****
She woke when he returned to the room. For the few seconds before she regained total consciousness, Adrienne appeared young, fragile—she was both of those things. What had the universe been thinking, giving her to him?
His bride rubbed at her eyes. “You came back.”
“I never left the castle. The sun was high.”
“I’m glad you didn’t take off after sunset.”
He shook his head. “As long as you were here, I’d never go far. Locking myself away to keep you safe I can do. Disappearing is another thing altogether.”
“Feri gave me some memories of you.”
“He told me. It was of the day we were changed.”
She stood, rubbing at her eyes. “Ema. I was in her body. I saw things through her eyes. Until the point you left her at home. When she went to sleep, I woke.”
“Feri put you in Ema’s body?”
The man had a sick way about him sometime. He had put Hanzi’s bride in his dead fiancée’s body?
“I...” How was he to explain? The truth worked best. “She was a girl I loved when I was a human boy.”
“Yes. I got your relationship.” She smirked. “I’m afraid if she was your type you might want to rethink your thing with me. We’re a bit oil and water, she and I.”
“Adrienne, you misunderstand me.” And it was important she follow what he said. Maybe he had never spoken more pressing words. “Ema was a sweet girl, and if she had lived and I’d not been changed, we would have married and had a very nice, ordinary life together.”
“I know, Hanzi.” She looked away, and he couldn’t have her not understanding him perfectly. Adrienne’s eyes should always be on him when they were together. Standing in front of her, he reached forward and turned her chin until she looked him straight in the eyes.
“Ema would never have survived my change. She would have taken a single look at me and dropped to the ground in a faint. She wasn’t strong enough to have wanted me as I am. I know these are early days. Too soon for so many expectations. However, you don’t strike me as the swooning type. Tell me something. If nothing else, do you want me? As I do you? In the ways of a man and a woman?”
His heart beat wildly. He couldn’t believe all the ways his day had gone. Since he’d touched her, his cock had hardened instantly to the point of pain. The blood need, however, was staying away. It was a nice change and not a gift he’d take for granted.
“Are you asking me if I want to fuck you?”
She wanted to shock him. He knew it in his bones, and so he smiled because, like her, he wasn’t easily thrown off his game.
“Yes. Exactly.”
“I shouldn’t.” She reached out to stroke the side of his face. “Only I do. Only not the same as before. Earlier my desire felt obsessive. This minute, my wanting you is slow. Hot. Needy.”
Hanzi kissed her. He needed her as he did blood, maybe even more.
Chapter Four
She lost herself to his kiss. His embrace started out gentle, yet soon he took complete possession of her mouth. Adrienne closed her eyes. He licked her bottom lip. Shivers started at the base of her spine and moved upwards. His kiss was possession and she wanted more of it.
So when he drew back, she didn’t know why. He studied her face, and she wondered what the vampire, who she was sure was about to become her lover, saw there.
“Tell me something, kicsikém.”
She didn’t know what his word meant, but she liked it. Loved hearing how it rolled off his tongue. How the endearment seemed to caress her.
“If we had met under different circumstances. If I were a man, a living male, what could I say to you which would make you happy?”
Adrienne touched the side of his face to feel his soft skin. “You’re so warm, Hanzi. How can you not call yourself living?”
“I am something, only it is not alive. Were I able I would stay far from you for your whole life. I would protect you from anything harmful, including myself.” He closed his eyes. “And yet I can’t stay away. I was drawn here to you. Before Jerome read in his book it was to my turn to find my bride I knew you were coming to me. I felt it in my bones the day you were born. A jolt of electricity as if I had been struck by lightning.”
With her hand on his cheek, she rubbed the side of his eye until he opened his lid. “I didn’t choose to have a destiny. Yet, when I am with you, since I saw you in my dream, through Ema’s eyes, I can’t help but wonder what role I am to play in who you are.” She couldn’t breathe for the need to speak the question weighing on her heart. “Will it hurt me when I die?”
He sucked in a loud breath. “I won’t kill you.”
“My death is part of the path.” It had always been part of the destiny her parents described.
“I have to draw the line somewhere.” Hanzi took her hands in his. “I will not bring you into the dark night with me. I will not feed from you.”
“Hanzi.” She wouldn’t live in a dreamland or let him continue to fool himself. “I don’t think not dying’s how it’s going to work. I saw you earlier. You wanted to bite me; it went beyond a wish to do so and became a total need. And then I responded to it by desiring it, too.”
“Why don’t you let me worry about it?”
She wished she could. He was a vampire, and she’d gotten a strong dose of what it meant to be around him when he lost control. Adrienne stared into his blue eyes. No man should be so beautiful, and the sad truth was he’d always been good looking, even when he had been an ordinary human.
“You’re beautiful.”
“I’ve always been pretty enough. I really don’t care about those things. Better to focus my time elsewhere.” He bent over to kiss her hand.
“Play pretend with me.” He really did seem fixated. “What would I do next?”
“Dear vampire, have you been out of the game for so long you don’t know?”
She touched his chin. Touching Hanzi might become a habit if she wasn’t careful. His eyes flared to life every time she did it. When had the man in front of her last been caressed, stroked?
Hanzi sighed loudly. “When last I set about to court a woman, I barely touched her for potential impropriety. Since then, it has been a matter of trying not to make a lasting relationship.”
“Ah.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “So you’re being solo is how it has been then, has it? You and I share the same history, deliberately avoiding long term attachments.”
He opened his mouth to answer, but she didn’t want to give him the chance to comment. Whatever his thoughts, good or bad, on their shared sexual history, she didn’t think they’d known each other long enough yet to discuss all those details.
She took his hand. “Come.”
He raised his eyebrows and then followed her to the couch. She sat, indicating he should do the same. “You wanted to sit?”
“No.” She leaned back against the side of the seating. “I wanted to lounge.”
With a tug on his hand, she pulled him on top of her. It took him a second to realize what she was doing and then he kissed her. As before, Hanzi made love with his mouth. She closed her eyes and let him lay siege.
He pulled back, his eyebrows furrowed. He looked like a man lost in thought, not passion. She took her cheeks in his hands. “When was the last time you let go?”
“I’m afraid doing such a thing isn’t possible for me. I’m a predator and I have to keep myself under control.”
She leaned forward to kiss him gently on the lips. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“I don’t think you’re a stupid woman. Be afraid. It’s self-preservation.”
“Hanzi....” He frustrated her, and she wanted to keep it out of her voice so he didn’t misunderstand. “You want to play pretend, right? Let’s do it. Tonight I’m a single lady—not a woman who has known for a decade her life was not her own—and you are a man—not a vampire who has haunted the night forever.”
“I wouldn’t exactly
say haunted....”
She held her hand out in front of her. “I’m talking. Not you.”
His eyes flared with heat. “As you say.”
“We’re you and me. Only we’re not. Do you understand? We met last night at the bonfire. I had too much to drink. You took care of me by bringing me to your house.” She reached out to stroke the slope of his nose. “I was hesitant to sleep with a stranger. But I’ve had today to know you. I’ve changed my mind.”
“Adrienne...” His voice trailed off.
“You say my name as if it’s musical. It makes me”—she deliberately licked her lips—“hot.”
His crooked his neck to the left. “Is that so?”
“Let me show you how much.” She pushed him back until he was flat on his back. “I don’t have to be in charge in the bedroom, but I can be when you need it. Tonight you do. We’ll see about the future. On this couch, you do as I say.”
He breathed her name again. “Adrienne, I had no idea you were so intense.”
“I’m full of surprises. I got to run around in your past for a while today. You’re going to have to spend time getting to know me.”
He raised a dark eyebrow. She didn’t know what his look meant, and she couldn’t care less. Running her hands over his still clothed body she got to where his cock hid beneath his pants. She rubbed her palm across it, and an impressive package jumped beneath her touch.
She bent closer and, after undoing the button to his pants, took the small slide in her mouth to undo his zipper. He sucked in his breath, and his abdominal muscles jumped.
Adrienne had always loved giving head. It made her feel powerful. Knowing whose erection she was about to caress only increased her enjoyment. By the time they got to her later, she’d be soaked through her panties. She smiled at the thought.
He wore white boxer-briefs. She stroked him another time through the single layer of clothing left before she tugged his pants all the way off, followed immediately by his underwear. His cock jumped to her attention.
Large, thick, and heavily veined, his cock made her mouth water. “Hello there.”
She raised her eyes to stare at his. Hanzi’s eyes were hooded. “I think your penis is happy to see me.”
When he didn’t answer she almost laughed. Hanzi was so serious. She had to lighten his mood. Giving head was serious, certainly, yet it was fun as hell.
“We’re playing pretend right? Remember?”
He nodded. “What you are about to do. To say it’s been a long time would be....”
She interrupted him. “Right now, we have no past, no history. Got it?”
“Okay.” His voice lowered. “Since playing a pretend game was my idea. Of course I had no idea where you would take it.”
“Sshh.” She cupped the top of his cock squeezing it tightly. He hissed in his breath, and she couldn’t help her smile. “Hanzi, I am going to make you feel so good, honey.”
She licked his tip; his cock jumped in response. Her vampire was a responsive lover. Men could be blasé about a lot of things, but not, in her experience, blowjobs. Particularly when they needed to get off as much Hanzi seemed to. Adrienne wanted to show him she would take care of him.
Opening her throat, she took him as far deep as she could manage before pulling back. He moaned, and a satisfying jolt rocked her pussy. She loved the power part. There was something so sweet about knowing he was under her control.
He tasted of hot, ready male. A salty dab of pre-cum slipped out on her second plunge downwards, and she greedily sucked it all. Hanzi smelled of the outdoors, the camping trips her parents had made her go on when she was young, the way the morning had smelled fresh and clean. Also, a hint of red wine.
“Adrienne....” When he said her name it was breathy. She was really getting to him, which was exactly what she wanted.
She got serious. If she wanted him to clear his head, she had to do the same. And since she had such a large canvas upon which to practice her art, she went to work on getting her vampire off. Minutes passed, and his hands gripped the back of her hair, pushing her further down his shaft. She grinned, squeezing his balls with her free hand. He shuddered beneath her.
Yes, she wanted him to come.
His movements became jerky beneath her, and his hands tighter in the back of her hair. He groaned, a deep guttural sound, and with a single long breath came into her mouth. Hanzi didn’t come in spurts, he expelled his pleasure in a single shot of salted goodness.
Finally, with a last lick, she raised her head to look at him. His eyes were closed, and she sat back on her knees. Yep, getting him off had gone well. Triumph had her stretching her arms over her head. One second she was doing her best salutation to the sun yoga pose, the next she was flat on her back on the couch with a not-sexually-sedated vampire staring at her with wide eyes.
“My turn.”
Well, she had wanted him to let go and he had done so. In seconds her clothes were torn from her body. Her heart rate increased until it raced in her ears.
“Open your legs for me, Adrienne.”
Her mouth went dry. “Okay.” Apparently her being in charge had ended. She didn’t mind. As she’d told him, she was generally game for whatever. Sex was fun, however she took it. Sex with Hanzi would be intense if the way he started was any indication.
She opened her knees and he shook his head. “I said open. What you did is not open.”
“Oh.” She tried to scrunch and make her knees obey although they quivered. Hanzi’s molten gaze made her self-confidence flip-flop in her stomach. What was about to happen?
Adrienne must have adequately spread her thighs for him at last because he nodded once to a question she hadn’t asked aloud. Scooting closer, he breathed her in. “You’re mine, and my moments of resisting you end now. I won’t turn you. Not unless you ask me to. Although after tonight, you won’t question who you belong to.”
She gulped. Maybe she’d sucked off more than she could handle.
****
The woman belonged to him. Mind, body, and spirit. He was going to make her come. Over and over again. Until she couldn’t see straight anymore.
He bent forward, licking her sweet manna until he found her clit. The small bundle of nerves he would soon make best friends with. “Look what I found.”
She sucked in her breath, and her knees shook. His lady was turned on. If he needed no other proof, he had her wetness before he had so much as made a single ministration toward her pleasure. She had gotten hot giving him the best sucking of his life—or non-life—both, actually.
Hanzi licked her clit until it came out to play with him. He buried his face deeper inside of her until he bit. She cried out before she grabbed the back of his neck. He loved the sting of her nails on his skin.
“Shit. Hanzi.”
He snickered, which she must have liked because she moaned again. Her knees tried to close, but he stopped them.
“Keep them open.”
She obeyed. Good girl. His lady knew how to listen, which was excellent since he intended to reward her for her good behavior.
He drew back, replacing his mouth with his fingers. He pressed a finger inside her to explore more of her warmth. She moaned again, and her muscles clenched to greet him. He couldn’t wait until it was his cock and not his fingers pressing inside.
First she had to be ready, completely.
“I want you to come before I’m in you. Your pleasure’s what I wish, Adrienne. My kicsikém.” He added two fingers to his play. She quivered beneath his touch. “I’m going to pleasure you.”
With his thumb he found her clit again and rubbed. A circular motion until he found a pattern she liked. Her body cued him. When she shook and moaned, he listened to the instructions her reactions revealed. Finally, when he’d heated her to the moment, he increased the pressure, holding her legs where he wanted them. He’d forgive her not listening this time about keeping them open. They were learning each other for the first time tonight.
There would be time to perfect their lovemaking. By all that was holy, how she had gone down on him. He loved her tongue.
He pinched her clit, and she cried out as her wetness soaked his fingers. He grinned. Hanzi had told her to come and she had done so.
“Good girl.”
Having fulfilled his need to bring her the pleasure she gave to him, he became aware how hard his balls were. His cock stood fully awake again, as if he hadn’t spent himself only minutes earlier.
When she opened her eyes to grin at him, he was hooked. Whatever was left of his heart belonged to her entirely. He would never escape, nor did he want to. Adrienne was perfection personified.
The universe made such a creature for him? He kissed her, capturing her sweet lips again. She shuddered beneath him, the last jolts of his pleasuring her moving through her body.
Her breasts had been left out of their encounter. He didn’t intend to continue to neglect them. They were supple and filled more than his hand.
“Hanzi.” She whispered his name. “I still need you.” Her voice sounded hoarse.
“I need you, too.” And probably always would. If she didn’t want to be turned, he wouldn’t—he’d spend her mortal life with her. Every day and night of it. Then eternity mourning her loss.
She wrapped her legs against him, and his cock leaked. The woman mastered him. He would do whatever she desired whenever she asked it.
“We needn’t hurry. I realize our joining has been frenzied. Yet we have lots of time.”
Adrienne shook her head. “I feel so good and also I’m aching.”
He raised his head to look at her. Her response was unexpected. Was she actually in pain?
“Adrienne?”
“Please. Won’t you fill me, honey? I want to feel your cock inside of me.”
Hanzi kissed her gently. “I will. If it’s what you want.”
“We can be slow another time, okay?” Her eyes were pleading. “I feel as though I’ve been waiting for you for such a long time. I didn’t know I was, but since I’ve realized it, it’s as if I’m thirsty and you’ve only offered me a drop of water. Please.”
Bitten Surrender Page 5
