"h.e.l.lo! Thinking much?" she teased. She was about to enter her office when he took hold of her arm and gently eased her close to him.

"I think you're being bugged," he whispered. "Just get your things so we can go home."

Melissa narrowed her eyes, silently questioning him. When she realized it was no joke, she nodded. "I'll be right back."

True to her word, she was in and out of the office in less than a minute.

Once they were on the street, Melissa asked, "What makes you think someone was spying on me?"

"I thought I saw something in the frame on your desk. The one holding the picture of you and your parents."

Melissa made a face. "I've had that frame for nearly a year. Do you mean to tell me-"

"He could have broken into your office. Or-it's a common type of frame-it would be easy to swap it out without you noticing."

Sebastian realized that his long-legged stride was making Melissa have to nearly run to keep up with him so he slowed his pace.

"It would explain how they knew about the journal. Is there any way of making sure?"

Sebastian nodded and paused at the corner as traffic moved past them on First Avenue. "I can bring in my laptop and try to tap into the wireless signal."

"Why is this happening?" Shaking her head, Melissa let out a resigned, tired sigh. "What next, I wonder? Could something I'm carrying be bugged?"

He wanted to call himself a fool a thousand times over for not thinking beyond the frame in her office. "Yes. Anything new?

Anything someone gave you?"

Melissa slung her knapsack from her shoulder and gave its exterior a cursory once-over. Nothing appeared to be on its surface or in the straps. Quickly rifling through it, she confirmed that it held only those things she had placed inside. "Nothing."

"Good." The light turned and they resumed their walk. "We'll talk to Diana and Ryder about this later tonight. Hungry?"

"Not really. I ate a big lunch with a friend. Mexican."

"Your friend's Mexican?" Sebastian teased.

Melissa laughed as he'd intended and playfully jabbed him in the arm. "No, the food. But of course, you knew that." He grinned. "Si, but I like seeing you smile."

"So are you hungry?" Melissa asked and slipped her hand into his as they ambled back to her apartment.

Sebastian glanced down at their intertwined hands and his grin broadened. "Always, but I can wait until later. Maybe you'll be hungry by then and we can grab a bite."

"It sounds like a plan."

"It definitely does."

Chapter 14.

T he door shut with a resounding slam that reverberated through the large open s.p.a.ce of the living room.

Ryder stood with his back to them, arms braced on his hips as he stared at the door where Diana had just stormed out.

Melissa tossed a quick glance at Sebastian before saying, "Where do we go from here?"

Ryder whirled to face them. "We do what we had planned-"

"Up until the hacking part," Melissa finished for him.

"Diana will have a hemorrhage if we do the hacking part," Sebastian added.

Ryder glanced over his shoulder at the door. "I think she already did."

"Naw, that was just Diana working up a righteous anger," Sebastian clarified and gave a small wave with his hand. "I'm surprised you haven't seen it before."

Ryder surprised her by grinning and rubbing his ribs as if they were sore. "Let's just say we work out her anger in a different way.

Slightly painful, but more effective."

Melissa shot a glance at Sebastian, wondering what it would take to push him that far and how he would react when pushed.

Would he react physically like his sister? That thought led her to images of getting physical while making up. Heat raced through her, but she fought it back. She should be thinking about the investigation.

"So if we stick to the plan-except for the hacking part that is-Sebastian will come with me to the hospital to see if I'm being bugged and try to track down the signal," Melissa said.

"And Melissa will read the entries in the last journal," Sebastian added. "Maybe there will finally be something worthwhile in that one."

Melissa nodded and finished with, "Then we can decide what to do about getting more information about Sloan."

Ryder let out a frustrated sigh and dragged a hand through his hair. "And your grand plan is for me to sit and do nothing. Day after day, I'm G.o.dd.a.m.ned trapped in here. And Diana..."

"Is out there. In the dark," Sebastian said. "Dark being the operative word if you're a vampire, right?"

"Subtle, Sebastian. Very subtle." Ryder glanced at the door with longing. "Seems to me it is dark outside. Just the right time of day for a little ol' bloodsucker like me."

"I think you know where she lives." "And works," Melissa added.

Ryder smiled. "Seems you two have everything worked out. Don't wait up."

In a blur of motion, he was out the door.

Sebastian was a little unnerved and he realized Melissa was, as well. "Not used to seeing that?"

"Not sure he's even used to it. Ever since he was hurt, it's almost like he's regressing. Like he's becoming more of a vampire."

"Why's that do you think?"

Melissa shrugged. "His life has become more isolated, for one. He's still too weak to go out except when the sun is almost totally gone. He's needed more feeding-"

"And you accomplish that how?" Sebastian was alternately intrigued and repulsed by the concept of vampire dinners, possibly even angry at the knowledge that his sister had been a snack on at least one occasion.

Melissa held her hands up to stop him from going further. "Not personally. I get expired blood bags or pick up blood from a butcher downtown."

Sebastian rubbed at one eyebrow with his index finger. "Speaking of expired blood bags. Have we eliminated Nurse Sara from the list of suspects?"

"What do you think?" Melissa leaned toward him on the sofa. She had made herself "comfortable" again, this time in charcoal- gray yoga pants and an oversize maroon T-shirt.

Shifting closer to her on the sofa, he cradled her cheek. "I think suspect numero uno, and possibly only, is your Doctor Sloan."

Melissa's brow furrowed as she considered his comment. He soothed the lines there with a finger. "No more thinking, Melissa.

It's time for a little R & R."

"Rest and relaxation?" she asked with a smile.

"Actually, I was thinking Ryderless." He slipped his arm behind her neck and applied gentle pressure until she shifted on the couch and sat on his lap.

Once she was settled there comfortably, Melissa smiled and ran her fingers through his hair. "So that's one R. What's the other one?"

He closed his eyes. "Hmm, I like that."

She increased the pressure of her fingers on his scalp and turned in his lap to straddle him. "How about the other R is for rubbing?"

Shooting her a half glance, he cupped her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and, with the barest of pressure, moved his fingers along the tips. "Rubbing, like this?"

Her breathy "Yes," confirmed that they were on the same track.

As seductions went, it was a slow one. Which was good. Exceptionally good. With the softest of caresses, her nipples hardened into tight peaks. As she skimmed her hands to his shoulders and kneaded the muscles there, he grasped the tips of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and rotated them tightly between his thumb and forefinger.

She let out a soft, almost pained gasp and he paused. "Too rough?" "Could we add another R?"

His erection nearly burst through the denim of his jeans, especially when, without waiting for his reply, she rubbed her center along the length of it. He knew then, like the other night, there would be no stopping.

Somehow he worked his wallet out of his pants, as well as the condom he kept there. In a blur as fast as that of Ryder's disappearing act, Melissa's pants were somewhere on the floor, along with his jeans, and he was sheathed in the condom.

He met her gaze as she poised herself directly above him, and there was no doubt about what would happen next. They'd waited too long already.

Grasping the naked flare of her hips, he gently glided her down onto him, as deep as he could go. When she would have moved, he applied slightly more pressure to keep her still and said, "Not rough. Not yet."

Melissa's breath was trapped somewhere in the middle of her chest. Her heart seemed to stop beating until he ripped her T-shirt off her body, baring her to the heat of his gaze.

She looked down at him. At the angles of his face made sharper by the light from the lamps at each end of the couch. At his eyes so dark with pa.s.sion, the brown of them had seemingly melded with the black of his pupils.

She groaned and clasped his head to her. His lips encircled the sensitive peak of her right breast and suckled it, drawing it deeply into his mouth. She moaned again and tried to move on him to ease the growing tension between her legs, but he swept one arm down, held her in place.

"Not yet, amor. You're so hard against my lips." He shifted his mouth to the pale skin of her breast. "So sensitive."

His words undid her. "Sebastian," she said and a little mew of pleasure escaped her as he took her other breast into his mouth.

"Sweet," he whispered in soft tones before he teethed her hardened nipple. She ground herself down on him, needing more.

"Tell me what you feel," he urged as he sat up to suck at the sensitive spot between her neck and shoulder.

She bent and kissed the side of his face. "Shaky," she replied, her breath uneven then gone as he sucked harder, to the point of pain.

Sebastian ripped himself from her and gulped in a breath. He'd left a mark. "Sorry."

She gave him an unsteady smile. "I liked it."

He had to close his eyes and muster what little restraint he had to keep from coming right that moment. She wasn't the only one who was shaky, he thought, his body trembling from his battle for control. She soothed him by running her hands along his shoulders, but it wasn't enough. His shirt still separated his skin from hers.

Sebastian didn't know if he said it, or if she just sensed it.

Melissa reached down, grabbed the hem of his T-shirt and pulled it off. When her eyes deepened to a midnight blue, he knew that she was pleased with what she saw. When she eased close, brushed her b.r.e.a.s.t.s against him, it was the end of his restraint.

He rose, still buried deep inside of her, and she wrapped her legs around his back.

The action forced her onto him even farther, surrounding him with a heat he could feel even through the skin of the condom. She shifted on him, nearly pulling out, then slipped down deep. It made him want..."I wish I could feel the wet of you, Melissa."

He took a step and then another until he was at the door of her room."Tell me what else you want." She moved on him again.

His climax was building, low in his belly, and gathering force. His breath exploded from his chest; his arms and legs trembled so badly, Sebastian knew they weren't going to make it to the bed. At least not yet.

He turned until her back was braced against the wall. Gripping her sides with his hands, he drove into her, relented to her request.

"I want to be buried so deep I don't know where I end and you begin."

His voice was uneven as he said it. Rough with his longing. Rough like his movements as he increased the force of his penetration, driving her against the wall. She welcomed it, wrapping her arms around his head as he suckled her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Tightening the embrace of her legs and meeting his movements with the shift of her hips.

Melissa gulped an uneven breath and kissed the top of his head. After, he raised his face and took her lips in a kiss that seared her with its demand. She opened her mouth to him and lost all sense of herself. All sense of everything except the way their bodies were joined. Everything except the heat and the musky smell of s.e.x and Sebastian.

One rough thrust ripped a moan from her but she welcomed it, whispering her need against his mouth. Pleading with him to finish.

To take them over the edge by releasing the climax that had built inside her, twisting her insides into a tight knot of need.

With another harsh drive, it happened. His breath caught and his muscles rippled beneath her hands. There was the sudden swell of him inside, releasing an answering surge from deep within her.

Melissa cried out his name, closed her eyes and threw her head back as pleasure rushed through every part of her body. But she didn't release her grip on him, nor did he withdraw from her.

As the tide of their climax ebbed, Sebastian tenderly eased her from the wall and cradled her in his arms.

Melissa held on to him as if he were a lifeline, her arms and legs wrapped around him as he took the dozen or so steps necessary to get to her bed.

When he slipped with her onto the sheets, he was still joined with her and to her surprise, growing hard once more.