Chapter Ten
Howth, Ireland
THE WAREHOUSE looked empty and unused when Quinn and his two bodyguards arrived the next night. Yes, two bodyguards. Both Garrick and Adorjan had insisted on accompanying him.
He sighed, while thinking that at least the unused appearance of the warehouse was a good sign. You couldn’t tell it from the outside, but a vestibule had been added to the warehouse entrance as a security measure. There were now two doors, one three feet behind the other. In order to open the interior door the outer door had to be shut. It limited the number of people who could enter at once, and also provided a few minutes’ advance warning of a potential intruder. It wasn’t much, but a few minutes was all a vampire needed.
Quinn was aware that a new shipment of guns had arrived in the wee hours of the previous night. Casey had met the boat and discussed the new arrangements with its captain. The man hadn’t cared who took the guns or what they did with them, as long as he got paid and was left alive to spend it.
That was all good. But regardless of what Quinn had told Garrick, he wasn’t in Howth to check on the warehouse or the guns. Casey could handle the damn smuggling operation. He was here for Eve. There’d been no more random shootings of vampires, at least none he was aware of. So, he assumed she’d been telling the truth when she’d claimed to be reassessing the morality of her killing spree. But he was honest enough to admit that her vampire hunts were only part of why he wanted to see her. He missed her. She was a pain in his ass and a danger to his people, and he missed her. Not just to fuck, although thinking about her lying beneath him, with his cock buried in her slick pussy, those little moans she made before she climaxed, her frustrated cries when he slowed down, withholding her orgasm until she begged so prettily. . . .
Fuck. He was hard as a rock. He jerked open the Range Rover’s door and stepped outside, easing the pressure on his cock while he shoved thoughts of Eve’s silky body out of his mind. He was usually better than this. Always in control. But something about Eve had thrown him off from the very beginning. It was a damn good reason to walk away from her. As long as she stopped killing, he could leave her behind and get on with the business that had brought him to Ireland. Right? He sighed.
“My lord?”
Adorjan’s deep voice interrupted his personal motivation speech. “Yeah. Sorry. Thinking about something else. Let’s go.”
He ignored Garrick’s knowing glance and started for the warehouse, automatically scanning ahead. There were only four vampires inside, which wasn’t unexpected, and yet . . . something was wrong. He couldn’t put words to what he was feeling, but alarms were going off in the part of his brain that had come alive ever since he’d awakened as one of those rare vampires with true power. He considered his options in the instant between one step and the next. He should warn Adorjan and Garrick. But they’d insist on wrapping him in cotton batting and stowing him safely in the Range Rover while they dealt with the danger. They kept forgetting that he was the vampire lord, the baddest of the badasses, not some fragile egghead good only for sitting behind a desk and thinking about shit. Christ, if he’d wanted to sit behind a desk, he’d still be a lawyer.
Besides, if he couldn’t fuck Eve, then he’d just as soon beat the shit out of whichever vampires had taken over his warehouse and now, apparently, thought to ambush him. He’d made his point in Dublin, when he’d destroyed Lon Conover and made Conover’s people his own. And he’d made it again with the human gang leader, Ennis Neville, stealing the port gang away from Sorley and making them his own, too. But he clearly hadn’t done enough here in Howth. That had to change.
Quinn entered the code on the outer door’s new keypad lock and shoved the door open, ignoring Adorjan’s hurried protest when he came up behind him. Quinn turned with a wink. “Sorry, one person at a time.” The outer door closed, and he took a moment to do a deeper scan, wanting to know more about the four vampires inside and, specifically, what the hell had happened to Casey. The vamp had been part of the planning for this Irish venture from the beginning, but Quinn had only been in his head once. That was when they’d first met, and he’d needed to make sure that Casey wasn’t a spy from Sorley or anyone else. He’d done the same mental scan on every member of the team. But he didn’t know if that was enough to recognize the vamp now. On the other hand, Casey had sworn a blood oath to Quinn just as the others had, which would make it much easier to pinpoint his location and well-being.
These thoughts passed through his head in a matter of seconds, the time it took for the outer door to close and his fingers to input the distinct code on the inner keypad. He couldn’t afford to stand in the vestibule and contemplate the problem. Whoever was waiting would only become suspicious and make Quinn’s job more difficult.
He touched on each of the four vamps inside. One was deeper into the warehouse, his presence muted as if in sleep. Casey, he realized. Either injured, unconscious, or both. Two others were very much awake, their thoughts a jumble of determination and being scared out of their minds. Yeah, Quinn could take his time with them. But it was the fourth vampire, the one lurking just inside and to the right, a position that would put him behind the door as Quinn entered. His mind was clear as a bell, cool and confident. This was a vampire accustomed to killing.
Sorley had apparently decided he didn’t like Quinn’s deal with Neville, after all.
He tapped the final number on the keypad and walked through, shoving the door hard to the right. The waiting assassin was far too skilled for that little trick. He stepped out from behind the door and placed a gun to Quinn’s head, but before he could pull the trigger, every nerve in his arm went dead. Quinn spun, grabbed the gun with one hand, catching it before it could hit the floor. With his other hand, he sank his fingers into the vampire’s throat and lifted him from the ground.
“A gun, asshole? Does no one in this town understand what it means to be Vampire?”
The assassin made a gurgling noise, which Quinn ignored, focusing instead on the buzz of the door opening behind him.
“What the fuck?” Adorjan roared and would have snatched the assassin from Quinn’s fingertips.
“Stop,” Quinn snarled. “This one’s mine. You get the others. Garrick,” he said, as his cousin rushed inside. “Check on Casey. He’s in the back.”
“As for you,” he said to the would-be assassin, “you’re going to tell me everything you know.”
“I will not betray—” The vampire’s words were cut off as he screamed in agony.
“Of course, you will. It’s only a matter of how much pain you’ll have to endure in the meantime.” Quinn squeezed his fingers tighter, displacing divots of flesh. “Feel free to hang tough, by the way. I’m in a crappy mood, and this is incredibly therapeutic.”
The vamp stared at him. “You’re insane,” he managed to whisper.
Quinn frowned. “Hey, I wasn’t the one lurking behind the door with a gun, asshole.”
Adorjan emerged from behind some of the stacked weapons’ boxes, dragging the limp bodies of the two vampires Quinn had sensed hiding earlier. “These two were both at the meeting the other night and swore loyalty to you. They admitted to betraying their oaths, but insisted they had no choice and beg for mercy.” He glanced down at them. “I got tired of their begging,” he said, which explained their unconscious state.
Quinn met Adorjan’s gaze and nodded grimly. He’d warned them. There was only one punishment for betrayal in vampire society, and that was death.
Adorjan dropped the two unconscious vamps to the floor, then walked over and broke apart a wooden chair, snapping off two of its legs and leaving the rest. He then came back to the unconscious vampires and, without ceremony, slammed a leg into each of their hearts, one after the other. The two vampires dusted in an instant. They’d made the wrong decision, and they’d paid.
Quinn didn’t give them another thought. “What about Casey?”
“Garrick’s with him. He took a bullet to the head.” The big vampire’s gaze slid sideways to glare at Quinn’s prisoner. “That one likes guns.”
“Is Casey all right?”
“He will be.” Adorjan grinned. “He’s got a hard head.”
“Secure the doors. I’m going to question our gunslinger, and I don’t want any interruptions.”
QUINN’S MOOD WASN’T much better when they left the warehouse just over an hour later. The assassin had cracked far too easily. Apparently, his usefulness as an assassin had less to do with vampiric power, and more to do with his very human skills with weapons and skulking about. He’d been a hired killer with the Russian mob before he’d been made a vampire. Sorley had met him somewhere in Europe, decided a professional killer would be a useful tool, and turned him the same night. No questions had been asked or permission sought, though the Russian hadn’t minded all that much. He’d happily fallen in with Sorley’s plan to take over Ireland, and become his number one assassin. The situation had worked great for both of them until Sorley had made the mistake of sending his pet killer after Quinn. The Irish lord had to know how powerful Quinn was. He wouldn’t have been threatened enough to kill him otherwise. But he’d clearly underestimated Quinn’s fondness for violence, mistaking his law degree for a preference for following rules. What he didn’t understand was that the only rules Quinn had to follow anymore were the ones of his own making. And any vampire who tried to kill him or his was fair game. Death was a certainty. The only question was how much he’d suffer first.
The answer was not much. Sorley’s pet killer was a classic bully. He loved hurting others, but had a terrible fear of his own pain. He’d caved like a snowball on a sunny day, every secret he owned spilling out so fast, it was hard to keep up with him. You’d have thought a coward like that would welcome death, but it seemed death was even more terrifying to him than pain.
Whatever. Quinn didn’t care. He’d squeezed everything there was to be had from the vampire and then executed him with the third leg of Adorjan’s chair. He could have ripped the assassin’s heart out, but he didn’t want to get that bloody. Too much clean up, and there wasn’t even a shower in the building.
After they locked the warehouse, Adorjan took Casey back to the Howth house, while Quinn and Garrick left the Range Rover where it was and headed to their favorite pub. Quinn didn’t mind the down time, but more than anything, he needed blood. He was using a lot more energy than usual lately, and it had been nearly a week since he’d fed from the sweet, little brunette at this same pub. Maybe she’d be around again tonight. It would make things easier. He could avoid all the foreplay involved with a new woman—making it clear what he wanted, making certain it was what she wanted. He wouldn’t mind going right to the biting and fucking part of the night. He hadn’t actually fucked the brunette last time, because Eve had been in the picture, but the brunette had certainly been willing and probably would be again. If not, he’d find someone else. Attracting women had never been a problem for him, whether human or vampire.
Quinn knew Garrick was feeling protective after the assassination attempt, but he wasn’t in the mood to be babysat. He’d just have to make sure his cousin was distracted. The pub was as packed as he’d expect for a Saturday night, the inside so full that the crowd spilled out into the patio, and beyond that, onto the dock itself. Some of those revelers seemed in real danger of taking a dip in the icy waters of the harbor, but that wasn’t his concern.
He could barely move through the mass of people as he headed inside. Crowds like this had a certain dynamic, a living energy that he could feed from almost like blood. But he didn’t have the patience for that tonight. He wanted the real thing. Hot, sweet, and silky, right from the vein. Using just a touch of his power, he cleared a path, the mostly happy humans making room for him without even realizing they were doing it. More than one female cast a welcome glance his way as he moved deeper into the pub, but he could feel Garrick at his shoulder, his protective scowl practically cock-blocking him with every step.
Fortunately, Garrick was hungry, too. Even more fortunately, he had a type, and Quinn knew what it was. He searched as they maneuvered through the crowd, until he found the right female. Blond and willowy, with average breasts and a lost look in her big eyes that said she didn’t do a lot of pub crawling. The look of a woman who needed saving. Perfect.
Quinn knew he shouldn’t do it, but sometimes the end justified the means. Or so he told himself. He reached for the woman’s mind and, using the gentlest of touches, steered her attention toward Garrick. His cousin had no more trouble than Quinn attracting women, so once the blonde’s attention was focused on Garrick, it took no more interference from Quinn to get her moving in their direction. A slight bump of his shoulder sent Garrick stumbling into the woman at the right moment. A blush on her pale cheeks, a startled look from those Bambi eyes, and Garrick’s arm slid protectively around her waist.
Quinn grinned. “Looks like love,” he said in his cousin’s ear.
Garrick shot him a matching grin, then frowned. “I should—”
“Don’t be daft,” Quinn said, cutting him off. “I’m heading for the shadows and a bite. I’ll be perfectly safe while you rescue yon maiden.”
Garrick shot the blonde a lustful look, then back at Quinn. “If you’re sure.”
“Go.”
He was almost insulted at how quickly his cousin disappeared into the crowd. Maybe he hadn’t had to work so hard to set him up, after all. But he wasn’t going to waste the opportunity. Doing as he’d said he would, he pushed through into the unlit depths in the back of the pub. This place was the closest Howth had to a blood house. The smell of blood and sex was blatant to his vampire senses. And if that wasn’t enough, the soft cries of ecstasy, punctuated by the occasional deep growl of conquest, made it perfectly clear what was happening. Quinn sharpened his gaze, and his vampire-enhanced sight pierced the shadows. Not all of the fucking going on involved vampires. Some of the human locals were taking advantage of the darkness to do some fucking of their own. Quinn’s mouth twitched in amusement, as he searched for his brunette, finally finding her in a small group of women, all of whom seemed to know each other, if their lively conversation was anything to go by. His girl was on the quiet side, but not a wallflower. She smiled and laughed, and made the occasional comment, but mostly seemed simply to enjoy being there.
Quinn remained in the shadows, reluctant, now that the moment was here, to claim the lovely woman. What the hell was wrong with him? He needed blood, and she was willing. He frowned. Unlike a certain redhead who wanted to pick and choose which parts of him she accepted. She wanted the human, but not the vampire. Well, fuck that. He was a package deal, and he wasn’t going to pretend to be anything less than he was. Not even for Eve.
Using a small amount of power, much as he had on Garrick’s blonde, he drew the brunette’s attention. Her head came up, and her eyes widened, as her tongue slid out to moisten lips he knew were pillow soft. He smiled and crooked his finger. She sucked in a breath, said something to the woman next to her, and then hurried toward him.
It was a struggle to remember her name. Quinn felt bad about that, but, in his defense, he’d never expected to see her again, and there’d been a lot going on. It hit him just in time.
“Nora,” he said, all vampire dominance as he grabbed her hand and pulled her closer until they were toe to toe. Her perfume was an enticement, her breasts brushing his chest, as her breath rushed a little too fast, betraying her nerves. “Relax, baby,” he murmured, adding a small push to be sure it worked. The last thing he needed was for Nora to pass out before they got to the good part.
“My lord,” she whispered. She’d done that the other night, too. Used the vampire honorific, as if he expected it. He couldn’t remember if he’d told her his name. Or if he’d erased it before he left her. It didn’t matter. Theirs was purely a relationship of convenience. Nora wanted an experience she could tell her friends about, and he wanted blood.
“Come here,” he murmured and put an arm around her waist, guiding her over to the row of booths lining one wall. There were only four of them, and they were all full. Quinn caught the attention of the two vampires currently occupying the booth in the very corner, and jerked his head. The two vamps immediately grabbed their human companions and scooted out from behind the table, disappearing into the crowd as Quinn handed Nora onto the bench seat and started to follow her.
“What the fuck is this?”
Quinn turned at the sound of Eve’s voice. She was standing behind him, looking for all the world like a jealous girlfriend. Except that she didn’t have the right to claim either of those things. It made him angry that she’d try.
“Eve,” he said with forced calm. “I wouldn’t have thought this was your scene.”
“Same goes.”
“Really?” He laughed. “Look around, sweetheart. These are my people.” He took Nora’s hand and pulled her out of the booth, thinking a little privacy might be better for what he had planned. “Let’s go, baby,” he told her. “I’ll bring you back, don’t worry.” He closed the fingers of one hand over her hip, then pushed her in front of him, and began moving through the crowd toward the outside. He still had a room at the house, or there was the warehouse, which was very close and very empty. He’d take her there, in more ways than one.
EVE WATCHED IN disbelief as Quinn pulled the other woman out of the booth and headed for the front door. He was going home with another woman? What the fuck? They had a . . . a thing going on, didn’t they? Sure, they’d hit a rough patch or two . . . She choked back a bitter laugh. Right, because discovering your lover was a vampire was a fucking rough patch. But, she’d thought—after their conversation the other night, when she’d admitted he might be right about her vampire kills, and she’d asked for his help—she’d thought they’d reached a meeting of the minds. They were obviously hot for each other. The two times they’d had sex had been off the charts sizzling. But there was more to it than that. She liked him, and she’d thought he liked her.
So why was he walking out of the pub with some other girl he was clearly planning to fuck? Oh, shit. He was going to take that woman’s blood. Eve’s chest was tight with unexpected emotion. It ached. She hadn’t known that Quinn Kavanagh had the power to make her feel that much. The realization made her angry. Because anger was better than hurt.
Striding after him, she shoved her way through the packed back room where she’d known she’d find him that night. And what had you expected would happen when you found him, you idiot? she asked herself. Had she thought they’d go back to her house and have some more human style sex?
Yes, she realized. That’s exactly what she’d thought.
“Hey!” she called, reaching out to grab the back of his jacket. He spun with a snarl, and Eve belatedly thought that grabbing a pissed off vampire from the back might not be the best idea. She held up both hands. “Just me,” she said quickly. “Can we talk?”
He blinked lazily, but his eyes were anything but. They were sharp and unwavering, and, for the first time, she saw that they glowed from within. It was a cool white gleam that radiated like cracked ice through the crystalline blue of his irises. “More talk, Eve? I didn’t come here to talk.”
She swallowed back the nasty retort that leapt to her lips. No, he’d clearly come to the pub tonight to suck and fuck. What pissed her off was that he hadn’t even thought to call and see if she was in town. Or available. Wait. Was she available? Fuck.
“I know,” she said fighting for calm. “But this will only take a moment.”
He nodded his head once, then pulled his snack close and whispered something in her ear. She gave him an adoring look, then hurried across the room and rejoined her friends.
Eve wanted to ask what he’d told her, but didn’t want him to know she cared. “Can we go outside, where it’s quieter?”
He shrugged, as if he didn’t care either way, then headed for the exit, without even bothering to make sure she followed. Bastard. He was going to make this difficult.
The minute they were through the door, he spun, grabbed her by the waist, and pulled her around the side of the building where it was definitely quieter. It was also dark and cold, and utterly empty of other people. He didn’t give her a chance to react, however, just pressed her up against the wall, holding her there bracketed between his muscled arms as he braced his hands to either side of her. He was so close, she could feel his warmth, could smell his skin. She wanted to rub herself up and down that big, beautiful body. She’d had dreams of him last night and had woken up wet and empty with longing. She ran her hands along his sides, then looked up and met his too-knowing eyes. She dropped her hands.
“What is it, Eve?” he murmured, leaning in to dip his head into the curve of her neck.
Now that she had him, she didn’t know what to say.
“Come on, sweetheart. Let’s talk.” He continued his exploration of her skin, nibbling her neck from just below her ear, pushing aside the open collar of her sweater to kiss the dip of her throat, and then shoving the soft wool even farther to bare her collar bone. He took it between his teeth and bit down until she could just feel the pressure of his bite.
She jumped in surprise, and then shivered.
Quinn made a disgusted noise. Stopping at once, he lifted his head and put space between them. “Why are you here, Eve?”
“I live here,” she said, having to force the words through a throat that was all but crushed beneath the pounding of her heart. “I just stopped in for a pint,” she lied, not wanting to admit she’d been looking for him.
He stepped back. “Then don’t let me keep you. I have a friend waiting.”
“A friend? Is that what you call her? Why are you being such an arse?”
“Me? Let me explain how this works. I’m a vampire. When I come to a pub like this, it’s not to join the debating society. I want blood, and I want to fuck. Those two things frequently go together with my kind.”
Eve’s temper was rising. She’d tried being reasonable. It hadn’t worked.
“So, my darling Eve, you either give me what I came here for, or I’ll go back to someone who will.”
“That’s it?” she demanded. “You just whore yourself out to a random stranger for blood?”
His eyes had that icy glow again. “Tread carefully, Eve. My patience is not unlimited.”
“Your patience? Your patience? What am I supposed to do while you’re fucking the flavor of the night? Hang around and wait for you to finish up?”
He gave her a disbelieving look. “I don’t care what you do. We’re not a couple. You can’t handle the truth of what I am, and you’ve made it clear that you’re unwilling to give me what I need. So, there, you wanted to talk? We’ve talked.” He slammed a fist into the side of the building, then straightened and turned to leave.
Eve grabbed the front of his jacket with both hands, more furious than she could ever remember being. She yanked him close, knowing he had to be letting her do it. “Fuck you!” she snarled.
He gave her a tiny smile. “That’s the idea, darling.”
“I hate you,” she hissed, then tightened her fists in his jacket, intending to pull him closer. She was slammed against the wall instead, his body crushing hers, his mouth coming down on her lips.
They ate at each other as if starved for the taste, their teeth clashing and tongues fighting for dominance. She tasted blood and didn’t know if it was his or hers, until he groaned in sensual pleasure. She shivered in the knowledge that a tiny taste of her blood had elicited such a powerful response. It thrilled and terrified her in equal measure. But she didn’t stop.
He grabbed her hips and lifted her higher, slipping a thigh between hers until she wrapped her legs around his waist, and his hands dropped to cup her ass. She was rubbing herself against him, the thick seam of the jeans she wore pressing against the hard ridge of his cock. Her fingers reached for his belt buckle, but he flexed his hips away from her touch.
“Not here,” he growled.
“Where?” She barely recognized her own breathless question.
“Your place.”
Eve gave a tiny scream of frustration, but knew he was right. They couldn’t fuck against the back wall of the pub, for Christ’s sake. She wasn’t even wearing a skirt. She’d have to get practically naked to make it possible.
“Fine,” she snapped. “Let’s go.”
He lifted her higher and demanded another kiss. It was just as fierce and out of control as the first one, but there was a knowledge to it. Because they both knew that the next time they kissed, it was going to end with his cock in her pussy. And his fangs in her neck.
EVE DIDN’T EVEN remember getting to her flat. They must have walked, because she’d walked to the pub, and she’d have remembered if they’d taken Quinn’s SUV. But the only thing that registered was practically falling through her front door, his hands on her ass, their mouths tearing at each other, until the door closed, and they began ripping at each other’s clothes instead. Quinn threw her on the bed and pulled off her boots, then stripped her tight jeans and panties together down her legs and off. She tore her own sweater over her head and was working on her bra clasp, when Quinn gripped it in one hand and snapped the thin band. Some part of Eve’s brain registered the knowledge that she should protest the damage, but the rest of her body only knew that it wanted to be naked as quickly as possible. And speaking of naked . . .
She went up onto her knees and attacked Quinn’s belt and zipper, while he yanked his long-sleeved T-shirt over his head and toed off his boots at the same time. Eve shoved his jeans past narrow hips, noting the absence of underwear as his cock sprang into hard and glorious view. She stroked her fingers up and down the thick shaft—once, twice—and bent to take it in her mouth, but Quinn stopped her.
“No,” he said simply, then hooked her under the arms and tossed her higher on the bed, shoving his hips between her thighs and his cock into her pussy with a single, masterful thrust. They both froze for an instant, their eyes meeting in shock at the sheer intensity of the connection between their bodies. Eve’s breath stalled in her lungs, and her heart seemed to stop for a moment before resuming a stuttering beat. Quinn stared at her, his penis buried deep, his hands cradling her face. He held motionless for a heartbeat, then bent his head and kissed her. It was almost tender at first, as his hips began to move in short strokes, his cock pulling out no more than an inch before sliding back in. It didn’t last long, as his kiss deepened, and the hunger between them roared.
QUINN WITHDREW his cock and held it there, waiting for Eve’s eyes to open, to know that it was him she was fucking. She made a tiny noise and lifted her hips, searching for him, before her eyes came open.
“Quinn,” she whispered, staring up at him. Her hands on his chest, she closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again. “I don’t hate you.”
“I know.” He moved then, plunging his cock deep into her body, her cry of pleasure a sweet sound as his hips began pistoning in and out, his groin grinding against her clit with every new thrust. Eve was clinging to him, her strong fingers digging into the muscle of his shoulders as she tried to hold on, her small moans of desire riding panting breaths as he fucked her hard, angry that she’d rejected him, that she’d tried to deny this connection between them, a connection that went deeper than flesh. Blood deep.
He hooked his arm behind Eve’s knee and pulled her leg higher and wider, opening her even further to his demands, his claiming. She cried out as the first tremors of climax shuddered through her body, her abdomen clenching beneath him, her inner muscles shivering in anticipation. Quinn reached between them and stroked his thumb once over her clit, that tiny nub of nerves reacting as if a switch had been thrown, as she exploded into a trembling, thrashing orgasm. Her teeth closed over his shoulder, and he reveled in the pain, his cock growing impossibly harder as her pussy flooded with heat and cream, making her passage slick and welcoming his renewed assault.
Quinn growled low in his chest and bent his head, his mouth going to her ear. “It’s time, Eve.”
She shivered once, but her pussy clenched around his cock at the same time, letting him know it was desire, not fear, that caused the reaction.
He twirled his tongue along the curves of her ear, then slowly licked his way down to her neck. Her vein was plump and eager when he drew it into his mouth, sucking hard enough that her pale skin would bruise. He wanted her marked, wanted no doubt that she’d been taken. She was his.
“Last chance,” he murmured against her skin.
She trembled, but arched her neck, inviting his bite.
Quinn’s fangs slid eagerly from his gums. He was more than simply hungry for blood, he was hungry for this woman’s blood. His fangs sliced through her silky skin, encountering the slight pressure of her vein, before piercing that, too. Blood flowed. As sweet and thick as fresh honey, it rolled down his throat in a velvet wave of sensation. He swallowed over and over, a growl of satisfaction rumbling in his chest, as Eve suddenly began to tremble beneath him.
“Quinn?” she asked in a tiny voice. And then the euphoric in his bite slammed into her, and he had to cover her mouth with his hand to smother her scream as she soared into a second orgasm, this one far more powerful than the first, her slight weight bowing against him as her muscles bucked and rippled uncontrollably.
Quinn lifted his mouth from her neck, managing to lick the wounds closed, before he surrendered and rode the wave of her climax, her pussy clamping down on him so hard that the pulsing of her sheath was like fingers gripping and releasing his cock in rhythm. He groaned, then lifted his hand from her mouth and kissed her, as heat filled his balls and roared down his cock, and they crashed together into a final, utterly out of control, orgasm.
EVE LAY CRUSHED beneath Quinn’s heavy body, not feeling trapped, but some other emotion that she didn’t want to examine too closely. She didn’t want to think about that other thing either, but no one had ever accused her of being a coward.
Sex with a vampire. Yep, that was the thing she didn’t want to think about. She’d just had sex with a vampire, most especially including him biting her neck. She shivered, remembering it, and had to tighten her arms around Quinn when he noticed and started to shift his weight off her. If he moved, she might fly apart.
“No,” she murmured, holding on to him. “Stay.”
“What am I, a dog?” he muttered. But he said it with humor and settled his full weight on top of her again, his only concession being to lower her leg from where it had been hooked over his arm. Smoothing his big hand along her thigh, he massaged the strained muscles and would have straightened her leg completely, but Eve wrapped her leg around the back of his thigh instead. He made a rumbling sound of pleasure and flexed his hips, his very firm cock reminding her that vampires had much faster restorative powers than humans.
Good God.
If Eve hadn’t already figured out why women lined up to have vampires suck on them, she sure as hell knew now. Quinn had already given her the most mind-blowing climaxes of her life, and that was before, when she’d thought he was an ordinary human. But this last orgasm, the one they’d shared after he’d taken her blood, had positively fried her brain. And he was ready to do it again. She didn’t think she’d survive it, survive him. Because the truth that was settling into her heart and making her lungs catch was the creeping knowledge that this was more than great sex. This might be . . . Shit. She couldn’t even think the word.
Quinn kissed the side of her neck, right where he’d bitten her. The skin was tender, but not raw and bleeding the way she’d assumed it would be.
“I have to go, sweetheart.”
Eve’s stomach plummeted. “You don’t have to,” she whispered, knowing it was going to hurt when he left.
He kissed her forehead and rolled to the side, taking her with him. “It’s late, and we’re driving back tonight.”
“You could stay here.”
“An enticing offer,” he murmured, taking her mouth in another luscious kiss. “But I have enemies.” He slipped his arm out from under her and stood, taking all that heat and desire with him.
Eve watched him get dressed, unsure what she was supposed to think about that last statement. He had enemies. And so. . . . What? Was he implying she could be bought? That she’d give him up to those enemies? Or maybe it was that he didn’t want to put her in the path of the people—vampires?—who meant him harm. Maybe he was worried about her safety, rather than his own.
She could ask him. But he might not tell her the truth, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know which one it was, anyway.
Fully dressed, Quinn bent over and pulled the covers up to her chin, then kissed her again. The kiss was still delicious, but some of the explosive anger between them—the very thing that had triggered their earlier passionate collision—had returned. He bit her lower lip as he pulled away, tugging it between his teeth just enough to hurt.
“Be good, Eve.”
“I will if you will,” she responded, eyeing him uncertainly.
“You’ll hear from me,” he growled, and then he was gone, using that damn vampire speed of his that didn’t even give her the satisfaction of throwing something at him.
QUINN MOVED, USING his vampiric gifts to get away as far and as fast from Eve’s flat as his considerable power allowed. It wasn’t only that he needed to meet up with the others and get back to the Ballsbridge house. It was also to escape the overwhelming temptation of Eve herself. For the first time since he’d been made a vampire, he’d considered remaining in his lover’s bed through the day. It was insane and dangerous. Even if he’d been able to trust her, and he wasn’t yet certain that he did completely, her tiny flat wasn’t equipped to provide him with a secure daytime resting place. He’d never seen her place in the daytime, for obvious reasons, but he doubted the pale curtains on the main window blocked the sunlight, and the door was so flimsy as to barely qualify.
Garrick would knock his lights out for even thinking about it. Even Adorjan might be tempted to set aside his respect for Quinn’s position and whack some sense into him.
Reaching the now-deserted pub, he was happy to see the Range Rover still standing in the parking lot, looking like a metal and glass indictment of his poor judgment. At least according to Garrick. Striding over to the vehicle, he dug in his pocket, then realized he didn’t have the damn key. Even if his cousin had left it unlocked, he couldn’t—
“Looking for this?” Garrick strolled out of the pub, dangling the key fob from his fingers.
Quinn winced privately, but reminded himself he was the vampire lord here, not Garrick. “Great, you’re here. Where’s Adorjan?”
Garrick studied him for a moment, then drew a deep breath. “He’s waiting at the house. You want to stay here or—”
“No, we’re going back to the city, and we’ll have to ignore the speed limits to do it,” Quinn said, sliding into the passenger seat.
His cousin joined him, punching the ignition before he was fully seated. “I’ll let Adorjan drive. He’s been dying to break the law ever since we got here.”
Quinn thought that they’d already broken more than a few laws. Murder, for one. Smuggling, criminal conspiracy, racketeering . . . He could go on. But all he said was, “Good. Because we’re going to be breaking a few more very soon.”