"Yes. We're in New York, refueling. We should be taking off again shortly."
"Oh. Alec, I said no sex, and I meant - "
Hush. I won't do anything you don't desire me to do. I simply can't resist you any longer.
I groaned to myself, both at the sensation of his tongue painting a line up my spine and at the knowledge that what I desired was him, pure and simple.
But not on the only terms he wanted me.
Oh, great, he was right - I was at the bargaining stage! Dammit!
Even that knowledge did nothing to stop me as his hands slid between my legs, stroking me through the black lace and satin underwear, teasing me until he slid them off, his magical fingers making sure to inflame me further. His fingers danced in my hidden depths, his mouth moving over to one hip. I shivered at the heat of it, moving restlessly on the sheets, my breasts aching for his touch. "You're hungry again."
"I'm always hungry for you." One finger sank into me, making my muscles quiver and grip him, my body tight and hot with need.
"Then you'd better go ahead and have a snack. I wouldn't want it getting around that I was a poor hostess. My mother would never let me live it down."
He licked a spot on my hip, his breath steaming it, hesitating to ask, "How do you feel?"
"Chock-full of blood."
His mind was full of concern. I smiled at it, letting him feel how aroused I was. Truly, I'm fine. Go ahead, Alec. I can feel your hunger gnawing at you.
The familiar sting of his teeth piercing the skin on my hip dissolved to pure pleasure as he drank from me, his finger joined by a second as they curled within me, making me squirm as they found sensitive spots that I had no idea existed.
His fingers flexed as I moved against him, driven wild by the combination of his touch and the sensation of him feeding, everything I ever wanted in that small room at the back of a narrow jet.
When a third finger joined the other two, I just about came off the bed with the orgasm that followed, my toes digging into the mattress as I tried desperately to get air into my lungs.
You are so responsive, he marveled, his fingers still inside me as my muscles quivered around them. One touch and you go up like a powder keg. Do you want me to stop, querida?
"No," I panted, amazed at the fact that my body was still keyed up . . . until I realized that what I was feeling was his arousal, bound so tightly to mine, I knew I would never be able to separate them again.
That thought scared me to my core, but before I could address it, his fingers were gone, the hard length of him thrusting into me, drawing a moan of absolute rapture from deep in my chest.
Alec! I cried, not used to the position, wanting to wrap myself around him, needing to touch him even as he pounded into my body, my muscles welcoming his intrusion with happy little quivers.
Now, love, now, he moaned, his fingers sweeping across flesh that I had assumed would be too sensitive for touch, but his climax triggered another of my own, sending us both flying.
Literally, since a subdued comment from the pilot over the intercom warned we were cleared for takeoff.
He poured his pleasure into both my body and brain as the climax seemed to go on and on, suddenly biting hard on my shoulder, not a feeding bite, but one of possession, a way of marking me to warn all other males that I was taken.
I knew what he was doing, knew it wasn't what I should allow, but was helpless to stop him. It's just sex, I quietly told my inner devil. I haven't had sex in forever, and he's really, really good at what he does, and it's confusing things. Besides, now that we're out of the Akasha, he'll have other people to feed from. He'll go off and dine on prettier, younger women, and I won't feel so guilty about him anymore.
But how, my devil asked as Alec rolled off me, pulling me with him, will he get along without his Beloved?
I shushed her lest he hear the thoughts rolling around in the private part of my mind, guilt riding me hard nonetheless. It was getting harder and harder not to tell him the truth about what had happened in my past-life regression. I had no idea if Beloveds could be reincarnated, but I had a very bad feeling that I was going to have to broach that subject with him sooner rather than later.
The real question was, if I was his Beloved, did I want to spend the rest of my life with a vampire?
Alec murmured something about me getting some rest before we got to Italy, promptly falling asleep, his gentle snore ruffling my hair as he curled up behind me, one arm around me, holding me tight against his chest. The wonderful scent of him mingled with a slightly earthier note of our activities, causing me to relax against his warmth. I felt oddly protected despite the fact that the man holding me could be brutal when driven to it, and I was unwilling to look any closer at the warmer, softer feelings that had suddenly started to take over my mind.
I'd think about it later, when I could put a little distance between us. Then sanity would return to me. Wouldn't it?
My inner devil laughed until I fell asleep.
"OK, your friend has seriously good taste," I told Alec some ten hours later as he skirted the sun and stepped into the shade cast by a lemon tree that stood next to the front doorway of a beautiful cream-colored stone villa. The house itself was gorgeous - with a dark tile roof, green shutters, and elegant Gothic archways, not to mention extensively landscaped grounds - but situated on a hill overlooking Florence, it had a view that took my breath away. "Is the rest of the house as pretty as the outside?"