home of the first Coca Cola bottling company. The spot where the concrete is broken and angled up, showing two tectonic plates forming a mountain. All the leaves pressed into the concrete, showing that this area has more species of trees than most any other place on the planet — a combination of being both mountains and valleys, and the fact the last two ice ages missed our valley. And the outside of the bathroom buildings, showing the sediment that makes up the local mountains and the valley floor.
And it was here, in the shadows created by a light that needed replacing, that he pressed her to the wall and kissed her. Lips. Teeth. Tongue — and a hand on her throat. Kelsey simultaneously submitted to the kiss and kissed him back. His pulse thundered in his ears, his heart drummed in his chest, and his cock swelled in his pants. He held her to the wall by her throat, and she folded her arms behind her to keep from stopping him. He pressed himself between her legs, and her hips moved against him. Her scent was all arousal, need, and submission.
He’d never willingly kissed a vampire before, but these cool lips belonged to Kelsey, not some random vampire. She kissed him back with lips, tongue, and passion. And when she brought one hand out from behind her back, it wasn’t to fight his control over her, but to caress the side of his neck. The spot she’d probably bite if he agreed to let her.
His dick pulsed in his pants, and he wanted inside her so badly, in every way, he came back to himself a little, and ended the kiss.
He’d never wanted anyone so intensely before. Always, he was the Dom, in control of himself as well as the submissive, but Kelsey threatened to take him over by stroking the side of his neck while she completely submitted to him.
She stayed against the wall, utterly still, and he was grateful for it. He also appreciated that she didn’t immediately start asking questions.
Instead, after about thirty seconds, she made a statement.
“You didn’t plan to do that.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to accuse her of being in his head, but he stopped himself from saying it. He’d know if she was. He wasn’t certain how he’d know, but he would.
“You aren’t in my head.”
“No. I made a promise not to go there unless someone’s life or safety was at risk — someone I cared about — and doing so could in some way protect them.”
“How do I know when you rise?”
“I don’t know. I should ask—” She didn’t want to say Etta or Marco’s name out loud, for fear it might draw their attention. “It feels private between us. Personal. I’m not ready to bring anyone else into it yet. I know they’ll have to be told, but I keep putting it off.”
She’d shared something with him, and there was something he wanted to share with her.
“Years ago, I came to terms with the fact I’d likely remain single, training women for others, but never finding someone I could share my life with. I’m a Dom who prefers what the BDSM community usually calls slaves, rather than submissives. However, my enjoyment comes in training them. Once they’re perfectly trained, I lose interest. Eventually, you run out of things to teach, to train, to mold. I assumed that meant I’d never have someone special in my life.”
“I’ve spent years being trained as a sex slave. Consensual at first, but then, years where consent played no part in my day-to-day life. I agreed to it up front, but once I was turned, there was no longer an escape clause.”
“I’m aware.” Fuck, he was aware.
“You don’t do vampires.”
“And I’m still not offering to feed you.” He put his hands in his pockets, took them out, brushed over his weapon on his hip, under his shirt, and rubbed at his jaw with the outside of the fingers of his right hand. “I like caning you, and I want to do more, but I don’t want you just because you’re submissive, and apparently a masochist. I like the person you are when we’re just friends, when sex isn’t on anyone’s mind.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Promise me there were no vampire powers in that kiss.”
“There were no vampire powers I’m aware of in that kiss, but you have to remember I’m still what they call a baby vampire. Tell