Page 81 of To Crave Madly
“But more important than mattering to your team,Ineed you.” I took another step closer, so our bodies were almost touching. “I need you more than I need air to breathe. I depend on you, not just to keep me safe, but to justbethere. I need you because I feel like you complete me. You are more than the monster you think you are. You’re everything to me.”
“How, Lori? How can I be everything to you?”
I took a deep breath and tried to swallow around the fact that my heart was in my mouth. “This connection we have, it goes deeper than lust. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I do know, with every fibre of my being, that you’re mine and I am yours.”
Jasper’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Do you mean that? Don’t lie to me.”
I placed my hand over his heart to mirror him. A smile burst across my lips as I thought about everything that I felt for him. It had taken me a while to acknowledge it all but, after listening to his story, to what he had been through and after he’d finally opened up to me, I knew this was right. I felt giddy with the excitement of finally saying the words. We had danced around this connection for so long, neither of us really admitting what it meant or even really acknowledging it in the first place. But now we were finally stepping into the light together.
“Yes. You’re mine.” My words were a growl as the demon in me staked a claim. Jasper let out a shaky breath as if he had been waiting on my answer with bated breath.
“I never thought… never believed…” Jasper’s hands framed my face as he crushed his lips to mine, pouring everything into the kiss that he couldn’t put into words. He claimed me with that kiss. And I submitted, body and soul.
Jasper broke the kiss and looked down at me with a possessive fire burning in the depths of his bright blue eyes. “I never thought that I, of all people, would be lucky enough to find a true mate.”
“Mate?” I asked, but I knew the word felt right. Now that Jasper had said it, the connection made sense.
“Yes. We are soulmates.” A genuine smile transformed Jasper’s face. Gone was the dark, brooding vampire and before me stood a man beaming with joy at having found someone to live for.
“I know you have had a hard life, that your days have been dark, and you’ve felt alone in this world, but you’re not alone anymore.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and his hands settled on my waist. “I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good,” he said with a soft kiss. “I am going to try every day to be worthy of you.”
With a smile, he walked me back into the room at the top of the tower.
“Jasper, what are you doing?” I asked breathlessly. My heart rate kicked up a notch as I realised he was walking me towards the very comfortable looking collection of cushions and rugs.
“Do you know how long I’ve wanted to punish you?” He leant down to whisper in my ear. “Now that you’re mine, my hands are itching to make you scream.”
Fuck yes.
“You’re blushing,” he crooned, “I can see you like that idea.”
Words failed me. Jasper looked like he wanted to devour me, and it seriously ruined my ability to form a sentence.
“Finally at a loss for words?” He chuckled as he reached to capture my hand in his and placed his lips on the inside of my wrist. My heart pounded in my chest as he flicked his tongue across the sensitive flesh. That lick felt like it was between my thighs, not on such an ignominious part of my body. He grinned down at me, his pupils dilating and overtaking the blue of his eyes. The beast was coming out to play. The thought had wetness pooling between my thighs.
Jasper fisted his hand in my hair and yanked me closer to him. With my body pressed flush against his, my nipples brushed against the firm wall of his chest with every rapid breath I took.
“You’re mine. Say it.”
I was still struggling with the ability to think, let alone speak. The hand in my hair pulled my head backwards with a sharp tug. Jasper bent down and licked my neck with one long, hot swipe of his tongue.
“Say it, Lori,” he growled again.
“I’m yours, Jasper,” I moaned, my voice husky with the desire flooding my veins.
“Good girl,” he said before capturing my mouth in a brutal kiss. He forced my lips open and plunged his tongue into my mouth. I don’t think I would ever get tired of the feeling of his tongue against mine, the way the soft silky feel of him thrusted in and out, mimicking what he wanted to do to me with his cock.
His hands trailed down my back to cup my ass and I ground my hips against him. I wished these stupid clothes weren’t in the way. I wanted to be skin to skin, and I wanted it now.
Jasper must have sensed my desperation. He lifted me and I wrapped my legs around his waist, loving the feel of his desire pressed up against me. He sank to his knees and then lay me back on the cushions. He broke the kiss and fixed me with a stare that was full of hunger. Hunger forme. A delicious thrill curled through my core as he continued to stare at me like he could see every inch of me.
With predatory grace, he ran his hands up the inside of my legs and paused at the juncture of my thighs. My breath hitched as he stood there, slowly stroking his thumbs up and down the crease where my thigh met my pelvis. He was toying with me, like a lion playing with his food. He had me in his sights, and he was going to devour me.
And heaven help me, I couldn’t wait.
Jasper ripped my jeans from me, peeling them down my legs and throwing them across the room. He hooked a finger under the band of my panties, and the material ripped as Jasper tore them from my body. He forced my legs wider, opening my sex to him. I didn’t have a moment to feel embarrassed. In seconds, his head was between my thighs, and his tongue was licking me ferociously. I screamed his name as he took my clit between his teeth, biting it harshly before licking it again to soothe the pain. He slipped a finger into me, thrusting it deep whilst still sucking me, bringing me closer to my orgasm.
