One Immortal - Tia Louise Page 0,22

because I can’t tell him we don’t have a chance. I can’t tell him that if he wants to live, he needs to run as far and as fast away from me as possible.

I’m either the worst coward or his blood is making it impossible for me to say no, because this beautiful man holding my face overwhelms me with his words.

“Okay.” My voice is soft, and I feel my cheeks turn pink. It’s a ridiculous response. I know all of this is a fantasy, yet I want to indulge it so badly. “What do you want to do?”

He glances over his shoulder at the now-full Jacuzzi tub and pushes away to walk over and shut off the water. Reaching into the pool, he tests it. Then he smiles and dries his hand.

Returning to me, that sexy grin is on his lips. “First, we finish what we’ve started tonight.” Catching me by the legs, he roughly pulls me across the sheets, making me squeal a laugh. I’m in his arms as he carries me to the tub. “Tomorrow, I’m going to buy you brunch.”

“Brunch? So I’m sleeping in?”

He laughs as he steps down into the swirling water, me still in his arms. It surrounds us in bubbling warmth, soothing away my tension, making me believe I could be a normal girl with a normal life, who only needs to give this incredible man a chance. As if we have a future. As if I get a happily ever after.

“You’ll probably be tired after tonight. I wasn’t planning to wake you.”

I’m on his lap, straddling his waist, our faces close. My hands are on his shoulders, and I wouldn’t push him away for anything.

“And then?”

He leans forward and captures my lips with his. Our mouths open to let our tongues touch, and I feel a stirring low in my pelvis. At the same time, energy surges through my chest. His blood is in my heart making me burn for him.

He pulls back, nipping my lip. “We take it as it comes.”

6

Complications

Melissa

Nighttime sleep is slipping further from my grasp. We make love in the Jacuzzi; we make love on the table. He takes me from behind, pulling my hair and holding my throat. I ride him reverse-cowgirl, so he can’t see me change when I come, moaning his name as my canines stretch out for him. I use every ounce of willpower I possess to keep my hunger in check. I won’t steal any more of his life.

He sleeps, his gorgeous form wrapped in the crisp white sheets, and I sit in the darkness watching him, longing for him. My evolving mind has the capacity to focus on him for hours, losing all sense of time.

What shall I do, my love? You’re mine, but you don’t know it. In my audacity, I stole your essence, but I can’t hold it for long. We’ll share these few days, and then I’ll return to face my fate. As I take my last breath, I’ll dream of your beautiful soul.

He rolls onto his side facing me, but I can tell he’s not entirely awake. He can’t see me very well in the darkness, but I see him plain as day—the bright day that now hurts my eyes. He blinks slowly at me sitting in the soft velvet chair completely nude.

“You’re so beautiful.” His deep voice is husky with sleep. “You’re even more beautiful now than you were earlier.”

“You’re dreaming,” I whisper, using my glamour to lull him back to sleep. He doesn’t know how his blood enhances my appearance, how it causes him to want me more. Sadly, it’s all part of the trap—only I won’t make him my victim.

He studies me a moment longer before closing his eyes again. A few moments, and he’s drifted away. As much as I want to sit here and gaze at him, I can’t stay any longer. My heart aches as I stand and collect my things.

Quickly, silently, I step into my dress and sandals. I search everywhere, but I can’t find my thong. It must be wound up with him in the sheets. I’ll have to leave it.

My lips throb with desire to kiss him one last time. My fingers tingle with wanting to slide through his soft, wavy hair. I can’t take the chance he’ll wake. Instead I go to the door and slip out, down the hall, down the stairs, into the pre-dawn night.

People roam Bourbon Street even at this hour. It’s the darkest hour