But Dillon Cash was far from typical.
Her gaze riveted on the nightstand and the small glass that held a quarter inch of dark red liquid. “So, you got all your sexy new moves from Internet research?” She shook her head and shifted her attention to the man who stood a few feet away. “I should have known there was more to it.”
He still wore the same jeans he’d had on earlier, but he’d shed his shirt and boots. His chest was broad and bare. Gold hair sprinkled from nipple to nipple before narrowing into a thin line that bisected his six-pack abs. The soft silk circled his belly button before disappearing beneath the button fly of his jeans.
Her mouth went suddenly dry and she swallowed.
“You can find out anything online these days.” He shrugged and the tattoos that circled his biceps flexed. “Why not sex appeal?”
“Because if it were that simple, I would have done it myself.” Her gaze collided with his. “Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”
“You wouldn’t have believed me.” He turned and walked a few steps, pacing back and forth like a caged animal. “I had a hard enough time believing it myself.”
“Actually, it’s the one thing I would have believed. I’ve tried everything to change this town’s perception, and you come along and do it just like that. The people here are set in their ways. It would take something phenomenal to open their eyes.” A rip in the upper left thigh of his jeans played peekaboo with each step and gave her a glimpse of one hair-roughened thigh.
“So,” she continued, her voice suddenly tight. “You really feed off of blood and sex?”
He nodded. “Sex more than the blood.”
In her mind’s eye, she saw him. He stood half-naked, towering over her. His penis, thick and ripe and proud, filled her hands.
“When a woman has an orgasm, it stirs the most delicious energy. I soak it up and it sates the bloodlust. For a little while, anyway.”
“What about your own orgasm? Don’t you have to…” She licked her lips, trying to force the image aside and quell the sudden butterflies in her stomach. “Don’t you need to…” He-llo? You’re a grown woman. Just say the word.
“Ejaculate?” His green eyes glittered with a knowing light. “It’s not about my pleasure. It’s about pleasuring someone else. If they get off, then I get off.” His gaze drilled into hers, so deep and probing.
She shifted her attention to the massive headboard and the tell-tale notches. Curiosity washed through her, followed by a stab of jealousy. The words were out before she could stop them. “How many women have you actually slept with since the change?”
“The bed used to belong to Bobby McGuire. I bought it when they auctioned it off a few years back. Those notches are his. Impressive, huh?”
“If you’re a fourteen-year-old boy who’s just hit puberty.” Her gaze shifted back to him. “So you haven’t been keeping track the past few months?”
His green eyes twinkled. “I didn’t say that.”
“Then how many?” she pressed.
“Enough.” He eyed her for a long moment, as if trying to decide what to tell her. Or what not to tell her. “But not here.” His gaze darkened. “You’re the first woman who’s been here.”
She ignored a sudden rush of joy and focused on the one question still burning inside of her.
He arched an eyebrow at her. “Only one?” he asked as if reading her thoughts.
He was reading them, she reminded herself.
He was a vampire.
He saw everything she saw, felt everything she felt. More so now that they’d had sex.
“Jake and Nikki filled me in on almost everything,” she said, eager to ignore the sudden alarm bells that sounded and the small voice that whispered for her to turn and leave now. Before the bond grew even stronger. Unbreakable. “I know all the basics—no sunlight or garlic or wooden stakes. I also know that you can move faster than Margie Pinkerton at an all-you-can-eat buffet, and levitate and read minds. Your eyes change color depending on what mood you’re in. You can even mesmerize someone and make them forget certain things if you want to.”
“If they want to,” he added. “While I can be persuasive, I can’t override free will. Not if it’s strong enough.”
“I also know about the Ancient One, and how killing him will reverse the curse for all three of you.” She licked her lips. “I know how you’ve changed, but I don’t know about the change itself. The turning. What happened?”
“All vampires have a homing instinct that calls them back to the exact spot they were turned on the yearly anniversary of their turning. Once there, they relive those few moments where life and death collided. They feel the same pain and anguish. The same hunger. It can be overwhelming.” He raked a hand through his hair. “You go a little crazy. Garret was in the middle of reliving his turning when I arrived on the scene. To make a long story short, I thought Nikki was in danger and I stepped in to protect her. Jake and I were facing off when Garret lost it. He went for my throat. I was dying, but then Jake offered me his blood.” He shrugged again. “And here I am.”
“You really tried to save Nikki?”
A grin crooked his lips. “Me and my Phillips screwdriver.”
“That itty bitty thing you used to carry in your pocket?”
“The one and only.”
She couldn’t help but smile and for a few heartbeats, the tension between them seemed to ease.
“That was really brave,” she said after a long moment.
A gleam lit his eyes and she had the inexplicable feeling that her opinion mattered a lot more to him than he wanted to admit. “I did what I had to do. What any friend would have done.” His gaze caught and held hers. “By the way, thanks for calling Jake tonight.”
She shrugged. “I did what any friend would have done.”
The silence ticked by before his deep voice slid into her ears. “Is that why you’re still here now?”
Her mind raced and she remembered the fear that had gripped her on the long ride to the ranch. She’d cradled his head and prayed for his safety. And she’d faced the truth—that she might never hear his voice again, or feel his touch or see his smile.
Tonight he’d been lucky.
But what about next time?
Someone was out there. A vampire hunter would surely come after Dillon again. And if it was the Ancient One himself? Then Dillon would go after him.
Either way, a confrontation was inevitable.
Meg had already lost one important person in her life. She wasn’t adding her oldest and dearest friend to the list, not if she could do anything to help it.
It certainly wasn’t because she wanted one more night with him.
This wasn’t about sex. It was about being a friend.
It was.
She held tight to the thought and reached for the buttons on her vest.
“I’m here for this.” She opened the garment and freed her breasts. She wasn’t wearing a bra tonight and the first whisper of air against her nipples brought them to throbbing awareness. The material slid off her shoulders and fell to the floor. “And this.” She kicked off her boots and shed her socks. “And this.” She hooked her fingers in the waistband of her jeans. She wiggled the denim down her hips and legs until the material pooled around her ankles and she stepped free. “And this,” she said, finally shedding her lace thong.
Dillon fought the urge to pinch himself.
A dream, he told himself. This had to be a dream. No way would Meg willingly offer herself to him now that she knew the truth.
Yet here she was. Completely naked. Her full lips trembled and her eyes blazed with desire.
Because she knew the truth.
Because Meg Sweeney was all about the big S. She’d built her life trying to be perceived as sexy. She longed for it. And, thanks to the turning, Dillon now represented everything that she wanted. He oozed sensuality and stirred the same in every woman he came into contact with.
Where she’d on
ce been the ultimate challenge for him, he was now the ultimate challenge for her.
That’s what his head told him.
But his heart…He couldn’t shake the crazy notion that maybe she wanted more than his cock between her legs and his tongue down her throat.
That she wanted to give, as well as take.
He stared deep into her eyes, searching for the truth, and saw…
What the hell?
“Nikki told me how to protect my thoughts.” Her gaze locked with his and sure enough, he saw nothing except his own lust glittering back at him. “A woman’s entitled to her privacy.” She gave him a small smile before the expression faded. “Nikki also said that the reason you got shot tonight was because you haven’t been feeding properly. Your senses aren’t as sharp as they should be.” She stepped toward him, her breasts quivering with each step until she reached a point midway between them. He knew then that while she was offering herself to him in the most blatant way, she wanted him to make the same effort and meet her halfway. “Maybe we can do something about that.”
He stiffened. “Get out of here,” he said, his voice gruff. “Before you do something you’ll regret.”
Uncertainty creased her beautiful features before her mouth drew into a firm line. Her eyes narrowed and her look morphed into one of pure determination.
She drew a deep breath that flared her nostrils and lifted her luscious breasts. “You could go for the usual spot.” Her fingers fluttered down the side of her creamy neck. “Or maybe you’d rather do it here.” She touched the underside of one breast and traced her ripe nipple. “Then again, maybe you’d rather taste me here.” A few tantalizing touches and she slid her palm down, over the soft skin of her abdomen, to the inside of one thigh. “Or—” her breath caught as she dipped a finger between her legs “—even here.” A gasp bubbled past her full lips and his gut twisted.
“You don’t know what you’re asking for.”
“I’m not asking for anything. I’m giving.” The last word hitched as she slid another finger into her steamy heat.
In the blink of an eye, he pinned her to the nearest wall.
“What—” she gasped, but her startled expression quickly faded into one of pure excitement as she stared up into his eyes.
She wanted the vampire, all right. She wanted to walk on the wild side, to unleash the beast inside of him, and suddenly that didn’t seem like such a bad idea.
For all her boldness, she’d yet to see what he’d really and truly become. A glimpse would surely send her running even faster than that first horrible kiss back in the ninth grade.
“Or maybe I’ll just try each spot until I find the one I like best,” he growled, pulling back his lips. A hiss worked its way up his throat as he bared his fangs. His body trembled and he touched his mouth to her ripe throat.
She didn’t stiffen when he rasped her soft flesh with the sharp edge of his incisors.
Rather, she arched her neck, the movement pushing her soft flesh against his fangs and pricking her skin. Her gasp sizzled in the air as a sweet drop of blood bubbled and slid down her neck.
Dillon caught it with his tongue, licking to the source and drawing another few sweet drops before lifting her. Her feet left the ground as he pushed her higher up the wall until her nipple brushed his lips.
Her breath caught as he latched onto the ripe tip and drew it deep. His fangs grazed the tender flesh around her areola and his groin tightened. Her nipple throbbed against his tongue as he sank into her just a hair and drew a few more drops of her delicious heat. The salty sweetness sent a dizzying rush to his head. His insides clenched.
More, more, more.
The chant echoed in his head and he pushed her higher, pinning her in place with his mind rather than his hands because he needed them now. He slid his palms around to cup her ass as he tilted her forward just a fraction and touched his lips to the slick flesh between her legs. He licked her then, tracing the seam with the very tip of his tongue before parting her.
She closed her eyes, her hands braced on his shoulders, her fingers digging into his flesh. Holding on.
Urging him on.
The thought pushed past the thunder of his own heart, making him all the more determined to give her what she thought she wanted and frighten her off for good. He drew her clit into his mouth and she jumped. He suckled her for a long moment before replacing his lips with his fingers, and shifting his mouth an inch to the side, to the tender flesh of her upper thigh. The smell of sex filled his nostrils and fanned his hunger into a living and breathing thing that overwhelmed him. A growl rumbled past his lips and he sank his fangs deep.
So deliciously deep.
Convulsions gripped her and she clutched at him.
A shudder ripped through him as he started to draw on her. Her delicious essence filled his mouth and the energy from her climax seeped into him at every point where flesh met flesh.
It was the ultimate in fulfillment for a vampire, and it wasn’t nearly enough.
Not the warm, succulent body grasping at him, or the sweet essence pulsing in his mouth.
Dillon wanted more than just Meg’s body and her blood.
He wanted her heart.
The realization sent a rush of determination through him and he stiffened. He fought the beast inside of him, urging it back down until he managed to draw back. Blood trickled from the spot and he lapped at it, licking at her wounds until they stopped bleeding.
And then he forgot all about driving her away, and decided to do his damnedest to get her to stay.
17
MEG WAS STILL REELING from the most mind-blowing orgasm of her life when she felt the soft mattress against her back. The bedsprings protested as Dillon pressed her down. Her eyelids fluttered open and she stared up at the man who loomed over her.
Straddling her, his knees trapping her thighs, he leaned back to gaze down at her. The single lamp that burned in the room was at his back, making him more shadow than man.
All except for his eyes.
She saw them clearly, glowing green fire that skimmed over her, setting her nerves ablaze and making her forget all about the exquisite pleasure they’d just shared. Hunger yawned and anxiety skimmed up and down her arms. She wanted more.
She wanted him.
And he wanted to put the brakes on. She felt the sudden shift in his mood even before he reached for her. It was there in the way he simply towered over and drank her in with his eyes. His hands clenched at his sides for several long seconds as he seemed to fight for control. After several heartbeats, he seemed to find it. Where they’d been fast and furious a moment before, the hands that reached for her now were slow and purposeful and oh so steady.
“I’ve pictured you like this so many times,” he murmured, his voice thick and raw. “Beneath me, open for me, wet for me…” He skimmed her body, his fingertips brushing her neck, her collarbone, the slope of her breasts, the indentation of her ribs. “When I saw you that night from the balcony, I could hardly stand it. I wanted to rush in, throw the damned bottle to the wall and pleasure you myself.”
But he hadn’t. Because he couldn’t. She hadn’t invited him into her house at that point and, therefore, he’d been stuck in her doorway, waiting, watching. Wanting. The truth burned in the brightness of his eyes as they deepened and shifted until they burned a rich, vibrant purple. She wondered at the change in color.
“It’s because I’m turned on,” he murmured and she realized her thoughts were wide-open to him again.
She tried to block him, to focus her attention on shutting herself off mentally just as Nikki had said. But then he leaned down and flicked the tip of her nipple with his tongue and she forgot everything except the sharp sensation that knifed through her.
The ripe nub responded, hardening and throbbing, begging for more than the one decadent lick.
More.
She wanted him naked and hard and inside of her. Now.
Forever.
&n
bsp; Hardly. This wasn’t about tomorrow. It was about right now. About being a friend and helping him when he needed her most. It was about now. Anxiety rushed through her and she reached for him.
He caught her hands with one of his own and forced them up above her head to the headboard.
“Easy,” he murmured, his other hand going to her abdomen. “We’ve got all night.” He traced lazy circles, touching, relishing as if he’d never felt anything as soft as her skin.
Then he lowered his head and drew her nipple fully into the moist heat of his mouth.
Meg clenched her fingers, pushing against the hand that constrained her. She wanted to touch him. To feel him. To push things back up to the frenzied pace of a moment before so she didn’t have to think about what he was doing to her. And why.
Why the slower pace and the forbidden words and the sudden determination that coiled his body tight and held every muscle in check.
The questions pushed and pulled, warring with the delicious heat that simmered through her as he licked a path across her skin to coax the other breast in the same torturous manner.
She rotated her pelvis, rubbing against his chest. She wanted him, surrounding her, consuming her, filling up the emptiness inside her once and for all.
Forever.
The thought struck again and she fought hard, her legs parting and her body bucking, but she was little match for his strength.
He suckled her again, so long and deep and ahhh…
One rough fingertip traced the soft folds between her legs, pushing inside just a delicious fraction that made her quiver and gasp. He lingered, suckling her breasts, first one then the other. Back and forth. Over and over.
She clenched and unclenched around the tip of his finger, trying to draw him deeper, but he didn’t budge. Not until she was panting and whimpering and so desperate that she thought—no, she knew—she would surely die if he didn’t do something.
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