Love Bites: a Fated Mates Vampire Romance

by Taryn Quinn

  “Luke—”

  “I’ll call,” he said, and clicked off.

  Kellan hissed out a breath and tossed aside his phone. Terrific. He’d managed to piss off Luke yet again, when he hadn’t fully gotten over being pissed from the last time. Couldn’t he do anything right?

  He slid his hand over Sydney’s and closed his eyes. He hadn’t gotten much sleep lately, and stress fatigue weighed him down.

  “Kellan.”

  His eyes flew open at once at the rough purr next to his ear. Sydney, awake and rubbing against him like a hungry kitten. She dragged her fingers through the hair on his chest. “Mmm, hungry.” Her lips found his with an insistence that shot his system from slumber to high alert. “You planning on feeding me or what?”

  “What would you like?” he asked, barely able to speak. Her sinuous undulations against his side, and then against his hips as she straddled him, robbed him of the ability to think.

  She always had that effect on him. His wonderful, perfect Sydney.

  She laughed and leaned forward until her breasts bounced inches from his face. Her face was flushed, her eyes dancing with a mirth that bordered on madness. And he could only grin at her when she cupped his face in her hands and kissed him hard enough to dispel every doubt he’d ever had.

  “You. With a side of more you.”

  Her wandering mouth latched on to his neck. She dug right in, eliciting a groan of pure lust from him as she drew his essence into her throat. Even the sounds of her swallowing his blood increased his arousal. Soon she was moving again, flicking her tongue over his nipples, feathering kisses over his ribcage and lower to the waistband of the pajama bottoms he’d donned. Without preamble, she thrust them down and grasped his already straining cock, rolling her plump lips over the head.

  “I never finished this the other night,” she said almost conversationally.

  “No, you didn’t.” Yeah, speech was pretty much gone. “Sydney?”

  “Mmm-hmm?” She smiled at him fully, letting him see the telltale tips of her fangs. They weren’t as elongated as a full vampire’s would be, but they were definitely closer to vamp teeth than human. “Did you forget something?”

  “No. But I have a question.” He exhaled as she lapped up the drop of pre-cum on the head of his erection, slowly enough that her incisors grazed his flesh. “You’re still sure of this? You still want me? Even knowing what we face?”

  “All we face right now is a lot of orgasms. The rest can wait.”

  “Luke’s headed to Hungary.”

  She sobered, but only for a moment. “Once he gets there and talks to Emily, we’ll figure out our next step. In the meantime, we have things to attend to right here.” She smiled slowly, all smoke and sex. Then she peeled back her lips and lowered her mouth until it hovered over his shaft. “I love you, Kellan. And now I’m going to show you just how much.”

  He arched his hips as her mouth gloved his length. She was pure heaven, with just enough hell to make her interesting. He couldn’t wait to spend the rest of his life with her. “Syd?

  “Mmm?” She hummed the word against his length. Then her teeth sank into his flesh, one delicious centimeter at a time until his blood began to pool at the corners of her mouth.

  It wasn’t over. Truthfully, their difficulties were just beginning. Not just his and Sydney’s, but Luke and Emily’s, too. But right now, he couldn’t think of anything but an eternity of pleasure with the woman he loved by his side.

  He growled in pure pleasure. “Love really does bite.”

  Want more Taryn Quinn books?

  How about a little more sexy menage fun?

  Turn the page for a sneak peek of UNWRAPPED.

  Unwrapped

  A MMF Romance

  One hot night. Three naughty best friends. What can possibly go wrong?

  When an upcoming birthday makes Caitlyn Sachs decide to seek a gift that doesn't come in a box—a no-strings hookup to finally lose her pesky virginity—there's just one problem.

  She doesn’t want only one guy. She wants two.

  The men she can't pick between just happen to be her best friends and business partners, Matthew Collins and Tristan Baldwin. And both men want each other too, much to her surprise.

  Then Matt offers a shocking suggestion.

  She should lose her virginity not once, but twice. To them.

  After being kidnapped and spirited away to a remote cabin in the mountains, Cait is ready to unwrap her Christmas present—her two sinful men—over and over again.

  First time, first threesome, first time she didn't want a night to ever end.

  When the morning comes, it's all supposed to be over. But sometimes holiday hotness can lead to forever...

  BUY or BORROW

  Read on for an excerpt…

  Chapter 1

  When plotting to finally lose your virginity, it was important to keep your eye on the prize.

  In this case, the one between her legs.

  A relationship? Not necessary. But someone she trusted was a must.

  Caitlyn Sachs blew out a breath and gazed around the kitchen in her mom’s small place. Relationships were tricky business, as evidenced by her mother and her sisters’ issues with their significant others. It was hard to find a decent guy, one who wouldn’t feed you a line and then vanish when you turned your back. At least that was all she’d seen while growing up.

  At almost twenty-five, Cait’s record was virtually spotless. Sure, she’d gotten her heart dented a few times, but she’d managed to avoid the trainwreck relationships her friends and family had been sucked into.

  And that still-happened-to-be-a-virgin thing? Merely a technicality, because she’d certainly done her share of messing around. She’d done almost everything but the deed itself.

  Multiple times.

  But hell, she was tired of having the expectation of her first time looming ahead. She knew it would probably be shitty, so she needed to get on to having good sex. Finally. Her irrational fear of an unplanned pregnancy was getting old. She’d gone on birth control as soon as she’d made the decision to have sex, and she’d insist on condoms too.

  See, she was thinking practically.

  “Marnie, settle those kids down. I can’t think with all this racket,” Mrs. Sachs said, bracing the hand that held her spatula on her hip.

  “Jeez, Mama, what do you want me to do? Stuff something in their mouths?”

  “Maybe. If it’ll quiet this place down, then yes.”

  Cait braced her head on her hand and tried not to breathe in the scent of burnt onions and too much perfume.

  She could be out Christmas shopping instead of dealing with the insanity of home. Home meant her younger sisters and their babies and her frustrated mother.

  Cait understood frustration. Just not the same kind. Hers was all situationally based.

  She sighed. Eh, she didn’t feel like shopping right now. Too much on her mind. But she could be getting a manicure. Maybe even seeing a movie with one of her best friends, assuming she could drag Tristan away from his desk or Matthew away from the game on TV. But no, she’d come home to do her duty, though at the moment she would’ve preferred to be anywhere else.

  They were her guys. Her center in all ways. And maybe after this weekend, one of them would be that much more.

  Perhaps one of them would be her lover, at least temporarily.

  It wasn’t like she could choose between Matt and Tristan. She loved them both equally. Plus they were hot as hell. That the three of them lived together in the loft above Tristan Design, their graphic design business, only made it that much easier to coordinate. Slide in, slide out, cross the hall, and shut the door.

  This weekend, she’d make her proposal. Whether that proposal would be well received was anyone’s guess, but she suspected that was part of why she felt so antsy tonight.

  She needed to speak up before she chickened out.

  Another reason she’d chosen to sleep with Tristan
or Matt. This would be on her terms. She could control the parameters, say when it began and when it ended. They’d never push her.

  In the meantime, she had to push herself and get home. She had a deflowering to arrange. Though in her case it wasn’t deflowering so much as a…deadheading. She grinned. Yeah, that worked. She’d be snapping off a worn-out worry she’d carried around way too long.

  She rose to her feet as her mother and her sister Marnie started arguing about how they’d fit a nursery into an already crowded three-bedroom apartment. Before she could leave, her baby sister, Valerie, rushed through the back door into the kitchen, her golden hair hidden by her hooded sweatshirt. Under her arm she carried the basketball that seemed to be her constant companion. Keeping her eyes straight ahead, she jogged through without stopping.

  “Val?” Cait hurried forward to grip her elbow. Out of all of them, Val was her favorite. At fourteen, Val was a straight-A student and already on the varsity basketball team. “Where’s the fire?”

  “Gotta study,” she said, not meeting Cait’s gaze.

  “Midterms week, huh? One reason Christmas sucks.” Smiling, Cait rubbed her shoulder. “Grades still good?” she asked, raising her voice above her mother and Marnie’s argument. Thank God her other sister Ginny had finally herded Marnie’s two kids and her own two into the living room. “Should we expect another perfect report card?”

  Val yanked back her sweatshirt, revealing the sunny twin ponytails she usually hid under hoods and ball caps. “Grades are fine.”

  Cait frowned. Normally Val was a chatterbox, but tonight she seemed unwilling to say much at all. Strange. Maybe the family drama was getting to her. “You know, you could always come stay with me at the loft for a couple of days,” she said in an undertone. “You could get more studying done.”

  “No, thanks.” Val gave her big sister a weak smile. “I just lock myself in my room.”

  “But you share a room with Ginny. How can you get any privacy?”

  Val gave her an odd look. “Why would I need privacy? All I ever do is schoolwork and play basketball.”

  That was a good thing at least. Val was so smart and pretty and athletic. God, she didn’t have to settle. And she wouldn’t, if her older sister had anything to say about it.

  “Basketball going okay? I’ll be at the game on Sunday. Can’t wait to watch you guys destroy the Thundercats.” She grinned and waited for Val to grin back.

  She didn’t.

  “I’m not going to be playing Sunday,” she whispered.

  “What? Why?”

  “I got suspended from the team.”

  Cait sucked in a breath and tried not to panic. “How come? What happened?”

  “It’s no big deal. I’ll be able to play again after Christmas.”

  “No big deal?” Basketball was Val’s life. Or it had been. “Games like this are what get the scouts interested. Even this early in your high school career, you need to start thinking about scholarships. You’re one of the best guards in the state. Believe me, colleges are already watching your performances.”

  “It’s no big deal,” Val said again, brushing off Cait’s hand. “I’ve gotta study. See ya later.”

  “Val—” Cait called as her sister tore out of the room, long ponytails flying.

  She released a breath and forced herself not to run after her sister. Val was in ninth grade, and that was a tough year for even the most well-adjusted kids.

  Somehow she’d get Val through whatever difficulty had led to her suspension. If Val wouldn’t tell Cait what was going on, she would call her coach directly. No matter what, she’d be there for her and get her back on the right path.

  Cait glanced at her sister and her mother, who’d now moved their spat to the small pantry off the kitchen. Apparently that would be the location of the nursery.

  Cait grabbed the box of breakables her mother had packed up for her and headed for the back door. Time to go.

  On the way out of her mom’s parking lot, her cell chirped. She checked the readout and dutifully stopped the car, a smile already forming. “Hey, you.”

  “Hey.” Tristan’s warm voice flowed over the line. “Where are you?”

  The sounds of a scuffle ensued, complete with colorful curses. “Yeah, where are you? And wherever it is, can you bring back food?” Matt chimed in, coaxing forth a laugh.

  “You have a car. Go get your own takeout. What do I look like, your maid?”

  “How about French maid? I can see you in one of those little black-and-white outfits. With one of those lacy things on your hair and a really short skirt --”

  “Her skirts are already plenty short,” Tristan put in after yet another scuffle. “We thought you’d be around for dinner.”

  “I headed out to my mom’s. Didn’t Matt tell you?”

  “You know how he is. Half-witted.”

  “If he didn’t spend all his time playing video games, he might eventually make it to a full three quarters,” she replied, knowing Matt would have some smart comment.

  “Watch the insults,” Matt interjected. “Or else I’m going to torch all your clothes and fill up your closet with slut gear.”

  She grinned and tried to ignore the typical flutter in her stomach at that word. Slut. If she knew anything, it was that Matt and Tris would never hurt her—with names or otherwise. “You again. Don’t you have anything to do but spy on personal phone calls?”

  “Dickweed put you on speakerphone.”

  “I feel the love.” She laughed. “Try not to go at each other too badly before I get home, ’kay?”

  “We’ll try to control ourselves.” Tristan’s dry tone made her laugh again. “So how’s the fam?”

  “They’re fine.” She wet her dry lips. “Um, I got some of Abe’s stuff done. Well, I started thinking about it anyway.”

  “Thinking’s a definite plus. So you’re leaving us on our own tonight?”

  She glanced out the windshield as icy flakes started to drift down from the dark gray sky. Nightfall came so early this time of year, and she really wasn’t a fan of driving around in snow. But she needed just a little more time.

  “Not the whole night. I’ll be around in a while. Probably by ten.” Her growling stomach provided a handy excuse. “I’m going to go grab some food, but then I’d like to talk to you. If you have time.”

  “I always have time for you. Have some right now, actually.”

  “Oh sure, food. Right.” Matt let out a pitiful moan. “Leave us here to starve.”

  She ignored Matt. “Nah, later’s good. Anytime this weekend works. It’s not urgent.”

  Her hymen might say otherwise, but she’d chosen not to heed its silent screams. Since she’d waited this long, she could wait another few hours or even a day or two to have the big talk with her boys.

  “Whatever works for you. I’m ready, willing, and able.”

  Just like that, her mind zoomed into the gutter. She had no doubt at all how able Tristan was. Or little, anyway, since she couldn’t know for sure until she’d gotten him naked. But if imagination counted, she’d already slept with him a dozen times. Probably more.

  “Thanks. I’ll see you in a bit. You boys be good.”

  “Always. See ya.”

  “Bad’s better,” Matt said just before she clicked off with a smile.

  They were insane, both of them. Matt more so, but Tristan had his own streak of crazy. And she loved them so damn much.

  After she’d roamed around the mall and run out of ways to stall, she headed back to the loft. It was nearly nine when she walked into the big open communal office area—currently devoid of her partners—that served as the headquarters of Tristan Design.

  Three big desks formed a spaced-out L, making it easy for her to toss balled-up paper at Matt across the aisle. That Tris got annoyed at the paper waste increased her enjoyment. He was militant about keeping office expenses down. Anything else, spending-wise, was fair game. His wardrobe in particular. The guy had
a suit for every damn day of the week. But when it came to equipment and supplies, he watched Cait and Matt like a hawk.

  Not that they took him seriously. A couple of bats of her blue eyes and he was putty in her hands.

  She grinned and set down the box from her mom’s on the counter of the kitchenette in back where they ate most of their lunches and just as many of their dinners. They worked late a lot, especially at this time of year. Everyone wanted to get their spring ad campaigns finalized before the end-of-the-year holidays, so Cait and Tris were designing their asses off. Matt, as their de facto tech guy-slash-accountant-slash-web designer, kept everything running smoothly.

  Tomorrow she’d start the new series of ads they were designing for one of their biggest clients, Abe Donnelly of Donnelly Clothiers. She couldn’t wait. Abe always pushed her for the most cutting-edge layouts, and she relished rising to the challenge.

  She glanced at her watch. Though it was still early, her friends weren’t anywhere in sight. Weird. So much for hoping to talk to Tristan tonight. The plan had been to mention her ideas for Abe’s project; then maybe if her nerve held, she’d segue into the discussion she hoped to have with him and Matt about other, more carnal matters.

  She’d told them she wouldn’t be back until closer to ten, true, but she’d overestimated her ability to waste time driving around as the snow worsened. Of course if she hadn’t rushed out of her mom’s house, she wouldn’t have had that problem.

  Her chest constricted, and she frowned. Yep, right on cue. She always got a case of the guilties after escaping back to her ordered, happy life.

  She should’ve stayed longer. Her family drove her wacky sometimes, but she loved them. All of them. And it was almost Christmas. The kids were bouncing off the walls over Santa. At least the ones old enough to have a clue who Santa was, anyway.

  Next time she’d stick around. Better yet, maybe she’d knock off work early tomorrow night and go take the kids to the movies. Give her sisters and her mom a night off.