"His eulogy?"

Again he shoved her against the wall.

"I'm getting so sick of you pus.h.i.+ng me around." But as before, she was unable to wriggle free from his powerful grip.

Their noses touched when he leaned in. "How close are you and your friend?"

"Me and Seth?" Talk about intense eyes. They were deep brown but alive with wonder as he held her gaze. Not so much menacing as...attractive. "We've been friends for a long time. We're best buds."

"Any reason for Elvira to believe you two have been getting it on?"

"No! Seth is like a brother to me."

"Do you two hug and hold hands?"

"Why?"

"I think you may have p.i.s.sed off the wrong vampiress. My wager says those vamps after you last night were sent by Elvira. And she's seeing you now. Give her a glance over my shoulder. Let her know you see her."

Bella dared a look at the limo again. Knowing now that there might be a vampire woman sitting inside, staring at her, lifted her anxiety level to a new high.

"Good girl," Severo cooed. "Now, we'll give the mistress of the night reason to believe you've no interest in that pasty human who spins discs in the club."

"How-"

He kissed her. And he manhandled her. Severo's hand slid up her thigh, raising her skirt. He pulled her against his body as he'd done last night. But this kiss wasn't as violent, only insistent and claiming.

Did he want to show the vampire woman across the street that Bella was his? This wasn't what she wanted. No matter who watched.

"Wait a second." She pushed against his chest-it was firm, solid-but he wouldn't be dissuaded.

"One more, sweet. Give the curious vampire b.i.t.c.h a show, or you'll have vamps on your tail for longer than you wish."

"But I don't-" Want to kiss you didn't come out. Because the protest didn't feel right. Did she want him to kiss her? "This isn't going to work."

"Worth a try. This time open your mouth for me, Bella. I want to taste that cosmo again. I think I may develop a liking for them."

"You're a jerk," she said on a gasp.

"A jerk who's trying to protect your pretty little a.s.s."

With a protest stuck in her throat, he snuck his tongue into her mouth. Before she could weigh the possibilities of biting it, Bella found herself reacting to the powerful and disturbing intrusion by pulling him closer and matching his tongue dance with her own.

G.o.d, this was so wrong. He was a stranger. He could be dangerous. He wasn't even human.

But he could kiss.

He held her possessively, one arm behind her back, his strong fingers splayed down to cup her hip. Another hand caressed her torso, right up under her breast. He wasn't about to allow her to lead, and that should bother her, but it didn't.

"So sweet," he muttered into her mouth. "My Bella."

Okay, wait. The kiss was acceptable. But claiming her as his own?

"Let's go." He ended the kiss so abruptly, Bella thought he might have heard her crazy thoughts. He tugged her along, leading the way.

"You think Elvira got the hint?" she wondered breathlessly.

"Doubt it. Vamps are stupid, blood-hungry animals."

"And you're not?"

He swung her to an abrupt stop at the intersection, though the light was green. "I am not an animal."

"But you confirmed that you're a werewolf."

"Three days a month I howl at the moon, and yes, then I become an animal. But the other twenty-seven or twenty-eight days, I am a man. Got that?"

"Yep." She was not going to argue with anything that could howl at the moon and change into an animal, no matter how few days a month. "You don't like vampires much, do you?"

"I despise them."

Bella followed his swift pace across the street in time to beat the light. "I can walk by myself. I mean, I know where I'm going.

You don't need to pull me." He let go of her arm, and Bella walked faster, ahead of him. Normally she loved the sound of her heels marking her steps, but now they only reminded her how desperate this situation could become. Because if she thought she would be safe once she arrived home-accompanied by a werewolf-she must be ten kinds of crazy.

He whistled lowly, a satisfied sound. A comment on her back view, likely. She slowed to walk side by side. He did not meet her eyes, but she swore he wore a smirk.

So the man did have a soul. Maybe.

She flat-out asked him. "Do you have a soul?"

"That's an odd question."

"No more odd than your being a werewolf."

"Perhaps it is you, a human, who is the odd one. Yes, I do have a soul."

"Good. I mean, whatever. Do vampires have souls?"

"Yes. But they don't see their reflections."

They arrived at the door to her building, a three-story walk-up. Bella owned the upper loft. It was set into a hill, so her third level led out to the patio and the pool in her backyard.

"Here we are," he offered.

"Yes, I suppose you know that. I suppose every vampire in the city now knows, too."

"Exactly." He opened the door and strode into the foyer. "Which is why I'm seeing you right up to your door."

He knew she lived on the third floor? Dread curdled her saliva.

"I, uh, I don't think so. I'm fine now. I can lock this outer door after you leave. Just go, please?"

Stoic and determined, he stood on the bottom step. He was a head taller than her-and she was wearing four-inch heels. Broad shoulders squared the bruised leather jacket and caught his long, mussed brown hair, which looked clean but not combed. His dark beard was trimmed close and a mustache framed his mouth.

Bella didn't want to look at his mouth too long. She knew the feel of it. And it wasn't something she should be thinking about if she wanted to make the guy leave.

He splayed out his hands, but it wasn't a surrendering move. The man wasn't going anywhere.

"Fine." Bella marched past him, up the first few stairs, but stopped. "You go first."

"I prefer to bring up the tail. Easier to keep an eye out for intruders that way."

"But they could be lurking up ahead."

"I don't smell any," he answered plainly.

Bella sighed heavily, turned and marched up the stairs. So he was staring at her backside. She should appreciate the attention, but despite the wonderful kiss, it made her crawly.Her mother had drilled the whole stranger-danger routine into her brain when she was a child.

So why had she taken a new route last night? It was as though she'd been looking for danger.

And she had found it. Rather, it had found her.

Now to get rid of it.

Sticking the key in her door lock, she decided too late that she should have waited. The man pushed the door open and prowled inside.

"I didn't invite you in. Now you're going beyond a protective walk home, and entering without permission. I thought you sorts needed permission to cross a threshold."

"'You sorts'?" He smirked and strode to the center of her living room, his limp more apparent now with the lights on. "Just the vamps, sweet. I can cross any threshold I like. Nice place. If a bit junglelike."

The loft had an open floor plan, the living room, kitchen and bedroom all open to share one huge room. Admittedly Bella had gone overboard with the plants, but she liked that they kept the air clean.

Severo's gaze followed the long white chiffon drape that hung from the cathedral ceiling to the floor, separating the living room from the bedroom at the far end.

Observing the wide planter with the ma.s.sive blooming cactus, he strode to the patio doors and tapped the gla.s.s. "A pool, too?"

"Yep, living the high life. So, if you'll leave, I'll lock the door behind you and get out my garlic. I have a cross on the wall there that I can use in a pinch. So you see? I'm sure I'll be fine."

Bella kicked off her shoes and leaned against the kitchen counter. She wiggled her pinched toes, but her focus was not on comfort. The drawer with a butcher knife inside was a leap away.

"You won't be fine." He approached her so swiftly, the fear rose in her body and Bella felt it flush her cheeks. "They'll watch you all night."

"You don't know that."

"If my suspicions are correct, Elvira won't rest until she's satisfied."

"Meaning?"

"She must want you dead, or at the least, injured, if she believes you a threat to her latest snack."

"Seth is not a snack."

He backed her against the granite kitchen counter with an arm to either side of her. She should be getting used to his urgent obsession for uncomfortable closeness, but it still made her nervous. The plastic clicks of her skirt spangles made the situation slightly strange. His size made her feel small.

But she couldn't deny her interest in this overwhelming, in-your-face man who wouldn't take no for an answer.

"No human can ever be anything more than a snack to a vampire. Unless she turns him."

"Turns? You mean makes him a vampire? Oh my G.o.d, can she do that? Will he know?"

"He'll know. But he'll be too infatuated to protest." He dipped his head and ran his nose along her neck. "Stop it. I want you to leave."

"Make me."

Bella swung her arm up and slapped the man hard across the cheek. The sound of flesh to flesh echoed sharply. He reared back, shook his head and delivered her a leering grin.

"Try it again," he challenged coolly. "Come, Bella, raise my ire. Stir my blood."

This time he caught her hand before it connected with his cheek. Gripping her wrist, he licked her palm from fleshy base to quivering fingertips. And behind the lascivious act, he grinned again.

"By now you should know your fear excites me, sweet."

"Don't call me that. I don't want you here. Can't you understand that?" Bella's glance to the phone, which was too far away, by the couch, stoked him to action.

He pressed a palm over her throat. Bella feared he might become violent. Finally he would do what he wanted to do last night.

Why had she allowed him inside the building?

Because she really was worried about the vampires.

His eyes were so intense, they stilled her. She could only gasp as he slid his hand to the red spangled neckline. His thumb slipped behind the fabric and over the top of her breast.

The sound he made was s.e.xy and wanting, a moan for something he desired but wouldn't take. Clinging to the counter, Bella reacted to the illicit touch with a whimper of her own.

"Bella," he whispered as he moved nose to nose with her. "You want my touch?"

She shook her head. A squeeze of his fingers rocketed a delicious twinge of pleasure from her breast to her belly and down to her loins.

"Then remove my hand. Push it away."

She grabbed his wrist with both hands but didn't move it. And in her pause, he bent to kiss the top of her breast while he ma.s.saged the nipple with his fingers.

She craved the way he made her feel. The dangerous aura of his presence. The uncertainty of what he would say or do to her next. The erratic pace of her heart was caused by fear and a discomfiting desire.

"Please," she whispered. What had he said his name was? "S-Severo. It's...not right."

"What? A man you just met touching you like this? I told you to take my hand away. And then I'll leave."