Page 26 of Exes, Hexes, and Strategy
His tongue traced the line of her ribcage down to her hip bone. “Or maybe here?” He dropped little kisses along her belly and then circled her navel with his tongue and Nina couldn’t tear her eyes away.
His head popped up, his fingers moved in a ticklish caress – dancing so close to where she needed him – and then, with a look that suggested he’d just had an epiphany, he said, “I know.” His head dropped and she could feel his breath against her core.
Nina let out a strangled squeak, her hips lurched up so hard and fast she was surprised she didn’t break his nose, but Rafe’s hands gripped her hips, holding her in place as he licked her.
She screamed. She couldn’t hold it back, the orgasm that rocked through her body had her knees lifting, her toes curling, and her fingers gripping Rafe’s hair in what had to be a painful hold. He stayed with her, his mouth latched onto that swollen bundle of nerves as his fingers moved inside of her feeling every pulse and contraction, drawing it out.
When she finally collapsed back onto the mattress, her body loose-limbed and sated, her breath left her in a whoosh.
Rafe let out a little chuckle as he raised his head and planted a kiss on the top of her pelvis. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You should,” she returned breathlessly.
Kissing his way up her body, he settled his weight over her, and Nina lovingly stroked his hair back from his forehead and slid her bare toes over the muscles of his calves. “I love you,” she told him.
The look in his eyes said it all, but even so, he returned, “I love you, too.” He kissed her eyes closed, kissed her nose, both of her cheeks, before he moved to her mouth. “I love you so much,” he breathed against her lips, and then, there were no more words as he sealed his mouth to hers.
Hungry. He was so hungry, she could feel it, sense it, and just the thought shot her arousal right back up again. Her hand slid to the back of his head, edging him down to her throat. “Take from me,” she gasped. “Drink.”
Rafe lifted his head to look at her, his eyes fierce with a combination of arousal and hunger. “You are mine,” he told her. “You havealwaysbeen mine. You will alwaysbemine.”
“Yes,” she panted, her hips surging against his, grinding against the hard ridge of his erection. “Yes.”
“And I am yours. Only yours. Always.”
It was a declaration. A promise said with such intensity it stole her breath and set her heart thumping hard against her ribcage.
“Always,” she repeated. And with that, he thrust home into her welcoming heat and his teeth sank into her neck.
Chapter Sixteen
“I’m hungry,” Nina quietly declared, rolling carefully away from Rafe’s side. He was dozing off and on, logy from both the feeding and the sex, and she hated to get up, but her stomach was growling rather angrily at her.
Sitting up, she began rifling through the pile of clothes that were a mix of hers and his. “I think I saw a vending machine by the elevator. Do you want anything?”
Glancing over her shoulder, she saw him slowly shake his head. His eyes were heavy-lidded, his hair a sexy tumble from her fingers as he mumbled something that sounded like, “M’good.”
Grinning she leaned over and gave his lips a loud, smacking kiss. “Okay, I’ll be right back.”
After a quick glance in the mirror to make sure the rapidly fading bite marks on her neck were hidden by her hair, she left the room in her pants and boots, and Rafe’s shirt. She was still smiling as she reached the alcove where she’d seen the vending machines earlier, but that smile quickly faded as she realized someone else was there.
A vampire – definitely – and if what she was sensing was true, a very old vampire. The power of him was almost suffocating in its intensity. Nina would have turned around and gone back to the room if the man hadn’t looked up from the snack selection he was perusing and seen her.
“Evening,” he drawled with a pleasant smile.
“Hey,” she returned, the word coming out in a nervous squeak.
As the man fed his card into the slot and made his selection, Nina tried to calm her frazzled nerves. This was Kane Fletcher’s territory, she reminded herself. His vampires weren’t like those she was used to back home.
With a bag of chips in hand, the man strolled past her, throwing out, “Have a good one.”
“You too,” she said with a thankfully steady voice this time and watched him walk away. Wavy black hair down to his shoulders, black leather jacket that was probably concealing a weapon or two if she had to guess, black jeans and biker boots. The man looked like a Hunter, she realized – or at least, he was dressed like every Hunter Nina had met thus far.
Returning to the room with enough chips and candy to feed both of them in case Rafe got hungry later, Nina was glad to see he was still awake, though that was probably a consequence of her opening the door and the sound waking him.
“I think I just saw a Hunter,” she remarked, dropping the food onto the bed before she sat down. “And not one of our instructors.”
Rafe’s eyes opened a bit wider, and he stifled a yawn as he propped himself up on his elbows. “Yeah?”
