Page 11 of To Crave Madly
He just nodded. I think I finally made him lost for words.
“Come on, let’s go to bed.” Jasper raised his eyebrow at me. “Not together,” I sputtered like an idiot. “I meant, separately. We should go to bed separately. Not together. Definitely not together – Um… I’m just going to stop talking now.” I felt my face flush under Jasper’s smiling gaze. Why couldn’t the floor open up and swallow me whole?
Jasper reached out and pulled my bottom lip from between my teeth. In my embarrassment I had started to gnaw on it nervously.
“Stop biting that, or I’ll bite it for you and then youwillend up in my bed.”
His eyes darkened and I could feel the tight leash he was keeping on his restraint. Fuck, that was hot. I was so tempted to do it again, just to see if he would follow through on his threat, but I was sensible. I had so much to figure out it was terrifying, and adding an eternal bond with a vampire to my ever-growing list of complications wasn’t something I wanted to do just yet.
I resolutely took a step backwards, knowing this could get out of hand ridiculously quickly if I gave into temptation.
“Good night, Jasper.”
“Good night, Lori. We’ve allocated Torsten the room next to yours.” His voice was still husky, and it took some serious willpower to open the door and leave him behind in that meeting room. Torsten was exactly where he said he would be. Right outside the door. In my haste to walk away from Jasper, I slammed right into the solid mass that was my bodyguard.
“Ow. What are you made of? Steel?” I joked, rubbing my nose.
“No. I am flesh, bone and muscle. I train my body to be resilient.” His words were delivered flatly. He clearly hadn’t detected my sarcasm and I suddenly wondered whether he had the ability to laugh.
“Right. Well, um… I’m going to bed.” I turned on my heel and headed through the house up to my room. Torsten was right behind me and, even when I entered my room, he wasstillright behind me.
“What are you doing?”
“I am staying with you, Mistress. You are mine to protect in the absence of his Majesty.”
Hell, no. I was putting a stop to that thought right now. “No. You are going to sleep in the room next door. This is my personal space. Nobody is going to attack me here.”
He took a step towards me and I halted his progress with a firm hand on his chest. Hot damn, he really was solid. It was like touching silk over steel. Jasper still felt at least a little bit squishy, like there was muscle beneath my fingers, but Torsten just felt like a solid wall of metal. I pushed my hand against where his pecs should be and nope, there was literally no give. I looked up at Torsten and found him looking down at me with a confused frown. Oops. I shouldn’t have been touching the Shadow Fiend quite like that. A nervous cough escaped my lips to cover my inappropriate behaviour.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. Torsten didn’t respond. I couldn’t decide whether he thought I had overstepped a line or not. Anyway, moving on. “I will be fine. Surely you don’t think something will happen in my bedroom?”
“I do not like this.” He pressed his lips into a firm line.
“You don’t have to like it. I am not going to order you to sleep next door, but I am asking you to.” I looked deep into those fascinating mismatched eyes. “Please, Torsten. Allow me this one request?”
I could tell he looked torn. Lucifer had commanded him to protect me with his life and I was asking him to take his eyes off me and disobey his King. I looked at him with what I hoped was a pleading look. “I will agree but would you allow me to give you a shadow mark?”
“What’s that?”
“It will allow me to sense you when I am not in the same room.”
My stomach dropped. That sounded permanent. “Will it hurt? Will it be part of me forever?”
“No, it will not last forever. It will need to be reapplied, but it will not hurt.”
I searched his eyes for reassurance. Could I trust him? I suppose I was trusting him with my life and his purpose was to protect me so it would seem to be against his role to try and harm me now.
“Okay,” I agreed.
Torsten took a step closer and I blanched a little. “I need to touch your skin. Will you permit me?”
I nodded but I was overcome with an uneasy energy. This was all starting to feel a bit intimate and I was a bit apprehensive at this huge man being so close. His fingers clasped my wrist, and he pulled it towards his mouth. He had to lean down as he pressed his mouth against my wrist, because he was so much taller than me, and I felt his tongue rasp across my sensitive skin. I don’t know what I expected for this shadow mark but it wasn’t that –
Fangs unexpectedly pierced my skin and I gasped in surprise at the sudden sharp sting. He lied to me. His eyes met mine and I could see a flash of amusement in their bright depths, but I was distracted by the sudden warmth that started to flutter from the point where Torsten had bitten me. Was this some kind of magic? It pulsed softly beneath my skin for a moment before fading completely like it had never even happened.
He retracted his fangs and sealed the wound with a swipe of his cat-like tongue. I looked down at my wrist to find that there was no mark at all. Huh, how odd.
“How does it work?”
