His nose connected with her wrist, and he dragged it up the length of her arm. Her body tingled at each touch, shivers coursing through her body. When he reached her shoulder, he tugged the material aside and his lips touched her skin, kissing across her collarbone to her neck. She tilted her head for better access and felt as if she were about to float away.
The last time they were in this position, he bit her. Her body was primed and waiting for that moment once again. The kisses weren’t enough. She could feel the sharp edges of his fangs and tensed to prepare herself. Her body thrummed—her heart rate ratcheted up and her breathing went ragged. She shivered in his embrace.
“Becks,” she groaned.
His thumb moved up to cover the spot he had just been kissing. His eyes stared down at her, the bottomless pits of onyx so dark in the light. There was nothing but darkness in him. Nothing but the pure-blooded dominant vampire he was. And somehow…somehow, he was still stopping.
“Please.”
“I wantyou, Reyna. Not your blood. I don’t want to want your blood.”
“But you do.”
“I can feel the ache in my very bones. It sings to me.”
“Then why…?”
“Because if I want it like this, I won’t stop.”
The phrase was final. Delivered with an unparalleled intensity. This was the law. The line he would not cross.
“Okay,” Reyna said slowly. “We’ll figure it out.”
“There is nothing to figure out. I will not jeopardize your safety.”
“I mean we’ll find out a way to make it safe. I accept you for who you are,” she said, threading their fingers together. “I don’t want you to hold back when we’re together.”
He grinned—a feral, primal thing—and dropped her hands, then slipped them down past her waist and over her ass. He grasped the backs of her thighs and hoisted her into the air. “Don’t worry. I won’t.”
She threw her arms around his shoulders. She pushed her hands up into his hair, drawing his lips to hers. Everything slowed down to this moment. To his raw, unbridled passion and the way his lips and hands and entire body claimed her. All she wanted was him. His taste and touch. Purely Beckham. The man she had dreamed about for so, so long in that terrible place. She wanted to forget. Forget everything but skin on skin and breathless panting and sweet release.
Beckham didn’t hesitate. He walked them into the nearest wall. Her back collided with the hard surface, and she grunted. She bit her lip from the jarring movement. Blood spilled from the gash.
“Shit,” he groaned.
For a second, she thought he was going to drop her. His eyes narrowed to the tinge of red coating her lips. He was pure predator.
“We should stop.”
Reyna ignored him. She ran a finger through her sickly sweet blood and pressed it to his lips. “Taste.”
He groaned deep in the back of his throat at her command. Then he took her finger into his mouth and tasted her blood. Sweet ecstasy crossed his face. “Reyna…”
She dragged their lips together. His tongue moved across hers before swiping across her busted bottom lip. Fangs scraped across her lips, and she arched into him, wanting more.
He broke their kiss again. “You will be the end of me.”
“Aren’t I just the beginning?”
“Do not entice me to bite you.”
“Taste me, Becks.”
He hesitated, restraint in his eyes and the bruising squeeze of his fingers and the pulse where their bodies were connected. Then something broke and he dove back in and captured her lip. He sucked it into his mouth, drinking the small amount of blood that rose from the unexpected cut. He pressed himself even harder against her and sighed deeply with pleasure. The sound of his own excitement sent heat straight between her legs.
He released her lip gingerly, as if the thought of stopping was nearly impossible. She could see the struggle between man and monster, and she knew the man would win out.
“I’ll do anything to have you make that sound again.”
