Dark Kisses (Carnal Thirst #1.2)(5)
Author: Sylvia Day

Her leg lifted and her foot stroked up and down his calf. Her arms hooked upward beneath his, her hands stroking over the back of his shaved head. He’d never considered his scalp an erogenous zone before, but she made it so. Every inch of his skin was sensitive to her touch, heating and tingling as her fingertips caressed him.

She handled him with the care he might have shown her—as if he was delicate and precious.

Her tongue licked across his and he groaned, remembering the feel of it across other places on his body. She gave pleasure with as much abandon as she took it, and he let her. He couldn’t help it. Everything she did to him was perfect, circumventing his brain and taking him to that place where he was more animal than man—a creature of sensation and need.

Sliding down, he nuzzled briefly against her throat, then moved lower. He teased her n**ples with sweeping brushes of his parted lips and soft, gentle licks. Kim whimpered and tugged his head closer, silently urging him to suckle her, which he would not do. The tender tips were already swolen and he wouldn’t hurt her, even if she considered the pleasure worth the pain. Instead he worried the tiny hardened point with the tip of his tongue, fluttering over it like the kiss of a butterfly, before lavishing the same attention to her other breast.

“God that feels good,” she gasped, writhing beneath him, her skin heating to the touch. “You could make me come if you quit playing around.”

He laughed, something he so rarely did. Squeezing her hip in his hand, he continued his downward progression, his tongue rimming her navel before dipping inside.

Her flat bely concaved and a tickled laugh escaped her. The sound delighted him.

With his hand beneath her knee, Raze slid one of her sleek legs over his shoulder, then the other. He cupped her ass and lifted her. His mouth watered; his chest tightened with the anticipation of hearing al the luscious sounds she made while he pleasured her.

At the first long, slow lick, she sighed, her body going lax. “You’re so gifted. I’m going to have wet dreams about your mouth for the rest of my life.”

His lips curved. He took her with a deep, intimate kiss. Pushing inside her with gentle greed. Listening to her moan as he tongued her slick, tender flesh. Her h*ps arched, seeking more, and he gave it to her. Lapping through the silken folds like a cat with cream. He circled the tiny knot of her clitoris and stroked over it, relishing the way she writhed and gasped, then begged him to suck. She came with a ful-body shiver, gasping his name.

Wiping his mouth on her inner thigh, he shrugged out from under her boneless legs and sat up. He sheathed himself in an unnecessary condom, then nudged her legs wider and sank his h*ps between them. Fisting his erection, he guided it to her. He paused there, absorbing the heated expectation of the moment. In the hours past, he’d learned how perfect the tight clasp of her body was, how deliciously she held him.

An unexpected but not unwelcome tenderness weled inside him.

His eyes closed as she took the first inch, the pleasure so hot and fierce it misted his skin with sweat. He refrained from thrusting, careful to give her swolen sex the time to accept him. He let her body set the pace, sinking deeper only when she opened for him like an unfurling flower.

“Raze.”

Lifting his pleasure-weighted eyelids, he looked down at her, finding her flushed and bright-eyed. Feverish with desire. He cupped her head in his hands, holding her stil as he slipped into her to the hilt. He savored the way she trembled around and beneath him, watching her eyes darken as the desire took over. The glance they shared was open and nak*d, and as intimate as his c*ck inside her.

“God.” Her nails dug deliciously into the muscles of his back. “You’re so hard. And big. Jesus, you’re so thick and long.”

“Umm…” He roled his hips. “And you’re tight as a fist. I pack you ful. You couldn’t take another centimeter if I had it to give you.”

Pushing her heels into the mattress, Kim thrust up at him. “Ride me. I want to come again.”

“You’l come until you can’t take anymore,” he promised, feeling his fangs lengthen within his gums. Lifting his hips, he withdrew then pushed deep again.

“Harder, Raze. Give it to me hard.”

Delicate muscles rippled along his length, driving him crazy. Grinding his teeth, he fought the need to f**k her without restraint. He wanted to drag out the moment as long as possible, create memories for both of them of a hungry need so powerful they’d reverberate for years.

“Not yet.” He slid in and out, his h*ps working in a smooth, leisurely tempo. “Slow and easy now. Feel me. Feel what you do to me. How damned hard you make me. As much as I’ve had you tonight, I stil ache for more.”

Her head pressed into the pilows, unconsciously arching her neck at the perfect angle for the penetration of his fangs. “Yes. More.”

Anchoring her hip with one hand, he fisted her hair in the other, holding her immobile. The pulse in her throat throbbed wildly, her heart pounding as he dominated her completely. His tongue stroked over her madly pumping vein, plumping it. He sucked gently on the skin, bringing it closer to the surface. Her sex tightened around him.

“You feel so good,” he groaned, nuzzling the spot beneath her ear. “I could stay right here forever.”

“Raze, please… I need—”

The first spasms of her cli**x fisted his dick and his control snapped. He struck deep into her vein, his eyes roling back as the intoxicating flavor of her blood flooded his mouth. The ecstasy of his bite burned through her and she screamed, her body quaking with the force of her orgasm.

He was right there with her, coming as hard as if he hadn’t come al night, his body inundated with ecstasy and the power of her blood.

Then the deluge of her memories hit him with the force of a sledgehammer to the face.

* * *

Kim lay with her cheek on Raze’s shoulder and her arm draped across his hard chest. Her fingers drifted idly up and down the bulge of his biceps. Draped along his side with one leg tucked between his, she listened to the steady beat of his heart and thought about how none of this night had gone as she’d expected it to.

She had set out with the intention of getting drunk, so she could sleep without having to take a sleeping pil. Then she’d seen Raze and figured they’d screw each other into exhaustion. Which they had, but she had pictured more of a roling, clawing, pounding rut. On the floor maybe. Or the couch if they got that far. She hadn’t pictured a bed. She hadn’t imagined luxuriating in each other. She certainly hadn’t thought about cuddling afterwards.

There’s something here, she thought. Something that could become important to both of them.

“Kim.” His fingers were sifting through her horribly tangled hair. His other hand was splayed over her back.

“Hmm?” She snuggled closer. Everything about the way he touched her made her feel good. Hel, he’d sucked on her neck and she’d had the orgasm of her life.

None of the hickies she’d gotten in high school had ever revved her engine, let alone blown the top of her head off.

“Would you tel me why you cried when you first got here?”

She stiffened, unprepared for the question.

“Shh.” He pressed his lips to her crown. “You don’t have to.”

“No. It’s okay.” After a shaky breath, she told him, stumbling over the words a little because she hadn’t talked about it since the police questioned her. Saying the words brought the painful and horrifying pictures in her mind to life, making her relive the agony of finding her home a bloodbath and her dearest friend lying in the gore like a rag dol. The tears came with the words until she was sobbing violently.

Raze roled carefuly, covering her with his body in a hot, hard blanket of powerful male. He tucked her under him, sheltering her, his cheek pressed to hers and his arms caging her shoulders. The quiet strength of him sank into her, shoring her up. Anchoring her. She didn’t have to be strong for him. She didn’t have to hide her pain to make it easier for him. She didn’t need to shield her grief behind a smile so he’d think everything was al right.

He didn’t say anything, which was such a gift. She wondered if he knew that or if it was just his way. His was an old soul. She’d sensed that from the moment their eyes had met.

Eventualy, Kim quieted, her heart feeling so much lighter that she might’ve shed a tear over it, if she’d had any tears left.

“There’s a lot of shit in this world,” he said, kissing her softly. “I’m sorry you had to experience any of it.”

Cupping his cheeks, she lifted his head and looked into his eyes. “You experience a lot of it, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” He roled to his back and heaved out a sigh. “I have to wade through some of it today. Can I see you tonight?”

Delight fluttered through her tummy. “Would you like to come to my place? I can make dinner.”

He looked at her with those amber eyes and smiled wryly. “I have some unusual dietary restrictions. How about movies instead? I’l bring over one of my favorites and you pick out another one of yours. I’l feed you while we watch the shows.”

“Okay.”

“Okay? Realy? That’s good?”

She bent over and nudged his nose with her own, hiding a smile over his startled wonder. One could almost think he’d never planned a date before. “It’s great.

You’re great.”

He answered that with an exuberant kiss.

CHAPTER 6

Raze had been wandering around the city for half the day when he picked up a tail. He took a circuitous route to be sure and when he was, he puled out his cel phone and caled Vashti. “Problem.”

“Hopefuly I’ve got a solution.”

“It’s two o’clock in the afternoon and I’ve got a minion sniffing after me.”

There was silence, then a whistle. “Wel, that’s interesting.”

“It’s scary as f**k and you know it.” Only the Falen could take sunlight; minions were mortaly photosensitive. The only exceptions were minions who’d recently drank Falen blood, which afforded them temporary immunity that would last seventy-two hours at most. “We have a ful accounting of the Falen?”

“I’l double-check, but I can’t think of anyone in that area aside from you.”

“Let me know what you hear. In the meantime, I’m going to have a little chat with my shadow and see what I can shake loose.” He kiled the cal and shoved his phone in his pocket.

A group of teenagers exited a store in front of him, clogging up the sidewalk and providing the distraction he needed. Darting behind them, he entered the store and shot out the rear delivery entrance. He found himself in a smal aley lined with trash and dumpsters and framed above by fire escapes. Leaping the two story distance to the first escape ledge, Raze settled in to wait, knowing his tail would eventualy folow his scent.

Ten minutes later, a tiny brunette stepped out of the shop into the aley. He took a deep breath and smeled vampire. Crouching, he prepared to jump when it struck him that she wouldn’t be alone. She would be half of a pair.

He hopped down and blocked the swing of her fist, then shielded his groin when she attempted to take him down with a knee to the nuts. She pressed on, raining blows and kicks, which he deflected with greater speed, his forearms parrying jabs so quickly that to a mortal eye he would’ve seemed to be no more than a blur. He waited for the perfect opening and took it, stunning her with a blow to the neck and catching her in a headlock. Spinning her around, he caged her with her back to his chest.

He yanked her head to the side and bit deep. Her memories flooded into him along with her blood, giving him al the answers he needed… except for where to find Francesca. The baroness had gone under, contacting her minions via phone or email. His fangs retracted and he was licking the tiny wounds closed when her mate rushed into the aley.

“Behave, Lake,” Raze warned her softly, puzzled by some of what he’d read in her mind. “Or I’l tel him about your little piece of ass on the side.”

She stiled, breathing roughly.

Her partner, Forest—how sickeningly sweet was the deliberate pairing of those names?—froze at the sight of his woman helpless in Raze’s arms. “Hurt her and die.”

Raze grinned, but noted the shine of feral madness in the minion’s eyes. He’d seen inside Lake’s mind and knew what these two did on their dates—blood and pain were their aphrodisiacs. “I won’t hurt her… yet. But I’ve got her scent and I’ve drank her blood. I could find her in the Times Square crowd on New Year’s Eve.

Think about that.”

Forest’s hands clenched and unclenched rhythmicaly. “What do you want?”

“Take a message back to the baroness. Tel her to quit dicking around and face me. I have places to go, rogues to kil. I can’t hang around Chicago indefinitely.”

“You’d fight a woman? A lady. One of your own kind.” Forest began to shift restlessly, licking his lips. His eyes were lit with a sick hunger. It seemed Forest found it arousing to watch his woman manhandled roughly.

It was a terrible fact that the majority of minions lost their minds after the Change. Mortals weren’t designed to live without their souls and the Change took that from them. If it were up to the Falen—who were the source of the dark gift—only carefuly selected mortals would be Changed, but vampirism was like a secret shared only with trusted friends, who in turn shared it only with their most trusted friends, and so on. The spread had long ago become uncontrolable as the unstable minions began to Change others indiscriminately. It was Adrian’s job to mitigate the falout, an endless mission that pitted the Sentinels against the Falen in a contentious battle of wils.

“The baroness is no lady,” Raze shot back. “I’ve watched a video of her slicing an innocent man open—alive—while humming a merry tune. She can do that, she can fight me. So give her my message: I’m not wasting my time hunting someone who hides behind their minions. She’s got forty-eight hours to take me on or I’m passing her off to Adrian.”