“I’m sure it was Cole Luporeale,” he said. “The wound wasn’t lethal, just as you asked.”
“Good.” He didn’t want Cole dead. Not yet, anyway. He might still be useful if he needed to deal with Veive again.
Remo held out an envelope filled with cash. The man took it, not bothering to check the amount.
Nodding once, the
eteri
said, “Thank you for your business.”
He turned to go but hesitated at the door before turning to face Remo again.
“A second man exited the building only seconds after Luporeale went down.” A flicker of something Remo interpreted as interest flickered through his eyes. “He wasn’t one of the other targets you had given me so I didn’t mark him. However…as I was watching, the man disappeared.”
Remo let his eyebrows lift in disbelief. “I’m not sure I know what you mean.”
The man’s expression didn’t change. “I mean, one minute he was there, the next he was gone. Vanished. I found that…interesting.”
Then the assassin turned and left. As if he hadn’t just told a stranger he’d seen a man disappear. Like magic.
Coincidence? Trick of the eye?
Or was something else going on?
Remo had started this chain of events and he would see it through to the end. He’d promised Veive he would show the wolves just how vulnerable they were. That the murders of the Luporeale king, queen and heir had not been a lucky strike.
By striking at Cole away from his base of power, Remo had put the wolves on notice.
Their king wasn’t safe.
* * *
When they got back to the hotel, Dr. Kent refused to allow anyone but Dorian in Cole’s room.
“Are either of you hurt?” he asked, staring hard at Steven. When they all shook their heads, the doctor crossed his arms over his chest. “Then I order everyone to get some sleep. Whatever you need to talk about can wait until morning. Cole needs rest and, from the looks of you, you could all do with the same.”
Then he went back into Cole’s room and shut the door behind him.
Steven sighed, knowing this was probably for the best. Besides, he wouldn’t win a battle with Dr. Kent. The guy was a lion in wolf’s clothes.
It was nearly three o’clock in the morning and Bella had told him she had to be at the meeting table at nine. His eyes hurt he was so tired, his stomach ached from adrenaline overload and his temples pounded with a tension headache.
He wanted to go back to Bella’s room, tumble her into bed and get inside her as fast as he could. Then he wanted to stay there until she had to leave for
congress
.
The meeting he needed to be at. Where he knew he wouldn’t be welcome.
“Steven?”
Bella’s voice drew his gaze away from the wall. He’d been staring at a speck of dirt, didn’t know for how long.
Concern was written all over her beautiful face and he raised a hand to cup her cheek. He was about to crash. Emotionally, physically. He was suffocating under the weight of his worry for Cole and Bella and the information Turan had told him. Tinia’s teat, had he really talked to Turan? He needed to tell Bella—
“Steven. Come with me.”
Bella took his hand from her cheek and pulled him along after her to her room down the hall. She didn’t bother to turn on the light, just shut the door behind him and guided him to the bed.
She stripped him down to his boxers but didn’t take them off. Then she pushed him into bed with a light hand and took off her clothes before she joined him.
Curling against his side, her hand on his chest, she kissed the side of his neck and whispered “Good night” into his ear.
He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
* * *
Amy Jo watched the door shut down the hall and took a deep breath.
The tension between Bella and Steven had been as thick as her mother’s pound cake. It made her twitchy.
But not near as twitchy as being left alone with Marco and Diego.
The brothers stared at each other…stared each other down, if she had to guess. And her tension level ratcheted up to full throttle.
She didn’t want to spend the night alone.
She wanted Diego. She wanted to take him by the hand just like Bella had done with Steven and lead him to her room. Actually, she guessed she’d have to go to Diego’s room because she hadn’t actually been given a room. Bella had taken her right to hers and Cole was in there now.
So, the whole taking-Diego-by-the-hand thing wasn’t going to work. But still…
She sighed and both men looked at her. She caught Marco’s gaze first and the heat in his eyes seared her before he blinked and it was gone.
Oh, God
.
It took an effort to tear her gaze from his and when she did, she got caught in the desire in Diego’s expression.
Hyperventilation became a distinct possibility.
And that wasn’t nearly the worst part.
The worst part was she wanted them both. And that was a Shakespearean tragedy just waiting to explode.
She drew in a deep breath in an attempt to calm her racing heart and heard Marco say “Good night.” Something in his softly spoken words broke through the haze of heat Diego threw off and shifted her attention back to him. He smiled, just a twist of his lips, then turned and walked away.
“Amy Jo.”
The sound of Diego’s voice ran through her like an electric current.
Get a grip, girl, or you’re going to lose it again.
And she didn’t want that. No, she wanted the man standing ten feet away from her.
Diego stared at her, no emotion on his handsome face, but she was beginning to realize just how much he hid behind that blank expression.
So she said the first thing that popped into her head. “You make a beautiful cat.”
At first, he didn’t do anything. Then slowly, a grin kicked up the corners of his mouth and he bowed.
Her mouth dropped open as he performed the salute without an ounce of hesitation or awkwardness. As if it was a natural function for him.
Well, hell. The guy
was
a freakin’ king. Of people who could turn into big exotic kitty cats, but still. The closest she’d ever gotten to royalty before now was dating a guy who worked at Burger King.
He began to close the distance between them but she shook her head and he stopped in his tracks, still a few feet away, his expression showing the first hint of confusion. And hurt?
“Would you like me to show you to your room?” he asked.
He thought she was rejecting him? Man, he really didn’t know how to read women, did he?
“I’ve never had a man bow to me before.”
His head tipped back as if she’d insulted him and she held up her hand to stop the response she saw forming in his eyes.
“I’ve also never met a man who turned into a huge cat before. It takes a little getting used to.”
He took another few steps forward then paused, now only inches away. His masculine scent, something she’d never really paid attention to before she’d been attacked, drenched her senses and made her heart stutter.
“And are you?” he asked.
Her stomach fluttered. “Am I what?”
“Getting used to?”
She knew what he was asking, even if he didn’t come out and say it. Staring into his eyes, she nodded. And smiled. She hadn’t had much to smile about recently. And with tomorrow’s hypnotism or whatever session with the witch-woman looming on the horizon, Diego could be classified as the best thing that had happened to her in at least the past year. Maybe ever.
His eyes narrowed, as if he were trying to figure out exactly what that smile meant.
Good. Let him guess. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t help him along.
When she held out her hand, he took it without hesitation.
“So, no one told me where I should sleep tonight.”
His fingers intertwined with hers. “Do you want to sleep alone?” His expression never wavered. “If you do, take the room next to mine and keep the connecting door unlocked. I don’t want anything to happen—”
“And if I don’t want to sleep alone?”
He drew in a deep breath. “Then I want you in my bed.”
The sheer carnality of emotion in his words made her cheeks flush and her entire body burn. And she knew this time wouldn’t be like the first.
She could explain away their first night together as stress relief. Tonight… Tonight, she wanted what she wanted the way she wanted it.
Diego seemed to understand that. What she didn’t know was how he felt about it.
He stared at her, his hand holding firm on hers. Earlier tonight, he’d nearly taken her head off when she’d said she was going with Bella. His anger had been palpable. And she was only beginning to realize that most of it had been directed at himself.
Voices from the stairwell made her glance over her shoulder, and the next thing she knew Diego had opened the door to his room and pulled her through.
He didn’t bother with the light switch, as the shades were up and a pale silver hue bathed the room.
Now, instead of staring at each other in the hall, they stared at each other in the confines of his room.
And suddenly it was awkward.
Until he reached for her shirt.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“What does it look like I’m doing?”
She glanced down and found herself entranced by the sight of his long fingers making short work of the buttons.
“It looks like you’re taking off my shirt.”
“Then you’d be right. We seem to get along better when we’re naked in bed. I thought it might help if you were naked again.”
“Only if you are.”
“Then give me a hand.”
Diego wore a black cotton t-shirt that molded to his chest like it was wet and a pair of grey pants that looked custom made.
Slipping her hands under the t-shirt, she drew it over his head and slipped the button on his pants at the same time he pushed her denim capris down her legs.
In just a few seconds, they had each other naked and Amy Jo felt something inside her settle.
Diego kissed her, placed one hand on her rear and pulled her against his mighty fine erection.
She made him like that and she loved the effect she had on him, loved the way that, when she was with him, she felt in control.
Moaning into his mouth, she tilted her hips into that hard ridge.
He must have misinterpreted her response because he released her immediately.
“Are you okay?”
In answer, she wrapped her hands around his thick cock and squeezed, loving his swiftly indrawn breath. “I’m fine. More than fine now.”
She ringed the base with the thumb and forefinger of one hand and, with the other, pumped him from root to tip.
He jerked in her grasp, groaning as his hands moved to her shoulders. She felt the tension in him as he fought not to exert any kind of pressure on her. But she knew what he wanted. And she wanted the same. On her terms.
Turning her head into his neck, she rubbed her nose against his skin and breathed in. God, he smelled good. What would happen if she slid down his body and took him in her mouth? Would she faint from sensory overload or would she be thrown back into that horrific night?
She tensed and Diego froze.
“Amy Jo. Are you okay?”
When she heard him speak, her name, she knew, without a doubt, that he would never hurt her like those other men had.
“I’m fine.” She resumed the slow, caress of her hand over his rock-hard erection. “So very fine.”
“I won’t do anything you don’t want me to. You know that, right?”
She licked his neck and he shuddered against her. “Yes. And I’ll return the favor.”
“Then tell me what you want.”
She wanted it rough. Before her attack, she’d liked it a little rough—hair-pulling, nail-scratching, bouncing-off-the-walls rough. She wanted to tie him to the bed and tease him until he exploded and then work him up again. She used to get off on that. Hell, she’d
enjoyed
it. And those bastards had taken that away from her.
Now, she wondered just how trusting Diego really was.
She lifted her head and stared into his dark eyes. She didn’t say anything, just stared, until finally he said, “What’s wrong?”
“We really don’t know each other that well, do we?”
Diego’s breath caught in his throat. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to answer that question. Especially since she still held a very vulnerable part of him in her hands.
What he did know was that he wanted to keep her. No, they hadn’t known each other long. That didn’t matter. He knew all he needed to know about her to know they were meant to be together.
But was she ready to hear it?
Running his hands from her shoulders to her elbows and back again, he kept the pressure sure and steady, just as she did on his cock. “I know enough to know I don’t want to be anywhere else.”
Her expression softened. Apparently, that had been the correct answer.
“I want to tie you to the bed over there,” she said, “and make you scream.”
His mouth dropped open a second before he could stop it as lust surged through his body. “You what?”
Her top teeth lodged in her bottom lip and her hand stopped pumping him. “I’m sorry, just forget—”
“Oh,
hell
no. I will not forget what you just said. I nearly came at the image in my head.”
She blinked twice, fast. And the corners of her mouth kicked up slightly. “Really? I mean, I’m not really that kinky, no whips and chains and stuff, but a little bondage, blindfolds, some spanking… I liked that stuff before… I just don’t want to freak out if—”
Jesus, how much more perfect could this woman be for him? And how perfectly awful if those sons of bitches who’d assaulted her took away something she’d enjoyed.
Moving his hands to her waist, he lifted her until her feet were off the ground and her eyes were level with his. She had to release her hold on his cock but he hoped it wouldn’t be for long. “Leather restraints. Bottom of my suitcase. Never leave home without them.”
As her eyes widened and her pupils dilated, he decided not to tell her he’d only ever used the restraints on bad guys in the course of his
grigori
duties. He’d never used them during sex.