Playing Their Parts

“So you see—a Blood Kindred can give pleasure without pain.” Stone kissed her again, this time laving the tender skin in the crook of her elbow with his tongue.

“Stone!” she gasped. Her heart was pounding so hard now she could hear the blood rushing in her ears. “You…you shouldn’t.”

“Why not? I am simply proving my point.” He pulled back at last, holding her eyes with his own. “A male should not cause pain to his female—ever. He should only give her pleasure.”

“But…I’m not your female,” Cassie pointed out breathlessly.

“You are my partner…the one I count closest in all of this world or any other. You are my female, Cassandra,” he growled softly. “Do not forget it.”

Then, without another word, he put the shuttle-car in drive again and pulled back onto the highway.

Cassie just sat there, looking at him, without a word to say. Her hand and arm still tingled where he’d kissed her and her whole body felt electrified with some emotion she was afraid to name, even to herself.

Twelve

Had he gone too far? Stone didn’t know—and part of him didn’t care. He had wanted to show Cassandra once and for all that he wasn’t like her ex-mate—or like The Beast, for that matter. What they had seen today in the murder scene cast a pall over all Kindred—unless he could prove that The Beast wasn’t what he seemed, that was.

Which is exactly what I’m going to do, he told himself. Somewhere on the laptop they had confiscated from Yarrow he was certain to find proof that the murderer wasn’t really Kindred.

He hoped, anyway.

“Hey, Stone?” Cassandra’s voice broke into his thoughts.

“Hmm?” He turned his head to look at her.

“Where are you taking me?” She nodded out the window. “This isn’t the way to the station. We’re going to your house.”

“Exactly.” Stone nodded.

“But we need to write up a report,” she protested.

“And we will. But first we’re going to go through this damn laptop and look for evidence of The Beast’s true identity,” Stone said firmly.

“But…” She trailed off, as though uncertain of what to say.

“Do you have a problem with my plan?” Stone asked, frowning.

Cassandra bit her lip.

“It’s just…getting a little late. That’s all.”

“If we had gone to the concert, like we planned, we’d still be there right now,” Stone pointed out. He looked at her directly. “Are you afraid to be alone with me now? After seeing what that other male who calls himself a Kindred did?”

“Of course not!” Her cheeks flushed angrily. “I know you could never do anything like that, Stone!”

“You probably thought I would never go after a possible suspect the way I did with Frank Yarrow, either,” Stone said in a low voice. “I have surprised and frightened you more than once tonight, Cassandra.”

He wasn’t only talking about the way he’d gone for Yarrow and he could tell she took his meaning by the way her cheeks grew even pinker. But she lifted her chin, a determined look on her lovely face.

“Stone, you’re my partner and my best friend. I’m not afraid of you and not afraid to be alone with you. I just thought the report should come first.”

“This way we’ll have more to put in the report.” He was pulling into the drive of the modest but neatly appointed domicile he had chosen when he first knew he would be stationed on Earth permanently. It was in the North Tampa neighborhood called “Carrollwood” although no one that Stone had met here was named Carroll and there weren’t many woods to speak of—unless you counted the oak trees which lined the streets.

“All right then.” Cassandra sighed. “Looks like we have a long night ahead of us then. Guess I’ll pop some popcorn if we’re having a ‘movie night.’”

“I doubt the ‘movies’ we will be viewing will be anything like our usual fare,” Stone remarked darkly as he followed her to his front door.

He didn’t know what exactly to expect from the laptop, but he didn’t think he was going to like what he saw.

Not one damn bit.

Thirteen

“Oh, Daddy—it’s too big! You’re hurting me!”

Cassie cast a wary glance at her partner’s face as they watched the scene on the laptop together. They were sitting side-by-side on the couch, where they usually sat to watch movies when it was Stone’s turn to host. The laptop was sitting on the coffee table in front of them.

She hadn’t known what to expect while watching porn with her partner. It was, after all, the exact opposite of the kinds of things they usually watched together.

Cassie had never been much of a “girlie-girl” so she never inflicted rom-coms on her partner. She also avoided weepy, long winded features where the heroine “finds” her true self again, after a prolonged vacation at an exotic local. She much preferred action-adventure films, and though she sometimes had to explain the humorous parts to Stone if there was any comedy involved, he seemed to enjoy them too.