Page 26 of Valley of the Shadow
His breath hitched as she began to ride him. “You’re incredibly sexy.”
“Am I?”
He spread his hands on the small of her back and thrust his hips up. “I’m not going to have to be so careful with you after you change.”
“You mean”—she could barely form words—“this is going to get better?”
“You. Cannot. Imagine. You won’t get tired.” He pulled her hips down hard, going deeper than he usually did. “You won’t even need to breathe.”
Natalie’s mouth formed the wordFuck, but she couldn’t say it. He’d been her lover for over eight years, and he knew every button to push, every move that made her moan, every trick to bring her pleasure. Her thighs were burning, but her focus was on the growing thread of pleasure that was beginning to unspool and take hold of her body.
He caught it and coaxed her, whispering in her ear as she closed her eyes and pressed her cheek to his. Within moments, she was coming on him, falling forward into his arms as her body shuddered and her skin came alive.
Baojia held her tight and thrust once, twice, and then he let out a long string of whispered curses in her ear as he came. He put his arms around her and fell back on the bed, his chest rising and falling against her breasts.
Natalie kissed his skin, dragged her hair across his torso like she knew he loved. She felt him shiver and then grow still.
Really, really still.
Her head popped up. “Baojia?”
His blinks were long and lazy. “Huh?”
“Uh-uh. No you don’t. Come on.” She scrambled off him and closed her legs tight. “No time for afterglow, George. Sun is coming up.”
He blinked. “What?”
“Sun! We’re not at home. You can’t fall asleep here.” She reached for the box of tissues on the bed and quickly cleaned herself up. “Why is sex so messy?”
His smile was lazy and wicked. “All the best things are.”
She wanted to laugh, but she didn’t want to encourage him. “Seriously. Darling husband of mine, father of my children, do you really want me to have to call Matt in here to move your naked ass into the closet because you fell asleep on the bed?”
That seemed to get through. “Oh. Right.” He muttered something she couldn’t understand and reached for a towel hanging off the chair by the small desk. “Just gonna take a shower.”
“Nope.” She took him by the shoulders and steered him away from the bathroom and toward the lightproof closet. “You’re falling into day rest.”
“What?”
“Day rest!” Natalie hooked the door with her foot and swung it open as she aimed her half-asleep vampire into the dark. “It’s gonna be nice to really share a bed after I change, you know. We won’t have to do this whole routine all the time.”
“Routine?” He sat on the edge of the narrow bed in the walk-in closet and rubbed his eyes. “Hey.” He reached for her. “Sleep with me.”
“I will. I will. Give me a minute.” Natalie got up to make sure the door was closed and locked, checked on the kids in their bedroom, then went back to Baojia’s closet. He was already lying down and looked half-dead. She closed the door, squeezed in next to him, and pressed her face into his quickly cooling chest.
“Pretty soon, George.” Closing the door shut out the light, which her slightly sore head appreciated. “Pretty soon this won’t be weird at all.”
Baojia didn’t answer her with anything intelligible, but his arm wrapped around her waist and he fell completely still.
Baojia wokethe next night and smelled sunscreen, water, sweaty children, and blood. He turned to see a thermos sitting next to him, which proved to be the source of the blood.
He opened it and sniffed.
Great. Cattle blood. He’d forgotten that most of Carwyn’s clan kept to his human-free diet.
Wait. Cattle. Cattle blood could be a problem.
Frowning, he drank down the cow blood and rose, only to realize he was buck-naked.
