s.e.x,LIES &VAMPIRE HUNTERS.

by Myla Jackson.

Chapter One

Julie Taylor tipped the vial upside down and jammed the syringe into the rubber covering. Just two more hours and she could go home and get off her aching feet. When she had the desired dose, she removed the needle and set the gla.s.s vial on the cart.

"Don't look now, but guess who just pulled up in his squad car?" a gravelly, feminine voice whispered into her ear.

The bottle slipped from her suddenly nerveless fingers and would have crashed to the floor if she hadn't slammed her hip against the cart, catching it between the cart and her scrubs. Whew! "Kim Erickson, don't do that!"

Kim giggled and sashayed out of reach. "Thought you'd want to know. But if you don't care..." Her eyebrows rose questioningly. "I'll tell him you're not interested." The flirty behavior was a marked contrast to Kim's long bottle-black hair and Goth makeup. Kim was a dichotomy of sweet and weird wrapped up in a slightly plump package. Despite Kim's strange appearance, Julie couldn't find a better friend.

"Don't you dare!" Syringe in hand, Julie followed Kim out into the hallway.

"Hey! Watch it with that thing," Dorothy Lindeman, or Dottie, the battle-axe, head nurse of the nightshift, dodged around her pointed needle. "Get that medication into the patient in Room 1 before you stick someone else with it." Battle-axe in spirit only, Dorothy was anything but large and ugly. However, she could be mean when you didn't do as she said.

Julie hurried toward Room 1 where Mrs. Thompson struggled to breathe through a severe asthma attack. All the while she ministered to her patient, her thoughts were on the gorgeous cop who'd chosen to target her with his flirting ways. d.a.m.n, she was lucky. Roger Decker was the s.e.xiest hunk this side of the Mississippi and he wanted her.

Julie sighed. If only they could get their shifts synchronized so they could spend time together.

Mrs. Thompson was resting easily, her breathing returning to normal.

Julie slipped out into the hallway and turned toward the nurses station for her next a.s.signment. Before she could take two steps, her friend Kim snagged her by the elbow and marched her toward the supply closet. "What? Where are you taking me?"

"Shut up. You'll thank me later." Kim opened the closet door and shoved her inside, closing the door behind her.

The closet was dark and filled with the acrid scent of disinfectant floor cleaners and old mops. Julie fumbled in the dark for the doork.n.o.b. When she found it, she twisted the handle and pulled. It didn't budge. "What's the deal?"

"I'm the deal." A low s.e.xy voice breathed against the back of her neck.

Her muscles bunched and then relaxed when she realized who was behind her. With a sigh, she leaned back against a solid chest, inhaling the scent of musky cologne and male.

Roger. The man of her dreams. The man destined to stay in her dreams. Other than the stolen kisses in the emergency room hallway that managed to graduate into some particularly heavy groping sessions in this supply closet, she'd done little else but fantasize about this man. How she'd love to do a lot more, maybe spend an entire night together-naked.

His breath stirred the hairs that had fallen loose from the neat ponytail she'd started the night with. Arms circled around her middle, rising beneath her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

"Pervert," she whispered and pressed her bottom against the hard ridge behind his uniform trousers. While his hands slipped beneath her scrub shirt and lacy bra, she reached behind her to cup his a.s.s. G.o.d, how she wanted him. "You're going to get me fired."

"Then we'll have time to do more of this." His tongue curled around her earlobe and he sucked it into his mouth, nibbling gently with his teeth.

"Um, perhaps I could live on s.e.x alone?" She turned in his arms. "Who needs food or a roof over my head, when I can have all this?"

"Now you're thinking."

"Yeah, but it's time to quit thinking and start..." she pressed her lips to his, cutting off further conversation. Her time was short.

She'd better make good use of it.

He pushed her bra up over her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and tweaked her nipples between his thumb and forefingers. Pressing his cheek against her hair, he inhaled. "You smell like heaven."

She laughed. "How can you smell anything over the disinfectant and dirty mops?"

"I can, when I'm this close." He nudged a knee between her legs, rubbing his thigh against her c.u.n.t.

When his leg touched her there, all the air whooshed out of her lungs and she clung to him.

A hand rose to cup her face in the darkness, his lips descending to claim hers in a long scorching kiss. While his tongue toyed and dueled with hers, blunt-tipped fingers slid once more beneath her shirt.

She tugged the b.u.t.tons open on his uniform to comb her fingers through his chest hairs, except a cotton t-shirt stood in the way.

Julie plucked at it. "You have too many clothes on." Short of pulling his shirt and t-shirt from his waistband she had to content herself with sliding her fingers between his uniform and the t-shirt. When she found the hard little knots of his nipples beneath the soft cotton, she tweaked.

The hard ridge of his c.o.c.k rocked against her belly. "Your clothes are much more accessible to play." He pushed his hands beneath the elastic waistband of her scrubs and burrowed into the silky bikini underwear to the furry mound at the juncture of her thighs.

"I can't believe we're doing this in a janitor's closet." Despite her words, her legs spread to give him more maneuvering room.

"I'd rather have you in my bed." With his index finger, he parted the thick folds and stroked the cleft between.

Julie moaned, her back arching, pressing her into his hand. "What if someone comes?" she gasped.

"What if you come?" He paused, his fingers cupping her s.e.x lightly. "Do you want me to stop?"

"Are you kidding?" She grabbed his arm and pushed him deeper. "If you stop now, I'll die."

He needed no further encouragement. Like a mechanic, he dipped his finger in to test how slick and lubricated she was. "G.o.d, you're wet." He dragged creamy juices up to that sensitive nub and flicked it until Julie leaned into him, gasping. Raw need filled her, nerves jumping with every stroke, until she was, spiraling up and over the edge, her pelvis jerking her release. Then she pressed her forehead to his chest. "Oh, G.o.d." With a long deep breath, she blew out in a sharp stream against his neck. "Now, your turn."

She was fumbling with his belt buckle when the door handle jerked.

"What the h.e.l.l?" A male voice muttered on the other side.

Julie froze for a moment. Then her fingers dropped from his zipper. "s.h.i.t. My boss will fire me on the spot if she catches me in here with you."

"Don't sweat it, sounded more like a man than a woman out there."

"Yeah, but he might go to her for the key to the closet." She spun around in the dark, straightening her clothes, tugging her bra down over her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.Roger buckled his belt and was b.u.t.toning his shirt when the door swung open.

"Kim!" Julie fell out of the closet and hugged her friend. "Thank G.o.d it's you."

"Don't thank me now, the battle-axe is on the warpath, and she's looking for you. Run the other way while I get Mr. Hot-and- Bothered out the back."

"Thanks, Kim." She turned back to Roger and sighed. "At the risk of sounding trite, we have got to stop meeting this way."

"I know." He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Actually, that's why I came by."

Julie's gaze darted up and down the hallway before returning to him. "Oh yeah?"

"I have tomorrow night off."

"You do?" She squealed and clapped a hand over her mouth. "So do I!"

"I know." A slow, s.e.xy grin slid across his face and he waggled his eyebrows.

"And?" Was he going to ask her out on a real date? Julie sent a silent prayer heavenward. Please, please, please...

He shrugged and started to turn away, a wicked gleam in his eyes. "I just thought I'd let you know."

Julie punched his arm. "What do I have to do? Beg?"

"For what?"

"You're impossible."

"Yeah, I am, aren't I?" He grinned.

Kim glanced around. "You two better figure it out quick, here she comes."

"How about it?" He grabbed her and pressed the hard ridge of his c.o.c.k against her belly. "Tomorrow? A real date? I have reservations at the Red Lantern."

"Yes!" She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth and let him go just as quickly. "A real date, with food, and candles and se-" Kim nudged her in the back hard enough she stumbled into Roger.

"Nurse Lindeman," Kim said behind her. "Julie was just questioning Mr. Decker about the psych case he brought in."

Roger's lips twitched as if he forced back the smile threatening to take over his face.

The heat in Julie's cheeks deepened and she struggled with words. "Uh...yes...I was just questioning Mr. Decker about the...

uh-"

"Psych case in Room 2. But now she's done, right, Julie? Mr. Marley is waiting in Room 2. Mustn't keep him waiting, must we.

No ma'am." Kim hustled Julie past the head nurse and continued toward the room with the psych case.

Nurse Lindeman let them go, but as Julie pa.s.sed her, she noted how her eyes narrowed and she nailed Roger with a piercing glare. "Aren't you the same cop that's been hanging around lately?"

"Come on." Kim tugged Julie down the hallway. "But she'll chew him up and spit him out." Julie didn't feel right leaving Roger to handle Nurse Lindeman by himself.

"He's a big boy, he can manage all by himself. Besides, you have to fill me in on all the juicy details.

Julie's cheeks warmed as she recalled just how juicy the details had been. "No way."

"Hey, how am I supposed to live vicariously through you if you don't share?" Kim shoved her through the doorway.

"Get your own life!" With a last glance at Roger, Julie caught him winking at her over Nurse Lindeman's head. Tomorrow night was going to be great. She was finally going to have a real date, with real s.e.x, and the best part was that she'd be with Roger.

"What's this about a psych case?" Nurse Lindeman was asking.

After Julie disappeared through a doorway, Roger dragged his gaze back to the woman in front of him.

"Ma'am?" What had she asked? He couldn't recall. Not after watching Julie's a.s.s twitch all the way down the hall. So, he smiled his most charming smile, the one he reserved for the politicians' wives.

"If you'd get your mind off my nurse's a.s.s for a moment, we could both do our jobs."

Her sharp words brought him back in focus. "Bob Marley, the guy I brought in a few minutes ago, was caught trying to stab some poor b.u.m with a wooden stake."

"Huh? Why the h.e.l.l did you bring him here? You should have taken him down to the station and booked him on a.s.sault charges."

Roger ignored the head nurse's attempt to tell him how to do his job. "I would have, except he sounded hysterical, a little deranged. I thought maybe you guys could test him for drugs or something. He was pretty upset, to the point of crazy. We had to strap him down. I left him with the doctor."

"Great. Just what we need. A nutcase stirring up trouble in my emergency room. Anything else you'd like to tell me?" Nurse Lindeman crossed her arms over her chest and her brows rose high on her forehead.

He knew what she wanted, but he avoided any mention of Julie. Although he'd like more time with her, he didn't want to get her fired from her job. "Yeah, Mr. Marley was screaming something about being a slayer and his job was to rid the world of vampires." Roger shrugged and grinned. "He's a live one."

"Thanks." Nurse Lindeman's lips twisted. "Remind me to return the favor some time."

"Don't mention it," he said lightly and turned to leave, but a hand caught his arm.

"By the way," she touched a finger to his chest. "Your b.u.t.tons are mismatched and your fly is open." She turned away, a smile stretching across her face, a sparkle lighting her eyes.

Roger glanced down.

Busted.

For a moment he wished he could be swallowed by the floor, his face burned all the way out to the tips of his ears. Now he knew what was more embarra.s.sing than getting caught in the act. Getting caught with your fly down by the head nurse.

Oh well, s.h.i.t happens. He just hoped he didn't get Julie in too much trouble. Roger quickly adjusted the offending b.u.t.tons and zipper. He couldn't get too bent, he had a date with Julie tomorrow night. A real, honest-to-G.o.d date. Not just a quick feel in the janitor's closet.

He rubbed his hands together and headed for his squad car and his waiting partner.Chase leaned against the driver's door talking with a pretty little blonde in white scrubs and a blue lab coat. When he saw Roger, he straightened. "About time you showed up, partner." He gathered the blonde in his arms and kissed her like he was going to crawl down her throat or throw her on the hood of the squad car and bang her there. "I'll see you later, baby."

When he let her go, she staggered backward, her eyes glazed and a hand fluttering to her lips. "Call me?"

He winked. "You bet."

As he climbed into the pa.s.senger side of the squad car, Roger's lips twisted.

Chase eased behind the wheel and started the engine.

"You aren't going to call her, are you?" Roger's words were more of a statement than a question.

"Nope."

"Why do you do that?" He could imagine Julie's reaction if he kissed her like that and didn't call later. She'd be hurt, disappointed and then angry.