Scorched [Pain & Love 3] (BookStrand Publishing Romance) Read online

  Dan’s shoulders began to ache, but he relished the discomfort. It was better than the drudgery of going through target files in a stiff-backed chair that made his ass go numb. The creatures he’d seen in those files! Man, he was beyond ready to deal some damage to a Demon or any other of the baddies he’d seen spread out before him in paper form. Demons could take human form now. Imagine that. Dan hadn’t believed it was possible, but it was what he’d thought he’d been trained to handle.

  As soon as she walked out, Dan knew how dangerously he’d been misled.

  “That’s the target.”

  Joe’s insistent voice was low and eager. Dan didn’t need to hear it from him, but it clarified the hints of suspicion he’d begun to have about the Hunters’ operation. They weren’t targeting only threats. They were targeting all kinds of magical creature, special humans, and any of those who could oppose them.

  He’d begun to suspect it when he saw the interrogation, just the day before he went out on his first official hunt. For hundreds of years, he’d been passed by for ascension into the ranks of the Hunters. He truly believed he’d only now been given a pass into the elite group for one reason, and it wasn’t a reason of the Hunters. In this lifetime, in this body, he was supposed to help bring them down.

  When he recognized the spill of ruby tresses, tall, lean form, and golden eyes of Lydia sweeping the area she stalked through like a pissed-off Aphrodite, Dan knew he had to react or lose his ability to help her. He smashed the tranquilizer rifle into Joe’s mouth, rolling over so that the impact of the weapon on flesh carried through with the movement and put Dan in a better position to hit again before Joe had a chance to react.

  Joe looked disdainfully at Dan and lifted his split upper lip in a snarl before he spat blood on the ground. “Jerry knew it.”

  Dan didn’t care what Jerry knew. He tried to hit Joe again, but the other man blocked the blow with his forearms. Fearing he would lose the advantage of Joe, whom Dan wagered was a far more efficient killer than he would ever be, if he let up on his attack, Dan threw himself at the other man. They were almost perfectly matched in height and weight, but while Joe had experience on his side, Dan was fuelled by fury and fear for Lydia.

  Pulling a knife from where he’d tucked it in his left boot, Dan flicked out the blade and in one smooth movement shoved the serrated edge into Joe’s temple. The world seemed to hold its breath, observing the interaction between the two men without a movement of wind or notice of any living creature in the area.

  Taking advantage of Joe’s temporary paralysis, Dan snagged the slim pistol from the other Hunter’s waistband and pressed it into the skin of his chest. Joe’s eyes widened, and the world breathed once more in a sigh of wind that was barely louder than what followed the pulling of the gun’s trigger. Two shots to the heart, plus the knife embedded in his skull put Joe down for good. Dan figured he couldn’t say the other Fallen never taught him anything.

  Dan’s human body had no fingerprints, and he knew Joe would have had to physically pull it from his skin for any hair or other biological evidence to be left at the scene, but he didn’t want to leave the body in plain view for the other Hunters to see. He would already be a person of interest to them for not showing back up. Leaving Joe’s dead body for them to find would make them more than interested.

  If they found the corpse of the murdered Hunter, Dan would become a target.

  He dragged the body deep into the woods. No sweat dampened his perfect clothing. The exertion was a bare, removed thing Dan hardly even noticed as he dug the hole with his hands. He enjoyed the feeling of the earth against his fingertips and loved the grit that collected underneath his salon-quality nails. He wished to streak some of the grime down his face or the front of his shirt, but he didn’t want to look suspicious.

  Rolling Joe’s body into the shallow grave, Dan quickly replaced the soil and scattered rocks, twigs, and leaves around the spot. The area showed signs of being recently disturbed, but Dan wouldn’t have known anyone had buried a body unless he had been looking for exactly that. He felt confident the Hunters would have a hard time finding their missing member for some time to come, if they managed to at all.

  Before the Hunters noticed their target had failed to be contained and the men tasked with Lydia’s capture were past their check in time, Dan made a stop at his apartment and gathered up all of his essentials. They were few enough to fit into two oversized duffel bags. His lack of material possessions didn’t bother him in the slightest. It made for an easy getaway.

  After dropping two months’ rent and a note that apologized for his unexpected departure and permission for the man to do with the rest of the apartment’s contents as he would in his landlord’s mailbox, Dan stayed the night in a motel. He didn’t have to give his name and he didn’t have to use a credit card. Those were the two big appeals for the tiny little strip of dismal “individual-sized” cabins.

  Dan could barely fit himself and his two bags in the bitty box of a room he’d gotten the key for. The bed was comfortable, at least, and the sheets seemed to have been washed fairly recently. It was all he could hope for when he’d only paid thirty-five dollars a night.

  He decided to pay as he went, but Dan had already reserved his room for the night he was spending keeping tabs on Lydia, and the night after. Running low on funds wasn’t something he was concerned with. He’d saved up several thousands of dollars over the years because he never felt the need to spend money on anything beyond the bare necessities and weapons. He really liked weapons. In the back of the Neon, which had also been bought with cash, Dan had three guns, one of them being the tranquilizer rifle he’d been tasked to use to shoot Lydia with. He also had multiple blades and a slim black police baton.

  Dan regretted leaving his favorite knife in Joe’s temple, but he’d felt some kind of supernatural fear that if he’d removed the metal, Joe would have revived and come at him. He didn’t think he’d have been able to triumph over the seasoned Hunter twice in a row. Perhaps the human flesh harbored the fear, but it had been a powerful enough motivator for him to leave the knife where it was.

  Feeling a rush of prickling energy creep over his skin, Dan pulled himself from his reverie and sat straighter. It wasn’t a Hunter. He could have identified one of his kind. They couldn’t fool each other. No, this energy was different, but just as familiar.

  Lydia was on her way to him.

  Chapter Three

  Lydia had taken her shower, tried to unwind her mind, and attempted to fall asleep. It hadn’t worked. Stupid Dan kept interrupting her thoughts, charming his way past the sheep she counted until she wanted to scream. She tossed and turned, running her fingers through her thick, flaming tresses until her scalp tingled in a nearly painful fashion. The attempt to convince herself she couldn’t sleep in her sisters’ guest room was a miserable failure. Lydia could sleep anywhere, at any time.

  Even when her mind found a few moments of distraction by reciting song lyrics or thoughts of singeing Jerry to a crispy finish, her body betrayed her, taunting her with arousal she’d long forgotten was so easy to come by. She and Dan had always had a perfect fire between them, if nothing else, and she realized even the mention or a memory of him was enough to have gooseflesh rising on her creamy skin and tantalizing waves of excitement tightening all sorts of things, from the muscles of her thighs to the peaks of her sensitive nipples.

  Oh, how she hated him!

  If Dan ever came within fifty feet of her, Lydia’s body always made her aware of him. It was a small town, so even after they’d broken up so long ago, they’d still run into each other from time to time. She didn’t have to see him or be given prior knowledge that he’d be around. Her body would let her know every time. It was something she’d cursed, but long ago it had also been a source of amusement for her.

  She’d been so pissed off when he’d ended their short, hot relationship at the end of the summer after her senior year of high school. Lydia knew she’d alwa
ys had the kind of body that belonged in short skirts, clingy tops, and high heels, but she’d been painfully, surprisingly shy around men. Dan hadn’t only been her most serious boyfriend, he’d also been her first lover. The fact that he’d been one of her teachers just the year before had been a cause of moderate discomfort for both of them throughout their whole relationship.

  Lydia had always known she’d been marked as a slut because of her fantastic good looks, but she actually had the utmost respect for her body and for herself. She didn’t sleep around in high school and for about half a second of idiocy, she’d assumed that the man she first loved would be the last man to hold her heart. Forever love. What a fallacy, she now believed.

  She would never admit the string of men she knew intimately after their breakup had been to forget Dan. It hadn’t worked, anyway, even if that had been the attempt. Nothing worked, as Lydia lamented once again while she struggled to find sleep.

  Groaning in frustration, Lydia lifted up and then slammed her head back down on the pillow. Maybe she found sleep so elusive because she didn’t have her body pillow with her. As with most of her favorite things, the plump purple pillow was at home in her own apartment. Though she was afraid of leaving her sisters alone to face any Hunters looking to threaten or hurt them, Lydia found herself seriously considering going there to sleep for the night.

  “Go to sleep,” she urged herself in a whisper. “Go to sleep. Go to sleep.”

  It wasn’t going to happen. Fire raged beneath her skin. Her faltering control on her Dragon soul left her more emotionally volatile than she’d ever been in her life. If she couldn’t transform, she had to do something to ease her turmoil.

  Instead of fighting it, Lydia went along with the path her mind was determined to walk. The first time they’d ever been together, Lydia had been a virgin. She didn’t know about Dan, but he had at least fifteen years on her. Chances were high he was a good deal more experienced.

  He was the ultimate gentleman, and as far as she knew, was not and had never been one to kiss and tell. Their first night together had been spectacular, incredible, and so much better than anything she’d feared or expected. She closed her eyes and let one hand do a lazy sweep down her belly until she buried her fingers in the warm, bare skin between her legs. She replayed the events of the night with crystalline clarity while she slowly stoked her inner fire by stroking her intimate flesh.

  She had known coming in exactly what to expect from the encounter. He had invited her out for coffee, and when she’d asked where, he’d told her he would make it for her. The fact that she knew why she was there didn’t keep her heart from pounding so loud she was sure he could hear it. Nor did it keep her from tripping up the stairs when she nervously climbed them to his apartment.

  They engaged in small talk and banter until the coffee was ready, and by then, Dan had lulled Lydia into a tenuous sense of comfort.

  “So I noticed you really enjoy writing,” Dan mentioned casually. He’d been her English teacher. She knew her enjoyment of writing wasn’t the only thing he’d noticed about her. It still felt strange and taboo that she was here, in the home of a man who’d been her teacher.

  “Yeah, I was tossing around an idea for a something a little more adult than what you’ve read from me,” she admitted.

  “What would that be?”

  Dan’s inquiry was quietly polite. His eyes swept intermittently from Lydia to the TV. She wondered if he was actually paying attention, but she lifted her cup in salute and plastered an inviting smirk on her full lips when she said, “A sexy coffee break.”

  “And how will it go?” he asked. Her heart tripped over itself. What did he expect her to do, brainstorm written sex aloud to a man she wanted to have real sex with? Well, she figured that more familiar grounds would calm her enough to step up the game. Writing was a surprisingly soothing pastime and it centered her in the perilous moment.

  Dan stood and turned off the main light.

  “Here, I’ll start it for you. He turns off the light.”

  She swallowed hard as he approached the only other light in the room.

  “Do you want this one off, too?”

  Lydia nodded, afraid that in speaking she would release the tremor that seemed to have taken her entire body.

  “So, am I to be talking or demonstrating?” she asked when she was sure her voice wouldn’t shake overmuch.

  He grinned at her and sat back down on the couch. Draping one arm causally over the back, he trained those ebony eyes on hers. “Demonstrate.”

  All it took was one word, and she knew exactly where the night was going. She nodded again, feeling like a defective bobble-head doll. “All right, then. You’re going to have to come closer for that.”

  He obliged, standing and sitting nearly on top of her, so that his leg pressed against hers. “Do you want to take your shoes off?” he asked as he trailed his warm fingertips down her calf. She fought not to shiver and forced a smirk.

  “No. They make my legs look hot, don’t you think?”

  He nodded his agreement. He drank the sight of her in, his hand still playing along her leg. “That they do,” he admitted. He stroked the smooth skin of her leg, putting more pressure into the massage as he spoke again. “Just calm down a bit,” he told her in a soothing voice. “You aren’t relaxed.”

  About to give Dan some joking reassurance, she was shocked to find his mouth on hers. Any thought that included a verbal response melted away. She tasted coffee and the very masculine, delicious taste of him. She was surrounded by his scent, his skin, his heat. Sighing against his mouth, she was amazed to find herself immediately aroused. Heat surged through her, and she just wanted to tear both of their clothes off.

  When she didn’t think about it, it was really very easy for Lydia to slip into the haze of lust she had been skirting all evening. She wanted him in her, her nails at his skin, his mouth on her neck, her teeth claiming his flesh. Dan lifted Lydia’s breasts from her shirt, which seemed designed for the purpose of easy access, and slid one of her nipples into his mouth. It seemed all too natural for her to fist her hand in his dark hair and throw her head back. She was amazed that one small movement could send a landslide of lust crashing into her.

  Lydia had begun to breathe hard when Dan settled back against the opposite side of the couch and motioned for her to come to him. She could no sooner deny a glowing god of sex and debauchery in that instant. She fell on him in a ravenous way that scared her, claiming his mouth again as he let his hand slide between her legs.

  And there was the purpose of a hot skirt, she thought, gasping as he let his fingers play over that magical spot. His tongue on her neck made her all the more responsive, and she shuddered for him, close to panting. With her kneeling between his legs, he hiked the skirt up around her hips and continued to massage her with those very skilled hands.

  Not a screamer in any regard, she bit her bottom lip and buried her face against his neck as she came. She was fully intoxicated, and his tongue against her neck, her jaw, made her all the more eager just to take him on the living room floor.

  “Now stand up,” he commanded.

  The authority in Dan’s tone gave Lydia another shiver of pleasure. Unable, she thought pretty definitely, to deny almost anything he said, she stood on shaky legs with no protest. Slipping her panties down her legs, he stroked her ass, making her shiver.

  “Bend over.”

  She again did as told, gripping the arm of the couch for support. He knelt behind her and let his tongue take over where his fingers had left off. Using his hands to make her even crazier, he gently stroked the curves of her back and ass. She felt like whimpering but simply panted and writhed prettily for him.

  “You’re so horny,” he whispered against her radiant red hair. He moved to sit once more on the couch, but Lydia took him by the shirtfront and guided him to the wall of the hallway.

  Surprising herself with her boldness, Lydia said, “I want you to fuck me.” Without
waiting for his response, she unbuttoned his pants and slid his already hard manhood out into her hands. Squeezing the velvet length of him, she kept her gaze on his as she went to her knees.

  “Just relax,” she said, partly to tease him and partly because he really looked shell-shocked. With her eyes still on his, she slid him into her mouth, letting her tongue play over the smooth head while she gently cupped and rolled his sac.

  Finding it difficult to take all of him into her mouth, she instead wrapped one hand around him and worked her way down to her fingers. This way, she could go faster and not have to focus on not choking.

  Dan’s fisted his hands in Lydia’s ruby hair and moaned for her. Before he came, she slid him out, trailing her fingertips over him, silky smooth and wet with saliva.

  Using his arms to help her, she raised herself up along his body, bringing his shirt with her. She made an impatient gesture as he tried to regain his breath.

  “Take this off,” she said. Her voice, though soft, was very commanding. She knew what she wanted and was determined to have it.

  He obliged her and slipped his shirt over his head. Taking her hands in his, he captured her mouth roughly for a series of kisses that left her dizzy.

  “My bed,” Dan ordered when he broke away. “Now.”

  Wondering if she could even walk, Lydia nodded and followed him the short distance to his room. It was certainly a miracle that she had made it there, she decided, when she slid onto the bed. Now, she just had to accomplish what going in there had implied.

  He made short business of removing her clothes. Something amazed her about him. Though he moved swiftly, he didn’t forget to sweep his fingertips across the spot on her thigh that made her shiver or to kiss her neck while sliding her panties down her legs. He was an enchanting combination of desperation and languidness. Gripping her chin in one of his strong hands, an artist’s beautiful hands, he seduced her into complete submission with his skillful tongue and lovely lips.