"What we didn't know was who they'd been with. Or who their chosen partner might be." He shrugged. "It was the fastest way to uncover which men we had to watch."
"Then whoever had the watch assignment wasn't much good, because the women got killed anyway." She frowned.
"Were your people actually watching the victims' apartments?"
"Yes."
"Then how did the killer get through?"
"He's a face shifter, and even we can't track all the forms our people are able to take."
She stared at him for a moment. "That's why you don't want the police to catch the killer. Your organization has no intention of letting the authorities suspect that people like you are out there. Or that the people you work for are out there."
He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. "A quick mind as well as a stunning body. I chose well."
She grinned. "Compliments won't get you said body. But more answers just might."
His eyes gleamed with the hunger that still burned the air between them. "How many more questions must I endure?"
"Six?"
He shook his head, amusement touching the corners of his eyes. "I think I'll need to ease my hunger before I can answer that many questions."
"Five, then."
Again he shook his head.
"Four?"
He didn't answer, just gently straightened one of her fingers and raised it to his mouth. His gaze holding hers, he placed her finger in his mouth and lightly sucked on it.
A tremor ran through her. Sweet Lord, this man could get her hot enough to melt without even trying.
She licked her lips. "And you were accusing me of sexual blackmail."
He simply gave her a smile that had enough heat to burn the soles of her feet, and continued doing erotic things to her finger.
"Three?" she somehow managed to croak.
He raised an eyebrow, then released her finger and straightened her hand, placing a gentle kiss on her palm.
Desire curled through her, a furnace threatening to explode.
"Two?"
"One," he said, dropping a kiss on the inside of her wrist.
"Then we make love."
"Here?"
"The place isn't important."
"It is if it can get us arrested."
"Do you really think the owner will call the police?"
No. He'd sit back and enjoy the show. And give them free coffee as a thank you afterwards. "Why the urgency?"
He gave her another of his mind-blowing smiles. "Because I want you so fiercely it's becoming positively painful."
A feeling she could more than understand. "You'll answer my other questions afterward?"
"If you make love to me again after I answer those questions."
She raised her eyebrows. "Are you always this insatiable?"
"Until I met you, no."
There was no lie in his words, and her heart did another odd dance. "Really?"
"Truly." He released her hand and slid out of the bench seat. Her gaze scooted down his body and she saw that he hadn't been exaggerating. His cock was so hard, his jeans so taught against it, that she could see every little bump in his skin. And oh, how she wanted to feel those bumps inside.
"I've never felt anything like this before," he continued. "I need you as deeply as I need air."
She scooted along the seat as he sat down beside her. "If that's a line, it's a damn good one."
He caught her hand again and tugged her towards him.
She shifted, pressing her back against the table as she straddled him. Or rather, straddled his thick shaft. He kissed her nose, and wrapped his arms around her waist. "No line, just a truth I never expected."
His hands began sliding up her back towards the zipper, and it was becoming hard to think again. "Why?"
"Is that your question?"
His fingers skimmed her skin as he slid the zipper down, sending delicious tremors skating through her body. "No."
He raised his hands to her shoulders, slipping his fingers under the thin straps of her dress then sliding them down her arms. "Then ask it, because I intend to make love to you, and I will not be answering questions during the process."
The dress slithered to her waist, and the air felt gloriously cool against her suddenly bared skin. She arched her back, thrusting her breasts toward him. The heat surging between them just about boiled over, and she couldn't help a grin of satisfaction. Whatever lies this man might or might not be telling her, there was no lying about the urgency of his desire for her.
"A question then." She hesitated, sucking in a breath as his lips closed in on a nipple, and he nipped it lightly.
"I'm listening," he said, before his tongue curled around the nipple he'd just bitten, and sent exquisite sensations humming through her nerve endings.
Listening? she thought, somewhat dazedly. Oh yeah. The question. She cleared her throat. "Why not simply warn the other women to stay away from the bar?"
"It was too late," he murmured, his breath brushing coolness against the skin he'd just licked. "The killer was here days before us, and the first four victims had all decided on the men who would father a child."
Something in the way he said that made her frown.
"Father a child? Isn't that putting the cart before the horse, so to speak?" After all, couples had to test the realms of compatibility in the real world before they actually discussed the option of bringing a child into the world.
"In this case, no." He lightly nipped her other breast, and she gasped, not in pain, but in pleasure.
"And that," he continued, "Was a second question."
"You said just one, but I never actually agreed to it."
His mouth moved up towards her neck, his kisses featherlight, yet burning deep. "You want me to stop?"
"God, no."
His smile seemed to flow through her mind, a warmth as bright as the sun itself. "Good," he murmured, as his mouth claimed hers.
For the longest time, there was nothing but kissing and tasting and teasing. And this sort of kissing was something she'd never experienced before—because it was more than just kissing, more than just a pathway to seduction. It was as if, somewhere in the meeting of their mouths, they were becoming one in a way far deeper than even the fusing of their bodies.
Then his mouth left hers, and regret ran through her. But only for a moment, as he began to nip, lick, and kiss a blazing trail down her neck. She threw her head back and closed her eyes, enjoying his touch, enjoying the sensations that boiled through her.
And suddenly, simply enjoying his touch wasn't enough.
She had to touch him, feel him, taste him, as thoroughly as he was tasting her.
She undid his shirt buttons and thrust the material aside, then slid her hands over his body, marveling at all the lean, hard flesh. Loving the way his skin reacted to her caress. The tremble that went through him when she plucked a nipple with two fingertips.
She kissed the base of his neck, then his pulse point, feeling a warm rush of feminine satisfaction at the way his pulse raced. No, there was no denying this man's need for her.
She raised her head and claimed his mouth once more, kissing him fiercely but briefly.
"I need you," she whispered against his lips. "As much as you need me."
He groaned and wrapped a hand around the back of her head, pressing her forward and claiming her mouth again.
Not breaking the kiss, she rose onto her knees and reached between them, freeing him from the restrictions of his jeans. Then she thrust down on him. He groaned again, his hands sliding down to her hips, his grip bruising as he pressed her down harder. She echoed his groan and began to move. He was right there with her, kissing and touching and caressing as he moved so gloriously deep inside her. The deep down ache bloomed, becoming a kaleidoscope of sensations that washed through every corner of her mind.