A Girl's Guide to Vampires

your toes. And your balls. Both. At the same time!'

'Listen to me, Joy,' he said, his breath fanning around my face. God help me, I was in love with a two-timing bastard, and even when I caught him with his hands all over another woman, he could still melt me with his touch. I sobbed anew at my own body's fickleness. 'Kyra is a policewoman. She's one of Bartos's people. She's here to do a job for me, that's all.'

I didn't want to hear him, didn't want to listen to any of his outrageous lies. 'I don't believe you,' I said.

'What have I ever done to make you think I'd be interested in another woman?' he said, more calmly this time, his eyes hot with desire and love.

'I…' I didn't have an answer. Behind him the woman appeared, pulling her sweater down. She asked Raphael in German what was going on. Just the sight of her renewed my fury. 'She's a policewoman, huh? You had your hands all over her. Under her sweater. Exactly what sort of a job is she doing for you?'

'Kyra, show Joy your back.'

'I don't want to see her back! I am not into threesomes!' I said indignantly, wondering how I could have been so wrong about him.

He rolled his eyes and repeated his order. The woman shot me a sour look and turned around, pulling up her sweater as she did. Snaked across her back was a flesh-colored cord, leading down to a thin black box about the size of a credit card. The cord and box were taped on with white surgical tape.

'She's a policewoman,' Raphael repeated. 'I was wiring her so we can record anything said to her. I was not fondling her. She's our backup in case our suspect doesn't take the bait—namely, you.'

He took his hands from my head and stepped aside as Kyra murmured that she would be checking with Inspector Bartos before taking her position outside the cave. Raphael said he'd be out shortly, then looked back at me, speculation in his eyes.

'Somehow I always had the idea that if you ever caught me straying, you'd do more than just hit me in the belly.'

'I didn't happen to have a castrating knife handy.' I glared at him. 'But I can assure you that if I did, you'd be singing soprano now. Policewoman, Raphael? Why do you need a backup policewoman? And why aren't you wiring me? Just what exactly are you doing?'

'Trying to catch a murderer. You know that. I was going to wire you before we sent you out,' he replied, stepping closer to me, an odd smile toying with his lips. 'You're jealous.'

'Well, of course I'm jealous,' I frowned, poking him in the chest. 'You're mine, and you're not allowed to put your hands on any other woman's back. Those are the rules, and I expect you to follow them.'

'Aw, baby,' he growled in that low, sexy voice that never failed to melt my bones. It did now, too. Raphael grabbed me as my legs started to give way, pressing me up against the wall again, his hands next to my head, holding me prisoner. 'I'm flattered that you're jealous, but you should know by now that no other woman could begin to compare with you. You're all I want.' His teeth teased my ear, his breath steaming my skin, starting the familiar inferno of desire deep inside me.

I slid my hands under his leather jacket and sweater, stroking my fingers across the muscles of his back, taking his groan into my mouth, mating it with my own moan of pleasure as he ruthlessly plundered my mouth.

'You make me so hot,' he said as he kissed a wet, steaming path down my neck. 'How can you think anyone else can do this to me?'

He ground his hips against me. He was aroused, very aroused. I slid my hands down to investigate, smiling to myself as he groaned again, this time louder, his groan repeating itself in an endless echo of pleasure. My fingers worked quickly to free him, so I could feel his heat, feel his need and know it was all for me. I pushed his underwear aside and sighed when I found him, hot and hard, velvet over steel. I bit his tongue and whimpered against his mouth as his hands slid into my bra, wanting to feel him deep inside me where our heartbeats would merge to one wild tempo of passion.

'Raphael,' I cried desperately, stroking his hot length, driven half mad by overwhelming desire stirred by his taste and his scent and his touch, knowing he wanted me as much as I wanted him.

'I know, baby, I know. This is going to have to be quick. I'm not going to be able to last long.' He pressed me against the wall, blanketing me in his heat as he wrapped his hands around my thighs and settled them around his hips. I locked my heels around him, kissing him frantically, our teeth clinking together as I nipped at his lips and tongue until he gave me what I wanted and allowed me to suck his tongue into my mouth. I tasted blood as I swirled my tongue around his, moaning as his fingers teased a fiery path up my thighs.

I pulled my mouth from his just long enough to say, 'Underwear,' before licking the drop of blood that welled up from his lip. His fingers stroked the satin of my underwear, then with a jerk they were gone, literally ripped off me.

'Dear God,' I whispered as I felt the hot tip of him enter me. 'No one's every ripped my underwear off before. That's just so… mmmrowr!'

'Baby, I can't wait,' he all but sobbed into my neck as he sank into me.

'Don't wait,' I answered, mindless to everything but the exquisite feeling of oneness that our joining brought.

He cupped his hands under my behind, his breath hot on my neck, then with a grunt of possession slammed into me, thrusting so deep he knocked the breath from me. The wall of the cave was cold behind me, but he made me burn so hot I came close to leaving scorch marks on it. He nibbled my ear and neck as our bodies strained against each other, craving that moment of completion when we were transported past mere physical pleasure. His hips thrust and withdrew, his pace quickening with our breath. I slid my fingers through his curls and arched forward against him, close, so close to the end of our race.

'Raphael!' I screamed just as he bit my neck, his roar of ecstasy matching my own, the two indistinguishable as they echoed around us.

We stood like that for an eon, our bodies still joined, his heartbeat deep inside me matching my own, our breaths mingled, ragged, as he held me securely in his arms, still pressed against the wall.

'Ah, baby, I hurt you,' he said, his voice thick with satisfaction mixed with concern. His lips were warm on my neck, his tongue a silky caress. 'I bit you too hard. You're bleeding.'

I tipped my head back so I could see his beautiful face, untangling my fingers from his hair to touch a raw spot on his lip. 'I bit you, too. If you were a Dark One, this would be the final step of Joining.'

One sable brow rose in question.

'A blood exchange.' I smiled at his look of disbelief, and allowed him to lower my legs to the ground. Raphael tucked himself away, and I was just shaking my skirt down when a sharp sound started at one end of the cave and rolled past us, building in noise.

Someone was applauding.

'Christ,' Raphael snarled, turning around as he did up his pants, blocking me with his body. I sent up a silent prayer that whoever it was hadn't seen us in action as I tucked my blouse back into my skirt, making sure it wasn't bunched up anywhere before peeking over Raphael's shoulder.

'Mon ange, I knew you had passion, but you surpass my expectations. Such fire! Such zest! I particularly enjoyed how your body arched against Raphael's at le petit mort. I believe we would have been well mated.'

Oh my God, it was Dominic! And he had watched us! My skin crawled with revulsion even as anger surged within me. How dare he taint something wonderful and beautiful between Raphael and me with his slimy foulness? What we did was private, between the two of us, and although we might have celebrated our love in an inappropriate place, that still gave him no right to intrude. I hit the back of Raphael's shoulder, more than a little surprised that he wasn't roaring with anger at the invasion of our privacy, but it wasn't until I stepped around him to give Dominic a piece of my mind that I saw why he was so still.

Dominic was pointing a very large gun at us. Next to him stood a silent Milos.

'What are you doing here? You were doing your magic show!' I sputtered.

'All good things, ma chère, must come to an end,' Dominic said with one of his showy bows before waving the gun toward Raphael. 'Sadly, that includes you as well as the curious Mr. St. John.'