Sex-Crazed Desperado
“Aweek and four days,” I complained, sat in front of some bush like an over-dressed, highly weaponized forest person.
But seriously, what was my thing with bushes? Should I start a garden of them because I seemed to be stuck beside one with every hot guy I met. I genuinely couldn’t tell if bushes were a blessing or curse anymore.
“A week. Four days,” I repeated singularly.
And it’s hot as hell.
I wiped sweat from my forehead, idly wondering why perspiration would even be necessary for a mutated vampire hunter. But hey, very little about my existence made sense these days.
“You’ve said that several times today,” Phillip remarked, leaned up against a tree in his obnoxiously erotic way. “I’ve been here too, you know.” He checked his watch, bringing my gaze right to his strong forearm and reigniting the urge to run my tongue over it.
I’m almost certain I’m a nymphomaniac.
“Kris and Sloan will switch with us in an hour.”
“But like, I’ve missed this much school for…
what? What are we even doing right now?” I eyed the stone, which was apparently the entrance to our goblin community squatters.
“Graduation is only two weeks away now. Not to mention my birthday is this coming week, and I don’t want to be covered in goblin goo to celebrate it. ”
“It’d be fitting, at least.”
I glared, only making his smile broaden.
“Celebrating is just tedious after the first five decades.” Phillip’s eyes sparkled with forlorn memories. “You’ll learn the Organization doesn’t work on your timeline. It tends to work on its own. If we have reinforcements here by the end of the week, that’ll be fast for our dear employers.”
“Fantastic.”
Not only was I bored, but I’d been stuck with the sexy bastard every second of every day for the last week and a half. Nothing remotely sexual happened, but that didn’t stop my hormone-addled brain from concocting the most desperate, explicit fantasies it could.
It begged the question which one of us was really the sex-crazed desperado. Ask me a month ago and I’d say it was Phil by a long shot. Today, I couldn’t honestly claim I hadn’t considered begging him to just have at it, consequences and better judgment be damned.
You couldn’t pay me enough to admit out loud that he’d seriously rocked my world with his sultry hips and tough-and-rough sex.
But he had.
Incidentally, I managed to admit it many times to myself. Sort of turned into my daily thought circle—how he was bad news and I shouldn’t, but the dude was crazy hot and also a sex god, so maybe I should just enjoy it.
“Once you pop, the fun don’t stop.”
And now I wanted Pringles.
Still, nothing came close to the word sexy between us.
Even being alone the way we were, the Austrian never hinted at anything that wasn’t his usual perverse commentary.
Not that I expected him to throw himself at me, but it did bother me how easily he turned it off.
It spoke to how much a player he was. It also suggested he was beyond experienced with this part of a purely sexual relationship.
And I wasn’t.
My immaturity was showing. My teenage girl brain tried and failed many times to come to terms with the probability that what happened between us was a one-and-done deal for the older Hunter.
Phillip was just appeasing the wishes of a young virgin emotionally destroyed by a shit life.
But I wanted him. I wanted him so bad it hurt, and I wasn’t sure for what reason.
Was it really just the sex? Was it immaturity? Was it an inappropriate attachment formed as a result of a complex emotional situation? Was it deeper? Was it the worst decision I’d ever make?
Who the fuck knows.
Too many questions stayed unanswered after our night together, and too many reasons to never do it again remained.
A smart person would chalk it up to experience and move the fuck on. Sadly, I wasn’t a smart person. I’d rather pine after some arrogant, relationship-allergic Hunter with a penchant for spouting shit and pretending nothing happened.
Luckily—or was it unluckily?—for me, Phillip was dedicated to his job.
Everything about the man suggested otherwise, but the dude never lost sight of the main entrance to the Shadow Goblin hideout.
He didn’t move. He barely talked. He glanced at his phone only every once and a while.
And we’d only killed a few over the course of the last week and a half.
Many who were likely just going out to hunt.
Still, Phillip said it sent the message we were watching and knew where the entrance was, so they’d be more likely to hide. Though, he also added goblins were as stupid as they came. They had powers and numbers that made them formidable. But tactically clever? Not even close.
It explained why they were so quickly wrangled the night we were outnumbered. I suspected as much, but it made more sense once Phillip explained it to me.
To keep the entire area guarded, everyone in Nigel’s pack took shifts, two at a time, and walked a circle around the area while we stayed in place, always watching. I envied their ability to move around and be free, but Phillip didn’t budge on assignments.
The stab junkie wanted to be first to fight, most likely.
I hadn’t seen or spoken to Nigel, but it was probably for the best I hadn’t. I was still pretty angry, and I’d likely say something if he brought it up again or acted self-righteous.
I did miss talking to everyone else, though. With only Phillip to keep me entertained, understandably, I worried more about my perverted thoughts causing problems.
Moving a bit, I situated myself in his line of sight and kept my peripheral on the rock entrance. “What happens when this is all over? Do I even get to graduate with my class?”
The other Hunter’s mouth twitched, and I could tell he wanted to smile. “We move onto our next assignment. Not very different from your usual, just with more travel. And yes, that’s the plan—goblin goo or no.”
I clicked my tongue unhappily. “I refuse. Even if you pull superior Hunter on me, if this raid lands on my big day, you can do it without me.”
Phillip laughed, fully amused. “This is an experience of a lifetime and you’d rather sit in a chair, be bored while other kids have their families fawn over them, recover some sort of useless piece of paper instead of stabbing your blade into hundreds of goblins?”
I scoffed unattractively. “Not all of us are stab junkies like you, Phil. Some of us like normal things. Boring human things.”
Crossing his arms against his chest, the Austrian regarded me with a curious look. “That’s just it, you’re not normal. Nothing about you is. You’re as unique and complex as it gets, and that’s the entire reason I can’t figure you out.”
Thank Christ for that.
“You don’t need to figure me out. Just go about your business as normal, old man.” Despite my strong retort, his comment had my pulse rushing to catch up with my heart.
Brushing back his dark hair, Phillip shook his head, not the least bit bothered by my venom. “Why make it harder on yourself? In two weeks, you’ll leave this place and its people behind. It’s easier if you just disappear now.”
I stopped, not ready to hear it. “I—”
“And you strike me as the sort to forget you’re nothing like those kids you go to school with.
You’re a weapon. Your skills were cultivated for that very reason, to turn you into one.
No school you’ll ever go to can prepare you for that.
The only person who can is me.” His pale eyes landed on me, striking me instantly to stone.
Phillip reached out and took hold of my hand. “That’s just the way it is.”
“I’ll make it different,” I finally responded, desperate to ignore the warmth of his hand enclosing over mine. “I refuse to surrender to that.”
“Oh?” he asked, clearly not convinced. “How?”
I licked my lips, not missing the way his eyes immediately dropped to my mouth when I did. “I don’t know yet, but I’m not ready to submit to some terrible fate decided for me by a group of assholes who think we’re just playthings to be used.”
Phillip hummed low in his throat and fixed his posture a bit. “Well, in that case, I’m in.”
“You’re…in?”
The other Hunter’s face was right in front of mine before I realized he’d moved and his large hand grasped the back of my neck. “All the way in.”
I hadn’t really figured out what was happening until his tongue slipped past my lips and entwined with mine. Then the heat and intense pleasure of his kiss was about all I could focus on. With our heightened senses, quite literally euphoria.
I needed this.
And in seconds, my hard-fought willpower gave out. I gave in. I submitted to him when everything in my head argued I shouldn’t. Because nothing about the sudden kiss made sense.
The Austrian’s lips worked over mine like he was confident I’d succumb, and it pissed me off how quickly I played into his hands.
But I didn’t have any other choice. I wanted to kiss him again.
I wanted to taste the coffee and chocolate flavor in his mouth.
To breathe in and be enveloped by his fresh mint scent.
To be stupid and reckless and enjoy every second of his touch.
I wrapped arms around Phillip’s neck, weaving fingers through his soft hair, hips touching hips, mouth moving passionately over his.
If anyone saw it, they’d say it was difficult to tell who started the kiss first.
Our chests fused, our lips met at several angles, and for what felt like hours we sunk into depravity.
Like we couldn’t stop. Like everything in my head that argued it was a bad idea didn’t matter.
Like we weren’t out in the open. Like it was air in our lungs, food in our bellies, rest for our bodies.
Phillip brought me impossibly close. One hand held my face in place and the other locked around my back. Then his low groan rumbled between us, full of need and just as desperate as I was.
It wasn’t like him at all, and it gave me pause.