I started to ease my hand down toward the hardness pushing against my stomach, when he captured my hands, raised them over my head, and climbed on top of me.
He used his legs to nudge mine apart and simply slid inside.
I moaned deep in my throat. Oh, yeah. That’s a good plan, too.
He lifted his mouth just enough to mumble, “I have missed you these last few days. I hate when I must be away, but it cannot be helped. All I could think about was this. Filling you. Having you wrap your legs around me while I make love to you. Listening to your heartbeat. Possessing you.” He lowered his lips back to mine.
Whoa. That was pretty much all I could think about at that moment, as well. But, I’m sure he knew that, since he had the extra key to my mind.
His wish came true as he began thrusting vigorously. I wrapped my legs around his h*ps and took him as deep as I could. Within seconds, a delicious orgasm built, and I felt his subtle contractions as he approached his own edge.
Giving another marvelous groan, he broke the kiss and whispered, “Will you give me your blood, my love?”
“Definitely yes,” I mumbled, turning my head so he could lick the welcoming vein in my neck.
Geez. What is it about that question? Why does it always melt me into a puddle of hormonal goo?
He angled his head, kissed his way down my exposed throat, and gently pushed the tips of his fangs through my skin. His soft hair flowed across my br**sts. We both moaned.
Having him thrusting inside me and sucking blood from my neck was the most extraordinary feeling ever. Wave after wave of pleasure pulsed through my body, and, as always, the sense of being separate dissolved and we became one being. Merged in every way. Soul to soul. Each experiencing the other’s arousal and release. Vampire sex with Devereux was an off-the-chart thrill.
I screamed as my body spasmed in bliss. My muscles tightened around his erection as he came. After a few seconds, he lifted his mouth from my vein, slid his tongue over the tiny holes to stop the bleeding, and brought his lips back to mine.
Tasting my own blood on his lips had become exciting—intimate. I’d grown accustomed to the flavor and even occasionally wondered what it would be like to sample his. Of course, I wouldn’t do that. Even though Devereux had assured me that the process of becoming a vampire was much more complicated than the literary or movie versions, I didn’t want to take any chances.
And how could I possibly exist without margaritas or chocolate?
Sensing him looking at me, I opened my eyes.
He raised his head, slid his tongue over his upper lip, and smiled down at me. “I apologize for being so impatient, for leaving out the delightful foreplay, as you call it, but I simply could not hold back.”
“Well, I guess I’ll forgive you this time.” I pretended to be serious. “Although, I wouldn’t want you to get into the habit of ignoring the appetizer in favor of the entrée.” Devereux definitely gave good appetizer.
“Not to throw cold water on this tender moment, but you’re getting a little heavy there, Fabio. Do you think you could scoot that delicious body of yours over a little so I can breathe? Some of us don’t have the choice of whether to suck in air or not, you know.” Calling him Fabio was a little joke between us. He didn’t really resemble the aging cover model, but he understood what I meant by the reference.
In the blink of an eye, he was lying next to me. “Ah, how careless of me. I would not want to suffocate the love of my life.”
“The love of your life?” I turned to him. “That’s an odd thing for a vampire to say, isn’t it, since you’re not really alive in the normal sense of the word?”
He frowned. “Are you still troubled by the state of my existence? Is that why you will not accept your role as my mate and take your place in my world?”
Here we go again. Shit. He heard that.
“Yes. That thought was clearly broadcast in your mind. I do not wish to upset you with these discussions, but we must resolve this issue.”
“Why?” I sat up. “Why must we resolve this issue? Why is it even an issue? What aren’t you telling me? Are you keeping something from me?”
He effortlessly moved his body, shifting to sit in front of me. “No. It is not a matter of that. The truth is that I am still attempting to understand your importance to me. The urge to bond with you is great, but the explanations elude me.”
“Bond with me? What the hell does that mean? You haven’t mentioned that before.”
“No, you are correct. I have not expressed it in those exact words, but I have spoken of our deep connection and our destiny.”
“Wait.” I wagged my finger at him. “Are you talking about the portrait of me? You claim that you painted eight centuries ago? That’s what you’re basing all this on?”
Okay. I know he had a psychic vision of me eight hundred years ago and he painted a portrait where I wore the blue, silky blouse I’ve owned less than a year, but I’m making a point here …
“My claim?” His frown deepened and he raised his chin. “As if I am not telling the truth?” He glared at me, his eyes darkening. “The painting is part of it. I have since gone back in time to explore the lifetime you and I shared prior to that …”
“What?” I felt my eyebrows shoot up my forehead. “Are you talking about reincarnation? You’ve got to be kidding. There’s no actual proof of any such thing …”
“Yes.” Anger warmed his voice as he interrupted me. “Just as there is no actual proof for the existence of vampires, yet anecdotal evidence has apparently been enough to convince you of that reality.” He grabbed my hand and pressed it against his chest. “I am proof that there are more things than your science can understand.”
He had me there, but I wasn’t interested in being logical. He’d had eight hundred years to accept all the weird information he’d thrust upon me during the past five months. My brain hadn’t processed what I’d already discovered, and there he was, adding more straws to the camel’s back. The camel was getting pissed.
Inhaling a long, slow breath to calm myself, I withdrew my hand from his chest. Sometimes my therapy training really came in handy. Stirring up his legendary anger probably wasn’t a good thing. Since he’d never directed it at me, I didn’t have any firsthand knowledge about how messy his temper could get, but I was determined to hold my ground.
“Okay.” I locked eyes with him and kept my voice dispassionate. “I’ll concede the possibility of reincarnation, and anything else you’ve got tucked away in your supernatural bag of tricks, but you’ve got to stop pushing me. You’re trying to force me to accept a role that I’ve had no part in creating and one that is my decision to make. I understand that you’ve been around forever, and you’re used to calling the shots, but I’m not one of your minions. I’m not a handmaiden to the master. I know things were different when you were human, but in my world, a woman isn’t property. I’m a professional. I’m my own person and I intend to remain so. Is that something you can, er, live with?”
“It was truly never my intention to bully you in any way.” His eyes softened, and he sighed. “Nothing is more important to me than being with you.” He slid his finger across my cheek, removing a stray hair. “You are absolutely correct that I am used to giving orders and expecting obedience. It is only recently I have come to realize that might not be an effective way to create a modern relationship.” He paused for a few seconds and an expression of sadness shadowed his face. “Often, it does seem I have existed forever. And forever can be a very long, lonely time. I give you my word I will join the twenty-first century.”
I couldn’t help but smile. A gorgeous fallen angel looking vulnerable and sad was just too much for my Inner Therapist to ignore. I had asked him during his recovery to explain why he seemed so stuck in the past. Why he spoke with such a heavy accent and used antiquated words. He said until he met me, he’d preferred the past and tended to spend most of his time there. I thought he was talking about reliving memories, but he meant it literally. He said it was a matter of splitting his attention—of holding aspects of himself in both times and places. Uh-huh. Right. I added that to my list of things to figure out later.
“Okay, oh, great and all-knowing mind-reading master, let’s kiss and make up. We’ll agree that I won’t psychoanalyze you and you won’t coerce me. Do we have a deal?”
He lifted my hand and kissed the palm, his shining aqua eyes gazing at me from beneath long, dark eyelashes. “We do, indeed.” A devilish grin slid across his lips and he leaned forward, pushing me back against the bed with his motion.
I laughed and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him close for a deep, wet kiss. In the midst of appreciating the little lust fires breaking out all over my body, I heard a husky voice in my mind.
“Dr. Knight. I had no idea you were so … passionate. What a conquest you will make.”
I froze in mid-writhe, reeled in the tongue I’d been exploring Devereux’s tonsils with, and thought Hallow?
Devereux jerked up and stared at me, a horrified expression on his face.
“Why is Lyren Hallow in your mind? How do you know the Slayer? What conquest?”
Feeling slightly disoriented, I mumbled, “Oh, yeah. I meant to tell you. A day-walking vampire named Lyren Hallow called the radio program I was on this morning and said he’d come to kill someone I know. He said he’d heard of me, and …”
Devereux vanished.
Chapter Five
“… Wanted to meet me. Hey! What the hell?”
I rolled out of the bed and circled, walking from one side to the other, lifting the corners of the bedding to look underneath. Of course, that was stupid. I knew Devereux wouldn’t be there, but I couldn’t stop myself from searching. I had to do something. After a few seconds, I stood na**d in the center of the room, hands on my hips, scowling.
He’d done lots of popping in and out since I’d known him, but he’d never simply vanished when I was in the middle of a sentence. How rude! Yeah, as if vampires worried about impressing Miss Manners.
His clothes were still on the floor where he’d left them, which meant—wherever he was—he was nude. I chuckled out loud thinking about him showing up somewhere in the altogether. But he must have been very upset about Lyren Hallow to suddenly blink out like that. I’d never seen him have such a strong reaction to another vampire.
The sensual voice in my head a few moments ago had caused the same fuzzy reaction as during the radio program. His tone had an oddly soothing effect. It was only after the fact that I felt creeped out by my uninvited visitor. While he was slithering around inside my brain, I didn’t seem to be in any hurry to show him the door. What did it mean that yet another vampire could invade my mind anytime he wished? And what did he mean by “conquest”?
“He meant exactly what he said.”
Devereux popped into the room a few inches in front of me. He collected his clothes and began dressing. “You should have told me immediately that you were contacted by that madman. I would have taken steps earlier to protect you. I have been so distracted by having to mediate a feud between two vampire covens that I did not realize Hallow had arrived during my absence. I am certain he planned it that way. But that cannot be helped, and I have made arrangements for you to move into my penthouse. We will go to your townhouse first to gather clothing and supplies. You may return to your home when Hallow has been dealt with.”
He bent down and retrieved my dress from the floor. “Here. Put this on while I find your shoes.”
Fetch. Heel. Roll over. Play dead.
I took the dress, stomped over to the edge of the bed, and sat. He was doing it again. Proclaiming another crisis I needed to be protected from, exactly like the two thousand previous dramas. Without giving me any pertinent details, he’d just assumed he knew more about what was best for me than I did. I watched him pick up my shoes and walk toward me.
He stopped in front of me and frowned. “Kismet. You are not dressed. What are you waiting for?”
My voice rose in pitch and intensity. “I’m waiting for the courtesy of some answers. What was it you were saying earlier about not wanting to bully me? What do you call this?”
He made a dismissive gesture with his hand, an arrogant expression on his perfect face. “We have no time for this now. It is important that you be somewhere safe. Somewhere I can watch over you.”
Imprison me, you mean. If I’m not careful, you’ll stick me in one of those old dungeons underneath The Crypt. For my own good, of course. No way do you get to flick me off so easily.
“Well, make time, your majesty, because I’m not going anywhere,” I said very slowly, struggling to hold back a sudden tidal wave of anger. When had I lost control of my life? I’d obviously been too accommodating. “Who is Lyren Hallow, and why is he such a big deal? You called him the Slayer. What did you mean by that?”
Okay, Kismet. Get a grip. What’s happening to me? Why am I overreacting?
He glared at me, his own anger spiking. “You need to stop being unreasonable. I will tell you everything as soon as we are in my penthouse where there are magical protections in addition to vampire security. This is no time for you to misbehave.”
My jaw fell. “Excuse me? Misbehave? You’re treating me like a naughty child again. Being older than dirt doesn’t give you the right to be condescending.”
Red alert, Kismet. Time to calm down. I don’t understand why I’m getting so upset. It almost feels beyond my control.