by Anna Santos
“What is the difference between fucking me or a total stranger as your last dying wish?”
I narrowed my eyes, annoyed. “I care about you, jerk!”
“I care about you, too!” he snapped back at me. “Does everybody think that I’m heartless?”
“Of course not,” I mumbled as I lowered my gaze to the ground.
Before I could understand what was happening, I was pinned against the wall, and he had raised my arms above my head.
“I don’t want you to die,” he stated, his voice laced with grief.
“Why?”
“Because then I’ll be completely alone. I won’t have you to call me a jerk and to try to reason with me.”
“I’m a vampire,” I said with tears in my eyes. The damn fool was softening my silly heart with his words. I wasn’t even sure what his words meant exactly. He knew we weren’t meant to be.
“I’m perfectly aware of that.”
“I had my chance.”
“I’m aware of that, too. There’s nothing more impossible than you and me.”
“So, you shouldn’t…” My voice disappeared for a moment. My emotions were taking over. “I can never become an angel again.”
“I know. Vampires and werewolves dating is a joke compared to us. I should have been born two hundred and twenty years sooner,” he spoke as his nose moved along my neck, smelling my skin. My body trembled in anticipation of his touch and my legs grew weaker. “We have here and now. And I know that you want me as badly as I want you.”
That was a bold thing to say. Cedric was cocky about the effect he had in me; about our attraction.
“I’m not an eighteen-year-old virgin girl, Cedric,” I reminded him. “You won’t manipulate me into…” I shut up when his lips fell on mine as he kissed me possessively and molded my body against his.
I cursed mentally when I felt how aroused he was and how excited I became. There was no way I would want to escape from his arms if he kept kissing me like that.
“If you aren’t one,” he breathed against my lips, “then stop acting like it and kiss me. Come on, Jo. What do you have to lose?”
I didn’t know if I should punch him or obey. Instead, I moved my hands, so he would let go of my arms. He shook his head, and I looked at the ceiling, annoyed.
“I swear I’ll hurt you if you don’t let go of my arms this instant,” I warned him, ready to act on my threat.
I must have hurt his feelings because he let me go and moved back some inches. I was still trapped since he placed his hands against the wall, caging me in.
“You don’t want me, either,” he whispered.
His sad words hit me like a punch in the guts.
“It’s not that,” I tried to explain to him. The hurt in his eyes was unbearable.
“It looks like it,” he claimed.
I sighed. I shouldn’t be so concerned about hurting his feelings. I was trying to prevent something stupid from happening in the heat of the moment. We would ruin our friendship. Then, it hit me. My reasoning was absurd. I was trying to deny my attraction to him, so we wouldn’t ruin our friendship, yet I was going to disappear.
Who cares about friendship?
The next day, by this time, I wouldn’t exist anymore. I might as well live in the moment and surrender myself to the crazy attraction I had for him. There was no one else I would rather spend my time with, anyhow. Philippe was busy with his mate, and I was here, in front of Cedric, debating whether I should let him seduce me or not. His eyes were on mine and all I could think of was how gorgeous he was. I wanted to keep kissing and touching him until my desire was satisfied.
“This is by far the stupidest thing I’ve ever done, but who cares? I won’t have to live with it much longer,” I mumbled, grabbing his face and pulling him in for a kiss.
I caught him off guard, but he didn’t hold it back.
I enjoyed the taste of his mouth, the softness of his lips, and his body falling onto mine. It was a rush of adrenaline, making my heart beat extremely fast and caused my mind to drift away.
My skin was tingling with pleasure. His hands were gripping and caressing my back and arms while his mouth was invading all my senses and numbing my mind with lust. It was by far the hungriest kiss I’ve had in centuries. I didn’t want him to stop. I was pushing him harder, fighting his tongue, hugging him tighter. I was losing track of time and of what was around us as the deadly yearning that I was feeling drove me into oblivion. I was incoherent. I typically had a lot of control over my emotions and the movements of my partner when I was kissing or having sex with someone. Seducing was an art, a vice to look for a momentary cure for the loneliness inside my heart after the rejection. I had never fully committed myself to another man. Men were toys, brief whims to please my lust.
Why is Cedric different? I couldn’t deny that I had a crush on him since the first time I’d laid my eyes on his gorgeous angelic figure. He was a breathtaking and enigmatic male. Extremely stubborn, but eager to find love. Even if he had no idea of what love truly was. He was lost, tormented by his duty and the fear of loneliness. This man was adjusting to all the new emotions that he had numbed for decades. Nevertheless, he was good in his core.
I lost my train of thought. His hands were grasping my waist and crushing me against the wall while his ripped body was pressing against mine. His mouth trailed kisses down my throat, drowning in my cleavage and making me almost slide down the wall as my skin burned with desire.
“Cedric,” I whispered his name, high on lust, messing up his hair with my fingers. His hands were fondling my breasts while his lips were exploring my exposed skin. My sanity was long gone. “Cedric.” I shivered, fighting for coherency. “Please.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked, raising his head and kissing my lips. “Did I hurt you?”
“No, I just…want to ask you if we could…do this somewhere else,” I explained, enjoying the kisses he was scattering along my face and neck.
I didn’t want my last night of sex to be against a wall or over a sofa. No matter how good it would be in the heat of the moment.
“Of course,” he agreed, placing his arms around me and hiding his face against my neck. He nibbled on my skin and it sent shivers of pleasure down my body.
I smiled in ecstasy.
“I’m sorry. I can’t seem to…stop touching you.” He sighed, making the butterflies in my stomach go even wilder, if that was even possible.
I had my eyes closed, and I just realized that we had teleported when I felt my back hit a soft surface, and his body fully cover mine. I opened my eyes. We were in a gorgeous white room, on a round platform king-sized bed.
“Where are we?” I asked, surprised by the richness of the ceiling details and the space around us. It was inside the palace, it must be. Everything looked ethereal and peaceful.
Cedric helped me sit. I looked around while he was smirking. “My bedroom in the palace. Do you like it?”
“It’s amazing.”
He placed his finger under my chin and made me look at him.
I gulped.
“No one will interrupt us here,” he whispered huskily, and my heartbeat skyrocketed.
His eyes were still shining silver. There was the shape of his wings behind him, but they weren’t showing. I could see their glow, making him look like the ethereal being he was. His wings were stunning and his face was…beautiful. I was restless. Now that we were in his bedroom, the thing we were about to do seemed more real than ever. I should stop this nonsense, but the yearning was too much to bear. I wanted him, badly.
“What are you thinking?” he asked. His eyes stopped on my legs.
The skirt of my dress was lifted, showing half of my legs. He leaned down, taking off my shoes and stroking my feet.
I nibbled on my lip, holding on to my breath and closing my eyes when his lips touched my ankles. My skin burst into waves of pleasure with each kiss he left behind. Then, he grabbed my legs and pulled me down to his la
p, placing one hand under my skirt, touching my thigh.
“What are you thinking?” he asked once again.
“Why do you care?” I asked, barely able to speak. Telling him the truth was the last thing I wanted to do. I caressed his face, playing with his ear.
He wasn’t as eager as before. He seemed confused. Maybe he was realizing the mistake we were doing.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine. It’s… I really don’t know.”
“You don’t know if you want to do this?”
“That’s not it,” he replied, kissing me to prove his point.
My breasts pressed against his torso while one of his hands moved to my neck and the other to my back. Kissing made what we were doing seem right, but I knew better. I should give in to lust and stop over thinking things.
“I think I should warn you,” he said between kisses. “I’ve never done this before.”
I wasn’t sure if I was hearing it right. I was too distracted with his lips being on mine and his hand caressing my leg.
“Aria broke up with you. This isn’t cheating on her.”
“That’s not it,” he whispered, placing his lips on my chin. I was as uncontrolled as he was. My hands were trying to get rid of his coat, but I was trembling and the buttons seemed impossible to open.
“Then what?” I asked, losing my patience and pulling on the buttons one by one. They flew across the bed. I had ruined the coat, but I really didn’t care. It was time to ruin the shirt. I kissed his forehead, his temples, and then trailed kisses down his face. He was peaceful, letting me explore his face.
“Would you want me if I was yours?” he asked with an aching voice.
His question made me stop kissing his neck. I nuzzled my nose against his skin and rubbed my cheek against his. He smelled amazing. I had never tasted angel blood, but every vampire knew that we shouldn’t even think about doing that. His blood was magical. It would be bad for us, and yet he smelled like candy. That thought made it hard to concentrate. I just wanted to kiss and lick him.
“Jo, would you?”
“Yes,” I answered without hesitation. “We would fight all the time because you are so narrow-minded, but I would want you. You are just a bit lost, nothing that I couldn’t fix,” I teased, kissing his cheek and gripping his shoulders. “Then again, I always had a thing for stubborn men.” I smirked wickedly next to his ear. “I doubt you would want me if the angels matched me to be your mate.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because you hate vampires. You wouldn’t hesitate to reject a vampire if you were matched to one,” I reminded him.
“You are probably right,” he agreed, kissing my face and placing his hands behind my back. He was trying to open the zipper of my dress. “I’ll be more tolerant from now on.”
“Do you promise?” I asked, surprised by his words.
He looked into my eyes and nodded.
I smiled. “I guess meeting me wasn’t that bad, was it?”
“Only if you don’t leave me,” he said.
I lost my smile and avoided his gaze. His demand made me sad and annoyed at the same time. He knew I couldn’t stay with him.
Why is he being so stubborn about it?
“We are impossible.”
“But I think I love you.”
I looked at him again, analyzing his sad face and the silent plea in his eyes.
“Please, don’t leave me alone.”
“Silly boy. Don’t mistake lust for love. You please me. I please you. Let’s keep things simple and not make a big deal out of this. When the pain stops, and you get a new mate, you’ll forget everything about me,” I whispered in the sweetest way I could, so I wouldn’t hurt his feelings. “You will have someone who will love you like you want to be loved. Someone who will tear down the walls you’ve built to conceal your fears and insecurities. Someone who can understand you better than you can understand yourself.”
“Like you.”
“Not like me. Don’t even lose time thinking about me when I’m gone,” I requested, kissing his lips and pulling him closer, so he would stop talking. He was going to protest. I knew he was. “Don’t kill the mood, Cedric. Just keep kissing me.”
He obeyed, surrounding me and making me lean down on the bed. His body fell over mine while his mouth trailed kisses down my throat and to my cleavage. I held on to the comforter under my hands and gasped for air. His hands gently pulled my skirt up, caressing my legs.
“Just rip the dress off,” I said when his hands tried to pull the dress down my shoulders.
He wasn’t managing to take it off, and I was losing my sanity with the waiting.
Cedric smirked against my mouth and sucked on my lower lip. “We have time. Also, you should know that I’ve never done this before. And by this, I mean that I’ve never slept with a woman before.”
I pushed him slightly as I opened my eyes with a baffled expression. “You’re a virgin?”
He nodded, and his cheeks seemed pinker than before. “I know the basics. I’ve read about it and…seen some videos. Just for research purposes.” He quickly added to his speech.
I smiled widely.
He heaved a sigh. “I know. I’m pathetic.”
I shook my head. “I think that’s adorable.”
He furrowed his brow. “Adorable?”
“Don’t worry about that,” I whispered huskily next to his mouth. I didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable since I knew gargoyle men didn’t feel lust. It was amazing that he hadn’t lost his virginity before he turned into a gargoyle or after he found his mate. If I were Aria, I wouldn’t have taken my hands off of him. The girl was probably a virgin, too. There were a million questions I could ask him, but I chose not to.
“By the time you leave this room, you’ll have a master’s degree in making love,” I declared, smirking wickedly and wrapping my arms around his neck.
He smirked back at me.
“What?”
“You said making love.”
“You aren’t some random guy. I like you,” I whispered, softening my voice and eyes. “I would date you if I could.”
“Let’s forget about the future,” he requested. “Let’s continue. Kissing and touching you makes me happy.”
I was almost crying from happiness when I heard him say all those things to me. Cedric could be stubborn, but he wasn’t heartless. He was just one of those men who was so driven by duty and justice that they neglected to put their own happiness first. It was honorable of him. But that would put a lot of pressure on the woman he loved. She had to be his haven, his ground, and accept that there would be something else that he searched for to give meaning to his life other than love. He was a natural leader and that would make him demanding, possessive, and protective. It was scary how much he reminded me of my former soul-mate before he became evil.
I was done talking and thinking. I wanted to give in to our bodies demands. I wanted to lose track of time and feel happy.
Cedric’s hands grabbed the material around my cleavage, and he shred it to have access to my breasts. I choked the laughter and surrendered to the pleasure.
CHAPTER TEN
ARIA
I didn’t sleep. Philippe had helped me open the suitcases to look for my pajamas. Afterward, we began putting the clothes in the closet and drawers. He insisted, even if I had told him that I wasn’t staying there for long. As we arranged the clothes, we talked. At least, he did, and I let him so that an uncomfortable silence wouldn’t fall between us.
We’ve talked about everything that I hadn't had the opportunity to see in Paris. Philippe said that he could show me around before I left for America. It would be sad if I went to Paris and didn’t see my favorite buildings and historical places. I was aware of that. But I wasn’t willing to stay here longer than I had to. I wanted my old life back.
Yet Philippe was trying to find any excuse he could for me to stay longer in the city. I knew if I did t
hat, I would get more and more attached to him, and it would be harder to leave him.
“I have no idea how I’m going to take home so many clothes,” I said, placing the last dresses inside the closet. “I don’t need most of the things she brought. I just wanted my old stuff back. At least, Camille didn’t forget to bring my violin.”
“I’ll send you home in my private plane. You don’t need to worry about the luggage.”
I spun around to look at him. “You don’t need to do that. I can go home in a normal plane.”
“I’m going to take you home,” he informed me.
“Why?”
“I want to. Besides, even if you don’t want to stay in Paris, I can stay with you in America.”
I felt uncomfortable with what I was going to say next, although his words made my heart beat faster. “I think…we shouldn’t see each other anymore.”
“Well, I disagree.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’ve already told you that…”
Waving his hands for me to calm down, he completed my sentence, “You need time to heal, I know that. I’m not expecting anything from you. I just want us to be friends. I want to make sure that you are safe and stay that way. There’s nothing left for me here.”
“You are the Vampire King. There’s plenty of things for you here.”
“Not really. The most important thing won’t be here,” he mumbled, stepping dangerously close to me.
I stumbled backward.
“Are you going to become a creepy stalker again?” I asked, breathless. “Maybe I shouldn’t stay here. Maybe I should go to my uncle’s home.”
“Maybe you should start trusting me and stop fearing me,” he said, holding on to my hands and making me move forward. “I don’t bite literally. I swear.” He smirked as I gulped unsure of what he was going to do. “Just relax.” He pulled me close and hugged me. Philippe put my arms around him and combed through my hair. “I want to hug you, that’s all. You scared me. I thought you were going to die twice in the same day.”
“It wasn’t my intention.”
