His teeth unclenched, but the demon refused to be leashed again. He couldn’t get his fangs to retract, and when she bent to kiss him again, he turned his head away.
“What is it?” she asked.
He shook his head but didn’t pull away when she turned his chin toward her. The outline of his fangs showed against his lips. A prickle of unease ran through her, but she refused to back away. He’d been willing to sacrifice himself for her; she could ease the need pulsating from him.
When she leaned forward to kiss him, Julian recoiled a little, but she didn’t back down as she pressed her lips to his. “It’s okay.”
Running her tongue across his lips, she prodded them until he relented and opened his mouth to her. Goose bumps broke out on her flesh as screams from those distant days echoed in her head. Her body instinctively braced for the agony it suffered all those years ago.
Julian didn’t dare move while Aida kissed him. She didn’t back down, but she started to shake when her tongue caressed his fang again. Breaking the kiss, he wrapped his arms around her and cradled her against him.
“Stop,” he murmured.
Her lashes fell to shadow her cheeks before sweeping upward again; he found himself gazing into her beautiful, golden eyes. She was everything he’d ever wanted and more. The bastards on the island traumatized her and stole her innocence, but her strength allowed her to forge onward as she sought to escape what they’d done to her while living her own life.
However, he may never be able to possess her completely. She loved him, he didn’t doubt it, but would she be able to get over what they did to her and join him? And what would happen to them if she couldn’t?
That was something to worry about later; for now, it was just the two of them as he kissed her forehead and nose. By the time his mouth reclaimed hers, he’d managed to retract his fangs again, and her unease was ebbing.
Julian unhooked her bra and slid it from her shoulders before tossing it aside. Leaning back, he savored the beauty of her curvaceous figure. He’d learned every inch of her these past couple of days, but he would never get used to how lovely she was.
He lifted his hands to run them over the faint bite marks marring the top of her breasts. If it weren’t for his enhanced vision, he wouldn’t see them, but to him, they were as starkly visible as blood against her porcelain skin. They hadn’t raped her, but what they did to her was a violation of her body and mind.
When Aida sensed his rising anger, she rested her palms against his cheeks and leaned forward until he lifted his gaze to hers. She no longer saw the marks on her breasts, but she would never forget their location, and that’s where he was focused.
“It’s the past,” she said.
His rage vibrated like a tuning fork against her skin. “I’d kill them all again for you.”
“Thankfully, you don’t have to.”
Clasping his hand, she lifted it and kissed his knuckles before drawing his index finger into her mouth. She ran her tongue along it and smiled when his attention focused on her mouth as she’d hoped it would. She sucked on his finger again before releasing it and bringing his hand to her breast.
She pressed his hand to her before releasing it to clasp his erection through his jeans then reaching for the button and zipper. When she succeeded in freeing him, his cock sprang free, and she was delighted to discover he’d left his boxers off tonight. Knowing how excited it would make him, she also didn’t wear any underwear beneath her skirt.
Shifting so she could push him back onto the blanket, she nudged his shoulders until he lay beneath her. She pulled off his sneakers and tossed them aside before removing his socks and tugging his jeans the rest of the way down.
When she finished, she leaned back on her heels to study him while she ran her hands up his inner thighs. Leaning over him, she relished the sharp intake of his breath when her breasts brushed against his shaft.
She was trying to learn the things he liked and how to please him, and she thrilled when she discovered something new that aroused him. When she grazed her nails along his inner thigh before bending to nip the flesh she scratched, he groaned low in his throat and propped his hands behind his head to watch her.
Aida bent to kiss his inner thigh, and Julian tensed when her hair fell to tickle his cock. He held his breath as he waited to see if she would put her mouth on him, but then, she sat back and rose gracefully.
She undid the button on her skirt and shimmied it down her hips to bare her body to him. Unable to stop it from happening, his fangs slid free again as he feasted in the sight of her. She smiled at him while she skimmed her fingers down the valley between her breasts. Her hand dipped down to the edge of the neatly trimmed, small patch of black hair shielding her sex from him.
He quirked an eyebrow at her. “No underwear?”
The sexy smile she gave him caused him to become impossibly harder.
“Do you like it?” she asked.
“Oh, I do.”
“Good,” she said as she knelt between his legs again. “From now on, you’ll be the only one in the room who knows I might not be wearing any underwear, and it’s just for you. But sometimes”—she skimmed her fingers down his chest and toward his dick—“I’ll be wearing them, and you’ll never know which it will be until you unwrap me.”
“The best gift ever.”
She rested her hands on his thighs and glided her nails down the outer edge of them before bending to kiss his inner thigh again. Her hair tickled his skin, but he was more focused on her mouth as she inched her way toward his aching cock.
Unable to breathe, Julian raptly watched everything she did until her hand encircled his shaft. She gave him a wicked smile before running her tongue over the head of his dick. Julian gripped the blanket as small thrills of pleasure raced up and down his spine.
Aida held his gaze while she slowly lowered her mouth down his dick. Running her tongue along him, she watched his reactions while she learned what excited him the most and what didn’t. When she stroked him, he growled; she repeated the action and smiled when it elicited the same response.
Unable to take any more of her exquisite torture, Julian clasped her arms and gently tugged her away. She released him and slid up his body. The friction of her skin against his had him thinking about baseball again. How many plates were there?
He couldn’t remember if there were plates involved in the game when she settled over him with a mischievous smile.
“Did you like that?” she asked.
“You know I did,” Julian said as he gripped the back of her head and dragged her down for a kiss.
As their tongues entwined, Aida flicked hers over his retracted fangs and poked at the point of them. Julian tore his mouth away from hers when they lengthened in response.
“It’s okay,” Aida whispered.
She dipped her hand between their bodies and grasped him to guide him into her. For a second, she couldn’t speak as the sensation of him stretching and filling her robbed her of all reason. She’d never felt anything as astonishing as being possessed by Julian.
She found his lips and kissed him again. He didn’t open his mouth to her, and she could feel his fangs against his lips, but instead of being frightened, she focused on the sensation of him sliding in and out of her. She lost herself to the way his skin slid against hers as sweat slickened their bodies.
In his strong arms was where she would always belong. This was the here and now; there was no room for the past or the future. There was only her, Julian, and the ecstasy they gave each other.
“Feed on me,” she said as she nipped his bottom lip.
Julian froze; he was sure he heard her wrong.
“I know it will feel good if I’m willing,” she continued. “You need blood, and I want to be the one who gives it to you.”
At first, he didn’t know how to respond as his overwhelming love for her attained impossible levels. He wanted to taste her so badly it was a physical ache inside him, but she had to know what she was getting into.
“Having sex with you has already increased my need to complete the bond,” he said. “If I feed on you, it will only make it worse.”
“I know,” she said. “Mollie doesn’t keep much from me.”
“Do you want to be a vampire?”
“No,” she said honestly. “But I want to be with you.”
“Aida—”
“I know it has to happen; I’d just like some time to get used to the idea of becoming a vampire before it happens. I understand you don’t have a lot of time to give me, but give me what you can.”
Julian’s pulse leapt; she was going to join him! Those were some of the sweetest words he’d ever heard. He didn’t care what he had to do; he would give her that time. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for her.
“I’ll give you as much time as you need,” he promised.
She bent to kiss him and lifted her hips before sliding onto him again. “Until then, you can feed on me.”
When she brushed her hair away from her neck, Julian’s eyes fastened on the pulse pounding there. Saliva filled his mouth as every cell in his body screamed to taste her. Wrapping his hand around the back of her head, he drew her toward him, but instead of placing his lips against her throat, he kissed her.
As their tongues entwined and their bodies moved against each other, Aida forgot all about her trepidation over what was to come. Breaking the kiss, she gasped in a breath. She was so close she could taste the ecstasy of release.
Julian waited until she was on the verge of orgasm before clasping the back of her head and pulling her toward him. He kissed her lips before leaving a trail of them from her chin to her throat. He grazed his fangs against the rapid pulse of her vein, and when she didn’t recoil, he sank them into her throat.
Aida almost screamed as the sensation of him drawing her blood shattered something inside her. Being fed on by a vampire had equaled agony before, but Julian feeding on her caused something wild to spring free.
Exquisite pleasure hammered her until she was drowning in its waves. There was no reason anymore; there was only sensation, and it was amazing. She cried out when the orgasm rocking her body left her boneless. Julian shuddered and tensed as he came. As she collapsed against him, her fingers entangled in his hair as she drew him closer, but it wasn’t close enough.
Julian had never tasted anything as exquisite as her blood before. As it spread through his veins, it strengthened him while filling his cells. He knew mates strengthened each other, but he hadn’t expected this. With the power flooding him, he felt as if he could tear this building apart with his bare hands.
Though he craved more, he retracted his fangs and lowered his head to the hollow of her throat as he inhaled the mingled aromas of their bodies. He felt stronger than ever before, but his thirst was already growing again. He’d promised to give her time, but he didn’t know how much time he had left.