Page 26 of Love Lives
"Is that all I'm getting?"
"Is that not enough for you?" I meant to tease him, but my question came out more serious. God, why was he making me ask for this? If he didn’t act soon, I was going to lose my nerve.
Aldrich stood and moved across the room almost soundlessly until he came to sit on the edge of my mattress. "I'm not going to say no to a taste of you, so think carefully if that's what you want." There was no hint of his usually mischievous nature in his tone. He meant business, and he wanted me to know that too. If I said yes now, I was giving him permission to pierce my skin with his fangs.
My mouth went dry and my heart raced.
I'd promised him this.
“Just do it already.”
Aldrich’s smile turned predatory. "I promise I'll be gentle."
"You don't have to give me the virgin treatment."
"So you're not a virgin. Good to know."
This vampire... seriously. Could you believe this guy? "You want to bite me or you want to get into my pants?"
His grin carried through in his voice. "Both."
"You have to choose one."
"Why?"
"Because you can't just take everything you want."
He moved a little closer, his arm almost brushing up against mine. "Never said that's what I would do. If I just took everything I wanted..." He let the sentence hang, but I knew what he wasn't saying. He was a vampire. If he’d really wanted to, he could have easily overpowered me a long time ago. But that wasn't his style.
"Just get on with it," I made myself say, ignoring the way his proximity made the fine hairs on my arms stand up.
Aldrich reached out to run one finger down the line of my neck. An innocent touch, but it made a shiver go down my spine all the same, because it wasn’t innocent at all. He was marking his target. "Lay back. Wouldn't want you to fall and hit your head."
Somewhat reluctantly, I did as suggested, resting my head on the pillow as Aldrich climbed over me. A position he must have chosen very deliberately. When he leaned down, it kind of felt as if he was about to kiss me--and I wouldn't have put it past him. It made that strange curiosity in me flare up again.
What would it be like if Aldrich kissed me?
It would be weird for sure. Kissing wasn't something I enjoyed doing even when I was with women. So why was I thinking about Aldrich's lips?
Maybe only because it was hardnotto think about them as they approached my neck.
Part of me wanted to turn on the bedside lamp so I could see what was about to come. Part of me thought it was better not knowing. Before I could make up my mind, I felt the pin-prick sensation of razor-sharp teeth pressing against my skin.
My last chance to back out.
I kept my mouth shut, held my breath.
Aldrich's fangs broke through my skin. My body tensed, then in an instant, relaxed. Holy shit. He really hadn't been kidding when he'd described the effects of the bite. It was like the drugs they used to give me in the hospital, only much, much faster acting. From one moment to the next, I felt as if everything in the world was going to be all right--or if it wasn't, it wasn't worth worrying about. I was free, in this moment, to worry about nothing at all. My rational mind shut off. My pants tightened. I was a being made purely of wants and needs and sensations.
Like the sensation of the vampire's lips on my neck. And the need for more.
It was a good thing I couldn’t speak because I would have asked for it too. For things I would have regretted later. When I didn’t manage to get anything more than a whimper past my throat, I closed my eyes.
Once I let myself go...I found myself oddly adrift. As if my soul wasn't tethered to my body anymore, but just outside of it. Aldrich's soul was there too. Following an instinct, I reached out to it.
The dark space behind my eyelids filled with images.
Another vision?
