Page 13 of Prey

My fingers slid into her hair and I gripped, holding her gaze to mine. I felt the minute she slipped under my control. “You will love me and you’re going to make an effort right now.” I loosened the hold, but kept my hands in place. “Now, stop talking and kiss me with every ounce of passion you possess.”

Knocking didn’t have me turning away. My hands followed her face forward and I met Tessa’s lips with all the false eagerness I could feel coming from her. Weight from her arms wrapping around my neck couldn’t have been more perfect. If it were only real…I wasn’t sure why I wanted it so much, but the need was powerful and it taunted me.

“Tessa?” Jiggling sounds erupted in the background, but I ignored it, pulling her in closer with the palm I slid to her lower back. The taste of her almost had me closing my eyes. I fought the urge, moaning as her tongue massaged against mine.

“Tessa, open the door or I’m breaking it down.”

I groaned, pulling back. “Tell him you’re fine.”

Suddenly, I didn’t want to stop. I’d had every intention of letting him see us kissing, but my lust for her outweighed my greed. My cock ached to be inside of her. The real her.

“I’m fine, Hunter.” The monotone voice seemed to work and it almost gave the impression that she’d been annoyed. Heavy footsteps pounded down the hall and I pulled her mouth back to mine, stealing one more kiss before I turned away. Tessa blinked a few times and I caught her fist as it flew in my direction. “Stop doing that.”

“Kiss me for real then. Like you want to.”

Again, seriousness took over her features. It was the same expression as before, when I couldn’t comprehend what she was thinking.

“What if I said, in some small way, I do want to kiss you?”

A heavy thud in my chest had my hand lifting. Was that from her or me?

“What’s stopping you?”

Disbelief had her growing angry. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You come in, force your blood on me, bite me,” she ground out, “and you expect me to want you? You have no manners. You’re rude, cocky, and an arrogant asshole. Not to mention, all you seem to be focused on is killing me. I’m supposed to just jump right in bed with you and fall in love?” Sarcasm was thickly laced in her words. “I don’t know what sort of women you’ve been with, but that kind of charm doesn’t work on me.”

The verbal knockdown to the proverbial pedestal I felt I stood on left my arms crossing. “How would you expect me to act if I were trying to get you to fall in love with me?”

Shock turned to irritation. “You’d have to give me space, for one. And be caring and sweet. Neither character trait is one I believe you possess. And, you wouldn’t want me dead.”

“How can you say I’m not caring or sweet? I gave you part of me. I’ve never done that with another human before. Or anyone, in general! Apparently, I care.”

Tessa glared. “About yourself. God, are you delusional or just out of touch with reality?”

“Apparently delusional because I’m putting up with you. No one has ever talked to me this way. I can’t believe I haven’t killed you yet.”

A drawn out groan came from her lips and she walked over, grabbing the fitted sheet from her dresser. As I watched her put it on, I tried to understand what she wanted. It was everything I wasn’t, yet I was sitting here contemplating trying to act it out. This wasn’t me. Since I’d been tempted by her scent, nothing had been me. It didn’t make sense.

“I’m staying the night.” I kicked off my shoes, making her stop. “I’ll sleep in your bed, but I won’t touch you.”

“Yeah, right. I wish you’d just leave. If it weren’t for Hunter…” she trailed off, looking over at me. “You touch me and I’ll scream.”

“And you’ll both die. You’re safe for tonight, Tessa, but not for long.”

Chapter 7

Tessa

Three days and I almost convinced myself I’d made the entire thing up. If it weren’t for Hunter’s constant questioning about Marko, maybe I could have forgotten about the vampire completely. But I doubted that. He turned my world upside down, yet made me question who he truly was. A part of me felt as though I couldn’t fault his behavior. After all, if he were as bad as he made himself out to be, or as bad as I had made him out to be, wouldn’t I be dead instead of at work? Wouldn’t he have bitten me again that night, instead of actually letting me sleep? Good? No. I knew I shouldn’t let myself even think that. Sympathy could be a killer and I’d surely be the victim if I held onto those thoughts.

Marko Delacroix was not to be trusted. He wasn’t a pet I could tame and love. There was a monster under his curious exterior and no amount of training him to be civil was going to change that. The root of his behavior spoke for itself. Even though I hadn’t seen him, it didn’t mean he wasn’t there. I still got the tingly sensation once the sun went down and I couldn’t deny that I felt him watching. My skin crawled. Fear left me shaking while my heart raced. Yet…what kept me alive, beating so heavily in my chest, called out for him in sadness. How?

The phone ringing had me reaching for the receiver. I cleared my burning throat for what felt like the million time. I couldn’t think of anything but him and it was driving me crazy.

“Hampton Auto Sales. This is Tessa, how may I direct your call?”

The greeting came out, even as I tried to figure out what it was that was so intriguing about this vampire.

“Hello, I came across an ad you posted about a used…”

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