“When is that, exactly?”
“Hm…” Zia slowly began to untuck his dress shirt from his slacks. His holiday sweater had been stuffed in his bag after baby Elif spat up on it, so she was free to undress him easily as she walked him back toward the couch.
“You know, you weresowonderful tonight that I think you’ve earned a reward,” she murmured. Her lips skimmed his throat, following cords of muscle she knew so well. A little nip made him gasp almost imperceptibly.
“What kind of reward?” His voice was husky; that baritone she loved so much dropping even deeper.
“The sexy kind.” She worked on his belt as she began to lick and suck at his throat. Harlan’s fingers plunged into her hair. His claws pricked at her scalp when she popped the button from the hole and pulled down his zipper. She hooked her fingers into the waistband of his briefs and tugged everything down around his thighs, freeing his rapidly hardening cock.
“Sit,” she murmured, nudging him down onto the couch. Harlan didn’t argue about howhewas the one who usually gave the orders. Like the smart man he was, he simply sat his ass down on the couch and stared up at her like he wanted to eat her.
Harlan gripped her hips as she pulled her sweater over her head and tossed her bra on the floor. His hungry gaze roved over the swells of her breasts and the soft flesh of her stomach. He told her that he loved to look at her — simplylook— because he loved beautiful things, and she was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen.
This also meant that he had a certain fondness for both mirrors and watching her touch herself, but those were delights to be savored on another night.
Tonight, she wanted to spoil him a little. Recalling how Arif had taken him outside to inspect his car for nearly an hour, she thought,Gods know he’s earned it.
Sinking down to her knees between his spread thighs, she smoothed her hands down his chest and stomach to tease the silky skin of his cock with the tips of her fingers. That drugging sense of power — of having a predator at her mercy — still hadn’t faded. In fact, it had onlyincreased.
Harlan’s presence still raised the hair on the back of her neck. Her stomach still did a fearful swoop whenever she caught him moving out of the corner of her eye. When he sank his fangs into her skin, she still felt that deep, animal terror.
But she was a master of this dangerous being. Like a tiger trainer, she knew exactly what he was capable of, and from that knowledge came the rush. No one else would get this close to him. No one else would feel the gentle touch of those claws. For no one else was hetame.
When Zia licked a hot stripe from base to tip and heard him choke, the rush she felt was unparalleled.
This washerpredator.Herkiller.Hervampire.
Magic was hot in her blood, bubbling and fizzing with the desperate need to claim, as she sucked him into her mouth and began to move. Knowing how much he liked it, she kept her eyes on his as she hollowed out her cheeks with one long, hard pull.
That was one of the first rules he taught her:Never look away.He wanted to see everything in her eyes and know that he was the center of her world, just as she was the center of his.
Harlan’s hips lifted off of the couch with a bitten off curse. His claws dug into the tops of the cushions as she stroked what she couldn’t take in her mouth. His moan was low and throaty when she took him deep, then pulled back to lick and kiss every inch of him.
Finally, when he couldn’t take the torture anymore, Harlan’s hand found its way into her hair with a grated, “Fuck, Zia, take it.”
Rule two:Do as he said. Mostly.
Feeling powerful and just a little wicked, she gave him one last lingering kiss before she did as he needed her to. Harlan slid over her tongue like a dream — salty and smooth anddelicious.His hips pumped shallowly as she took him deeper and deeper, faster and faster, until he tugged gently but urgently on her curls.
“Zia,” he gasped, panting hard. “Zia, I want—”
Rule three she learned on her own.Give him a show.
She pulled back with one hard suck. The flushed tip left her mouth with anpop!Her lips were swollen and her throat ached just enough to make her voice slightly scratchy when she said, “I know, baby.”
Using one hand, she gathered up the rest of her curls that weren’t in Harlan’s grip. The other stroked him hard and fast, her palm sliding over wet skin with ease. Leaning down, she opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue just in time to catch his release.
Harlan’s eyes didn’t leave hers even when his orgasm wracked him, tightening his spine and making the muscles of his neck stand taut. His flavor burst across her tongue, but she couldn’t catch all of it. That wasn’t the goal, anyway.
His come slid down her chin and splattered onto her chest, painting her breasts and chin in the way that sent her vampire into a frenzy.
When he was finished, Zia had barely swallowed before he was hauling her up into his lap to bury his fangs in her throat. She let out a short, ecstatic shout as his venom pumped through her veins. Her hips ground down, seeking friction, until his claws tore at the fastening of her pants.
Harlan thrust his hand in and ruthlessly circled her clitoris, giving her everything she needed as he released his fangs and began to suck. Her orgasm meshed with the high of his bite. The world took on a gauzy, dreamy shine even as her magic pushed and pushed andpushed.
Normally she became sleepy after a bite, but not this time.Thistime, she had something to do.
As soon as she felt him lick her wound, sealing it, Zia threaded her fingers into his hair and yanked.
