Cat Scratch Fever Read online

  “Why’s that?”

  “Their loss is my gain.” He took her hand and lifted it to his lips. “I finally have you to myself.”

  She exhaled a shuddery breath. The touch of his lips on her hand carried an erotic charge far exceeding the gesture itself. She instantly imagined those lips on hers, and going lower, brushing every region of her touch-starved body.

  Common sense dashed over her like a bucket of ice water. She was alone with a total stranger on Halloween night. It called for a dose of caution. She eased her hand from his, every nerve ending singing to life as her skin slid against his.

  “Do I know you?” It seemed like a good place to start.

  “I want you to know me.” His gaze raked her body. “My name is Vega.”

  She narrowed her eyes. Okay, so he had the face of a Greek god and the body to match, and generated enough chemistry to blow up a nuclear power plant. The entire situation was still too unusual for her to trust.

  “Vega what?”

  “Vega St. Angelo.” He smiled, revealing the most fabulous set of cosmetic fangs she’d ever seen. Angelina barely stifled a gasp.

  “Well, Vega St. Angelo, I do know one thing about you.”

  “What’s that?” He moved in closer, close enough for her to feel his heat.

  “You must know one hell of a special effects artist. Those are the best cosmetic fangs I’ve ever seen.”

  Before he could respond, a crackle buzzed through the room, shutting off the electricity and plunging them into total darkness.

  Well played. The lights had gone out at precisely the right moment, ending Angelina’s line of questioning. Vega congratulated himself. He’d shut down the electricity without so much as batting an eye. Nice trick, that. He’d have to thank Silas for teaching it to him.

  “Oh, God. This is too craptastic for belief.” Angelina groaned. “Here I am with my horrendous night vision, stuck in a blackout.”

  “I thought cats could see in the dark.” Vega smiled to himself. She had no inkling of her true nature, nor his, for that matter.

  “Hardy har har. The cat suit is only skin deep.”

  And what fine skin it is. Skin he hoped to taste and touch, the sooner the better.

  Of course, the darkness presented no problem to him. With his vampiric vision, he could see as well in the dark as he could in the light, a fortunate trait for someone with a nocturnal existence. A few orange and black pillar candles rested on a silver tray on the coffee table just a few feet away. Perfect.

  “Why don’t we light the candles I saw earlier on your coffee table?” He was careful to phrase this in a way that hid his night vision.

  “Great idea.” She took a few fumbling steps toward the kitchen. “I know exactly where my matches are.”

  “Never mind that, I have it.”

  “Good. I’m going to call the power company. Thankfully, I have them on speed dial.” She managed to locate the wall-mounted phone just outside the kitchen entrance. “I’m Angelina, by the way.”

  “Angelina.” He rolled the name on his tongue, imbibing its sweetness. “It’s my pleasure.”

  She picked up the phone and began dialing. Certain that her back was to him, he lit each candle in turn with a flick of his finger, no matches required.

  The pleasure would be his, and hers, as well.

  “Going down stairs in the dark really puts me on edge.” Angelina clung to the wall with one hand and to his arm with the other. With his free hand, Vega held a candle, watching its flame throw shadows against the unfinished walls of her basement.

  “I would’ve been happy to check the fuse box for you.” After all, he did have a place of his own, a small, out of the way night time sanctuary. He was no stranger to fuse boxes.

  They reached the other side of her basement, where she quickly located the fuse box. He held up the candle to illuminate it for her.

  “Nothing here.” She closed the box with a metallic clank and a sigh of disgust. “Everything looks fine.”

  “The power company said they’d be here as soon as possible,” he reminded her.

  “They’re swamped tonight, eighteen thousand kinds of pranks going on.” She took his arm again and steered him toward the stairs. She put her foot on the first step and lost her balance, landing squarely against his chest.

  He looped his free arm around her to steady her. Her body was warm against his, her heart beating wildly. He felt his cock stirring. The scent of her blood tantalized him. The scent of her as a woman tantalized him more.

  Her backside pressed against his hardness, making him want to take her then and there on the basement stairs, no preliminaries, no feeding, just man to woman, him inside her. He inched his face closer to her neck, his hand skimming its way down her abdomen. To taste her…to be inside her would be the heaven his immortality had failed to grant him.

  With a sharp intake of breath, she stepped out of his grasp and away from him. She pushed her glasses into place with a hand that shook. “We should go back upstairs. In case…” She cleared her throat. “In case the power company shows up sooner than expected.”

  She climbed the stairs on her own. He knew she’d felt everything he did when they touched. He couldn’t let it end now, not when they were so close to discovering ecstasy.

  “I’ll stay with you until they arrive, if you’d like.” They crossed the threshold into her living room.

  “No, that…that’s all right.” She sat down on the overstuffed sofa behind the coffee table. The candles glowed around her face. “Surely you have something better to do.”

  “If you’d rather be alone…” He didn’t want to use his powers to spellbind her. He wanted her to give herself to him willingly, no psychic persuasion involved.

  “Alone? In the dark? On Halloween night?” She shook her head, rubbing her forehead with her hand. “I don’t know what I’m trying to say.” She gave him a wry smile. “I guess you’ve noticed I’m shy and fluster easily.”

  “I find you perfectly charming in every possible way.” He joined her on the sofa, a careful distance away.

  “That would make you a minority of one.” She twisted a lock of her hair around her finger, avoiding his gaze. “My ex certainly didn’t think so.”

  “Ex? Would that be the jackass who grabbed you at the door earlier?”

  She laughed without mirth. “That would be him, the one and only Greg.”

  The thought that this Greg person had dared to touch Angelina made Vega’s undead blood boil. “While I can certainly understand his inability to keep his hands off you—”

  “Oh, no,” she interrupted. “It wasn’t like that at all. We…” She squared her shoulders and sat back against the sofa. “We never slept with each other.”

  “That’s good. He’s unworthy of you.”

  “I guess I haven’t had the best luck with men. How else would I get to be twenty-five and still a virgin?” She peered at him from beneath her lashes, obviously trying to discern his reaction.

  She wouldn’t find it in his face. No, another body part had reacted instead, turning hard as granite.

  He wanted her as he hadn’t wanted any other woman on his immortal journey. But he’d only take her if she came to him out of trust and desire. He’d rather turn to dust at dawn than to use her against her true will.

  Angelina wanted him.

  She’d never wanted anyone the way she wanted him. She wanted to be naked beneath him, to feel him inside her, to give herself to him in any way he wished.

  Wetness pooled between her legs. She was slick and ready for him, and they hadn’t so much as kissed. She could only imagine what would happen if he…

  “Do you want to be a virgin?” She saw the quick rise and fall of his chest.

  She shrugged and answered truthfully. “No man has ever wanted me enough to win my heart.”

  He moved closer to her, taking both of her hands in his. “Would you allow me to try?”

  Before she could answer, his
lips were against hers. The warm pressure ignited her senses and she gasped, giving him entry to her mouth.

  His tongue moved against hers, circling it. His hands found her breasts, cupping them through the tight spandex of her cat suit.

  She unbuttoned his silk shirt and pushed it open, letting her hands roam his chest.

  Without asking, he stopped and picked her up, carrying her to the bedroom and placing her on the bed. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, he lit the row of candles she kept on her bedside table. A subtle glow filled the room.

  “I want you enough,” he said, joining her on the bed. “I want you more than you can imagine.”

  He nudged her legs apart and knelt between them, then grasped her wrists and positioned them over her head.

  Her breath came in shallow gasps. She wondered where he’d touch her next, how he’d touch her. Her answer came when his hands began a slow descent down to her shoulders.

  “Don’t think,” he said, the heat of his hands scorching through the fabric of her costume. “Just feel.”

  She shifted her awareness from her mind to her body, allowing the sensations evoked by his hands to guide her. When they glided down to her breasts, she let out a cry of pleasure.

  He cupped her breasts, letting their weight rest against his palms. She could feel her nipples tighten, aching against the fabric, straining for his touch. A flash of lust filled his eyes as he watched the sensitive peaks harden. Without a word, he stroked his thumb over them, heightening their sensitivity tenfold.

  Suddenly he took his hands from her breasts, leaving her to whimper in protest. He bent down and silenced her with his lips against hers, drawing her bottom lip into his mouth, his fangs grazing it.

  Those fangs, Angelina thought, could bring equal pleasure or pain.

  He licked her bottom lip, letting his mouth travel down the side of her face, trailing kisses until he reached her neck.

  She twined her fingers through his ebony hair, reveling in its silky texture. His tongue slid down the column of her throat, coming to rest on her pulse. He nipped it with his teeth, abrading it lightly with his fangs.

  She pushed her hips against his, demanding more…more pleasure, more of him, all of him.

  He rose up slightly, pulling her up with him. With one hand, he found the zipper in the back of her suit. In a single motion, he pulled it down.

  “I need to see you.” He slipped his hands inside the unfastened back of her suit, stroking the length of her back. “Taste you…” He brought his hands around front to hold her breasts. “Feel you.”

  She moaned, words failing her. He peeled the cat suit down, leaving her bare from the waist up. He rose to his knees, taking her with him.

  She had a flare of self-consciousness. She’d never been nude in front of a man before. Her heart banged against her ribs so hard she was sure he could see it.

  But he gave no sign of it as he pulled her arms up over her head, causing her breasts with their swollen nipples to thrust outward.

  “Perfect.” He lifted his gaze from her breasts to meet her eyes. “Do you wish to continue?”

  “Yes,” she said breathlessly. She couldn’t stop now if she wanted to. “I want this.” She lowered her arms. Something unreadable looked back at her from the depths of his eyes. She touched his face, tentatively at first, then drew him closer. “I need you.”

  He didn’t answer her with words. Instead, he used his mouth to kiss down the length of her neck again, stopping to run his tongue across her collar bone, then lowered her back onto the bed.

  Holding himself above her on his elbows, he focused on her breasts, laving one with his tongue, kneading the other with his hand. She threw her head back on the pillow, eyes shut, lost in sensation.

  Then he changed sides, his mouth on the other breast. When he took her nipple in his mouth, liquid heat seeped down her legs.

  He sucked her nipple, scraping it with his teeth, his fangs, torturing it until it pulsed. Then he took it completely into his mouth and drew on it.

  The muscles of her core tightened and relaxed with every motion of his mouth, as if a current ran between her nipple and the throbbing channel between her legs.

  He released her nipple, leaving it wet. The cool air in the room hit it, igniting a frenzy of nerve endings. But he’d already moved down, licking his way to her stomach, pulling her suit down just ahead of his lips and tongue. He continued past her belly button, making his way to her hips.

  She kicked off her high-heeled slides and raised her backside from the bed, letting him undress her completely. All modesty had faded. She had no room for embarrassment, not when the flame of his touch had found its way between her legs.

  He stroked her inner thighs, slowly going up and back down again. She moaned, lifting her hips, silently pleading for him to touch her where she was slick and hot.

  He pressed her hips down on the bed with his hands and lowered himself between her legs. He kissed her outer lips, the opening between the folds, without using his tongue. She arched toward him, knotting her fingers in his hair, opening her legs wider. When his tongue finally touched the hood of her clitoris, she let out a cry.

  He circled her clitoral hood with his tongue, stopping to brush it with his lips, kissing it chastely. She took her hand from his hair and moved it toward her clitoris, but he caught her by the wrist and stopped her.

  “Let me.” He blew on her clit, making it pound with blood. “I want to make you come.”

  Her hand fell to the bed, limp as a rag doll. Taking his hand from her hip, he touched her clitoral hood to pull it back, exposing more of the throbbing bud. The pleasure was too intense. She thought she might black out from it. Then his tongue flicked across her clit, and rational thought became a thing of the past.

  He stroked it with his tongue, up and down, up and down, and circled it. With both hands, he spread her outer lips, exposing her clit completely. He continued to circle it then moved to lick a spot on the underside that made her legs quiver with each flick of his tongue.

  She couldn’t talk, couldn’t do anything but thrash beneath him. Pressure built inside her, crashing like waves, threatening to explode. He slipped his tongue inside her wet channel, lapping her juices, sucking her like a dripping piece of succulent fruit.

  Her hands sought her breasts, her nipples. She tugged them, rolled them between her fingers. He placed her legs over his shoulders and made love to her with his mouth, kissing her wet sex the way he’d kissed her lips. The throbbing between her legs intensified. Without warning, time stood still, then a release unlike anything she’d ever known took her, making her grind against his mouth, spasms of pleasure rocking her even as he continued licking and sucking her clit.

  Her orgasm tapered, leaving a series of aftershocks. He kissed her inner thighs and arranged himself on top of her.

  “I need you inside me.” She wrapped her legs around his, feeling his erection through his pants. “Now.”

  She reached down between their bodies and found the button and zipper that fastened his pants. Working quickly, she had them undone and down in a few seconds. Vega removed the rest of his clothes quickly.

  She could feel his hardness, the entire length of his cock brushing against her still pulsing clitoris. He moved against her, letting his erection glide against her wetness. She pulled his head down to hers, licking his lips until he opened his mouth, his tongue meeting hers, twisting against each other even as the tip of his penis stroked her entrance.

  “Inside me,” she panted. “Can’t wait any longer.”

  He moved back, no longer on top of her, and knelt between her knees again. This time, he bent her knees as deeply as they could go without pain, exposing her to him.

  She stared at his cock, the length and thickness of it, the natural lubrication coating the tip. A shiver of mingled anticipation and fear rolled through her. Could she take something so large inside her? Would it fit?

  He took his erection in one hand and placed
it at her entrance. Slowly, he moved the head inside her.

  She felt the stretch and pull, the first taste of having him inside her. Emotion welled up within her. She was afraid she’d burst into tears.

  “Are you all right?” He held her legs back with his hands. “Am I causing you pain?”

  “No, no pain,” she gasped, blinking rapidly. “More.”

  He eased another inch of his cock inside her. The feeling was indescribable. She lifted her hips to meet him.

  Inch by inch, he pushed his way into her tightness, until he hit a barrier. He stopped, concern etched across his face.

  “I can’t bear to hurt you, Angelina.” He stroked her inner thighs.

  “You won’t,” she assured him. “Just push through. I’m ready.”

  He clutched her hips, and raising her to meet him, entered her to the hilt. There was a momentary sting, a twinge of pain, but nothing more. He held completely still, his chest heaving for breath as he allowed her body to adjust to him.

  She signaled her readiness with a thrust of her hips, and he followed her lead, his own hips moving back, withdrawing his penis from her. She pushed forward, taking it back inside her, until he came down on top of her again, balancing above her on his elbows.

  “I want to be inside you in every possible way.” At this, she opened her lips to him, taking his tongue into her mouth. His thrusts continued, his hardness moving in and out of her with agonizing slowness, while his tongue mirrored every motion of his hips.

  She clenched his cock with her inner walls, tightening and releasing. Her nails, suddenly sharper, scraped his back and found his rear end. She pushed it toward her pelvis, ordering him to go deeper.

  His thrusts quickened, pounding into her. Her nails sank into his backside, and he ground against her clitoris in response. She let out an unearthly cry when she came, a sound like a caterwaul. The spasms of her sex around his cock pushed him to his own release. He came, filling her with his essence, bathing her with it deep inside.

  Her legs shook, but she kept them wrapped around him, not wanting him to withdraw, wanting to keep him inside her as long as she could. But something was happening to her.