Read Online King of Darkness by Elisabeth Staab - Free Book Online

She eased from behind him and laid the pistol carefully on the desk. “Any others I should know about?”
    Thad pulled up his pant leg quietly and withdrew a knife from an ankle holster and handed it to her, handle first. “The rest are in my jacket,” he said, nodding to where he had left it, in easy reach by the bed. He was sure this time. God damn it. At least he knew for certain that she wasn’t going to kill him.
    “Okay, then.” She smiled and crawled back onto the bed, slinking toward him with a lazy catlike grace. “Now. Where were we?”
    Thad sat forward. He could not ignore the sudden compulsion to touch her. Caress her. He couldn’t deny it; the urge for intimacy was there just like Isabel had said it would be. His left hand crept across the bed to touch hers. “You are… so fucking sexy,” he breathed.
    Isabel leaned toward Thad and smiled at him. An unexpected growl rumbled in the back of his throat. That smile of hers was like a prize to be won, and he was caught unaware by an overwhelming desire to lie down and pledge his undying loyalty to her right then and there. He clamped his jaws so tightly that his molars ached. He wasn’t too far gone to know that saying so could be a real buzz kill.
    “You’re not so bad yourself, you know.” She moved closer, rubbing her nose against his like an Eskimo kiss. And boy, would you look at that! Turned out he definitely had no trouble getting hard. “Are you going to kiss me now, Thad?”
    He snarled quietly, an oddly playful sound that he couldn’t recall making before. He tilted his head ever so slightly and leaned his mouth into hers. He’d intended to go the slow and gentle route, but his tongue decided to barge right in to that lush mouth of hers, stroking… probing. He groaned and pulled her body against his, taking the kiss harder and deeper.
    Her mouth was so sweet that it was like kissing a piece of candy. More of those exquisite tingles popped up all over his skin, concentrating where their bodies met. Every frenzied breath seemed to bring more of the same delicious feeling, intensifying exponentially with each gasp until Thad was enveloped in a mind-blowing full-body vibration.
    Something in the back of his head warned him to pull back, maybe slow this down a little so they could actually talk, but before he had a chance to think about it any further, he felt Isabel’s teeth and—oh God, her fangs—scrape over his tongue, drawing just the tiniest bit of blood.
    Her loud moan of satisfaction reverberated inside his mouth, and she pushed against him as she crawled forward to straddle his lap. Oh, man . Her tongue danced and stroked against his, as if trying to taste the blood she’d drawn.
    Thad tightened his grip on her hair, and the pull only spurred her to press harder, grinding against the erection that was screaming to be freed from his pants. She sucked his tongue and nibbled his lower lip, making his breath and her heart speed up in unison. He could feel her heartbeat tap-dancing against his own.
    “See?” Her voice was low and sensual. “No trouble at all getting hard.” And wasn’t it good to know that they were on the same page? Her hand traced a path down the front of his shirt, reached his pants, and started searching for a way to undo them.
    “Isabel—”
    “Shh.” She continued to kiss him but backed the lower half of her body away. Then the kissing stopped, too.
    Why was she stopping? And why did he suddenly feel like he was standing in the noonday sun?
    “Isabel, I’m burning up.” And thirsty. His tongue had stopped bleeding, but now it was very, very dry.
    “Probably just the red. It can jack up your body temperature. Here, let me help.” After passing a glass of water, Isabel reached forward and began to undo his shirt. Lithe fingers caressed his skin where she pushed the fabric apart. Firmly, but sensually, she ran her hand along his stomach, his pecs… he shivered as her fingers brushed once, then twice