Incubus Among Us Box Set (Shifter Romance) Read online

"You could say that," he agreed.

  "Well, beat up or shot we need to get you to our apartment. There's a nice couch in the rec room you can use," I offered.

  With more strength than I would have guessed was in her Tiffany grabbed my shoulders, hefted me to my feet and dragged me to the opposite side of the dumpster. "Are you nuts? Why don't we just dump him off at the hospital and get home?" she hissed.

  "My being nuts is a matter of opinion, but right now we should just help him get some place warm. Then we can decide what to do," I replied.

  She gestured in the direction of the man. "Letting that dirty guy into our apartment building when we don't even know who he is or what's wrong with him?"

  "He's not that dirty and his clothes are nice, so I think we can rule out the whole serial killer thing," I pointed out.

  "Have you ever seen American Psycho?" she asked me.

  "I'm sure we'll be safe as long as we don't make better calling cards than him," I quipped. I pushed past her and walked over to the man. "Come on, let's get you up," I told him. I grasped his arm and hefted him to his feet. He leaned against me and I was surprised how supple and warm his body felt after sitting on that hard, cold ground. I slung one of his arms over my shoulders. "It's a couple of blocks to our apartment. Think you can make it?" I wondered.

  "I think so," he replied.

  We shuffled out from behind the dumpster. Tiffany threw up her hands in despair, but marched over to us and slung his other arm over her shoulders. "If you want to get us killed then we may as well get to the apartment as quickly as possible and get it over with," she commented.

  I smiled. "Thanks," I told her.

  "Don't thank me yet. If he kills me I'm coming back to haunt you," she warned me.

  We shuffled on our way with the stranger between us.

  Chapter 3

  The remaining trip back to our apartment building took twice as long usual with our hefty load, and we reached home at thirty minutes after midnight. The greatest perk to living in the building was the rec room off to the left of the lobby. It had once been a parlor and waiting room for callers, but a couple of decades ago had been turned into a place of relaxation for the tenants. There was a pool table, a card table, and a couch-and-love seat area with a nice flat-screen TV. At this late hour there wasn't anyone manning the front desk, so we hefted our load into the rec room and over to the couch.

  Tiffany and I breathed a sigh of relief when we lowered him onto the cushions. He wasn't bulky, but he wasn't light, either. I looked down at him as he sat there and noticed the stains on the front of his shirt were gone. Maybe they'd never been there and had been a trick of the limited light in the alley.

  For his part the guy also sighed and smiled up at us. His grin was dazzling in its beauty, and I needed to slap myself out of all these stupid wispy thoughts.

  "I'm grateful for the kindness you've shown me," he told us, but his eyes were on me.

  Tiffany didn't notice his look and shrugged. "No problem, but you'd better not try wandering around the building. The manager is a light sleeper and his room's just behind the front desk," she told him.

  The man chuckled. "I'm sure he won't hear me if I do decide to explore," he assured us.

  Tiffany frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "How about you just stay here and not make a sound? Otherwise you're going to get us into a lot of trouble because we really shouldn't have even brought you in here. Guests aren't allowed in the rec room after ten," she explained.

  "I won't be noticed," he promised. He turned his full attention on me and I blushed. "I hope there's some way I can repay your kindness."

  I waved aside his comment. "Don't mention it," I replied.

  The stranger reached forward and grasped my hands in his own. His eyes looked into mine, and I swore they were red again. That soft, velvety red that reminded me of secret trysts in moonlit gardens. "Your modesty and purity compliment your beautiful face," he whispered to me.

  I blushed, hurriedly pulled my hands from his, and half turned from him. "T-thanks. Did you need anything else? A blanket or something?"

  "This is fine. I've been in worse places," he replied.

  Tiffany glanced between us and frowned. "Good, now get some sleep because you have to leave before the manager gets up at five," she spoke up. She grabbed my shoulders, spun me around to face the entrance to the rec room, and pushed me toward the exit. "Now if you don't mind we need to get some sleep. We have a tough day at the office tomorrow."

  "Goodnight," he called to us.

  Tiffany shoved me out and toward the elevator. I wrenched myself from her grasp and spun around to glare at her. "What's wrong with you? We didn't have to leave so quickly," I protested.

  She scowled back at me. "Oh yes we did. He was making lovey eyes at you and you were falling for him," she told me.

  I blushed and turned away from her. "I-I was not. I was just-well, I was just admiring his eyes," I argued.

  "Uh-huh, and my name is Bunny Snookums," she retorted.

  I snorted. "Your mom give you that name?" I teased.

  Tiffany rolled her eyes and slammed her hand on the elevator button. "Seriously, Liz, that guy's bad news. I'm getting some bad vibes off of him."

  "Bad vibes? Are you sure you're not jealous he wasn't looking at you?" I wondered.

  Tiffany looked at me with such disgust and anger that I was cowed. "Fancy clothes or no fancy clothes, I don't trust him. There's something-I don't know, something different about him," she insisted. The elevator doors opened and we stepped inside.

  "Different? That doesn't exactly scream dangerous to me," I replied.

  Tiffany turned to me and clasped my hands in hers. She looked me straight in the eye and, for the first time in our long years of friendship, her face showed a seriousness and responsibility that frightened me. "Elizabeth, promise me you won't see that guy again."

  "But-"

  "Promise me."

  I hung my head and nodded. "All right, I promise."

  Tiffany smiled and wrapped me in a hug. "Good, now let's get some sleep. Who needs a hangover when we're going to have sore muscles from dragging that stranger here?" she quipped.

  I lifted my head and frowned. "You know, we never did get his name," I pointed out.

  "And he didn't get ours, and that's the way it's going to stay, right?" she insisted.

  "I know, a promise is a promise," I returned.

  The elevator arrived at our floor and we parted ways at our respective doors. "Now remember your promise," Tiffany reminded me.

  "Yes, Mom," I called back as I stepped inside my home. The apartments in our building were small, but cozy. Each had one bedroom, a complete kitchen with a small dining area, and a living room. A small bathroom finished off the ensemble. I closed the door behind me, leaned against the entrance and sighed. Tiffany was right when she said we'd be sore from hefting that guy to the building. My shoulders were already complaining.

  I shuffled to my bedroom, slipped into my long nightshirt, and dove beneath the covers of my queen-sized bed. I was known to toss and turn in my sleep so I made sure I couldn't fall off by buying myself a large bed. The clock on my nightstand read twenty minutes till one. Late enough that I slipped into sleep the minute my head hit the pillow.

  My dreaming didn't last long, or did it? I wasn't sure, but what I knew was that something forced me to open my eyes. The room was dark, much darker than I remembered. I glanced at the clock. Ten minutes until one. Just my luck to be asleep only ten minutes before something interrupted it. I looked around the room and I froze when my eyes fell on a shadow standing in the doorway. It was the shape of a man.

  I sat up, but every instinct within me failed to force a scream from my throat. I was mesmerized by this person who stood in the doorway, a person with red-velvet eyes. The person stepped over to the bed and sat on the edge closest to me. I should have thrown the covers over their head and made a dash for the door, but those bright eyes held me in place. A
warmth swept over me as my mind filled with images of tangled limbs among silken sheets, and my ears heard echoes of soft moans and sighs.

  The person leaned close to me and I saw it was the stranger. "W-what are you doing in here?" I asked him. My voice sounded breathless, and I felt my heart beat quickly inside my chest. The man smiled and brushed aside the covers over my legs. His hand slid up my smooth, bare leg to my thigh. I bit my lip to keep back a shudder of ecstasy. "W-what are you doing?" I stuttered.

  His hand ignored my question as it massaged my skin. He leaned his head toward me and his smooth voice broke the silence of the room. "I promised I would reward you for your kindness," he whispered to me.

  It took every ounce of my willpower to deny him as I pressed my back against the head of my bed. "N-not like this," I breathed.

  "Exactly like this," he argued.

  I gasped when his hot lips pressed against my neck. His touch enveloped my body in a warm blanket of dizzying lust. He wrapped his arm around my waist and lay me down on the covers. The remaining sheets were swept aside and he pressed me against the bed. I realized he was naked when his chest muscles brushed against my thin shirt. I should have been terrified, I should have screamed out in fright, but my head was swimming with hazy images of hands groping bare flesh.

  I felt a deep, hot ache rise between my legs as his hand slipped up my long shirt. He pulled the flimsy cloth over my heaving breasts and bared them to the darkness of the room. His hand grasped one of my mounds of flesh, and massaged and squeezed it. His teasing touches made me squirm and groan, but he pinned me to the bed with his own body. I was trapped, but it only excited me. He pulled my shirt over my head and I lay naked beneath him as he positioned himself between my legs. His lips caught my sensitive nubs in his hot, wet mouth and he suckled me as a babe. I gasped and clutched his head as my body tingled with sensual vibrations.

  He lifted his head and slid further up my body. His stiff, large member pressed against my opening. I instinctively opened my legs wider and he pushed himself inside. This wasn't my first time, I was no virgin, but oh god I'd never felt so fulfilled as I did with him. He filled me with more than just himself. I felt complete, as though him being inside of me was all I ever needed. We were one; one body, one mind, one soul, all locked in this lustful act of carnal communion. He pressed slowly against my quivering muscles, and each thrust brought a wave of pleasure the rippled through my body. I clutched onto him, unaware of everything but the feel of him penetrating me again and again. The lust nearly drove me mad. I needed release.

  "Please," I moaned.

  He raised his eyes and those red eyes blazed with his lust. His voice was hoarse and strained. "Please what?" he asked me.

  "Please release me. I-I can't take it anymore," I begged.

  He shuddered and I felt the vibration through our union. "As you wish," he replied.

  My lover pressed me to the bed again and thrust harder and faster into me. I clutched onto him and whipped my head to and fro. Every push and pull drove my senses mad with a desire I couldn't control. My lust-filled mind focused only on the completion to this pleasure, the promise of carnal satisfaction. My moans grew louder even as I gasped for breath. My muscles tightened and strained to near the breaking point. All I could see was a bright light, all I could feel was him against me, inside of me.

  "Yes! Yes!" I cried to the dark room.

  My lover grunted and pushed harder, spilling me over into the abyss of pleasure. I thrashed and shrieked, unable to contain the creature of lust inside me. My world exploded into one filled with sensual delights that I could never have imagined and never wanted to leave. I wanted to remain forever in the strong arms of my lover.

  Chapter 4

  But all good things come to an end, and that wonderful dream was no exception. My end came with the incessant beeping of an alarm. I sat up and my eyes swept around the room looking for my lover. There was nobody. I was alone except for the bouncing, blaring machine on my nightstand. I slammed my hand on the button and the alarm silenced.

  Time to get up for work, but all I wanted to do was sit there and hold on to the memories of that sensual dream. It had felt so real, so magnificent. His arms wrapped around me, the feel of him inside me. I glanced down at myself and saw my shirt was bunched up over my breasts. There was a distinct wetness between my legs to remind me how sweet was the dream. Then the little voice in my head reminded me that nothing that extraordinary would never happen to me. I needed to forget it and move on with my life.

  I glanced at the clock and my eyes widened. I'd sat there daydreaming for half an hour. I was going to be late for work.

  I jumped out of bed and raced through my usual routine. Shower, dress, feed myself, then the race down the stairs because the elevator was taken by the overweight people on the upper floors. The apartment building had its own small parking lot nearby. The prices were so high I had to sign over my first-born to rent a spot, but the joke was on them because I never expected to have a child. I drove to work, strategically breaking the speeding limit where I knew I wouldn't be caught, and arrived at the forest of cubicles a full minute before the clock struck time.

  Unfortunately, Lenin's watch ran fast and when I reached my cubicle I found him waiting there for me with one foot tapping the ground. "You're late," he commented. He ruled it with an iron fist as efficiently as any Third-World dictator.

  "I'm sorry, I-"

  "Don't give me excuses, give me results. I want the documents for the coming board meeting on my desk in an hour," he snapped.

  "Yes, Mr. Lenin," I replied. Emphasis on the Gulag.

  He marched off and I dropped into my chair with a sigh. I hated my life, and I really hated dealing with jerks like Lennon. Why couldn't more people be as grateful as that one guy I picked up last-oh crap. I straightened and my eyes widened. I forgot to check to see if that guy was still in the rec room. Hell, I didn't even know if the guy was alive, much less still in the building. Maybe he'd been hurt worse than we thought and lay dead on the couch aspiring to be mulch.

  I anxiously awaited the lunch hour, all the while glancing at my phone on my desk wondering if at any moment the apartment manager would ring me up and tell me to get my things packed because I'd broken the rules by letting a stranger into not only the apartment building, but into the rec room. The call never came, and at noon I rushed from the office to my apartment building. I ran into Tiffany in the lobby.

  "What are you doing here?" she asked me. Her workplace was only a few blocks away from our building while I had the ten-block drive, so she always came back for food and I rarely did.

  I glanced at the front desk. The apartment manager sat behind us with his eyes on a newspaper, but I suspected his attention was on us. My eyes flickered to the rec room doors and back to Tiffany. My voice was a little more high-pitched than was usual for me. "I forgot something."

  Her eyes widened and she whipped her head to face the rec room. "The-" I jumped forward and clapped my hand over her mouth.

  Ackerman looked up from his paper. "No rough-housing in the lobby," he scolded us like we were two kids about to have a tussle on the hard linoleum floor.

  "Um, sorry," I apologized. I dragged Tiffany over to the rec entrance and into the room. Once safely inside I released her and we both looked to the couch. Empty. Not even an imprint of a body. I was both relieved and disappointed. There went the object of my wet dreams.

  Tiffany was only relieved. "He must have snuck out of here before Ackerman woke up. That makes a lot less trouble for us," she commented.

  My shoulders slumped. "Yeah, a lot less trouble," I repeated with a lot less enthusiasm.

  My friend glared at me. "He was bad news," she insisted.

  I shrugged. "I still don't see what was so wrong about him."

  "Then you're lucky because he gave off creepy enough vibes to chill me all night. I could barely sleep," she told me.

  The topic of sleeping, or lack thereof in my case, wasn't w
hat I wanted to talk about. "Well, creepy or not he's gone, so I'll just get some food and get back to work." My voice sounded as dreary as a funeral on a rainy day in a depressing graveyard.

  Tiffany grabbed my shoulders and gave me a shake. "How about you and I go out tonight? Maybe we can pick you up a guy that doesn't scare me," she suggested.

  I shook my head. "Nah, I think I'll just stay in tonight and read a book."

  My friend rolled her eyes. "And that's why neither of us will ever find the right guy," she mused.

  My stomach grumbled and time ticked on. "I'll see you later," I told her, and hurried to appease my appetite, but not my heavy heart.

  As I drove back to work I pondered my melancholy mood. Why was I so sad over some strange guy falling into my life and slipping out of it just as quickly? It wasn't like he was the one who I'd made love to last night. That was all a figment of my overly stimulated imagination, with a little help from his beautiful, gorgeous eyes.

  "Get a hold of yourself, Liz," I scolded myself. "It's not like he's coming back into your life."

  On that cheerful thought I returned to my cheerful job and sloshed through my cheerful work until I was all cheered out. The five o'clock call to evacuate came and I was swept into the stampede that rushed out the door. I made it back to my apartment building and was ambushed by Tiffany on our floor.

  "Boo!" she cried out when I reached our floor.

  I blinked at her. "How many times did you have to do that before I came?" I asked her.

  Tiffany shrugged, but her impish grin warned me she was going to be modest about the number. "Just once on Ackerman, but it was worth the wait to see a smile on your face." She pulled me out of the elevator and stretched my cheeks so I smiled. "See? You already look better," she teased.

  I pushed away her hands and sighed. "I'm not really in the mood," I told her.

  Tiffany frowned. "It's that guy again, isn't it? You didn't go see him behind my back, did you?"

  I rolled my eyes. "How can I see him when I don't even know where he lives? Hell, I don't even know his name," I reminded her.