His didn’t think his heart would withstand another moment of seeing her in so much pain. Pain that he had caused.
“It’s the way I feel when I’m around you. It’s like I’m not in control of myself.” Her head popped up, and her expression held a grimace. “I hate it. I hate not being in control. I’ve been hurt too many times when I’ve let someone in like that.”
Enough. He couldn’t stand there and watch the anger and frustration rack her body. Crossing the room in three strides, he gripped her shoulders and turned her to him. His hands roamed up into her hair and around to her cheeks. Her pain hadn’t begun when he’d entered her life. Someone else had hurt this beautiful woman. And they would pay.
“Who hurt you like this?”
“Let it go.” The tears crested and fell one by one like hot rain onto his fingertips. Her body shook under his palms. “Let me go. It would be better for both of us. Without me here, she would have no reason to hurt me or you.”
“It wouldn’t work.”
“Why not?” Emily tossed her head and sniffled. “Why would she look for me if I was out of your life?”
“It wouldn’t work, because I would have to stop caring about you.” He stroked her hair and traced her full bottom lip with his index finger. “And that is something I don’t believe I’ll be able to do.”
Her sudden inhale breezed across his fingertip and had his cock pulsing. But taking her pain away took priority.
“Kenric, you’re tearing my heart in two and making it hard to walk away.” Another tear escaped and rolled down her cheek.
“Then don’t go,” he whispered. “I tell you what. If you’ll stay, I’ll back off on trying to get you to come with me. Give you some room to think.” Relief washed over her in a visible wave, releasing the tension in her body. “But…” She sniffed and straightened her back.
“Of course there’s a condition. Here it comes…”
Kenric lifted the corner of his mouth at the thick dose of sarcasm. Here was the Emily he knew.
“I stay here.”
“What?” Emily backed up two steps, bumping against the bed frame.
“You won’t come with me, then I have to stay here. On the couch, of course.” He glanced toward the room door.
“Oh my God.” She shook her head. “You make me dizzy, Kenric St. James.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course you would.” Emily pivoted, facing the mound of clothes half in and half out her suitcase. “Fine,” she said, sighing. “But stay out of my way.”
…
Emily didn’t think one evening could crawl by any slower. But Kenric had kept his word and had stayed out of her way. Completely nonintrusive like he’d promised. That was half the problem. He’d stayed quiet, sitting in a chair in the corner of her living room, watching her. He didn’t eat. Didn’t drink. And it was driving her bonkers. Every so often he’d case the place, looking for anything out of the ordinary, and then check in with the Enclave. It was like having a giant watchdog caged in the room, waiting for the perfect opportunity to bite something. Or somebody.
She rolled over and tried to sleep for what felt like the hundredth time. Knowing he was on the other side of the door, not sleeping, uncomfortable, protecting her, felt so wrong. But he did normally sleep during the day, so that didn’t make her a complete bitch. Emily flopped to her back, eyes wide. She should have never taken that sleeping pill when she’d come home from work.
Kicking off the covers, she slung her legs over the side of the bed. If he was going to stay all day, he might as well have the guest room and not the couch.
Emily headed across the hall to the other bedroom and went to the windows. She pulled the blinds and loosened the heavy drapes for added UV protection. The bed had clean sheets already, so in preparation for morning, she turned back the comforter and fluffed the pillows.
“Everything okay?”
“Just getting your room ready,” she said and turned toward Kenric.
“My room?” One dark brow lifted.
“If you’re going to spend the night, you might as well have something more comfortable and safe at sunrise.” She jutted a thumb at the covered windows. “I thought the confined room would keep the sun out better.”
“Thank you.” He nodded. “With everything I’ve put you through, that was very thoughtful.”
“You’re welcome.” She cleared her throat and darted under the arm he’d placed up on the door jam. “I’m… I’m going back to bed. Make yourself at home.” Emily slipped through her bedroom door, not waiting for a reply. She leaned her back against the wood. He kept her so mixed up. One minute he was the dominating lethal creature of the night that every instinct cried out for her to leave alone, then the next he was a gentle tortured soul that screamed for her to hold him and take away his pain. She blew out a puff of air, lifting the fall of hair from her brow. Too much to figure out in one night. Her temples throbbed. She rubbed the spot beside her right eye and made her way back to bed. Emily plopped onto the mattress and eased under her covers. Maybe answers to her dilemma would rise with the sun while he was out of sight. Good luck with out of mind.
…
“Get out!” A loud bang followed the shout, yanking Emily awake and from her bed. Her heart rate jackhammered. Soft light peeked through her blinds, littering just enough daylight across her floor to keep her from breaking her neck as she scrambled for her bedroom door. Oh God, was the vampire bitch in her house?
Emily flung her door wide and searched the shadows of the hall and room beyond. Nothing.
“Nooo…”
The sound came from the other side of the guest room door: Kenric. Gently she placed her palm to the door and breathed deep.
“Kenric,” she called out. Emily pressed in close, listening. A low growl rumbled through the wood. A lump formed in her throat. What was going on in there?
“Get off me.” His words came out as if strangled from his throat. Oh shit, he’s in trouble.
Emily fisted the doorknob, twisted, and pushed inside. The sight that greeted her sent her veins into a deep freeze. Kenric lay nude, except for a pair of black boxer-briefs, his arms over his head, fists gripping the headboard. His comforter had been kicked to the floor, and the bedside lamp had crashed to the floor beside the mound of cotton.
Dear God. Every vein along his forearms and his neck was distended. His jaw clenched as if he were in agony.
“Kenric!” Emily darted to his bedside. Sweat covered his body in a fine sheen. No response. He flung his head from side to side. “God, Kenric,” she called out. “Wake up!”
A loud groan tore from his throat, and his body arched, but it was as if his wrists and ankles were chained to the bed. His spine collapsed to the mattress and his head flung back. Emily kneeled on the bed, leaned in, and with a trembling hand, reached out and brushed the hair from his eyes.
“Kenric?” She touched his cheek. So cold. “Can you hear me?” He didn’t move. “Kenric!” Louder this time. Still nothing. He didn’t budge. That’s when it dawned on her: nothing moved. He wasn’t breathing. “Oh, God! Oh, God!”
Emily grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him hard. “Kenric! It’s Emily. Open your eyes!” His eyelids sprang open.
“Oh, thank God…”
His lips curled back over long fangs with a hiss, and she jumped.
“Fuck with me all you want, Marguerite,” he said, his voice hoarse while staring into the emptiness of the room. “Kill me over and over, if you wish. But you can’t have her, even if your gut is filled with Goran’s blood.”
What the hell? Her? Is he talking about me? Emily glanced around the room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She dropped her gaze back to Kenric. He’d mentioned Marguerite had found a way to get inside his head, but this was unlike any dream or sleepwalking episode she’d ever witnessed.
“I knew you’d never deny its possession.” Kenric sneered, then flinched, h
is head darting from side to side. “I’d rather starve, he spat.
What was she doing to him? “Kenric!” Emily cried again. She had to get him awake. Had to get him away from her. The look on his face. The strain in his body. Marguerite was torturing him, and the sight of it was like a knife through Emily’s heart. She bent over and clasped his cheeks, forcing his face in her direction. “Kenric, it’s Emily.” His eyes were glazed, pupils dilated, staring at some point beyond her. “You have to hear me. Come back to me.” Her voice choked. “She’s not here. Marguerite is in your head.” Emily gritted her teeth then cried out, “Let him go!” She had no idea if the woman could even hear her, but she had to try.
She shuffled closer, placing them face to face. “Kenric!” His fangs were extended, touching his bottom lip. The sight of the sharp points should have freaked her out, but at that point, all she could see was the man. A man in pain. The man who had placed her life before his own.
“Emily?” he mumbled, and his brow wrinkled.
Her heart raced. “Yes, yes. It’s me.” She ran her fingers through his hair. “Look at me. Focus on me.”
“Get out of here!” He shook his head as if trying to break her hold and back away.
“Kenric,” Emily said, her tone dropping to an, I’m-a-woman-who-won’t-be-moved level. “Focus on me. Get her out of your head.”
His eyelids slammed shut, then he blinked, and his gaze bore into hers. Seeing her for the first time. “I said get out of here,” he growled. “I can’t…I can’t promise you I’m in control.” He sucked in a deep breath. “Leave me.” His attention shifted to something in the distance. “Need you,” he began, the words fighting for birth from his throat. “Need you safe.”
“Oh, hell no!” Like she could live with herself if she walked out that door. The very thought had her gasping for air. His head slipped from her grasp, and his eyelids fluttered. His eyes rolled back in their sockets. The bed jerked and his body stiffened. “Kenric?” Emily lunged forward, nearly on top of him. “Kenric,” she shouted and grabbed his head, rocking his face forward. “Don’t you die on me,” she uttered, her voice fierce. “You put me in the middle of this, and I need you to stay with me. You hear me?” she asked, her lips next to his. “Come back to me.”
Emily pressed her mouth against his, willing him back to reality. To her. There was a lot about Kenric that scared the hell out of her, but she realized suddenly that the thought of him not being in her life frightened her even more.
At first there was no response. Only her lips moving across his. She choked on a sob, then poured herself back into action. He jerked, and then his palms were on her upper arms, air filling his lungs. Kenric pushed her back.
“What are you doing?” His eyes narrowed, the pupils no longer human, obscuring almost all the white. “You have to get away from me.”
Emily shook her head. “I’m not leaving you like this. She’s trying to kill you.” She reached out and gripped his face. “Because of me,” she whispered.
“You don’t understand…,” he began, his voice hoarse, as if he’d emerged from a long desert journey.
“I understand you need me. That’s all I need to know.”
…
Kenric closed his eyes, and a shudder wracked his body. Her words slicing into the last hold he had on his restraint. He lifted his eyelids, meeting her gaze. “Are you sure, Wildflower? Please be sure, because I don’t know…. If we go any further—I can’t promise I can—”
Emily clamped her mouth onto his, swallowing whatever else he was about to say. His brain short-circuited and he groaned, meeting her passion, devouring all that she had to give. Every cell in his body cried out for her.
More of her.
To have her.
His head soared under the influence.
He reached up, sank his hands into her hair, and held on. The effect—Emily—grounded him. The feel of her in his palms reminded him this was his Wildflower. He would not be the monster who only took like the last time he held her. She deserved so much more. He dug deep, clamoring for purchase on some small shred of control.
Kenric released her, leaned back, and lifted the hem of her T-shirt. He pulled it over her head, revealing full breasts that gently rocked with each inhale.
“Sweet, sweet Wildflower. You are so beautiful.” Reverently, he lowered his head and placed a kiss to the top of each areola, then moved lower. The sight of her creamy flesh and dark red nipples had his mouth watering. With his tongue, he gave one lazy circle to a rosy bud before drawing it in and ravishing the sensitive tip. The taste of her skin was a sweet indulgence to his senses. A startled gasp and then a pleasure-filled moan urged him on. He longed to suckle the other, but first, he had to see—and touch—the rest of her.
He tugged at her sweats and panties, and she lifted, helping him to yank them free before tossing them to the floor.
Emily brushed her fingertips across his chest. His chest heaved, and he trembled as she explored. Her touch excited every nerve under his skin, and he couldn’t hold back the groan. It was as if his flesh had never been awake until her touch. He watched as she followed the narrow width of his chest hair until it disappeared beneath his waistband. His cock jerked, straining, with her only inches away.
“Show me,” she breathed, and he nearly came unglued. Kenric clenched a fist, released, then moved her gently to the side and shoved his underwear down. The heat of her gaze had every hair on his body lifting in acute awareness.
His erection sprang free and up onto his lower abdomen as he pulled Emily close. He palmed the hard length, stroking his throbbing shaft once, then twice, enjoying the way her eyes followed his hand, as if they were envious.
“I want to taste every inch of you.” Kenric released his cock and scooped her into his arms, rolling them until he’d maneuvered her onto her stomach. As badly as he wanted his shaft inside her, he had to get his mouth on her. Her breath left her lungs with the sudden shift in position. He straddled her calves. “I’m dying to know if you taste as good as you smell.” A soft whimper left her with each lick and kiss he placed behind her knees and to the back of her thighs.
So soft, sweet, and salty. Heaven.
Lifting her hips, he placed her knees underneath her to gain better access to the prize before him.
“Kenric…?” Her voice quivered as she glanced over her shoulder.
“You’re okay, love. I want you to do something for me.”
“What?”
“Grab the headboard.”
“Why?”
He slid one finger through her swollen folds, stopping at the engorged bundle of nerves at the tip of her sex. She arched her back and gasped.
“Grab the headboard and hold on. Don’t let go.”
She glanced over her shoulder then reached for the spindles.
“That’s it. Hold on. Let me show you how good it can be to let someone else be in control.” With his knee, he spread her legs wider, then he twisted and lowered onto his back, placing himself beneath her thighs. Holding her steady with his palms at her hips, he made one long pass with his tongue, tasting her from end to end. Emily cried out and struggled against his grip.
“Oh. My. God.”
Another pass and a flick of his tongue drew a whimper from her.
So damn good.
“You taste delicious. I could do this all night.” He circled her clit and sucked the swollen flesh above it. He nipped and soothed his way along her folds until he found the source of her juices and dove in. Her hips bucked, but he held her in place, pressing her down tighter against his lips, stroking her more deeply with his tongue.
“Please.” She rocked the headboard. “Please, I need more.”
“Shhh… Let me pleasure you.” A quivering sigh left her as he slid two fingers deep. He worked them, stretching her before adding a third.
“Oh…God,” she groaned. “I can’t take much more.” Her hips thrust against his palm, straining to have more of him. “I w
ant you. Okay? Please, take me.” The words, edged with desperation, tumbled from her.
Kenric stroked once more across her clit. Her sudden loss of air silenced any further complaints. He placed her swollen clitoris between his lips and pulled on the sensitive nub with gentle sucks. His spread fingers worked inside her core, filling her. Within seconds, Emily screamed his name. He held on and rocked with her until her tremors settled to gentle waves.
Gently he lifted her hips, slid from beneath her, and maneuvered back onto his knees. Reaching forward, he removed her hands from the spindles and pulled her to him until her back rested against his chest. Her breasts overflowed his hands as he whispered in her ear, “You are so damn sexy. Do you have any idea what you do to me?”
She shook her head. “No. Tell me.”
“Let me show you.” He took her hand, brought it around between them, and wrapped it around his rock-hard cock. The instant her warm palm surrounded him, she left him starved for air. “I want you so much, it hurts.”
Emily squeezed him gently, and his head roared with need, with hunger. He wanted in her—now, in every way possible, hard, fast, and unyielding. “Never have I craved a woman as much as I do you.”
She shivered and released his shaft. Her buttocks pressed against his erection, and she brushed her back against his chest.
He trailed kisses around her ear and down the length of her neck. The salty sweetness of her skin coated his tongue. He licked her fluttering pulse. His gut was on fire, burning for her. “Will you let me have you, Wildflower?”
“Yes.” The soft word left her on a tremulous sob.
“Everything?” Gently he pressed the tips of his fangs against her throat. He had to make sure once more that she wanted this. Wanted all of him. He wouldn’t be able to stop once he got inside her.
“God, yes!”
Kenric urged her hips up with his hands, leaning her slightly forward, and then inch by splendid inch, lowered her back down onto him.
Fuck! So wet. Her tight, hot sheath surrounded the head of his cock, barreling him to the edge of release. And the cusp of restraint.