Covet - A Novel of Fallen Angel Part 24

aI asked youahow is my lipstick.a The tone was sharper now and made his palms squeeze down even harder on the wheel.

Before she repeated the demand and he got nasty, he glared into the rearview mirror. If whatever b.i.t.c.h was in the back expected him toa"

Black eyes grabbed him and held him as sure as if shead leaned forward and put him in a headlock. And then he sensed her reaching into him anda aMy lipstick,a she said, with deliberate, flaring p.r.o.nunciation.

He did a quick check on the street ahead, which was clear to the traffic light two blocks ahead, and went right back to the rearview. aAhait looks good.a With a deliberate stroke of her manicured forefinger, she wiped the line of her lower lip, then pursed her mouth and released.

aYouare a religious man, I see,a she murmured, closing her compact.

He glanced at the cross that was glued to the dashboard. aNot my cab.a aOh.a She brushed her hair back and kept staring at him.

It didnat take long before he felt like the heater had been turned on high, and he even double-checked to see if the blower was working overtime. No. She was just a beautiful woman who was looking at him like he was something. Which happened about as often asa"

aWhatas your name,a she whispered.

Tongue-tied, and abruptly unsure of the answer, he pointed to the cabbie license that had his picture on it. Reading what was written, he said, aSaul. Saul Weaver.a aNice name.a As they came up to the red light at the intersection, he braked, and the instant the taxi was at a full stop, he was back looking into the rearaviewamirrora.

The irises of her eyes expanded until there was no white part to contrast with the dense blacka"and though that should have been the kind of thing to leave him screaming, he felt like liquid o.r.g.a.s.m had taken the place of the blood in his veins.

Pleasure soared through him, lifting him up even as he remained on the seat of the taxi, invading him even as his skin remained intact, owning him though there was no tangible leash between them.

aSaul,a the woman said, her voice morphing into something that was both deep as a manas and breathy as a womanas. aI know what you want.a Saul swallowed hard and heard his voice come from a long distance. aYou do?a aAnd I know how you can get it.a aYouado?a aPull over into that alley, Saul.a With that, she opened her coat, flas.h.i.+ng a skintight white blouse that showed her nipples clear as if nothing covered them. aPull over, Saul, and let me tell you what you need to do.a With a wrench of the wheel, he shot into the shadows between two high buildings and threw the taxi in park. As he turned around to look at her, he was utterly captivated: However arresting her eyes were in the mirror, the rest of her more than lived up to the hype. She wasaunreal, and not just because of how beautiful she was. Staring into those black pits, he was fully accepted, fully understood, and he knew without a doubt that he would find what he was seeking with her. She had his answers.

aPleaseatell me.a aCome back here, Saul.a The woman trolled her manicured fingers down her long neck to her cleavage. aAnd let me in.a

CHAPTER 32.

Not finis.h.i.+ng was not going to be easy.

As Marie-Terese worked magic on his arousal, Vin felt like his skin was on fire and his blood was boiling and his bone marrow had turned into lightning. With every sucking draw and grabbing slide, she was sending him right to the edge, his body dangling off a precipice he was dying to fall froma"and was completely unwilling to let go of. G.o.dahis self-control was killing him in the best way; his head jacked back against the pillow, his thighs rigid, his chest pumping. She was taking him to Heaven and putting him through h.e.l.l in equal measures, and he wanted it to go on forever.

But he really wasnat going to last much longer.

Lifting his head took all his strength, and when he looked down his body, he positively spasmed. Marie-Tereseas mouth was stretched wide, her beautiful b.r.e.a.s.t.s hanging lush and full, her nipples brus.h.i.+ng against his thighsa"

aOh, f.u.c.k.a He lunged up and pulled her from his erection, his fingers biting into her upper arms as he struggled not to come.

aAre youa"a Vin cut her off by kissing her hard and rolling her over. Before he could stop himself, he linked his arm under one of her knees and stretched her up. He was growling, he was wild, he wasa"

aI need you now, Vin!a Her nails sank into his a.s.s as she went boneless beneath him.

as.h.i.+tayesa"a Except both of them froze at the same time.

Together, they said, aCondom.a Vin grunted and stretched out for the bedside table, the movement driving him even harder into her curvesa"and she didnat help things in the slightest by moving herself against him in a wave.

As the erotic sensation of flesh on flesh reverberated through his body, Vin lost contact with the Trojan head palmed, the little square flipping out of his grip like it had been taking flying lessons. aG.o.dd.a.m.n it!a Leaning down to the floor, his hips s.h.i.+fted and his c.o.c.k went along for the ride, brus.h.i.+ng right over her hot, sweet core. With a quick jerk, he moved back, because he didnat want to lose control, anda Man, things didnat go well on the lower level as the square played keep-away from his sloppy hand.

aLet me help,a Marie-Terese said, joining the hunt.

She was the one who finally caught the pale blue prize, pus.h.i.+ng herself up and laughing as she held it over her head. aGot it!a Vin started laughing along with her, and in a flash, he pulled her in close, hugging her. He was still fully erect and panting to come, but he was also light and free as he grinned and she giggled and they rolled around together, messing up the duvet. The condom got lost in the process, resurfacing and disappearing by turns like a fish in the water.

The thing ended up stuck to his side, like it had finally decided to be claimed. Or had decided to claim him.

Vin peeled it off, broke the foil open, and sheathed himself. Rolling her over onto her back again, he nudged his way between her thighs and swept her hair back from her eyes.

The collision was impending and electric, but the moment was soft and sweet: She positively glowed as she looked up at him.

aWhat,a she whispered, palming his face.

Vin took a moment to memorize her features and the way she felt beneath him, seeing her not just through his eyes, but feeling her with his skin and his heart. ah.e.l.lo, lovely ladyah.e.l.lo.a As she blushed beautifully, he kissed her deep, his tongue stroking against hers, their bodies settling in. One s.h.i.+ft of his hips and his erection moved into position, and then he was driving forward slowly, easing into her. As her core took him inside and that spectacular constriction resonated, he dropped his head into her gorgeous hair and let go.

Long, deep, poundingano more laughter nowa"only delicious desperation that choked him and revived him by turns. It was the same as it had been when shead had her mouth on him: the kind of thing he never wanted to end, although that just wasnat possible.

Overcome, Vin roared as he contracted from his head to his calves, and from a distance he heard her say his name, felt her nails rake down his spine, absorbed the waves of her release.

When theyad caught their breath, he was still hard as he held on to the base of the condom and withdrew. aIall be right back.a After he was finished in the bath, he returned and stretched out next to her. aYou know what I have in there?a He pointed with his thumb toward the marble expanse head used to clean up.

aWhat?a She ran her hands over his arms and onto his shoulders.

aSix. Shower. Heads.a aReeeeeally.a aYup. Larry, Curly, Moe, Joe, and Frankie.a aWait, only five have names?a aWell, thereas Freaky, but Iam not sure whether heas fit for mixed company.a Her laugher was another kind of o.r.g.a.s.m for him, the sort of thing that warmed him from the inside out.

aWill you let me visit you?a he whispered. aAfter you leave.a Wrong thing to say. Drained the happy right out of her face. aIam sorry,a he said quickly. aI shouldnat have asked. s.h.i.+t, I shouldnata"a aI would like that.a Her answer was as quiet as his question had been, and the unspoken but hung between them like a draft of acrid smoke.

aCome with me,a he said, prepared to drop it. If they didnat have a lot of time left together, he wasnat about to ruin what they had. aLet me wash my sweat off your skin.a She held on to his arms, her hands tightening to stop him.

Shaking his head, he brushed her mouth with his. aThere are no promises and I understand that.a aI wish I could make them.a aI know.a He slid his legs off the bed and scooped her up in his arms. aBut I have you now, donat I.a He held her aloft as he walked into the bathaheld her up off the marble floor as he turned on the showeraheld her in his arms as he put his hand under the spray and waited until it got warm enough.

aYou donat have to carry me,a she said into his neck.

aI know. I just donat want to let you go while youare still here.a aDid you ever see Fatal Attraction?a Adrian said.

As the cargo elevator in Devinaas warehouse closed its doors, Jim looked across what was essentially an entire roomas worth of s.p.a.ce. h.e.l.l, you could take a grand piano upstairs in the d.a.m.n thing.

aExcuse me?a he asked.

aFatal Attraction. The movie.a Adrian ran his hands up and down the metal walls. aGreat scene in an elevator just like this one. In my top ten.a aLet me guess, the other nine are on the Internet.a Eddie pushed the b.u.t.ton marked FIVE and the thing lurched like a bronco. aGlenn Close was a psycho in that movie.a Adrian shrugged and the sly smile on his face seemed to suggest that he was putting himself in the picture, so to speak. aHow much does that really matter, though?a Eddie and Jim glanced at each other and the rolled eyes went unexpressed, because what was the point? You picked that habit up around Adrian and youad spend your life staring at the ceiling.

On the fifth floor, the elevator b.u.mped to a halt and the doors rattled as Eddie worked the release lever and threw them open.

The hall was clean, but dark as a shed, with brick walls held together by ancient, sloppy mortar and a wooden plank floor finished in old-age wear and tear. Down to the left, there was a metal door on the scale of the elevator with an EXIT sign over it. All the way to the right, there was another doora"this one made of nickel-plated steel panels.

Jim unholstered his gun and took the safety off. aShe likely to live with anyone?a aSolo operator, generally speaking. Although she has been known to take pets from time to time.a aRottweilers?a aSpitting cobras. Copperheads. She likes snakesa"but then maybe itas a recycle, reuse thing for her shoes and handbags. Who the f.u.c.k knows.a As they walked over to the nickel-plated door, Jim whistled softly. Stacked up one on top of another, the seven dead bolts gleamed like honor medals on the chest of a soldier. aJesus, check out the locks on this thing.a aEven the paranoid have enemies, son,a Adrian murmured.

aYeah, you can lose the asona s.h.i.+t.a aHow old are you? Forty? Iam four hundred if Iam a day.a aOkay, fine.a Jim glared over his shoulder. aCan you work your magic on this, Gramps?a Adrian flipped his middle finger, put his hand on the k.n.o.b, andagot nowhere. af.u.c.k. Sheas blocked this.a aWhat do you mean?a aThe worst kind of spell.a Adrian nodded grimly at Eddie. aYouare up.a As the silent man stepped forward, Adrian grabbed onto Jimas arm and pulled back. aYouare going to want to give him some s.p.a.ce.a Eddie lifted his palm and closed his eyes and went statue still. His strong face with its prominent lips and square jaw a.s.sumed a calm determination, and after a moment, soft chanting emanated from hima"except as far as Jim knew, the manasaangelasawhateveralips were not moving.

Oh, waitait wasnat singing.

Waves of energy pulsed out of the angelas palm, like heat rising on asphalt in the summer, and making a rythmic sound as they rippled through the air.

One by one there were a series of s.h.i.+fts as the dead bolts released, and then there was a final click and the door wafted open as if the s.p.a.ce beyond had let out a breath.

aNice,a Jim murmured as Eddieas hooded lids lifted.

The guy took a deep breath and moved his shoulders around as if they were stiff. aLetas be quick about this. We donat know how long sheas going to be out for.a Adrian went in first, a vicious kind of hatred burning in his expression, and Eddie was right on his tail.

aWhatatheaf.u.c.kaa Jim said as he entered.

aAlways with the collecting,a Adrian spat. aThe b.i.t.c.h.a Jimas first thought was that the vast, open place was like some kind of f.u.c.ked-up furniture liquidatoras store. There were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of clocks, all grouped by type, but otherwise unorganized: Grandfathers stood in a messy circle in the far corner, like they had been milling around and had frozen in place as soon as the door opened. Circular wall hangers were nailed to the thick wooden support beams that ran vertically from floor to ceiling. Mantel showpieces sat scattered on shelves and so did alarm clocks and metronomes.

But the pocket watches were the freakiest.

Suspended from the lofty I-beamed ceiling, like spiders on tendrils, pocket watches of all ages and makes dangled from black strings.

aTime keeps onaslippinaaslippinaaslippina into the future,a Adrian drawled as he walked around.

Except actually, it didnat. Every one of the clocks and watches was stopped. h.e.l.l, more than stoppeda"the pendulums in those grandfathers were frozen in s.p.a.ce, at the top of their arcs.

Jim s.h.i.+fted his eyes away from the time-keeping mlange and found another collection.

Devina had one and only one kind of furniture: bureaus. There must have been twenty to thirty of them, and they were crowded in a disorganized huddle, like the one in the middle had called a quick meeting and they had just rushed over. As with the clocks, there were all different kindsa"antique ones that looked like they belonged in museums, new ones with sleek lines, cheapos that had to have been made in China and sold at Target.

as.h.i.+t, Iall bet she put it in one of these,a Adrian said as he and Eddie went up to the jumbled a.s.sembly.

aWhat is that smell?a Jim asked, rubbing his nose.

aYou donat want to know.a The f.u.c.k he didnat. Something was very wrong, and not just because she had some serious OCD issues when it came to decorating: The air was tainted with a scent that made Jimas flesh crawl. Sweetaway too sweet.

Leaving Eddie and Adrian to their needle-in-a-haystack routine, Jim went exploring. Like all lofts, there were no divisions of the s.p.a.ce except for the one in the corner that had to demarcate the bathroom.

Which meant the knives in the kitchen were on full display.

On the granite counter, there were all sorts of blades: hunting ones and Swiss armies and steaks and butchers and prison-made roughies and cooksa delights and box cutters. The business ends were long and short, smooth and serrated, rusted and s.h.i.+ny. And like the bureaus and the clocks, they were in a hodgepodge of disorder, the handles and the tips facing all which ways.

For a man who had found himself in a lot of nasty-a.s.s situations, this was a new one.

Jim felt as if head walked into All-wrong Land.

Inhaling deep he tried to clear his head, but just ended up clogging his nose. That smellawhat was it? And where was it coming from?

The bathroom, he realized.

aDonat go in there, Jim,a Eddie called out as he started in that direction. aJim! Noa"a Yeah, f.u.c.k that. The smell was the nostril equivalent of new pennies in your mouth, and there was only one thing that made thata"

From out of nowhere, Eddie appeared in front of him, blocking the way. aNo, Jim. You canat go in there.a aBlood. That smell is blood.a aI know.a Jim spoke slowly, as if Eddie had lost his d.a.m.n mind. aSo someoneas bleeding in there.a aIf you breach the seal on that door, you might as well trigger a security alarm.a Eddie pointed to the floor. aYou see that.a Jim frowned and looked down. Right in front of his boots, there was a faint line of dirt, as if it had been lightly sprinkled there by a careful hand.

aIf you open this,a Eddie said, aitas going to pa.s.s over that barrier and our cover will be blown.a aWhy?a aBefore she left, she treated the edge of the door with a specific kind of blood and that dirtas from a graveyard. One pa.s.ses over the other and it releases energy sheas going to sense clear as an atomic bomb going off.a aWhat kind of blood is it?a Jim asked, even though he knew he wasnat going to like the answer. aAnd why didnat she do it to where we entered through?a aShe needs a controlled environment to pull the protection spell off. The hall outside? She canat be sure the cleaning staff wouldnat disturb the dirt or that someone wouldnat mess it up. And all this stuffaa"Eddie swept his hand arounda"ais not as important as whatas inside here.a Jim stared at the closed door as if at any second he might pull a Superman and be able to see through the thing.

aJim. Jimayou canat go in there. We need to find the ring and take off.a There was more to this, Jim thought. As much as Adrain had revealed back at his studio, the angels had a pattern of telling him what he needed to know for the moment and not one byte of information more than that. So there was definitely s.h.i.+t going on here that he was unaware ofa aJim.a Jim focused on the doork.n.o.b that was within grabbing distance. He was kind of through with being out of the loop, and if it took a showdown with Devina to bring him up to speed, it was hard to think that was a bad thing.

aJim.a

CHAPTER 33.

Warm water over her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and thighsawarm lips on her mouthawarm steam billowing out around her.

Marie-Terese ran her soapy hands up the ma.s.sive shoulders of her lover, marveling at the difference between their bodies. He was so hard, his muscles flexing and releasing as the two of them moved against each other, s.h.i.+fting, rubbing, seeking, and finding. His hot erection stroked against her upper stomach, and between her legs she was just as ready for more as he was.

Vinas lips broke off from her own and nuzzled into her neck, then down to her collarboneaand he went even lower, bending to suck on her nipples before licking at the tight tips. As she sank her fingers into his slick wet hair, he knelt on the marble before her, gripping her hips and staring up at her with hot eyes. With their stares locked, his mouth went to her belly b.u.t.ton, brus.h.i.+ng soft as the water did before being replaced by his pink tongue.

Falling back against the marble wall between two of the showerheads, Marie-Terese widened her stance as he kissed his way over to her hip. White teeth made a brief appearance on the bone, and then he was raking them gently across the skin of her lower belly before retracing the path with sucking lips.

Lower.

To make even more way for him, she put her foot up on the marble bench that was built into the corner, and his mouth went immediately to her inner thigh. He was urgent and he was gentle at the same time as he got closer and closer to the core that throbbed between her legs. She was dying for him to go exactly where he was headed, and as he paused at the very top of her inner thigh, she could barely breathe.

aPleaseaa she said roughly.

Vin nuzzled over and licked into her with one sure stroke. As her voice keened above the sound of the falling water, his fingers sank into her thighs and he groaned against her s.e.x. Drugging laps mixed with tugging sucks until she found herself falling down onto the bench and bracing one foot against the soap shelf on the wall and throwing the other down the far side of his back.

And then he got serious. Lifting his head from her and meeting her eyes, he brought up two of his fingers and drew them inside his mouth. As they came out all glossy from being between his lips, he leaned back down to her s.e.x, leading with his pink tongue.

The thick penetration was compounded by a flicking tickle at the top of her s.e.x.

Marie-Terese came hard and loud and long, and when she was finally spent, she collapsed against the hard stone, boneless as the water itself. After he slid out of her, he licked his fingers, tongue tracing in and around while he looked at her from under his brows.

He was hard. Maybe even brutally so, given the straining length at his hips.

aVinaa aYeah.a His voice was nothing but gravel.

aItas really far to the bedroom, where the condoms are.a aIt is.a She looked down at his erection. aI wouldnat want you to wait that long.a His smile was fierce. aWhat did you have in mind?a aI want to watch.a His laugh was deep and low, and he settled back against the gla.s.s wall, his thighs opening, his ma.s.sive arousal running up his ribbed stomach. G.o.d, he looked spectacular against the creamy marble.

aWhat exactly do you want to watch?a She blushed. G.o.d help her, she actually blushed. But then, he was sprawled out on the floor of the shower, glistening from head to toe, ready for s.e.xaand looking for direction.