“Hands.” I popped one eye open to see him kneeling between my knees, and the sight wasn’t unpleasant. I lifted my hands from the armrests and slid them into his rough palms, and he started massaging them too. I moaned again and leaned my head onto the back of the chair. “You’d be surprised how much tension people carry in their hands,” he said while his fingers worked over my palm.
“Please tell me you’re not giving me a hand massage just so I can sign a bunch of papers.”
He made a noise that was almost a chuckle. “No. I do have papers for you to sign, but that’s not why I’m doing this.”
I sighed comically. “Do I have to get up?”
“Not yet.”
I let out another mewl when he pressed onto my thumb pad. “Awesome.” He finished with my hands and he bent over me, picking me up from the chair. “The hell are you doing?” He walked me over to a couch on the other side of the room and set me on it before sitting behind me.
“This’ll be better if you stop complaining,” he snarked as his fingers pressed into my spine. Delicious, relaxing sensations went up my back, and he hit all the right spots there too.
“I think you’ve been holding out on me,” I moaned out, leaning into his hands.
His warm breath was on my shoulder. “Maybe I wasn’t sure you would let me massage you without you thinking I was trying to get into your pants.”
Another moan escaped my lips. “Even if you were, I’d let you.” Shit. Why did I say that? Curse you Arthur and your magic fingers! His hands stilled from my words, making me turn to look at him. “I didn’t mean–”
Without wasting another moment, Arthur brought one hand to my neck and pulled me to him, kissing me delicately on the lips like I was a piece of fine china he didn’t want to shatter. With me unable to process this, he kissed me again and I stared up into his icy blue eyes.
“I love Knight,” I said feebly. And I meant it. Dead or alive, he would always be my mate. Would there be room in my heart for another?
“I know,” Arthur said, and he pressed a tender kiss to my forehead. “If he is alive, I will fade into the background and we’ll never speak of this again.” He kissed my cheek. “And if we discover he’s truly gone…” As used to the idea as I was, it still brought a single tear down my cheek. “Maybe things can change between us.”
I sniffed and he swiped the tear away. “But you hate me.”
A small smile curled up on his face and my heart skipped a beat at the sight of it. “I did. But then I learned to respect you. And now…” His thumb ran up my jawline. “You are infuriatingly amazing.”
“Thanks?” He smiled again and I wanted to kiss those lips one more time, but he let me go and stood up.
“Let’s go,” he said, and he held out his hand to me.
I stared at his palm and was suddenly nervous for whatever he had planned. “Go where?”
His lips pursed and he wiggled his fingers. “Do you want me to kiss you again?” I immediately stuck my hand out to take his and he helped me off the couch so fast I fell against him. A flush came over my cheeks and Arthur quickly bent down to kiss it away. “Say no and I’ll stop,” he whispered, hovering an inch above my lips.
I stared down at his mouth, moist from my kiss. “I used to hate you. I don’t know when that changed, but I only know it has.” I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed him in a flurry of passion I would’ve never expected to have for him. “You stop and I’ll slap you again.”
Taking that as the okay, he picked me up and carried me back to the secret room, shutting the door behind us and setting me in the armchair, kissing me while he stood over my body.
“We could’ve stayed in there,” I noted against his lips.
“Stop talking or your mouth is going to get you in trouble,” he warned, sending a shiver up my spine. “You were the first woman not afraid to get under my skin and put me in my place. Almost everyone is afraid of me, but not you.”
I traced the scar up his cheek and grinned at him. “You rough housed that out of me.”
He turned mournful and leaned in for another kiss. “I’m so sorry I did that to you. There was no excuse for my behavior, I won’t pretend there was. In fact…” he cut off and grinned at me devilishly. “Let me make amends.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “I’m eight months pregnant.”
He pressed a finger to my lips. “Stop talking.” I glared at him, because he was such a bossy asshole, no matter how he felt about me. He leaned in for another kiss, and then his mouth kissed a path down my neck, down my chest, across my dress covered belly, and he disappeared behind it, still kissing. I couldn’t see him anymore and the anticipation was killing me. His fingers lifted up my dress and slowly pulled my panties down, his lips kissing a path along my hips as he went. When my panties were on the floor, he parted my knees slowly until I was fully exposed to him, and the thought had my legs shaking under his hands. “Nervous?” he asked from behind my belly, a hint of teasing in his voice.
“Don’t tease me,” I complained, but his tone was only serving to make me even more turned on.
“Ssssh,” he whispered, the action blowing air right onto my exposed clit, and I fell back into the chair with a loud moan. He gripped my hips and pulled me forward until my ass was almost hanging off the chair. “I haven’t even touched you yet and you’re dripping wet.”
“The fuck did I just say-” He cut me off with one long lick on my clit, removing my ability to speak. His tongue lapped at me like a dog drinking water, like my clit held the sustenance he needed to live. When he suckled it into his mouth, I bucked my hips in pleasure, and he held me in place with his large hands.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he warned between licks.
“Shit, you’re such an ass,” I said, moaning louder as his tongue sped up.
“Judging by how wet your pussy is, I don’t think you mind it.” Such an ass. A delicious, sexy ass. One of his hands left my hip and I felt him rub against the opening of my pussy before he pushed two fingers inside. He curled them up at just the right angle where I felt an intense pressure, coupled with his mouth sucking against my clit, I was in heaven. Those two fingers started moving in and out, fucking me in time with the licks, making my moans heat up and I gripped at the arm rests, almost lifting off the chair.
“Oh my god,” I groaned in ecstasy. “Fuck me, Arthur. Shit.” My hands moved to wipe off the sweat on my forehead and I grabbed the back of the chair in wild abandon. I was rising closer and closer to a mind-blowing climax under Arthur’s tongue.
He pulled his mouth away and I complained with a noisy moan. “Come for me, Lisbeth. Come on my face.” Every thrust of his fingers was making me come apart at the seams, but he didn’t continue licking me and I wanted it badly. I was almost there, so close, my fingers ripped at the chair, and just before I felt that moment between pleasure and climax, Arthur’s tongue returned for a blinding suck and I was gone. My pussy clamped onto Arthur’s fingers over and over and I screamed so loudly, my throat went hoarse. His tongue didn’t slow on my clit until my body went limp and I stopped twitching.
“Shit. Christ. Fuck.” I couldn’t form a complete sentence with the pleasure still rolling over me. Arthur withdrew from me and appeared on top of my belly, his chin glistening with my fluids. He’d never looked sexier. I roughly took his shirt and pulled him up for a kiss. When he’d been sufficiently cleaned up from my tongue, he leaned his forehead against mine and I noticed he was breathing as raggedly as I was. I couldn’t reach his pants area with my belly in the way, but I attempted it.
“I’m fine,” he said with a kiss. I raised my eyebrows at him, and he grinned sheepishly. Sheepishly. “I climaxed when you did.”
“Both of your hands were on me.” He grinned again and I smashed my lips against his. “God, that’s hot. Do it again.”
“No,” he said gently, making me pout. “This is all I can give you until we find out about Knight. And I was serious before. If he�
�s alive, this never happened. I’m not saying that to hurt you, so please don’t think that.” I shook my head, because I understood, and he relented, leaning over me. “One more kiss, and then I have to slip back to my role beside you. For now.”
The kiss he gave me was endless, tender, and made my broken heart feel a little less shattered.
The next day, Arthur arrived in my office, and with one look I knew he had indeed slipped back into being my underling. I won’t pretend I wasn’t sad about it, but I can’t say I was eager to learn of Knight’s demise, just so I could be in Arthur’s arms again. There was no choice between the two. Not even a little. I’d choose Knight every time, and Arthur knew it.
“Paperwork?” I asked him with a smile. Nodding, he handed me a stack of papers to sign, and its thickness was causing phantom pains in my wrist just looking at it.
“These are the temporary companion contracts made for the returning companions.”
“That was fast,” I commented in surprise while lifting up the first one. I scanned it and found it very well thought out with very in-depth legal language. “Do we… Is there a group of vampire lawyers here that write these?”
Arthur rolled his eyes at me in the exact fashion Olivier always did, like I was the stupid cousin he had to babysit all the time. “For a smart person, you are very short sighted.” This coming from the man who had made me orgasm against his lips only a day before.
I stuck my tongue out at him. “There’s a difference between being smart and not paying attention.”
“Yes, I’m sure you’re very adept at making that distinction.” I threw a paperweight at him, which he caught insultingly with little effort. “I noticed you didn’t contact any of your past companions.”
“Well, Cameron is a vampire now, one runs his own vineyard, and the rest have lives and obligations like humans are supposed to. I wanted the best for them, and that’s what they did. They got the best. That means they’re too busy to help us, which makes me very happy.”
“And the one with the vineyard?”
“He would come if I asked, which is why I won’t do it. I won’t bring him back here to see us in shambles. I couldn’t bear it.”
“Speaking of which,” Arthur murmured. I glanced up at him, hoping he might reconsider about the no kissing thing, but he merely added another signed contract to the stack on my right. “He’s here.”
He? He who? Cameron? Othello? …Knight?
I felt my pulse begin to race and my hope lifted that it might be Knight, stupid as it was. Maybe Alexander had found him and simply sent him to me to cut out the middleman.
Arthur saw the look on my face and shook his head slightly, making me wilt into my chair. “I’m afraid it’s a guest you’re not looking forward to seeing. James is here.”
20. A familiar face
My feet struggled to move forward on the plush red carpet that led to the bigger drawing-room. I stopped at the door, my hands clutching the Anastasia book in a sweaty mess. I reached out for the door handle. My hand shook every second until it landed on the cold metal. I gripped it tightly and stood there, hoping the door would open by itself so I wouldn’t have to do it.
“He bit you,” Arthur stated. He knew. He’d known this entire time, even when I mentioned James liked doing that to other vampires, and he never said anything.
“You questioned him when you were hunting me?”
“Yes and no. Yes, I questioned him. No, he didn’t tell me about it. I figured it out. Your behavior, certain things you’ve said, and as if I didn’t need confirmation, you’re scared to death to open that door because he’s behind it.” I dropped my hand and felt my cheeks redden. The shame of being bitten was still there, as if I felt somehow that it happened because I didn’t stop him or didn’t try. Like it was my fault. “You’re safe.” I looked up at him, his gaze steadfast as always. Slowly, he leaned in and kissed my forehead, steadying me just enough. “I won’t let him bite you.” He stepped back and I nodded to him, pushing the doors open.
My gaze immediately found James amongst the three people that stood in the middle of the hunter green room. With his back turned, he was admiring one of the large paintings on the wall and pointing at it while saying something to the woman next to him. The woman was Sara, with her pink-tipped hair that was longer now and in stylish waves. She wore a golden dress that looked like it belonged to an Egyptian goddess, emphasizing her generous curves. The third person was James’s son, Drake, whom I was not expecting to see. His presence still confused me with his human not-human smell. He saw me first and pat James on the arm to get his attention.
My breath left my lungs as James turned to me with a weak smile. His pallor was diminished and his eyes had sunken in so badly he looked like a drug addict. More importantly than that, that implacable air of superiority I had come to know was no longer in his eyes. This was not the James that had bitten me. This was the James that had written the book in my hands. The one before his binge filled madness, before his insanity, and before his cruelty.
“Hello, Lisbeth,” he said softly.
The sound of his voice sparked fear inside me again, just barely lessened by the fact that his voice was thin and broken. I couldn’t find words to respond because I hardly knew where to begin. Sara still had her back turned, and my guilty conscience wondered if she hated me now, after how I’d treated her. I hadn’t even bothered to feel bad about it at the time because I hadn’t realized what I’d done until much later. I tried to call her name, but my voice faltered so I ended up squeaking in her direction.
“What’d you use the 2-dollar bill on?” she asked finally.
I laughed and sobbed all at once. “Pencils.”
She turned and raised an eyebrow at me. “Seriously? Pencils? They’d better be badass pencils.” I tried to convey my despair over what I’d done to her with only the look on my face, because if I started apologizing, James might try apologizing too, and I didn’t know what I’d do if he did. Yell? Probably.
It went quiet again and I stole a glance at James’s pale face. I couldn’t stop my stomach from twisting into a knot when he met my gaze.
“I assume we’re here because of that.” He gestured to the book I had in my hands.
I found my voice finally, saying, “I need information on Anastasia.”
“That information is forbidden,” he said, sliding his eyes to Arthur in a challenge, but the warrior was silent. “How do I know you won’t have him arrest me if I even speak one word about her?”
“If this was a trick, you wouldn’t have come,” I told him. “Sara would’ve told you.”
“Maybe,” she said with a grin. “Or maybe I’d get him locked up so he’d behave himself.” James grinned back at her and took her hand in his.
Oh.
The shock at the sight of their intertwined hands froze me. A human and a vampire. I mean, Olivier and Renard had been in love for thirty years prior to his being turned, but they kept it strictly platonic. I had a feeling these two had no such qualms. Me loving a werewolf was high on the ick factor. Human plus vampire was not on the ick factor. It was on the ‘you have disgraced your family and your cow’ factor.
“I’ll tell you everything I know, on one condition,” James said. He kissed Sara’s hand and let it go, stepping closer to me. “If you forgive me for what I did to you.”
No. That was too much, far too much.
“No. There will be no forgiveness,” I said firmly, every step of his shoes forming a cold terror inside me, and I felt a slight pain in my belly.
“Please, Lisbeth. I’ve treated many people badly in my lifetime, but I’ve never treated anyone as horribly as I did you.” I couldn’t breathe. The more he spoke, the more he sounded like the old James, and the more he spoke about what he’d done, the more my mind conjured up the memories. The agony, the torture, and all the enjoyment he’d gotten from it.
Trying to catch my breath, I ground my teeth together. “I said no, James. Respect w
hen someone says no, for once in your life.”
“Lisbeth,” James pleaded, just before he reached out and put his hand on my arm.
I screamed in white-hot agony that burned through me like the surface of the sun. With his hand on my arm, I could feel remnants of the connection his bite had made, even though it had long been destroyed. I felt sick and frightened all at once, recoiling as something splashed against my legs. Arthur was there to stop me from falling, and he picked me up, rushing me out of the room.
My ear against his chest, I felt the rapid beating of his heart as adrenaline rushed through his system. “No, I need…” Pain ripped across my stomach and he almost faltered in his path across our home. “I need to ask him about Anastasia.”
He went up the stairs, taking them three at a time, my head bouncing against him. “Your water broke. You’ve gone in labor.”
21. I was wrong
I was too early. My baby wasn’t due for another month.
“It’s too soon,” I protested weakly from Arthur’s arms. “We’re supposed to meet with the Lycans today, I can’t miss the summit.” He kicked the door open to the waiting room in the clinic wing, and the nurse hopped up from her desk, coming over to close the door behind us. “It’s too soon,” I repeated to her. Arthur refused to set me down as she guided us to the delivery room.
“Vampire babies come early. Nothing to worry about,” she comforted, looking back at me.
“That wasn’t in the baby books,” I joked with a wince. My stomach was tightening up and it did not feel pleasant. “My stomach. Oww.” I pointed to it. The nurse had the nerve to chuckle at me as she helped Arthur place me onto the bed in the delivery room. Haha, look at the cute vampire that’s having a contraction. I will fucking cut you.
The Born Vampire series: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (The Complete Series, NSFW Edition) Page 33
