Matt braced himself against the back of the couch, which he was certain he’d need for support before Cat was through with him. She dropped to her knees in front of him. Demurely, she fisted a hand around his cock, staring at the swollen head, bulging a deep red with need and excitement. She inched forward, experimentally tasting it. He shuddered. She looked up at him with wide eyes and met his ravenous stare. Encouraged, she licked farther, and then ran the flat of her tongue up and down his shaft several times, like a hot, erotic, velvet brush. He groaned. She kept her gaze riveted to his face as she swirled around the head. She tested him further, licking around the underside, watching him tense and shake.
“I think I understand,” Cat murmured, enjoying this new-found power to reduce him to a shivering mess.
“Cat, stop, baby. Stop for a minute.” He gasped.
“Something wrong?” she purred teasingly, going for another lick.
“Not a thing. You’re doing great. Just some other things you need to know, and I can’t tell you while you’re making me crazy.”
“I’m an empty vessel.” She grinned. “Fill me.”
Matt clenched his jaw. “You’re asking about blowjobs…and…there’s more.”
Several minutes later, Cat proved to be an eager student. She sucked him intently, and Matt opened his eyes, dazed, to stare down into hers as she searched his face with such intensity, his heart melted right along with his self-control.
“God, baby. You fucking turn me on when you look at me like that with my dick in your mouth…ah….ah.”
Cat swirled along his underside, sucked, withdrew, took him deep again. With her teeth, she lightly grazed his head on the uptake, and used her tongue to prod the bundle of nerves under his glans. She sucked him deep and hard, and Matt exploded, shuddering violently.
“Oh, fuck me!”
He groaned as the semen erupted from his impatient balls, and into the velvet furnace of her mouth. His eyes flashed wide open, still unfocused, as the blinding ecstasy overtook him. Finally, he relaxed totally, and his lids fluttered shut in sublime contentment. Time froze for a moment, and slowly a one-sided, grin crooked his lips and he opened his eyes. He stared at her, feeling a sweet kind of reverence before bending to take her into his arms and hold her against him.
“Cat, baby, you’re uncommonly good at giving head,” he told her with a soft laugh.
She ducked her head self-consciously. “I just did what seemed natural, and I think maybe you needed it.” He glanced away. A non-verbal confirmation of her guess. “Matt,” her hands cupped the sides of his face, “I wanted to do that for you. I wanted you to feel even a little bit of the joy you’ve given me…I…I loved doing it. It made me feel so close to you.”
“Yeah?” He cuddled her against him. “I loved it, too. You could probably tell.” He laughed softly. “Aw, Cat…” He shook his head, wound a hand around the back of her neck and drew her toward a tender kiss. “I’ve never known a woman as open and receptive as you.”
Cat playfully propelled herself against him, shoving at his chest and hurtling them over the back of the couch and onto its bed. “You’ve had a lot of experience with a lot of women,” she chided. “If I had to guess, I’d say this was not the first time you’ve talked a woman through a blowjob.”
Matt frowned. “No…” he admitted reluctantly. “I’m kinda the go-to guy at the club about that.”
“I see.” Cat arched a brow. “Then, I don’t understand why you needed it from me so badly.”
Matt looked uncomfortable. “One, you’re not just any woman. Women aren’t interchangeable, you know.” He sighed. “And two, yeah, I’ve talked other women through it. I didn’t say I was the lucky guy on the receiving end.”
Cat turned a curious glance up to him. “I don’t get it.”
“I don’t fuck mortals. I don’t take head from them, either.”
“Why not?”
“Compared to a vampire, mortals are like glass. As a vampire, I could do real damage to a mortal woman. I won’t risk getting so turned-on I’m out of control.”
“Are you saying you haven’t had sex for nearly a hundred years?”
Matt barked out a laugh. “I didn’t say I was a monk! No, I’ve had sex with vampire women. We’re on a level field there. Mortal women, no. I’ll never risk that again.”
“It sounds as if you risked it once. What happened?”
“Nothing we need to go into right now. You just need to know mortal/vampire sex, not a good thing.” He shrugged and stood, depriving her of the developing intimacy. “So, getting back to breakfast.”
“Not so fast.” Cat’s piercing gaze nailed him. “I’d like to know a little more about where I sit on the timeline. If you didn’t have sex with donors, and you didn’t let them give you oral, why do you own a BDSM club?”
“Let me get this straight. A day past virginity, and you think you’re an expert on sex?”
Cat shrugged. “I don’t think I have to be an expert to know something isn’t right.” She shot him a searching look. “You make it sound as if you were everyone’s tutor and nobody’s lover. The perennial wingman. That really doesn’t fit with the guy I know.”
“If I were still a vampire, it’d be exactly the guy you know.”
“You mean, if you weren’t human right now, we wouldn’t be together?”
“Not if I was a vampire.”
Chapter 12
The weather turned the next day, and Cat worriedly scanned the turbulent, roiling clouds. Their sunny beach retreat suddenly came under attack by Mother Nature. The wind scuttled around them in a fierce howl, and debris hurled itself against the ocean-view windows.
The pop music D.J. who’d kept them cheerful company on the radio, broke into the top one hundred with a warning. “Hey, surfers, time to beach the boards. We have the tail end of a bad storm heading in from Mexico, coming straight up the Five our way. If you’re on the coast, batten down the hatches. If you’re not, stay home.”
Behind the safety of the beach house’s thick windows, Cat watched walls of water rush the shore while the heavens cracked open, releasing torrents of rain. There was a gleeful kind of mean in the air that crackled with the whip of lightning and deafening thunder.
“His warning’s a little late, isn’t it?” Cat looked at Matt who drifted up beside her to wrap a protective arm around her shoulders.
The deck chaise’s thick cushion, normally protected under its canopy, lifted and flew through the air like a paper napkin at a wind-crazed picnic. Cat gasped and made to slide open the door, intent on dragging it back. Matt’s hand on her arm stopped her.
“Some things can’t be saved.” Like us, in a few weeks. “I don’t want you to get hurt.” But I’m here anyway.
“We made love for the first time on that chaise.”
He tapped on her chest over her heart. “Every wonderful memory about that night will be right here, forever. If it’s that important to you, I’ll get it.”
Cat shook her head. “You’re right. I don’t want either one of us to get hurt.”
Matt’s sigh dragged from the bottom of his soul. “It’s inevitable. One of us is gonna get hurt.”
Cat’s heart clenched, and her alarmed gaze shot to his. “We’re not talking about the storm now, are we?”
Matt led her from the outside turmoil. The bleakness of his face mirrored the melancholy in the air. He looked as if he was drowning in sorrow, and Cat’s alarm escalated.
“I have to tell you something, Cat, and I’m afraid you’re gonna hate me.”
Cat’s knees went weak, and not in that sexy, hot, good way. “Then, I guess you’d better tell me.”
“The fire at my condo…it was more…serious…than I let on. My entire place was destroyed. It was arson.”
“Who would do that? A business rival?”
“I don’t think so. It may have been Veronique’s sire, Papa Moreau. He isn’t happy about the Humanité she’s making. Within weeks of her
giving it to me, he filed an official objection with the Vamp High Council. That makes it serious.” Cat felt her expression darken. “I never thought it would come to this, but apparently Moreau’s not shy about showing his opposition. This wasn’t so much an attempt on my life as an attack against my choices.” He couldn’t meet her seeking gaze. “Cat, they destroyed all the Humanité. Not only that, they killed our research chemist and wiped out all the data from every source. I have no fucking idea what was in it or how to recreate it, and I sure as hell have nothing left. All you and I have is now.”
Cat was stunned. “I don’t understand. You’re human.”
He shook his head. “That’s an illusion. The drug simulates humanity. I’m still a vampire, and I took the last of what I had the day before you joined me here. I can live a few more weeks as human, at most. Unless we find Veronique and the drug, you and I, what we have, will be nothing more than a dream.”
Cat stared at him in disbelief, and as the import of his words sank in, she couldn’t restrain the rush of tears that overwhelmed her. She was speechless.
“Do you understand what I’m telling you?” His deep, rich voice penetrated her misery.
Cat shook her head. “This can’t be happening. Not to us. Not now that we…”
Matt slid next to her, reaching to comfort, but Cat drew away. “We’re working on it, baby. I have people all over the world searching for Veronique. Rick has our lawyers in Haiti trying to reason with Moreau. With any luck, we’ll have our hands on the research again within a few weeks, but…” He left the sentence hanging and shrugged.
Cat’s face felt as if it had turned to stone. “If not, what? I’ve been a really good sport?”
Matt drew a hand down his face. “C’mon, Cat…”
“C’mon, Cat! What? C’mon? Seriously? You make love to me, make me fall in love with you, and then…sorry?”
“Look, I can understand why you’d feel that way—”
“Oh, you can?” she sniped. “Well, that’s mighty big of you! Mighty big of all of you!”
He watched her humbly. “What do you want me to do? Huh? What do you want me to do? You think I like this situation? You think this is how I want it to be? You think I don’t…” he swallowed hard. “Care for you, too?”
“Care for me? What, like you care for a…a…pet or something?” He watched her, his gaze wretched. “So, is this it?” She continued her rant. “Is this all there is?” She jumped off the couch, staring down at him, hands on hips.
Matt watched her warily. “You can leave, you know. I wouldn’t blame you.” He looked up at her, sorrow etched on every feature. “Let me ask you this. If I told you I’d be dead in a few weeks, would you leave me, then?”
Cat gasped and felt the blood drain from her face so quickly, she thought she might faint. “That’s not the same.”
“It is the same. Don’t you understand? In a few weeks without the Humanité, I will be dead—again.”
“Un-dead.”
“Worse than dead.” He rubbed at the ache in his chest. “Not something I’ll inflict on you.”
“Even if you care about me?” she sneered.
“Especially because I care about you.” He hung his head. “For more than ninety years, I’ve driven off every human I’ve ever cared about for their protection. You’d be no different. So, if you can live with now and walk away if I say so, I’ll make these the best weeks of your life. If you can’t, I’ll understand, and you’ll never see me again.” He stood, and in strides that swallowed the space, was out the door and into nature’s riot.
The rolling clouds plunged the world to black while thunder dealt retribution from above. Cat watched, knowing she was truly suspended between two worlds with precious little purchase in either. His words echoed in her mind. If I told you I’d be dead… She recognized that, whatever she believed, death was Matt’s truth. If the question he put forth was literal, would she leave him? Of course not. Then, could she betray him now, and was any of this his fault? No. It was no one’s fault. Well, maybe Papa Moreau’s. She’d never leave him if given a choice. Her worst fear was he’d ultimately leave her.
Cat looked out the wall of windows, searching for him. Matt faced the treacherous ocean, head up, defiant, armed only with his own ferocity and guts. His hair blew wild, his shirt plastered wet against his strong chest. He stood at the edge of a jetty buffeted repeatedly to near ruin by nature’s rage. Was he ready to let the storm claim him if her love wouldn’t?
Cat called out, her voice ripped away by the callous gale. She ducked her head, and blinded by the blowing sand, felt her way toward him. Right now, an eternity separated them, but she wouldn’t relent. Grit and determination brought her resolutely to his side. After she reached him, she threw her arms around him and offered the same shelter she sought from the storm.
“I won’t leave you,” she bellowed above the wind. “Don’t you leave me!”
“Never.” His lips captured hers in a desperate kiss. “Never.”
* * * *
Rick turned his key in the front door while Georgia shook her head. “You don’t know what we’re walking in on. Can’t you respect their privacy?”
Rick pursed his lips. “Privacy. The state of being free from intrusion or disturbance in one’s private life or affairs,” he quoted. “Even the constitution doesn’t actually guarantee the right to privacy. Far be it from me to break with patriotic tradition. So…let’s see what they’re made of.”
She shook her head. “You’re a dick.”
“That’s my name! Hey, they need this news. Unless you want their ‘privacy’ to end in their untimely deaths?”
Rick toed open the door to silence. Not the silence of people grappling in sheets. The silence of vacancy. Georgia ventured in hesitantly, hiding her eyes, only to find the room bare.
“There, you see? No one’s home.”
Her gaze flashed to his. “How do you know that? Maybe they’re in the bedroom.”
He tapped his nose. “Nope.”
“Well, I don’t see how you can be so sure.” She headed up the stairs, calling as she went. “Matt? Uh, Catherine?”
Rick followed in her wake, admiring the folds of her crepe de chine dress over the contours of her luscious hips. “I love an exercise in futility when it includes being this close.” He caressed her bottom appreciatively.
“Stop it, Dick!”
“I’m telling you, they’re not here.” He drew in a quick breath, heading to the bathroom. “They’ve been here, though. Jesus Christ, Matt! They’ve come and they’ve gone, they’ve come and they’ve gone…” Rick arrested on a footfall, hands clasped under his chin. Lifting his head, he spied the couple embracing on the jetty, the waves crashing over them.
Georgia picked up the silk sheet tousled on the bed. “There’s blood on this sheet. She was a virgin? Surely not! The blood has to be from feeding?” She turned to Rick. “I thought you said he wasn’t a vampire right now?”
“And…why?”
She gestured to the bed. “He fed from her?”
Rick crooked a brow. “He preyed upon her, but not in that sexy vamp way.” He held up the sheet and drew in a deep breath. “I’m seeing saddle shoes, a plaid skirt, a white blouse…”
“Whoa! Not Matt!”
“Well, you’re correct, but it would have been really clever.” He winked.
“Clever?” A warning note sounded in her question.
“You’re right. Too cliché.” He lifted his head to the window view again. “Well, now that we’ve assuaged your curiosity…” With Georgia’s back turned, he took off for the living room.
Rick arrived at the dining area just as Matt drew back the sliding glass door. Cat blew past him into the warmth of the house, struggling to close the door against the wind and rain.
* * * *
Matt lingered on the battered deck to secure the outdoor canopy and tie down the umbrella table. In the face of the gale, physical and emotional, he took a
moment to relish that he was no longer alone. Against all odds, Cat had rescued him, but could he fairly claim her? That was the moral dilemma plaguing him. Though she was young and foolish enough to believe herself invincible, he was humbled by a different reality. Their situation was perilous at best, life threatening at worst. He would not lead her to destruction, even if she hated him for protecting her.
Through the wall of windows, Matt watched as Cat scrambled to the comfort of the fireplace, peeling off soaked clothing as she went. Item after item hit the floor until she came to rest on her knees before unlit logs. Her bare breasts tightened in the cold air, her thighs quivered. She turned the gas key to the right repeatedly, finding no success. Her hands shook with the cold.
With three silent strides, Rick was behind her, covering her hand with his, turning the key to the left and igniting tall golden flames, just as Matt slid open the glass door.
Cat screamed and covered her breasts. “When the hell did you get here?”
“Welcome to my home.” Rick smiled expansively. “The emphasis on my. Always good to see you.”
Georgia tromped midway down the stairs in a huff. “I hate it when you do that…” Her words died on her lips as she spied Cat shivering before the fireplace.
Matt squelched a laugh as he entered the tense scene. “Hey, bud! What ‘cha doin’?”
“What’s he…” Cat’s teeth chattered. “He was here when I came in! I didn’t even see him. He rolls in like fog.”
Matt was unnervingly calm. “Well, he is a vampire.” He looked over Cat’s huddled form, picked up the throw from the couch and strode to her. Bending, he lovingly wrapped its warmth around her, and then looked up at the stairs. “I see you brought a guest.”
“She’s not a guest. She’s my new Renfield.”
“How retro.” Matt grinned.
Wrapping the blanket firmly around herself, Cat stood, gathering her dignity. “Rick, what are you doing here unannounced?”
“I thought I just announced myself.” Rick raised a brow to Matt and Georgia. “Didn’t I?”
Blood Rising Page 14