room. The others were too distracted by whatever Rita was saying to notice us. Ethan pushed me away from him and studied me from top to toe.
I tried to get close to him again, but he put his hand out, warding me off. “Don’t touch me. There’s something not right here.”
He rubbed his hand over his forehead, and even though he looked impeccable, there was something in his demeanour that told me he was tired.
For a moment, my concern for him overrode my lust. He might not have been treating me very nicely lately, but I still cared for him. I wasn’t the kind of person who could be intimate with someone and not feel a certain level of affection for them.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
His steely eyes pierced mine, and then suddenly, everything came pouring out of him. All the things he wanted to say but had been holding in the last few weeks. “Do you understand how difficult it is for me to be around you after what you did? Because of you, I have lost my home, my status, my business. These things were all taken from me. I was outlawed by my own people because I allowed my feelings and attraction for you to override my judgement.”
My chest pinched with that oh so familiar guilt. “I wasn’t trying to fool you. I was just trying to save Rebecca.”
His expression hardened. “If you had told me the truth, I might’ve been able to help you.”
“You wouldn’t have gone against Whitfield.”
“If you think that, then you underestimate the extent of how I felt for you,” he shot back, and it was like an arrow to my heart. I hated how he spoke in the past tense. Whatever feelings he once had for me didn’t exist anymore.
“I’m sorry,” I said in a quiet voice.
“Sorry doesn’t cut it. I lost my home.”
Tears pricked at my eyes, but I managed to keep them at bay. Ethan looked truly distraught, and I realised his house had meant a great deal to him.
“How long had you been living there?” I whispered.
There was a flash of sadness in his eyes. “Almost sixty years.”
I inhaled sharply. That was practically a whole lifetime for a human. I thought I couldn’t hate myself any more than I already did, but I was wrong. My gaze dropped to the floor. I wanted to tell him I was sorry again, but I knew he wouldn’t appreciate it.
Ethan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “You’re young. You haven’t yet needed to call a place home, really call it home. When you’re as old as I am, having a place that’s yours is one of the few things that keep you sane.” His face went soft for a moment before hardening again. “I don’t have that any more thanks to you. And now you come sauntering up to me, thinking that a little seduction will convince me to forgive you. That’s a low move, Tegan.”
“That’s not what I’d been doing. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but my body wants you. How I came up to you in the kitchen, it felt like I was possessed. Might it be because I drank too much of your blood yesterday?”
His expression turned thoughtful. “It shouldn’t be that powerful.” He stepped up close to me and let his fingertips linger over my pulse, where it pounded in my neck. “I can sense your need for me so strongly. What is this?” he pondered, eyes roaming my face.
I turned my head so that my lips grazed his jaw. He muttered what sounded like a Romanian curse word.
“You are such a fucking temptation,” he said, sounding strained.
The lust I had managed to tamp down over the last few minutes was unleashed at his throaty declaration. “You can have me, all of me,” I said, completely shameless.
Instantly, his mouth came crashing down on mine. He shoved the hem of my dress up and gripped my thighs. I let out a low moan and grabbed his hand, moving it between my legs.
He growled against my mouth, his tongue sliding along mine and his fangs scraping over my lower lip. They might’ve nicked me, but I was too turned on to care. Feeling ravenous, I pushed Ethan down onto the couch and climbed on top of him. His hand found its way inside my underwear, stroking my clit before he plunged two fingers inside me.
“Fuck,” he swore, then began rambling in Romanian as he trailed kisses down