His hand slipped up and down my back. I closed my eyes, melting into his chest before my mind could stop my body. “It isa song,” he murmured into my hair, “and a moment I will never forget.”
I pulled my cheek off his chest and craned to look up at him. “I won’t forget it either. I especially won’t forget the part when you ran off with Rebecca.”
His lips curled up as he groaned, “Why do I have a feeling I’m going to hear about that particular faux pas for a long time yet.”
Was that a promise he was going to be with me for a long time? Or was I reading more into the comment than I should? I couldn’t help the smile that edged my lips. “Oh, you will. Every argument we have, I’m going to throw it in your face.”
He chuckled. “In my defense, I was doing my utmost to stay away from you.”
My grin fell. He hated witches with every cell of his body. The rage he felt toward them, toward my kind …
I tensed and eased away from him. “Because I’m a witch?”
He pulled me back in closer until I was cocooned against his body. “Yes, because you are a witch, because I should have despised the mere sight of you.” His brow flickered as if he was confused. “And yet I was drawn to you, as if you were the solitary desert flower and I was the starved bee.”
Tension gave way to joy bubbling in my chest. I felt the same when I first laid eyes on him. A connection, a spark I couldn’t resist. I fell deeply in love with him as a man. Except he wasn’t a man, he was a vampire, and not long after I discovered I was not normal at all and witch’s blood swirled in my veins. The world had turned on an axis and another realm had opened itself, and finally, after a lifetime of feeling I didn’t fit in anywhere, I felt like some vital pieces I’d been missing from my life were beginning to fall into place.
He nuzzled his nose against my ear and breathed, “I didn’t know what to do, you scared me.”
I stopped dancing and blinked up at him, shocked. “I scared you?”
Karson’s eyes were soft as he brushed a thumb over my cheek. “Not in a physical sense, but there are far worse agonies to feel than physical pain, Amelia.”
Emotional suffering was a much crueler beast. A broken heart could mend … eventually, but once it was shattered it was never quite the same again. Was that what he meant? He cared for me, that much was obvious.
Love was a different matter.
I wondered how many times over the centuries his heart had been broken. By people he loved—women he loved. That thought churned green in my stomach. Pathetic. How pathetic to feel jealous over past lovers. But he must have lost too. I began to understand why he was so closed off, why he kept his emotions buried someplace deep. He didn’t want to be hurt. As a vampire, he would have lost so many people he loved. Had to live through so many deaths. That was the terrible price of immortality.
I wanted to tell him I would never hurt him. For as long as he wanted me by his side, I would never leave. But that wasn’t a promise I could keep. It was not a promise any mortal could keep.
I rested my hand gently on his cheek. “I can’t promise never to hurt you, but I can promise never to leave you while ever I have a choice.” I wasn’t even sure if he wanted me to stay.
He analyzed my face for a long moment, as if he was trying to read something deeper between the lines.
My hand fell away and I stared at the buttons on his shirt. “Surely, you must know I’d never hurt you intentionally.”
“Amelia.” His fingers cradled my chin and tilted it up to look at him. “I know you’d never deliberately hurt me.”
“You don’t trust witches though, and I’m a …” my voice dropped, rasped, as I said the word, “witch.”
A muscle in his jaw tensed. “You are a witch, but you’re smart and beautiful and strong and kind. Why is it so hard for you to believe I’d be drawn to you?”
Other than the fact that I was a long way from beautiful? “Your history.”
He stilled, a confliction of emotions crossing his features. Was that guilt I could see? “Perhaps looking at the past or the future serves no purpose but to distract from our present circumstances.” That tiny tug lifted the corner of his lips.
Relief loosened my chest as I smiled.
Karson’s eyes darkened. Not with rage, not as they did when he was thinking dark thoughts. His gaze flooded with desire. He leaned down and his lips met mine in a kiss that was sweet and soft and almost tentative. A bolt of desire shot through my groin, dampening my underwear. I wrapped my hands around his neck and urged his mouth to move harder against mine. A deep, primal groan rumbled from his throat as he responded, taking my mouth as if he owned it.
I melted into the feel of his tongue sweeping across mine, of his hands clawing my ass. He picked me up in a lithe motion, and my legs automatically wrapped around his hips, but when he sat me on the couch, his lips left mine. He moved, as fast as a flicker of a shadow, and the next thing I knew the curtains were drawn and the door was snapped shut. In the next second, my jeans and underwear were discarded on the floor.
Karson dropped to his knees, one hand spreading my thighs while the other … his fingers buried themselves inside me, sliding in and out with exquisite slowness. Sparks exploded through me, and I rocked my hips and moaned.
He kissed my thigh. “You, Amelia, will be the undoing of me.” His voice was husky, raw, sexy, and tingled to my core. Each slide of his fingers sent a wave of heat rushing through my body.
“There’s only one part of you I want to bring undone,” I breathed.
