Lover Unbound (Black Dagger Brotherhood 5)

V leaned in through the door and chucked the water bottle across the room. The thing landed in a trash bin with a decisive flare, as if it were returning home from a business trip and damn relieved to be back. "You wouldn't like it with me. Not really."

He was so wrong.

Shut up. "Why?"

Shit! For the love of God, what was she saying?

"You just wouldn't like it with the real me. But I was glad for what happened when you were sleeping. You felt perfect, Jane."

She wished he would stop using her name. Every time it left his lips she felt like he was reeling her in, dragging her through waters she didn't understand into a net she could only thrash about in until she hurt herself.

"Why wouldn't I like it?"

As his chest expanded, she knew he was smelling her arousal. "Because I like control, Jane. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"No, I don't."

He pivoted toward her, filling the doorway, and her eyes went right to his hips, traitors that they were. Holy shit, he was erect. Fully aroused. She could see the thick detail of him pushing against the flannel pajama bottoms he had on.

She swayed even though she was seated.

"Do you know what a Dom is?" he said in a low voice.

"Dom... as in..." Whoa. "Sexual dominant?"

He nodded his head. "That's how sex is with me."

Jane's lips parted and she had to look away. It was either that or she was going to combust. She had no experience with that whole alternative-lifestyle thing. Hell, she didn't have a lot of time for regular sex, much less to dabble in the fringes.

Damn her, but dangerous and wild with him seemed pretty fricking attractive right now. Although maybe that was because, for all intents and purposes, this was not real life, even though she was awake.

"What do you do?" she asked. "I mean do you... tie them up?"

"Yes."

She waited for him to go on. When he didn't, she whispered, "Anything else?"

"Yes."

"Tell me."

"No."

So there was pain involved, she thought. He hurt them before he f**ked them. Probably during, too. And yet... she remembered him holding Red Sox in his arms so gently. Maybe with men it was different for him?

Terrific. A bisexual dominant vampire with kidnapping expertise. Man, she shouldn't feel like she did about him for so many reasons.

Jane covered her face with her hands, but unfortunately that only kept her from looking at him. It was no escape from what was going on in her head. She... wanted him.

"Goddamn it," she muttered.

"What's wrong."

"Nothing." God, she was such a liar.

"Liar."

Great, so he knew that, too. "I don't want to feel like I do right now, okay?"

There was a long pause. "And how do you feel, Jane?" When she said nothing, he murmured, "You don't like wanting me, do you. Is it because I'm a pervert?"

"Yes."

The word just shot out of her mouth, although it wasn't really the truth. If she was honest with herself, the problem was more than that... she'd always prided herself on her intelligence. Mind over emotion and logic-driven decision making had been the things that had never let her down. And yet here she was, coveting something that her instincts told her she'd be far, far better off without.

When there was a long silence, she dropped one of her hands and looked to the door. He wasn't standing between the jambs anymore, but she sensed he hadn't gone far. She leaned forward again and caught sight of him. He was up against the wall, staring across the gym's blue mats as if he were looking out over the sea.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Yeah, you did. But it's cool. I am what I am." His gloved hand flexed, and she had a feeling it was unconsciously.

"The truth is..." As she let the sentence go, one of his brows cocked, though he didn't look at her. She cleared her throat. "The truth is, serf-preservation is a good thing and it should dictate my reactions."

"And it doesn't?"

"Not... always. With you, not always."

His lips lifted a little. "Then for once in my life, I'm glad I'm different."

"I'm scared."

He grew instantly serious, his diamond-bright eyes meeting hers. "Don't be. I won't hurt you. And I won't let anything else either."

For a split second her defenses went down. "Promise?" she said hoarsely.

He put his gloved hand over the heart she'd fixed and spoke a beautiful rush of words she didn't understand. Then he translated: "On my honor and by the blood in my veins, I so avow myself."

Her eyes shifted away from him and unfortunately landed on a rack of nunchakus. The weapons hung on pegs, their black handles lying like arms off their chain shoulders, at the ready to do mortal damage.

"I've never been so scared in my life."

"Fuck... I'm sorry, Jane. Sorry about all this. And I will let you go. In fact, you're free to leave anytime you want now. You just say the word and I'll take you home."

She looked back at him and stared at his face. His beard had grown in around the goatee, shading his jaw and his cheekbones, making him look even more sinister. With those tattoos around his eye and his sheer size, if she'd run into him in an alley she would have fled in terror even without knowing he was a vampire.

And yet here she was, trusting him to keep her safe.

Were her feelings real? Or was she in fact knee-deep in Stockholm syndrome?

She traced his broad chest and his tight hips and his long legs. God, whichever one it was, she wanted him like nothing else.

He let out a soft growl. "Jane..."

"Shit."

He cursed too and then fired up his next cigarette. As he exhaled, he said, "There's another reason I can't be with you."

"Which is?"

"I bite, Jane. And I wouldn't be able to stop myself. Not with you."

She remembered from the dream the feel of his fangs going up her neck with a soft scratching. Her body flooded with heat even as she wondered how could she want such a thing.

V stepped back into the doorway, the cigarette in his gloved hand. Tendrils of smoke rose from the handrail's tip, thin and graceful as a woman's hair.

With their eyes locked, he took his free hand and ran it down his chest, down his belly, down to that heavy erection behind the thin flannel of the pajama bottoms. As he cupped himself, Jane swallowed hard, pure lust slamming into her linebacker style, hitting her so hard she nearly went off the bench.

"If you'll let me," he said quietly, "I'll find you again in your sleep. I'll find you and finish what I started. Would you like that, Jane? Would you like to come for me?"

From out of the PT room, a moan sounded.

Jane tripped as she got up from the bench and headed in to check on her newest patient. The escape was obvious, but whatever - she'd lost her mind so her pride was hardly a concern at this point.

On the gurney, Phury was twisting in pain, batting at the bandage on the side of his face.

"Hey... easy." She put her hand on his arm, stopping him. "Easy. You're okay."

She stroked his shoulder and talked to him until he settled down on a shudder.

"Bella..." he said.

Well aware that V was standing in the corner, she asked, "Is that his wife?"

"His twin's wife."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Jane got a stethoscope and the blood pressure cuff and did a quick vitals check. "Does your kind normally run low for BP?"

"Yeah. Heart rate, too."

She put her hand on Phury's forehead. "He's warm. But your core temperature's higher than ours, right?"

"It is."

She let her fingers drift into Phury's multicolored hair and ran through the thick waves, smoothing the tangles out. There was some kind of black oily substance in it -

"Don't touch that," V said.

She whipped her arm back. "Why? What is it?"

"The blood of my enemies. I don't want it on you." He strode over, took her by the wrist, and led her to the sink.

Although it went against her nature, she stood still and obedient as a child as he soaped up her hands and washed them off. The feel of both his bare palm and his leather glove slipping over her fingers... and the suds lubricating the friction... and the heat of him seeping into her and running up her arm made her reckless.

"Yes," she said as she stared down at what he was doing.