fought not to fall on her ass at that speed. When someone shoved her like that, they were usually pissed. He wasn’t.
“I need to see something,” he said, still nursing that cup of coffee. He’d finished off the cinnamon twists in less than five minutes while she was warming up. “Come at me as hard as you can.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, looking him over. He didn’t have any of his protective gear on, somehow managing to change into sweatpants and T-shirt and still make it down to the track exactly at seven. “I don’t want to hurt you,” she told him honestly.
The laughter that followed, however, made her think she did want to hurt him. She wanted to hurt him a lot. When he realized she wasn’t laughing with him—or, in this case, laughing at herself since he was obviously laughing at her—Novikov blinked and said, “Oh. You’re not kidding.”
“No. I’m not kidding.”
“Oh. Oh! Um…I’ll be fine. Hit me with your best shot.”
“Like Pat Benatar?” she joked but when he only stared at her, she said, “Forget it.”
Blayne sized up the behemoth in front of her and decided to move back a few more feet so she could get a really fast start. She got into position and took one more scrutinizing look. It was a skill her father had taught her. To size up weakness. Whether the weakness of a person or a building or whatever. Of course, Blayne often used this skill for good, finding out someone’s weakness and then working to help them overcome it. Her father, however, used it to destroy.
Lowering her body, Blayne took a breath, tightened her fists, and took off. She lost some speed on the turn but picked it up as she cut inside. As Blayne approached Novikov, she sized him up one more time as he stood there casually, sipping his coffee and watching her move around the track. Based on that last assessing look, she slightly adjusted her position and slammed into him with everything she had.
And, yeah, she knocked herself out cold, but it was totally worth it when the behemoth went down with her.
Don’t miss Cynthia Eden’s I’LL BE SLAYING YOU, out next
month from Brava!
“Let me buy you a drink.”
She’d ignored the men beside her. Greeted the few come-ons she’d gotten with silence. But that voice—
Dee glanced to the left. Tall, Dark, and Sexy was back.
And he was smiling down at her. A big, wide grin that showed off a weird little dint in his right cheek. Not a dimple, too hard for that. She hadn’t noticed that last night, now with the hunt and kill—
Shit but he was hot.
Thanks to the spotlights over the bar, she could see him so much better tonight. No shadows to hide behind now.
Hard angles, strong jaw, sexy mouth.
She licked her lips. “Already got one.” Dee held up her glass.
“Babe, that’s water.” He motioned to the bartender. “Let me get you something with bite.”
She’d spent the night looking for a bite. Hadn’t found it yet. Her fingers snagged his. “I’m working.” Booze couldn’t slow her down. Not with the one she hunted.
Black brows shot up. Then he leaned in close. So close that she caught the scent of his aftershave. “You gonna kill another woman tonight?” A whisper that blew against her.
Her lips tightened. “Vampire,” she said quietly.
He blinked. Those eyes of his were kinda eerie. Like a smoky fog staring back at her.
“I hunted a vampire last night,” Dee told him, keeping her voice hushed because in a place like this, you never knew who was listening. “And, technically, she’d already been killed once before I got to her.”
His fingers locked around her upper arm. She’d yanked on a black T-shirt before heading out, and his fingertips skimmed her flesh. “Guess you’re right,” he murmured and leaned in even closer.
His lips were about two inches—maybe just one—away from hers.
What would he taste like?
It’d been too long since she’d had a lover, and this guy fit all of her criteria. Big, strong, sexy and aware of the score in the city.
“Wanna dance with me?” Such dark words. No accent at all underlined the whisper. Just a rich purr of sex.
Oh but she bet the guy was fantastic in the sack.
Find out. A not-so-weak challenge in her mind.
Why not? She wasn’t seeing anyone. He seemed up for it and—
Dee brought her left hand up between them and pushed against his chest. “I don’t dance.” Especially not to that too fast, pounding music