“You don’t know that,” she insisted. “He didn’t pull the gun until I—”

“Jesus Christ, Emma,” he exploded. “Do you have to be dead and bleeding before you’ll let me help you?”

Emma stared at him in shock. She’d never seen Duncan lose his cool like this. Not when they’d found Lacey’s body, not even when his own man was bleeding out on the floor of her house. “You have helped me,” she said quietly. “I wouldn’t have survived any of this without you.”

Duncan sighed and loosened his grip at last, rubbing the knuckles of one hand over her cheek. “I don’t want to lose you, Emmaline. Not like that.”

“You’re not going to lose me.” She rested her forehead against his cheek, breathing in the scent of him. “Besides,” she added softly, and looked up to meet his eyes. “You owe me hours of incredibly hot sex.”

Duncan grew still, his gaze hot and intent, but not with anger this time. “What I promised was hours of making love, not simply sex,” he murmured, brushing his lips over hers, before his teeth closed gently on her lower lip. “There is a difference, darlin’.”

Then he kissed her, and Emma discovered there was indeed a difference. His mouth was soft at first, his lips barely brushing hers, as if seeking entry. Her lips parted on a sigh, and he moved in for the kill, his mouth coming down hard and demanding as his arms tightened around her.

Emma met his demand with a ferocity all her own, her tongue meeting his in a twisting dance for dominance as she raised her arms around his neck and raked her fingers beneath his long hair and up against his scalp. He bit her lip again, harder this time, and laughed against her mouth when she bit him back with a low growl.

“Vicious woman,” he murmured, pulling her shirt out of her tight skirt and running his hands up her bare back to her bra, which opened to a deft twist of his fingers.

Emma groaned as her breasts were freed from their confinement, rubbing herself against his chest, relishing the hard planes of muscle against her sensitive nipples. She grabbed the bottom of his sweater and yanked upward, wanting some skin. He swore softly, but let go of her long enough to tug the sweater over his head and toss it aside. Emma shrugged out of her jacket and shirt all at once, letting them fall behind her as her bra slid down her arms.

“Beautiful,” Duncan whispered, and covered her breasts with his big hands, his thumbs stroking her nipples until they were firm and dark and begging to be suckled.

But Duncan had other plans. Emma whimpered when he abandoned her breasts, his hands reaching instead for her butt as he pressed her up against his erection, squeezing the globes of her ass as he pumped against her. His mouth was all over her neck, licking and sucking until she thought she’d go mad. What was it she’d thought of calling him the other night? A pussy tease? Clit tease? Whatever it was, he was still doing it—and still trying to drive her crazy.

“Duncan,” she panted.

His only response was a humming noise as he bent to take a taut nipple into his mouth at last.

Emma groaned, fisting her fingers in his hair and holding him against her in case he thought to escape. She struggled to catch her breath, wishing she’d worn a different skirt, or no skirt at all, so she could wrap her legs around his hips and feel that long, hard erection between her thighs. She would climax from just the feel of it against her swollen sex. She knew she would.

“Duncan,” she said again, sucking in a sharp breath as he scraped his teeth over her nipple and she felt the sharp points of his fangs against her tender flesh. She breathed out on a sigh of pleasure. “You know those hours you talked about?”

His tongue lapped at her breast, soothing the sting of his fangs. “Mmmm,” he said as he moved to her other breast, his fingers continuing to stroke the one he was leaving behind.

“Do you think . . . Oh my God,” she gasped as his mouth closed over the second swollen nipple and he sucked hard, pulling half of her breast into the warmth of his mouth. She almost orgasmed right then as pleasure shot along her nerve endings like lightning. It arrowed straight to her clit which she swore could feel every ridge and vein of Duncan’s cock despite the two layers of clothing between them. Emma moaned in frustration and gave his hair a firm tug.

He looked up at her, his eyes so hot with color she was amazed he could see anything at all.

“Can we fuck first?” she heard herself say. “And make love later? Please?”

Duncan stared at her for all of ten seconds, and then bared his teeth in a slow, wicked smile. Faster than Emma would have thought possible, he grabbed her skirt and shoved it up to her waist, his fingers gliding along her bare thighs before shifting to rip away her panties. Just as quickly, he lifted her to his waist, wrapping her legs around his hips as he pushed her against the wall. She felt the brief touch of his hand between them, and then his cock was free, sliding along the soaking wet folds between her thighs, tormenting her already begging clit. Another touch of his hand as he positioned himself, and then one long, steady thrust, and he was balls deep inside her. Emma’s entire body shuddered with such intense desire that she bit into his shoulder to swallow her screams. Duncan pumped once, twice, and then Emma was coming harder than she ever had before, her head thrown back, teeth buried in her lip to keep from letting the entire household know she was being fucked against the wall and loving every minute of it.

Duncan held onto her as she trembled in the aftermath, jolts of sensation continuing to shoot along every nerve. His hands were cupping her bare ass, his chest crushing her breasts as he held her against the wall. And then he started moving again—long, slow thrusts of his thick shaft that left the walls of her vagina shivering with delight, rippling along his cock as he lifted her higher and drove even deeper inside her. Emma tightened her inner muscles, squeezing and caressing him, welcoming his delicious penetration.

Duncan hissed as her sex clenched around his erection, and then groaned as he began to pump faster, his hips slamming into hers with the slap of bare skin, his mouth moving over her neck until she felt the nip of his teeth over her jugular. Emma’s heartbeat soared with equal parts fear and excitement as she felt the dull scrape of his fangs, and then fear and every other emotion fled as a sudden heat seared the blood in her veins, as raw ecstasy shot along every nerve in her body, all of it coming together in the tiny nub of her clit. Her vaginal walls convulsed around the thickness of Duncan’s cock, and she heard a high keening noise coming from her own throat as she struggled not to scream, trapping the sound in her chest where it took on a life of its own fighting to get out. She gasped for air as Duncan continued to pound into her, until finally she felt a rush of wet heat and he roared his completion.

They hung on to each other, panting for breath, hearts pumping in a single beat. Emma’s legs were still locked around his waist, her arms cradling his head as he nuzzled her neck where Emma was pretty sure he hadn’t bitten her yet. He’d nipped at her skin, but she didn’t think he’d actually drawn blood. He’d told her that vampire sex was addictive because their bite felt so good, but she couldn’t imagine sex with Duncan being anymore intoxicating than what she’d just experienced. She’d never want to let him out of bed. Come to think of it, she thought with a smile, she already didn’t.

The rush of blood faded enough that Emma could hear again, and she became aware of the construction noise outside Duncan’s office—the shouts of his men, the crash of materials as they tore the house apart. She groaned, realizing they’d probably heard everything.

Duncan chuckled, his mouth nibbling her neck one last time before he lifted his head and met her gaze. Blond hair hung over his forehead and his eyes gleamed with smug good humor. “They didn’t hear us, Emma. This room is insulated for privacy, and besides, you were too busy biting me to scream.”

Emma’s face heated with embarrassment, but then she said, “But . . . you didn’t bite me?”

“I didn’t,” he said, confirming her suspicions.

Emma frowned. “Why not?”

When Duncan gave her a puzzled look, she said, “I mean, you said sex and blood were connected for you all, and that—”

“I would never take blood from you without asking first, Emma. And since you demanded that we fuck immediately,” he added, with a grin, “I had no time to ask.”

Emma blushed at the reminder, and was suddenly aware that he was still holding her against the wall and that she was more than half naked. Her blush deepened. “Um, you can probably put me down now.”

“I don’t think so,” Duncan said. Instead of releasing her, he tightened his hold and, without warning, turned away from the wall and started across the room.

Emma shrieked in surprise, her arms clutching his neck. “What are you doing?” she demanded.

“I’m keeping my promise,” he said carrying her around his desk and over to another door, which she assumed was a closet until he bent his knees slightly and opened it with one hand.

“What—”

Duncan stepped into the adjoining room and kicked the door shut behind them. Emma looked around as soft lights came up. They were in a bedroom. A huge bedroom, with heavy drapes covering the windows and an enormous bed. Oh my.

Duncan set her in the middle of the big bed and immediately began stripping away what was left of her clothes. Her jacket and shirt were gone, as were her shoes, and her panties were nothing but shredded lace on the floor in his office somewhere. He unzipped her skirt, which was bunched around her waist, then tugged it off and eyed her thigh-high stockings thoughtfully.

“I like those,” he said, then kicked off his shoes and shoved his faded denims down, stepping out of them to reveal two things . . . one, he wasn’t wearing underwear—and wasn’t that just the sexiest thing. And two, vampires didn’t need recovery time between erections. His cock was long and thick and beautifully aroused, stiffening even further when she stared at it, as if it enjoyed the attention.