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  Tears poured from the corners of my eyes, running down my temples and falling to the pillow beneath my head. He didn’t stop until he’d kissed and licked every mark. Then he gently rolled me over and began again.

  “I will know and see everything. And I will revel in the beauty that is you.”

  The way his words flowed made my heart full, and my tears slowly subsided. I began to enjoy the way he ran his lips and his hands over my skin. Lines of fire surged from each touch, warming me all over. My breasts felt heavy and my sex wept with need.

  He slid his hands down my hips and unsnapped my pants, pulling them off slowly. The waistband dragged across my mound and put delicious pressure on my swelling clit.

  A wave of cool air grazed the cheeks of my ass. Worries emerged again, but were dispelled as his mouth planted a kiss on each of my exposed cheeks.

  “Perfection.”

  The word was just a whisper, but it resonated deep inside me.

  I knew there were scars on my backside, too. But they didn’t seem to be turning him off. In fact, when he leaned down to kiss me again, I felt his arousal prod against the back of my thighs.

  He wanted me—scars and all.

  A breath later, he turned me onto my back, still gazing down on me as if he’d never seen anything more beautiful in his life. I knew I could never tire of seeing him look at me with such reverence.

  I wanted to see him, too. I raised my hands to the hem of his polo shirt and tugged. He obliged and pulled it off, tossing it to the floor where my clothes had landed.

  My lips parted at the vision before me. The light tan on his arms continued over the rest of his body. His shoulders were golden, too. Light blond hair dusted his chest and I drew my fingers along the center slope between his pecs. My gaze trailed lower, taking in and appreciating his tapered waist and six-pack abs. A thin trail of hair started again at his navel and led my eyes on a downward path. The waist of his pants hid the rest of him from view, but the bulge beneath spoke to his desire. When I looked back to his face, the intensity in his eyes heated me even more.

  I fumbled with the button on his jeans for a second before I got it loose. Then pulled down the zipper and pushed them, along with his boxers down over his hips. His cock sprang free, already hard and glistening with pre-cum.

  Instead of being nervous, like I thought I would be, I was excited. My heart raced and my skin tingled in anticipation. Even my mouth watered at the impressive male display. He wriggled the rest of the way out of his clothes and kicked them off the bed, turning back to me with the hungry look of a lion that hadn’t eaten in days.

  He didn’t attack, though. Each move he made was slow and deliberate. His legs were on either side of my thighs, holding me firmly in place. He leaned down, blowing a stream of cool air across my bare nipples. They pebbled in an instant and I wanted nothing more than to feel his lips on them.

  A tiny moan slipped from between my lips. Please. I wanted his mouth on me more than anything. “Please.” It was a whisper, but I had said it.

  My eyes closed when the wisps of cold air returned to my breasts. Then the cool touch of his lips. They were so close. He kissed around the nipple, caressing every part of my breast with his mouth, then moving and doing the same with the other, but never taking either nipple.

  “I love how sensitive you are. Your breasts are like heaven—soft, supple, and full.”

  I was awash with sensations. His mouth made love to my breasts. There was no other way to describe it. He licked and sucked and nipped until I could feel my pulse pounding in my sex. It drove me wild.

  When he finally closed his mouth over one of my nipples, I gasped. Each tug sent ribbons of fire coursing through my body straight to my wet, needy core. He switched to the other and used his fingers to roll the wet nipple back and forth, exerting just enough pressure to make me start panting.

  My back arched up, thrusting my breasts closer to his luxurious mouth. He nipped and pulled at the other nipple, not giving a second of reprieve. I pushed my head back and fisted handfuls of the satiny comforter, biting back a groan. I couldn’t remember the last time I was this turned on.

  Warmth flooded across every inch of my skin. Full-on body blush.

  He shifted so that his shaft nudged at my mound while his mouth delved up and down the lines of my throat. “Look at me.” The command rumbled from deep in his chest.

  I couldn’t deny him and I opened my eyes again just as he captured my mouth, plunging his tongue deep. He leaned to the side, resting on an elbow and sliding one palm beneath my head. His grip on my skull was firm, and he used the leverage to kiss even harder.

  His other hand slid down the left side of my body, sending shivers of exhilaration straight to my nerve endings. I rolled my shoulders, wiggling my arms free, and wrapped my hands around his bulging ones, giving myself the ability to push back into his all-consuming kiss, wanting to give back as much as he was giving me.

  His biceps flexed beneath my fingers, distracting me for a moment from his wandering right hand, but I froze when his fingers brushed over my swollen clit. Nerve endings fired, and I sucked in a breath to keep from tumbling down the cliff of the first orgasm I’d had in years.

  He pulled back from my mouth and nuzzled my ear. “If you don’t want this to go further, just tell me.”

  “Please don’t stop. I’m going to come, but I don’t want this to be over.” I gasped for a breath. “And you haven’t even taken your pleasure yet.”

  His tongue traced the lobe of my ear. “My precious, Bailey. I have no intention of stopping after you come. I do not take from a woman. Sex is a gift from your body to mine.”

  “But, everyone ...” I quashed those thoughts. It didn’t matter if I understood what he said. It didn’t matter if this expression of physical love went against everything I’d been told my whole life.

  He slid his forefinger between my slick folds, brushing ever so slightly along my clit as he delved into my vagina. I gasped. The pressure of having his finger inside me was exquisite and worrisome at the same time. I was so tight and it was just one finger. How would I ever take all of him?

  “Just feel, stop thinking,” he whispered before covering my mouth with his again. The faint scent of peppermint filled my lungs and I relaxed into his touch.

  My orgasm built, swirling inside me like the outer winds of a hurricane. I moaned into his mouth and arched my hips, giving him better access to my sex. His finger slid in and out, coated with my juices. He circled my clit with his thumb and thrust inside again, but this time with two fingers. Pushing, stretching, and getting me ready for more. I shuddered. His thumb touched my swollen clit and I moaned again. So close. I was almost there.

  As nerves fired throughout my body, I began to writhe between him and the bed. I wanted to come. I needed release. He worked me close again and again and then backed away at the last second. His two fingers were still in my vagina, scissoring open and closed, pumping in and out.

  “Please,” I begged into his mouth.

  He pulled back and I stared into his bright blue eyes. “Come now.” He pressed down on my clit and pushed his fingers inside as deep as he could.

  My pussy clenched and I screamed as the orgasm ripped through my body. I arched upward, trying to follow the floating feeling. It was as if I had left the gravity of the earth’s atmosphere. I’d never known an orgasm could feel as if the entire universe rocked.

  Every muscle in my body contracted and squeezed. My toes curled into the covers and I dug my fingers into the muscles of his biceps. He pushed his fingers deeper than I thought possible and another wave of contractions fluttered through me like a swarm of butterflies.

  I slowly relaxed, sinking back onto the bed. My arms slipped from his and fell silently to my sides. My legs relaxed and my body felt exhausted and limp.

  “Oh my.” I stared into his eyes, drinking in his lustful gaze. A twitch against my thigh reminded me we still had a long way to go. His hard cock was cool
against my skin. In fact his whole body was cool to the touch, although my body burned with arousal. Each graze of his arm, touch of his lips, brush of his leg was like ice against my flushed skin.

  “That was only the beginning, min kjaereste. I want to hear you scream in pleasure over and over, until the only thing you worry about is when we will have time to make love again.”

  I gasped. Make love? No one I knew had ever referred to having sex as making love. Sure, there were some couples who seemed really happy together, but that was not the norm in my world. In my world, people fucked or had sex. Maybe it was because he was from a different time.

  “I don’t think I can move.” A tiny giggle followed my admission. Where had that come from? I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laughed at anything. What would he think? “I’m sorry. I wasn’t laughing at you. I … I just …”

  “Bailey,” he hushed. “It’s perfectly natural to be happy.” His face split into a wide grin and he leaned down, sucking first one of my nipples and then the other, each tug reawakening my nerves.

  “Ahhhh,” I moaned, arching my back, taking pressure off of the nipples he pulled on.

  His hand pushed against my thighs and I parted my legs, allowing him to move between them. He lowered his body along mine, tracing his tongue along my abdomen, a hipbone, and then straight across my clit.

  He licked me there and I flinched. No man—not even my ex—had ever tasted my sex. It was unlike any sensation I’d ever experienced. Gentle. Soft. Cool against my hot center. It was heavenly.

  I watched, fascinated as he took another lick. A twinkle in his eye told me I was in for much more than a few little tastes. He slid off the foot of the bed, grabbed my feet, and tugged me to the edge. I tensed when he sank to his knees on the floor. I couldn’t see him or what he did unless I craned my neck. But, I could feel his cool breath as it blew across my wet sex. I trembled, anticipating the touch of his mouth on me there again. I wanted it. I wanted everything he would give.

  He slid his arms beneath my thighs and wrapped his hands around my legs, locking me in place. I tested his hold, but budging my hips wasn’t going to be an option.

  “Do you want this, Bailey?”

  His voice cut through my panting breaths.

  “Yes.” I did, though I knew I sounded a little tentative. I wanted to feel joy in a man’s arms, not terror. I trusted him. That little voice inside my head told me it was okay to let go. It was okay to find happiness. It didn’t matter if he was a vampire. I was better off with him than the humans who viewed me as ruined leftovers. “I want you.” The words came out more like a plea than an answer. I not only wanted him, I needed him.

  His tongue swirled around my throbbing clit, then he closed his lips, pulling it into his mouth. I gasped and my back bowed, the sensation nearly sending me straight to the stratosphere again. Taking a deep breath, I tried to concentrate on him, on his mouth and the divine things he was doing. I couldn’t believe my body could regroup that fast and be so close to the edge of coming again.

  When he released my clit from his mouth, I sighed in relief. It was short lived. His voice rumbled above the roar of my blood rushing through my head. “Come again, kjaere. Now.” He captured my clit once more and the pressure exploded inside me like fireworks.

  “Erick!” His name tore from my throat in an ear-splitting scream. I sat up, grabbing his head, entwining my fingers in his shoulder-length hair, trying to move his mouth from where it was latched to my body, but it was useless. He wasn’t letting up until he’d pulled every last bit of the orgasm from me. I hung on for dear life as contractions continued to spiral from my center out to the tips of my hands and feet.

  When he finally released me, I fell backward onto the comforter once more. My body jerked a few times and shivers were still running up and down my spine. My skin had been hot before, but now I felt as if I were truly on fire.

  The contrast of his cool skin only excited me further. My body worked overtime to warm his. I wanted more contact, not less. I wanted his body next to mine. Skin on skin. I wanted to give back as much as he’d given to me.

  Sex had never been pleasant with Kevin, not even at first. What Erick had just shown me awakened a need I’d forgotten was there—deep inside, just waiting.

  Erick lifted me as if I weighed an ounce and gently tossed me back to the center of the bed.

  “I like where your head is now, Bailey. Tell me what you are thinking.”

  He crawled forward, gliding up my body like the lethal predator I knew he was, but it didn’t scare me. I loved that he could be so tender and compassionate, yet at the same time, so firm and demanding. He pushed when I needed it and held back when I couldn’t handle it. Maybe being with a man who could read my pheromones wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

  I smiled up at him. “How much I want to feel you inside me.” I parted my legs, offering him a clear view of my closely shaved pussy I hoped he couldn’t turn down. Not that he hadn’t just seen it. He’d practically been worshiping it a few moments ago. But, I wanted more than his mouth on me now. “Do you have a condom?”

  “I can’t get you pregnant, and I don’t carry diseases. I have condoms, but I would much rather feel your heat directly.” His icy blue eyes darkened and I knew he wanted the same. As he drew closer I could see a thin rim of red around his irises, but his fangs hadn’t descended. He wanted to bite, but held back.

  “Me too.” I nodded and reached for him, tracing the line of his angular jaw. Just a hint of rough stubble scratched at my fingertips.

  “Good.” The word was more of a growl. He dipped his head, nuzzled my neck, and then nipped at my ear.

  He raised his torso up, abandoning my neck. Then nudged my legs apart with his knees and pulled my hips up until his erection just pressed against the opening of my vagina.

  Leaning down for another kiss, he pushed with one fluid movement, splitting me apart with his hard cock. I trembled, waiting for him to make another move, but he just stared down at me and waited, realizing my body needed time to adjust to him. It’d been so long.

  My discomfort faded quickly and I moved first, wrapping my legs around his waist and pulling him deeper. It was all the encouragement he needed. He started with slow, steady thrusts, pulling in and out until I took his full length.

  “So tight, so perfect,” he rumbled. His hands drifted from my legs to my breasts. He kneaded them, switching between rolling my nipples between his fingers and pinching them until I gasped.

  The now familiar twinge of a building orgasm fluttered through my belly. I couldn’t possibly be able to come again. Just at that moment he grinned and moved one of his hands along my hip and between our rocking bodies.

  My breath turned to pants. He knew. The damn vampire knew. He’d probably planned to get another one out of me before we finished.

  His fingers grazed my swollen and throbbing clit. My heart skipped a beat, and I moaned. I squeezed my legs, digging my heels into his back, pressing us closer and pushing his hand away from my super-sensitive clit. His cock swelled more, filling and stretching me.

  “Up,” he groaned. He pulled me toward him and pressed us together, chest to chest. I rode his cock as he lifted me from my hips and then pulled me back down on him.

  The friction was too much. Another orgasm came barreling up from my center, exploding inside me with a force I couldn’t control. My fingers dug into his back and I let my head drop backward and screamed his name again as he drove into me even deeper. I clung to him, taking everything and finding that euphoric place where my body and my mind floated apart. In that moment, his mouth closed over part of my neck. The sting of his bite sent another wave of pleasure rolling through my body. He came hard, growling against my skin as he both filled and drank from me.

  Minutes passed before he slowly released my neck, swiping his tongue across the wound several times. I knew there would be no visible mark. Whatever he did, it healed me completely, leaving no trace of his bite
behind. Something I truly appreciated. The last thing I wanted was another scar.

  He yanked back the covers, pulled me off his lap, and laid me ever so gently on the sheets. The bed dipped and moved as he crawled to the edge and got off.

  “Don’t leave.”

  “I’ll be right back,” he murmured, disappearing into the bathroom. Sure enough, he reappeared with a washcloth a few moments later and attended to me, cleaning traces of our lovemaking from my legs and sex. “Better?” His blue eyes were back to their brilliant shade of tropical blue ocean water.

  He might be able to read my pheromones like a book, but his eyes were the windows to his soul. They darkened when he was aroused. A ring of red appeared when he needed to feed. They sparkled when he was amused. Mostly they stared at me, wrapping me in the unseen blanket of comfort and … love. How could he love me? We’d only just met.

  A moment later he disappeared into the bathroom again. I heard water running for a few seconds then he was back, crawling into the bed with me and cuddling up behind. I shivered, still coming down from my high. Contact with him sent sparks through my body, warming parts of me that should’ve been totally spent.

  “Lustful little thing, aren’t we, kjaere?” He chuckled, tugging a sheet over our naked bodies and then wrapped his arm around my waist.

  Heat flooded my cheeks. Damn pheromones. “I don’t know what you do to me,” I admitted.

  “You’re mine. This is your home, Bailey. At my side. In my bed. All you have to say is yes.”

  His. Though it sounded like he was saying he owned me, my heart now understood that’s not what it meant. It wasn’t something he’d forced on me. It reminded me of how he’d called sex a gift from me to him.

  But it wasn’t sex that was the true gift. It was me, giving myself to him. And I had. I was his, body and soul. I’d wandered the country for nearly four years, searching … running … wishing for something I didn’t believe even existed.

  “Yes.” Hell yes!

  Chapter 8