“There is nothing we could discover that would stop me wanting to taste you,” he said. “But if I do so now, we’ll still be making love at dawn.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
He laughed and the sound rippled over her skin. “I’d be flattered,” he said. “Except I’m not sure which you want more, me, or not taking off the talisman.”
She sighed. He was right.
“You’re thinking too hard.” Christian interrupted her thoughts. “Come, we’ll do this together.” He pushed her gently into the chair and pulled another close so they faced each other, knees almost touching. “Take off the talisman, Tara.”
She took a deep breath and nodded. For a minute, she held the locket between her fingers, rubbing her thumb over the rough surface, remembering all the times she had held it and thought about her mother. She lifted it over her head. As she went to hand the locket to Christian, he shook his head, and she placed it on the table.
He looked at her for a long while as he squeezed her hands in his. She tried to feel reassured, but she didn’t like his blank expression. What was he hiding from her?
…
A sense of foreboding washed over Christian. Something lurked behind her eyes. She still appeared human, but it was like a thin veneer concealing some other form. He breathed deeply and the faint rank, bitter scent of rotting eggs assaulted his nostrils. Demon.
His eyes flickered around the room, searching for an explanation, but they were alone, and his gaze returned to Tara. He inhaled again. The taint of sulfur was still there, but overlaid with something exotic and sweet. It rolled around his senses, intoxicating and sensual. His cock stirred in his pants and heat coiled low in his belly. The prickle in his gums reminded him that he longed to taste her. He closed his eyes and savored the feelings. Whatever she was, it made no difference.
And whatever happened in the future, he knew he would have her this night, in every way possible. She would be his.
“Christian, what is it?”
An edge of panic floated beneath the surface of her voice. Opening his eyes, he made no attempt to hide the hunger in his gaze. He’d kept so much of his real self hidden from her, concealing his exact nature, afraid she wouldn’t be able to accept him. Now he let her see beneath the mask, and her eyes widened with shock. She swayed toward him, but then shook herself and sat up straight.
“Tell me what you see,” she said.
“I see nothing, but you smell…” He leaned closer and inhaled. “Delectable.” He stroked his tongue along the line of her throat. “Edible…irresistible.”
…
At the first stroke of his tongue, Tara’s body melted and her mind ceased to function. She wanted desperately to know what he had seen when she removed the necklace. If anything, he seemed to want her more. It was an almost tangible thing between them, and a flicker of unease rippled through her.
He nuzzled at her neck, nibbling at her flesh, and tremors of pleasure shot through her. She squirmed in her seat, but forced herself to make one more try. She slipped her hand between them and pushed. It made no difference. He was immoveable.
“Please, Christian, tell me.”
He sighed against her throat. Then sat back, and Tara watched, fascinated as he pulled himself under control, wrapped it around himself like a cloak. She waited, holding her breath as the hunger faded from his eyes.
“I don’t know,” he said. “There’s something there, you’re different.” He searched her face. “It isn’t in how you look. It’s in your very essence.” He shook his head. “I can’t tell what it is. May I try something?”
“What?”
“Do you trust me, Tara?”
Strangely she did. She nodded.
“I want to try and get inside your head. We need to do it at some point anyway.”
“We do?”
“You heard me with Piers. I promised. And you’re less likely to come to harm once you bear my mark. Too many people in my world have met you now, and for some reason you’re not easily forgotten.”
“You won’t make me do anything I don’t want?”
He murmured, “I assure you that you will crave every last thing we do together with every cell of your body.”
“Promises, promises…” But she had no doubt that he spoke the truth. “Okay, what do I have to do?”
“Nothing. Just don’t fight me.”
He took her chin between his finger and thumb, raised her head, and stared into her eyes. Tara waited for something to happen. After a minute, he released his hold and sat back.
“Well, that was a bit of an anticlimax,” Tara said. “What happened?”
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I was sure with the talisman gone you’d be mine to take, but I can’t get in. Your mind is locked up tight.”
“What does it mean?”
“It could be a number of things. I don’t want to speculate without knowing more.”
“Why?” she asked. “Are all these ‘things’ unpleasant?”
“Not at all,” he said, and she had the distinct impression that if not lying outright then he was being stingy with the truth. “But it’s been a long evening for you and there is one more thing we can do tonight.”
“And that is?”
His eyes roamed over her before setting on her throat. “I can taste you.”
“Taste me?”
“Drink your blood.” His voice dropped, low and dark. Sharp prickles of sensation shot through her body, stiffening her nipples to hard little nubs, clenching the muscles of her belly into tight knots of desire. She shifted in her chair and he smiled.
“We can tell a lot from a person’s blood. It may reveal exactly what you are, what has been done to you. Are you willing to let me drink from you, Tara?”
She stared at him, mesmerized as the tight hold on his control slowly unraveled, letting the monster peer out from within. He smiled with a flash of fangs, and her breath caught in her throat. She opened her mouth but no sound came out, and she closed it again. Taking a deep breath, she nodded. A fierce flare of excitement gleamed in his silver eyes and an echoing surge shot through her.
This was the point of no return. She didn’t care.
He stood up and lifted her effortlessly in his arms. Her body rested against the coolness of his chest as he carried her through the dark house and up the stairs. He kicked open her bedroom door and laid her on the bed. The curtains were open and moonlight streamed in through the window.
Staring down at her in the dim light, he truly appeared part monster, his pale face filled with a fierce predatory beauty. Her eyes ran down his body, snagged on the bulge in his pants, and her whole body tightened in anticipation.
He started to unbutton his shirt, and her eyes followed his movements. He paused halfway. “Are you sure? You say you don’t want to belong to me, but once this is done, I’ll not easily let you go.”
Tara hardly heard his words. He couldn’t stop now. Desire flowed through her like a living thing, but she didn’t have the experience to show him how much she wanted him.
“Please, Christian,” she said.
It was enough. He ripped open the remaining buttons, shrugged out his shirt, and tossed it onto the floor. He was beautiful, pale like marble, each hard line perfectly sculpted. His ribs were visible and his flat belly ridged with muscle. A line of dark silky hair bisected his stomach, disappearing beneath the waistband of his pants. She followed it down, swallowed and caught his eyes. They were hooded, gleaming beneath his lashes. He held her gaze as his hands went to the fastener of his pants and flicked it open. He paused before sliding down the zip.
Tara’s heart raced, the blood thundering in her veins. His soft laughter echoed in her ears.
“Scared?” he said.
He dropped his pants to the floor and stepped out of them. He was naked now, while she was still fully clothed and burning up. She couldn’t take her eyes from him. The silky hair thickened, forming a dark nest from which his cock
rose proud, erect, almost vertical against his flat stomach. Pale glossy skin stretched tight, the head swollen, darkened with a faint blush of blood, and he was huge, though she had nothing to compare him to. She couldn’t take her eyes off his shaft, which jerked with a life of his own.
“You look as though you have never seen a naked man before,” he said. The heat rose in her cheeks, and his eyes narrowed. “Tara, have you seen a naked man before? Have you ever actually done this?”
Tara decided to misunderstand him. “What?” she asked. “Provide dinner for a vampire? Nope. Never. This is definitely a first.”
He smiled at her answer, and knelt on the bed beside her. She breathed in the musky, almost feral scent of him, and a wave of dizziness washed over her. He stroked her cheek.
“A virgin? I suppose it’s unsurprising considering your upbringing. But intriguing all the same.”
“Hey, it’s no big deal. I never got the opportunity. But it makes no difference, so don’t worry that I’m going to go all weird on you. This is just sex, right?”
“Just sex?” A flicker of something flashed in his eyes. “If you say so, but I think you’ll find that there is no ‘just’ about what we’ll do together, and no, it makes no difference, but perhaps I would have been a little more discreet,” he gestured down the length of his naked body, “had I known.”
She looked again at his cock. It twitched under her gaze and her insides threatened to melt. She could almost feel him inside her the desire was so strong. She pressed her thighs together to relieve some of the tension, licked her lips, and heard him groan. He straddled her hips, and reaching between them, he picked up her hand, brought it to his body, and wrapped her fingers round him. He was cool and hard, the skin like satin stretched over steel. She squeezed, and his head went back. She released him and fluttered her fingers up over the swollen head. It pulsed, and he groaned again. He put his hand back over hers, stopping her movement.
“You’re wearing too many clothes.” He gripped the sides of her jumper, slid it over her head, then traced the black lace on her bra. “Pretty.”
He trailed one long finger over the soft swell of her breasts. His nail dragged across the swollen nipples, and lightning flashed to her groin. He repeated the action, and her hips rose of their own accord. Slipping a hand beneath her, he flicked open the catch of her bra, peeled the straps down her arms, and tossed it to the floor. He sat back on his heels and covered her breasts with his large hands. His palms were cool against the fiery heat of her skin. For a moment, they squeezed then drew down to frame her breasts as he took one pouting nipple between his teeth. She went wild beneath him as pleasure shot through her body. His hands held her still with ease as he kissed and licked her breasts, sucking on the sensitive nipples.
She thought she’d explode as the sensations rushed through her and settled in the hot, swollen place between her thighs. She needed something, anything, and her hips bucked against the restraining cage of his body.
“Shh,” he said against her breasts, while his hands glided down over her belly and stoked the fires inside her. They moved lower and he cupped her denim-covered sex in his palm, his fingers pressing upwards to her core.
She strained against him.
It wasn’t enough.
She needed him inside her.
He slipped open the fastener of her jeans, slid down the zip, and tugged her jeans and panties down over her legs. He paused to pull off her boots and socks, and she was free.
The cool air brushed her skin. Raising her head, she stared down the line of her naked body. He stood at the foot of the bed, clasped a hand around her ankles, and dragged her legs apart. A slow smile spread across his features as he drew the scent of her arousal into his nostrils. “You smell divine.”
He knelt between her open legs and trailed one hand up the inside of her thigh, his fingers stroking over the thin skin. “I can feel the blood in your veins,” he whispered.
Chapter Fourteen
Tara went still as Christian lowered his head and kissed the exact spot where his fingers had been. His lips parted over her skin and flames shot upwards to the junction of her open thighs. She wanted to cry out with the need that thundered through her. Instead, she bit down on her lower lip and tasted the sharp metallic blood on her tongue.
Christian raised his head slowly, sniffed the air, his eyes focusing on the drop of blood that clung to her lips. He moved, faster than she could have believed possible, and he was crouched over her, his hair falling about his shoulders, his lips drawn back to reveal the razor sharp fangs. She should have been afraid, but instead she licked the blood from her lip with the tip of her tongue.
Hunger flared in his eyes, the silver now streaked with crimson, and a low growl trickled from his throat. He closed his eyes. When he opened them, he had regained some level of control.
“You’re playing with fire,” he said.
He lowered his body onto hers so the hard length of his erection pressed into her belly. His hands moved up to cradle her face, the pad of his thumb running over her lower lip. Tara flicked out her tongue, teased him, and his body jerked. Leaning close, he kissed her. Tara opened her mouth beneath his and his tongue thrust into her.
She rubbed her hips against his straining erection.
“Slow down,” he said against her lips. “Or I’ll lose control.”
“I don’t care.”
He laughed softly and the sound moved across her body like a caress. “I can see that, but you’re small and I’m—”
Tara glanced down the line of their bodies and a flicker of fear shot through her, cramping the muscles of her belly. “Not,” she finished for him.
“I’ll make sure it’s good for you.”
She breathed slowly and forced herself to relax.
“Good girl.”
He slipped a hand between their bodies, stroking over her breast and belly, down through the soft curls at the base. He parted the lips of her sex with skillful fingers, fondling the already saturated folds. One long finger slid inside her, and her muscles clenched tightly around it. He withdrew and slid the finger now slick with her juices higher. He teased and tormented her, his finger gliding lazy circles around the hard little point of her desire. Tara’s thighs fell open, and she heard his low masculine chuckle. She didn’t care—she had to have this. She pushed up against his hand. At last, he touched her there, and she cried out. He rubbed his finger over the tight little nub, pinched it between his finger and thumb, and she screamed as her world exploded.
He played her mercilessly, waiting for the tremors to subside, touching her again, sometimes softly, then increasing the pressure until she was mindless with pleasure. She hardly noticed him shift up her body, positioning himself between her wide-open thighs. Only when she felt the huge swollen head of his cock nudge the opening to her body did she come back to herself. She shifted to accommodate the sheer size of him as he stared into her eyes.
“Give me your throat, Tara,” he said.
She raised her head and bared the long line of her throat. Her whole body tightened, anticipating his penetration. With one fluid move, he plunged deep inside, and a fierce stab of pain shot through her. Tara threw back her head to scream as Christian sank his fangs into the soft flesh of her neck.
The scream caught in her throat. He pinned her effortlessly, and after a few minutes, the pain subsided, and she calmed. He filled her completely, but he hadn’t yet moved. As she relaxed, he shifted his hips, grinding his pelvis against her, giving her a flash of the pleasure she’d felt moments ago. The last of the pain vanished. She moaned, and he loosened his hold. His fangs were still buried deep in her vein and now she felt the slow drugging pull as he drank her blood. It tugged at places deep inside her as he started to move. The drag of his cock as he withdrew created exquisite sensations, and the push as he filled her completely stoked the fire at her core.
The mouth locked at her throat held her immobile, and she gave herself up to the
sensations building inside her. Moving more easily within her as her tight muscles accustomed themselves to his invasion, his speed increased, still controlled but powerful. She wanted his lovemaking to go on forever and at the same time, she needed it to end.
He released her throat, and suddenly she could move again. He rose up above her, fierce and wild, her blood staining his fangs crimson. Withdrawing from her almost completely, he held himself poised until his muscles strained with the effort.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
She nodded, and he smiled, his eyes not leaving hers as he shoved into her hard. She gasped, but her body rose up to meet him and her legs wrapped around his waist as he drove them both over the edge. She clung to him as she exploded the second time, and still he kept moving as the orgasms rolled over her. Finally, when she could take no more he went rigid above her as his own release thundered through him.
…
Christian gazed down at the woman beneath him. Her eyes were closed, and she appeared unconscious. Had he pushed her too far? She’d seemed to be with him all the way. He stroked his tongue over the small wounds to quicken the healing, and felt for her pulse. It was strong and steady. He rolled onto his side, propped himself on one elbow, and watched her sleep. Her blond hair lay tousled, her pink lips open, her cheeks still flushed with desire.
She shifted uneasily, and he reached out a soothing hand, caressed her cheek, wrapped his arm around her, and pulled her to him. She didn’t wake, but her body snuggled into his as though it belonged there. He held her back curved into his chest, curled his arm around her, and took one sweet breast into his palm. Lowering his head, he found the soft place where her shoulder met her neck and breathed in deeply. He caught again that same whiff of sulfur overlaid by a deep rich sweetness. He’d tasted the same delicious mix in her blood and now her life source buzzed through his system like a drug.