This Side of the Grave (#5 Night Huntress)

I let out a small snort. “I don’t like it, either, but Denise is the ultimate decoy. You saw her. She’s now my twin, right down to my cup size. If you
saw her out at a bar, even you would swear it was me.”
“Not as soon as I got close,” he replied, head lowering until his mouth brushed my jaw. “Forget the heartbeat; she doesn’t smell like you, her
voice isn’t yours, her posture is different, and she looks at people differently than you do.”
“How do I look at people?” I asked, bemused. All the other things he’d listed made sense, but few except Bones knew me well enough to notice
those differences. Denise’s heartbeat was the biggest concern, but we had a way around that which would work for all but someone right up next to
her—and I didn’t think Spade would let anyone get that close.
Bones pulled back, staring into my eyes even as his fingers traced my face. “You have the gaze of a fighter. Noticed it right off when we met. You
looked at me . . . and I could tell you were mentally assessing my strengths and weaknesses before anything else. At the time I thought it was odd,
because that stare didn’t match the green girl who tripped over her words when she asked me if I wanted to fuck.”
Laughter bubbled from my throat. “I was trying to lure you outside so I could kill you, but unlike every other vampire I’d met up to that point, you
weren’t cooperating. Should’ve known right then that you’d be trouble.”
His lips curled, a hint of green appearing in his gaze. “Ah, but that only made me more tempting to you. You couldn’t resist the challenge. That’s
why you came looking for me the very next night, and why you agreed to let me train you even though you still plotted to kill me those first few
weeks.”
He was right. Back then, believing all vampires were evil bloodsuckers, I’d been determined to kill Bones despite the fact that he was much
stronger than me. And he was right that the lure of defeating such a powerful vampire appealed to my sense of challenge. Or recklessness,
depending on who you asked.
“What about you?” I breathed, standing on tiptoe to brush his mouth with mine. “If I’d have fallen back with my legs open like all the other women
you came across, you’d have given me the night of my life, and then forgotten my name before breakfast. But I was immune to your charms and
prettiness. Must’ve shocked you.” I couldn’t stop my grin as I lightly nipped his lower lip. “So I’m not the only one who couldn’t resist a challenge.”
“You weren’t immune to my charms for long, as I recall,” he responded, a brow arching with sinful meaning.
“I admit to being stubborn when it came to resisting your appeal.” Spoken as I unwound my towel to let it drop to the floor. “But I’d have to be all
the way dead not to want you.”
His eyes were now completely green, and fangs gleamed out from his upper teeth. I loved the way his gaze raked over me. Like it was the first
time he’d seen me this way, and he couldn’t stop himself from staring. I knew my body, was well aware of its flaws, but Bones made me forget those
when he looked at me. Under the hunger in his gaze and the swell of his lust cresting against my subconscious, I felt beautiful, strong, and sexy.
Free to do anything without fear or shame.
His hands slid down my bare skin, power caressing my senses at the same time. I opened my mouth as his head dipped, feeling those inner
sparks ignite with his kiss. They increased as his tongue stroked along mine with deliberate, intimate thoroughness. He’d use the same slow, deep
strokes when his mouth was somewhere else, and the thought made my loins clench with anticipation. Bones only rushed things when I wanted him
to; when impatience made my need so sharp that I couldn’t endure the delicious way he drew out foreplay. Tonight, though, I wanted him to be the
one who felt drugged with passion, and if I let him keep kissing me, I’d soon be past the point of enough mental capacity to do that.
“Get on the bed,” I said, tearing my mouth away.
He carried me there, trailing more dizzying kisses down my neck at the same time, but I resisted when he started to lay me onto the mattress.
“Just you,” I said, untangling myself from his arms.
He cast a meaningful glance at the thick bulge in his pants before looking back at me. “Not becoming a tease, are you?”
I felt the rub of fangs against my tongue, two pointed reminders of the heat flaring inside me, but I pushed my desire back. That was tough to do
with Bones propped on his elbows, legs casually yet invitingly splayed, inky shirt unbuttoned to reveal a V of crystal flesh in extravagant contrast to
the dark fabric. For a minute I stared at him, letting his beauty fill my eyes.
“Angels wish they were as gorgeous as you,” I said with conviction.
“I’m very far from angelic, but thank you for the compliment.”
The words were light—his expression wasn’t. It was intense, his eyes flashing with emerald, and that bulge between his legs sent rip currents of
lust through me. If I kept staring at him, letting my mind dwell on the fact that he felt even better than he looked, I’d fall on top of him and lose all
thought amidst the bliss of his flesh merging into mine.
But I had an agenda, and right now, it didn’t involve me jumping on him. We’d had so much stress, danger, and violence lately, with more coming
on the horizon, that our circumstances didn’t lend themselves to romance, but I didn’t care. Sure, we could sit down, go over our battle strategy yet
again, or smother each other with admonitions to be careful, but if I’d learned anything these past few years, it was to grab hold of moments of bliss
when they came.
Or to make them myself, if circumstances weren’t accommodating enough to throw one my way.