Reaching up, he touched the tattoo at his collarbone. “Sawyer, Walsh, Bennett, myself, and someone you haven’t met yet, Talon.”
“You all have the tattoo? Were you like a little gang?” I laughed.
He didn’t return my cheeriness. “Something like that.”
My stomach dropped, and I was reminded of his time in prison. “From … your time in Magic City Prison?”
He seemed to consider. “Aspen, just ask me what you really want to ask me,” he said flatly.
I swallowed hard, running my fingers along his clean cotton sheets. “What did you do to get in there?”
He looked me right in the eyes, vulnerability passing over his features. “Are you going to believe me?”
A pang of guilt sliced into my chest and I nodded. “Of course.”
Two days ago, I was trying to kill him. I didn’t blame him for not trusting me with his secrets.
“I did nothing to be put in prison. I pissed off my aunt, the queen at the time, and she threw me in there because the law states she couldn’t kill me without losing her leadership position.”
My mouth popped open. He did nothing? That was anticlimactic.
“What did you do to piss her off?” I mean, from what I’d heard it wasn’t that hard to accomplish. The queen was a complete psycho.
His eyes darkened. “I was born.”
Okay, this was clearly a touchy subject. “I’m sorry, I—”
He held up a hand. “No. It’s fine. It’s just a deep wound.”
I swallowed hard and nodded. “I came to…” I waved my wrist in front of him, and he gave me a halfcocked grin.
Luka was a blur of movement. One second he was on the bed and the next he was kneeling on the floor before me, taking my wrist gingerly into his hands.
Holy hell on wheels. My belly warmed.
“Aspen?” He looked up at me seductively and my throat went dry.
“Hmm?”
His gaze fell to my bare legs and my giant rose tattoo, and then slowly trailed their way back up my body. “If you want me to behave, then please stop wearing those tiny shorts around me.”
My mouth popped open in surprise, and then he pressed his lips to my wrist. His teeth slid into my vein and ecstasy exploded inside of me. My heart pumped frantically in my chest as pleasure coursed through my entire body. It hit me then … it didn’t always feel euphoric like this, especially not when I was mad at him for two weeks after the gala. My feeding pleasure was linked to my feelings for him at the time—that blew my mind.
Because I was feeding him daily now, the feedings were shorter. He pulled away from my wrist quickly and licked the last drop of blood, all while holding my gaze.
Lord help me.
“Maybe I don’t want you to behave.” The words had barely left my lips before he sprang from his knees and placed a hand behind my back, pushing me gently onto the bed and lowering himself over me.
Breath hitched in my throat, and I swear my heart leapt into my stomach. I couldn’t take my eyes off of his red-tinged lips. What would it be like to kiss him? Cold? Stiff? Salty?
“Say it,” he growled, in the most dominating, sexiest voice I could imagine.
“Kiss me,” I commanded, knowing that’s what he wanted to hear, finally realizing that I didn’t care anymore that he was a vampire. I just didn’t care. I could feel his soul, sense his goodness.
A halfcocked grin pulled at the edge of his mouth, then he lowered his lips to mine. I inhaled in anticipation, and the scent of the caramel apple pop hit my nose a second before his mouth pressed to mine. A slight moan escaped me as Luka tenderly pressed his lips to mine. It was a soft kiss at first. Eager but innocent. Then I parted my lips and the innocence evaporated like rain after a storm. Hungry pleasure burst between us as our tongues crashed together in a kiss that said so much more than words ever could. I could taste the sweetness of the apple sucker mixed with a salty brine that I realized was my own blood.
This kiss was otherworldly. I’d never been kissed like this in my entire life, not even by Sterling, and he was the best kisser I’d ever had. When you were a virgin, you got pretty good at making out. Kissing was my jam, I had perfected it, I was a connoisseur of kisses. Slow, sweet, fast, hot, I liked them all, but this…
