“I’ve been careful,” he stated, more to himself than her. “But this is an amazing turn of fortune.”
“I assume we’ll be going to the ball tomorrow night.”
“Yes, of course. We have to go.” He drew in a deep breath. “Do you know what this means?”
Angelica smiled and ran her hand lightly over his scruff along his jaw. “Actually, I do. You’re close to your goal.”
“All I need is to get at the documents detailing all the players, the clubs that Starlin owns, the bank accounts, the machinery for abduction, the holding-cell locations, and I can take them down.”
“Reyes, this is amazing.” That it all sounded too good to be true wasn’t something that she said out loud, but she felt uneasy.
His mood shifted suddenly, new, surprising emotions that had him grinding his jaw. She just couldn’t imagine what it was he was thinking.
Finally, she said, “Say it out loud. Maybe that will help.”
He groaned. “I’m still furious that I left you exposed on that platform. I keep thinking about how easily Engles or Scorpion could have hauled you away. I was unconscious, for God’s sake.”
“And therefore completely out of control, more than you’d ever been when I was with you.”
Turning toward her slightly, he leaned his elbow on the back of the sofa and settled his head into his palm. His brow was lined with furrows, his body tense. She didn’t know how to help him.
Finally, she decided on letting him know what happened after he got knocked out. “I kneed Engles in the jewels.”
At that Reyes’s brows rose. “You did what?”
She chuckled. “I kneed Engles hard. You were out cold and he so kindly told me that now I was his because you couldn’t do a damn thing about it. So, I hit him where it hurt.”
“I don’t understand. If you did that, then either both of us should be dead or I should be dead and you should be bound to him right now.”
“I think the whole thing amused Scorpion. He was laughing while you were unconscious. He was the one who broke it up. Believe me, we were both surrounded by Engles’s security team, but Engles bowed to Scorpion’s will.”
Reyes stared at her for a long, hard moment; then his lips curved. “So, you nailed that bastard in the jewels.”
“He crumpled like a little girl. I’ve never seen a face that red, and his cheeks were puffed out like a blowfish. He fell into the water and came up choking. It was a beautiful sight, despite the fact that I was scared out of my mind.”
Reyes laughed, then slid his hand in her hair, cupping the back of her neck. “I hardly remember what happened except that the moment Engles landed behind you and touched you my brain funneled down to a narrow beam of pure rage.”
“You knocked him so hard that both of you landed in the water. It was awesome. Of course I can say that now because we’re both still alive. But it was one of the best moments of my life.”
“You amaze me, Angelica. You’re handling this whole thing with tremendous grace.”
She stared into Reyes’s clear blue eyes, once more caught by the man she knew him to be. Through this difficult experience she felt as though she was getting to know him and hoped that maybe she’d be able to help him see who he truly was. She knew he viewed himself in a bad light, as one who’d been enslaved and worthless.
For her, he would always be the man who, the moment Engles had touched her with the intention of rape, had defended her, putting both his life and all his plans at risk.
Her mind ran suddenly back to the platform, to making love with him, despite having an audience. She’d wanted him to complete the act then, and she wanted it now even more.
A delicious shiver raced through her. “You know, Reyes,” she began as she pulled apart her robe and let him see her br**sts, “we didn’t exactly get to finish what we started and I have a feeling you need to feed.”
“Angelica,” he whispered.
He leaned toward, slanting his lips over hers. Passion erupted between them like a volcano.
He pushed her back on the couch and kissed her as though he were a starving man and she was his first meal in months.
She loved it. She flung her arms around his massive shoulders and shifted around so that her legs could accommodate his body.
She reached low, fondling what was already hard for her. She’d begun to feel that nothing was so beautiful as floating her fingers over the crown of his cock, then drifting the length of him. He would fit inside her and connect her to him, in the same way the chains had bound them together, the way his lips and his tongue formed a sacred seal.
When he entered her this time her body rolled in a languid arch, taking him in, feeling all that he was.
“I love doing this with you and I wouldn’t have cared if we’d been on the platform. I swear it. All I wanted was to feel you inside, to be joined with you. I crave you, Reyes, every part of you.”
He nuzzled her neck and she felt the sides of his fangs pushing against her throat in careful nudges. Knowing that he’d soon pierce her vein and take her lifeblood made her moan loudly. “Please, yes, please. Drink from me. I never dreamed it could be like this.”
Angelica, you feed me in so many ways and tonight you saved my life.
He slowed his h*ps but kept up the seductive curl of his pelvis and thighs as he placed an arm over her chest to keep her still. He licked along her throat, encouraging the vein. She felt it rise as though reaching for him, as though needing this as much as he needed sustenance to survive.
Yes, she whispered through his mind.
His fangs struck and she cried out as her internal well tightened around his slowly gliding stalk. He felt so good and his scent, full of maleness and sex, rose to create euphoric streamers through her senses.
He removed his fangs and began to suck, pushing into her deeper now. The sounds of his mouth working her throat intensified her body’s pull on him.
See what you to do me? She writhed beneath him. I’m almost ready to come.
He groaned; then with a movement that stunned her he drove his c**k in quick thrusts, vampire fast, so that she was crying out, her body spasming before she realized what had happened. All the while he suckled her neck, somehow remaining pinned to her while her body arched and rocked.
The pleasure was so sharp, so intense, that she dug her nails into his back, which for some reason made him suck harder.
He slowed his h*ps but kept pushing into her. His control stunned and amazed her.