An image of her came to his mind…sprawled naked and prone across a red velvet bedspread, her graceful spine arching as he slid his parted lips along its curve. Decadent. That’s what she was, and she needed decadence from the man she took to her bed. A long, slow, deep seduction. He didn’t have that patience in him tonight. He’d had blood dripping from every inch of his skin just twenty-four hours ago, and he had a cold knot in his gut that ached.
Lifting his glass, he wet his lips, absently noting the building heat in his blood. Not his type, but he wanted her. “I’mnot whatyouwant. Not tonight.”
She reached for his glass, and he gave it up. Blood was the only thing he could ingest, but he’d learned to tolerate a drop or two of red wine.
Her dark green eyes stared into his over the lip of the glass. She swallowed and made his dick hard. “Shiraz.”
“Well done,” he murmured, his eyes following the perfect arches of her brows and the sculptured beauty of her cheekbones. With a slow and deep breath, Raze realized every other female in the room had faded into insignificance.
“I have good taste.” The intimacy of her smile included him in that statement. At the same time, the determination in her eyes dismissed his assertion that they weren’t meant to be lovers.
He ran a hand over his head and debated what to do. He was no longer interested in Sam the bartender, but he wanted sex, and he needed blood. And the only person he wanted them from was the one standing in front of him—the kind of woman a guy didn’t take casually. “You could have any guy in this room. Any guy you want.”
“Perhaps.” She shrugged and settled on the seat beside him. “But I need you. I’m Kim, by the way.”
She extended her hand. They shook in greeting, and he gave her his name.
“Interesting.” Her eyes sparkled. “Suits you.”
Raze inclined his head in acknowledgment, maintaining his hold on her for a moment longer than necessary because he got a charge out of it. He’d chosen the name himself after shedding his angelic one. All of the Fallen had recreated themselves, and most minions followed suit—a new name for a new life. “Odd place to hunt for a rough ride.”
Her lush mouth curved on one side. “You’re not rough.”
His brows lifted in silent challenge.
“You’re not,” she insisted with a smile. “You’re fierce and in a dark mood, but not rough. And I wasn’t trolling for any kind of ride. I came in for a drink with friends and intended to leave alone.”
She pointed across the room to three small tables grouped together for a party of a half-dozen people. The men offered a toast to Raze, lifting their beers high. The women giggled and bent their heads together, speaking intimately. Their good-humored nervous response to him almost made him smile.
“Am I a bet, then?” he asked. “What do you win for having the courage to hit on me?”
“Hopefully, a night with you.” Kim took another drink, pausing to absorb the taste of the wine before swallowing. No liquid courage for her. “I was sitting over there, minding my business and having a reasonably good time. Then I felt a tingle on the back of my neck. I turned around, and there you were. I was just going to admire you from afar, but then I saw you were trolling and figured, why not me? Plus, I really needed to admire you up close.”
“You’re out of my league.” But he was beginning to think that wouldn’t be enough to stop him.
She grinned, which belied her hands-off appearance and made her sweetly approachable. “So earn me. I won’t mind the effort, I assure you.”
“The effort I expend will likely leave you hobbled in the morning,” he said harshly. “You have no idea what I need to get through tonight.”
Kim studied him for a long moment, taking a deep breath and then another. Something swept over her delicately beautiful features, something warm that briefly touched the chill in his gut. “I’m not into pain. If that’s what you need, then you’re right;I’m not your girl. But I don’t think that’s what you’re warning me about. You don’t want to hurt me; you just don’t want to hold back. And that’s what I need, Raze—a man who doesn’t hold back. That’s what kind of moodI’min.”
Now it was his turn to study her. “Why?”
“Does it matter?”
“No.” Raze dug his wallet out of his back pocket and laid out a hundred-dollar bill for Sam. “Let’s go.”
“I have to say goodbye to the team. Got a preference for a hotel? I’ll meet you there.”
Smart girl, he thought. He wrote his room number on a napkin and slid it over to her. “The Drake.”
“You already had a room? I admire your optimism.”
“I’m just passing through.”
Laughing, she bumped shoulders with him. “I’m just playing with you, rough guy. Besides, twenty minutes in the bar and you’ve already got two women willing to go to bed with you, I’d say a little optimism is justified.”
Christ. He wanted her. His blood was thrumming through his veins, burning with an excitement he hadn’t felt in…well, a long-assed time. The impatient expectation wasn’t in his nature. Or so he’d thought.
