Hotter After Midnight (Midnight 1)

Never.

His left hand lifted, lightly pinched her nipple while his mouth kept working her other breast.

Oh Jesus.

She squeezed her thighs around him.

A hard coil of tension tightened inside her.

Colin lifted his head. Her fingers were still buried in the thick, black mane of his hair.

He kissed her, thrust his tongue deep. His right hand gripped her thigh, his fingers so close to her mound that she trembled in anticipation.

The drumming of her heartbeat filled her ears. Her breathing was coming hard and fast. Her body felt too hot, too tight.

And she realized with a sense of dazed shock that she was moments away from having sex with Colin.

His lips were glistening. And behind his lips, just for a moment, she caught a glimpse of…fangs?

Fangs?

She yanked her hands away from him.

“You want me,” he rumbled, and she saw his nostrils flare. “I can smell your need.”

Not the most flattering comment, but one that was damn true. She did want him. Wanted him so much she’d soaked her panties.

Wanted him so much that she was minutes, hell, maybe even seconds away from coming.

Emily glanced down at her legs. His hands were on both thighs now, the warm weight of his fingers seeming to scorch her through her pants.

His nails…they looked longer than before. Sharper.

Of course they look longer. The man’s a shifter, for God’s sake. You know the beast likes to play during sex.

The beast was always close to the surface during sex. That was why shifters were so notoriously sexual.

She was about to have sex with a shifter. A shifter she still knew damn little about.

“I’ll make it good for you, Doc.” Colin growled the words as he lowered his head to her neck. She felt the rough rasp of his tongue on her throat, and a shiver skated over her. Oh yeah, it’d be good between us. I don’t doubt it.

His mouth pressed against her, the sharp edge of his teeth grazing her skin.

“Stop!” Damn, but that word had been hard to say. And instead of coming out as a shout, it sounded as a hoarse whisper.

Colin froze.

Emily drew in her breath, held it. Her body was still screaming for release, but her mind had finally taken control again.

She couldn’t do this, not yet. There was too much she didn’t know about the detective.

His hands tightened around her thighs. “You sure that’s what you want?” His voice was gravelly, hard with lust and need.

She wanted him to drive that long, thick c**k into her. She wanted to shut off her mind and just feel.

It was too late now. The voice of reason in her head was screaming at her, and she couldn’t ignore the voice. Dammit.

The last time she’d ignored that little voice, she’d fallen for the wrong man and ended up unconscious on the floor of Paradise Found. Then she’d had a not-so-nice two-week stint in the hospital.

Colin was just as strong as Myles, she’d bet her life on it. Shifters didn’t have demon levels, but they had their own power scale.

She’d seen the way he’d taken down the demons who attacked them.

And when a guy was that strong, he was also very, very dangerous.

Her hands pushed between them. She crossed her arms over her chest, covering her br**sts.

Colin drew in a long, hard breath. A muscle flexed along his jaw, and she saw the struggle for control flash in his eyes.

After one moment, two, he lifted his hands, stepped back.

“Like to tease, do you, Doc?”

His words lashed right to her heart. They should have pissed her off, but she knew that he was right. She had teased. Gotten them both ready, minutes from release, then pulled back. Emily wrenched her bra into place. “Things got”— wild, hot—“out of control.”

Colin’s hand ran through his hair.

Emily slid off the sink. Water was still pouring behind her. With slightly shaking fingers, she jerked the handle, stopping the flow.

“You wanted me.”

She couldn’t very well deny that. She’d been clawing the man, moaning, rubbing her body against his.

“You still want me.” His knuckles grazed down her bare arm. “Don’t you?”

Emily lifted her chin. “Sometimes we don’t get what we want.” Because what we want may not be good for us.

She swallowed, fought to hold tight to her own newly found control. How could she hunger so much for someone that she feared?

“Sometimes we do.” But his hand dropped away. “Sometimes all it takes is a little waiting.”

Emily scooped up her shirt. “I didn’t mean for things to go so far.” So fast. She hadn’t realized need would explode with the touch of his lips, his hands, against her.

“Then how far did you mean for them to go?” It was then that she heard the icy edge in his voice that alerted her to his rage.

Well, hell, what had she expected? That the guy would be all thrilled that she’d stopped their lovemaking? Not likely. She jerked on her shirt.

“Tell me, Doc. I really want to know.” He rolled his shoulders back, and the muscles in his chest rippled. “How far did you want to go? A few kisses? A few feels through your clothes? One lick on your breast?”

A flash of heat stained her cheeks. Oh yes, Colin was definitely pissed.

“So I’m good enough for a little light play but not good enough for a f**k?”

Okay, enough was enough. Emily’s eyes narrowed on him. “I don’t know you well enough for a f**k, Detective.” She sure as hell didn’t go around giving those out to strangers.

His lips thinned.

“And for the record, I’m not a first-date-screw type of woman.” Despite what she’d just done. Emily shook her head. “I want you, yes, I won’t deny it, but I’m not screwing you tonight.” No, she wasn’t about to make herself that vulnerable to him, not until—

“Sonofabitch.” Understanding flashed across his face. “You’re scared of me.”

Not of him so much as what he was. Time to cut to the chase. “What kind of shifter are you, Colin?” He had claws, sharp teeth.

She’d seen both of those telling changes. Ruled out snakes. And it hadn’t been the look of a bird or even a bear.

His hands fisted at his sides. “So that’s what this is about. You don’t want to screw a shifter.”

“No.” Her back teeth were beginning to ache from the whole grinding exercise she was doing. “It’s not that.”

“Isn’t it?” There was a sharp bite to his words. “You’ve been acting skittish around me from the moment we met, from the moment you realized what I was.”