The Reluctant Vampire Page 0,53

when the caress turned from anger to passion, she knew his conscience had lost this round. The moment it did, she relaxed and reached for the buttons of his shirt.

"You'll drive me crazy," Harper muttered, tearing his mouth from hers to trail it along her neck.

"Probably," she agreed, finishing with his bu ons and turning her a en on to tugging his shirt out of his pants. Pushing it off his shoulders then, she ran her hands over his muscled chest and sighed with pleasure, teasing, "For a cook, you have a good body."

"Thank the nanos," he mu ered, sucking in a breath when her fingers skimmed down his belly to work at his pants. He caught her hands as she finished with the fastening and began to slide the zipper down, then waited un l she'd raised her eyes to his in ques on before asking, "You wouldn't really have gone downstairs and - "

"I never make idle threats," Drina interrupted, dropping to her knees before him.

"Good to know," Harper mu ered, as she shook his hands from hers and finished what she'd started, drawing the zipper down.

Drina caught her fingers in the waist of pants and boxers, and pulled them down, smiling as he sprang free. Reaching out, she closed her fingers around him, her eyes closing at the sha of excitement it sent shooting through her own body.

Shared pleasure. Another symptom of life mates.

This was really her first chance to experience it. Prior to this, Harper had insisted on doing all the -

Drina's thoughts died as she realized there was no way he couldn't have known they were life mates earlier in the night. He would have experienced this both at the bar and a erward. What did that mean?

He hadn't run at the first touch. Was there more hope for them than she'd been led to believe?

Her ponderings scattered as he spoke.

"Maybe we should move to the - " Harper's words choked off as she leaned forward and ran her tongue lightly along the side of his growing erection, sending little licks of excitement through them both. Bracing his hands on both walls of the hall, he mu ered, "Next me," and then groaned with her as she took him into her mouth.

The ringing of a phone drew Drina from sleep and had her shifting grumpily.

"Yes?"

Blinking her eyes open at the sound of Harper's voice, she peered at his chest, which she presently nestled on, then raised her eyes to his face. They were in his large king-sized bed. He'd obviously woken first, as usual, and carried her there again because they'd been in the kitchen when unconsciousness overtook her. Drina had gone there in search of food, but of course Harper hadn't even lived here for a year, and while he had told her he had a cleaning service come in weekly anyway, he hadn't eaten in centuries before the trip to Port Henry, so hadn't had food in even then.

There hadn't been a crumb in the kitchen. No blood either. Fortunately, Harper had woken and come to find her as she'd realized that and managed to distract her from both hungers with a different one. Really, kitchen counters were the perfect height for such a distraction.

"I'll call you back," Harper said, glancing to her when she began to draw invisible circles on his chest. He reached out to set the phone in its cradle, then turned, rolling Drina onto her back and coming down on top of her with his face at chest level.

"Who was that?" she murmured, stretching beneath him and smiling as she felt something hard press against her leg.

"The pilot," he mumbled, catching her hands and pressing them down on either side of her head as he nibbled his way along her collarbone. "The storm's over. We can fly now."

"Oh." Drina sighed with keen disappointment that this idyllic period was over. "We should go."

"We will," he assured her, his mouth moving lower now, making a beeline for one breast. "After."

Drina hesitated, but her sense of duty made her shake her head. "I should - "

Harper released one hand to cover her mouth, then li ed his head and peered at her solemnly. "It's midafternoon. We can't land in the schoolyard until evening. It's a school day."

"Oh," she said, and then smiled slowly. "Well, in that case . . ."

Turning abruptly, she caught him by surprise and managed to roll him onto his back again, and immediately rose to straddle him.