One of his legs shifted up and his ribs began to pump hard. Across his luscious, fluid skin, a flush of sweat gleamed in the dim lamplight. He was getting close… and the closer he got, the more she realized she was doing this because she wanted to. The clinical-curiosity thing was a lie: He fascinated her for different reasons.
She kept pumping him, focusing the friction at his plum-sized head.
"Don't stop… Fuck…" He drew the word out, his shoulders and neck straining, his pecs tightening as they threw sharp edges.
Suddenly, his eyes flipped open and glowed bright as stars.
Then he bared fangs that had fully dropped and shouted his release. As he came, he stared at her neck, and the orgasm went on and on until she wondered if he'd had two. Or more. God… he was spectacular, and in the midst of his pleasure that glorious scent of dark spice filled the room until she breathed it instead of air.
When he was still, she released him and used the hand towel to clean his belly and chest off. She didn't linger on him. Instead she got to her feet and wished she could have some time to herself.
He watched her through low lids. "See," he said gruffly, "just the same."
Not by a long shot. "Yes."
He pulled the duvet over his hips and closed his eyes. "Use the shower if you want."
In an uncoordinated rush, Jane took the bedpan and the washcloth to the bath. Propping her hands against the sink, she thought maybe some hot water and something other than scrubs on her back would clear her head-because right now all she could see was what he'd looked like coming all over her hand and himself.
Overwhelmed, she went back out into the bedroom, got some of her things from the smaller duffel, and reminded herself that this situation was not real, not part of her reality. It was a hiccup, a tangle in the thread of her life, like her destiny had the flu.
This was not real.
After he finished with class, Phury went back to his room and changed from his teaching clothes of a black silk shirt and cream cashmere trousers into his fighting leathers. Technically he was supposed to be off tonight, but with V flat on his back they needed an extra set of hands.
Which worked for him. Better to be out on the streets hunting than getting involved in that sitch with Z and Bella and the pregnancy.
He strapped on his chest holster, slid two daggers in, handles down, and popped a SIG Sauer on each hip. On his way to the door he pulled on his leather coat and patted the inner pocket, making sure he had a couple of blunts and a lighter with him.
As he hit the grand staircase at a fast clip, he prayed no one saw him… and got busted just before he made it out of the house. Bella called his name as he stepped into the vestibule, and the sound of her shoes crossing the foyer's mosaic floor meant he had to stop.
"You weren't at First Meal," she said.
"I was teaching." He glanced over his shoulder and was relieved to see she looked good, her coloring bright, her eyes clear.
"Have you eaten at all?"
"Yes," he said, lying.
"Okay… well… shouldn't you wait for Rhage?"
"We'll meet up later."
"Phury, are you okay?"
He told himself it was not his place to say anything. He'd already closed that door with his pep talk to Z. This was totally none of his-
As always with her, he had no self-control. "I think you need to talk to Z."
Her head eased to one side, her hair falling farther down her shoulder. God, it was lovely. So dark, yet not black. It reminded him of fine mahogany that had been carefully varnished, glowing with reds and deep browns.
"About what?"
Shit, he so shouldn't be doing this. "If you're keeping something from Z, anything… you need to tell him."
Her eyes narrowed, then slid away, as she changed her stance, her weight shifting from one foot to the other, her arms crossing over her chest. "I… ah, I won't ask how you know, but I can assume it's because he does. Oh… damn it. I was going to talk to him after I see Havers tonight. I made an appointment."
"How bad is it? The bleeding?"
"Not bad. That's why I wasn't going to say anything until I went to Havers. God, Phury, you know Z. He's nervous as hell about me already, so preoccupied I'm terrified he'll be distracted in the field and get himself hurt."
"Yeah, but see, it's worse now, because he doesn't know what's going on. Talk to him. You have to. He'll be tight. For you he'll stay tight."
"Was he angry?"
"Maybe a little. But more than that he's just worried. He's not stupid. He knows why you wouldn't want to tell him anything was wrong. Look, take him with you tonight, okay? Let him be there."
Her eyes watered a little. "You're right. I know you're right. I just want to protect him."
"Which is exactly the way he feels about you. Take him with you."
In the silence that followed, he knew the indecision in her eyes was hers to contend with. He'd said his piece.
"Be well, Bella."
As he turned away, she grabbed his hand. "Thank you. For not being upset with me."
For a moment he pretended that it was his young inside of her and that he could gather her close and go with her to the doctor's and hold her afterward.
Phury gently took her wrist and pulled her free of him, her hand slipping off his skin on a soft brush that stung like barbs. "You are my twin's beloved. I could never be angry at you."
As he walked out through the vestibule and into the cold, windy night, he thought how true it was that he could never be pissed with her. Himself, on the other hand? Not a problem.
Dematerializing downtown, he knew that he was heading for a collision of some kind. He didn't know where the wall was or what it was made of or whether he was going to drive himself into it or get thrown at it by someone or something else.
But the wall was waiting in the bitter darkness. And part of him wondered whether there wasn't a big, fat H painted on it.
Chapter Seventeen
V watched Jane go into the bathroom. As she pivoted to put her change of clothes down on the counter, the profile of her body was an elegant S curve that he needed to get his hands on. His mouth over. His body into.
The door shut and the shower started and he cursed. God… her hand had felt so good, taken him higher than any full-on sex had lately. But it had been onesided. There had been no scent of arousal from her at all. To her it had been a biological function to explore. Nothing more.
If he was honest with himself, he'd thought that maybe seeing him orgasm would turn her on-which was nuts, given what was doing below his waist. No one in their right mind would think, Oh, yeah, check out the one-balled wonder. Yum.
Which was why he always kept his pants on when he had sex.
As he listened to the shower run, his arousal softened and his fangs retracted back up into his jaw. Funny, when she'd been handling him, he'd surprised himself. He'd wanted to bite her-not to feed because he was hungry, but because he wanted her taste in his mouth and the mark of his teeth on her neck. Which was pretty fucking out of character. Typically he bit females only because he had to, and when he did, he never particularly liked it.
With her? He couldn't wait to pierce a vein and suck what ran through her heart right down into his gut.
When the shower stopped, all he could think about was being in that bathroom with her. He could just imagine her all naked and wet and pink from the heat. Man, he wanted to know what the back of her neck looked like. And the stretch of skin between her shoulder blades. And the hollow at the base of her spine. He wanted to run his mouth from her collarbone to her navel… then have a go between her thighs.
Shit, he was getting hard again. And that was pretty damn useless. She'd satisfied her curiosity with his body, so she wouldn't be up for throwing him a bone and relieving him again. And even if she was attracted to him, she already had someone, didn't she. With a nasty growl he pictured that dark-haired doctor type who was waiting for her back in her real life. The guy was of her kind and no doubt wholly masculine as well.