He broke our kiss and his mouth traveled the length of me, pushing the robe wide, exposing me to him and I didn’t try to hide. I kept my fingers in his hair as he explored, tempting, pressing for a reaction, taking it when it happened but not giving that first thing back. He blew against my ni**les, they hardened, peaking with a beautiful pain. His tongue swept along my skin, under the swells of my br**sts, across my midriff, circling my belly button, lower, until it teased the edge of my black lace panties.
Then his mouth was on me between my legs, sucking for an instant, hot and hard, over my panties.
The pleasure seared through me, rocking me to my soul and my h*ps surged upwards, an instinctive demand for more.
His mouth disappeared and all of a sudden his body was on mine again, his lips against my mouth, the flavor of me a hint on his.
“You want my mouth between your legs?” he growled, even his voice, rough with desire, trilled through my system, making me squirm.
I did. I wanted his mouth between my legs. I wanted him inside me, his tongue or anything else he choose to put there.
I didn’t answer, instead I panted against his mouth.
“Do you want me?” he pushed.
“Lucien –” My voice was a breathy plea for release.
“Beg me,” he demanded.
It would be so easy to give up, to give in, to take what I wanted knowing it would be, by far, the best I ever had. It would be so easy to humble myself and deal with the consequences later.
But I couldn’t. If I did, I knew I’d lose myself, all that was me. The mass of bad traits, stubbornness, impatience and sometimes fumbling idiocy and all the good traits too, my loyalty, sense of humor and compassion. I wouldn’t hold onto me anymore. I would be giving it to him and I didn’t trust him to take care of it.
And I knew that even if he kept it safe, he wouldn’t keep it long. He’d release me as he did Cecile and countless other concubines. By then, everything I was would be gone. He’d retain it for centuries, likely uncaring he held such a precious gift but, for me, all would be lost.
Instead of explaining any of that, or giving him the demand he asked for, I gave him another kind of entreaty. “Don’t make me do that.”
His face grew hard. “I have eternity, pet, to teach you this lesson.”
“You won’t last that long. You’ll give up,” I told him, my body still burning for his touch, wriggling underneath him.
At my words, he looked a mixture of amused and surprised.
His head cocked to the side and he asked, “Do you think that’s true?”
I nodded, being honest for once. “You’re a vampire but you’re also a man. You’ll need to get it elsewhere and you will. Eventually you’ll tire of me.”
He grinned and I didn’t like it. It was his smug grin and I reckoned it foretold very bad things for me.
I wasn’t wrong.
“Oh, I won’t tire of you, Leah. But, you’re right. If you force me, I will indeed get it elsewhere.”
At the thought of him getting anything elsewhere, a different kind of heat slashed through me, washing away my desire in a wave of pain. This was unexpected, not only the reaction but the excruciating intensity of it.
Before the razor-sharp edge of this sensation could subside, his head snapped up. He drew in a deep breath through his nostrils and his eyes narrowed, focusing on something but not me, not something close.
I sensed the danger instantly.
Our current situation forgotten, I whispered, “Lucien, something’s wrong.”
His eyes locked on mine.
For some reason communicating nonverbally, he replied straight into my brain, Yes, pet.
Without further reply, his body knifed off mine and he moved away. He was holding himself tense, his powerful musculature standing out, more defined. The way he held his body was menacing, even sinister. I could sense he wanted to move with vampire speed but was forcing himself to go slowly.
I heaved myself up and followed him, closing my robe, tying it tightly. The doorbell rang but he was already pulling the door open as the bell sounded. I stopped five feet away.