I locked the door behind her and gave her a soft kiss. “No sex. No—not even much more than we’ve done, Aurora. I just want to see my mate. I want to kiss—trust me. I will make you feel good like my kisses.”
She stared up at me with those light blue eyes that unraveled me and said the one thing that almost snapped me. “I want to want you the way you do me. I swear I do.”
Fuck, that was sexy but also… Heartbreaking. Of course it was heartbreaking. So much of her life was.
But it was my job to help her.
I brought us to the bedroom and then had her sit on the bed to her surprise. I knelt and took off her pretty shoes, bringing her foot up and kissing it. Her breath caught and my cock got hard.
Just that.
Just that sexy little fucking noise from her and I was hard.
Yeah, she really was my mate. There wasn’t any denying it anymore.
I smiled when she tried to smother a giggle, but it slipped out and she couldn’t hide her shock. I simply gave her a wink and kissed her other foot too.
And ankles.
“That’s all you want to do?” she asked, sounding disappointed when I stopped.
“To more of your body. All of your body if you’d let me.”
No. It was all over her face that was too much.
I nodded and sat on the bed next to her. I asked to kiss her neck and she angled it for me so I had full access.
Shit, she was too addictive for real.
I started to take off the sweater she was wearing over her dress, pausing so she could tell me either way.
She took in a deep breath and nodded. I could feel her nerves, but it wasn’t—it wasn’t that mind-numbing depression like I’d scented in the car. Like all hope was lost and that had seriously killed me.
I kissed more of her neck and all over her exposed shoulder. Then what skin I could of her back before moving to the other side of her.
I actually did smacking kisses down her arm like it was a cartoon for some comic relief and it worked. She laughed and swatted at me. But then she wasn’t laughing when I kissed the pads of each of her fingers.
“I swear it gets better,” I whispered gently. “The more I kiss, the more—well, that’s how it feels on my end.” I couldn’t hide my shock when something dark filled Aurora’s eyes.
Jealousy. She was jealous hearing about my past.
I was a complete asshole, but that gave me hope.
It really did. She didn’t want me to mate anyone else or to know about my past sexual experiences. That was someone who saw me as a man.
“It will be so much better with you,” I promised her. “I’ve never loved anyone before.”
Oh, she liked hearing that. Aurora might have been trained and beaten to be submissive, but she was a vampire, and there was always a dormant predator inside of her.
“Maybe we should find out if it’s better with me,” she mumbled before angling her neck and kissing mine.
Yeah, it was. I moaned, and when her fangs came out, running along my skin, I just about came in my pants like a goober.
“You can. Bite me, Aurora,” I whispered. “Take my blood, beauty.”
She flinched. “I love that you have a sweet name for me, but I realized I don’t want to have one for my looks when they’ve been…”
“A burden to you too,” I finished for her, glad when she nodded. “Your doc helped you realize that?” I was relieved when she admitted it, kissing along my neck. “You’re my rock, Aurora. You are my hero. You are so—amazing isn’t enough.”
