Ric fought with his body’s demand for instant gratification, even though he felt like he’d be engulfed in flames at any second. This was their first time. He owed Sophie more than a quick roll in a field. This was the woman of his dreams, the one he’d waited almost four hundred years to find. There wasn’t a single cell in his body that didn’t know this for a fact, which was making it doubly hard to go slow, never mind wait until they were in a more suitable setting, like a five-star hotel suite.
“My sweet. So open and willing,” he murmured.
“Yes. So, how about getting to the good part here? Before I expire?”
He cringed. She couldn’t know how her words ignited his blood. How much he wanted to part her thighs and bury himself deep inside her with a single rough thrust.
She wrapped a soft hand around his erection and he bit back a cry of heated agony. Her hand slid up and down his length as her lush lips pressed against the head. With each swipe of her tongue, he felt his self-control slip. When she opened her mouth and took him inside, it completely snapped.
With a growl, he pushed her onto her back, lifted her thighs, and buried himself in her slick heat. Immediately, his head fell back. He felt his canines elongating as he drove into her over and over. Her smooth, slick walls gripped him tightly, sending him hurling toward climax. Afraid he was going too quickly, he slowed the pace of his thrusting, hoping it would keep him from losing complete control.
Sophie was lying under him, her eyes closed, her beautiful breasts rising and falling with each heavy breath. Her skin had taken on a silver hue in the light of the moon. Silver and perfect. Her body was soft and open and giving, pleasing him in every way. Her skin was like satin, smooth and warm. Her sweet scent lingered in his nose as he inhaled. Her long hair had fallen loose from the ponytail it had been tied into and was fanned out around her head like a halo.
Their bodies working together, moving in the primal rhythm of lovemaking, he bent low and inhaled, catching the scent of her shampoo. Floral. Feminine. As he shifted lower, his chest grazed against her pebbled nipples. Her sharp intake of breath sounded in his ears. He slid his hands between their bodies and closed them over her breasts, kneading them, pulling her nipples and rolling them between his thumbs and forefingers.
Her soft moan drove him crazy. Despite his wish to go slow for her, he couldn’t. Once again, his thrusts came fast and hard. She writhed underneath him, pulled his hands from her breasts, moving them lower until they rested on the crisp hair above the point of their joining. His fingertip found the target she intended for him to find and stroked it, while he listened to the silent cries of ecstasy in her head.
She was close and so was he. Their minds were fused, their thoughts one, just as their bodies were. He finally found the closeness he’d hungered for. For that brief instant, he was whole. Mind, body, spirit. And it was bliss, a profound pleasure he wanted to last forever.
Together, they found their release. Their voices melded as they cried out in ecstasy to the stars. When it was over and her spirit was pulled from his grasp, the crisp slap of reality stung him.
This was all he could ever have, fleeting moments of wholeness, of sheer joy, followed by hours, days, years, eons of emptiness. It was the only way it could be. She would never take the final step, become his bride in all ways. He had to make sure of it. He would only allow her to take the first one, to protect her.
It took at least an hour—okay, maybe that was a slight exaggeration—for Sophie’s heart rate to slow to the normal pace and the tingles to stop. Finally feeling herself, she propped herself up on one elbow and gazed down at the very yummy nude man lying beside her.
That had been the most incredible sex in her life, way beyond anything she’d ever dreamed of. It wasn’t because Ric had used any special techniques or crazy positions. It was because of the unique connection she’d felt with him. Like they’d joined more than bodies.
She’d never experienced anything that intense before in her life and although she’d never been the kind to crave sex, she found herself aching all over for the chance to experience that unbelievable connection again with him. It was as if their minds had melded, their spirits. She didn’t just hear his thoughts; she felt his feelings.
She blindly stared at his chest, tracing the lines of his developed muscles as she thought about their lovemaking until she blinked back to the present and actually saw him again. His skin was a cool silver in the light of the moon. Smooth and flawless with the exception of a very large scar on the right side of his abdomen. It cut a jagged line down to his hip. She softly traced it, wondering how he’d gotten it.
She let her head drop onto his chest, realizing after a minute or two that there was no steady rise and fall with each breath. “Are you okay?” she asked, giving him a little shake. She lifted her head to look at his face.
His eyes were closed but the corners of his mouth were lifted into a contented smile. “Yep. Just fine.”
“You aren’t breathing.”
“I don’t have to. Remember?”
“Oh yes. How could I forget? You think you’re a vampire. Or would you prefer some other term? You said that was too general a term. Son of Darkness maybe? Bloodsucker? Nightstalker?”
“Mmmm. No. I’m not a big fan of the dark thing. How about Perfect One?”
“Perfect?” You got that right. “That’s a good one. Ha! I laugh at that. Perfect. Oh, you’re funny. I’d say Conceited One fits you better.” She laughed and slapped his chest. “What do I call you? I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
She smacked him a second time. “You know, you don’t have to claim to be a vampire because you’re jealous or anything. Yeah, when that vampire bit me, something happened. But I swear, I don’t like him. Not at all. I don’t have a vampire fetish. I swear. You’ve got to believe me.”
“I do believe you.” Laughing, he snatched her into the tightest naked bear hug of her life.
“Can’t. Breathe.”
“If you can talk, you can breathe.” He kissed her cheek, her eyes, her jaw, then released her and sat up.
Sitting did some very yummy things to his abs, and lifting his arms to stretch did some very yummy things to his shoulders as well. He smiled down at her as she openly goggled him.
“Shouldn’t we get going?” she asked, tipping her head to check the road. It would be her luck that while she’d been getting her jollies in the field their car had been towed. Luckily, by raising up on her knees, she could see it was still there. “Wouldn’t want to end up stranded out here in the middle of nowhere.”
“Ummm. That might not be such a bad thing.”
“You’re terrible. My friend’s near death and you want to hang out in the cornfields and frolic.”
He cringed. “I’m sorry about your friend.”
“Thank you. He means everything to me, is the closest I have to family anymore. He’s helped me through some tough times. Now it’s my turn. But I don’t have much time, not if what Tim said is right. It’s killing me that we have to wait until tomorrow to meet with that lady. But it’s the best we can do.”
“You know, we still have the rest of tonight,” he teased, evidently trying to lift her suddenly drooping spirits. “Want to frolic a little more before we go?” He gave her a toothy grin that did indeed pull her out of her worry a bit.
“No.”
He looked injured.
“I mean, it was great. Beyond great, actually. But I’ll feel better when we get to Grand Rapids and know we’re ready for tomorrow. I do have one question.” She sat up and crawled over the blanket, gathering her clothes. “Um…” she said, not sure how to ask the question that was still hanging around the back of her mind. “Are we…am I…what did this mean tonight?”
His left eyebrow shot to the top of his forehead. “Mean?”
“You know. You said you’d have to make me your wife to keep me safe from that other guy. So, when we…you know…did that make us…make me yours forever?”
“Forever? No. Not at all. But it was good for me too. The best.” He patted her knee, then pulled on his underwear.
Her face flamed. She stared at her knee, then glared at him as she yanked on her underwear and jeans. “What the heck was that?”
“Reassurance?” He pulled on his pants and stood to buckle his belt.
“No. That was not reassurance. It sounded…” Egotistical. Demeaning. “…nothing like reassurance.”
“Sorry. Let me try this again. You asked what tonight meant, in reference to my earlier remark about protecting you from the dark one. My clan has a very long, very complicated process for marriage. Mainly because compared to the standard human marriage, ours last a whole lot longer.” He pulled his shirt over his head, poked his arms through the sleeves, then pulled it down over his yummy stomach. “Life span, you know. And there is no such thing as divorce. So you can see why we must make sure we don’t make any hasty decisions.”
“Okay,” she drawled, fastening her bra. “You did mention something along those lines earlier but you didn’t give me any details.”
“You’ll get more details if they are required. As I said, we may only take this first step. It will counter his venom without binding either of us in a relationship we aren’t ready for. I have no need to go further.”
She pulled on her shirt, then pants. “Then neither do I. Sex, eh? That’s all it took? I mean, that was amazing. Incredible. Out of this world. But it’ll protect me from that other guy? So I don’t need to be afraid of becoming that other guy’s zombie and turning ax murderer? Why does this sound like some very convoluted way to get a girl into bed?”
“It’s not. And I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“Oh, I did. You’re still hanging on to that vampire thing, are you?”
“Yes. You’ll see I’m telling the truth. Soon enough.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means you’ll have your proof.”
“Tell me then, I’d like to know more about you, about being a vampire.”
“No problem. I can tell you anything you like about my clan, my life, my history. What do you want to know?”
Sophie stared at him for a moment. What did a girl ask a guy who believed he’d lived for nearly four hundred years? Should she ask him about what it was really like living so long ago? Or for some obscure historical fact that would prove he was telling the truth? A fact she might later reveal to the world so she might win some kind of award. Unfortunately, only one question came to mind. And it wasn’t the stuff of a brilliant mind.
She stated it anyway: “I want to hear about all those things but first I have a silly question.”
“Silly? Okay.”
“If you’re a real vampire, why aren’t you all dark and broody like the ones I’ve read about? In books vampires are always tortured souls.”
“Oh yes. Broody.” He sighed and tied his shoe. “I’ve never been good at broodiness. It was the only class I failed in vampire school.”
“You’re making fun of me.”
Ric grinned.
Sophie stuffed her foot into her shoe and pretended to be more insulted than she felt. She liked this playful side of him. A lot. She liked the teasing, the banter. “Don’t make fun of me. I didn’t make the rules. Those other people did.”
“Oh? What other people would that be?” he asked as he tied his other shoe.
“The ones who wrote the vampire books. They must’ve interviewed some real vampires, right?”
“Maybe. I kind of doubt it, though. If what you believe is any indication of what they’ve written—garlic, daylight, broodiness—they couldn’t have interviewed a member of any of the North American clans. I wonder if I contacted them, they’d appreciate my setting them straight.”
“Your ego has to be the size of Texas.” She laughed and, for kicks, threw her other shoe at him. As she expected, he ducked and it flew into the grass behind him. She dashed past him to find it. “Stop teasing me. You know I’m right. North American vampire or whatever, you’re supposed to be tortured and brooding because you have no choice but to drink blood to survive.” She scooped up her shoe and plopped onto the blanket to put it on.
He leaned over her, nibbled on her neck, giving her a severe case of goose bumps. “And why would that make me tortured? I happen to enjoy blood.”
Her gaze shot to his face. He wasn’t serious, was he? She leaned away. “Eww! Because…eww! How can you say you enjoy drinking blood? Oh my God, that’s gross. Have I told you that blood makes me sick? I can’t stand to look at even a drop.”
“It’s easy to say. I enjoy drinking blood.” He traced a warm, wet line down the column of her neck, whispering, “It’s sweeter than the finest dessert, more satisfying than any food you could ever consume.” He nibbled her collarbone. “You have no idea what you’re missing.”
She shivered because he was driving her crazy. She shuddered because he was making her sick. She scrunched up her shoulder and shook her head because she didn’t know what to do about either. “No way. Can’t be better than ice cream—nothing is. Don’t you miss ice cream? And cake? And chocolate? Then again, if you were alive back in the sixteen hundreds, maybe they didn’t have those things back then?”
He answered with a lifted brow.
“There you go. You don’t know what you’re missing. I know I wouldn’t want to live without my Ben & Jerry’s. I’d be positively miserable being on a perpetual liquid diet.”
“Then it’s a good thing you aren’t one of my clan.” Ric took her hand in his and kissed each fingertip, one at a time. It was such a sweet gesture, such a sexy one too. Sophie reconsidered her stand on leaving right away. “Me. Personally, I find a human’s diet disgusting. Think about it for a moment. You consume rotted animal flesh for sustenance.”
That made the little tinglies halt midtingle. “Now you’re just getting sick. And to think that a second ago, you almost had me convinced to frolic some more. But not anymore. No way. The mood is gone after that comment. Animal flesh. You’re serious? You’d rather bite some poor, unsuspecting person and drain them of their life’s blood than eat a little chicken?”
“Yes, but it’s not sick and it’s not gross. Why can’t you see that? I don’t kill when I feed. My…er, donors…give more blood when they go to a blood bank. In contrast…what did you eat for dinner?”
“A hamburger.”
“Animal flesh,” he said, with a smug nod. “And the cow didn’t walk to the back pasture for a snack after he donated.”
“That’s assuming the fast-food joint I bought it from used real meat. You never know. Besides, it’s not rotted. At least it’d better not be! So, if you’re a real vampire, put on the dark, tortured hero face and quit looking so gosh darned happy,” she joked, actually kind of seeing his point. Maybe it wasn’t as gross as she thought.
For that retort, she was gently pushed back onto the ground and kissed to heaven and back.
She had to give him one thing: this so-called vampire knew what to do with that mouth of his, not to mention a few other parts.
And that made her happy. Very happy.
Ric stared down at Sophie, his heart slightly tight at the thought of what he was about to do. This was the only way he knew to protect her, yet he knew there were risks. The kind of risks he didn’t like to take without good cause.
Her trust in him warmed his cold heart until he almost felt complete. To imagine losing that—it was already too painful to consider.
“I must do one final thing before we can leave,” he whispered, watching her eyes for fear.
Her trust continued to pour into him through his fingertips. Like warm water fed into his veins, it trickled up his arms until it filled his chest. “Oh, okay. Well, whatever it is, I’ll just be over here waiting. I promise I won’t watch.”
“No. Not that.” He laughed. “We vampires don’t have to do those sorts of things.”
“Oh. Okay. Then what is it?”
“This…” He lifted her top and kissed her stomach. He unfastened her pants, pushed them out of his way and licked and nibbled his way down toward the junction of her thighs, then continued the trail over one hip. “There will be pain, but only a moment.”
“Pain?” She stiffened under him.
He sensed her panic and lifted his head to meet her gaze. “Nothing more than a pinprick.”
“Are you going to bite me? For real?”
“Yes, for real.” He smiled, displaying his lengthening canines.
Her eyes widened. “Oh! Wow! You weren’t kidding, were you? You are a real vampire. Aw, man. And here I’d sworn off vampires after the last time. I told you, I didn’t like it. Will it feel like it did with that other vampire?”
“Hopefully better.” Her reference to the other one, the one who had left his mark on her, left a very sour taste in his mouth. A taste that only the flavor of her blood, of her sweet essence, would kill.
“Okay,” she said on a sigh. She covered her face with her hands, her body tight under his touch.
“This is the only way.”
“I believe you. Although I would’ve preferred it if just having nookie had taken care of it.”
“Me too.” He held her gaze for a moment, then glanced down at her hip. His tongue, eager for the first taste, moistened his dry lips. Yet, even though his body hungered for her, he hesitated, knowing that the other’s venom—if powerful enough—could kill him. He hoped she’d attracted a lesser bloodline. Something that would give him little trouble. He knew with the first swallow the other’s bloodline would be revealed.
His jaw ached as his teeth finished elongating into their necessary length. When they were in position, he moistened her skin with his tongue, eased his fingers between her thighs to stroke her folds, and when she shuddered, on the brink of orgasm, he bit into her skin.
Her blood was sweeter than any he’d ever tasted. It flowed down his throat, but there the pleasure ended and the agony began. It was like swallowing a great ball of fire. It seared his insides, each swallow increasing the torture. Even so, he forced himself to keep drinking until trembling he nearly collapsed on the ground. Sophie lay below him, writhing in pleasure, her fingers tangled in his hair, the scent of her passion filling his nostrils. His name came from her parted lips just before she fell into a deep sleep.
He had his answer now. Sophie had found an Ancient One. That was both good and bad. Good because the venom wouldn’t destroy him—though it would make him suffer for several hours. Bad because it was extremely difficult to counteract. Sophie would need several doses of Ric’s venom to protect her from the Ancient One. And if the Ancient One returned to her and injected her with more, there was a good chance he would lose her to him.
He had to protect her, whatever it took. Even if she could never be his in all ways, he owed her that much for giving him what she had already.