumb call.” Jace’s lecture
began in earnest as soon as the door slammed closed behind them.
“And dumb calls are a good way to end up dead. I don’t know
what—”
“I didn’t go back to
my apartment,” she said. “I went to my ex-boyfriend’s house to talk
to him about the demons.”
“What?” He somehow
managed to make that single word sound as ominous as a death
threat.
Great. Well, no time like the present to put that
Jace-would-never-hurt-me theory to the test.
“He still had some of
my clothes at his place, so I changed there. He’s a doctor of
demonic anthropology with a minor in occult practices,” she said,
standing her ground as she heard Jace move closer. “I thought he
could help.”
“And did he? Did he
help you?” His hands landed possessively on her hips, making her
breath hitch. He still sounded mad as hell, but the way he touched
her … Damn. Electricity practically
radiated from his fingertips.
Maybe she’d been
wrong about the anger thing. The jealousy was nice, too. He was
obviously jealous that she’d had clothes at another man’s house.
She’d always thought envy a ridiculous emotion, but she couldn’t
deny Jace’s possessiveness turned her on. A lot.
“He’s trying,” Sam
said, her voice trembling a bit as his body heat warmed her face.
Jace was bending down, which meant his lips were probably only a
few inches away from her own. “He’s going to look into a few of his
books and see if there could really be some sort of psychic
connection between me and the aura demons my parents summoned when
I was a kid.”
“There’s no such
thing as an aura demon.” His hands slid up to her waist and under
her sweater, until they rested on the bare skin of her back. They
were warm, but they still made her shiver. She wanted to arch under
his fingers like a cat, to let him know how even such a simple
touch drove her crazy.
“A hundred years ago
people would have said there was no such thing as demons. Period.”
Sam leaned closer, bringing her hands to Jace’s chest, loving the
way his muscles bunched beneath her fingertips. He smelled just
slightly of sweat and general New York City street grime, but that
did nothing to dampen her excitement. Arguing with Jace was fast
becoming one of her favorite forms of foreplay. “Now we know
better.”
“I don’t think so.”
He pulled her even closer, letting her feel that disagreement had a
similar effect on him. “Demon is just a name.”
“What do you mean?”
Sam tilted her hips, a thrill running through her as she nudged
where Jace was already as hard as he’d been that first time on the
street. God, she couldn’t wait to get his clothes off, to finally
have the chance to live out some of the fantasies she’d had about
this man.
No. Not about this
man. The Jace Lu she’d fantasized about was a bad boy without a
cause. He hadn’t had a sense of humor or cared about her. And he
certainly wouldn’t have trembled when she touched him.
She liked this man
even better than her dream Jace—maybe she even loved
him.
“The things I hunt
aren’t demons—at least, not in the original sense of the word,” he
said, his breath hot against her forehead and his hands sliding
farther up her back, teasing at the close of her bra. “They’re
reptile-mammal hybrids, descended from dinosaurs. They’re animals
without—”
“Animals who can
think and plan way better than people give them credit for. After
thousands of years living in caves, they adapted to a radically new
environment and then manipulated that environment to make
themselves at home, all within the space of a few days.” The close
of her bra snapped open with a practiced little flip of Jace’s
fingers. Sam’s nails dug into Jace’s shirt as her nipples pebbled
tight inside the loosening cups of her bra.
Why were they still
talking? She had no idea, but for some reason their conversation
about demons was really doing it for her. Maybe it was just the
deliberate delay of pleasure that made her skin itch and her sex
throb. Or maybe it was just being this close to Jace. They could
probably be discussing the weather and she’d get hot,
wet.
“So they’re smarter
than your average lizard.” He shrugged. “That doesn’t prove there
are invisible demons.” His lips pressed soft kisses to her temple,
then her cheek.
“It doesn’t prove
that there aren’t, either. What if aura demons are to the demons
what we are to dogs and cats? Smarter? More dangerous?” Sam met
Jace’s lips for a not-so-sweet kiss before he tugged at the bottom
of her sweater, pulling it up and over her head. He pulled her
deeper into the room. She followed eagerly, kicking off her shoes
as she went.
“More dangerous than
a demon that can shoot poisonous quills out of its stomach?” he
asked, his voice muffled as he pulled off his own shirt. Seconds
later, Sam heard metal jingling and the hushed slide of leather
through loopholes. Jace was taking off his belt. Her body threw a
celebration, complete with bells and whistles and nervous thrills
shooting across every inch of her skin.
“Think about it,
survival of the fittest. It’s a basic law of nature.” Sam’s mouth
went strangely dry. This was it. They were getting naked. He was
getting naked.
“Exactly.”
“What?” she asked,
struggling to follow the conversation.
“Survival of the
fittest. I’m agreeing with you.”
Oh. Right. “Right. So
what could be more fit than a predator you can’t even see?” she
asked. “That you couldn’t fight with teeth or claws or human
weapons even if you could see it?”
Jace was silent for a
long moment. “I see your point.”
“But you still don’t
believe in aura demons.”
“I don’t know what I
believe,” he said, a weary, vulnerable note in his voice that
touched something inside of her, and made her want to hold him for
reasons that had nothing to do with sating their mutual
hunger.
She heard the little
boy Jace might have been in that voice, a scared, confused little
boy who didn’t have much in the world to hold on to. It made her
wonder about his childhood, if maybe it had been even less cheery
than her own. At least she remembered a time of happiness before
that night in the barn, and after she came to live with her
brother.
“I do know that I’m
exhausted, I’m dirty, and I’m worried about your safety,” he said.
“There are probably a dozen things I should be doing instead of
what I’m about to do, but I don’t care.”
“You
don’t?”
“No, I don’t. I need
to know if you taste as sweet as you look.”
Oh, my. Her skin felt three sizes too small as she
imagined where he would taste her, how he’d put those full, soft
lips and teasing tongue to use on every place where she
ached.
“Now, take off your
bra.”
There was a note of
the won’t-take-no-for-an-answer Jace in his tone, but this time it
didn’t bother Sam. A part of her thought it should, but it didn’t.
The feeling that he wouldn’t be taking no for an answer only made
her throb.
“Now, Sam. Take off
your bra and your pants.”
Sam’s lips buzzed as
she let her bra slide down her arms, then tugged at her jeans,
popping open buttons and shoving the rough denim down to her ankles
before stepping free. This was exactly what she wanted, what she
needed. So why was she so nervous?
“Come here,” Jace
said, the husky note in his voice letting her know he appreciated
seeing her in nothing but a pair of black panties.
Seeing her. Shit, she hadn’t said anything about
her theory on where her visions were coming from.
“Jace,
I—”
“Come here. I want
your tits in my mouth.”
Damn. How could she argue with a sentiment like
that? Or waste any more time with potentially useless explanations?
Either she’d have a vision while she and Jace were rolling around
in bed, or she wouldn’t. Talking to him about the possibility would
only convince him she was even crazier than he thought she was
already.
“Even though you
think I’m kind of crazy?” she asked, realizing what was causing her
hesitation. How could Jace want her when he thought she was nuts?
She was allegedly the crazy one, but she didn’t find head cases
particularly sexy.
“Only kind of?”
The teasing note in
his voice made her feel a little better. “Jace, I’m serious.
I—”
“I don’t think you’re
crazy.” His hands closed gently around her wrists and pulled her
against him. “I think you’re beautiful.”
Oh. God. He was naked. Totally naked. She could
feel every delicious inch of his skin.
“You really are soft
all over,” she said, running her fingertips down his chest and then
lower, skimming over his hips, down to where his body showed her
just how desirable he found her. Tentatively she ran her fingers up
and down his length, amazed at the petal softness of the skin
covering the seven or eight inches of hot, hard male
flesh.
“You feel like a
flower,” she breathed, blushing before the words were even
completely out of her mouth.
Jace made a noise,
half laugh, half snort, that made her smile. “A flower?” The kisses
he feathered across her shoulder were gentle, undemanding, as if he
sensed she needed to move into this slowly.
“A manly flower,” she
said, breath hissing out as his hand slid up her wrists, past her
elbows. His thumbs brushed lightly across her nipples, making them
pebble even tighter as frissons of excitement flowed down between
her legs.
“That may be the
strangest compliment I’ve ever received.” His thumbs brushed across
her again, drawing a moan from low in her throat.
“Thanks,” Sam said,
finally starting to grow tired of conversation. There were better
things she could be doing with her mouth. Slowly she stroked Jace
up and down, once, twice, until his breath hitched.
“But you know I love
flowers. They’re one of my favorite things in the world,” she
continued, sinking down to her knees, until her lips were level
with Jace’s erection. “I love the way they smell.” She inhaled the
musky scent of male arousal and slightly salty skin and sighed. Way
better than roses. “I love the way they feel.” She leaned closer,
teasing her lips across Jace’s tip until his cock twitched against
her mouth. “I even love the way they taste.”
Her lips parted as
she took just the tip of him into her mouth and suckled, drawing
the head of his cock in and out, in and out, with a gentle suction
until she tasted the most intimate flavor of the man she
loved.
Love. The emotion
kept sneaking into her heart no matter how many times she told
herself there was no future for her and Jace Lu, and she was tired
of fighting it. It was insane to fall so hard for a man—even a man
she’d known and fantasized about for years—in less than a day, but
it was hardly the craziest thing that had ever happened to her. The
unexpected and unlikely happened far more often than most people
realized.
Which made a foolish
part of her hope that Jace might feel the same way. It was
unexpected and unlikely. But that didn’t mean it couldn’t
happen.
“You have to stop,”
he said softly, as his fingers threaded through her
hair.
“Do I?” She pulled
him even deeper, relaxing her throat until she took as much of him
as she could into her mouth.
He groaned, a
tortured sound that made her breath come faster and her sex ache.
Giving pleasure was almost as good as receiving it. Almost. “Yes,
you do.” One hand fisted in the hair at the base of her neck and
pulled her away from his cock with a force-fulness that made her
gasp in surprise. And pleasure.
No matter what she
preferred in “real life,” in the bedroom she couldn’t deny that she
liked a man who wasn’t afraid to take control. Who wouldn’t think
twice about scooping her up and throwing her on the bed. Who didn’t
ask permission to do what he wanted to her body, simply gave her
orders he expected her to obey.
“Spread your legs,”
Jace said as he climbed onto the bed after her. His hands were
already behind her knees, but he didn’t make a move. He was waiting
for her to do as she was told.
“Yes, sir.” Her voice
was light, teasing, but the feelings rocketing through her body
were anything but. Her nipples pulled so tight they stung in the
cool air of the hotel room, her hands fisted in the quilt beneath
her, and every muscle in her body tensed and trembled. It had been
so long since she felt this way, so exposed, so vulnerable to a
man.
Hell, she’d never
felt like this. Never been on the verge of tears because of the way
a man pressed soft, adoring kisses up and down her thighs, drawing
closer and closer to where her body wept with need. She was dying
for Jace to be inside her, to fill her where she ached, wanted him
so badly that her thighs began to churn on either side of him, as
if somehow her writhing limbs could force him to move something
more useful than his mouth between her legs. Sure, oral sex was
nice and all, but—
Her breath whooshed
in with equal parts surprise and excitement. Holy. God. What the hell was he doing down there?
With his tongue, moving in and out and up and down and around and
around her clit until her body sang with pure joy. Pure passion.
She’d never felt anything like this, never known having a man taste
her could be so completely transporting. Obviously she’d never had
someone do this properly.
But Jace did. God, he
did. Again and again he played through her folds until she was
certain he’d tormented every needy inch of her flesh. But then he’d
find previously unexplored territory, teaching her that there was
more to pleasuring a woman than mindlessly circling her clit. Every
place his tongue licked and teased had its own little pleasures,
sweet torments that built the pressure within her until she could
barely breathe.
“Please.” Sam’s head
thrashed back and forth on the blankets, her hands fisted into the
sheets until she swore she could feel her nails digging into her
palms even through the thick fabric. Her heels dug into the
mattress beneath her as she shamelessly strained to get closer to
Jace’s mouth, Jace’s tongue.
“Sammy, God, Sammy,”
Jace murmured, his words humming against her sex before he drove
his tongue deep inside her, moaning as if he’d never tasted
anything better than her pussy. Then his hands were on her thighs,
spreading her even wider, pinning her to the bed as he moved from
her clit to her entrance, from teasing flicks of his tongue to
forceful plunges into where she ached like she’d never ached
before.
She would have sworn
it was impossible to be this aroused without reaching climax, but
somehow Jace just kept taking her higher. And higher. Until she
cried out wordlessly for him to let her fall, for him to push her
off the edge. She wasn’t afraid of falling anymore, but this
relentless climb was too beautiful and horrible to bear much
longer. She was going to lose her mind. She needed to come, needed
Jace to make her come, like she’d never needed
anything.
“Come for me, Sammy.
Come,” Jace demanded.
And that was all it
took. She exploded, her body clamping down on where Jace’s tongue
still worked in and out, in and out, wickedly awakening fresh
desire even as she spiraled out of control, her body writhing on
the bed like a woman possessed.
Which she was not. No
demonic possession or connection. No visions, nothing dancing
before her eyes—open or closed. She didn’t know whether to be
relieved or disappointed. But then, it was hard to be anything
except mind-numbingly aroused when Jace captured her mouth with
his, driving his tongue between her lips, letting her taste her own
sweet-salty heat before he positioned himself at her entrance and
shoved slowly, achingly slowly, inside
her. Inch by inch, velvety soft flesh, bare and hot, moving deeper
and deeper, until he filled her completely and then just a little
bit more.
“Sammy.” It was only
her name, nothing special, but when combined with one of those
kisses—the kind he’d given her at the hospital, the kind that made
her certain she didn’t ever want to live without this man—it was
enough to send her over the edge again, sobbing his
name.