“Yeah, well, I felt like death warmed up when I woke up, so I… recharged?”
“Recharged?”
Grant pulls a face. “Stood in the sun.”
I cannot help the shock that runs through me, even if he has survived it before. Even if I am certain, deep down, that the sun is what heneeds. He is still a vampire. I have spent centuries with the bone-deep knowledge that the sun is our greatest killer.
“I know, I know. But I’m fine, really, you don’t need to worry—”
“You’re right.”
“I am?”
“Not that I need not worry. I believe I will always do that. I believe, too, that you require the sun.” I narrow my eyes. “We should ensure that you get some sun exposure every day, unless that does prove to be too much, in which case every other day, or—”
Grant kisses me, swallowing my next word, hands still tight on my face. I feel the shape of his smile against my lips.
“Fuck, I love you,” he says when our mouths part, but before I can respond in kind—or ask what, exactly, caused this—he kisses me again.
I kiss him back. Why not? The others are not here and Eirian is off plotting somewhere else and we could have been doing this all day if not for the fact that I have been sleeping throughout. I wrap my arms around him, but when I try to roll us over, the duvet bunches between us.
Grant pulls back with a rueful laugh. He moves out of my arms long enough that we can push the duvet down to a messy heap at the foot of the bed, and then he is back, body tight against mine, all that warmth soaking into my skin.
I sweep my tongue into his mouth, tasting nothing but sunlight andGrant, and when I roll him onto his back, he goes agreeably. He makes a delicious keening sound when I rock our hips together, and then again when I slide one hand up under his shirt and rub over a nipple.
When I rip my mouth away to kiss down his throat, Grant grabs at me, fingers digging into my skin. He lets out a gasp, lifting his head, and I lift my own just in time to see the way his eyes sweep over my bare chest.
“Fuck,” he mutters and runs shaking hands over my shoulders and chest. “You’re hot in your suits, but this—”
My cheeks heat, gaze darting away. Perhaps I should not be so bashful as all that, but the lovers I have had have never beenquite so demonstrative or as vocal as he is. Grant smiles again, lips reddened where we have been kissing.
“This okay?” His hands linger on my pecs, squeezing before they travel further down, nimble fingers dancing over my ribs.
“The touching?”
“All of it.”
“Yes.”
He cocks his head to one side. “You’re sure?”
I hook a hand around the back of his neck and kiss him, this time slower, and there is some grace to it that neither of us possessed a moment ago. Grant parts his legs, allowing me to settle between them, and as I tug at his shirt, he strokes up and down my back.
“What about you?” I murmur, faintly panting. I push up onto my elbows and begin the arduous process of working each button out of its hole. Grant tips his head back onto the pillow and watches.
“What about me?”
“All of this—It is—”
“You can do whatever you want with me.Tome.”
Heat rushes through me and I tug the next button harder than intended, sending it flying across the room. Grant sticks out his lower lip.
“Maybe don’t ruin all my clothes, though? I do need them.”
Boldness seizes me. I have Grant’s shirt unbuttoned and I push it aside, revealing his chest and narrow waist. “Why would you need them?”
He laughs, loud and carefree. My fingers bruise his sides. “I think the others might complain if they come over and we’re naked all the time.”
