Tooth and Claw Page 3

  Jesus Christ.

  He could probably see through her pants and panties anyway so what did it matter if he saw panty lines?

  Wasn’t it ironic they were on the hunt for a Panty Bandit and she was worried about whether hers were showing or not?

  “I’m sorry.”

  Paxton whipped around at the sound of his voice and the sincere apology. She hadn’t expected that. It made her stop short.

  “For what?”

  He ran into her. Would have laid her flat if his damn reflexes weren’t like lightning so that he caught her a second before plowing her over. Her heart thudded against his rib cage where he had her crushed to him. She could feel it, could he? His breath fanned across her hair, making her whole body tingle to awareness.

  Well, not to awareness, she was already aware. She didn’t want to be aware. This nearness to him only boosted the flames.

  Lord she was in so much trouble.

  “For hurting your feelings back there.” His hands clenched and unclenched on her upper arms. She wanted to feel those hands further down her body. Starting at her breasts.

  Paxton shook her head. He had to have possessed her. Another one of his talents, no doubt, the shithead. Did he have the ability to make her want him? “It’s all right. I hadn’t expected anything else from a vampire.” She pursed her lips and swallowed. Was that fair? “Besides. You didn’t hurt my feelings.” Much.

  Seth snorted a laugh. “You never pull any punches, do you?” He gently pushed a lock of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. Her throat suddenly went dry. “I’ve waited six months, Paxton.”

  His golden eyes glittered in an almost primitive, “me man, you woman” way, and his nostrils flared. Vampire, she reminded herself. The man was created to be a woman’s wet dream. To entice women into his bed so he could feed off them. Capable of bringing even the most repressed woman to heel. Not to mention to orgasm. Ugh. She should be sickened by him. How many women had he schmoozed and bedded anyway?

  They were killers. That thought brought things back into perspective.

  “We will talk about the prince issue later,” he promised, stroking her cheek.

  “Pfft.” She tried to be nonchalant and wave him off, but if the look he gave her said anything, he saw past the attempt. She admitted, if only to herself, that she was beginning to want to know more about him. The prince thing had really thrown her, and she cursed Luke again for not telling her.

  Maybe because you were so busy trying to make Seth go away you never outright demanded Luke tell you more.

  Why do you freakin’ care?

  “All right then. Whatever. Let’s go get you that vest.” She extracted herself from his arms, telling herself she did not feel bereft at the loss of his touch. Could not feel bereft because she didn’t like him.

  “I don’t need a vest.”

  He damn well did, she fumed, suddenly seeing red and not knowing why. She wasn’t going to let him die on her watch. Not before she got him out of her system.

  She was losing her ever-loving mind.

  “Do you know how much it hurts to have a pair of panties snapped against your skin?”

  She thought his eyeballs might pop out of their sockets the way they widened, and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing.

  “’Scuse me?”

  “Stings like a son of a bitch. Kind of bites into the skin, leaves a welt. ’Course, we could be dealing with an amateur. In which case he might not get much velocity on the elastic.”

  One eyebrow rose. “And you know this because of personal experience?”

  A rush of liquid heat shimmied through her belly as he skimmed his gaze from her face to her waist. She could have sworn his eyes had a glow to them. Damn it. That had backfired on her.

  “Doesn’t matter, Princey. Point is, we all have to wear the Kevlar so suck it up.”

  Maybe she should just submit to what she knew he wanted and go for it. One night. What could it hurt? She could get the insane…obsession with his looks out of the way, they could both have a little fun and part ways in the morning as if nothing had happened.

  Vampire, stupid. Stop thinking with your clit. He’ll probably use his vampire voodoo on you and make you want more than one night.

  She slammed open the door to the basement with enough force to shake it from its hinges. Even she wasn’t naïve enough to believe she could get up and leave in the morning as if they hadn’t spent the night doing the mattress mambo. Voodoo or not. If he were a human man she wouldn’t be able to either. She didn’t do one-night stands.

  Plus she had the uber-aggravating feeling that one night wouldn’t be long enough to get him out of her system.

  She took the steps a little too carelessly, stumbling as her foot hit the edge of the stair. With a quick grab of her hand, Seth saved her from tumbling head first, and steadied her.

  “I’m fine,” she said and tugged at her hand, which he didn’t release.

  “Yes. I can see that.”

  Damn man and his supernatural ability to make her want sex.

  With him.

  Now.

  He traced his thumb over her palm, causing her pulse to race.

  Why was she feeling so slutty?

  “Where are we going?”

  Part of her delighted that he was so discombobulated as to forget where they were headed. The other part of her dreaded the reason he wasn’t thinking clearly.

  She lifted her chin. “To the cage, remember? To get a vest so you don’t get yourself killed at the scene.”

  “Killed sniffing underwear?”

  “Hey, you never know what might be lurking in a woman’s unmentionables. Besides, if I have to wear one, so do you.”

  “Seems like a trivial case for two seasoned detectives to be put on.”

  “Yeah, well, you heard the captain. The mayor asked for the best.” Paxton shivered at his touch and admitted feeling silly about investigating a panty snatcher. But what the mayor wanted, the mayor got. No matter what.

  The mayor and this latest robbery made cases number twenty-one and twenty-two. That they knew of, anyway. How many other people had had their undies swiped but were too embarrassed to come forward? The Panty Bandit was starting to make the department look totally inept.

  She led him to the cage door, only realizing as she reached to sign in at the window that he was still holding her hand. And that she didn’t want him to let go.

  She gritted her teeth. “Gutiérrez,” she greeted the man on duty.

  “Tenor.”

  “We need to find a vest for Mr. Gramble.”

  The officer looked down to where their hands connected and hid a smile by coughing. Heat flooded Paxton’s face. Great. Now she’d be the talk of the squad room. Did you see Paxton and the vampire? She could already hear the rumors. Their holding hands would turn into them groping each other at her desk. She tried to withdraw her hand again only to be thwarted. The ass. Didn’t he know what would happen?

  Of course not. And as a man, a typical ego-ridden vampire, he wouldn’t care either.

  Still smiling, Gutiérrez pressed a button next to him, and the door behind them buzzed, allowing them entrance into the cage.

  “Would you let go?” she spat and yanked her hand free. How in the hell would she ever cover up his holding her hand?

  “Only because you asked so nicely.”

  Paxton ripped the door open and held it for Toothy, as Luke so often referred to him. His eyes held amusement as he passed her, his hands firmly in his pockets.

  “They’re in the back.” She pointed in the direction he needed to go, doing her best to keep from slapping the look off his face. Or worse, from grabbing him and pulling off his clothes to ravish him.

  Temptation was a bitch. But God the way he filled out those jeans…

  She pinched her hip and tried to shake the desire to shove him into the corner and have her way with him.

  Chapter Three

&nb
sp; The door clicked shut behind them, closing them once again in a small space and trapping him with her scent. Sweet and spicy and impossible to ignore any longer. She sighed behind him.

  “I think you’ll probably need one of…these.” She brushed past him, heading for the wall holding a line of vests, and pulled out something from the larger-sized end.

  “I’ve tried to tell you, I don’t need one.”

  “Look, macho man, while you might think you don’t need protection, the department does. Personally I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think. You’re with me and Luke. You don’t wear one, I get put in the corner because you didn’t follow policy. So don’t tell—”

  Seth grasped her wrist and dragged her next to him. The act was effective in cutting her off. The way her eyes glittered and her chest heaved with her anger had done nothing but make his cock harder. Gently holding the back of her head in one hand, he lowered his mouth to hers, giving her plenty of time to curse him, smack him or back off. She melted against him with a moan and tilted her head, allowing him better access. He wasted no time taking it.

  She was made for him. Just like he’d known since first meeting her. He loosened his hold on her head and wound his other arm around her. Perfect.

  One hand slid down to the small of her back, then lower, settling on the firm roundness of her ass. Paxton acquiesced, and her tongue swept out to tangle with his. He finally had her right where he wanted her.

  He swung her around and pressed her back against the wall of vests she so adamantly said her department wanted him in, using them to cushion her. Her fingers clawed at his shoulders and her legs wrapped around his as she tried to get closer. Seth happily helped, gripping her thighs and lifting her higher.

  He devoured her, tasting her, until he felt his teeth start to grow and sharpen. Backing off, he allowed Paxton to catch her breath. Her chest bellowed against his and he savored the soft, warm weight of her body.

  “If you don’t want this, you better say so now. In a minute I won’t be able to stop.”

  Paxton licked her lips, making Seth think about that tongue on his cock, tracing the thick vein that ran its length or sliding through the slit at its head.

  He dropped his chin toward his chest. She would kill him before any damn panty bandit would.

  “And what if I don’t want to stop?”

  Seth smiled, opening his mouth to remind her what she was getting into. For a split second her eyes widened, but then she rubbed a thumb over his upper lip.

  “Is it really as fantastic as they say it is?” she whispered.

  “Is what?”

  “Sex with a vampire.”

  He hoped to God she wasn’t doing this just to get her rocks off with a vampire.

  He shrugged. How the hell would he know since he’d never been a human. “I’ve never had any complaints.”

  “I love a man with a big ego,” she said sarcastically, then grabbed his ears and pulled him closer. “Now let’s hurry. Gutiérrez is out there waiting for us to check out, and I don’t need to add any more fuel to the fire of the gossip hounds.”

  Though he had to wonder about her abrupt change of mind, especially since she’d asked him about it being good, he slowly let her feet slide to the floor, giving her plenty of time to feel the erection she’d caused. He searched her face for any sign that she didn’t want what she said she did. He guessed there was no question when she attacked his fly, tearing at the button and zipper like a woman possessed.

  Placing his hand over hers, he stopped her. “Whoa.”

  She looked up at him as if he were crazy.

  “I’m serious, Paxton. Make sure this is something you want because this won’t be a one-time thing for me. If you’re looking for a one-night stand”—he gritted his teeth against what he was about to say—“then…”

  “I thought one-night stands were all vampires—” She looked as though she was having a battle in her head. Finally, she said, “I’m not sure I can do one-night stands either, Seth.”

  Thank heaven.

  More than one night meant he had a longer time to convince her his race wasn’t as horrid as she believed.

  “Then by all means, be my guest.” He relinquished his hold and let his arms sag to his sides. Within seconds she had his cock out and in hand.

  Holy shit. He was sure his head would explode. Her touch was exquisite, her fingers slowly squeezing his length, giving a rub around the head, then back down, some sort of twist, up, over, around, down. Seth sucked in a breath and felt his body waver.

  “Stop,” he panted, never remembering a time when any other woman could literally bring him to begging. And he’d lived a long, long time. Two hundred and forty-two years meant a lot of women had graced his bed.

  But none had been his mate. None had mattered.

  He carefully lifted her hands away from his rock-hard cock and placed them above her head.

  “Do not move them,” he growled, and emphasized his point by curling her fingers around the vests hanging behind her.

  Paxton nodded, her breath still coming hard. “Just hurry.”

  He kissed her hard and quick. “I’ll hurry. This time, baby. Next time, there will be no such thing as hurry.”

  A few heartbeats later he had her pants off along with her shoes and panties.

  “How’d you do that?” she croaked, staring at her clothes on the floor as if they’d jumped off her by themselves.

  “Vampire ability. Now where were we?”

  “I’d say, about here.” Her legs hefted upward, wrapping around his waist and nestling her wet, heated pussy against his cock.

  He looked up to find she’d moved her hands from where he’d put them and now clung to the bar the vests were hung on.

  “You’re going to kill me, woman.”

  “Oh, did you need a vest already? I can’t even reach my panties. Surely they won’t hurt you lying on the floor.”

  An inhuman snarl rumbled out of his chest, surprising her. She squeaked and nearly lost her hold. Seth hauled her to him, breaking her grip and sinking his cock into her very tight sheath at the same time. She gasped and he swore he heard her mutter, “Oh, fucking gods above.”

  He thought he heard because he was too busy trying not to pass out from the feel of his mate surrounding his cock for the first time. Even his wildest imaginings didn’t measure up to this.

  “Why the hell have I been denying myself?” Paxton breathed.

  “What was that?” Seth wondered if his eyes were crossed. They sure as shit felt like they were.

  “Nothing. Move. We’re in a hurry, remember?”

  “Most definitely.” He pushed her back against the wall of vests and thrust his hips, impaling her to the hilt.

  Then thanked God he didn’t come with the first penetration.

  “Oh my God, what did you just do?”

  Seth withdrew, sucking in a breath at the feel of her sheath pulling at his cock. “This,” he said, sweat beading on his forehead as he thrust back in.

  “Yes, yes,” she panted. Her eyes slid shut and her chest pushed out, pressing her nipples against the fabric of her shirt and reminding him there was more to taste.

  He unbuttoned the silk, exposing her bra and plump breasts. His mouth watered, and if his teeth weren’t already down, they would have descended now.

  Paxton grabbed his collar and bumped his nose with hers. “Don’t stop.”

  He calmly flicked the closure between her breasts, releasing the magnificent mounds. Her nipples, stiff peaks, a beautiful mauve, begged for his mouth, his lips. The pale skin above those taut beads waited patiently for his bite.

  He wasn’t a patient sort of man.

  Seth swooped in and licked a turgid nipple, curled his tongue around it and flicked it, wringing another long groan from Paxton. Her hips shot forward, setting a pace of her own on his erection. He palmed her buttocks and held her tight.

  “I will smack you,” she snapped.

  Seth chuckl
ed. “I’m going to bite you, baby.”

  “Whatever, just…make me come.”

  “I will. Promise.”

  Placing his lips on the fleshy part of her breast, he gently nipped her skin. To add to the sensation, he withdrew from her pussy once again. He couldn’t wait any more himself. Twice more he penetrated her. Sweat dripped from his brow.

  Juvenile, he chastised himself. Getting off with very little effort.

  Paxton whimpered in his arms. “Please.”

  I love you. He sank his incisors into her chest, hugging her tight when she sucked in a breath.

  Warm, tinny, nectar-of-the-vampire-gods blood flooded his mouth, his senses. Better than any he’d ever tasted in all his life. She was his essence. She was his mate.

  His.

  All his.

  Her head fell back in ecstasy as an orgasm washed over her. Her thighs tightened around his waist, her heels dug into the small of his back. She cried out as her pussy clenched his cock, dragging his own climax from him. Pump after pump of come shot from the tip, drenching her womb with his DNA, starting the process of their mating.

  He traced her mind, looking for a connection and finding one almost immediately.

  “That’s it, Princess. Take me. Make me yours.”

  “Huh?”

  He felt her head snap up above where he drank from her. Careful not to drain too much, he stopped his feeding, sealing the wound with a long lick on the mark. As his mate, his bite would remain on her skin, a reminder to all others like him that she belonged to another.

  To him.

  He could hardly believe it.

  Seth gradually lifted his head, unable to take his eyes off the mark he’d left.

  “I barely felt it.” Her voice was scarcely a whisper as she reached to move her shirt out of the way so she could see what he’d done. “Did you just talk in my head?” This time her voice was laced with a tinge of anger.

  “I did.” He kissed her nose, unwilling to slide from her vagina just yet, content to be part of her forever.

  “Oh my God, we just fucked in the cage.” Her eyes widened and Seth had a feeling she wasn’t only concerned with them fucking in the cage, but with them fucking at all.