CHAPTER 4

Andrei Romanov smiled slowly, standing up and picking up the bottle of wine. He rounded the desk, interested to see how she would react to his nearness as he poured some more wine into her glass. His smile widened as he detected the increase in her heart rate, her hand shaking ever so slightly as she held the glass as steady as she could. He perched on the side of the desk, looming over her. "You seem a little nervous, Loretta. Something bothering you?"

Loretta's wolf howled loudly as she unconsciously tried to shift away from his big body. He was so close to her she could feel his body heat and it was setting up little sparks of electricity in her body, making her wolf ecstatic but making her human side very uncomfortable. The smug smile on his face told her he knew exactly what he was doing, that he was deliberately playing with her.

She felt her anger spark and tried to tamp it down. Losing her temper with him wasn't the way to go. It would give him the upper hand; make him feel superior, that he had won some kind of battle. She wouldn't give him that satisfaction.

Setting her glass down, she stood slowly, bending forward enough that she knew her cleavage would be amply displayed to his intent gaze. She smiled as she watched his eyes narrow sharply and heard his breath suck in hard. She took one tiny step which brought her almost toe to toe with him. Even sitting on the edge of the desk she still had to look up at him. His size was impressive. "Nothing bothering me, Andrei," she sighed softly. "You?"

Their eyes locked for a long moment, both of them rooted to the spot as they both issued challenges and waited for the other to back down. The silence in the room suddenly seemed very heavy, only broken by the soft sounds of their breaths rasping out way too fast.

Andrei struggled to hold himself in check as the little she wolf challenged him so blatantly, her head tilted defiantly to the side. She was so close to him, her sweet scent teasing his nostrils, her body heat like a blazing furnace as she stood so close. His body hardened in an instant, lust spiralling sharply inside him. He stifled down a deep groan, his nostrils flaring as he watched her eyes darken to almost black and scented the wonderful musky scent of her body answering his.

This was so incredibly stupid. They both should know better. He was a vampire and she was a Were. An impossible combination and yet he found himself moving almost as if he had no control over himself. "Stupid little bitch," he growled a second before his large hand wrapped around the back of her neck and pulled her mouth to his.

Loretta whimpered softly as Andrei's mouth took hers in a kiss so devastating she felt her knees tremble the instant his mouth slanted over hers. Her wolf shrieked her joy as his hot mouth lazily nudged hers, his tongue licking slowly along her bottom lip before pressing for entry. She sighed and parted her lips, allowing him to ravish her mouth with bold, hard strokes of his tongue, meeting him half way so she could taste him as thoroughly as he was tasting her. This was so wrong. She shouldn't be allowing this to happen but all rational thought was leaving her mind as his hands moved and began to slowly stroke down her bare back with a surprisingly gentle touch.

She moaned and moved closer to him, pressing her swollen breasts against his hard chest as his hands reached the curve of her ass and he pulled her lower body towards him, spreading his legs so he could fit her between them. Her moan turned into two as his mouth continued to devastate hers as her body connected with the unmistakably hard ridge of his erection which he ground against her stomach with a deep growl.

Andrei felt as if he was going up in flames. Her sweet taste was intoxicating, the feel of her soft curves pressing against his aching hardness enough to make his body tremble with desire. He shouldn't be kissing her, touching her soft skin, pressing his raging cock hard against her sexy body but he was doing all of that and wanted to do so much more.

If he didn't get some kind of control he was going to bend her over his desk and fuck the living daylights out of her. The thought shocked him even as it made him groan loudly and grind his mouth harder against hers. Just the erotic image of Loretta's legs spread wide, her ass in the air as he slid between her thighs and rammed his thick length into her soaking wet pussy was enough to make him almost explode.

He had to stop. One of them had to stop before this insatiable hunger got out of hand and someone got hurt. More accurately before she got hurt. What if he lost all control as he felt dangerously close to doing already? What if he accidentally bit her in the throes of passion? He didn't need to bite, to feed whilst laying with a woman but he liked to and was in the habit of indulging himself. He would kill her if he did so and he didn't want that to happen.

With a muffled growl he ripped his mouth from hers, pushing her away swiftly, keeping a tight grip on her upper arms as she stumbled slightly at the speed at which he separated their bodies. When he was sure she was steady on her feet he dropped his hands and raked one of them through his tousled hair, his breathing harsh and ragged as he regarded her disappointed face.

"Do you have a death wish?" he ground out angrily, moving back behind the desk as he fought to get his breathing under control and recover his equilibrium.

Loretta watched him, her heart pounding erratically, her wolf howling her disappointment that he was withdrawing from them. Shock rocked through her body in deep waves. She wasn't shocked because she had responded to him. No, she was shocked at the intensity of her response, at how quickly she had forgotten all about her personal safety when his lips had touched hers.

Staring at Andrei's rigid back she took a deep breath and picked up her glass of wine, draining it quickly to steady her nerves. The situation was impossible and she couldn't deny that. The angry vampire before her was her mate. Her wolf had taken one look at him and declared he was hers.