Tooth And Nailed Part 18

She shook her head so hard she nearly gave herself whiplash. "No we don't. We don't!" she insisted when he opened his mouth again. "Look, it'll be really romantic, okay? We'll book one of those cruises, like on the Queen Mary 2. It's supposed to be a really nice boat and we can get a big room. I'll buy! And it'll be really romantic and we can just laze around all day. It'll be like a vacation!"

"The Queen Mary 2 isn't even in dock right now, darling." He patted her hand soothingly as he tried to tug her toward the private jet waiting to take them to Los Angeles.

Rowan dug in her heels. "Jack, I know it's silly and stupid and I really hate it but I really, honestly, for sure, don't want to get on the plane. If you don't make me, I'll be your s.e.x slave."

He stopped tugging and looked at her appraisingly. "For how long?"

"Umaa month?"

He considered for a moment then shook his head. "Nope, not long enough." He moved behind her and began pushing her along. "On the plane, Rowan."

She tried to tamp down her panic as they approached the stairs. "Jack, I'm begging you. Can't you just drug me again?"

He chucked in her ear as he nudged her up the steps. "Wouldn't that fall into the category of undermining your ability to take care of yourself and thus get me cut off?"

She shook her head, bracing her arms on the either side of the open plane door. "Not in this case because I'm telling you it's okay. C'mon, don't you at least have an Ambien or two to take the edge off? Valium? Xanax?"

"Sorry, darling, no drugs." He pried her fingers off the doorframe and nudged her into the cabin. He guided her to one of the plushly appointed seats in the main area, sitting her down and fastening her seat belt around her. "You're going to be just fine."

She glared at him. "Sure, tell me that when I'm lying on the bottom of the ocean for the fish to feed on."

He chuckled and sat next to her, buckling his own seat belt. He nodded to the pilot. "We're set, David. The sooner we're in the air, the better I think."

David, who worked for Rowan's father and had been privy to her mid flight freak-outs before, nodded and closed the cabin door. "Try to keep her out of the c.o.c.kpit, will you? The last time she broke through the door and almost killed my copilot."

Rowan scowled at him. "It wasn't that bad," she muttered. "And anyway, there was turbulence."

"Right." Dave shook his head and headed into the c.o.c.kpit where they heard the copilot say, "He's keeping her back there, right?" before the door closed.

"That guy's a wimp," she sniffed. "A couple of scratches and he whined like a little baby girl."

Jack chuckled next to her and she whipped her head around to snarl at him. "What's funny?"

"Nothing," he said, making a valiant attempt to school his features into serious lines. "It's just thata"you're so self-a.s.sured, so together, with everything else. It's amazing that a little thing like flying scares you this much."

"It's not a little thing," she protested, tensing even further as she felt the plane's twin jet engines fire up. "People are not supposed to fly. Birds fly, insects fly. They have wings. I have no wings, therefore, I should not be thirty thousand feet in the air!"

She squeezed her eyes tight as the plane began its taxi. "Are you sure you don't have any drugs?"

"I'm sure, and I'm beginning to regret it," he muttered dryly. "Just try to calm down, think of something pleasant."

She was silent for a moment, concentrating on not thinking of fiery, b.l.o.o.d.y crashes into the ocean but it didn't work. "I can't. All I can think of is fiery, b.l.o.o.d.y crashes into the ocean."

"Well, if we crash in the ocean, the fire will be out fairly quickly," he said.

"Do you think you're funny?" she spat. She started fumbling with her seat belt. "I'm so getting out of here right now. I don't know what I was thinking letting you drag me on to this deathtrap with wings."

She was half out of her seat and headed for the door when he snagged her hand, pulling her off balance and into his lap. He clamped his arms around her when she tried to push to her feet, holding her tight to his chest, her legs straddling his hips.

"You can't go anywhere, we're already moving."

She buried her face against his neck and tried not to think about how the plane was speeding up. "I know. I can tell by the way my stomach hurts." She lifted pleading eyes to his. "How about you punch me in the jaw and knock me out? I promise I won't hold it against you later."

"But I would," he said. "I'm just going to have to find a way to distract you."

She eyed his mischievous grin sardonically. "Oh please. You're good, but if you think you're going to be able f.u.c.k me for all thirteen hours of this flight, you're delusional."

"What, you don't think I can go for half a day?" He looked affronted. "You wound me."

"I don't think a tank could wound you, and even if you could go for thirteen hours, I know I can't. I'm not practically immortal and I will at some point begin to chafe."

"So we'll take a short break and play cards. Pinochle?"

She laughed then shrieked and grabbed at his shoulders as the plane lifted off the ground.

"Calm down," he soothed, stroking her back. "It's just the takeoff."

"I know." Her nails were digging holes into his shoulders. "Oh G.o.d, I don't want to die."

"You're not going to die."

"Don't make fun of me!"

"I'm not."

"You rolled your eyes!"

"I did not!"

"Well, maybe not," she grudgingly admitted. "But you wanted to, I could hear it in your voice."

He rolled his eyes now. "Well, the arguing is distracting you but it's not quite what I had in mind."

She smacked his shoulder. "What did you expect? I told you I was afraid to fly!"

"Okay, that's it." To her considerable panic, he began unbuckling his safety belt.

"What're you doing?" she squealed as he lurched to his feet, carrying her with him. She clung to his neck with a death grip. "The plane is in the air. We're supposed to be sitting!"

"I don't care," he muttered, walking toward the back of the cabin with her in his arms. "I'm not going to spend the next thirteen hours fighting with you. And since I don't want you to have a heart attack from fright either, that only leaves one choice."

"You know, it's not about you. And anyway, it's what you get for thinking you could just get me on an airplane with no trouble. And where the h.e.l.l are we going, anyway?"

He strode through the narrow door at the back of the cabin she'd a.s.sumed went to the bathroom. Instead she found herself in a surprisingly s.p.a.cious bedroom with a vanity, a small chest of drawers and a queen-sized bed with a satin coverlet.

She barely had time to take it all in before she was dumped unceremoniously on the mattress. She stared at him as he efficiently shucked off his shirt.

"That's nice," she said. "I'm having a nervous breakdown and you're thinking about s.e.x." She looked around the room. "Does this mattress convert to a floatation device in the event of a water landing?"

He said nothing as he unbuckled his belt and toed off his shoes.

"These are not the actions of someone who is concerned for my state of mind," she continued, trying not to be distracted from her righteous indignation when he took off his pants. "These are the actions of someone who is h.o.r.n.y. And I'm not, so you can just put your pants back on, put this plane on the ground and we'll take a d.a.m.n boat back to the States."

He ignored her, tossing his pants across the vanity stool. He dropped his boxer briefs to the floor and started walking toward the bed.

She held up a hand when he put one knee on the bed and shouted, "Wait!"

He stopped immediately, half on and half off the bed. "What?"

Rowan chewed her lip, trying to think of a good reason why she'd stopped him. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to take your mind off the fact we've just reached our cruising alt.i.tude of thirty thousand feet."

She felt her head go light and she fell back on the bed. "I think I'm going to throw up."

She squealed when her sight was suddenly obliterated, panicking that she might have just gone blind from fright. Then she realized the tiny daisies across her vision weren't a fear-induced hallucination but the print on her peasant skirta"he'd flipped it up over her head.

She opened her mouth to blast hima"what the h.e.l.l made him think s.e.x was going to distract her from the idea of crashing into a fiery ball in the oceana"when she felt his tongue snake under the edge of her underwear.

"Oh Jesus!" she cried, and forgot about imminent death. "What the h.e.l.l are you doing?"

The mattress shifted as he moved and she blinked when he peeled back the veil of her skirt. "Just close your eyes," he advised with a twinkle in his own, "and pretend we're on a boat."

He flipped the skirt back over her laughing face and settled back between her thighs. She felt him tug her panties off then he was peeling her open, delving in with lips and tongue and teeth, and she forgot all about the possibility of a water landing.

Half an hour and three o.r.g.a.s.ms later, she flipped her skirt off her face. "Enough," she gasped, her voice gone hoa.r.s.e from screaming out her pleasure.

His face appeared in front of hers, his mouth and chin glistening with her juices. "I've only been down here half an hour," he said, his own voice rough with pa.s.sion. "We have twelve and a half hours to go."

"Oh G.o.d, you'll kill me!" she wailed, and grabbed his ears when he started to slide back down.

"Forget it," she muttered, dragging him up beside her and pushing him to his back. "It's my turn." She slithered down to his jutting c.o.c.k, taking it in her fist and licking the head like an ice cream cone. She grinned over his groan and settled in for a lengthy b.l.o.w.j.o.b.

She worked him until her jaws were aching, her lips nearly numb. Every time she felt him getting close, she'd back off, caressing him with a light touch until he cooled down just enough then started in again. By the time she finally let him come, he was thrusting his hips into the air, gripping her hair and shouting at the ceiling.

"For the love of the little baby Jesus," he gasped. "What was that?"

She smiled smugly into his bellyb.u.t.ton, darting her tongue into the little crevice and feeling his c.o.c.k jump against her neck in response. "Payback?" she suggested.

"b.i.t.c.h," he muttered without heat, and she laughed, dragging herself up to lie beside him.

"You sweet talker you," she sighed, closing her eyes. "Well, that's one hour gone. What now? Got anything good to read?"

She opened one eye when she felt him pop up beside her. He was staring at her, his expression intense and determined, and she felt the first stirrings of alarm. "What are you thinking?"

He reached out for the b.u.t.tons on her blouse. "One of us is wearing too many clothes."

"Oh right," she smirked. "Like you can get it up again after that."

He smiled grimly. "I'm practically immortal, remember? I rejuvenate quickly."

"Yeah, well, I don't." She closed her eyes and lay there as he systematically peeled off her clothes. "So I can be naked but I'm just going to lie here. No funny business, got it?"

"Sure, got it. Whatever you say, darling."

"Good." She settled into the pillows with a sigh, not moving while he swiftly stripped the rest of her clothes. She frowned, eyes still closed, when he lifted one leg. Her panties were already off so was her skirt, why would he be liftinga"

"Oh my G.o.d!" he eyes flew open, her back arching and her hips lifting in automatic reaction as Jack slid into her in one sure, slow thrust. Her eyes searched his face, her stomach clenching and her breath quickening at the naked l.u.s.t on his face.

"Hey, I said no funny business," she gasped.

He withdrew and thrust again just as slowly so she could feel every inch of him, every ridge and vein of his c.o.c.k in her sensitive, swollen sheath. "I'm not laughing," he said. "And you can just lie there if you want."

She moaned, her hands coming up to clutch at his wrists. He bent over her, lifting her leg to his shoulder to nuzzle her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "Do you want me to stop?" he murmured. "I will if you want me to."

"If you stop, I'll kill you," she managed, and he chuckled.

"Then hang on, darling," he growled, and proceeded to drive her out of her mind, pushing her to two more o.r.g.a.s.ms before he let himself come.

They dozed after, a tangled, sweaty heap on top of the covers until she got chilly and tried to crawl between the sheets. He took that as an invitation to make love again, this time rolling her to her stomach and taking her from behind, sinking his teeth into her neck as she came screaming into the pillow.

By the time they reached Los Angeles, they'd made love on the bed, the floor, the vanity twice and in the narrow bathroom shower. Rowan couldn't believe his stamina. Dating a vampire certainly had its advantages.

"I don't know why you're so crabby," he admonished as they deplaned to go through customs. "You weren't scared the whole flight, you should be happy."

"I'm not crabby, I'm exhausted," she explained as she made her way across the tarmac to the terminal. "You f.u.c.ked me into exhaustion."

"Didn't hear you complaining," he said, making her grin.

"I'm not complaining," she said, jumping up to give him a smacking kiss. "But don't touch me again until I get a bath and six hours of sleep."

He laughed, slinging an arm around her shoulders and tugging her into a swift hug. "We'll see about that."

They made it through customs quickly and within an hour Jack was pulling up in front of her house.

"Hey, my car's here."

He threw the car in park, letting the engine idle. "I had one of my guys bring it by. Marvin said he'd keep an eye on it and the house while you were gone."

"He's a doll. I need to go let him know I'm home."

Jack unbuckled his own seat belt, intending on coming around to help her out of the car but she stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Don't get out, sweetie. You didn't take a pill, so you'll burn. And I used to think these tinted windows were strictly for show."

He grinned and tapped the almost completely blacked-out driver's window. "Functional and elitist. You can get the bags okay?" he asked, and she rolled her eyes.

"It's one little suitcase and a laptop case. I think I can manage."