Diana hesitated a moment before sliding her hand in his. The moment their skin touched, Sebastian felt a jolt of pleasure ripple up his arm. When he wrapped his fingers around her hand, the feeling surged through the rest of his body. The night would not last forever. He had much to learn from Diana Nostrum before he gave in to the desire and hunger slicing into his every thought.
A man singing a sultry rendition of Enrique Iglesias’ song Can I Have This Kiss Forever broke the silence surrounding them. White lights covering the trees lining the path twinkled.
“It must be midnight,” Diana said. “Midnight Music in the Park is starting.”
“I’d say you owe me at least a dance.” Sebastian stepped in front of her and grinned down into her startled face. “One dance and one kiss?”
Diana’s eyes still held uncertainty, but she nodded and rested her free hand on his biceps. It tensed under the heat of her touch. Every muscle tensed in anticipation of more.
An owl hooted woefully. People strolled past, some working their way to the outdoor theater, some enjoying each other’s company on this warm, clear night. Sebastian darkened the shadow surrounding them, wanting more privacy than the tree bestowed. Diana’s fears nibbled at his conscience, but her arousal destroyed his determination to keep his mind on weaning information from her. They swayed to the music, keeping a scant inch of air separating their bodies.
“I don’t even know your name.” Diana’s gaze shifted away from his mouth to his eyes. As he opened his mouth to answer, she cursed under her breath and slid her hand from his. She dug her nails into the spot where he’d taken her blood last night. “Damn!”
When he raised his hand and moved it toward her neck, her eyes widened. He slid his knuckles down the side of her throat. Her vein leapt at his touch, then stilled.
Diana sighed and smiled. “That’s been driving me mad all day.”
Filled with guilt by her offhanded referral to the madness that he knew could overtake her if he failed to sate her hunger, he took her hand in his, then drew her body into a tight embrace. Bringing his mouth to her ear, he whispered, “I’d say this means I get two kisses.” He brushed his lips over the whorl of her ear.
“I’d say you have to do more than soothe a twitch for a kiss.”
“Like what?” Enjoying himself, he smiled and sent a vision of straight, fang-free teeth into her mind.
“I don’t even know you.”
“Yes, you do. I’m the man who saved you from kissing Cabana’s floor.”
Laughing, Diana relaxed and leaned closer. Her hair flowed over the hand he slid up her back and sent the sweet fragrance of jasmine drifting up to fill his lungs.
“Sebastian,” he murmured in her ear before pulling away to gaze into her dazed eyes.
“Hmm?” Diana blinked.
“My name.”
“Oh.” Her lips quirked up in a lopsided grin. “Mine’s Diana.”
“Diana. How fitting. The name of a goddess.” Sebastian watched her eyes twinkle. “She frolicked in the forest nude, didn’t she?” He shifted, bringing his mouth very close to hers. “And bathed in the lake.”
Diana stared up into his eyes. “Nude. She was quite vain, you know. She felt she was too beautiful to allow any mere mortal to look at her body.”
“Alas, poor Actaeon. If he were not a mere mortal, do you think she would have turned him into a stag or opened her arms and allowed him to feast his eyes upon her body?”
“Oh, goddesses are very picky.” Diana grinned. “It probably would depend on his looks more than his mortality.”
“Really? And do I have what it takes to win over a goddess?” Sebastian hooked Diana’s chin with his finger and tilted her face up. His hands itched to explore every curve of her body. It took all the control he had to keep his fangs from exploding into view.
“Are you a mere mortal?” Diana’s grin failed to reach her eyes.
He maintained his composure, although a bevy of alarms went off in his head. “That depends on what you consider a mere mortal.”
When she opened her mouth to respond, he drew her closer and stole the words from her mouth in a crushing, yet tender kiss. The ground shifted beneath his feet, the voice of the singer and hushed conversations filtering from throughout the park dissolved and his resolve to uncover the truth about Diana Nostrum receded into darkest depths of his mind. Pricking his lip with his fang, he tempted her senses with a taste of his blood.
Shrouded in the shadow he’d enveloped them in, he merged with her mind and absorbed her every reaction to their kiss, to his blood.
Her hunger overpowered the last remnants of her fears. She strained against the confines of their clothes to get closer and moaned when his blood slid into her mouth. She wondered about the sweet taste of his kisses, comparing the feel of him to that of the phantom she’d convinced herself was really just a product of some dreams or premonitions. Her body strummed with a desire that could only be matched by his.
Growling, Sebastian deepened the kiss until he thought he’d drown in their combined passion. He tore his mouth from hers, but remained merged with her mind. Had she bewitched him, again?
Her thoughts filtered into his mind. She’d never been so forward. Her logical side warned she’d gone over her beer limit, reacting more to the excessive amount of alcohol she’d downed than to Sebastian. Ah, but her romantic side shoved logic aside and insisted her body ached with need because she’d finally found her way into the arms of the man she’d waited for all these years. She wondered if he too felt as if he’d found that special someone.
Kiss me again, Sebastian. Her voice slid into his mind, sweeter than any angel’s song. He realized his error when just before his lips touched hers he saw, reflected in her eyes, two tiny points peeking out from beneath his upper lip. Tiny, but big enough to yank her out of the fog of desire she’d been so lost in.
Diana backed away, recreating some distance between their bodies. Her nails dug into his flesh.
Everything in Sebastian demanded he decimate her misgivings with another kiss and feed her hunger until she had no will left to refuse him. Common sense demanded he resist.
Her teeth snagged her lower lip and pierced the sensitive skin. A tiny bead of blood emerged, then burst.
“You owe another,” he murmured and brushed his knuckles down her cheek. “Will you deny me?”
Diana’s lower lip slid free as she shook her head. Before she could change her mind, he took possession of her lips, silencing any fears that might drive her away, gently compelling her to accept that she’d only imagined seeing his fangs, that the teeth she now slid her tongue over were flat and smooth. Swamped by her emotions and her body’s reaction, he struggled for control, but that control quickly turned to ash beneath the fire that erupted in her core. He slid his thigh between her legs to fan the flames, then grabbed her hips and drew her up the length of his thigh and pressed his erection into her soft, warm stomach. His tongue teased her lips until she opened them and offered herself up to his invasion.
Her legs buckled. Her arms tightened around his neck. I do know you. I know this kiss. She pulled back.
Her voice and the fear in her eyes brought him to his senses. “You know, goddess, I believe we have met.”
Diana’s eyes widened before narrowing with suspicion. “When?”
“Sadly, only in my dreams.” He lifted a spiral of her hair and twisted it around his finger.
Smirking, she muttered, “That’s such a lame line.”
“I have dreamt of you,” he said, holding her gaze. Letting her hair uncurl from around his finger, he watched it glide down and land on the slight swell of her breasts. “I recognize your kiss.”
Sebastian squarely met her probing gaze. He hated lying to her, but he had no choice. No matter her guilt or innocence, he had to gain her trust. “Just last night, I dreamt of this kiss.”
She leaned closer. Her heart beat fiercely against his chest. “Last night?”
“Did you dream last night?” He grinned and brought his lips back to hers. Her desire, her inability to deny it shocked her. He could see it in her eyes, in the slight tensing of her back. Part of him regretted enthralling her last night and implanting the command that she give in to her desires when they touched. Part of him wished he could determine if her hunger stemmed from her transformation or from a natural attraction to him.
Either way, only her fears had the power to subdue her. Fears he had to calm if he planned on completing their bonding. Suspicion still lurked in his mind, but the idea of spending an eternity of nights tasting, touching, possessing Diana kept hope alive that he’d succeed in proving her innocence.
During the walk back to Cabana’s, Diana carried on a one-sided conversation in her mind. Sebastian grimly noted that if she’d actually been talking, she would have passed out by now from lack of air.
She begged him not to think she always hooked up with men she’d just met, explained that she rarely kissed anyone like this until a second date, then rattled on and on about her phantom. She talked about their time at the lake and in the alcove at Cabana’s as if she truly believed he’d been there. Then she shocked him by listing all the other times over the past week when she’d either sensed his presence or caught sight of a shadow and was sure it was him. She talked so much to him with her mind that he almost believed she knew he could hear.
As they crossed the parking lot, she winced and clutched her stomach. Sebastian realized that she needed much more of his blood than he’d thought and much sooner than he’d anticipated.
As soon as Diana reached her car, she unhooked her micro purse from the loop of her skirt and took out her keys. Her stomach muscles cramped. She leaned on the car for support. Cold sweat broke out on her forehead. How many beers had she drunk?
Over the top of her car, she noticed that all the people smoking outside Cabana’s suddenly stamped out their cigarettes and quickly reentered the club. Even the bouncer went in and closed the door behind him. “Isn’t that strange. Everyone—
She felt Sebastian grab her shoulders and roughly swing her around to face him.
“What—?” Her question dissolved when Sebastian’s mouth covered her own.
Cinnamon mixed with that unbelievably sweet taste unique to his kisses filled her mouth. Her legs trembled when his hand cupped her buttocks and drove her hips into his.
With a deep, guttural moan, Diana grasped onto his shoulders and rose up onto her toes, bringing that solid shaft of heat where she wanted it most. The hand supporting her back bathed her with liquid fire as it slid up, firmly pressing her breasts to his chest, then cradled her head and shifted it so he could delve his tongue even deeper.
Moan after agonizing moan rose from her throat as she savored his taste and alternated between sucking on his tongue and lower lip, something she’d never done while kissing other men, something she couldn’t stop doing with Sebastian. Her muscles relaxed as the pain ebbed.
She felt the hand on her buttocks glide lower, felt the tips of his fingers draw the hem of her short skirt up, then brush along the tender crease where her thigh ended and the cheek of her rear end began. Tearing her mouth away, she murmured against his lips, “Someone—”
“Trust me, no one will come out.”
He obliterated her concern over the eeriness of the lot emptying out with another bone-melting kiss. She swept her tongue into his mouth, found what felt like a gash on his tongue and wrapped around it the same way a baby would wrap her tongue around the nipple of her bottle. Suckling his tongue, unable to stop herself, Diana drove her hips firmly into his as her head swirled with a multitude of decadent images that seemed so real, so familiar. Sebastian crouching behind a bush, breathing in her scent as she stood naked before him. Sebastian growing more and more aroused as she seductively danced in the moonlight. Sebastian holding her naked body beneath the towering pines, crushing her against the wall in Cabana’s alcove.
Another image from her dream last night swept before her closed eyes with more clarity than even she had dreamt. Sebastian raising her hips and bringing his head down between her legs because…because…
Because she’d wanted him to.
She felt as if she were in a familiar embrace, as if they’d shared all of her visions and more. Her confusion over the images began to draw her out of the wave of desire enveloping her, but then his fingers dug into the crease below her buttocks. Every nerve seemed to converge in her pussy as she felt the delicate lace of her lace thong slide over then between her quivering nether lips.
His kiss grew more demanding, as if he knew what he’d done, as if he knew how very much she wanted and needed his fingers to follow that thin strip of lace and push it deeper into her pussy.
Fuck me now, Sebastian, she silently begged, wishing she had the nerve to voice her desires. A growl rumbled through his body into hers, sounding more animal than human. A painful, rending growl so like the one she’d heard by the lake. The one that had not been part of a vision. The one that had sent her friends running for cover.
He suddenly tore his mouth from hers. The rhythm of his ragged breathing matched hers. She realized by the shocked expression on his face that he too had been taken by surprise by their lust for each other, that he too could not believe how quickly their kiss snapped all logic and control from their grasps.
Stop searching for reasons to run. Stop thinking of your phantom. A man holds you in his arms. Only a man. Her subconscious thoughts whispered into her mind, calming her fears, insisting she listen. Sebastian’s eyes glowed in the moonlight as they peered with amazing intensity into hers. She blinked, trying to recapture thoughts that only a moment ago seemed so important.
Still clasped in his iron embrace, Diana cringed when her gaze fell to his mouth and beheld a smear of blood on his lower lip. “Oh…I think I-I bit you.”
Sebastian touched the blood on his lip, then glanced at the crimson smudge on his fingertip. His pupils dilated when he gazed down at her mouth. “There’s blood on your lips.” He slid the pad of his finger over her lips, then held up his finger. “Your blood or mine? Or both?” Holding her gaze, he licked some off, then slid his finger between her lips.
Without thinking, Diana ran her tongue over the pad of his finger.
Their gazes locked. Diana felt his finger slide free.
His hands cupped her face as his eyes narrowed. “Goddess or not, you’ve enchanted me, Diana.”
Diana closed her eyes as his hands brushed down her face. Sebastian’s voice came to her as if from across a vast ocean.
Open your eyes, my mate, see me for what I am, accept me and never fear me.
Her lids felt so heavy, too heavy to fully rise. Through her lashes, she saw his mouth open as his hands tilted her head to the side. Liquid fire saturated her thong, slid down her inner thighs as she felt her blood surge up to the spot on her neck that throbbed and pulsed with renewed vengeance.
A sense of calm swept over her. When he opened his mouth and revealed two razor sharp fangs, her stomach clenched with need. She wanted this, needed it more than her next breath.
Sebastian’s head descended swiftly. She tensed, expecting him to bury those fangs deep into her neck, expecting the pain to break the spell he’d cast over her. His lips skimmed over her vein until she silently begged him to take her now. Pain, white hot pain stole her breath away, but when she would have screamed, pleasure replaced the pain and a million stars burst to life beneath his mouth.
Too soon, he raised his head, ripped open his shirt and, holding up what looked more claw than nail, sliced open a gash above his heart.
The minute shred of her mind that she still retained control over knew she should scream, fight or at least find the sight of his blood flowing from the gash repulsive. She licked her lips and gazed up into those magical eyes that reminded her so much of the night sky.
“Take my heart, goddess. Take my life’s essence and make it your own.” Sebastian buried his hands
in her hair and gently urged her forward. The moment her mouth touched his skin and she tasted his blood, she felt her feet leave the ground. His throaty moans filled her ears, his heart beat in time with hers and sweet ambrosia filled her mouth.
A kiss. No more than a kiss.
Diana opened her eyes. The pain she’d felt a minute ago had vanished. Sebastian held her face in his hands as he brushed his lips over hers before pulling away and smiling down at her with shimmering eyes.
“That was some kiss,” she murmured, feeling drowsy. She lowered her eyes and stared at his shirt. For some reason, she’d expected it to be torn. Running her palms over the hard muscles covering his chest, she fought the urge to rub against him like a cat. “I-I’m really tired. I’d better get home.”
He hooked her chin and tilted her face up. “I want to see you again.” Glancing at the sky, he smirked and added, “Tonight.”
Diana nodded as he brushed his lips across the bridge of her nose then, still holding her gaze, took the keys from her hand. “And I think I’d better drive you home. Just in case you feel faint again.”
Diana glanced around the parking lot. “But what about your car? How will you get home?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll call a friend.”
She didn’t question him when he parked quite a distance from her house. Somehow, she doubted she’d ever question anything he did. They spent the rest of the night in the car and talked, uncovering more and more about each other. She learned how seriously he took his job as a cop, how much he loved and admired his stepfather and how work and family kept him busy most of the day. She talked about how close she and Terry were, how much she loved her grandmother and avoided any mention of her father or Luna.
Shortly before dawn, after a very passionate kiss, a Cadillac Escalade pulled up. Sebastian introduced the young man as his cousin Tomas. The man appeared shy and avoided meeting her gaze as he mumbled a quick hello, then slid into the passenger seat. She expected another kiss before he left, but Sebastian merely winked over the roof of the car.
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