“I’m going to get changed for tonight and Grim’s leaving. He has some reaping business to handle.” Jack chuckled at Grim. We knew what he did, but we didn’t fully know what he did when he left, you know? They exited the office together, and I heard Grim telling Jack, “I’ll see you when you get home in the morning.” They’d moved into an apartment together a couple months ago, leaving me in that big house all by myself. It was fucking adorable and annoying. I had heard all about how Grim didn’t get all his beard trimmings out of the bathroom sink, and how Jack left his dirty clothes in a trail through the house. But they were happy, and that was what mattered to me.
“So, what was going on in that pretty mind of yours when we walked in? You looked a little panicked, Trouble.” I decided Novak was too attentive after that question, but I was also weirdly comfortable with that too. I found that I wanted to answer him, and I briefly wondered if he was compelling me, but wrote it off as soon as it crossed my mind. No vampire had ever been able to compel me.
“I don’t want to talk to York tomorrow. I mean, I want to save him, yes, but I’m not happy with the idea of addressing feelings I buried years ago. He’s going to want to sleep, eat, and talk. Probably not in that order. I want to avoid it until I can have a calm, rational conversation. I feel petty for wanting to avoid talking to him and irrationally protective at the same time. I don’t like it.” Uhg, I didn’t like it even more when I said it aloud. I folded my shoulders in a little and let my head fall to my desk.
“Are you nervous about the rescue mission?”
“Absolutely not, but I also don’t want you guys to freak out if I walk in and kill everyone. It’s not really the kind of impression I want to give the males who are supposed to be my mates.” I shrugged my shoulders in deference, but it felt weird with my forehead flat on my desktop.
“I think it’ll be hot, Trouble. Stone told me about you guys taking out the rogues, and I’m pretty fucking excited to watch you work,” he admitted.
“Why do you call me that?”
“What? Trouble?”
“Yes, that.” I pulled my head up and rolled my eyes at him. What else would I be referring to?
“Because you are trouble. The fantastic and terrifying kind. The kind that makes mere men want to move mountains with their bare hands. The kind that makes males like us want to kill anyone who gets too close to you. The kind that comes into your life and makes the axis of your world tilt, changing all your notions and beliefs in a single glance.” The smile on his face is sweet, but the heat in his eyes is something completely different.
“And right now, am I the good kind of trouble?”
“There’s no need for good trouble with me, Sloane. I’m not like the other guys. I thrive off mischief and chaos. I love walking the line between good and bad, but I always lean a little. I lack in some of the moral standards departments.” He shrugged noncommittally. “I don’t want you to be the good kind, I want you to be the addictive kind. The trouble that has me itching for my next fix. The kind that does really bad things with me, but also forces me to be a better version of myself at the same time.”
“That makes this sound sweet and dirty.” I gave him a sidelong glance with a smirk on my face. “I’m not exactly one with a high moral standing either. I do worry about that causing issues with some of the others, though.”
“Let me elaborate a little on your mates, Trouble.” He ambled over with that feline grace, slowing his steps for me as I stalked his movement around my desk. He scooped me out of my chair and set me on the desktop as he took my chair. He moved so his elbows rested casually on my knees and he could look up at me with his glorious, golden eyes. I couldn’t take my eyes off his mouth when his fangs started to slide out and the tip of his tongue brushed across them. “Palmer? He likes to dominate, and Vaughn likes to be dominated. They’re both control freaks, but one likes to lose that burden and the other has to maintain it. Stone likes a rough ride. He’s a bit of a sadist who will occasionally switch, but pain is his game. Briggs will play hard to get. He’ll make you feel like you have to work for it when really he’s been ready to give in from the jump. Me? I'm easy, I like it dirty, Sloane. I want to fuck you on the dance floor in front of everyone. I want to lock you in the bathroom at your parents’ house and test how quiet you can be, or have you in my lap as we drive through town during rush hour. I like watching and sharing as much as I'll like having you to myself.”
Yes, please. Sign me up! If he was trying to deter me with his public sex and sharing comments, then he had to work his angles better.
I locked eyes with Novak, the space growing smaller between our bodies. “Are you trying to talk me out of wanting to fuck you?” I questioned him in a whisper as I ran my nails gently up his arm and weaved my fingers through his thick hair. He growled low, letting his fangs fully extend. I let mine slip out and bit into my lower lip.
“Not at all,” he assured me with a slight shake of his head. “I’m just telling you what I like, so you're prepared.”
“I’m no angel, Novak. If you knew half the shit that ran through my mind, you would’ve ripped my clothes off and fucked me on the floor in your apartment while the door was still wide open,” I informed him with a single raised brow. “I take what I want, when I want it, and I’m not afraid to tell you exactly how I want it.” I winked at him as I scooted forward and slipped into his lap. “You see, unlike all the girls you’re probably used to, you can’t hurt me. You can try. I’ve enjoyed it in the past. You can bite me, but you can’t compel me to forget it happened. You can’t drain too much from me and you can’t turn me.” He stared at me intently as he listened. I grazed a fingertip against one of his fangs and brushed my other hand over his cock. “These don’t scare me,” I added as I pushed his fang into the pad of my index finger, “and this,” I asserted as I leisurely stroked him through his jeans, “makes me wish I’d changed clothes sooner.” I glided my bloody finger across his lips. Popping it into my mouth before pulling myself up, I grabbed my skirt from the side of my desk so I could change.
The growl that followed in my wake was a thrilling, feral sound that sent heat coursing through my whole body. Goosebumps raised across my arms, and my nipples pebbled painfully. I was so wet right now that I’d need to clean up before I went downstairs. A room full of humans wouldn’t notice, but mix in some supernatural beings, and I’d have too much unwanted attention.
“Oh, you’re the wicked kind of trouble,” he confessed to me as I sashayed to the other side of the room. I was headed towards the bathroom to change and give us both a few seconds to chill out. I think I’ll just change right here. He thought I was wicked, but I knew exactly what I wanted right now and how to get it.
He didn’t move a muscle when I unbuttoned my jeans. He tracked my hand, like a hawk watching a mouse, as I tugged my zipper down at a torturously slow pace. I pushed my fingers into the waist of my jeans and started to ease them down. They got no further than mid-thigh before he broke. He was across the room and had my bare ass sitting on the desktop in a flash of inhuman speed. In one swift movement, my jeans were off my body and hitting the floor as he stretched his hands around the tops of my thighs. Novak dug his fingertips in my flesh so hard that I’d be left with fading finger shaped bruises in a moment.