He knelt before her, capturing her hands. “Lily, my offer still stands. I could take you away from this. To islands so beautiful the hurt Nathaniel has given you would fade away as soon as you laid eyes upon them.” He brought her hands to his lips. “Let me take you away.”
Once again the offer was tempting, and even more so now than before. She shook her head again. “Julian, they are my friends—my family. Someone is betraying them, and it’s only going to get worse. I have to help them.”
He kissed her hands once more before he released them. “You’re so pigheaded.” He smiled at her sour look. “But my offer always stands. All you have to do is let me know.”
“Okay.”
“If you won’t let me take you away, then you have to let me help you. Who are the likely suspects?”
She launched into a tirade about Micah, telling him about the stuff she’d read in his personnel file and how he was snooping around Nathaniel’s office. Julian actually seemed to agree with her, especially after he realized Micah was the “little shit” from the other night.
“No one else seemed to find any of this suspicious?” he asked.
“Only Luke, but he’s outnumbered.” She pushed at her hair. Suddenly, something occurred to her, and she turned toward Julian. “Do you know who it is?”
He met her stare and didn’t hesitate. “No.”
“You wouldn’t lie about this, would you?” she asked. “Because if you know, it would really help me out, and if you didn’t tell me, I would be pissed.” And she meant it, too.
“It’s not like we hang around in large groups, gossiping about what the other is doing. I do pick up information from time to time, because some do frequent my bars quite regularly,” he told her. “And even if I did, what help would it be? They wouldn’t believe you if it came from me.”
She sighed, disappointed. Figured it wouldn’t be that easy. “I need to find out who Micah is working with.”
Julian was silent for a moment but then smiled. “What we need to do is find some minions and make them talk.”
She arched a brow. “You think I haven’t already tried that?”
His smile spread. “But you haven’t had me with you. I have…ways of making people talk.”
No doubt. Picking up on what he was suggesting, she stood. “You want to go hunting with me?”
“Actually, I was suggesting I go find Micah and make him talk,” he said. “Or I could just take care of him.”
Her mouth dropped open. “No. No, Julian. You killing him, and I know that’s what you plan, will not help me. And stop grinning like you’d enjoy it.”
He didn’t stop grinning. “I would.”
Lily folded her arms.
“Okay. If that doesn’t suit you, then I could go hunting with you.”
The idea was insane. And a little bit laughable. A Fallen hunting minions to make them talk. She ran her hands down her face. If they were caught together by any of the Nephilim, she knew her Contract would be breached. “This is risky.”
“It is.” He turned away, staring out the window. “You know what I prefer, but if you’re insistent upon discovering this traitor, you will not do so alone.”
Mulling it over, she glanced at the wall clock. “I don’t usually start hunting—”
“Until after nine, I know.” He faced her. “The time frame works out perfectly.”
“It does?”
He crossed the room, dipping his head to her neck. His lips brushed over her skin, causing her to shiver. “That gives us just enough time.”
She placed her hands on his chest. “Weren’t you doing something when I called?”
“I was at my club in Bethesda.” He snaked an arm around her waist. “But they’ll live without me.”
Already, she felt her insides tightening, a pool of heat gathering in her core. Her body had absolutely no sense of priority. But the minions wouldn’t come out until later tonight…
Then he caught her earlobe between his teeth and tugged. Her breath came out in small gasps until he let go, his hands splayed across her lower back.
“I need to…I need to shower first. I’m sweaty.” Somehow her brain still registered that she’d been training half the day.
“I can help you with that.” He scooped her up, smiling when she laughed. Heading through her apartment, he stopped once to kiss her and then again to help her get out of her workout clothes. “It’s probably a good thing you won’t take me up on my offer.”
“Why’s that?” She tugged his shirt over his head, then moved on to his pants.
“Because I’d never get anything done.” He stepped out of his pants, standing gloriously nude in her front of her. “All I’d want to do is worship your body all day.”
She walked backward into the bathroom, stopping when she hit the sink. “I don’t see anything wrong with that.”
Leaning around her, he reached into the shower stall and turned on the water. Steam quickly filled the bathroom. When he straightened, he tucked his hair back. The look he gave her was curiously intimate.
“What?” she asked.
“You’re beautiful.”
She rolled her eyes. “Flattery will get you laid.”
“I sure hope so.” He dipped his head to her breast, drawing her nipple into his mouth, teasing it with his tongue and teeth. The way he devoured her breast and then the other drove her crazy. Tight coils sprang low in her belly as she watched him worship her body.
When they did move into the shower, Julian was more interested in tasting every part of her than he was with helping her wash. Not that she minded. Her legs were literally shaking when he knelt and peered up at her through thick lashes.
She placed her hand on his cheek. Her chest swelled with a powerful foreign emotion as her eyes locked with his. He lowered his mouth to her sex, making a long, deep swipe with his tongue. She didn’t even have time to catch her breath before he did it again. His tongue swirled and stabbed, turning her insides to mush as she clasped the back of his head, greedily rocking against him. Then he sealed his mouth over her clit and sucked hard. There was nothing but white-hot pleasure as her orgasm rocked through her. Lily’s knees buckled, and he caught her as he stood and entered her with one quick thrust.
Maybe this was wrong–everyone besides her believed so–but as her head lulled back and he took her the closest to Heaven she’d ever been, she decided this kind of wrong was so right for her.
Hunting with Julian was kind of weird.
This was the second night in a row they took to the streets, and she still hadn’t gotten used to doing this with him. Like she said, it was weird.
Weird because it was like hunting with Luke, with the exception that she couldn’t stop looking at Julian and remembering what it felt like to have his mouth on her, his fingers in her, the way he kissed her… She cleared her throat, focusing on the humans crowding the street near the Verizon Center. Her cheeks felt hot.
But then she gazed at him again.
God, he was beautiful. She always thought he was, but she never really grasped just how beautiful he truly was. Out here, with the moonlight and the weak flicker of streetlamps, his cheekbones seemed more pronounced, his hair softer, and the indent above his upper lip more lickable.
All around them, people passed her over to stare at him. Male, female, the young and old stared at him. It was more than his looks, she quickly realized. He had this confident swagger that begged people to get out of his way.
She sighed, shaking out her shoulders. They’d been at this for four hours without a deadhead or minion in sight. Last night had been a bust, too. Other than the two deadheads and a minion who practically pissed himself the moment Julian touched him, they hadn’t made any headway. The only thing she accomplished thus far was making herself horny. “Where in the hell are they?”
He tucked his hair back, eyes scanning the crowd as they rounded the avenue. “You do this every night?
