Retribution (Dark-Hunter #20)(21)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

There was nothing sexier than her cowboy. Nothing hotter than feeling him inside and outside her body while he held her close and loved her.

It was the headiest of mixtures. One so hot that it sent her straight over the edge. Throwing her head back, she felt her body release. She lost herself to that one moment of sheer perfection.

Jess smiled as he saw and felt her cli**x on top of him. Her body clutched his, heightening his own pleasure. He lifted his hips, driving himself in even deeper while taking care not to bump her head against the low-hanging roof.

She cried out in ecstasy.

And he quickly joined her there. His head reeled as wave after wave of pleasure rolled through him. Yeah, he needed this a lot more than he’d thought. For the first time in weeks, his head was clear and his body calm.

Right now, he was the happiest man on the planet. That’s right, all you badass punks. Bring it.

‘Cause right now, he felt like he could take on anything or anyone. And he was more than ready to.

Abigail lay flat against Jess’s bare chest, listening to his heart pounding under her ear. A fine sheet of sweat covered them both as she slowly came to her senses.

I’m sitting nak*d in a car wash surrounded by angry wasps trying to kill us … with a man I’ve only known about forty hours.

Yeah, this was one for the books. And she definitely deserved the I-Have-No-Shame and What-the-Hell-Was-I-Thinking Award.

I can’t believe I just did this.

But then, she’d have it no other way. She really didn’t regret it. And at least I don’t have to worry about getting pregnant or diseased. The one good thing about a Dark-Hunter was that they couldn’t have children or carry any kind of STD or other illness.

Still, it was embarrassing. Anyone could walk in on them. Any minute. I would die if anyone did.

Jess kissed the top of her head. "We’re all right, Abs. I have the doors sealed, and no one’s coming."

That went over her like an ice water plunge. Her entire body locked up in horror.

"You heard that?"

"Um, yeah," he answered without reservation.

She shot up to stare at him as a new terror went through her. No … she better be wrong.

Surely …

"You can hear my thoughts?"

Now his gaze turned panicked. He glanced around as if trying to access some cosmic database in his head that would funnel a correct answer to him and get him out of this. "Uh…"

Good answer …

Not. His inner computer must be on the fritz, and her fury was mounting by the heartbeat. She could absolutely kill him! This was awful. Horrible!

Why didn’t he tell me?

Abigail curled her lip. Yeah, okay, she vaguely remembered seeing that ability in one of those weird psychotic flashbacks of his past, but it hadn’t sunk in and stayed with her.

Now it did.

"Oh my God, you can hear my thoughts!" She was thoroughly humiliated. Anger whipped through her as she returned to her seat and snatched for her underwear. Oh, don’t even get me started on the indignity of this…. She wanted to crawl under the seat and die. I should throw myself outside and let the wasps have me.

Oh wait, he can hear me. He’s probably listening in right now like some psychic pervert, getting his jollies off my embarrassment.

You suck, Sundown. You. Suck.

That she hoped he could hear.

She glared at him. "Why didn’t you tell me you could do that?"

He held his hands up in surrender. "It’s all right, Abby." His tone was soothing, but his eyes still showed panic.

And she wasn’t ready to listen to any form of reason. She was too humiliated. Gah, if he’d heard everything she’d thought …

She couldn’t stand it. "It’s not all right. How dare you not tell me about this. What kind of sicko are you? I can’t believe you’d do that. It’s so intrusive and … and…" She couldn’t think of a word bad enough to convey how very bad it was, and she was too angry to have full access to her vocabulary, anyway. "Have you been spying on me the whole time?"

Jess silently cursed as she continued to rant at him and snatch her clothes on. Damn, the woman was hotheaded. Not that he fully blamed her for it. He’d be pissed, too, if someone was traipsing in his mind.

Still …

"Abby, listen to me. I can hear thoughts-"

"Little late now, bucko." The last word was said with such snapping venom, it oddly reminded him of a chicken clucking. She snatched her head up to pierce him with a look that really should have splintered him into pieces. Damn, someone should bottle that. It’d make entire armies drop arms. "I noticed. Thanks for volunteering that. Let me give you a Hero Award for your first confession. Big flippin’ hairy doo dah…" Then she added an extremely sarcastic, "Woo. Hoo."

"But," he continued in what he hoped was a calming tone while he ignored her outburst and go-to-hell-and-roast-your-nuts glare. Now, that was what he deserved a Hero Award for. Took guts to face a woman this angry. "I don’t. Not normally. Just every now and again, something comes through and pops into my head like your question. I don’t know how it got past my defenses. Maybe ’cause I was in my zone and not thinking of anything other than how good you felt."

She covered herself with her jeans. "Like I believe that. How stupid do you think I am?"

"I don’t think you’re stupid at all." He was the rank idiot who’d opened his mouth when he should have kept it closed. His mama had always said 90% of intelligence was knowing when to shut up.

Other 10% was knowing when to nut up-which he was trying to do, but it wasn’t easy.

She finally paused and locked gazes with him. That look paralyzed him because he knew if he so much as blinked wrong, it would set her off again, and that was the last thing he wanted.

Don’t smile. Don’t sweat. Don’t do nothing.

Don’t even breathe.

It was like watching a salivating bear you knew would either lumber past and go on its way …

Or rip your arm off and beat you with it.

"How do I know you’re not in my head right now?"

He ran various answers through his mind. ‘Cause I said so. Nah, that’d get him bitch-slapped for sure. I wouldn’t dare. Made him sound like a coward.

Think, Jess, think.

Finally he opted for the simple truth. "It’s rude, and I wouldn’t want anyone to do it to me, so I try hard not to do it to others. Honestly, it ain’t my favorite power. You have no idea how sick people are, and I really don’t want to know most days. The world can have their thoughts. I got enough of my own to deal with."

Abigail hesitated as she considered his words. For reasons that made no sense whatsoever, she believed him. Not to mention, what he said made a lot of sense. She wouldn’t want to look into other people’s minds and find out their psychoses and insecurities either.

And he hadn’t said or done anything previously that led her to believe he had that ability. Her only clue had been that one snippet with him and the lawyer.

He’d been stressed then, too.

Okay, I’m going to trust him. But if she ever found him near her thoughts again without her permission … It definitely wouldn’t pay to be in his boots.

"Don’t do it again," she warned.

"Trust me, I won’t. At least not on purpose. Like I said, I can’t always control it, but I do most of the time, and I will definitely be more on guard around you, especially any time you’re going near the more tender parts of my body."

She didn’t want to be amused by that last bit at all. Unfortunately, she was.

Even so, it didn’t mean she had to let him know it.

Forcing herself to stay stern, she nodded. "Good. Now what other evil powers do you have that I should know about?"

"I can roll my tongue," he said proudly.

Gah, he was such a goofball sometimes. Hard to believe a man with such a fierce, lethal reputation who’d been wanted and hunted voraciously by every branch of law enforcement in the Old West, could be so irreverent and playful. She wondered what those enemies would have thought of him had they ever seen this side of his personality. They certainly wouldn’t have been so scared of him.

Which made her wonder if he’d been like this as a human. Or had he developed his humor as a Dark-Hunter?

In the grand scheme, it didn’t matter. Right now, she needed to know who and what, exactly, she was dealing with. "I’m serious, Jess."

"So am I. Not everyone can do it. It’s a genetic thing, you know."

Abigail let out a tired sigh as she fought down the need to choke him.

He gave her a teasing grin, then finally took mercy on her and answered the question. "I have some telekinesis, which you already discovered. Premonitions. Can see auras and … I make a killer omelette."

That was an impressive list-including the omelette tidbit. But what made her sick to her stomach was that she’d stupidly gone up against him without knowing any of that.

Thanks, Jonah, for the extensive research you didn’t do. It was a wonder Jess hadn’t killed her.

Maybe that had been Jonah’s intent all along. "Believe me, Abigail. I’ve found every bit of detail on Sundown that’s ever been documented or thought. There’s nothing about him I don’t know. We have all we need and then some to kill him.

A clue about his powers would have been a nice addition to their arsenal.

Jess leaned forward and kissed her bare shoulder. "Am I forgiven yet?"

Dragging a slow gaze down his lush body, she hesitated. One because she basically lost her train of thought to how much she’d like to take another bite out of him. No man should be so sexy. Even nak*d, he exuded such power and confidence that it raised a chill on her skin. And two, she did have to think about the possibility of forgiving him. She still wasn’t sure she should.

But really, what choice did she have? Could she really hold mind-reading against him when it was something he hadn’t asked for?

She made him wait a few seconds more before she answered. "Fine. But only because you look good nak*d."

His grin turned evil. "I’ll take that."

"Good. Now, let’s get dressed before we do get discovered by some nosy clerk."

He tsked as he pulled his pants up and fastened them. "Remind me to kill Coyote for rushing this when I’d rather lay nak*d with you than fight wasps and coyotes and all the other crap he’s throwing at us."

"Don’t worry. I think we have many reasons to kill him." Abigail finished buttoning her shirt, then looked outside. The wasps were still everywhere. It was a sickening sight, and she was getting tired of listening to them buzz. "What are we going to do about our friends out there?"

Jess had no idea. But before he could respond, his phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket and answered it.

"Where are you?"

He arched a brow at Ren’s angry tone. "We got trapped by the wasps. Where are you?"

"At your house with Choo Co La Tah. He was trying to chant the wasps into submission when something happened."

That can’t be good. Dread ripped through Jess. They couldn’t afford to lose him at this point. He was the only guide they had who actually had a clue about what was going on and how to correct it. The only other Guardian around was Snake … and he was on Coyote’s side.

"What happened?" he asked Ren.

"I don’t know. He’s in some form of coma. I’ve never seen anything like this."

Jess winced. If Ren was panicked over this, then there was a good reason to be panicked over it. The man had ice water for blood and wasn’t prone to any form of overreaction.

"Can we wake him out of it?"

Ren lost his patience. "Well, you know, cowboy, that’s a really good idea. Damn shame I didn’t think of it, huh?"

"Cut the sarcasm. Are you’re sure it’s not a vision quest?"

"For the sake of our long-term friendship, I’m not even going to dignify that with the response it deserves."

Because it, too, was a stupid question. Jess had known that before he asked it.

Still …

He ran his hand over his face as he tried to think of some kind of plan or action to save Choo Co La Tah and get rid of their current pest problem. "We need someone else who can control the weather. You know anyone?"

"I do." Jess heard Sasha in the background. "Give me a few, and I’ll be back with help."

Ren said something muffled to Sasha, then uncovered the receiver so that Jess could hear again. "I have to say, Sister Fortune has ridden out of town on us, and I don’t like it."

"Gotta say, I don’t blame you. I’m not exactly sending roses to her either." He let out an aggravated breath. "So do we have any intel or insight as to what we need to do for Choo Co La Tah and to stop Coyote?"

"Not really. I don’t know what else Coyote will come up with. He’s unpredictable at best. A bastard at worst. And when cornered, he’s lethal beyond measure and will do whatever he must to win. His heart lives in a place best left untrodden. All I know is we have to get to the Valley by sunrise."

"I know."

"No, Jess. You don’t. We have to beat Coyote to Old Bear’s magic. If we do, we might be able to keep him from unlocking the next set of plagues."

That would be good. But it wouldn’t be easy. "What exactly is his magic? Other than the Grizzly?"

Ren sighed. "You should have listened more to your mother’s stories, boy. Your lack of education offends me."