I looked at the fruit in my hand. “And you?”
Giving me a one-shoulder shrug, he bit into his apple. “I need blood. Soon.”
I chewed thoughtfully and then slapped the apple on the counter. “No, you know what? We can dock at North Landing by midmorning, and I’m not going to dance around this. My stomach hurts, and this needs to happen.”
The smirk on Aiko’s face lit his dark eyes. “Well. There you are again. I was starting to worry about the woman on that bench last night.”
“It’s all false bravado. But do I have a choice? If I don’t at least fake my bravery, I am nothing more than a footnote in history.” I shrugged. “And I think history isn’t done with me yet.”
Aiko gave a firm nod and walked past me to the door to the bedroom. “Come on. Let’s at least make this comfortable. I don’t want you collapsing.” He flipped on the small light that kept us from tripping over things in the tiny room.
With a deep breath, I joined him in the doorway. “How does this work?”
He sat on the bed. “The neck is very intimate. Since we’re trying to avoid that entanglement, we’ll use our wrists.” Motioning me back, he settled the wall that the bed was pressed against. “I’m going to teach you how to do this. Come, sit here. Back to my chest.”
I cleared my throat. “Isn’t that…”
“It’s going to happen whether you’re pressed against me, or I have a block of ice on my dick.”
“Ouch.”
He laughed. “Come on.”
I climbed onto the bed with him and settled between his legs. He placed one hand on my waist and the other on my thigh.
“Take my arm, and move it to a comfortable position.”
I followed his instructions as he spoke.
“Good. Now, what I want you to do is run a finger over my wrist and listen to what it tells you. Don’t question it. Just trust me. Use your pointer finger.”
I traced over the skin on his wrist—and feltit.
“Your pulse,” I whispered.
“Good. Place your lips over that spot. Don’t open yet. Good. Feel it still?”
Nodding, I was entranced by the beat his heart kept to push his blood through his body. I could feel it against my lips—thrum, thrum, thrum—and my gums itched.
He leaned into my ear. “Don’t hold back your fangs, Kimber. Let them drop.”
I let the beat of his vein hypnotize me, relax me. A moment later, the small fangs I remembered—that I had absolutely freaked out over a few days before—slipped free, and I moved my lips to make room for them.
Slamming down the panic that threatened to overwhelm me, I refocused on Aiko’s wrist.
“Good,” he said. “They’re beyond sharp. You feel where my vein is, so you can slide them in there.”
I scraped the tips along his skin, so I didn’t lose where I needed to be.
Bad idea.
A jolt of sexual energy shot through me from my mouth to every part of my body. I exhaled, trying to push it away, but it came out as a moan.
“Don’t, Kimber. Don’t be embarrassed. You’re doing fine.”
Fine? Not hardly, not when filthy ideas were filtering into my brain.
I had myself in the right spot and refocused.
