Kissing Sin

coffee,' I said. 'A very sad thing when you're as addicted as I am.'

He stopped behind me, one brawny arm going around my waist, pressing his body against mine as he leaned forward and kissed my ear. 'That's very sad indeed,' he whispered, his breath so warm against my skin. 'You want me to make you feel better?'

A smile twitched my lips. 'You're as insatiable as a wolf in moon heat.'

'Hey, I'm a randy stallion who hasn't had sex for over two months, and I'm standing behind a woman who is both luscious and naked. What do you expect?'

'A little restraint until we're safe, perhaps?'

'I have been restrained, sweetheart. Trust me on that.' His lips touched my spine, a butterfly kiss that was powerfully arousing. 'So, who were you thinking about when I came in? A lover?'

'No.'

'But there is a lover who is causing some grief?'

'Yes.' I twisted around to look at him. 'How did you guess that? Are you a telepath?' And if he was, how was he reading me? Quinn—the lover I'd mentioned before—couldn't, and yet he was not only one of the most powerful vampires I'd met, but also one of the most powerful telepaths.

'No. Telekinetic. But I'm very good at reading women.'

I raised an eyebrow. 'Just women? Not men?'

His smile was devilish. 'I have no interest in men.'

And wouldn't my brother be pissed at that. 'So, what do you think you saw in my expression?'

'Regret.'

He was good. While I hadn't actively been thinking about Quinn, those thoughts were always present, sitting at the back of my mind, waiting to pounce the minute I relaxed my guard.

'Tell me,' he added.

'Why?'

He shrugged. 'Wolves aren't the only ones who can be nosy.'

I looked away, studying the shadows beyond the fence line again. 'He doesn't like what I am.'

He brushed another kiss across my spine, but higher this time, closer to my shoulder. Goose bumps fled excitedly across my skin.

'A paper pusher?'

I smiled. 'No, a werewolf. He thinks us little more than whores.'

'I'm betting he doesn't think the same of your pack-mate.'

'According to him, it's okay for men to sleep around.'

'Has to be a human.' Disgust edged Kade's voice. 'Because only they would say something dumb like that to a werewolf.'

I smiled. 'He's a vampire.'

He shrugged, something I felt rather than saw. 'Same thing, as most vamps were once human and have all the old prejudices.' He paused. 'You loved him?'

'I barely knew him.'

His touch trailed up my stomach until he'd reached my breasts. Lightly, teasingly, he began to pinch the engorged points. My breath caught somewhere in my throat, and my heart began to race. I knew I should move, should put an end to it now, before it went too much further, but somehow, I just couldn't force the thoughts into action. Part of me—most of me—hungered.

'That's not what I asked,' he said.

'No.' I hesitated. 'And no, I didn't. It's just that there was something between us, something I wanted to explore. He refused, simply because I am wolf.'

'You don't look the type to give up.'

'I'm not.' I had tried. I'd rung. I'd even met him for dinner a couple of times. But Quinn had made it patently clear he didn't want anything more than what he'd already had. In the end, I'd walked away. As Rhoan had noted, it was Quinn who was the loser, not me.

'So why have you given up?'

'Because I'm far from desperate, and he's not a wolf.'

'And you want children eventually?'

I nodded. 'As I tried to tell him, I wasn't after anything deep or everlasting. I just wanted to explore.'

'You know, I've found that jealously works a whole lot better than trying to talk sense to people like that. Flaunt your conquests under his nose, and watch his pulse rate go up.'

His teeth grazed my shoulder, nipping lightly. My pulse skipped into race mode.

'Hard to make him jealous when he doesn't even live in the same state.'

'Then forget him. He's obviously a man who doesn't know a true prize when he finds it.'

Amusement ran through me. 'And you are?'

'Sweetheart, when I find a prize worth having, I grip on tight and ride it until it's mine.' As if to demonstrate, he slid a hand down to my leg, his grip bruising. I barely had time to register it when his grip shifted and his thumb began to caress my inner thigh, sending little shivers of desire scooting across my body.

'This from a man who warned me, ever so gently, not to expect anything more serious than a good time?'

'If you were a horse-shifter, I'd pursue you until I won you, and you wouldn't have a hope of ever leaving my herd.' His touch and his voice left me in no doubt as to his sincerity, and suddenly I felt a whole lot better about myself. After Talon's betrayal, Misha's probable involvement with the people behind my kidnappings, and Quinn basically dumping me, I'd been beginning to wonder if I'd had a sign on my back saying, 'Stomp all over me, I love it.'

'Of course, you're not a mare, so I'm just going to have to settle for a little fun.'

Amusement bubbled through me. 'So the planned riding lessons will still be going ahead?'

'As soon as possible.'

Which would be real soon if I didn't get my act together and move. Not that I did. His touch had finally moved up my leg and it just felt too good to end it all so soon. 'So, how many offspring have you got in your herd?'

'None. The government shoves the same hormonal chip in us stallions as they do you wolves.' He hesitated. 'Of course, the chip was taken out in that place, which means I'm more than likely fertile right now.'

'Then it's just as well it's extremely rare for inter-species breeding to happen.'

Of course, it did happen—I was living proof of that—so it was probably just as well I couldn't get pregnant without medical help. In fact, I might not be able to get pregnant at a!!, if my latest tests came back like Rhoan's.

He raised an eyebrow. 'Then you're not chipped either?'

'No.' It had been taken out over a year ago by Talon, and I'd never bothered getting it replaced. Couldn't really see the point of it, when most of the docs considered me the werewolf version of a mule and felt it was unlikely I'd ever fall pregnant. 'But it won't matter. I have medical problems that prevent conception.'

'So we can play without worrying about consequences?'

It was becoming extremely hard to concentrate on what he was saying when his clever fingers were doing all sorts of wonderful things. 'We most certainly… hhh!'

He laughed and placed his large, warm hands on either side of my butt and lightly kicked apart my legs. 'Sweetheart, you ain't felt nothing yet.'

He thrust into me, sliding deep and hard, and I groaned in pleasure. He stilled, and I closed my eyes, enjoying the connection of flesh, the pulse of warmth deep inside. I knew, like he knew, that this wasn't entirely wise. That it was dangerous to give in to pleasure when we were far from home, and far from safe. But danger is something of an aphrodisiac to a wolf, and I was a wolf who couldn't remember feeling any sort of pleasure in over a week. I needed this as badly as a vampire might have needed blood.

He began to move, stroking long and deep, and any lingering reluctance dissolved into intense pleasure. The rich, low-down ache grew, becoming a kaleidoscope of sensations that washed through every corner of my mind,