I love it. Dream of it. Crave it."
His pupils dilated, and he sucked in a breath. Against her thigh, she could feel the swift beat of his heart. She blinked her eyes, nothing more, and suddenly she was on her back. He loomed over her, white hair falling like a curtain to brush her cheeks.
"We shall see if you like it after."
"Plan to purposely hurt me?" His scent wafted to her, and there was power in it, something spicy and male. She inhaled deeply, savoring, and their chests brushed, hardness to softness. Her nipples instantly pearled, desperate for contact.
"Spread your legs," he gritted out, ignoring her question.
A command. Though she'd once claimed she would never obey him, she found herself doing exactly as he'd ordered. Her blood was so blistering it had already liquefied her bones.
His heavy weight settled more firmly atop her.
Warm water lapped at her feet, rising higher and higher up her legs, her sides, her shoulders, as if it wanted to caress her. Several strands of hair swished and waved around her, ribbons against her sensitized skin.
"I warned you. Told you to stay away from me. But here you are." Layel crawled backward to his knees. He stared down at her, his face now unreadable. The rest of him, well...there was banked strength in every tensed muscle.
Her stomach quivered. "Here I am. Delilah. Yours." For now. The thought saddened her.
His nostrils flared. His hands hung at his sides, the nails elongated. She imagined them on her body, raking. Stinging a little. Then, of course, he would lick away the pain with a hot flick of his tongue. She would beg for more, so he would turn his focus between her legs, touching...Oh, gods. She shivered as moisture pooled there.
He gave an animalistic growl, pure predator. "Tell me true. No lies. Have you ever before been bitten by a vampire?"
"Yes. It was not pleasant."
His hands moved to her waist and squeezed. In jealousy that he wasn't her first bite? "So you are not addicted to our...ministrations."
"Hardly."
"You say that as though it isn't a possibility - but I assure you that when done right, it can be pleasurable. I wonder, though. Why let me do this here and now if you hate it so?"
Somehow he radiated more of that delicious heat. It surrounded her, dangerous, overshadowing everything in its path and leaving only...a woman. The warrior inside her had long since said goodbye. Would Layel bite her the right way? Make it pleasurable for her?
"Well?" he demanded.
"Curiosity," she told him, giving him the same answer she'd given herself.
"I don't think so."
"All that tells me is that you should think less." She didn't want to tell him the truth, that she couldn't bear the thought of him going to someone else. Possessiveness was as new to her as this all-consuming need.
"Do you want my teeth inside you or not?"
"You talk too much, too."
"Probably," he said, but made no move toward her.
Indecision played over his expression, his first hint of emotion since rising above her. Battle-trained as she was, she suspected he hoped to talk himself out of this. Probably hoped her answers to his questions would aid him in that.
He wasn't going to walk away from her, not after she had humbled herself like this, something she had never done for anyone else, even her sisters. Even Vorik. "If you fail to bite me in the next three seconds, vampire, I'm going to rise. I'm going to leave you here and nothing, not even curiosity, will bring me back."
He gripped her shoulders, pinning them to the ground. But he did not lean into her. "Don't make threats you do not intend to keep. They give your enemy an edge over you."
"One."
He gave her a little shake. "You will not manipulate me, and you will not rush me. Do you understand?"
"Two."
"Look at you." His hands moved slowly, purposefully to her breasts. He kneaded them. Gasping, she fell back and closed her legs against the sudden sharp ache pulsing there. "You can count."
Her jaw tightened. "Three."
She made to rise. He pressed down hard, holding her in place. Riding a crest of fury, she bucked her hips, dislodging him. She worked one of her legs between their bodies and kicked. Her strength must have surprised him, because he propelled backward and landed on his back.
She was on her feet in the next instant. Half of her hair was soaked and dripped down her back, cold, yet doing nothing to dampen the heat of