She wrinkled her nose. “You know I can’t share IAB information with you, Captain.
Not while the investigation is still underway.”
Hoff’s pale blue eyes narrowed. “When you make your arrest I want to be the first to know. I can’t believe one of my agents is selling information to the Federation.
You’ve been undercover for two years now and you haven’t turned up anything incriminating. Maybe IAB is wrong about the leak coming from this field office.”
Sable kept her face impassive. She knew IAB wasn’t wrong. Within the last two days, the informant from this office had sold false information that she’d planted in the database. While she hated to have missed the opportunity to apprehend the traitor, she was relieved to exonerate Derek without a doubt. He’d been in bed with her for the last two days. And the shower. And the dining table. And the…
Damn, best not to think about that.
In any case, he hadn’t gone anywhere near the controls of his ship to access the main computers.
“IAB is rarely wrong,” she said with confidence. “There’s a leak. And I’ll find it.”
She stood.
As she made her way toward the door, the captain called after her. “You’re dismissed, Agent Taylor.”
She rolled her eyes.
Stepping out into the hallway, she crashed into a rock wall. At least it felt like one.
“Watch it,” she ground out, as the wall steadied her. She looked into fiery silver eyes and bit back a groan. “Dere—er, Agent Atkinson.”
23
Sylvia Day
Derek wore his dark blue STF uniform and she could barely catch her breath at the sight of him. She’d always been a sucker for a man in uniform and Derek made it look especially yummy.
He slid his hands down her arms, burning her skin and causing heated ripples of awareness to pool in her core. “Hello, Sable.” His voice was rich and warm and filled with sensual promise. “In trouble with the captain again? What did you do this time?”
She scowled and shrugged off his touch, digging deep for the strength she needed to walk away. “I entered the docking bay a little too fast,” she lied. Circumventing him, she headed down the hall with rapid steps.
He fell into step beside her. “Who are you tracking now?”
“None of your damn business,” she snapped, trying not to look at his handsome face with its sexy smile and angry gaze. He was obviously still pissed about her leaving him at DS12 two days ago. In a way, she was glad. It showed that he cared, if only a little.
“Fine,” he said smoothly, but she heard the frustration in his tone. “Is my come still dripping down your thighs?”
She halted abruptly, her mouth agape. “What? ”
He shrugged and tried to look innocent, which was impossible. “That would be my business, wouldn’t it? I mean if my bodily fluids are in your—”
“Shut up.” Arms akimbo, Sable was certain she’d never been as furious in her life, which was exactly what Derek had intended with his outrageous question. He was not a man who took well to being ignored and he fought back with no holds barred.
He mimicked her posture and raised a raven brow. Despite his fury, he looked like heaven, her heaven, but she couldn’t do a damn thing about that as long as she was undercover in his field office.
Sable loved his smile and his body, his silky hair and piercing fangs. She admired his strength and his control. He was cool and levelheaded when she was hot and brash.
24
Misled
He was pulled together and quick on his feet, when she was falling apart and frozen in place. He complemented her in every way that mattered.
Except she wanted him forever and he wanted her for right now.
She used to love her job, used to love knowing she kept the Task Force clean and free of dirty officers. Now she hated it. She’d hated it ever since she met Derek two years ago, because her job prevented her from having him for however long he’d give her his attention. She was enough of a glutton for punishment that she’d be willing to take what she could get when it came to Derek Atkinson.
Sable closed her eyes and released a long, slow breath. When she looked at him again, she was much calmer and not as angry. “Listen, Derek. The time we shared was great, I have no regrets—”
“That’s something, I suppose,” he muttered.
“But it can’t happen again. It really shouldn’t have happened to begin with.”
He snorted and his full lips tightened with displeasure. “How can you say that? I know you felt something.”
“Maybe I did. But we both know you’re not a long-term relationship kind of vamp—”
“How the hell would we both know that?” he growled.
“How old are you?” She arched a brow. “Several centuries old at least. And yet you’ve never been married, never been engaged.”
“Maybe I hadn’t found what I was looking for,” he argued.
“Maybe you never will.”
“Maybe I have.”
Sable shook her head, squelching the flutter in her stomach, and started down the hallway again. “Whatever, Derek.” She dismissed his statement with a wave of her hand. “It was fun, but now it’s over. Let’s not ruin the memory by arguing.”
“Are you finished?” he ground out.
25
Sylvia Day
“Definitely.” She kept walking as he slowed.
“Good.”
He gripped her elbow and dragged her into an interrogation room on the left.
Before she realized what was happening, he had her pinned to the wall, his mouth on hers, his tongue thrusting through her parted lips.
His long fingers moved through her hair, cupping the back of her head to position her as he wanted. The man kissed the way he fucked, deep and possessive, with a skill that stole her ability to think or move. His hips pressed hers to the wall, his erection hot and heavy against her lower belly. All around him she could smell his desire, heady and overwhelming, pure and gratifying.
Sable melted into him as his tongue stroked the inside of her mouth and his hands caressed her body with centuries’ worth of devastating knowledge. He tasted so unbelievably good, like sin on a stick, and she wanted more. Much more. Her job was so lonely, her work all-consuming. Only Derek understood the rigors. His body offered a solace she had found nowhere else. Touching him, holding him was a much-needed respite and an intimacy unlike anything she’d known before. It was wrong to want him and hopeless, but she couldn’t help it.
Tearing her mouth from his, she tugged his head lower, bared her fangs and sank home in the powerful expanse of his neck, claiming him, because he’d claimed her.
Instantly the rich, intoxicating taste of his blood, aged like a fine wine, poured down her throat. She felt him probing her mind, coaxing and encouraging until she didn’t care where they were. All she cared about was Derek, his big body and talented hands, the sinewy length of his muscles beneath her appreciative fingertips and the potent strength of his blood flowing into her.
Sable fed for long moments, writhing against him in an agony of lust. His blood should soothe her, calm her. Instead it heated her from the inside, making her skin tingle and her nipples peak tight. He caressed the length of her spine, holding her close, rocking his rock-hard cock against her clit. She ground her hips into that bulge, wanting 26
Misled
to come with near desperation. Feeding was, by nature, a sensual act, but with Derek it was so much more powerful than the physical need to orgasm. It was almost instinctual.
“You know,” he breathed, his deep voice vibrating against her lips. “It’s never been like this for me.”
Was he talking about the lust? she wondered.
That too, but also the gifting. I’ve never really appreciated it before.
Reluctantly, Sable withdrew her fangs, lapping at the tiny punctures with her tongue to seal them. When she leaned back to look at him, Derek’s silvery
irises were swirling like molten metal.
Gifting—the exchange of blood between vamps. It wasn’t for sustenance. It was a gift, an exchange of the precious fluid that was the center of their existence. To some vamps, it was no more intimate than a kiss. To others, it was a deeply personal act, more so than intercourse.
He lifted her and carried her, his sexual intent clear. The room was small, windowless and metallic. The only items inside it were the small table he set her down on, a single chair, and a very horny master vampire.
“Someone will come in here,” she whispered, a token protest.
“I’ll keep them away.”
“How?” As soon as she asked, she knew, somehow, he could do as he said.
“Trust me, baby,” he urged as he pulled her to the edge. “You’re mine. I won’t share even a glimpse of you with someone else.”
Sable hiked up the short, flared skirt she wore and shimmied out of her thong while Derek hit the catch on his uniform and shrugged his torso out of it. He pushed the garment down to his thighs, releasing the magnificent cock that had driven her to insanity just two days before. It was long and impossibly thick, beautifully shaped with a thick roping of veins that pleasured her from the inside.
27
Sylvia Day
“I love your body,” she groaned as he stepped between her spread thighs, his cock in hand and aimed for her creamy opening. His chest was broad and sculpted, well-formed muscles flexing as he stroked himself, making his shaft harder and thicker.
“It’s all yours, Sable.”
She bit her lip, trying to dull the possessiveness she had no right to feel. Derek leaned over and licked her lip.
“Watch me take you,” he whispered, his free hand pressing her gently backward until she set her arms behind her to support her weight. He lifted her skirt to her waist, drawing her eyes to the glistening curls between her thighs and the ruddy cock that approached them.
Sable watched, mesmerized, as he entered her with exquisite slowness, the flared head breaching her, stretching her. Her eyelids grew heavy as Derek surged slowly inside, hot and hard, a silken instrument of sexual torment and ultimate relief.
She shivered and moaned as he slipped deeper, sliding through her cream, his impressive width and length like a warm inner massage. He buried himself to the hilt, his head falling back as a shudder shook the length of his body. He offered a soft smile, revealing wicked fangs and molten eyes made bright by the animal let loose inside him.
He withdrew and then pressed forward again, his stomach rippling with muscle as he gave a long, deep plunge.
“So hot,” he said hoarsely. “So tight and wet.” He pulled out until only the tip remained inside her. “Look at all your cream on my cock. It’s the most erotic thing I’ve ever seen.”
She swallowed hard, her skin damp from the heat.
“Put your finger in my mouth,” he urged.
Leaning to one side, she freed one hand and did as he asked. His cheeks hollowed as he sucked, drawing on her with a steady suction, the tempo of which was echoed in the clasps of her pussy on his cock. She gasped, so aroused she couldn’t think.
28
Misled
“That’s what you feel like to me. It makes me want to come, Sable. It makes my balls ache. Does it turn you on? Watching me fuck you? Feeling me stroke you?”
“Yes…” Sable stared, her nipples so hard they ached, as he pumped his cock into her cunt, his rhythm so slow, his hips swirling and then lunging.
Nothing had ever felt as good as this. She’d never have enough of it, never stop craving it. The sex got better every time.
And more personal.
With a growl, Derek claimed her throat with his fangs as his thrusts picked up speed, propelling himself deeply into her with soft blows of his hips to hers. His thoughts entered her head with a clarity she was learning to treasure. I’ve missed this, baby. I missed you.
Sable wrapped her legs around his waist, adding her strength to his, making his cock strike deep, so deep. Derek wasn’t like other lovers she’d had. Everything he did, every move he made was planned for her pleasure. His greedy mouth tugged at her skin, building an ecstasy so intense she came, bathing him in a rush moisture. He slowed, savoring her orgasm, his touch gentle as if he knew her fears and longed to soothe them. She longed to let him.
“So good,” she moaned, her body on fire, and Derek growled his agreement as he drank. She gripped his flexing buttocks, urging him deeper when there was no deeper to go.
Sable felt him everywhere. He permeated everything with a merciless penetration that brought her as much pain as pleasure. Belatedly, she fought off his invasion, trying to shield herself from the devastation his loss would bring.
He reached a hand between them and stroked her clit in time with the thrusting of his hips. You can’t hold back. Stop trying.
As her body tightened with another orgasm, tears slipped free and dripped onto her cheek.
29
Sylvia Day
Don’t, he begged. Don’t cry. It’s okay. I’m here with you. You’re not alone.
“I’m always alone,” she cried softly. “It’s the nature of our beast.”
And her job.
He hunched over her, caging her to table, thrusting hard until she came with a scream. He released her neck and arched his back, a guttural cry torn from his throat as he spurted his seed deep inside her.
* * * * *
Derek stirred slowly, reluctant to lift his head from the pillow of Sable’s breast. He felt drained and yet omnipotent at the same time. His strength was steadily increasing as he spent more time inside her. Sable charged him in some way he hadn’t known existed, hadn’t known was possible.
Was that why he craved her?
No, that couldn’t be the reason. He’d wanted her before. The rush he experienced being with her was just an added enticement. It must be the virus. Perhaps together, he and Sable created a synergy. Even if he didn’t desire her so badly, that alone was worth exploring.
He turned his head and looked at the two-way mirror on the wall. He saw nothing but an empty room, their reflections absent from the silvered glass. Sable was right. It was the nature of their beast to be lonely, set apart from others not of their kind. But they’d found each other. Against the odds and all of the rules.
He should have been more circumspect before taking her to his ship and fucking her for days. He should have known the lust riding him so hard meant more than he was willing to admit. If he hadn’t been so blind, he could have courted her, wooed her, instead of getting his way with his cock. But that was not the way it went down and despite his chagrin, Derek couldn’t regret it. Sable was in his arms and he was deep inside her, soaked in their cream. They had the sexual part of a romantic relationship worked out to perfection. The rest would fall into place eventually.
30
Misled
He pulled himself upright, but remained a part of her. Sable couldn’t deny their connection when they were so intimately joined. Reaching down, he brushed the silky stands of her hair away from her forehead. His touch was reverent and adoring, as was the stroking of her right hand against his hip. Closing her eyes, her breathing slowed to a soft pant.
“What are you doing to me?” she whispered brokenly.
His thumbs drifted along the impossibly long length of her lashes, brushing away the tears that clung there. “What are you afraid of, baby?”
“I’m not afraid.” She sat up. To his surprise, she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head upon his chest. “But this can’t keep happening. It has to stop.”
“Why?” He pulled back to search her face. The sadness in her eyes arrested his gaze. He’d felt it during their mental connection and was frustrated by the wall she’d erected in her mind. She only let him see a tiny portion of who she was, keeping the greater part of herself tucked away.
What wasn’t she sharing with him?
“There’s mo
re than lust going on here, Sable. I know you feel it too. You wouldn’t be crying otherwise.”
“There are things you don’t know about me.”
“I don’t care what they are.” He was startled to realize he spoke the truth. He was a curious man, which made him good at his job. “I can wait until you’re ready to tell me.
All I care about is us—you and me and the way I feel when I’m inside you. The way you make me feel when you look at me like you’re doing right now.”
Sable glanced away and he gripped her chin, pulling her gaze back to his.
“Don’t turn away from me, baby.”
“Don’t push, Derek. Okay?”
Derek released her and ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve spent six hundred years 31
Sylvia Day
looking for this. I’m not about to let it go now that I’ve found it.”
“Do you love me?” she asked bluntly, her sapphire gaze probing, invasive.
He choked at her directness and the questions it made him ask of himself.
“I thought so,” she murmured without inflection. She shoved him backward, forcing his semi-erect cock from the shelter of her pussy, leaving him feeling bereft and rejected. She smoothed her short skirt over her thighs and slid off the table, pausing a moment to retrieve her thong. The wall between them was a tangible thing and it frightened him. And pissed him off.
“Damn it!” Derek tugged on his uniform, glaring at her. “Give me a chance to think.”
“Forget it.” Sable flew to the door before he could move. She paused on the threshold, her mouth thinned with determination. “Stay out of my life, Atkinson. Find another way to pass the time.”
* * * * *
Sable sat in the cockpit of her Starwing and reminded herself that she was a strong woman who could handle anything. Rubbing her eyes, she leaned back in the captain’s chair and wished she had roots somewhere, something that was hers, a place to call home. She’d taken possession of the highly desired ship compliments of a smuggler who’d been caught by Interstellar Customs. Almost everything she owned was confiscated goods from the impounds of half a dozen different law enforcement agencies. She had to have the best of everything to maintain the appearance of a money-hungry bounty hunter. Unfortunately, it also meant that Sable Taylor had nothing of her own.