Thicker Than Blood (Thicker Than Blood #1)(87)

Reaching out behind me, I fumbled with my hand, searching for the doorknob. “I was,” I said tersely. “Until I remembered that I’m worth more than a piece of meat.” Finding the doorknob, I turned it just as his eyes flickered from my face to my hand.

He moved quickly for such a large man, reaching me before I had the chance to actually open the door. Slapping my hand off the doorknob, his arms came down to rest on either side of my head.

“I agree,” he said, dipping his face down, his mouth on my neck once again. “You’re worth a shit ton more than a piece of meat.”

A low, throaty growl rumbled forth, then his tongue darted out across my skin. He dragged his tongue up my throat, over my chin toward my mouth, where he licked his way across my lips.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I shuddered beneath him.

“You taste like peaches, Wildcat,” he murmured. “Sweet and juicy.”

He paused in his wet perusal of my face and lifted his head, his black eyes looking me over. “I can get you whatever it’s gonna take.” Pressing his hips against me, he rolled them, making sure I knew how hard he was, how much he wanted this—me.

If there was one thing I knew well, it was men. I wouldn’t be getting out of this; he wasn’t going to let me. But I wouldn’t let this happen to me for nothing, for a mere rat.

“I want a truck,” I bit out. Thankfully the tremble in my body hadn’t yet reached my voice. I sounded strong and sure, the complete opposite of what I was feeling.

Quirking an eyebrow, he smiled slyly at me. “Oh yeah? Why?”

I wanted to snarl at him, to tell him it was none of his business, to tell him he could go to hell for all I cared, but instead I smiled. Two could play at this game.

“Because,” I said, “I want me and my friends out of this place.”

? ? ?

Leisel

I was still recovering from my orgasm when Alex lifted me off my feet and carried me across the room, then set me down on the mattress. My dress, ruined, torn open from the back, was already hanging half off my body. With one sweep of his hand, what remained of the dress was yanked from my body and thrown across the room.

Seated on his knees between my spread legs, unbuttoning his pants, Alex was still grinning down at me. Giggling, I blushed furiously, not out of embarrassment, but happiness.

“I feel guilty,” I suddenly blurted out, my smile slipping away. “There’s infected out there, Eve’s out there somewhere. We don’t know what’s going to happen if…” I paused, not wanting to finish my thought. Not wanting to say aloud that we could very well die here, today even, if the horde didn’t simply pass by as expected.

“Better to have some happiness before you die, right?” He paused in removing his pants, watching me intently as concern creased his handsome features.

I nodded, although rather listlessly. “I don’t want to die,” I said softly, and then froze, realizing what I’d just said. It hadn’t been all that long ago when I’d been ready to die, ready to just accept my fate and leave this world. I was different now, changed. I didn’t want to die, I didn’t want to leave, not when my life had finally become my own again. Not when I had two people who needed me now, Evelyn and Alex. How strange it felt to realize you were actually needed, when you’d spent years in stasis, feeling helpless and useless.

“I won’t let you die,” Alex promised.

Dropping his hands to the mattress on either side of my head, he lowered his face to mine and pressed a soft kiss to my lips. I took his face between my hands, then arched my body, pressing my bare breasts against his chest. Wrapping his arm around my back while still balancing on one hand, Alex maneuvered us both into a sitting position, with me straddling his lap.

We kissed again, a deeply satisfying kiss, long and hard. The smell of him, of me, was all around us now, the heady scent of skin and sweat and bodies pressing together. I found myself unconsciously rocking my hips over his, kissing him more fervently than before.

The ache had returned, the burning in my belly, and excitement snaked up my spine. I wanted more of him, needed more of him, and he seemed to understand this without me having to say a word. Reaching between us, he finished undoing his pants, and somehow—though I had no idea how—managed to wriggle out of them without having to release me. Then he was there, that part of him I was craving so desperately, pressing up against me, then slowly and gently filling me.

Burying my face in the crook of his neck, I squeezed my eyes shut. There was so much, too much that I related to sex, and not all of it was happy memories. But I knew this was different, that this was real and this was good. There was no greed in this bed of ours, no evil lurking behind Alex’s handsome features.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered, holding me tightly to him. “I’ve got you, Lei.”

? ? ?

Evelyn

“You’ll die out there,” E said.

“I’d rather be free,” I retorted.

“Free to die?”

“Or to live,” I whispered angrily. “Either way, I’ll be doing it my way.”

He watched me for a minute, clearly deciding if I was worth it to him. “A truck?” he repeated as he grinned at me.

“And gas.”

“Done,” he said with a shrug. “What else you need, Wildcat? You got a list in that pretty little head of yours?” he said, stroking a hand down my hair, letting my curls fall through his fingers.