A vampire.
What was happening to him? This wasn’t part of his plan.
Screwing a vampire definitely hadn’t been on his agenda. No matter how soft her skin looked or how red her lips were or how—
Maya walked past him. Her bare shoulder brushed his arm, and the contact seemed to send an electric current through him.
She stopped at the bed. Dropped the towel and treated him to one fine view of her ass.
And of the black dragon tattoo that blew flames at the base of her spine.
He blinked.
His lust seemed to double.
Oh, he hadn’t been expecting that.
His hands lifted and he stepped toward her. The need to touch her suddenly burned through him. The lady obviously wasn’t the modest sort and if she hadn’t wanted him to play, she wouldn’t have stripped.
She had a good ass. Tight. Firm. Just the right size for his hands to grip and caress.
His fingers skimmed over her flesh.
Maya jerked on a T-shirt that he hadn’t even noticed lying on the bed. Then she spun around and caught his hand. “I don’t remember giving you permission to touch, Slick.”
He swallowed. His cock pressed hard against the edge of his zipper. “Thought the striptease was an invitation.”
She snorted. “When I give an invitation, you’ll know it.”
He clenched his teeth and fought to rein in his desire.
She pushed him back. Reached behind her, maneuvered a bit, and pulled up a thin scrap of lace.
Probably supposed to be some kind of underwear.
His control slipped, just a bit. Now it was his turn to grab her, to wrap his hands around the silken skin of her upper arms and to yank her against him. “You like teasing men?”
Her chin lifted. “This place is the size of a shoebox. It’s not like either one of us will get privacy while we’re here.”
But she could have changed in the bathroom. That walk across the room, the falling towel, the bare ass, it had all been designed to get to him.
To turn him on.
“Baby, if you wanna fuck, all you have to do is say so.”
Her mouth tightened. “I’ll remember that lovely little tidbit.”
Well, shit.
Adam drew a deep breath, smelled her. Damn flowers. How did she do it? No other vampire had ever carried a scent like—
“It’s time.”
He blinked.
“Dawn’s coming.”
Understanding hit. The little vampire wanted her drink.
She thought she could control him that way. Thought she’d be able to look into his mind, link with him.
Drinking from a human gave a vampire enormous power over the victim. Enough power to glimpse into the victim’s mind. To see memories. To touch dreams.
Once a vampire drank, well, she’d have control over the prey. She’d be able to get him to do whatever she wanted.
No wonder Maya wasn’t too worried about trust being an issue.
If he’d been human, well, she would have been right to think that way.
But since he wasn’t, all bets were off.
There’d be no control. Unless he was the one doing the dominating.
“You’ve probably heard talk about what happens when blood’s exchanged.”
Not really an exchange if he didn’t get to taste her. Not that he was particularly into that, but—
Her eyes met his directly. Blue, not hunter black. Not yet. “I’ll just take enough now for a bond. That way, if you get into any kind of trouble while we’re working together, I’ll know.”
If only he believed her.
Adam had never met a vampire who didn’t lie. He tilted his head back. Gazed up at the cracks in the ceiling and muttered, “Take your drink.” For all the good it will do you.
She rose against him. Her breath blew over his skin.
He should have been repulsed. Ashamed. He’d never given his blood to one like her before. Never offered his throat in submission.
Never been a fool.
Never been prey.
Until now.
His choices were nonexistent. If he wanted to find Cammie, Maya was his only hope.
“Relax. I told you, I not planning to hurt you.”
Actually, he believed the woman had said she wasn’t going to hurt him…much. The pain wasn’t an issue, though. He could deal with pain. He’d managed easily enough in the past.
But it burned in his gut that she was already lying to him. While he’d never been food for a vampire, he’d heard the stories from the lucky few who’d managed to survive. Ripping, slashing pain. Teeth that cut, severed.
Mental screams that were never voiced because by then, it was too late. The vampire was already in the prey’s head.
He remembered the foolish humans he’d seen at the feeding room. Eyes glazed over. Blood trickling down their throats. Had they tried to scream when they realized—too late—that it wasn’t all dark fantasies and passion? In that last second before the vampires took control, had they been afraid?
Her lips were on his throat now. Soft lips. Pressing gently. His hands clenched into fists. “Get it over with,” he growled.
“If that’s what you want.” A faint whisper.
He stared up at those cracks—like spiderwebs in the ceiling.
Her tongue swept over him, a warm, wet caress that caused his cock to jerk in reaction.
He was sick. No other explanation.
The edge of her teeth pressed into his neck. The pressure was hard, and he prepared for the piercing pain as—
Heat exploded through him, a blinding flash that shook his body. For a moment, he worried that he’d lost his control, worried that the beast was free, that it would destroy Maya—
The ecstasy hit him. Waves of pleasure, the feelings so intense he shuddered—and wanted more.
His
