Page 48 of Skin Trade

“Then why do you stand before me like there is fear. Do you fear me, Payton?”

“This is your private room, and I was--”

“Intruding.”

“I didn’t mean to.”

“No? But you have been down here before. Once is an accident. I can forgive that when you do not know what you are walking into. But tonight. You came in here with the full knowledge of what you would find.”

She held his gaze, but it was so hard. Not just because he was a vampire, but because he was right, and she could see that reflected in the way he looked at her.

“Have you ever suffered loss, Payton? Real loss? The kind that makes your breath catch and you are not sure you can ever get it back or recover.”

She paused before speaking. “I lost my mother,” she said. “When I was young. She died from cancer.”

“Cancer?” Oddly, he frowned at her, and then the look was gone. “That is unfortunate.”

“My father spared me the sight of it. I thank him for that.” She glanced over her shoulder at the graves. “You are lucky to have a place where you can visit them. My mother is buried outside somewhere. I haven’t been there in such a long time. Maybe it isn’t even there anymore.”

She was about to walk away and leave what she had said in the air. It didn’t matter. Her mother was dead either way and if her gravesite had been demolished, maybe it was better she didn’t know.

“I’m sorry again.”

But Seth didn’t let go of her, instead, he pulled her closer to him, pulled her against his hard, slender body and ran his knuckles along the edge of her cheek. “I did not say you can leave.”

“May I?” Her voice came out croakily, the words locked somewhere deep in her throat.

“No,” he said, and then his mouth was on hers before she could do anything to either respond or push him back. It sent her insides to jelly, her brain an instant mush. She should have been used to the unexpected with Seth. She staggered back a little, hand still on his chest to keep herself upright. “No,” he said again. She could either fight him or stay where she was. His arms were locked tight around her.

He took her lips again, forceful but slow as he explored her mouth with his in a sensual way that made her entire body want to press itself back into him.

“What are you doing?” she asked when he let her free enough for air. But her question came out breathy, lust-filled. One kiss and she was drunk on him. If she’d been in control of her senses, she might have pushed him away, might have said stop as one hand moved down her back to cup the firm shape of her buttock.

“What does it look like?”

Despite herself, she reached a hand up and cupped the rough stubbled side of his face. He was magic under her fingers, all fire and sparks that seemed to wipe away the reasons she was mad with him. She was sure she’d had rational thoughts moments ago, but now; they were nothing more than distant memories.

“Seth,” she said, when he grabbed both of her hips and locked her against his body.

He didn’t let go of her, didn’t stop kissing her. No. Instead, he drove her mad with his mouth on hers, his lips pushing hers open, his fangs a light nip against her flesh as he moved from her mouth and trailed along her jaw to sensitive part of her neck.

Her nipples pebbled under her top, creating two hard peaks that ached painfully under her blouse. Seth must have noticed, because he moved one of his hands under her shirt and pinched the hard nub through the fabric of her bra. She moaned against hm, couldn’t help it.

Her body was no longer her own, not in her control. He could have done anything right then and she was sure she’d have let him. But it was Seth who let go. Seth who took away his touch. “The sun rises soon,” he said.

Payton bit back the sob that lodged itself in her throat. Her body protested as Seth let her go. She was a mess. If this was his idea of punishing her, it had worked. She wasn’t even sure how she was still standing.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

There was no way she was going to sleep now, no matter how tired she felt. Not with Seth in the room right next to hers. It was torture knowing that. He’d be asleep now. No. He’d be whatever it was vampires became when the sun rose outside and took away their ability to walk the earth.

Flopping onto her back, she pulled the sheets up to her chin and tried to count to one hundred. That didn’t work. She suspected she could have tried counting to one million, and all her mind would have done would be to take her to places she wasn’t meant to go—didn’t want to go.

Damn him and damn the way he had managed to push himself so perfectly into her head. He’d done it on purpose, she had no doubt about that. Another of his games to show her who was boss. But it was working. Even putting Peta or Miranda into her mind didn’t stop her thoughts from travelling to Seth’s perfect body or the way his taut muscles felt under her hands.

Blowing out another frustrated breath, she sat herself up and held the sheet to her naked body. That surely wasn’t helping either. Maybe she should have asked Sky if there was an old-fashioned nylon nightgown lying around, one like her grandmother used to wear around the house. That’d be enough to take her from feeling … whatever she was feeling; aroused, sexy, sensual, on fire.

She rubbed at her eyes. Damn they itched. It wasn’t that she wasn’t tired. She just couldn’t get over that hill and off to sleep. Seth was lucky in that aspect. The moment he let his body go for the sun, all life was sucked out of him and he passed out. Oh, to be a vampire right now.

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