Aurora Sky Vampire Hunter - By Nikki Jefford Page 0,33

him when the bus was coming to a stop.

"Thanks for the company," I said quickly.

I pitched myself inside the bus the moment the doors opened. Heat engulfed me. The abrupt change in temperature caused my skin to itch uncomfortably. I deposited my coins beside the driver and walked down the aisle toward the back of the bus.

I tossed my pack onto a seat in back. I had the last six rows to myself. I smoothed my skirt back as I sat. I should have felt relieved instead of disappointed by his absence.

Relief arrived when Fane boarded the bus. The achiness was another matter.

When he walked toward me, I felt something familiar and terrifying. He took each step slowly as though he had all the time in the world.

The bus lurched forward. It had no effect on Fane's footing.

My breath came out ragged, but I concentrated on steadying it as Fane approached.

He smiled wickedly and took the seat beside me.

I waited impatiently for Fane to explain himself, but he didn't say anything. He just sat there all mysterious and cocksure of himself. I looked sideways at the smooth line of his jaw. His cheeks were slightly sunken in. He had a proud and well-proportioned nose.

Then there were his infamous lips - the upper one slightly smaller than the bottom. The tongue I imagined touching them was now my own.

The bus plowed over a snow berm and jolted me in my seat. I willed Fane to touch me, but he sat facing forward as though he were nothing more than a commuter.

And they said girls were teases. I couldn't take it anymore.

I flipped my leg over his and straddled him in his seat. Before Fane could make some glib comment about how I'd become the ultimate baddie, I kissed his lips into silence. His mouth tasted like menthol.

That broke the spell of passivity. Fane lifted me by the hips and seated me over his groin. My lower legs pressed against the plastic bus seat. Fane pulled my head toward him and drew kisses from me as though he planned to suck every last breath out of my lungs.

The thrill of him was maddening. I tried to widen my mouth, but he closed it with his own lips in a succession of intoxicating kisses that made me lightheaded. Fane kissed like he knew exactly what he was doing. He kissed like he'd kissed a hundred times before. I tried to keep up.

I felt like someone else. Aurora Sky didn't straddle vagrants on public buses and stick her tongue down their throats. Yet here I was grinding against him, relishing every intake of breath.

My skirt was spread wide open. I felt his rough jeans against my panties.

Fane pushed my hair back when it fell into my face. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him harder.

He slid his fingers beneath the pleated fabric and spread his fingertips across my thigh.

"I changed my mind," Fane said between kisses. "I like the skirt."

A chime rang down the hollow of the bus. I pulled my lips off Fane's and looked out the window. We'd already turned the corner on Jewel Lake Road.

My words sounded breathless. "My street's coming up."

I slid back and planted my feet on the ground, pausing when I stood above Fane.

He flashed me the Cheshire grin.

I wrapped my fingers around a pole and steadied myself as I reached for the cord above the windows. I yanked down harder than intended. I grabbed my pack and slung it over my shoulder.

As the bus slowed, Fane locked eyes with me. He held me in a trance.

"This is my stop," I said.

The bus ground to a halt yet I couldn't look away.

Fane crossed one leg over the other and leaned back. He propped an elbow against the window ledge, his arm dangling over my abandoned seat.

"Don't worry, Aurora Sky. You don't have to invite me home." His teeth flashed when he grinned. "Yet."
Chapter 13 Suspension
Mom waited in the kitchen, poised with her arms crossed, back to the counter, angled so the frown on her face was the first thing I saw when I walked in. I wondered how long she'd held that pose.

She began with a calm voice. "Do you want to tell me about getting sent to the principal's office after school?"

I slipped out of my backpack. "You'd think he would have given me a medal rather than suspend me from school."

Mom didn't smile. "Mind telling me why you got into a fight?"

"I didn't