Now she didn’t understand. She was a perfectly logical person. If she saw him sleeping in the ground she would know exactly what he was doing, right? “Andre, I’m totally committed to this relationship and you have to know that’s huge for me. I’ve never heard of Carpathians and I always thought vampires were a myth. I’m taking in a lot right now.”
“I know that, Teagan. I am well aware of the fact that I have had to push you faster and much further than I ever wanted to.”
“Tell me about your people. That will help me feel like I’m not completely crazy. I actually considered that my grandmother might need to go to a hospital or at the very least, go on medication, and all this time she was right. Maybe if I know what’s going on, I can convince my sisters . . .”
“No. Our people cannot ever be known to humans. You know why, Teagan. We are nearly extinct as it is. There is a group, probably the one your grandmother is involved with, who hunt and kill everyone they consider vampire. They cannot tell the difference between Carpathian and the undead. They sometimes even kill humans they just do not like.”
Teagan could understand why he didn’t want anyone to know about his species. Still. Her grandmother wasn’t crazy, and Andre was living proof of that. “Okay, I’ll find another way to convince my family. But please tell me about Carpathians so I understand you better.”
“We have existed for centuries. We have longevity, so long it seems that we are immortal, but we can be killed. We must have blood to survive, but we are very careful of our suppliers. They are treated with respect and never frightened. We do not, of course, allow them to remember anything.”
“You took my blood that first time and I didn’t remember.” But she did. She just thought it was an erotic dream. She put her hand over the pulse beating in her neck. Holding him to her. That’s what it felt like, as if she were holding him to her.
“Yes, sivamet, I took your blood. I have to take your blood. It is erotic to me as well.”
Teagan sucked in her breath. For the first time in her life she experienced jealousy. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t comfortable. “I’m not certain I like that at all, you taking pleasure from some other person’s blood.”
13
Teagan.”
There it was again, his voice that caressed her skin and sent hungry little flames dancing through her body so she went damp and needy.
“Not with others. I feel nothing at all when I take blood from others.” There was a small smile in his voice. “I do not feel anything for other women, let alone when I am feeding, Teagan. I never have. There is only you.”
Teagan let her breath out slowly. “Good to know. I’m the type of woman who might get very inventive if I ever found out my man was cheating on me.”
“Inventive?”
“I might have an accident with a pair of scissors.”
“I see.”
He lifted her hair from her neck and nuzzled the soft skin there. A shiver went down her spine. His teeth nipped and scraped and his tongue teased. She closed her eyes. He was hot. Just plain hot. And she was weak. He wouldn’t have any arguments from her if he kept that up.
“I like the sound of your voice, Teagan. I like the way you laugh. You are a breath of fresh air. There were times I felt I could not breathe. There was no air left for me on this planet and then you came along and turned my world to color. You breathe for me. Did you know that?”
His mouth was at her hair, licking behind it, teeth tugging on her earlobe. Her stomach did a flip. Her breasts ached. The area between her legs grew hotter. Who said things like that? Was there a man on earth who could make his woman feel more beautiful or special? If there was, she’d never met him.
“Look at me, sivamet. I need your mouth right now.”
She forgot all about learning about his people. No one kissed like him either, and she wanted to taste him. She was almost desperate for his kisses and he’d barely touched her. She liked the way he said that—that he needed her mouth—because she was fairly certain she needed his as well.
Teagan turned her face up to his. His eyes drifted over her face possessively. No doubt about it, there was total possession in all that darkening blue. Her stomach somersaulted. She knew that change in color. The way his eyes went from ice to warm, to melting, straight to liquid, and his were way past that already. She might be a modern woman, well versed in how men didn’t own a woman, but she liked that look of possession. Call her primitive, she didn’t care. She liked that he said she belonged to him—and he to her. It was sexy. Thrilling. Somehow safe.
“There are no words to describe what I feel for you,” he murmured softly.
She smoothed her palm over his chest up to his shoulder, feeling the ridged scar there beneath his shirt. “I feel the same way,” she admitted. “Stop talking and kiss me.”
The faintest bit of humor slipped into his eyes and then his mouth was on hers. Destroying her for anyone else. No one could kiss like Andre. No one could make her body melt like his did. He kissed her over and over, barely letting her come up for air, but then she didn’t want air. She wanted him. His hand slipped down the column of her throat and circled there, so that her pulse pounded into his palm.
His gentle kiss grew aggressive, rougher, hotter, definitely in command. She didn’t know what she was doing, but it didn’t matter, she followed his lead. She was determined to be good at this. She wanted to be everything for him, including very good at kissing.
He kissed his way down to her chin and nipped her there. The sharp little sting sent an arrow of fire straight to her sex. She heard a soft little moan escape despite how hard she tried to suppress it. Instantly she buried her face in his neck, knowing the color swept up her body.
“Teagan, I like to hear you. I want to hear you. You can never be embarrassed or ashamed with me. I am your lifemate.”
“But I don’t even know how to kiss you properly. And you’re so good at it. I mean like off-the-planet good. I don’t know how to touch you, or . . . or anything.”