ignited in Patrick Watkins’ dark green eyes before he clenched his own jaw. “Besides the point. Mr. Peabody was alive until you touched him.”
She cocked her head to the side, trying like hell to ignore the fact that the man seemed to have forgotten he was naked. Ignore it? How do you ignore something that impressive? “Yes,” she said, keeping her stare locked on his face, “I must say, you did a very good job resurrecting him from his initial passing. But it was his time and no interference, no matter how skilled or stubborn, would have saved him.”
Patrick’s eyes widened. “Interference? His time? His time? Who the fuck are you? The Grim Reaper?”
She inclined her head slightly. “Just call me Fred.”
“Fred?”
She grinned. She shouldn’t be having fun. She shouldn’t be enjoying this verbal sparring. She should be furious. He was a human, and he could see her and she should be letting his blood flow to decipher why. “Fred,” she said instead.
“Well, Fred.” Patrick took a step toward her, the anger in his face growing dark. Menacing. “I’d saved him. I don’t care who you think you are, he was alive until you touched him. What the hell did you do to him?”
A shard of agitation sank into her chest. “I told you who I am. I’m the Grim Reaper. Death. The Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse.”
“Bullshit. I don’t care how hot you are, I want answers.”
Hot? A wild flutter erupted in her stomach. He thought she was hot?
He also thinks you’re a murderer.
She pulled a face, crossing her arms across her chest. Her nipples brushed against her forearms, sending a little jolt of damp electricity into the junction of her thighs and she bit back a growl. How was it possible she was turned on by this…this one mortal male? Okay, sure, he was ridiculously good-looking and booyah, he had a very impressive package on full display, but seriously? Now was not the time to get horny.
“Look,” she snapped, irked by her body’s irrational response and Patrick Watkins’ not-so-irrational irritation. “I really can’t explain it all to you, human. Just know Peabody is in a much more deserving place now he’s gone.”
Patrick cocked an eyebrow. “Human?”
Fred ground her teeth. “Human.”
“Try,” he ordered, stare locked on her. “Make this lowly human understand, oh powerful Reaper.”
“I don’t think I’m a fan of your sarcasm, Patrick Watkins.”
He stiffened. “How do you know my name?”
“Because I’m the freaking Grim Reaper. I know almost everything about you.”
Black anger flashed across his face. “Enough. You’ve got exactly twenty seconds to give me an answer, or I’ll knock you on your arse, tie you to the bed, and let the authorities deal with you when they get here.”
A hot wave of sinful pleasure rolled through her at the idea of Patrick Watkins tying her to the bed.
Damn it.
She’d never gone down that path of sexual gratification before, but the Australian lifeguard made her body fantasize about all sorts of things it hadn’t before. All of them very, very wicked. “Patrick Watkins,” she said, unable to stop her gaze roaming over his naked body. “I would like nothing more than to see you try.”
Another wave of fury—and something else far more primitive—charged his expression. “Okay. If that’s the way it’s going to be.”
He moved. Much quicker than she expected. Much quicker than any human should. One moment he stood glaring at her from beside his bedroom door, the next he was slamming her against the wall, his fingers locked around her wrists, his hips rammed into hers.
Immediate and absolute pleasure tore through her. Dark, intoxicating, submissive pleasure. Her sex constricted, her breath caught in her throat. She’d never been handled so. Even her Roman had treated her with kid gloves, like he’d been too scared of her to truly show how much she’d aroused him. Patrick Watkins however, knew no reason to be scared of her. And it made her sex flood with cream.
By the Deities, she wanted to fuck him and be fucked by him.
The licentious thought whipped through her head and, before she knew what was going on, her jeans, boots, and t-shirt vanished. Leaving her just as naked as the man pressing her against the wall with his hard body.
He reeled backward, his stare drilling into hers, fists bunched at his side. “What. The fuck. Is going on?”
Christ, she looked amazing.
Wait, what the fuck are you thinking, Watkins?
Mind struggling to process the unreal shit currently tormenting it, Patrick took another step back, dragging