by Dannika Dark
“He leaned in to kiss me.”
Christian reached beneath me and palmed my breast. “What were you wearing?” His fingers pinched my nipple, causing a sharp sting of pleasure to race down to my core.
I squirmed, trying to stroke myself against his length. “Panties and a bra.”
“Jaysus,” he breathed, sliding himself in deep. “Did you want him?”
“No.”
He pumped once, and it felt like a streak of lightning rippling through my body. “Did you touch him?”
“No.”
He thrust again, and I trembled with need.
“Did he make your nipples hard?”
“No.”
Christian pumped five times, and when he stopped, I nearly splintered into a million pieces. “Who do you fantasize about in your bed when I’m not there?”
“You. Only you.”
“Aye, Precious. That’s what I want to hear.” This time he continued at a torturously slow and steady pace.
My body hummed with desire, and sexual energy pooled in my hands.
“The next time I see you wearing that dress at a party, I’m going to take you into a room, close the door, lift the hem above your hips and fuck you hard.”
“How hard?”
His rhythm quickened, and his breath heated my neck in the most delicious way. “So hard that you’ll never remember another man’s name.”
The bed slammed against the wall. I clutched the pillow and flung it to the floor so I could grip the edge of the mattress.
“Tell me you’ll never see him again,” he demanded.
“I can’t.”
“Promise me.”
“I only want you. He means nothing.”
Christian was a beast on my back, so restrained as he tried to be gentle. But a Vampire wasn’t meant to be gentle. I wanted him to be rough and unleashed, so I pulled his hand to my mouth and sucked on his thumb. The sucking sensation roused something primal in him, and when he groaned, I tightened my core muscles all around him.
He finally pulled his hand away. “Don’t bite me, Raven. No blood, but you can suck all you like.”
“I want to suck on more than that.”
“Mmm, next time.”
Would he trust me enough? Did male Vampires avoid oral sex because of the fangs? Images swirled in my head, and every scenario excited me.
Christian pulled out when I rolled onto my back. He stripped away the remains of my shirt, and though I was hot, my nipples hardened when exposed to the cool air. He noticed and took delight in the way my body responded to temperature changes, something that his didn’t do.
I drew up my knees with him between them. “You like it when people watch, don’t you? Does that turn you on?”
His mouth parted as he slid inside. “Aye.”
When I first joined Keystone, I saw him having sex with a woman at the club. I caught a flash of excitement in his eyes, and he didn’t shy away from it. When we had sex in an alleyway not too long ago, the idea of voyeurs had aroused him. Christian wasn’t difficult to read when it came to his sexual turn-ons. Everyone had their own kinky fantasies.
I ran my hands down his back. “So maybe at the next party, when you take me into a private room, you don’t close the door. Leave it open before you bend me over a table and pull up my dress. Give them something to watch.”
His brows drew together. “Are you talking dirty, or is that an offer?”
I gripped his ass and forced him to pound into me faster. “Hurry up. The door isn’t locked. Someone could walk in at any moment.”
He groaned and fell over me, our bodies rubbing together as he buried himself to the hilt.
“Do you want Switch to watch? Show him how good you make me feel?”
His eyes blazed, and I knew that was a definite no.
“People we know aren’t invited,” he growled.
I licked his neck. “What about the bounty hunter? She’s kind of sexy.”
Christian was pumping faster, our skin slapping in a frenetic rhythm as I felt myself nearing climax. “Would it bother you?”
“She was coming on to me.”
“And how did she do that?” he breathed.
“Said she wanted to rub herself all against my tits.”
Christian cursed under his breath, and we were in a frantic race to the finish line. My climax kept me on the edge, tiny pulses of pleasure teasing me but never intensifying.
“We could pay her to just sit there and watch,” I whispered in his ear. “Maybe she’ll get excited by what she sees and touch herself. Would you like that? Seeing a woman turned on by you making me come?”
He pounded into me so hard that I could no longer speak.
“What does she look like?” he rasped.
“Short blond hair, full lips, knee-high boots, no bra… Oh God, Christian. I’m coming…”
I threw my arms around his neck as he rose up on his hands and found his release. My head tilted back as he kept rocking into me, and when his fangs pierced my breast, I came so hard that I shouted his name.
Pleasure rocked me to the marrow, and the pulses just kept coming in unrelenting waves. When I finally let go, I became entranced by his eyes. Was this the first time I’d enjoyed him without the help of blood to match his strength?
He placed a chaste kiss on my lips before lying next to me and nuzzling his face into my neck. Christian didn’t strike me as the nuzzling type, but there he was, nuzzling away.
Out of breath, I tangled my legs with his. “You owe me a new shirt.”
“I’ll buy you ten more, just so I can rip them off.”
“I just bet.”
“Do you think me a pervert?”
I kissed his forehead. “I’ve always thought you were a pervert. Ever since I first came to Keystone and you searched my bag so you could play with my panties.”
He scooted down and palmed my breast, his tongue drawing small circles around the nipple. “I don’t want other women.”
“I didn’t ask.”
His scruffy beard brushed against my nipple when he lifted his gaze. “And why is that? You don’t care enough to be jealous?”
“I trust you. That means I don’t have to ask. But if you ever break my trust—”
“You’ll bury me alive?”
“No, but my father will. Do you trust me?”
“Aye.”
I tugged on his earlobe. “Do you normally interrogate your lovers during sex?”
He propped his elbow against the bed and rested his head in his palm. “I’ll have a man-to-man chat with Switch another time.”
I lifted my head. “Are you serious? I thought that was just part of your dirty talk.”
“A man has a right to know his competition.”
I reached for the other pillow and propped it behind my head. “Switch isn’t competition.”
Christian circled his finger around my navel, and I shivered. “As long as he desires you, he’s competition.”
“I guess that means I have to keep my eye on Lenore.”
“Can we not say her name while I’m still basking in the afterglow?”
“Fine. Glow away.” I stroked his hand, which was resting over my middle. My fingers traced across the smooth silver ring that encircled his middle finger. The man who created it had used magic to set the onyx stone in place so it wouldn’t break, especially since Christian was a Vampire. “Do you ever take this off?”
“I’ll remove it from my finger when I’m nothing more than a heap of bones in a crypt. And even then it’s not coming off.” His tongue explored my nipple. “Your lips taste like watermelon today.” When his warm mouth closed around my breast, I shut my eyes.
“Would you have been jealous if I’d kissed him?”
Christian licked under my breast and traced his way around. “I can’t control what happened before tonight, but from now forward, your lips belong to me.”
“My lips have always belonged to you.” I rolled
on top of him, and we fell into a deep and sensual kiss. One that began feather soft and deepened with love.
“Again?” I asked, feeling his arousal. “Maybe we need to talk about sleeping arrangements first.”
He nibbled my bottom lip. “Since when do you sleep?”
I folded my arms across his chest. “I meant for tonight. We don’t know what Viktor will do in the morning, so let’s be romantic for one night and do all the things that lovers do.”
He reached back and locked his fingers behind his head. “The fire’s lit. The bed is warm. I don’t see any reason to move.”
“So you don’t want to sweep me off my feet and carry me away to your spider-infested room?”
“I’ll have you know I cleaned away all the webs. I can’t help it if a few arachnids survived. I don’t spend as much time in my room as the rest of you do in yours.”
“Do you ever get bored from not sleeping?”
“A few hours isn’t a curse. I’ve learned to keep my mind occupied, and I’ve also learned to shut it off. It’s the Vampire’s version of sleep. We sit very still and empty our minds. Thoughts are exhausting, and they can drive a man mad.”
I tugged his beard. “Since we’re doing this, I have a few rules.”
“Have you now?” He cocked an eyebrow. “And what’ll those be?”
“Don’t ever say to me again that a lady shouldn’t curse. A lady shouldn’t do a lot of things, but you don’t seem to mind me swearing in bed. If you can’t handle a few fucks, then I’m all out of fucks to give.”
He chuckled. “Spoken like a true Graves.” He flexed his biceps on purpose to flirt. “Agreed. What else?”
“If I’m in the bathroom, you stay out.”
“No showers? Now that’s a bloody shame.”
“I don’t mean in the shower or bath. There are some things people shouldn’t see.”
Amusement twinkled in his eyes, but he kept a straight face. “Agreed. Is that all?”
I softly kissed his lips. “No more hiding our affections in public. If you want to kiss me, then kiss me.”
His hand came behind my neck and pulled me in for a deep kiss. Christian’s other arm wrapped around my waist and rekindled a primal hunger.
I pulled away before we got too distracted to finish our discussion. “What about you? Any rules?”
He smiled wolfishly. “No onions before bedtime.”
I touched his Adam’s apple. “I’m serious.”
“And I’m not? I’ll have to dunk your head in the new hot tub to get rid of the smell.”
“My hair might get stuck in the jets. I’ll drown.”
“’Twould be a shame. Especially since you’ve never taken me in your mouth.”
“You’re not afraid I might nick you with my teeth?”
His sharp fangs slowly descended, and he gave me a hot look. “I’ve never had oral sex with a Vampire, so I can’t say one way or the other if it’s something I should fear or desire. Maybe someday.”
I scooted down and licked his nipple. “Why wait?”
Christian closed his eyes.
CHAPTER 30
Shepherd put the finishing touches on Hunter’s bedroom, his forearm still sore from the liquid fire sealing his tattoo. He should have gone to bed already, but he couldn’t wait to complete the setup. The furniture store had delivered Hunter’s bed early that morning, and seeing it set up somehow made it official. Shepherd was so moved that shortly afterward, he did the only thing that made sense: he got a tattoo.
After separating from Christian, Shepherd had made a trip to a number of different stores. Spent the whole damn afternoon shopping for Hunter. He waited until dinnertime before he moved it all in and assembled the furniture. He even ordered pizza to keep the team preoccupied so he could put together a bookshelf in peace.
Hunter’s new bedroom was situated in the middle of the house in the same hall as Shepherd’s. While they were only a few doors apart, Hunter had the far room at the very end that overlooked the courtyard. It wasn’t right to shut him up in a dingy room without sunlight, so Shepherd had chosen a room with lofty windows. Every kid needed to have access to the moon and the stars.
The window didn’t open, another reason Shepherd had picked that room. He didn’t want the boy sneaking out in the middle of the night, especially with the swimming pool not gated off.
Man, all the dangers surrounding them in their own home. Shepherd was receiving a crash course in parental fears in the span of a few weeks. He didn’t want to be overbearing or intrusive, but he also didn’t want to be irresponsible.
After picking up a lit candle, he stood in the doorway and admired the room. The large window opposite the door caught his reflection in the glass. Shepherd didn’t want anything about this room to remind Hunter of Patrick’s house, so he’d put the bed on the right side instead of the left. Since they didn’t have electricity running in this hall, Shepherd had bought one of those rechargeable lanterns to put on the nightstand.
In fact, he’d purchased several battery-operated lights for the room. Stuff kids would like. The long table on the left provided Hunter a surface where he could race toy cars or paint. The plastic scoop chair with metal legs was a little short for the table, but most kids didn’t sit still for long and liked to bounce around.
Shepherd had put the bookshelf to the right of the windows, mounting it to the wall with brackets so it wouldn’t tip over. It had only taken thirty minutes to assemble. Claude’s offer to buy a few books had snowballed into a giant box with enough books to fill the shelves. But it was a nice reading spot, especially with the round blue rug in front of it. And on the off chance the kid wanted someone to read to him, Shepherd had bought a blue swivel chair to put near the bed.
And it didn’t stop there. He couldn’t have the kid sleeping on a bare mattress, so he bought sheets and blankets with cartoons and other images on them. Shepherd stared at the blanket decorated with stars and moons. Hopefully it wasn’t too infantile. He’d hit every corner of the department store, but when he wandered into the toy section, he stopped. Shepherd didn’t know anything about what Hunter liked, so it didn’t seem right to pick out his life. There was still an air of uncertainty as to whether or not this situation would work out, so maybe it was best to slow down.
On a sigh, Shepherd did a final walk-through and switched on some colorful twinkle lights that he’d strung around the windows. A fleeting moment passed where he imagined Maggie in the room with him. It wasn’t fair that she’d never gotten to see her baby, to hold him, to sing to him, and to kiss him good night. All Maggie had ever talked about was how she wanted to see what kind of a person their child would become.
Shepherd hung his head. He didn’t deserve this opportunity. Maggie should have been the one buying Hunter’s bed and picking out his toys.
He wiped away a rogue tear with his palm and headed down the hall toward Kira’s room. It was time for Hunter to have his own space instead of sleeping at the foot of someone’s bed like a found puppy.
Shepherd lightly knocked on the door so as not to startle her awake.
After a few moments, she answered. Her unkempt tresses framed her heart-shaped face, and it was the first time since her arrival that he’d seen it loose and unbound. Seeing her that way was oddly intimate and felt like an invasion of privacy. She worked her fingers to the bone, and Shepherd felt guilty for waking her up.
Kira tightly clasped her robe in the front when she set eyes on him.
“I came for Hunter,” he said, holding a candle between them.
Kira didn’t know English, but she knew names. She also knew that Hunter was his son. She searched his eyes for a moment before turning away.
He waited in the open doorway. The dim candlelight slid across the floor, barely touching the shadowy pile of blankets where his child slept. Kira’s nightgown rustled as she knelt down and pulled the blankets away, waking the boy and helping him up.
Since hanging lanterns sufficie
ntly lit the halls back to his room, Shepherd gave her the candle before taking Hunter’s hand and leading him away. “Come on, little man. I’ve got something I want you to see.”
Hunter didn’t have on any socks and was curling his toes and hopping from the cold of the floor. Shepherd bent down and picked him up, estimating the kid’s weight to be around thirty-five pounds. Was that underweight for a boy his age? Shepherd had no idea, but he decided to make sure that Kira was cooking food that Hunter liked. Maybe that was the problem. Hunter was only accustomed to the foods Patrick had prepared for him, and maybe food restriction had been a form of punishment.
“I got a big surprise for you,” he said as they passed the stairs and veered left down the front hall. “Your very own room. You don’t have to sleep in Kira’s room anymore on that cold floor. How’s that sound?”
The arched hallway spanned a long distance in the east wing. When Shepherd reached their hall and turned left, he put Hunter down so the kid could walk the rest of the way.
“You need to know how to get here on your own.”
Hunter sleepily rubbed his hooded eyes, still holding Shepherd’s hand. He wasn’t wearing gloves, and Shepherd picked up on his curiosity.
“See that door on the right? That’s my room. If you ever need something, just knock. Like this…” Shepherd rapped his knuckles on the door.
Hunter mirrored him before they continued toward the soft glow emanating from the end of the hall. When they reached the threshold, Shepherd pushed the door the rest of the way open.
He didn’t need to look at Hunter to feel the wonderment emanating from his hand.
Hunter broke away and scampered to the middle of the room. The first thing he did was touch the blue light sitting on the long table to the left. Then he hurried to the window and peered outside. His reflection played on the glass from the twinkle lights surrounding the window.
“That’s the courtyard outside. It’s a little cloudy tonight, but you might be able to see the moon from your bed.”
Hunter gasped when he laid eyes on the bookshelf. Shepherd edged farther into the room to watch his son picking a book from the shelf and flipping it open. It wasn’t a story with pictures, and as Shepherd looked closer, he realized it was upside down.
