painfully, his zipper cut into him, amplifying the delicious pain. He liked wearing tactical pants better than the designer slacks he always wore when he was undercover with Sigma, but now they seemed too rigid and overly confining.
He could say she smelled like the loveliest, most divine essence, but there was something else. Something that didn’t sit right with him, other than the blazing innocence that made him want to run out of his office and shower a good twenty times before he ever touched her. Under the essence of wildflowers, there was a faint scent like a match had been blown out.
“You’re a virgin.” He sounded bleak even to his own ears.
“You make it sound like a bad thing. My father was extremely insistent, and since he worked hard to raise me on his own, that is one request I’ve honored.”
It shouldn’t be a bad thing. If he was looking to score, then yes, definitely not good. If he was looking at his true mate, he’d be completely dismayed. A virgin. He suppressed a shudder. Egad, if her scent had revealed her to be his true mate, he’d just go walk into the sun now. She disliked him, had daddy issues, no experience, and…smelled like heaven bottled in a body that he wanted lick every inch of to make those lush, pink lips separate in a gasp.
Every tooth of his zipper must be leaving an impression in the flesh of his cock. He needed to focus back on the problem, not on her. She was trouble.
He spread his hands in a helpless gesture. “You have to do something, princess. I can’t sneak into your house and spy on him.”
She bristled at his name for her. “Is there someone you trust who could pose as my boyfriend?”
Fuck. No. The voice in his head screamed at him to never let another male near her again.
WTF? She wasn’t his true mate, and he had no plans to seduce the holier-than-thou female; it shouldn’t matter.
“Since the maleness would be a problem, what if you brought a female friend home?”
She brightened at the idea. “Yes, that would be much better.”
Great, he’d love for it to be Zoey, but since she’d had a grandmother on the Vampire Council, Edgar might know who she was. He wouldn’t know Ophelia, though. And hanging out at Callista’s place might serve Ophelia’s assignment of posing as a disgruntled vampire looking for more power.
“I’ll get Ophelia down here and we can go over a plan. I don’t want you going home alone if you’re in danger.”
He texted Ophelia, but he didn’t miss the unreadable look Callista gave him. He’d give up his favorite knife to find out what she was thinking.
Chapter Four
What an arrogant prick . Calli watched him mess with his phone. She no longer had one; had to give it up a few months ago when money got too tight.
Yes, she should be grateful. He was willing to look into her father’s demise; hadn’t mentioned destroying him to solve the demon problem. At least she’d gotten over her initial reaction to him, which was to sit on his lap and lick the shell of his ear. Could the guy be any hotter? No wonder he had whole websites extolling the benefits of sleeping with him. Sitting in his office, she was surrounded by his ridiculous scent. Did he roll in a cologne strip out of a Men’s Health magazine? Vampires couldn’t stand to wear fragrance. It had to be his own natural essence. It was almost too much.
She was a virgin, but she wasn’t naïve or totally inexperienced with males. After the claims she’d read on the web, and his rakish sable hair brushing his chin and those pale green eyes inspecting her, she became extremely hot and bothered, trying not to shift in her seat. The last thing she wanted to do around this male was release a cloud of arousal.
“Ophelia’s on her way. You will pretend you just met her, that like you, she’s from a prime family, and in no way mention she’s associated with me. Do you understand, Callista? There’s more going on than your daddy issues. I can’t have
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley