Page 105 of Bite
I frown. “Next you’ll want to include the cat.”
“Well, obviously. I thought it was already implied he’d be the ring bearer.”
I raise an eyebrow.
She giggles, then slides into my lap, straddling me with effortless confidence. She loops her arms around my neck, gazing deeply into my eyes.
“So, is that a yes?” I ask smugly, circling my arms around her waist.
“It’s a hell yes,” she whispers, pressing her forehead to mine.
I close the remaining distance, claiming her mouth. Her kiss is warm and urgent, quickly giving way to something desperate. I feel her want in the press of her lips and the ragged catch of her breath, her arousal sparking inside me and melding with my own. The bond hums between us– a live wire of desire, need, and something neither of us has words for yet.
I slide my hands beneath her shirt, fingers tracing the warm curve of her spine. She arches against me, answering my hunger with her own, the air between us charged.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remember to be gentle– to savor her– but it’s hard when every instinct is urging me closer. I want to devour her whole, tear away every barrier between us until I can’t tell where my body ends and hers begins.
She breaks the kiss and pulls back to look at me, breathless. “Easy, killer.”
I grin, letting a hint of fang show. “I thought you liked it rough.”
Her laugh is sultry. “I do.”
She pulls me in for another bruising kiss, and I lose track of everything but the heat and taste of her skin. Her pulse flutters when I slide a hand under her skirt to find her wet and wanting. She gasps, chasing my touch.
“You’re insatiable,” I rasp.
“Says the immortal sex god.”
A laugh rumbles in my chest, but it dissolves into a tangle of hands and mouths and need. I move her panties aside and sink a finger inside her, teasing her clit with my thumb. Her head fallsback on a moan, and I bury my face in the crook of her neck, breathing her in.
When I finally bite down, she shudders, wrapping her arms tight around me.
My thumb vibrates against her clit as I feed, sending her spiraling. She comes apart in my arms, my name falling from her lips like a prayer as I drink my fill and seal the wound.
She collapses against my chest, panting as I withdraw my fingers from her quivering cunt and lick them clean. I’m rock hard, eager to sink inside her, but there’s no rush. After all, we have eternity now.
I take a moment to just hold her, listening to the beat of her heart as it steadies beneath my palm. Her scent wraps around me, grounding me in a way centuries never could.
I’ve lived endless nights, tasted every hunger, felt every void– but only now do I understand what it means to truly be alive.
Chapter
Thirty
TAYLOR
Iused to be all nerves before donor galas, dreading that first step into a room where I’d be immediately perceived as prey. Tonight, as I recline on a plush velvet couch in the upstairs lounge above the ballroom, I’m pretty sure I could survive an assassination attempt without batting an eye.
My usual team of stylists has sculpted me into a work of art. The black dress I’m wearing hugs every curve of my body, the open back dipping to the base of my spine. I look the part of the blushing fiancée of a vampire king– so much so that I keep running my tongue over my teeth, half-expecting fangs to sprout.
Through the glass doors to my right, I can hear the gala in full swing; a lush, rhythmic hum of music and laughter, punctuated by the occasional predatory cackle. The air above the ballroom is so thick with pheromones and perfume that even up here, behind a closed door, it’s sweet enough to make my stomach churn. Perks of the enhanced senses, I guess. I’m still getting used to them.
We’re hosting this event in our home– the first since the night James and I met. The guest list is impressive, boasting vampire politicians, a few minor celebrities, and all of Bite’s top-ranking donors. Fran called it ‘the event of the season’. The look on her face was priceless when I flashed my ring and told her every event would pale in comparison to our royal wedding– not because I actuallywanta big wedding, but solely for the pleasure of watching her mask crack.
I probably shouldn’t be so damn smug, but every time I see her ridiculously perfect face and body and clothes, I have to actively remind myself that even though he could’ve had her, he choseme.
James sits across the lounge, perched on the edge of the desk in an immaculate black suit with a glass of whiskey cradled in his palm. He’s on the phone discussing something about Belgian investments. Or maybe Belgian investors. I haven’t really been listening, but now his tone is clipped and deadly, the kind of voice that says if someone screws up this merger, he’ll drain their entire family tree and hang the bodies in the foyer.
