Christian wrapped one arm around me, holding me close as my lips locked over his neck. I felt the low rumble deep in his throat when my fangs barely touched his skin. As I began to suck on his neck, renegade pleasure raced through me, and I pulled him even closer. My teeth hadn’t even broken the skin, and already this bathtub was getting much too small.
The moment my fangs pierced his flesh, Christian sat up with me in his arms so I was straddling him. Ancient blood filled my mouth—the lifeline of generations of Vampires who came before him, all woven together. My hips rocked against his, stroking against the granite-hard erection beneath his trousers. His arms were everywhere around me, but he was careful not to pull too tight, not to squeeze too hard and shatter my bones. There was nothing deadlier than being within a Vampire’s grip.
I finished swallowing a mouthful and licked the wound to seal it, but I couldn’t stop tasting him, kissing him, sucking on his skin.
Damn.Christian was everything my body craved, and I wanted him to kiss me back, to carry me to bed. He reached under my shirt and cupped my breast, his thumb circling the rounded tip of my hardened nipple beneath my bra.
I moaned, pressing my body into his touch. My lips dragged their way up his scruffy jaw, across his cheek, and down to his mouth. Just before our lips met, he turned his head away.
“What’s wrong?” I asked in confusion.
“We’re not supposed to feel this way,” he said on a jagged breath. “Don’t get your heart attached to me, Precious. I’m not a thing to love.”
“Who said anything about love?”
He sharpened his gaze at me. “You’re not the type to have casual sex.”
“How do you know what type I am?”
He stroked my stomach as he withdrew his hand from beneath my shirt, causing me to shiver. “Because I know. You’re hungry for a man’s touch, and I just happen to be within proximity.”
I jerked my neck back. “You make it sound like I’m desperate.”
He grinned as if proud of pushing my buttons. “Who’s grinding who?”
I rocked my hips, his erection stroking me between the legs. Christian moaned as if he were in pain, his eyes hooding. “I can’t stroke what isn’t there, and it seems like you feel a whole lot more for me than you’re admitting to.” I sighed and got out of the tub, putting distance between us. “Let’s see what’s going on downstairs.”
He glared up at me with a look of reservation and doubt. “You’re not mad?”
I turned on the faucet and washed my bloody hand. “Maybe you’re used to women who spring tears from their eyes and flounce out of a room, but that’s not me.”
Christian rose to his feet and stepped out of the tub. He strode over to the doorway and then casually leaned against the wall. By the expression on his face, he looked as if he was trying to figure me out. “I think we’ll work well together if you just stop trying to get in my trousers. I know the eye candy must be torture, but fecking control yourself.”
I stripped out of my shirt, and when his eyes drifted down to the red satin bra that held my breasts firmly in place, I gave him a smug grin. I splashed water on my chest. “Anything you say, Vamp.”
His eyes narrowed. “You keep using that word and seem to forget that you’re onlyhalfa spark plug.”
“Yep, but I’m not as offended by the word as you are. I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, and Vamp is the least insulting.” I rinsed my hair beneath the running water and then washed the blood off my arms, clavicles, and face. “The past is history. You spend a lot of time getting offended over trivial things,” I said, drying my face with a towel.
“You’re not old enough to appreciate the prejudices we’ve endured as a race.”
I slipped on a tank top and then removed my bra. “No, a crossbreed wouldn’t understand anything about prejudice. Now quit trying to piss me off. It’s not working.”
Christian took a moment to visually acknowledge my hardened nipples pressing against the fabric of my tank top. Then he took a step forward and gazed down at me with those bottomless eyes. “I love the way you smell when you’re wet.”
I blinked up at him in surprise. “You can smell me when I’m turned on?”
His grin widened. “I meant when you’re clean, but that does raise a curious question.”
I’m not going to get flustered and storm out.
I’m not going to get flustered and storm out.
I stroked my hand over his cock, which was still hard. “Yes, it certainly does.” Then I patted his shoulder and walked out of the room.
* * *
Since everyone’sschedule was thrown off, I didn’t bother cooking. Blue and Viktor had already prepared something in the kitchen for Claude, who was upstairs healing. According to Gem, Shepherd had dressed some of his wounds and then quietly left the room without a word. Wyatt went back to his office to keep an eye on the black market website.
