Page 12 of Property of Mako
That made him look up.
Something seemed to pass between us then. A flicker. Not trust—not yet—but maybe? Recognition? Like two ghosts realizing they’d died in the same fire. Hope bloomed in my chest.
The music still played loudly in the background, but all other noise had stopped. I waited, praying he would say something. Instead, he looked at the artist. “We’ll finish this later.” He then walked past me, grabbed a towel, and threw it over his shoulder.
“I’ll ask around,” he muttered. “No promises.”
“So you’ll help me?” I asked his powerful, retreating form.
He paused at the doorway, voice barely audible over the music.
“I’m not helping you. I’m hunting something that’s mine. If your sister’s wrapped up in it… then maybe you’ll get lucky. If you want to call it luck.” He slowly turned his head, and his attention locked on me. “But if I were you, I’d keep my mouth shut about what I’ve seen.”
He vanished through a steel door, leaving behind only oil, ash, and the scent of rain. I still didn’t get his name. Ugh!
I certainly didn’t trust him. Not yet. Maybe never. Monsters didn’t save people for fun—and something about the way he said my name told me this wasn’t just about my sister. He’d also had a sad, almost defeated look in his gray-blue eyes for a split second. It was almost like it was about someone he couldn’t save before.
As I turned to leave, they all silently watched me until I was gone.
I’d entered the lion’s den and lived to see daylight.
For now, at least.
After checking on the horses one last time before bed, I dragged my tired ass back to the house. As I set my foot to the top step, I froze. The scent of smoke hit me at the same time as I saw the bright cherry at the end of the cigarette in the deep shadows of the porch.
That’s also when I realized the light I knew I’d left on when I headed out to the barn wasn’t lit.
Adrenaline hit me and I debated if I could make it inside before whoever it was got to me.
“I’m not here to hurt you,” his deep voice carried out of the blackness.
Immediate recognition at that intoxicating sound had me inhaling sharply. His voice was straight sin—sexy and smoky. It was as if it were curated to draw a woman in and wrap her in his spell. Again, my body responded, and I was appalled at myself.
I stepped fully onto the porch and faced his direction.
The creak of the porch swing was followed by the sound of boots hitting the worn wood. As he approached, the light from the yard hit him, and I had to hide my gasp behind my lips. It should be a mortal sin to be as beautiful as he was.
He stopped with his scuffed black combat-style boots nearly toe-to-toe with my dusty cowboy boots.
“Why are you here?” I asked, ashamed of how breathy my voice sounded.
His gray eyes seemed to reflect the faint light that reached up to where we stood before he blinked. “I don’t know.”
“Wha—?” was all I got out before he cupped the back of my head and clutched my hair. A light tug tipped my head back before he dipped down, and his soft lips brushed over mine.
In a tiny sane corner of my mind, sanity and reality screamed that this was craziness. I was letting a man—no, a vampire—that I didn’t know kiss me.
On my porch.
Unfortunately, my traitorous body silenced that voice of reason, and when his tongue swept out and teased the seam of my lips, I opened, and he immediately plundered my eager mouth. Before I knew it, I was clutching his leather vest in my fists. He tasted faintly of the cigarette he’d been smoking, but more than that, he tasted like a fine wine. I returned his kiss as I chased that intoxicating flavor.
He broke free and moved to my jaw, then my ear.
My head fell back at the scrape of his teeth along the sensitive lobe of my ear. A moan escaped me as he palmed my breast, and my back arched.
Before I knew what had happened, I was pressed against the siding, and he gripped my ass. As if it were little to no effort, he lifted me, and I instinctively wrapped my legs around his waist.
I groaned as he twisted his hips, causing his hard cock to rub over my throbbing clit. Matching his rhythm, I ground against him as my fingers tangled in his dark hair. I tugged at the soft locks, pulling him into my throat, where he continued to tease, lick, and nibble.
