Free A Taste of Twilight by Aubrey Ross Page B

“I take on a variety of cases, but most of my clients are suspicious of their soon-to-be-former lovers.”
    “You catch people cheating on their significant others?”
    “Yep. Where there’s smoke there’s usually fire. I guess that makes me a firefighter.” She tightened her legs around his hips and pressed her breasts against his chest. “Can we talk about something else now?”
    “I have a better suggestion.”
    “What did you have in mind?”
    He met her gaze, his eyes taking on a faint golden glow. Vivid images rolled through her mind. She saw herself kneeling beside the bed, sucking his cock with greedy enthusiasm. Then, he stood beside the bed and she knelt upon it. He thrust fast and deep between her thighs.
    “I see,” she whispered as his mouth covered hers.
    * * * * *
     
    Jessie awoke several hours later and carefully disentangled herself from Rafe’s warm embrace. Everything was happening so quickly. She felt off balance and overwhelmed. He would likely sleep until sunset and she welcomed a short period of solitude.
    Tiptoeing into the bathroom, she found a stack of neatly folded towels and draped one over the warming rack as she waited for the shower to heat. The blood bonding had been unlike anything she’d experienced before. She’d had some pretty decent orgasms with Jeff. Still, nothing compared to the absolute intimacy of joining, body, mind and spirit.
    Blood bonding… She’d allowed a vampire to drink her blood. She turned to the wide mirror above the double sinks and gathered her hair away from her neck. The wound was hardly noticeable, two small puncture marks, but the significance left her shaken. Vampires were real and she was caught in the middle of a centuries-old rivalry. Out of all the women in the world, Etoro had singled her out, led her to Rafe with a string of dead bodies scattered like breadcrumbs upon the ground. There had to be a reason. None of this was random. But what? She wasn’t the only human with psychic abilities and she hadn’t known Rafe before tonight.
    “I can see he drank from you,” a female spoke from directly behind Jessie, “but did you drink from him?”
    Jessie snatched the towel from the warming rack as she turned around. Before Jessie could do more than gasp, golden light flashed in the woman’s eyes. An invisible fist closed around Jessie’s throat. Her mouth gaped and she clutched her neck.
    “Don’t make a sound.”
    The pressure lessened, allowing her to breathe. Torn between shock and fury, Jessie searched for a weapon, a heavy object, a plunger, anything she could use to defend herself. Her throat ached, her larynx paralyzed. Her attacker had incapacitated her with a glance. How was a plunger going to help?
    “Did he feed you his blood?” Her tone snapped with impatience.
    Jessie studied the intruder, memorizing her features and the unique cadence of her voice. Petite, almost waiflike, vivid blue eyes dominated her heart-shaped face. “Who are you?” Her bruised throat burned with each word.
    “Who I am is unimportant. Answer my question and I’ll leave.”
    Rafe said the house was shielded. How had this person gotten past his security? Jessie clutched the towel to her chest, exasperated by her helplessness.
    “Are you daft or just annoying? Did you drink his blood?”
    Jessie shook her head.
    “How much does your tall, blond friend mean to you?” She smiled, a cold, cruel bowing of her lips. “Don’t try to answer, just listen carefully. You must convince Rafe to transform you or Dalton dies.”
    Threats never sat well with Jessie. She lunged forward, abandoning modesty in favor of action. The woman disappeared before Jessie could touch her. Laughter echoed in the room.
    “Is that the best you can do?” Jessie spun around and found the woman behind her. “I thought you were a bad-ass ex-cop.”
    This had to be Natalie, unless Rafe had more skeletons in his closet. “What do you want?” She mouthed the words more than spoke