First Drop of Crimson (Night Huntress World, #1)

by Jeaniene Frost

Humans. Aside from tasting delicious, they were usually more trouble than they were worth.

“You don’t need to keep doing that, I can get it,” she murmured, looking embarrassed. She tucked a strand of her hair back, the color in her cheeks darkening ever so slightly. It was such a lovely, feminine response, without the wariness she normally had with him.

“You look pretty good for such an old man.” He grinned, his smile a white, wicked flash in the night. “Flattery will get you everywhere, darling.”

Bollocks, Spade thought, listening to the multiple heartbeats and the shambling of feet around him. He must have passed out and been taken for a corpse.

Ian clicked off his telly with a snort. “I say, Charles, you’ve truly turned over a new leaf since you started shagging this one, haven’t you?”

Brave, lovely, stubborn Denise, making a joke when she should be senseless with horror over her circumstances. Spade laughed even as something clicked in his heart that he knew would be permanent. This wasn’t just lust he felt. It went so much deeper than that.

“That’s one coat, two shirts, a house, and a boat I’ve cost you,” she muttered. “God, Spade, save yourself. Walk away.”

“Could you argue with me later, darling? I’m rather knackered now.”

His hair was so black against his pale skin, several long locks falling over his cheek. His brows were equally dark and thick, curving over closed eyes that were framed by sooty, long lashes. His nose was a straight bridge between two high cheekbones, his mouth full enough to be sexy, and strong enough to be nothing but masculine.

She was caught between hoping he’d let her go and hoping he wouldn’t as she stared at him, trapped inside the circle of his arms. Spade’s eyes began to fill up green. His lips parted, showing the tips of fangs…and it only made the throbbing heat inside her grow.

“Your fangs. Can’t you make them…go away so you don’t accidentally bite me?” Spade’s laugh was soft and wicked. “Oh, I have every intention of biting you, but don’t fret; I won’t break your skin.”

Both of his friend’s brows shot up, and then Crispin let out a bark of amazed laughter. “Lucifer’s bouncing balls, that’s why you’re acting like a nutter! You’ve gone and fallen in love with her. Bloody hell, if I didn’t see it on your face myself, I wouldn’t believe it.”

Pirates of Penzance.”

“I say, look at the melons on that lass,” Ian exclaimed, his gaze now on the TV. “And hung like a stallion, he is.”

“I love you, too,” she whispered. Her breath caught as Spade crushed her to him, rising and twirling her in a circle until her legs swung crazily. Denise laughed even though she could hardly breathe from his tight, possessive embrace. “I never thought I’d feel this way again,” he whispered in her ear. “Oh, darling, I feel like you’ve brought me back to life.”