Tracking the Tempest Read online

Page 4

 

  “Well, tomorrow you'll be all mine. For the entire weekend, and longer if you like. The return ticket can be used whenever. ” He knew I was going to tell him I had to come back, so he didn't let me break in, this time. “But this weekend, for certain, you're mine. ”

  “All yours,” I agreed.

  “Think about me tonight, Jane. When you go to bed. ”

  There was no chance of me not thinking of him, not after this evening's phone performance. “I will, Ryu. Believe me. ”

  “Good. And tomorrow you'll be in my bed. ”

  I shivered, silent.

  “Bye, baby. ”

  “Bye, Ryu. See you tomorrow. ”

  He was wrong, of course. It felt like an eternity till I was in his arms.

  But then, just like that, I was.

  One minute I was craning my head trying to figure out which carousel my luggage was on and the next my feet were dangling as I was swept up into a tight embrace.

  “Jane,” Ryu purred into my ear. “Gods, it's good to see you. ”

  Pressed that tight against him, I could feel just how good it was.

  I rubbed my cheek against his short-cropped chestnut hair and then pulled back slightly so that my skin dragged across the slightly rougher texture of his smooth-shaven jaw. Wrapped up in his arms, I was blanketed in his signature scent of warm skin and balsam soap, with that hint of cumin that made my mouth water. As I inhaled, I continued on my mission until I found what I'd been searching for and my lips met his. The heat that had been pooling in my gut exploded through my body with palpable force.

  We stood, necking like teenagers, as my fellow passengers claimed their luggage. They were oblivious to us; Ryu unconsciously sent out various glamours either repulsing or attracting attention, depending on the situation. Despite knowing we were unseen, I would normally have been uncomfortable with the bustle around us. But it had been two weeks, and I was losing myself in Ryu's clever mouth. Our kiss deepened and I pulled my legs up to wrap around his waist, until I gasped as Ryu's now well-extended fangs cut my lip deeply. I tasted blood, for just a second, before my lover's mouth found the pain. He sucked gently at the wound—making me moan—before his tongue swept across the gash once, twice, and then a third time, finally healing me.

  We were both breathing heavily and I could feel him tremble. I unwound my legs, allowing myself to slide down the hard length of his body. Leaning back in his arms, I let my eyes scan up over his broad shoulders in their crisp white button-up to the strong column of his neck, to his handsome face, finally meeting his beautiful, golden-green gaze. I'd never get enough of Ryu's eyes. They were really hazel, but with only the barest flecks of green that gathered together right near his pupils, leaving the rest of his eyes a nearly unadulterated amber-gold. A surge of pure lust washed through my system. When I was away from him, I forgot just how gorgeous was Ryu, and the effect he had on me.

  I knew my lover could read every sign of my arousal—my dilated pupils, my rapidly beating heart, my blood rushing through my veins—as if it were written on a billboard. But, just in case he had any doubts, I moved my hips in a firm little shimmy against his already straining trousers. He closed those lovely eyes and groaned, pulling me tighter against him before pushing me away.

  “Unless you entertain a secret sexual fantasy involving Logan Airport, I suggest you quit torturing me,” Ryu said, his normally smooth voice delightfully lust-gruff.

  I grinned at him. “You deserve torture after last night. I had to swim an extra hour to expunge the horny from my system. ”

  “Well, I hope you didn't swim off all your horny,” he said, running a hand over my backside to guide me toward the luggage carousel.

  “I'm sure I'll manage to dredge something up,” I said drily as I made a grab for my heavy suitcase. Ryu pulled it easily off the belt, grinning at its size.

  “Planning on staying for a while?” he queried, his voice hopeful.

  “No, I've definitely got to get back on Monday, at the latest. But I made the mistake of asking Iris to help me pack. ”

  The succubus had driven over that night with a month's worth of stuff already packed in the massive suitcase. She'd taken one look at the little carry-on rollerboard Ryu had given me and burst out laughing. The carry-on had disappeared, the few things it already contained stowed into the last remaining corners of the behemoth sitting at our feet.

  “Really?” Ryu asked slyly as he took the suitcase's retractable handle with one hand and my fingers with the other. He raised my palm to his lips in his signature gigolo gesture before leading me toward the exits. “And what, exactly, did Iris suggest you pack?”

  I blushed. If my case sprang open at that moment, spilling its contents for Logan International Airport to see, most people would assume that Boston was hosting some sort of adult entertainment convention and that I worked for one of the big names.

  “Socks. Vitamins. The usual,” I squeaked. I knew the succubus had gotten into my dirty drawer, where I kept all of Grizzie's presents. Grizzie gave dirty gifts for every occasion, and as I'd known her a long time now, the drawer in which I stored my unmentionables was a veritable cornucopia of fetish-tastic smut. I couldn't begin to guess at the intended usage of some of the vaguely phallic bits and bobs Grizzie had given me, and so they'd remained unopened, safely tucked away. But I'd come back from digging out my old toiletries bag from the hall closet to find the dirty drawer open and Iris patting my suitcase, her eyes glowing like high beams.

  “Mmm-hmm,” Ryu drawled, arching one of his achingly expressive brows at me. The man had developed a form of communication akin to that used with fans by women in the nineteenth century; he could converse eloquently and at great length using just his eyebrows. Right now, the otherwise very sophisticated vampire by my side had a mouth saying “I'm so glad you're here, Miss True. ” But what his eyebrows were saying was “I'ma rock yo' shit, shorty. ” I liked what both his mouth and eyebrows had to say, so I strained up on my tippy-toes to kiss them each in their turn. Ryu obliged me by stooping into kiss range.

  “I'm glad I'm here, too,” I told him, trying to get my own eyebrows to say “I'ma rock you right back, boo,” but I managed only to look constipated.

  “Although, we may have to leave this suitcase here. I don't know how it'll fit in my car…” Ryu had every right to be concerned. The suitcase was enormous, and he drove a Porsche Boxster.

  Or at least he used to.

  Because he was either stealing the itsy-bitsy black BMW we were walking toward in Logan's parking garage or he'd bought a new car. This time my eyebrows did manage to speak volumes.

  Ryu grinned. “I got bored,” he said, his voice arch.

  “What is that thing?” I asked. The little car was beautiful. But it stank of overcompensation, midlife crisis, or general skankiness. Ryu had nothing to compensate for, and he was too pimp to be skank. That left midlife crisis. He was a few decades short of two hundred years old and probably due for some sort of nervous breakdown.

  “A Z4 M Roadster,” he answered me, running a hand over the car's hood.

  “What happened to the Porsche?”

  Ryu smiled innocently at me. I knew that smile well. It was the smile he gave me right before he did something unspeakably filthy. “I had an accident” was all he said as he opened the trunk and began stuffing it full of my suitcase.

  “Do I want to know?” I asked when he'd finally wrestled the trunk closed.

  “No,” he replied as he came around to open my door.

  I let myself be herded into the car, buckling myself in and then twice checking to make sure I was securely fastened. I pulled the belt sharply to be certain that it worked.

  “You probably learned an important lesson about safe driving from the accident I'm not supposed to ask about, right?” I inquired of my vampire as he settled into his own seat. Ryu gave me his most angelic smile, the one
he used when I was really in trouble.

  “And you don't want to wreck this nice, new car, do you?” I continued, praying he didn't want to wreck this nice, new car. The vampire ignored me.

  “Ryu, you have all this lovely fresh upholstery. You don't want me to wet myself with fear, do you? Ryu? Ryu?”

  Once belted in, Ryu adjusted his rearview mirror and then deigned to turn to me.

  “Honey, why do you worry? You know I'm always safe. ”

  “No,” I said. “You are not ‘safe. ’ You drive like a fucking lunatic. ”

  “Jane, don't worry. ” Ryu chuckled as he started the engine. It growled like a rabid dingo. “This is Boston. ” I thought about that. He wouldn't have to be so aggressive on his home turf, right? And Boston was famous for its tight squeezes and tiny roads. Boston never burned! I reminded myself. How nuts could you drive in a veritable labyrinth?

  He whipped out of the parking space so fast my stomach was left sitting there, burbling in surprise. He aggressively shouldered in front of one of those faux-military SUV wank machines that could have steamrolled us flat as a Fruit Roll-Up. He braked just long enough to fling money at the bored parking attendant in her little booth. She didn't even flinch when he gunned the evil little car so sharply that we barely missed crashing through the slowly lifting barrier.