Page 9 of Pleasantly Undead in Dark River

I slapped his hand away, but I rested my head against his chest. “I’m scared. I was happy.”

He nodded. “I know, baby girl. And you will be again.” He lifted me into his arms and I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. “Now I’m going to carry you like this the rest of the way, and we’ll see if we can shock the shit out of Lorraine at the dry cleaners. Or I can turn into an elephant and we can have a science experiment to see if an elephant cock is bigger than Pup over there.”

Tex gave Brody the finger and I couldn’t hold back the laughter in my chest. God, I loved them. I pressed my face into his neck and breathed deeply. “I love you so damn much. Thank you.”

He squeezed my ass and kissed my ear awkwardly. “Anytime, babe. I love you too. I want you to be the happiest mate in history, and if I have to kick each of their undead asses to help you achieve it, I’ll do it with a smile.”

I let Brody carry me all the way to The Immortal Cupcake, just because it soothed me. I loved having my mates close, the closer the better. But when he plopped me down at the front door, it was already open and the lights were on inside.

Brody sniffed the air, frowning. He walked in before me, and Tex came up close behind me, his body all but wrapped around mine. He held my hip and his eyes did that thing where they slitted like a snake. He was getting so damn good at that.

Nico was in front of us in a whoosh of displaced air. I jumped and screeched. “Holy fucking Flapjacks, Nico. You scared the shit out of me!”

His lips curled. “Apologies, Raine. I thought I’d get the ovens preheated before you arrived. Maybe we could talk?”

I swallowed hard, scraping my lip between my teeth. “Okay.”

Brody stepped back, kissing me gently on the cheek. “Me and Pup will be over at the diner if you need us.”

Tex stepped up, kissing me hard. “You belong to me, no matter what, okay? You’re stuck with me until the day I die, and then even longer if I can help it. I love you.”

I ran my fingers through his shaggy black hair, in desperate need of a cut. “Love you too.”

Brody slapped Tex’s back. “Come on, we’ll gross out Beatrice and have a hot dog eating competition.”

“Fair warning, I have no gag reflex,” Tex quipped back and I snorted a laugh.

Brody reared back. “That is way too much information, Pup. Let’s go.”

I watched them wander off, and then turned back to Nico. He led me back into the kitchen, which was already warming from the huge industrial ovens.

“Raine…” he started, his eyes searching my face for something. If he wanted to know my feelings, he could compel them from me easy enough. But instead, he sighed and dragged me into his arms. “I’m going to kiss you.”

I didn’t know how the French did cooking school, but I was pretty sure it didn’t involve tongue. Or maybe it did. It is called french kissing after all. Ooh la la.

I kissed him back, pouring everything into the embrace. My frustrations and fear. My desire for him, and my hesitancy that I was somehow going to bewitch him.

Nico and his lips burst right through all my doubts, and when he sucked on my tongue, I moaned. “If it’s okay with you, Raine, I would very much like to make love to you. I want you to know the depths of my feelings. That Miranda’s news means nothing to me.” He leaned over and sucked my earlobe into his mouth.

My brain fritzed. It was my weakness. The Kryptonite to my blue spandex. The heel to my knock off Louboutins.

I launched myself at him because he was right. I didn’t want to wait. I didn’t want to wonder what it would have been like to make love to him when they inevitably kicked me out for being a fox in the hen house.

Mentally humming the words toYou Can Leave Your Hat On,I slowly peeled off my clothes. However, skinny jeans weren’t invented for a striptease, especially when you had thick thighs. I kicked out of my boots, peeled out of the jeans like I was slicking off a sausage skin, my boobs kinda hanging in the breeze. The sound of Nico’s chuckle was quickly followed by the feel of his lips placing soft kisses down my spine.

I stood up, taking a half a step away from him so I could judge his response. My nipples pebbled in the cool night air despite the warmth of the oven. Or maybe my hard nipples had nothing to do with the cold and everything to do with Nico. I tried not to feel awkward as I stood there in front of him, bare.

Nico’s eyes seared my skin as he looked at my underwear-clad body. It was like he was memorizing me, or plotting the course his tongue was about to travel. He stepped toward me, his fingers tangling in the long red strands of my hair.

“You are so beautiful. Like a ray of sunshine after a century of darkness,” he purred at me, his lips so close to mine that if I poked my tongue out enough, I would lick his full lower lip. So I did.

He growled low in his throat. “I know you don’t understand. Your heart is so pure that you worry about little things like free will. But I promise you, Raine, that it matters not to me. Whether this feeling is real or artificial means nothing. Because you’ve given me something I never thought I’d have again.” His fingers ran down my cheek and I sucked in a shuddering breath. “But I’m going to give you something now. I’m going to give you freedom. I am going to give you all the love I possess.” He gripped my chin in his fingers and tilted my head back gently. “I’m going to take control, and you are going to let me. If you want me to stop, you only have to say the words. Do you want me to take control, my love?”

God, I wanted that more than anything. Ever since Miranda had returned to town and dropped her little bombshell, I’d been strung tighter than a mankini. He must have seen the relief in my eyes, because the corner of his lips turned up. “I’m going to need the words.”

I shuddered. “Yes.”

The smile he gave me then was definitely predatory, but it was the grin of something that stalked and conquered. Something you knew you should run from, but you were drawn to instead. Maybe theTwilightfangirls were onto something.

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