The Bite of Silence Read online

  When we landed, Nikos still didn’t say any words. But his lethal glare at Klaus, the way he yanked my carry-on out before we’d come to a full and complete stop, the way he tugged me one-handed out of my seat when I unbuckled my belt, shouted possession. Odd, considering he usually ignored me. But it also gave me a primitive thrill.

  Klaus rose and, ignoring Nikos, offered me his arm. “Share a ride with me, pretty lady?”

  Before I could speak Nikos tucked me into his side. “No.”

  Klaus and Nikos locked eyes. Klaus wavered slightly. Maybe Nikos was drawing lines again. Whatever Klaus saw made him step back, jaw working. “You may try to claim her. But you cannot stop her from choosing elsewhere.”

  There were times I felt trivial. This was one. “Hey. I’m right here.”

  “I see you, beautiful.” Klaus touched slim fingertips to my cheek. “It’s this barbarian-”

  Nikos growled. He palmed my head away from Klaus, tucking it between truly spectacular pectorals, the silk of his tie whispering against my cheek.

  Klaus made a primitive sound. “She’s not-”

  “She is.” Nikos’s rumble vibrated my whole head. Before I could even try to figure out what that exchange meant, hot fingers tilted my head back. I saw Nikos’s face, all severe beauty, zooming in-

  He kissed me.

  There was nothing tentative or gentle about Nikos’s kiss. His mouth took mine in full, virile possession. His tongue drove between my teeth, forcing me to open. Thrusting masculine fire filled me. I had time to think sweet Lord, this is passion when he jerked and pushed me away.

  I stumbled for balance, grabbed the nearest seatback. My thudding heart fanned arousal into anger. “What was that macho bullshit?”

  Nikos seized my elbow, hustled me past a stunned Klaus down the mostly deserted aisle. While the boys had been doing their little dominance dance, the plane had emptied. Nikos dragged me out, down the ramp, his heavy tread making it shudder. “Twyla. You’re not riding with him.”

  “That’s my say, isn’t it?” Despite my anger I was amazed. Six whole words. Must be really overcome with emotion. “It’s up to me if I want to go with Klaus.”

  “You don’t know what he is.” His jaw worked. “You can’t know.”

  “For pity’s sake. What Klaus is? Is he a male prostitute or something? Because, gotta tell you Nikos, a hot time is exactly what I’m looking for.” In the waiting area now, I tried to shake loose but Nikos’s fingers held like steel. “So unless you’re gonna follow up on that admittedly hot kiss, I’m picking Modelboy.” I started to stomp back.

  And swung around like a bola when he didn’t let go. Looked like I’d have to be a bit trickier. I feinted forward. When he moved with me, I twisted back. The element of surprise would pop me loose…his grip shifted, held.

  Damn. No time to be subtle. Strong as Nikos was, subtle would get me loose late next year.

  I pivoted and kicked him in the danglies.

  He blocked. Instead of privates I kicked solid bone and muscle. His reaction was so fast, so smooth, I knew he was trained even better than I was. In fact I got the distinct impression he could have caught my leg and done me some damage rather than the other way around.

  Which meant using a super-secret girl-move. I grabbed his ear to lever his head down and smacked a big smoochie square on his lips. While he was momentarily distracted I twisted out of his grip and ran.

  He caught me in two steps, seized me by my shoulders and spun me to him. He bent so we were nose to nose. “Violent thing, aren’t you?”

  “No.” My breath was coming in gasps, and not because of the fighting. A lot of male muscle surrounded me, and a perfect burnt umber mouth moved scant inches from mine. “It’s just that you aren’t built for negotiating.” I licked my lips. “Not real chatty.”

  People streamed around us, intent on their destination. If anything shouted I wasn’t in the Midwest it was the rapid rush of texture. I registered it all as a blur around the focal point of Nikos’s uncompromising face.

  This male had been painted with a palette of strong colors. Jet hair. Ochre skin with undertones of midnight, shading at rugged cheekbones and lips to mahogany and burnt umber (a misleading name, since it evokes images of blackened toast instead of a rich, rose-infused brown). Eyes the seal brown of soft sable brushes focused on my mouth.

  Which was throbbing. My lips, hell, my whole body was throbbing. Under the hot scrutiny of those bedroom eyes my heart started pounding so hard my ears rang.

  “All right.” The sound of his voice was a faraway hiss. But the feel of his rumble against my breast, the blazing promise in his eyes shook my bones.

  “All right?” I echoed. I didn’t know what the question was.

  “Hot time. Limo.” His tongue slid provocatively from between his lips. Made a yum-yum motion while his eyes told me exactly where he’d yum-yum.

  I choked. “Limo. Right.” I took off for the front door.

  He caught my elbow, swung me around. “This way.”

  He led me through a space marked “Private” into an underground parking area. A stretch limo with mirrored windows was waiting. He shoveled me in.

  And promptly positioned himself on the other side, barricading himself with crossed arms.

  “Hey. Hot time?” The limo moved out.

  “Sorry. No.”

  I sputtered. “You lied? Led me on?” I was upset, most of it disappointment in not getting any with Nikos. I lashed out. “If you don’t want me, just say so.”

  “I want you.” The flat, angry look in his eyes contradicted him.

  “Sure you want me. You’re so all over me. Been practically my second skin since day one because you want me so much. Oh, no wait. You’ve been avoiding me.”

  “I have my reasons.” The limo started crawling through Queens traffic.

  “Which are? Not going to say? Then let me guess. You don’t like black chicks. Or a mere secretary isn’t good enough for you. Or-”

  “Stop that.”

  “Stop what? Telling the truth? Don’t like it, white boy?”

  “Don’t denigrate yourself. You’re a powerful, highly attractive, frighteningly intelligent woman. Don’t you dare pull that race shit.”

  I was speechless. Nikos thought I was attractive? And all the other good stuff? He must have felt pretty strongly about it because he’d used almost twenty words.

  It gave me hope. Maybe he wasn’t avoiding me because he hated me, or worse, just didn’t care. Maybe it was for the one reason I could do something about. The v-reason. When I finally found my voice, it was embarrassingly plaintive. “Then why won’t you even kiss me without pushing me away?”

  “It’s not you. It’s me.”

  “Please. That’s the oldest line-”

  “I’m not good for you. Not safe.”

  Not safe. There is was. “Nikos, you don’t have to play that game.”

  “It’s not a game-”

  “I know you’re a vampire.”

  This time he was the speechless one, but only for an instant. “You don’t know that. You can’t.”

  “Why is Nixie’s hubby so good with blood transfusion equipment? Why do Nixie and Julian need not one but two assistants-who are coincidentally inhumanly gorgeous? Why is the mayor ordering as much blood sausage these days as cheese balls? If you’re not a vampire, why did you stop me from opening the window blind on the plane? Why the underground exit at the airport and the limo with mirrored windows?”

  The hard line of his lips softened. “You think I’m gorgeous?”

  Out of everything, he picked that. “Yeah. But you’d be more gorgeous kissing me.”

  He palmed my cheek. He was so big he didn’t even have to scoot closer to do it. “Twyla, guessing vampire isn’t the same as knowing. Reality would shock you. Scare you. That’s unacceptable.” His thumb caressed me, telling me other things.

  Ooh, over a dozen words. A whole Shakespeare soliloquy for him. “I’m looking f
or thrills. So shock me a little.” I leaned into his hand.

  His head bent, his mouth dropping to my throat. The heat of his breath, the coolness it left on intake, played like an intimate fan on my skin. “I…want to. But-” He straightened. “No. You don’t know.”

  “Then show me.” I had a brief internal struggle. I’m not by nature an exhibitionist but something had to be done, quickly, while I had him trapped. Once we got back to Meiers Corners he’d have the whole town in which to hide.

  My jacket was already open. I yanked T-shirt and bra up. My breasts popped free, bouncing.

  His eyes shot open, blazing sienna. His granite jaw loosened. His chest inflated like he couldn’t breathe. And then-

  Fangs. I saw fangs.

  Chapter Two

  Nothing could have proven Nikos’s point better. Guessing vampire was certainly not the same as being trapped in a limo with an aroused one.

  Before I could even squeak my dismay he swung me onto his lap and wrapped me in arms of steel. I’m a nice curvy size six but sitting on his tree-trunk thighs, looking up into his flaming eyes, I really got sexual dimorphism. Slamming it home, his mouth slanting over mine covered real estate from Boise to Philly.

  His lips landed moving, muscular ripples as strong and potent as the rest of him. They laved me like pounding surf, crashed through my flimsy barriers with hot desire.

  I’d barely gotten used to overwhelmingly big Nikos kissing me when the whole fang thing hit. Smooth, long canines pressed like warm ivory against my lips. His tongue worked between them, teasing. Tongue, lips and fang together drove me a little nuts. I poked the tip of my tongue out for just a taste.

  Rumbling his approval, he sipped at it. He caressed it between his own lips, silk and velvet and an intoxicating male taste. His tongue flicked the tip of mine in return, his so big it swiped half my mouth. He licked me again, maybe to tease my lips open, but his size made it more of a demand. I surrendered, lips parting on a breathless moan.

  An instant later self-preservation kicked in. Vampire, fangs, trapped with a very big, aroused male. I closed up.

  Too late. He swept into my mouth like a conquering warrior. His tongue was a flaming sword, stabbing deep, plumbing every dark mystery I had, licking me with light and blazing heat. I groaned.

  Klaus had been a good kisser. A pointillist, every daub of tongue and swish of lips placed precisely so.

  Nikos was a modern master, throwing aggressive splashes of bright color across aching, empty canvas. I wriggled at the size and feel of him, the taste of him, potent and smooth as aged whiskey or absinthe.

  He pulled me tighter to contain my wiggles and captured me completely. His arms wrapped me from head to hips, one hand cupping my head. The other cupped my breast.

  I have Tafel breasts, round heavy globes that overflow men’s hands. They fitted perfectly in Nikos’s.

  My nipple slotted between his fingers. He pinched it erect. Need sparked. Any fear drowned in the wash of desire. He kissed sweeter than a dream, and his hand on my breast was oh-so-tutored, pinching and fondling.

  He shifted me, pillowing my head on the enormous deltoid of his shoulder. Then he kissed me harder, deeper, pushing me into his own muscled strength. It left his hand free to plunge down my jeans directly onto my nub.

  He petted my clit in welcome. At my gasp his tongue plunged deeper, began to drive into me. He kissed with the rhythm of sex, but he wiggled his finger on my clit lightly, almost teasingly. I rocked my hips, asking for more. Asking for the same fire as his kiss.

  His hand withdrew. I whimpered until I heard a pop and a rasp, and my pants loosened. When he dove back in, his thick finger went straight into my aching body. His thumb grabbed my clit, his finger thrust deep inside, and he pinched.

  My eyes shot open. Sweet Monet, yes. I arched into his chest. Licked his lips eagerly. “That feels amaz-”

  He cut me off by laying claim to my mouth. He kissed me fiercely, his fingers pinching breast and pussy in rhythm. I rubbed myself against his crisp shirt, grabbed his shorn head and gave myself over to the wonder of it.

  And he demanded more. His finger plunged harder. His tongue thrust deeper, opened me so far my jaw ached. It stabbed everywhere, lighting passion, demanding surrender. No part of my mouth went unclaimed by his hot, virile possession, inside or out. As his tongue thrust, his sleek fangs rode my throbbing lips.

  I tried to kiss him back, brushing mouth and fang indiscriminately in my zeal. He groaned, and his fangs grew longer. It reminded me I had only guessed.

  I lifted my chin. “Bite me. I want to know.”

  His eyes were closed, lashes a jet fringe against his hewn cheeks. “Not yet.” His lids lifted, revealing dilated pits of red fire. He pinched my nipple, slowly, deliciously.

  “Not yet?” I shuddered, wriggled on his finger thrust inside my body. He seized me more firmly, driving a second finger deep, and shook my entire vulva until I writhed.

  When he let up I opened my eyes and panted. “What do you mean, not yet?”

  He smiled, desire burning in his eyes. It was frightening, it was heady. “This.”

  He tossed me onto the seat next to him and yanked my jeans to my knees. I tried to scramble up but he knelt in the seat well, restrained me with an arm dropped across my torso, and spun me toward the seat back. A hand pressed my face into the seat, another clasped my knees and held them down. I couldn’t see what he-

  Breath seared my labia. A flaming tongue thrust me open. I jerked hard against him. He contained me easily. “You wanted shocking. Take it.”

  He started to lap at me, great swipes of tongue that went deep into my body. I writhed against the invasion, embarrassed at how swollen and open I already was. It was only a start. He rode me with his tongue until I was mewling.

  His fangs nicked my lips and inner thighs as he worked me. Each tiny prick scored me with pleasure. I could only imagine how thrilling his actual bite would be. “Nikos-bite me. Now. Please.”

  “Not yet.” His rumbling purr buzzed against my wet, licked-open flesh.

  I writhed violently but his great strength reduced it to mere ripples. “Then when?”

  “Soon.” He thrust one finger inside and licked delicately at the hood of my clit.

  I shrieked. As he plunged that thick finger rhythmically into me, I began to pant. I’d wanted shocking, sure, but he could have given me shocking simply by biting me. Instead a male of vast experience was doing his damnedest to make sex thrilling for me. That went beyond shocking to electrifying.

  He thrust a second finger deep. I curled into the seat at the intensity of it. He beat into me with two fingers, licked ardently at my nub.

  I gasped. “Nikos, it’s too much.” My hips beat back, at least as much as he let them. His fingers sank deeper with every thrust, until I wanted to cry, until I wanted to scream. “Bite me. Please, I’m begging you.”

  “Mmm. Nice. But not yet.” He began to suck at me and I moaned and pleaded and railed against him until I wept. He ignored it all, sucking and licking and thrusting with the same forceful, demanding rhythm.

  Until I groaned to my very soul. “I…I’m coming…”

  “Ah.” His deep voice was filled with satisfaction. “Now I bite.”

  He grabbed my knees and head and held me firmly. Sharp needles of sheer pleasure drove hard into my swollen labia. My body wrenched in his strong grip, driving the pleasure to the bone. Tight spirals released, radiated out like rain washing from my heart to my outermost skin.

  The orgasm was shockingly sweet. Thrilling, but more. Maybe because this was Nikos, the guy I’d been just a little nuts about since the first moment I’d seen him. With Nikos I got shocking and I got thrilling. But I also got a deep sense of rightness.

  Not just “yeah baby” or “hat-sah”, but finally.

  ***

  “Oh my.” Little fireworks were still going off behind my closed eyes. It must have been some time later because my jeans were back up and the limo
was stopped.

  Nikos helped me up. His fangs had retracted and his eyes cooled. But now I knew, rather than guessed. And it did make a difference.

  Now I wanted him more.

  Nikos pointed at the door. “Your cousin’s.”

  I frowned. “I didn’t tell you where he lived. I didn’t even say his name.”

  He almost smiled. The slight softening made his face so lickable it was probably illegal in Alaska. But he hardened almost immediately to Mr. Deadly Serious. “Don’t tell Aylmer about us.”

  Us. It hit me low in the belly, started the motor all over again. “You and me?”

  “Vampires.”

  Oh. The motor coughed and died. “Yeah, I know. The whole my-best-friend-not-telling-me clued me in that you guys are underground. Care to say why?”

  A muscle in his hewn jaw jumped. “Humans outnumber us.”

  “So? You’re superstrong. Doesn’t that kinda level the playing field?”

  “Not when the odds are four thousand to one.”

  “Um, yeah. Okay, I’ll keep your secret. Aylmer won’t know a thing.”

  “Good.” Nikos hit the intercom. “Ready.”

  “Wait! I have questions. How did you know about Aylmer? What-”

  “Business,” he said, reaching past me to open the door. A rush of cold air revealed a black-uniformed Kato. Behind him was a six-story brownstone. Nikos nudged me out, not giving me time to fully understand the implications of any of it, sex or fangs or this unseemly knowledge. One thing filtered through, the most inane. “My luggage?”

  “My man will deliver it.” Nikos pushed me into the opening. “Go.”

  Wisps of smoke rose from his exposed hands. I sucked in a breath. “Is that because of the sun?”

  “Go.” Nikos’s voice rang in my head, weird and hollow. It shoved harder than his hands. Not enough to make me, but enough that when his chauffeur grabbed me under the arms and pulled, I popped out.