His mouth moved to the center of my throat. When he tilted my head back, I couldn’t help but bury my fingers in his hair.
Dammit.
I shouldn’t have been turned on by the way he was manhandling me, but who wouldn’t be? The most attractive man I’d ever seen had his mouth on my skin, and he smelled stupidly good.
The door closed as Rhone left the room.
Maverick’s lips brushed my skin as he spoke. “We need to get something straight, Bloom. Until we’ve decided what we’re going to do about this thing between us, you will not meet with another male vampire. You will not look at another male vampire. You will notthinkabout another male vampire. Do you understand?”
“I don’t know how you expect to prevent me from thinking about them.”
It was the wrong thing to say.
Maverick lifted his head, leaning over me. My gaze flicked to his lips.
God, I wanted him to kiss me.
He was making a show of dominance, but somehow, it just made me want him more.
“You are deliciously infuriating.” Our lips nearly touched as he spoke.
“The feeling’s mutual,” I whispered.
“And you aremine.”
“I don’t have a tattoo with your name on it, or a collar. You don’t have the deed to my body. We haven’t even kissed, Mav.”
“Was that a request?” His voice was rough, but playful, somehow.
It took me a second to get my mind off the intensity of the moment and remember what I’d said.
A tattoo with his name on it.
A collar.
“God, no.”
“Disappointing.”
His lips brushed my ear. “Let me make this clear. The next vampire you meet with will lose his limbs one by one. Followed by his throat. And his head, just for good measure.”
“I thought you weresolvingmurders, not committing them.”
“A man as powerful as me wears many hats.”
The smell of something burning made my nose twitch.
What was that?”
“And for the record, your desire for me smells fucking incredible.”
When Maverick pulled away, my mouth opened slightly.
There were burn marks on his lips. From my earrings.
He licked them slowly, while my gaze was locked on him. My traitorous body’s response was to get even hotter and needier.
“Just kiss me already,” I blurted out.
