12
SAM
Layla’s lovely scent wafted around as I stabbed the number four button. After a few seconds, the doors closed with a thud, and Layla winced. She fixated on the floor numbers lighting up as the car hit level two. When we reached level three, I pushed the stop button, and the car jerked to a halt.
Horror etched her pretty features. “What are you doing?”
I leaned against the wall adjacent to her. “It’s time to chat. Tell me why this Dowell dude wants me.”
“I already told your father. Ask him.”
She motioned to get the elevator moving, but I jumped in front of her. “Not so fast. We have some business to take care of.”
She pressed her small hands into my chest and pushed.
I didn’t budge except to protect my balls with my hands. I could take a ton of pain, but when she’d kneed me in the groin, I’d seen angry red stars. I might not die easily, but I could still feel pain.
She tightened her jaw as she stared me down.
In a quick second, I pounced, pinning her against the cold steel wall.
She lost her breath as her nostrils flared. “You’re an ass.”
I trailed my fingers over her flushed cheeks, taking in every freckle she had smattered around and across her nose. “So I’ve been told.”
She slumped, giving in. “Do your worst. I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I want to see my sister.”
I swiped the pad of my thumb over her plump bottom lip, and a noise squeaked out of her as her breathing increased.
Lust consumed her, weaving a tight web around us.
Fire burned through me as my fangs dropped. I couldn’t quite understand the magnitude of my own emotions, except one—the need to devour her. “Tell me you want me as badly as I want you.” I nuzzled my nose into her hair and sniffed. Her sweet cherry scent traveled through my veins, igniting my senses.
“I hate you.” Her tone was weak at best.
My fangs grazed the sensitive spot behind her ear. “Your body says otherwise.”
She mashed her tits into my chest, seating her hands on the waistband of my gym shorts. “You have me under a spell.”
“Layla,” I whispered as I captured her earlobe between my teeth. “If I did, you would be naked.”
She angled her neck, exposing her carotid artery, supercharging my bloodlust. Growling, I licked her earlobe then tugged lightly. She tasted of heaven and home. She mewled, hauling me to her until my cock pulsed against her stomach.
My body hummed, my gums throbbed, and my brain shut down.
I fisted my hands at the nape of her neck, ready to sink my fangs into her when she squirmed, turning her jaw until her lips were on mine. Her tongue dipped into the cavern of my mouth, teasing and taking.
I froze until she bit down, willing me to engage, to fight back, or do anything but act like I’d never been kissed before. “Are you afraid, vampire?”
Blood—my blood—exploded on my taste buds and kicked my thirst into gear. I pulled the band from her hair and her long red locks tumbled free. I grabbed a handful, the silky strands slipping through my fingers, and yanked, forcing her to look up at me. Her eyes were full of want and need and were insanely blue.
“Never.” That fire burning through me turned to an inferno as hot embers singed my willpower into ash, and I became a madman. I glued my mouth to hers, taking what I needed to ease the desire drenching me as more of my blood dribbled from her bite.
She giggled as though she’d won, but this prelude to whatever was happening between us was not a competition—it was the beginning of a mating ritual.
Human or not, Layla Aberdeen was mine, and I dared anyone to tell me otherwise or get in my way.
I grasped her hips, lifting her up and anchoring her to the wall. She wrapped her legs around me, locking her ankles, her heels digging into my lower back. She thrust her hands into my hair, her mouth begging me to take her places she’d never been before.
