“Lachlan.” It was half plea, half moan. She kicked off her heels.
“This is your last chance, Valor. If you let me get my hands on you tonight, I’m going to ruin you for anyone you think might have the balls to try and take my place.” I slid one hand along her cheek, then tunneled my fingers through her hair. The other hand drifted up her waist until I found the zipper under her arm.
“What’s to say I won’t ruin you?” she challenged, her eyes crackling with need.
“Oh, lass. You already have,” I whispered against her ear as my fingers grasped her zipper. “Three.”
Her fingers traced the V-line of my abs, and I sucked in a breath.
“Two,” I warned her, starting to slowly unzip her dress.
“One,” she finished, tugging my towel free and dropping it to the ground.
It was on.
I claimed her mouth in a deep, wet kiss as I pulled her zipper all the way free. We both groaned at the first touch of our tongues. It had been nights since I’d kissed her. Nights since I’d tasted the honey between her thighs. And days of dreaming about getting here again.
There was nothing hesitant or shy about this kiss. No, it was teeth and tongues and heat. She pushed her dress down her hips, and I heard the rustle of fabric as it fell to the floor. Her fingers wrapped around my cock, and I broke the kiss with a hiss.
“God, Lachlan,” she marveled as she stroked me from root to tip, her fingers not quite meeting. The pleasure of it was white-hot, jolting up my spine and spreading through my body.
“Fuck,” I muttered as her hand worked me, her thumb swirling over the drop of precum that escaped my cock.
She lifted her thumb to her mouth and licked it clean, just like I had done for her at the opera house.
The growl that escaped me wasn’t anything that resembled human as I gripped her ass and hauled her up against my body. Then our mouths tangled again, and she hooked her legs around my waist as I carried us to my bed.
The kiss went on and on as I lowered her to the covers, careful to brace my weight so I didn’t crush her. There was so much that could go wrong here if I lost control, so many ways I could hurt her if I wasn’t careful.
She sucked my tongue into her mouth, and I kissed her deep before rising above her and looking my fill. She wore a strapless black bra and matching lace thong that contrasted erotically against the pale silk of her skin.
“Beautiful,” I murmured, my gaze taking in the high rise of her breasts, the lean muscles of her stomach she’d honed with hours of training that tucked in at her waist, the delicate swell of her hips, and the sweet space between her thighs. “You are perfect, Valor.”
She arched her back, slipped her hands behind her for a second, then threw the bra to the ground. I fucking loved how confidant she was in her body, how at home she seemed in her own skin.
Her eyes met mine with a hint of challenge, like she was daring me to find some imperfection where I already knew there was none. I lowered my mouth to her breast and sucked it between my lips, tonguing the peak until her nipple was hard and swollen. She moaned, rocking her hips beneath me, and she moved her hands to her hips.
I caught her wrists, then gathered them in one hand and pinned them above her head. “You don’t get to have all the fun of undressing you.”
“Then go faster.” She arched a brow, hooking one leg over my hip.
“Greedy girl.” I grinned, then kissed her hard, fusing my mouth to hers until she was breathless and gasping.
Then I released her wrists, hooked my thumbs in the straps of her thong, and slid off the bed, taking the scrap of black lace down her thighs with me. I hit my knees on the floor, and as soon as her panties were off, gripped her hips in both hands and tugged her to the edge of the bed.
“What are you doing?” she asked, leaning up on her elbows.
“Feasting as promised,” I growled against her inner thigh, inhaling the sweet scent of her arousal and holding it my lungs like the drug it was.
Touch. Taste. Bite. Claim.
The demands of my instincts filled my head and locked my muscles, lengthening my fangs. There would be no biting and no claiming—not in the way my body wanted—in bonds and blood. But touching? Tasting? Fuck yes.
“Fuck, you smell incredible.” If all we had was one night, then I was going to make the most of it. I pushed her thighs wide, sealed my mouth over her pussy, and licked her clean, groaning at the honey and citrus taste of her as she slid down my tongue, my throat.
“Lachlan!” she shouted, her fingers spearing into my hair. Her feet pressed against the side of the bed, looking for purchase, but the bed was too tall. She couldn’t rock against my face, couldn’t use her own body as leverage. She could only lay there and accept what I gave her.
I stripped her control, leaving her with nothing to do but feel.
My tongue swirled around her clit, teasing but not stroking. She tasted so damned good, and the little catches in her breath were better than any orgasm I’d ever had in my life. My entire focus narrowed to her. Nothing outside this room mattered. The whole world could burn for all I fucking cared. I had Valor in my mouth, her hips in my hands, her moans in my ears.
I ate her like the finest dessert, with long licks and little nibbles, savoring my treat, pushing her to the edge only to pull her right back when she got too close, building her pleasure with every ounce of skill I’d picked up over the last few hundred years. It had all been for this moment—this woman.
When her breaths came faster and her thighs trembled, I fucked her with my tongue, sliding in and out of her pussy as I drank her down. She fluttered around my tongue, so I fucked her harder. Her thighs locked, and her keening little cries came faster and higher.
I used my fingers to push her over the edge, flicking her swollen clit. She came, her walls squeezing down on my tongue, and I stroked her through it only to replace my tongue with my fingers.
Then I sucked her clit between my lips, and she gasped.
“Lachlan. You’re killing me.” She tugged on my hair, but I didn’t move.
“I’ve fantasized about this for months, Valor. You’re not rushing me,” I warned, nipping her flesh with my fangs, but careful not to break the skin.
One hint of her blood, and I’d be inside her with more than my cock.
You can’t. Stealing her blood would be the ultimate violation, and I’d never take from her like that. Ever.
“I just want you ready for me.” I stroked her with one finger, and she moaned. I added a second.
“I’m ready, I—” She groaned, arching her hips as best she could as I licked her clit and thrust my fingers inside her pussy.
“You’re so fucking tight.” She was a vice around my fingers, squeezing me as I curled them against her G-spot and sucked at her clit.
“I’m…holy shit, Lachlan!” She came again, her hips bucking against my face as I continued stroking and sucking. Minutes later, her legs went limp against my shoulders. “Get up here,” she growled.
My cock throbbed in agreement.
I prowled over her body, grasping her ass and sliding her up the bed, lining my cock up with her entrance in the same move. Magnets.
“Wait.” Her eyes flew wide, and her hands braced on my chest.
I stilled completely, holding my weight on one elbow as I looked down at her. “What’s wrong?” Fuck, I tried to keep my voice soft, but need pounded at me like a damned sledgehammer.
“N-nothing,” she stammered, swallowing. “I just need you to know that I’m not a virgin or anything, if that’s what you’re expecting.”
“Okay?” My eyebrows furrowed, and sweat broke out over my skin as my muscles strained against the instinct to drive forward and claim my mate.
“Are you disappointed?” Apprehension flickered over her features and threatened to replace the haze of lust.
I would have laughed, but she probably would have hit me for it, so I settled for a grin. “I’m not a virgin, eith
er, lass. Does that disappoint you?”
“No, of course not!” She blinked.
“Exactly. All I need to know right now is that you want this,” I rocked my hips a fraction of an inch, pressing the head of my cock against her swollen, slippery entrance. If she didn’t, I’d manage. I’d climb off her sweet, supple body and walk straight into the ice-cold shower, even if it killed me and froze my cock off.
She cupped my face and stroked her thumbs over my cheekbones. “I want this. Take me.”
Fuck yes.
My grip tightened on her ass, and I kept my eyes locked on hers as I pushed inside her with a series of rolling thrusts, going a little deeper with each one until she took me to the hilt, and then I stilled, waiting for her to adjust.
Fire. I was surrounded by velvet fire that threatened to burn me to ash. But what a way to go. She fit me perfectly, like her body had been made to be taken by mine, and I marveled at the difference. Sex had always been…sex. This was something different. Something that transcended description.
“Are you okay?” I ground out between gritted teeth, willing my body into submission when it demanded to thrust.
“God, yes.” Her fingernails bit into my shoulders, and she lifted her legs to my hips. “You feel so damned good.”
“I was going to say exactly the same thing.” I bent my head and kissed her gently, the opposite of the violent need holding my body hostage. “Fuck, Valor, you’re so hot around me. So perfect.”
She rocked her hips against mine and let out the sweetest moan.
That was all the permission I needed.
I took her with hard, deep thrusts that moved us up the bed, setting a slow, punishing rhythm that had sweat dripping down my back. We reached the headboard, and she braced her hands on the dark wood so she could push back against me as I drove home again and again.
“You’re so deep,” she moaned, her eyes sliding shut. “Yes! More!”
“You like it deep?” I pulled her hips into the next thrust and pushed back at the pleasure that threatened to take me over.
“Yes!” She threw back her head, arching that long, lovely neck, and my gaze locked onto the pounding pulse beneath her flawless skin.
My fangs throbbed, and I lowered my mouth to that smooth column—No!
I yanked my head back and withdrew from her body as she groaned in complaint, whimpering as I flipped her to her knees.
“Hold onto the headboard, and I’ll show you deep,” I promised, stroking my hands from the incredible swell of her ass up to her breasts and cupping the swollen mounds gently as she did as I asked.
“Please.” She pushed that ass back against me, and I almost came at the sight of her. Valor was the most sensual female I’d ever seen, and she was mine.
I lined up my cock and drove into her, taking her even deeper than before. We both cried out.
Harder. Deeper. I pounded into her, and she took every stroke, arching back for more, using the bed as leverage. I might be the dominant one, but this woman was my equal in every way, taking everything I had and demanding more.
I gave it.
I surrendered my body to hers, using it in every way I could to bring her pleasure. My cock stroked her faster. My mouth sucked a raspberry into the skin of her shoulder, bringing the blood teasingly to the surface. My fingers found her clit and stroked quickly, bringing her to the edge as I did everything I could to hold off my own pleasure.
I’d felt her come around my tongue and fingers. This time I wanted to feel her pussy ripple around my cock as she found her climax.
“Again?” she asked, her voice breathless as her muscles shook.
“Again,” I demanded, banding my arm beneath her hips to hold her upright and driving on relentlessly, pushing her toward that edge.
She cried out, then screamed my name as she came, her pussy gripping my cock in a satin fist as the orgasm took her.
Whatever was left of my control snapped, and I took her faster, losing all sense of rhythm and finesse as my body took hers with wild abandon, my mouth opening wide over her skin, my fangs pulsing as my mouth watered, demanding I take her blood.
That coiled pleasure that had centered at the base of my spine exploded, and I snapped my mouth shut as the orgasm barreled through me like nothing I’d ever felt before. I emptied myself inside her as I buried my face in her neck, my fangs so distended that I tasted the copper of my own blood as I saw stars.
Fucking. Stars.
I collapsed against her but remembered to throw my hand out against the headboard at the last moment so I didn’t crush her.
This was what I’d been missing. Hundreds of years. Nameless, faceless women. Nothing compared to the satisfaction that filled my veins and lightened my chest as I lowered us both to the bed and curled around her.
Our hearts raced. Our breaths were ragged. Sweat made our skin slick.
I’d never felt more complete, even without feeding from her.
“Wow,” she muttered, turning her head so she could kiss me. “Just…wow.”
“Aye.” I took her mouth in a slow, leisurely kiss.
We stayed there for long moments until our skin cooled, and yet my blood heated again.
She gasped as I swelled within her. “How are you hard again?” The wonder in her voice made me grin.
“There are benefits to having a vampire lover, my Valor.” I rocked my hips forward once, and she groaned. “You have a choice now, lass.”
“Do I?” She rotated her hips in a circle, and flames licked over my body.
Holy shit.
“We can make the best of this day, or you can walk away.” I nipped at the shell of her ear.
She shivered. “Yes, please.”
“Which one?” I laughed, swiveling my hips so I corkscrewed into her.
“The day. All day. Just today.” She sank her fingers into my hair.
“Just today,” I echoed, then got busy showing her half a dozen ways I could get her off, knowing I’d never be able to fuck her out of my system like she’d implied.
She was a drug. One hit, and I was an addict. It was that complicated and that simple.
One blissful day.
We fell asleep sometime after the fifth…or was it sixth round, and I tucked my body around hers. I’d never known this kind of peace. I would go to war to keep it—to keep her.
When I woke the next evening, I reached for her, ready to start all over again.
The bed was empty.
She was gone.
10
Valor
Lachlan’s scent curled around my body, clinging to my skin.
His hands on my hips.
His tongue in my mouth.
Stars bursting behind my eyes each time he thrust into me.
The highlander had successfully and thoroughly wrecked me, ruined me. Because there was no way in hell anyone could ever taste as good, feel as good, or push me to new levels of pleasure like he had.
Which was precisely why I practically sprinted to my room the second he’d fallen asleep.
I’d wanted to stay in his bed…that’s why I’d left quicker than if his sheets were on fire.
And, damn were they on fire.
I laid in my own bed now—as I had all day, barely sleeping—safe from myself and the damn bond.
The same bond that had seared and sparked and tingled the entire time Lachlan’s body was on mine. Fucking hell, I’d never had such amazing sex. Never felt so connected on every single level—like we anticipated our wants and needs before they even manifested.
Magic.
Lachlan, not the bond. I had no doubt the highlander had been skilled for centuries on how to get women off, but last night? It had been more than a release, and that’s what scared me most.
Day transitioned to night, and even when I head Lachlan leave his room, I still couldn’t bring myself to go after him. My head spun with what happened, and what I craved on a level I couldn’t possibly understand.
Finally, when I heard his door click over an hour later, I raced into the hallway.
“Where did you go?” I asked and instantly cringed. God, I sounded like a clingy girlfriend. “I mean, is there news?” There, at least that question had purpose. We hadn’t heard a peep from Daphne, and I blamed myself. No doubt they were monitoring her emails more than ever now. She may even be denied internet access because of me. Guilt ate at my insides.
Lachlan adjusted his leather jacket as he turned away from his door to face me, and I saw it then. The dullness that had been in his eyes before, the lack of color…
He wasn’t hungry anymore.
“I had to eat, lass,” he said before a smirk shaped his lips. “Someone used up every drop of my energy.”
“Every drop?” I challenged, stepping into his space because I needed to be closer.
“Aye,” he growled as I teased my fingers over his hard chest.
“Nothing left for me?” What was I saying? Fuck, once was supposed to be enough. And yes, sure, the edge felt smoothed, but I still wanted him. Now more than ever. Not enough to make my head spin, but enough that I knew what it was like, and there was no going back.
“Now that I’ve eaten…” He let the sentence hang there, and a new image struck my mind—his fangs sinking into another female’s neck. His lips against her skin as he sucked—
I took a step back, my body flooding with adrenaline. “I didn’t want you to feed,” I snapped, sounding as childish as my jealousy felt.
A low growl rumbled his chest. “You want me to starve? You hate me that much?”
“No! The idea of you dying—” I cut myself off, so not going there. I rubbed at the aching spot on the center of my chest. “Fuck, Lachlan!” I damn near stamped my foot, and the smirk he wore? Omigod I wanted to punch him. “I know it’s irrational, okay? I know I shouldn’t feel jealous, but fucking hell, I do.”
His brows raised. “It’s not like that, lass. I’ve told you—”
“I know it isn’t. Lyric has explained the need to feed to me very well.” I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. The idea of your lips on another woman’s skin…” I saw red. Literally, I saw fucking red. “I hate this stupid bond. It makes me think like an irrational, territorial animal.”
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