I nodded.

“I must smell good to you, then.” He stepped closer and in a blink had me pressed against the wall with his body. Every hard line of him ran against me: chest, hips, and thighs lining up perfectly with mine. I placed my palms flat against the wall behind me.

“Get off me.” The words I meant to come out in a shout slipped by my lips in a whisper.

“I think you like me on you. In fact, I’d lay money on it.”

“All the same,” I breathed out. My fangs retracted and I moved to shove him away from me. All I could think about was how much my mother would have hated him. How she would have demanded I break off whatever I had with him and find myself a good boy. One who went to church. A doctor. Someone with an education and no tattoos or piercings.

I blinked up at Remo, grabbed the sides of his head, and kissed him. He let out a surprised grunt, then leaned into the kiss, his tongue flicking in and out of my mouth in a way I’d never felt. He slid an arm around behind me and grabbed my bum, tugging me tighter against his very obvious attraction to me. A groan slipped from me, the sound full of want and need I’d never known. Desire pulsed between us so thick and heavy I would drown in it if I didn’t do something.

I couldn’t help but compare him to Roger, to the sense of duty I’d felt with Roger. The feeling that I had to have sex with him, not because I wanted to, but because he wanted to.

And in that moment all I could think about was how badly I wanted to see where the rest of Remo’s tattoo went, where it began or where it ended. Maybe trace it with my fingers.

I sucked in a gasp and pulled my mouth from his.

“Enough.”

“I think we’re just getting started.” His dark-violet eyes sparkled, little lights dancing in them that sought to draw me down into their depths.

Batting my eyelashes, I pushed his chest and he stumbled back a good ten feet. “I said, enough.” Power coursed through me, and I pulled myself up to my full height. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. You should go. Achilles will be here soon, and the last thing I want is more people getting hurt because of me.”

“That idiot couldn’t find his sword when it’s in its sheath.” He snorted. “I sent him on a wild goose chase out to the edge of the Rockies. He’ll be there for at least a few days searching for you.”

“No, I heard Officer Jensen. He said . . . oh. You’re the boss he was talking to?”

Remo grinned, and my knees wobbled at the impish grin on the big vampire’s face. “Yes, I’m his boss. I asked him to watch out for you.”

“Why?”

“You intrigue me in a way no woman has in a thousand years, Alena. All the power, all that strength. And yet”—he drew closer again and ran a hand through my hair, catching the ends and drawing them to his nose—“there is an innocence about you. As if you have been kept from the realities of the world and believe you cannot be corrupted. I find it intensely attractive.”

I tugged my hair away. “Let me guess, you want to be the one to corrupt me?”

“On the contrary. I like you just the way you are. This mix of beauty and power. Of innocence and strength. I want you to be my First, Alena. Come with me, I will keep Achilles at bay.” His hands pressed against the wall on either side of me, trapping me once more with his body.

His First?

“I don’t know what that is, your First, but I—”

“As in the First one in my bed. You would be my favored woman, the one I hold closest to me in the deep of the night, our skin flushed with the heat of passion and blood, or slick with our lovemaking.”

A flush of desire roared through me, his words painting a rather vivid image. But the desire was followed close by a cold flurry of horror. One of many women he would parade through his life.

“You want me to be your whore? You think I would share a man with other women?”

“Call it what you will. Many would beg to be offered to be my First.”

I shook my head as my fangs lifted away from the roof of my mouth. I pushed them back up with my tongue. “You can take your help and shove it where the sun shines brightly, Remo. I will never be your whore, and for the record, you would only need one woman if you had me.”

His lips twitched and he dropped the tip of his tongue to touch one of his piercings, and I couldn’t help but track the move with my eyes. “So tough. Fine. You know where I am, Alena. When you realize you aren’t strong enough on your own, you can come to me. I will take you. But the price will be steeper then. Interest, you know. Everything goes up in value if you don’t have a buy-it-now policy.” He winked, turned, and walked away from me down the alley. There it was again, that image of a tiger in the jungle, his body visible and then fading into the world as if he weren’t there from one step to the next.

“Yeah, well, you suck.” It was the worst thing I could come up with, and all it did was make Remo laugh. His shoulders shook and his laughter floated back to me.

“Alena, you are something else entirely, I can’t wait till you come to me on your knees. Begging.”

Again his words gave an image I could all too easily see in my head. I was a wanton woman if my mind went to the gutter so easily. I shook my head.

Dang, I was no good at the insults. Maybe I needed lessons.

Remo disappeared around the corner and I stood there, thinking. Where to now? Vanilla and Honey was as good a place as any. I’d slept there more than once when I had big orders coming in. A tiny cot I had tucked in the closet would do nicely. I started back to the bakery, my thoughts swirling.