Sylvia Day - A Dark Kiss Of Rapture

He was right there with her, coming as hard as if he hadn’t come all night, his body inundated with ecstasy and the power of her blood.

Then the deluge of her memories hit him with the force of a sledgehammer to the face.

* * *

Kim lay with her cheek on Raze’s shoulder and her arm draped across his hard chest. Her fingers drifted idly up and down the bulge of his biceps. Draped along his side with one leg tucked between his, she listened to the steady beat of his heart and thought about how none of this night had gone as she’d expected it to.

She had set out with the intention of getting drunk, so she could sleep without having to take a sleeping pill. Then she’d seen Raze and figured they’d screw each other into exhaustion. Which they had, but she had pictured more of a rolling, clawing, pounding rut. On the floor maybe. Or the couch if they got that far. She hadn’t pictured a bed. She hadn’t imagined luxuriating in each other. She certainly hadn’t thought about cuddling afterwards.

There’s something here , she thought. Something that could become important to both of them.

“Kim.” His fingers were sifting through her horribly tangled hair. His other hand was splayed over her back.

“Hmm?” She snuggled closer. Everything about the way he touched her made her feel good. Hell, he’d sucked on her neck and she’d had the orgasm of her life. None of the hickies she’d gotten in high school had ever revved her engine, let alone blown the top of her head off.

“Would you tell me why you cried when you first got here?”

She stiffened, unprepared for the question.

“Shh.” He pressed his lips to her crown. “You don’t have to.”

“No. It’s okay.” After a shaky breath, she told him, stumbling over the words a little because she hadn’t talked about it since the police questioned her. Saying the words brought the painful and horrifying pictures in her mind to life, making her relive the agony of finding her home a bloodbath and her dearest friend lying in the gore like a rag doll. The tears came with the words until she was sobbing violently.

Raze rolled carefully, covering her with his body in a hot, hard blanket of powerful male. He tucked her under him, sheltering her, his cheek pressed to hers and his arms caging her shoulders. The quiet strength of him sank into her, shoring her up. Anchoring her. She didn’t have to be strong for him. She didn’t have to hide her pain to make it easier for him. She didn’t need to shield her grief behind a smile so he’d think everything was all right.

He didn’t say anything, which was such a gift. She wondered if he knew that or if it was just his way. His was an old soul. She’d sensed that from the moment their eyes had met.

Eventually, Kim quieted, her heart feeling so much lighter that she might’ve shed a tear over it, if she’d had any tears left.

“There’s a lot of shit in this world,” he said, kissing her softly. “I’m sorry you had to experience any of it.”

Cupping his cheeks, she lifted his head and looked into his eyes. “You experience a lot of it, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” He rolled to his back and heaved out a sigh. “I have to wade through some of it today. Can I see you tonight?”

Delight fluttered through her tummy. “Would you like to come to my place? I can make dinner.”

He looked at her with those amber eyes and smiled wryly. “I have some unusual dietary restrictions. How about movies instead? I’ll bring over one of my favorites and you pick out another one of yours. I’ll feed you while we watch the shows.”

“Okay.”

“Okay? Really? That’s good?”

She bent over and nudged his nose with her own, hiding a smile over his startled wonder. One could almost think he’d never planned a date before. “It’s great. You’re great.”

He answered that with an exuberant kiss.

Raze had been wandering around the city for half the day when he picked up a tail. He took a circuitous route to be sure and when he was, he pulled out his cell phone and called Vashti. “Problem.”

“Hopefully I’ve got a solution.”

“It’s two o’clock in the afternoon and I’ve got a minion sniffing after me.”

There was silence, then a whistle. “Well, that’s interesting.”

“It’s scary as fuck and you know it.” Only the Fallen could take sunlight; minions were mortally photosensitive. The only exceptions were minions who’d recently drank Fallen blood, which afforded them temporary immunity that would last seventy-two hours at most. “We have a full accounting of the Fallen?”

“I’ll double-check, but I can’t think of anyone in that area aside from you.”

“Let me know what you hear. In the meantime, I’m going to have a little chat with my shadow and see what I can shake loose.” He killed the call and shoved his phone in his pocket.

A group of teenagers exited a store in front of him, clogging up the sidewalk and providing the distraction he needed. Darting behind them, he entered the store and shot out the rear delivery entrance. He found himself in a small alley lined with trash and dumpsters and framed above by fire escapes. Leaping the two story distance to the first escape ledge, Raze settled in to wait, knowing his tail would eventually follow his scent.

Ten minutes later, a tiny brunette stepped out of the shop into the alley. He took a deep breath and smelled vampire. Crouching, he prepared to jump when it struck him that she wouldn’t be alone. She would be half of a pair.

He hopped down and blocked the swing of her fist, then shielded his groin when she attempted to take him down with a knee to the nuts. She pressed on, raining blows and kicks, which he deflected with greater speed, his forearms parrying jabs so quickly that to a mortal eye he would’ve seemed to be no more than a blur. He waited for the perfect opening and took it, stunning her with a blow to the neck and catching her in a headlock. Spinning her around, he caged her with her back to his chest.

He yanked her head to the side and bit deep. Her memories flooded into him along with her blood, giving him all the answers he needed… except for where to find Francesca. The baroness had gone under, contacting her minions via phone or email. His fangs retracted and he was licking the tiny wounds closed when her mate rushed into the alley.

“Behave, Lake,” Raze warned her softly, puzzled by some of what he’d read in her mind. “Or I’ll tell him about your little piece of ass on the side.”

She stilled, breathing roughly.

Her partner, Forest-how sickeningly sweet was the deliberate pairing of those names?-froze at the sight of his woman helpless in Raze’s arms. “Hurt her and die.”

Raze grinned, but noted the shine of feral madness in the minion’s eyes. He’d seen inside Lake’s mind and knew what these two did on their dates-blood and pain were their aphrodisiacs. “I won’t hurt her… yet. But I’ve got her scent and I’ve drank her blood. I could find her in the Times Square crowd on New Year’s Eve. Think about that.”

Forest’s hands clenched and unclenched rhythmically. “What do you want?”

“Take a message back to the baroness. Tell her to quit dicking around and face me. I have places to go, rogues to kill. I can’t hang around Chicago indefinitely.”

“You’d fight a woman? A lady. One of your own kind.” Forest began to shift restlessly, licking his lips. His eyes were lit with a sick hunger. It seemed Forest found it arousing to watch his woman manhandled roughly.

It was a terrible fact that the majority of minions lost their minds after the Change. Mortals weren’t designed to live without their souls and the Change took that from them. If it were up to the Fallen-who were the source of the dark gift-only carefully selected mortals would be Changed, but vampirism was like a secret shared only with trusted friends, who in turn shared it only with their most trusted friends, and so on. The spread had long ago become uncontrollable as the unstable minions began to Change others indiscriminately. It was Adrian’s job to mitigate the fallout, an endless mission that pitted the Sentinels against the Fallen in a contentious battle of wills.

“The baroness is no lady,” Raze shot back. “I’ve watched a video of her slicing an innocent man open-alive-while humming a merry tune. She can do that, she can fight me. So give her my message: I’m not wasting my time hunting someone who hides behind their minions. She’s got forty-eight hours to take me on or I’m passing her off to Adrian.”

“I’ll tell her.” Forest smiled with eager malice.

Raze shoved the vampress forward into her mate. “I’ll be seeing you two again.”

Hopping back onto the fire escape, he climbed to the roof and set off from there.

* * *

“No way.” Delia planted herself on one of Kim’s kitchen island barstools and shook her head emphatically. “Guys that look like Biker Boy are personality deficient. That’s the trade-off for the hotness-they’re self-absorbed jerks.”

Kim smiled and continued putting groceries away. “You’re right. Absolutely. Except for Raze.”

“There has to be something wrong with him.”

“Yeah… He doesn’t live in Chicago.”

“He snores.”

“Nope.” Although she realized she’d never been awake while he was sleeping. “Actually, I’m not sure.”

“So that’s a maybe. He’s an early ejaculator.”

Kim laughed until her eyes got teary. “Oh my god… No. Definitely no.”

“Being good in bed is a challenge to him. He’s a womanizer who views sex like a sport-all technique and no heart.”

“He’s not the least bit detached. In fact, part of what I loved about sleeping with him was how into it he got. Like having sex with me was toe-curlingly, eye-rollingly good. As for being a womanizer… Yes. Probably. He was going to screw somebody last night. I was just lucky enough that it ended up being me.”

“So, there’s another con-a pretty big one-right there. Does he talk about himself constantly?”

“He doesn’t talk about himself at all.”

Delia’s sloe eyes narrowed behind her glasses. “Maybe he’s married.”

“Married to his job. Trust me, I know the type. I lived with two cops.”

“Self-centered? You had to spell things out for him to get yours.”

“He knew what I needed before I did. He noticed my goose bumps for chrissakes.” Kim shut the fridge door and returned to the island, curling her hands around the bullnosed edge. “It’s going to sound corny, but it’s like he’s totally in tune with me. He knew when I was hot or cold. He knew where to touch me, how to touch me, how long to touch me… Jesus, I cried all over him about Janelle and he didn’t freak out. He didn’t tell me everything was all right or ask me to stop crying. He didn’t go into another room or make noises about it being time for me to go.”

“Damn it.” Delia pouted. “That’s so not fair. I blew him off and you reeled in Mr. Awesome Sauce.”

“I’d apologize, but I wouldn’t be sincere.”

Delia smiled. “I’m glad he’s not a serial killer.”

“Me, too.” Although he just might slay her when all was said and done. She’d been thinking about him all day, thinking about things she wanted to do with him, places she wanted to take him. Like her favorite pizza shop. And the Field Museum, where he could see the real lions from The Ghost and the Darkness .

“You’ve got bags under your eyes, Kimmy girl, but you look all happy and glow-y. I’m really glad about that.”

“I haven’t felt this good in a long time,” she admitted, tidying up the countertop because she wanted Raze to like her place and feel comfortable in it. “A part of me thinks that’s stupid. I’m a mature, successful, professional woman. I shouldn’t have such a crazy mood boost over a guy I’ve known less the twenty-four hours. But that’s the way it is. I needed him and he was there.”

Delia tucked a strand of her chin-length hair behind her ear. “What will you do if you still need him after he’s gone?”

“I don’t know. I guess that’ll be up to him and whether he’d like to keep in touch or not.”

“When does he leave?”

Kim glanced at the digital clock on her stovetop. “Too soon, whenever it is. I have to get ready. He’s going to be here in an hour and a half.”

“You could convince him to keep in touch with you.” Sliding off the stool, Delia straightened the skirt of her flirty blue dress.

“I don’t think anyone can convince Raze of anything once he’s made up his mind.” Kim’s chest tightened at the thought of having even a tiny hold on Raze.

“Think about it. You’re not his type. He walked into that bar looking for a back alley screw or something like it. Then you walked up and rocked his world, just like Roz said you would. He let you into his personal space, fed you, took care of you. You’ve got him already, Kimmy. You can keep him, if you want to.”