Page 52 of Love Bites

Finally, we were alone again.

“What did I say about your swimwear?” he asked, shoving a hand through his damp, crusty, tangled hair.

Yeah, I felt a little bad about that.

Not the lack of swimwear—the hair.

I lifted a hand to mine, and winced when I remembered that I hadn’t washed it. Thankfully, my magic would cut through and purify any gunk in the water. Including my blood.

“I told you I wasn’t arguing about that anymore,” I said.

“You’re going to make me lose my fucking mind,” he snarled, shoving a hand through his hair again. “You need to eat. You couldn’t even focus your eyes on me when I was done feeding you. I’m going back to the fucking blood bags. I—” I grabbed him by the hair, since his shirt was discarded next to mine.

And, because I didn’t know what else to do, I kissed him.

Hard.

When I slipped my tongue into his mouth and took some of his fury and fear away, he let out a long breath and kissed me back.

Just for a moment, though.

When he pulled away, he still looked pretty pissed. “We’re not done talking about this.”

“We’renottalking about it. You’re lecturing me.”

“I’m not lecturing you.”

I lifted an eyebrow.

He scowled. “If you’d start listening to me, I wouldn’t have to lecture you.”

“Oh please, the last thing you need is a submissive mate. You’d walk all over the poor, delicate thing.”

He flashed me his fangs. “At least she wouldn’t let me drain her dry.”

“Our bond won’t let you kill me.”

“Theoretically.”

I rolled my eyes. “Has any vampire ever killed their blood mate before?”

I didn’t know much about Kara, but I had the feeling that she wouldn’t spout information that wasn’t factual, or at least pretty damn near that.

“No,” he admitted. “But there’s never been a vampire as powerful as I am with a blood mate.”

“It has nothing to do with power, though. Kara said that our bond connects you to my life force while you’re drinking from me, so you can tell if you ever take too much. Which you didn’t.”

“Of course Kara put you up to this. Lou was involved too, wasn’t she?”

Oops.

I was supposed to be calming him down so hedidn’twant to kill them.

“I’m starving,” I said, reaching for the food tray he’d set next to the edge of the pool. It was close enough to the rock that I could reach it if I stretched. “And you look amazing with this much blood in your system.”

Both facts were true.

He grabbed my wrist. “You’re eating in our room, where I know no one is going to walk up and see those perfect little tits.”

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