Forbidden Blood

by R. L. Kenderson

And he pushed himself inside her, keeping his word.

  VAUGHN SLOWLY AWOKE to the sound of his phone beeping on the nightstand. His next thought was about the warm, soft weight on him. When he opened his eyes, he saw Naya draped across his body. Apparently, simply lying next to him all night hadn’t been enough because she had climbed all the way on top of him. And he didn’t mind in the least. Who wouldn’t love to wake up under a naked, beautiful female?

  His phone beeped again, and he picked it up. There were two texts from Sawyer. One was of Sawyer cursing him out for the night before. The second told him that Sawyer would be there to pick him up at five thirty in the morning because his dad needed him home. Vaughn looked at the time. It was 4:53 a.m. He only had a half hour to get ready. He sent Sawyer a quick text back, hoping to catch him before he left home.

  Vaughn set his phone back down and rubbed Naya’s back. “Naya? Baby? You need to move. I’m sorry, but I have to get up and go soon.”

  She made a mild sound of protest as she moved herself up. She buried her nose in his neck and continued the deep breathing of someone still asleep. She didn’t wake up, but all her moving around on the lower half of his body awoke something else. His dick, semi hard from morning wood, now thought it was play time.

  Great.

  Figuring she wasn’t going to move on her own, he put his arms around her and rolled over until she was lying on her back. He ended up on top with one of her thighs on each side of him. He moved to stand up, but she made another sound of protest as she opened her legs farther and wrapped her arms around his neck in a death grip.

  They had gone to sleep naked, and now, his cock was resting against her already slick core. Even in sleep, her body responded to him. He dropped his head down to her neck and groaned. He lifted his head and tried to get up again, but she would not release her hold.

  “Naya,” he said, laughing.

  She let her legs fall completely to the sides, and he rubbed his cock against her dampness.

  Holy shit. Right now, he badly wanted to sink into her heat.

  What am I doing? He was crazy to resist. They might never see each other again.

  He put his mouth on her earlobe and nipped it. “Naya, baby, you need to wake up if you want me to properly fuck you.”

  He sucked her earlobe into his mouth, and she finally started to come around. He moved to her neck and rubbed his stubble on her. It seemed that she still needed some convincing to awaken, so he nibbled her there, and then he sucked the same spot to take away the sting. He rubbed the lower half of himself against her, too, hoping it would help his cause.

  When she moved one hand into his hair and one to his ass, he knew he’d accomplished his mission. He felt her nails slightly digging into both spots.

  “Mmm…Vaughn.”

  She slowly pushed on his butt until he buried himself inside her.

  “Oh God.” She moved both hands to his back and dug her nails in as she clenched around him.

  After he was fully seated, she scratched her nails down his back, telling him to move. Never wanting to leave a lady dissatisfied, he stretched her legs up to cross against his back, and he put both of his arms underneath her. He wrapped his hands up over her shoulders to use as an anchor and drove in and out of her as deep as he could. She met him thrust for thrust as she moaned and panted. He loved the noises she made when he moved inside her.

  He could feel her tensing around him, indicating she was already close to orgasm. He wanted to prolong their lovemaking, but he knew he didn’t have the time. He pushed himself in and out, pumping hard. When she started to come, snug and hot around him, he buried himself deep as he shuddered and emptied himself inside her. He collapsed on top of her, and they both gasped for air. He would never underestimate a quickie ever again.

  After he caught his breath, he lifted himself up onto his forearms and looked down at Naya’s face. She opened her eyes. He smiled at her and said, “Good morning.”

  She smiled back at him, lifted her hand, and traced his lips with her finger. “Good morning.”

  He realized he hadn’t kissed her yet this morning. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. He licked his way into her mouth, loving the taste of her. She clenched around him again and rotated her hips. He broke off their kiss and shook his head. “Nuh-uh, you minx.” He grinned at her. “I have to get ready to leave.”

  “Are you sure?” This time, when she tightened on his cock, he knew she was doing it on purpose.

  He rested his forehead on hers and laughed. “Naya, quit tempting me. I would love nothing more than to stay here, surrounded by your heat, but I have to go. Sawyer is on his way to pick me up.”

  “Who’s tempting whom now? You and your flowery words,” she said with a laugh.

  He raised his head to look at her. He liked her. They’d had fun, and she was apparently playful when she first woke up. He had been serious when he said he would love to stay. He couldn’t remember ever feeling disappointed from having to leave after a one-night stand before. Vaughn didn’t really do serious relationships, but something about Naya made him feel differently. This was a new experience for him.

  He dropped a peck on her nose. “Do you mind if I take a quick shower?”

  Her smile faltered, but she was a classy woman and wouldn’t beg him to stay.

  “Sure. Towels are under the sink.”

  “Thanks, babe.”

  He kissed her neck and reluctantly withdrew from her body. He got off the bed and pulled the covers over her. She rolled onto her stomach and watched him. He stared at her for a few seconds before he grabbed his jeans and headed to the bathroom with disappointment leaving a lingering touch beneath his skin.

  Boom. Boom. Boom.

  The pounding on her apartment door woke Kenzie up from a deep sleep. Almost always a hard sleeper and with her bedroom door closed, she had no clue how long the racket had been going on.

  She glanced at the clock. 5:35! Shit.

  Whoever was hammering on her door was bound to wake up her neighbors. She scrambled out of bed and sprinted to her bedroom door to throw it open. The sun had begun to rise, and even with the heavy curtains blocking out most of the light, for Naya’s sake, it was just bright enough for her to see her way.

  She opened the door in mid-pound, squinting from the harsh glare from the hallway, to see Sawyer standing there with his fist in the air. He actually had the gall to look pissed off even though she would be the one to get a call from the apartment manager on Monday morning.

  Despite that, it was too early to fight, and she simply didn’t have the energy.

  “Oh, it’s you,” she muttered, turning around and letting him follow her into the room. “You here to pick up Vaughn?”

  A grunt was the only response she got.

  Figures.

  She went to find Naya and Vaughn. The sooner she got Sawyer out of her apartment, the better. The shower was running in Naya’s bathroom, so she walked over to Naya’s room. The door was slightly ajar, so she leaned forward to peek in and prayed she wouldn’t see anything that would scar her for life. Naya was sprawled on the bed, sleeping under the covers. It was no wonder no one else had answered the front door. Vaughn was in the shower, and Naya slept like the dead. Kenzie chuckled to herself, thinking how people assumed vampires were the living dead, and in this case, Naya practically was.

  Kenzie stepped away from Naya’s room and returned to Sawyer. “Looks like Vaughn is in the shower.”

  Sawyer leaned against the front door. His face looked freshly shaved, and his hair lay effortlessly in place. He’d probably recently showered while she was standing there in her pajamas and had what she could only guess to be a serious case of bedhead.

  “You can come in, you know.”

  “I’m fine,” he said.

  Still an ass this morning, she noted.

  She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’ll wake up Naya.”

  Kenzie crept in and sat on the edge of Naya’s bed. After five mi
nutes of gentle poking and prodding, she finally got a response.

  “Hey, sleepyhead. Sawyer’s here to pick up Vaughn. I thought you might want to say good-bye.”

  “Yes.” Naya moved to lower the covers and then stopped. “I’ll be out in a minute.” She gave Kenzie a timid smile.

  Kenzie chuckled and pointed her finger. “I want details, girlfriend.” She left to give Naya some privacy.

  After shutting Naya’s door, Kenzie turned around and stopped short. Sawyer was holding her traitorous cat in his arms. She had never witnessed Crabby Abby acting that way, and she couldn’t remember ever hearing her purr either. Yet, there she was, rubbing herself all over Sawyer, and her purring could be heard from the middle of the room.

  “How the hell did you get her to do that?” she asked him, dumbfounded.

  “Get her to do what?”

  Kenzie didn’t answer since Naya came out of her room. She was wearing an over-sized T-shirt, not her typical nightwear.

  Sawyer set the cat down.

  “Hello, Sawyer. It’s nice to see you again,” Naya said to him.

  He stood as Kenzie opened her mouth to tell Naya not to even bother with being nice.

  But Sawyer stepped away from the door and gave Naya a pleasant smile. “You, too.”

  Kenzie snapped her mouth closed. Apparently, he acted like a jerk only with her. Shocked and alarmed, she suddenly found her feelings were hurt, and she didn’t like it. To make matters worse, she’d considered him handsome before, and then he had to go and smile. Now, he took her breath away.

  After this, she hoped to never see him again. He messed with her head too much, but thankfully, the asshat didn’t know it.

  They all turned as Vaughn came out of the bathroom. Gratefully, she was distracted from her thoughts. It was obvious as to why Naya had chosen to bring the guy home.

  Vaughn had designer stubble that Kenzie bet had grown in overnight, and he was standing there, barefoot, with his jeans unbuttoned. His chest and abs were ripped, and it appeared he was sans underwear.

  Wow.

  As he walked past her to Sawyer, she noticed he had an awesome tattoo and scratch marks on his back. She nudged Naya, and when they made eye contact, Kenzie winked and gave her a thumbs-up.

  Naya laughed and pushed Kenzie’s hand down. “Stop it,” she whispered with a laugh.

  Sawyer handed Vaughn a T-shirt he’d been holding.

  “What time do we have to be there?” Vaughn asked as he pulled the shirt over his head.

  “Seven.”

  “Okay, give me a minute.”

  He strode over to Naya and put his arm around her. Cupping the back of her neck, he leaned over and gave her a deep and thorough kiss.

  Kenzie felt her eyes widen.

  “See you later, Naya. I had a great time,” he said in a low voice, meant for her alone. He gave her a secret smile.

  “I did, too. Bye, Vaughn.” She smiled back, and it was obvious Naya liked him.

  “Keep the shirt,” he said as he tugged on the front. Vaughn turned to Kenzie. “Hi, Kenzie. Nice to meet you. Sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier. This one”—he cocked his hand like a gun, pointing at Naya—“distracted me.” His tone was teasing.

  Naya blushed, but Kenzie could that see she liked his words.

  Kenzie smiled. “That’s okay. I understand. It’s nice to meet you, too, Vaughn.”

  “Thanks for letting me crash here last night.”

  “You’re welcome. Thanks for arranging a ride home for me.”

  This earned her a snort from the door.

  “Not a problem. Sawyer was happy to do it.”

  Sawyer sounded like he might choke on his own tongue, but at least Kenzie got some satisfaction out of it. Vaughn gave Naya another kiss and brushed her cheek with his thumb. He reluctantly let her go and grabbed his boots in the entryway before Sawyer opened the door.

  “You’re leaving barefoot?” Kenzie asked him.

  He shrugged. “I’m used to it.” His eyes turned to Naya. “See you ladies later.”

  The two of them waved as the guys walked out the door.

  After they left, Kenzie turned to Naya. “I want details—now. ’Cause that man is fine.”

  Naya raised her eyebrows.

  “What?” Kenzie held up her hands. “I’m just sayin’.”

  With the sun already rising before Vaughn and Sawyer had left, Naya spent the day at Kenzie’s apartment. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t go out in the sun per se. The sun did hurt vampire eyes and required them to wear sunglasses, even in the shade, but a lot of the other stuff was legend. There was a reason the myth about the sun burning vampires had begun centuries ago, but they wouldn’t actually catch on fire and burn to ash like Hollywood had portrayed.

  Around the age of twenty-five, vampires went through their conversion—or vampire puberty as it was sometimes referred. Until then, vampires were a lot like humans. They didn’t need blood, and they weren’t affected by the sun, like adults. At that time, they would also undergo hormonal changes most humans went through, including the ability to have children.

  For years, all vampires had known was that if adults went out in the sun, they would tire easily and need to feed more often. Naya, like most vampires, would feed about once a month. For a previous volunteering position, she’d had to attend a seminar that was held outside during the day. Being a newly converted vampire, she’d thought the sun’s effects were exaggerated, and she’d simply planned to wear SPF 50, sunglasses, a big hat, and as much clothing as possible. Well, she’d done all that, and she’d still found that spending eight hours in the sun cut her time between feedings in half. Afterward, she’d ended up sleeping a full sixty hours. Thankfully, the seminar had been on a Friday, so she’d had the weekend to recover. Needless to say, she’d learned her lesson.

  Nowadays, researchers—both human and vampire—knew that the sun gave off UV radiation, and this radiation could damage the skin’s cellular DNA, producing genetic mutations leading to skin cancer and suppressing the immune system. As fair-skinned people were more affected, so were vampires, but even more so than their human counterparts. Not all vampires had pale skin, of course, but their skin was approximately ten times more affected than light-skinned humans. However, vampires could heal much faster than humans, and their skin never actually showed signs of sunburn. Vampire researchers now knew that when vampires were out in the sun, the skin would constantly burn and then heal itself. The process occurred too quickly to see with the naked eye, which is why they would need to sleep and feed more.

  Because of all of this, vampires had naturally adapted to sleeping during the day and being awake at night. If they were awake during the day, they stayed away from the sun.

  And Naya planned to do just that today. With Vaughn’s blood running through her veins, she wanted to keep it there for as long as possible. She wouldn’t dare risk having to feed sooner than necessary, but it was something she’d have to do regardless since he was human.

  Truthfully, she didn’t want to go home sooner than necessary either, so after Vaughn and Sawyer had left, Naya and Kenzie had both gone back to sleep. Naya was now lying in bed, loving how her sheets smelled like Vaughn and feeling sad because she wouldn’t be able to sleep in them for the rest of the week. At least she’d kept Vaughn’s shirt, which she could take home with her. She couldn’t help but smile because he’d left it for her.

  She rolled onto her back. It made her sad to know she’d probably never see Vaughn again. She’d only just met him, but he was special, and she’d never felt that instant connection with anyone else the way she had with him. He’d made her laugh, and she’d felt comfortable around him. In fact, she’d hardly thought of her parents and the impending betrothal all night. Her restless feelings had almost been forgotten around him.

  Plus, the sex—she couldn’t even put what it was like into words. He’d known just where and how to touch her and what made her feel good. Nobody had made her
body come alive the way he had. She’d never thought she’d be so into sex that she’d forget herself and feed from someone.

  She’d had one serious relationship in her past, and it had been with the only other male she was ever sexually intimate. She’d met him at a vampire-only social gathering she’d attended with her parents, and they’d dated for a couple of months. She’d left the relationship with the impression that sex was so-so, and they certainly never fed from one another. When the relationship ended, there had been no real disappointment on either side, except maybe by her parents. Looking back, she realized she had probably only dated him because her parents liked him.

  Naya forced herself to get out of bed. Maybe it would be best if she never saw Vaughn again. She suspected that seeing him on a regular basis and pretending like they had a casual relationship would be hard. She could pretend watching him with other females wouldn’t bother her, but if she were honest with herself, she knew she’d be hurt.

  If Naya’s future mate could make could make her feel a fraction of what Vaughn had, she would be content. Maybe she wouldn’t be happy, but she’d settle for content. Her parents and the whole vampire species were counting on her to make the right decision. Unfortunately, mating with a human did not come into play.

  At least she had the rest of the day to spend with Kenzie to keep her mind off Vaughn. They would probably watch TV shows or movies and order take-out. It would be nice to hang out with her best friend and relax all day. Most nights, after Kenzie and she went out, she would usually go home before the sun came up. They normally didn’t have many chances to spend the day doing nothing together, and today provided a nice excuse to do so.

  Naya made her bed, knowing she was lucky to have Kenzie. They had known each other since college. They’d met when they were nineteen, before Naya had gone through her conversion.

  When Naya had developed an increased sensitivity to UV rays and could no longer survive on food alone, she had been forced to either withdraw from their friendship or take a chance to see if Kenzie would accept her being a vampire. Kenzie being Kenzie had thought it was the coolest thing, and they’d become even closer since then.