Blood Rising

by Amber Anthony

  Cat slept on, cuddling next to him in her own dream. When she moved exceptionally close, the sound of her breathing was interrupted by a precious sigh, or was it a moan? Matt’s arms reached out to hold her close, he caressed her sleeping form, and let the music of her even breathing lull him back to sleep.

  * * * *

  Matt reluctantly let the morning sun drag him away from sleep, the delights he remembered within Cat’s body inspiring him to wakefulness. He raised his joyful gaze to hers and grasped her fingers. They smiled foolishly at each other.

  Cat stretched luxuriously, placing her slowly hardening nipples right under his gaze where he couldn’t fail to be enticed. She draped herself across his chest and gave him a lingering morning kiss.

  “The nuns were right, you know. You are a wicked, wicked man to lead a virgin astray that way.”

  Matt propped a hand under his head and watched her smugly. “Oh? You don’t like it? Because we can stop right now and find other entertainment.”

  “Uh-uh.” She emphatically shook her head. “I like it just fine…probably too much.” Cat ran her hand down the length of his chest—soft warm skin over firm muscle.

  He chuckled, grabbed her hand and kissed her palm, and then her lips. “It’s just going to get better and better, baby. Now that you’re not so nervous, believe me, there’s a lot more to come.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah.”

  He shoved his hand into her tousled blonde curls and rolled her under him to merge their lips and breaths together in a long, deep, wet kiss meant not so much to arouse as to bond them together.

  As chaste as he’d started, their hunger for each other was like fire and gasoline, and before they could contain the inferno, they were a wildfire again. He needed to stop, or at least slow down. She’d been a virgin. She was bound to be sore. He needed to be considerate. Matt reluctantly pulled away from her hungry gaze and stood.

  He thrust a hand toward her. “C’mon. Let’s take a shower, and you can tell me more about the nuns’ version of how all this goes.”

  After following him into the opulent ensuite bath, Cat grabbed the shampoo and bath gel off the vanity while Matt adjusted the water temperature and the multiple sprays of the shower. He extended a gentlemanly hand to guide her to him. She joined him under the spray and touched the pink marble walls with wonder.

  She looked at him. “Rick never does anything halfway, does he?”

  “Nope.” After pouring shower gel onto a mitt, he lathered her gently all over. “So, uh, just for fun, what did the nuns tell you about,” he dropped his voice conspiratorially, “s-e-x?”

  “Well,” Cat shot him an amused glance, choosing her hand instead of a mitt to spread the sweet-smelling gel over him. “Not much. You understand, it’s hard to comment on something you’ve never actually experienced.”

  Matt nodded.

  “There was a lot of ‘wifely duty’ kind of stuff. You know, ‘Close your eyes and think of England?’ We did have Sister Mary Bernadette who’d been married before she joined the convent. She always talked about what a happy marriage she’d had, but there were the rumors she’d killed her husband in his sleep.”

  “What?” Matt choked, his hand arrested mid-stroke, but Cat only shrugged nonchalantly.

  “Yeah.” She said it matter-of-factly.

  “My God, with your background, no wonder you decided to become a crime writer.”

  “Sister Mary Bernadette was from Scotland.” Cat laughed. “And she’d say,” she affected a Scottish accent, hands on her hips, “now, girls, forget your romantic notions about the physical side of love. Pleasure is for men. It’s God’s punishment for woman’s original sin.”

  “Hmm. Harsh, and now that you’ve experienced the physical side of love…” He doffed the mitt and drew a slow finger across the suds-smoothed trail of one thrusting breast and down her belly to land tantalizingly on her clit. “Would you agree?” He rubbed softly.

  Cat’s breath hitched and her eyes grew unfocused as fresh lust overtook her. Matt chuckled. “No.” She gasped. “Not unless your bones dissolve…”

  “They nearly do when I’m inside you. Let’s see if we can prove Sister Mary…” he faltered, his mind focused elsewhere.

  “Bernadette,” Cat supplied automatically, then groaned deeply and leaned into him as he sank his fingers inside her. “I liked her a lot, but sister was definitely wrong.”

  Matt swooped her up into his arms and sat her gently on the heated marble shower seat. Turning the shower setting to “cool rain,” he dropped to his knees before her.

  “What are you doing?”

  His smile was wickedly lazy as he gazed up at her. “More. Open for me, Cat. Let me get to you.”

  He started at her shapely calves, running sensuous fingers lightly up the insides of both thighs, insinuating his body between them. Cat’s breath hitched. Her eyes widened. Gradually, she opened her legs for him, and Matt placed her heels atop the marble seat, spreading her. His chest rose faster and deeper as his heated gaze devoured her.

  “My God, you’re beautiful, so pink and lush.” He parted her with his thumbs and dove in with his mouth. He invaded her, using his tongue, with a dark succulent kiss delving inside her pussy as seductively as he’d possessed her mouth. He traced all the curves and eddies of her sex, again and again, giving fresh, delicate attention to each until she writhed on her perch, and he pulled her legs onto his shoulders to keep her from falling.

  “Matt!” Cat’s cry was half plea and half demand. Matt chuckled, knowing a conflagration was about to consume her.

  “Mmm. You’re so wet, baby, so hot. Feel that?” He rubbed against one perfect spot inside her, and Cat shook. She nodded, dragging in a stuttering breath. “That’s your G-spot. Really sensitive. I wanna own that spot. It’s mine.”

  “Sure,” Cat squirmed, “okay.”

  Matt grinned. God, he loved showing her all the wonders of two bodies playing together. The sweet juice of her cunt seeped over his fingers. His balls boiled with renewed need. He reached forward using his tongue to tease her hard, shuddering clit from its hood. A series of rapid-fire licks had her flushing all the way to the roots of her hair. He watched in fascination.

  “You’re ready, Cat. Come for me. Now.”

  And with a final lick and rub from his fingers, Cat cried out and shattered into ecstasy. She panted as the pulsing of her pussy went on and on, encouraged by Matt’s mouth and fingers.

  Matt pulled her up to stand in his tight embrace, his mouth crashing down on hers for a deep, urgent kiss, and just as quickly he spun her around to face the shower wall.

  “Bend your legs a little, baby,” He grasped her hips and pulled her back against him.

  In one quick, fluid motion his long, thick cock was at the entrance of her pussy, sliding smoothly and inexorably inside her, eased by her recent climax. Those newly awakened nerve endings roused for him again, the swollen tissues of her cunt flowering open as he drove into her repeatedly, creating a friction that had him gritting his teeth with need and the determination to hang on until she was ready.

  She was so tight! Jesus! A fine sweat broke out across Matt’s chest and back as he continued to tunnel in and out of her; the need to come drawing his balls up to strangle all his noble desires. He fought down the urge and focused on Cat instead. Her legs wobbled. She reached back to grab his hips, anchoring them together. He leaned farther into her, his chest blanketing her back. He swept his hand around her, fingers gliding down her belly to tantalize her little buzzing clit. It pulsed under his caress.

  “Matt!” She gritted his name, and then sang it like a prayer, low and sweet as she came. “Maaaatt!”

  “Oh, fuck! God, I can’t…”

  The insistent velvet fisting of her cunt lured Matt into his own blinding release, so intense, if he hadn’t been holding Cat up, it would have dropped him to his knees. Instead, he gently lowered them to the shower floor where they leaned against the seat, his
body covering hers. The sounds of their panting mingled with the sound of rain in the little stall, which all at once was interrupted by her stifled sob.

  Matt pulled her onto his lap. His gaze searched her beautiful face. “Are you okay, baby? Did I hurt you?”

  “No. No.” She hiccupped the protest around tears. “I don’t even know why I’m crying. I just…I have all these feelings…I don’t know…what to do with them.”

  “Oh.” He heaved a relieved sigh and held her close, sliding a gentle caress down her back. “It’s okay. Sometimes when an orgasm is really intense, it just…causes tears. Kind of a release of energy, you know?”

  Cat nodded. “I feel like an idiot!” She half-blubbered, half-laughed, looked away. “I don’t see you falling apart like some stupid…girl.”

  Matt pulled her face up to plunder her lips with a deep kiss. “That ‘stupid girl’ reaction may be the nicest compliment a woman has ever given me.” He kissed her warmly again. “And just because I didn’t well up with tears doesn’t mean I didn’t feel it, too.”

  “You did?” Her question was as honest and sincere as everything else she’d given him. Her tear-brightened gaze studied him. “Matt?” It was barely a whisper.

  He nodded.

  “I think…I love you.”

  It was as if a stake pierced Matt right through the heart. No. No, she couldn’t be saying that. She couldn’t even think she was in love with him. This was bad. It was very bad. What if he wound up dead because of this damn Humanité? What if they couldn’t reproduce it and he became a vampire again? No. Fuck, no. It was bad enough that he loved her. It wrenched his gut not to be able to court her with all the lovely words and emotions he felt. Her in love with him? Absolutely not. That would never do.

  “Cat.” Matt tread carefully, picking his way through a mine field. “I’m flattered you feel that way, baby, but it could very well be your reaction to all these new sensations.”

  “Do you think I’d give you my body if I wasn’t sure how I felt?” The devastation of his non-response was evident in sharp relief on her face. “Don’t tell me what I feel, Matt.” She rose with silent dignity, and he released her, feeling helpless. Turning at the shower door, she stared him down. “It would be nice if you felt the same, but for now, my feelings are my own. I love you, Matt. Deal with it.”

  She left him a soggy, defeated mess on the shower floor. He looked at his reflection in the shiny marble wall. I’m the top of the food chain, he told himself, stinging from the irony.

  She should walk out on him, Matt thought, as he washed quickly and rinsed. She should turn right around, drive home and never look back. He was a bastard, a son of a bitch who scored a woman’s virginity and dashed it on the rocks. While he’d given intense thought to his uncertain future, he didn’t consider her feelings. He didn’t consider the love a virgin assigned to the man who took her maidenhead. Now, standing under the last of the cooling shower, he had misgivings and no choice but to seek Cat out and finish their discussion. Too many hormones spiraling out of control caused too many emotions to erupt from him.

  * * * *

  Cat was confident despite Matt’s odd reaction to her declaration of love. That’ll get him thinking. She combed her hair and watched the waves. He loved her. Why he was so reluctant to admit it, she couldn’t guess. She didn’t want to let his attitude stop her from expressing her emotions, but it did. Maybe some willingness on her part would show him confessing his love wasn’t so frightening, after all. She wished it were true.

  Matt approached cautiously from behind her. She turned and smiled, trying to relieve his uncertainly. He looked like a man waiting for the other shoe to drop. Cat’s mood had lightened considerably in the few minutes it took him to towel off and join her on the deck. She stood with a bath towel wrapped around her slim form, letting her golden hair toss in the light ocean breeze. If she was honest, she’d admit she tamped down her emotions to keep things going a little longer. Since she had no answers yet, she decided to go with the flow rather than push.

  “Um…no clothes? I mean, in broad daylight?”

  Matt shrugged. “The neighbors have no view of the deck, and if someone off shore or in the air has binoculars, hey, let ’em watch.”

  She gave him a doubtful smirk. “Sister Mary Immaculate would give you demerits.”

  “How do you know? She might want to see more.”

  “Emm.” She cuddled into him. “I wouldn’t blame her for that.” She gasped when his hands moved to the clip holding her towel, and then the offending cloth dropped to her feet.

  “If I’m gonna get demerits, let’s make ’em count!”

  Cat laughed and rubbed against him. “I’m all for making it count, but not before some breakfast! I’m starving.”

  “Well, there’s lots of food in the kitchen. You can make a gourmet breakfast if you want!”

  “Uh-oh. I have sad news.” She winced. “You’d have had better luck with me cooking if you were still a vampire.”

  “Vampires don’t eat food.”

  “Exactly.”

  “So, you can’t cook, princess?”

  “Oh, I’m sure I could, if they print the directions clearly on the microwave box. You saw my teeny, tiny kitchen. Who learns to cook anything there?”

  Matt laughed easily and then groaned. “Well then, it’s a good thing I can cook. I come from a time before microwaves.” He placed a kiss on her upturned face.

  “No kidding? There was a time before microwaves?”

  He looped a companionable arm around her neck. “Yes, Miss Microwave Queen, there was. You know those mysterious appliances you see in all the kitchens…the big square things that make fire?”

  Cat nodded solemnly, and suppressed a grin. “I’ve seen those.”

  “Well, at one time everyone used them for cooking.”

  “Really? That must have been a lot of work.”

  “All you have to do is decide whether you want omelets or cereal.”

  “That depends. How active do you think we’re going to be after breakfast?”

  He shook his head and grinned at her saucy come-hither smile. “Could be quite active. I considered hanging a trapeze in the living room.”

  “Ooh! Kinky!” She giggled before being smothered by his kisses. “I’m thinking something a little more fortifying than cereal then. Let me get my robe—”

  Matt stopped her with a hand on her wrist, gentle but restraining. “No robes. No clothes. I want to look at you. I want to paint you, just like this.”

  “No…” Cat repeated numbly and swallowed hard. “No clothes?”

  Matt shook his head.

  “For either of us?”

  Matt gave her a naughty grin and shook his head again while Cat considered a moment.

  “Okay. As long as it’s a level-playing field, because I wanna see you, too. The, uh, painting…you won’t show it to anyone else, right?”

  Matt considered. “How about if you pose nude and I supply the clothes on canvas?”

  “You can do that?”

  “It will hurt, but for you…” He winked. “I’ll see what I can do. I’m seeing fig leaves and vines.”

  * * * *

  Matt took a few moments to acquaint himself with what a vampire thought a mortal’s kitchen should contain. As usual, Rick overstocked everything. He’d probably had some famous chef outfit the place.

  Cat rummaged in the fridge, catching Matt’s leer as the cold made her nipples harden and peak. She shivered slightly as she went to the coffee cabinet, and he was unable to resist roaming in behind her, sliding a tantalizing hand around her waist, another over a firm breast to play with her beaded nipple. He slid the hand at her waist down her abdomen, hovering over her golden triangle. She dropped her head back onto his shoulder and moaned. His erection insistently nudged at her back.

  Her voice cracked as she read off the coffee labels. “There’s French mocha, cinnamon vanilla and smooth Italian roast. Which one?”
r />   Matt shrugged, teasing her folds. “Maxwell House?”

  “No.” She sighed the word as her knees quaked.

  “You chose. Are there scones?” His voice got wistful as he idly toyed with her. “I love soft crescents smothered with cream.” Cat groaned.

  Giving him a saucy glance, she popped open the bread bin at the same time she drifted a hand back to fondle his tight balls. “There are, indeed, scones,” she confirmed in a deceptively steady voice as they both pretended they were cooking breakfast.

  Matt upped the ante again by running another finger into her folds, hooking it deep inside her, and then drawing it out to smear on her clit. Cat shook, breakfast forgotten for the moment.

  “So, what do you want in your omelet? I can see you’re hungry.”

  Cat swallowed hard. “I want you,” She turned in his arms, watching his face. “You’ve spent so much time making me feel so…” she bit back words, “so wonderful.” She dipped her head shyly. “I want to do something for you.”

  “Baby, you already—” he began, but she cut him off with fingertips to his lips.

  “I’ve read…I’ve heard…”

  “Yeah?” He watched her curiously.

  “I know men enjoy oral sex…uh…blowjobs.”

  “Oh.” Matt smiled, his eyes widening at the thought. “Yeah, that’s true.”

  “Would you like me to…I mean, I’ve never…but I could learn.”

  “You want to go down on me, Cat?” His voice dropped a seductive octave and made her shiver.

  “Yes.”

  “Yeah.” He blew out a quick breath to keep himself calm. “I’d like that a lot. You want me to teach you?”

  “Yes. Would you?”

  She was so sincere, he stifled his laugh at her eagerness. “It would be my pleasure. Come into the living room. Your knees will get sore on this hard tile floor.” Not that you’ll be there long. His hard-on grew stiffer in anticipation.