"Do that again," he rasped.

The pressure at her core inflamed her, sending waves of need crashing through her.

Denise arched against him once more, letting out a choked moan as Spade undulated his hips. His pelvis rubbed against her c.l.i.toris in a deep caress, the heavy length of him pushing against the barrier of her underwear.

What had started out as a sweet ache in her loins turned feverish. She ran her hands down Spade's back to his hips, digging her nails into those rounded muscles and pressing him closer in greedy demand.

Denise tore her mouth away from his. "Now," she whispered raggedly, arching against him, crying out in pleasure at the friction, but also in frustration at the material that prevented him from being inside her.

Spade yanked down her bustier, and it came apart in his hand. He tossed it away, his mouth closing over her nipple and sucking so firmly, Denise was sure his fangs would pierce it. Then she quit caring about that at the bombardment of pleasure shooting from her breast, making that throb inside her almost unbearable. She twisted underneath him, her hand descending between them to pull aside her panties, but Spade caught it. He drew both her wrists over her head, holding them with one hand, using the other to pull her underwear down her legs so slowly, Denise was sweating by the time it cleared her ankles.

"Don't tease me," she moaned.

Spade gave her breast a last lick before moving up to slant his mouth over hers, spreading her legs farther apart with his knees.

"I told you, darling*I don't tease," he said when he broke away, Denise gasping in a breath after his long, pa.s.sionate kiss.

That gasp turned into a rising moan as Spade's mouth descended between her legs. His tongue raked her flesh, licking and probing where that throbbing ache was the strongest.

Heat engulfed her, filling her veins with honeyed flames as that wet, flexible pressure alternated between flicking her c.l.i.toris to delving inside her depths. She arched, writhing in wordless demand to feel more. Spade yanked her closer, pulling her leg around his back, his tongue moving in firm, ceaseless strokes.

The ever-tightening bands of ecstasy inside her were about to snap. As her last coherent thought, Denise sank her hands into Spade's shoulders and pulled at him, hard, sliding down at the same time.

"Now," she almost shouted.

He was on top of her in the next moment, his mouth stealing her breath with a richly flavored kiss, his hand holding her thigh as he lowered his hips. The first hard breach of his flesh into hers made her loins contract with an almost painful pleasure. The second, deeper thrust had her moaning into his mouth at the thick feel of him stretching her inner flesh. The third stroke buried him fully inside her, and when he undulated his pelvis against her at the same time, the fullness combined with erotic pressure made pleasure burst within her.

Denise cried out at the climax rippling through her, sending rapturous contractions through her loins. Another deep grind of Spade's body intensified those ripples, prolonging them while that hungry ache inside her changed to sweet, glowing satisfaction.

She didn't realize she'd closed her eyes until she opened them to see Spade's blazing green gaze. His hair fell around his face in black waves and his expression was sheer l.u.s.tful intentness as he watched the last tremors of o.r.g.a.s.m shake her.

"I want to feel that again," he said, his tone darkly resonant.

Denise slid her hands from his back to tangle in his hair. "You first." His lips curled as he slowly drew out of her. "I love your voice this way," he murmured, kissing her jaw while her nerve endings shivered with antic.i.p.ation at that hard length entering her again. "Such a throaty purr, so enticing* say something else." He thrust into her as he spoke, a long, languid stroke that made her moan instead of speak. Just as before, his hips flexed right when he was deepest inside her, rubbing against her most sensitive spot even as that fullness felt almost overwhelming.

"Spade* yes*"

She couldn't manage to say more, even think more. Her hands crept down his back, feeling his muscles bunch as another long thrust and rock of his hips made her mind go numb and her body come alive. She curled her legs around him, gasping as he moved even deeper, wanting more though she wasn't sure she could stand it.

"Ah, darling, you're burning me in the sweetest way," he muttered, hooking her knee under his arm to hold her lower body tighter to him. Another thrust closed her eyes at the building pressure inside her, returning with amazing swiftness after her recent release.

The combination of those deep, seeking thrusts and that erotic ma.s.saging of her c.l.i.toris had her rocking against Spade in blind need.

He kissed her, plundering her mouth with the same pa.s.sion that had her straining toward him. Denise slid her tongue between his fangs to suck his, consumed by the taste and feel of him. His arms were a pale cage around her, his weight pinning her to the mattress, hips meting out incredible pleasure with each mind-blowing thrust.

She started to whimper, her hands alternately clenching or raking down his back. The hard rhythm inside her was too much, not enough, and so good all at the same time.

"Please," she moaned against his mouth.

Spade pulled away, drawing her other knee under his arm and holding both of them in a firm grip. He shifted so her hips lifted, and when he thrust forward, the hard length of him pushed even deeper inside her. She cried out, the fullness too intense but somehow addictive, that sensual grinding almost constant in this position.

She couldn't reach his mouth, but his chest brushed her lips. Denise kissed it, savoring the hardness and the roping muscles moving underneath that smooth pale skin. She caught his nipple in her mouth, sucking, aroused even more by his groan in response.

Those hard strokes inside her increased in pace, inflaming her. She sucked harder, pinching his other nipple. His grip tightened.

"More." A hoa.r.s.e command punctuated by a deep roll of his hips that almost made stars appear in her vision.

Denise divided her attention between his nipples, sucking, licking, and biting each of them. Her mind began to whirl as Spade kept increasing the rhythm of his thrusts.

Pleasure narrowed her consciousness until she felt like her world consisted of nothing but this bed and the two of them. That inner tension kept growing, twisting and clenching her body tighter around him while her pulse seemed to thunder out of control.

"Come with me, come with me now," she gasped, feeling the pressure about to burst inside her.

Everything tilted in the next second, then she was on top of Spade. He was still inside her, and when she pressed against him, he moved with rapid, forceful strokes that rocked her backward in ecstasy. Spade sat up, one arm pressing her hips to his, the other balancing her. His mouth latched on to her breast, kissing it before catching the nipple with his teeth and biting it.

Denise would have cried out a warning, but she couldn't think. She wasn't even controlling their rhythm. Though she was on top, Spade had her locked in a sensual grip while he moved faster and more erotically than any human possibly could. She held on to his arms, her head thrown back, lost in the sensations spreading from her loins to her entire body.

The pleasure inside ruptured right before she heard Spade let out a guttural moan. Then another, powerful shudder mixed with the internal spasms reverberating through her.

Denise clung to him, shaking with the remains of her o.r.g.a.s.m and the continued throb of his.

Chapter Twenty-four.

Spade lay on his back, Denise sleeping within the circle of his arms. Her honeyed jasmine scent mixed with his, creating a muskier, lush fragrance that he occasionally breathed in. It was their scent, sharpened by pa.s.sion, and with each breath, he savored it.

She's truly mine now.

The possessiveness he felt had nothing to do with being a vampire. Yes, under vampiric law, Denise was his the moment he bit her, if he chose to claim her as such. But this was different. It was the sort of bone-deep emotion that made him want to hold her tighter with one hand*and draw a sword against the world with the other.

It also made him want to wake her up so he could take her again, even though he knew she needed more than the five hours' sleep that had been sufficient for him. He watched the steady rise and fall of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, the diamond and amethyst necklace still sparking between them. Denise had the blankets pulled up to her waist, but Spade hadn't needed them. Not with the smoldering heat of her body alongside his.

The memory of how incredible it felt inside her had Spade rolling onto his side, facing her. Maybe he'd wake her, take her just once, and then let her fall back asleep afterward*

Sounds of a car pulling into his driveway made him snap into alert. All the guests had left, so it couldn't be a late chauffeur picking up a lingering partygoer, and he wasn't expecting anyone.

He slipped out of bed without disturbing Denise, yanking on his pants and shirt from the previous evening. The sword he put back in the loop on his belt in case this was an uninvited ghoul, but the rest of the knives he grabbed were silver.

Then the car stopped and a door slammed. Spade felt waves of power emanating from the exterior of the house, growing in increasing currents that marked the ident.i.ty of the person outside as a Master vampire.

Power he recognized all too well.

"b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l," Spade muttered, taking off the knives and sword.

He was already down the last flight of stairs when Alten opened the door. "Bones," Alten said, surprise in his voice.

Crispin saw him rounding the corner and his brow arched. "Going to invite me in, Charles?" he asked crisply.

Even though the power crackling around him was familiar, the scent was familiar, and the annoyed expression on Crispin's face was more than familiar, Spade paused. Hotels and other public places might be fair game, but a demon couldn't come inside a home unless invited. Had Raum somehow found them, and vastly improved his disguise?

"Sire?" Alten asked, flicking his gaze between them.

"You arrived without invitation, you can walk through that door without invitation," Spade replied, tensing.

Crispin snorted in disbelief as he brushed past Alten. Some of the stiffness left Spade as he saw his friend easily clear the threshold.

"If we hadn't been mates for over two centuries, I'd be tempted to knock you on your a.r.s.e," Crispin said. "What has gotten into you, Charles?"

"Got here right quickly, didn't you?" Spade said, walking toward the less formal living room at the back of the house. He didn't look behind him to see if Crispin followed; he'd come this far, he wouldn't stop now.

"If you were trying to hide, you did a b.l.o.o.d.y poor job of it by hosting a large party under your name," Crispin replied. "Word gets around about that, especially word that you're relocating here with your new human lover."

"Whiskey?" Spade asked, ignoring that.

"Of course."

Spade filled a crystal gla.s.s from the decanter in the living room, handing it to Crispin.

His friend took it, still eyeing him in that annoyed, bemused way, but at least he'd come alone. Cat would have stormed up the stairs to search every room for Denise, impatient woman that she was.

"Sit," Spade said, indicating the sofa.

If he was anyone else, he knew Crispin would have refused. Perhaps pulled a weapon and demanded whatever it was he'd come for, but Crispin curled himself into the sofa as languidly as if he'd arrived only to relax.

"You reek of Denise," he remarked in a conversational tone.

Spade's mouth tightened. "That's none of your concern."

"I grow very weary of you telling me that," Crispin said, his tone sharpening. "Shall we quit the pretense and just get straight to why you've taken up with my wife's best friend behind my back? What sort of trouble is Denise in, and why didn't you bring it to my attention when you discovered it?"

Crispin was too smart for his own good, but Spade made one last attempt at evasiveness.

"What makes you think Denise is with me for suspicious reasons? She's a beautiful woman, I'm an attractive-enough bloke, we get on*" Spade dangled the rest of the sentence with a shrug.

"b.o.l.l.o.c.ks," Crispin said, brown eyes narrowing. "We both know you avoid relationships with human women, and we both know that a demon was in Denise's house before she suddenly showed up at your side as your devoted lover." Crispin must have gone to her home and smelled Raum there. b.l.o.o.d.y man was too smart for his own good.

"Not to mention Denise decided to shun all things vampire the last time I was around her," Crispin went on. "I heard it in her thoughts. So even if a demon dropped by to say hallo and nothing else happened, Denise isn't with you out of a sudden desire to join the vampire ranks, so why don't you quit the s.h.i.te and tell me what's going on. If you don't, I'll just read it from her mind the moment I see her." d.a.m.n Crispin's new telepathic skill. He could indeed pluck all the details from Denise's mind as soon as she woke up.

"Before I tell you anything, I must first inform you that whatever her initial reasons for seeking me out, things are serious between Denise and me," Spade said. Then his voice hardened. "You're not leaving with her, Crispin, unless it's over my dried, withered corpse."

Both of his friend's brows shot up, and then Crispin let out a bark of amazed laughter.

"Lucifer's bouncing b.a.l.l.s, that's why you're acting like a nutter! You've gone and fallen in love with her. b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l, if I didn't see it on your face myself, I wouldn't believe it." Crispin was off the couch in the next moment, slapping him on the back. "This is cause for celebration! And no small relief for me as well. I had to force my wife to let me speak with you alone. She fretted that Denise had somehow gotten into trouble and you were holding her against her will."

Spade was momentarily speechless. Was it that obvious how he felt about Denise, or did Crispin just know him too well?

"I'm quite pleased for Denise, too," Crispin went on, his grin fading a bit. "She was broken up very badly after Randy's death, and then her miscarriage*"

"Miscarriage?" Spade interrupted, gripping Crispin's shoulders.

The smile wiped completely from his friend's face. "Didn't she tell you? Denise miscarried a few weeks after Randy's murder. Doctors reckoned it was grief and stress.

Afterward, she moved out of my home and I heard in her thoughts that she intended to pull away from our world. She ceased calling my wife or returning her calls the past couple months, so I figured she'd made the final break." Spade closed his eyes. Denise didn't just have guilt over her a.s.sociation with vampires for her husband's death; she had it for her unborn child's, too.

"No, she didn't tell me."

Denise cared for him, yes, but with such a loss, would she be willing to relinquish her chance at motherhood forever for him? Vampires couldn't impregnate humans. Cat had been the rarest fluke as a half-breed, and even then, her father had been undead by days only. Not centuries, as Spade was.

Crispin must have read some of that from his face, too. "Does Denise feel the same way about you?"

Spade opened his eyes. "I don't know."

Denise stretched, rolling over. No one was on the other side of the bed, which she was used to, but then her eyes snapped open when she remembered this time, someone was supposed to be.

She sat up, looking around the room. It was large, yes, but a glance still told her Spade wasn't in it.

It's not unusual for him to be up before you, she reminded herself to cover that flutter of nervousness in her stomach. How long did he even stay? an insidious inner voice promptly asked. For all you know, he left right after you fell asleep.

She looked at the bed. The covers weren't mussed where Spade would have slept. Her stomach plummeted. Maybe Spade did leave right afterward. Maybe she'd misconstrued what he'd said last night about this not being casual.

Or maybe she was being an idiot and Spade had just slept without messing his side of the bed and was now getting breakfast.

Hope battled with insecurity. She hadn't dealt with this potentially awkward morning-after situation before. With Randy, the only other man she'd slept with this quickly, she knew how he felt beforehand. The other three guys, she'd dated for a while before s.e.x came into the picture, so relationship parameters had been firmly established. Spade had said his feeling for her weren't casual, but in the harsh light of day, that could mean many things, and a relationship wasn't necessarily one of them.

Well, one thing she wouldn't do was sit in bed and stew until Spade came back. Denise got up and went into the bathroom. Any situation was better faced with an empty bladder, a clean body, and a lack of morning breath.

After Denise emerged from the bathroom twenty minutes later, though, the sight that met her eyes made her heart twist. Spade was in the bedroom, fully dressed, sitting on the couch, and he wasn't alone.

When Bones's dark brown gaze met hers, Denise almost burst into tears. Spade had called him to come get her. He'd even arranged for Bones to be here when she woke up, so there would be no messy scene. G.o.d, last night had been a one-nighter mercy f.u.c.k.

"Denise*" Spade began.

"No," she cut him off, holding up her hand. "Save it. Just give me a few minutes, Bones, and then I'll be ready to leave."

She wasn't looking at Spade anymore, but Bones's face registered amazement. "You want to leave with me?"

"I told you, she's not going anywhere," Spade snarled. Then it was impossible for Denise to ignore him, because he was right in front of her, gripping her arms. "What the devil has gotten into you?"

She laughed at that, a high-pitched, mirthless sound. "What the devil? Oh, good one, Spade. Har har! Well, it's nothing you need to worry about anymore, is it? Thanks for your time. All your time, but really, the farewell f.u.c.k was unnecessary. A vibrator can last all night, too, vampire."

Bones cleared his throat tactfully. "Need a moment alone, mate?"