a hungry beast. It allowed her the blessed chance to breathe. “I will learn to curtail that gift of yours in time.” He smirked. “My little prying child. You may hear more than you wish you had.”
His lips descended on hers again, uncaring for what would follow. He slipped closer to her, his body filling the space between her knees as she spread them for his presence. Clothing separated them, but he was over her, surrounding her, inside her mind, his tongue dancing with hers as he explored her.
Her hands were tangled in his coat and vest, and she moaned again. She writhed beneath him as she felt his desire mingle with hers. It was too much. She was too warm. She sought more of his touch a in the need to cool down.
He chuckled, and his hand drifted from her cheek down to her throat. Her heart was pounding beneath his touch.
“So many years of sorrow in such a young body. So much sadness. Such a rare jewel. So beautiful. So curious. Mine.”
His thoughts were still hers. They turned toward her, addressing her. “You hunger for this as much as I, don’t you?”
He broke away from her again and tilted her head to the side until her cheek rested against the cold stone beneath her. Her chest was heaving as she greedily filled her aching lungs with air. She wished she had not done up her corset so tightly.
When his tongue slid up her throat, she whimpered and writhed beneath him. Her hands were on his chest, but they were not pushing him away. They were clinging to him like a raft in the ocean. She was going to drown in him. She wondered if she would die happy that way. He was nestled against her hips, and she found herself pressing up into him, seeking the feeling of his weight against her.
His lips lingered by her ear. His breath was no longer freezing. Somehow, it was warmer than before. A puzzle she registered but had no time to think on, as his dusky and rumbling voice filled her thoughts.
He hummed approvingly and let his tongue flick against her ear before he murmured to her. “I will take a moment to point out it was you who pulled me close.”
This heat inside her body was her own fault, then. His lips found the hollow of her throat below her ear, and she gasped, arching up into him. She did not bother to deny that which they both knew.
He meandered his kisses down her throat, his lips now hot against her. She slid her hand to his neck, and there beneath her fingers, she felt a pulse. Slow. Thick. But it was there.
His heart could beat.
“We are creatures of hunger. Three things may inspire a vampire’s heart to beat. Lust for violence, for blood, or for flesh.” She felt him smile against her as he settled himself lower over her, his chest against hers, his lips now at that spot where her neck joined her shoulder. “And, in rare joyous moments, more than one.”
His hand grasped her hair, holding her head still, and he rolled his tongue over her skin once more. She moaned and whimpered in fear in the same breath. “Wait, please—”
“Shush, Maxine…be still.” He kissed her throat again, slowly, again and again. He was luring her down from her instinctual panic. The hunter was coaxing the deer closer to him with a beckoning hand. It was a lie, but she could not resist it. Little by little, she felt her panic slide away as he lavished her throat with slow, tender, loving kisses.
“That’s it,” he praised her and moved to cradle her head in one of his hands. “Look to yourself, my beautiful child, and tell me you do not desire this. If you can say the words to me without a lie, I will leave you be.” His fingers threaded into her hair, stroking her skin. He returned his lips to her throat.
This feels like bliss.
She could not speak the words. No matter how much she should, she could not. He was right. She had pulled him closer. She had arched into his touch. God help her, she wanted to feel his kiss.
With a shiver, she took a deep breath and let it out, forcing herself to go lax in his arms as she did. Shutting her eyes, she turned her head and bared her throat fully. This is willful surrender.
He moaned, a sound that rumbled