Part 2 (2/2)

”I know!” he yelled back, pulling her s.h.i.+rt up and over her head. Sighing, he held her, his hands on thesoft skin of her shoulders, lower body pinning her to the bed behind her. ”Thepoint is that you are not'just the human I'm f.u.c.king,' Lissette. You're everything to me. Can't you see that?”

The words were like a physical blow to her gut. To her heart. She stopped struggling and looked into his face. His ice blue eyes were sincere. His hands on her skin were warm and skilled, even as they only held her. But more than that, his presence was a brand on her soul, on her heart. He only had to be there, and she wanted him. For more than the great s.e.x. She wanted him forever.

Heart pounding, she found her voice. ”How can I see that, Stryker, when you send a lackey to call in a marker for something I thought you did for me out of affection? All you had to do wasask. ” Without wanting or meaning to, she arched into him. Their bodies had a language all their own as he pressed into her, pulling an unwilling gasp from her lips. Desire, hot and heady, hung in the air between them like a spell.

Kissing the tip of her nose, he moved to pull off his s.h.i.+rt, and kick off his pants and shoes. He was back beside her, naked and hard in a matter of moments. She could have her hair in curlers and wearing a paper bag, and he'd want her. She was magic to him.

”I'm sorry. I was a coward not to ask you myself. I knew you'd be p.i.s.sed, and I didn't want to face it. But it wasn't because I don't respect you. Never that, Lissie.” He traced lazy circles around her nipple with a fingertip as he spoke.

She bit her lip as the circles of pleasure broke over her skin. Steadying herself to speak, she took a deep breath. No matter how much she wanted him inside her body right then, the issue of those b.i.t.c.hes needed to be dealt with. ”But you-once again-choose those donor b.i.t.c.hes over me.”

The women who were his donors were a sore subject between them. It wasn't just territory they'd gone over and over, it was scorched earth.

”Sweetheart, we've gone over this before. I didn't choose them over you. I fed. You know I'm not f.u.c.king any of them. I haven't since you and I began to see each other. There's beenno one but you since the first day I touched you. And I can't feed from you every day. You'd develop anemia, and you know how much I hate bottled blood.” He simply was not going to allow her to use anger to keep him out anymore. He'd gentle around her defenses, seduce her out of her sh.e.l.l.

Putting her hand over her eyes, she exhaled with palpable sadness. ”I don't want to have this discussion again, Stryker. It makes me hate you, makes me hate myself,” she mumbled.

He gently pulled her hand away and looked at her with a soft smile. ”You don't hate me, Lissie.”

”You are so d.a.m.ned arrogant. It drives me crazy.” Sitting up with a growl of annoyance, she pushed him off and jumped off the bed. She stalked into her bathroom, slamming the door. After turning on the taps and checking the temperature of the water, she stepped under the spray and wished the day was over. However, she wasn't surprised when he came into the bathroom and got into the shower behind her. She knew it couldn't be that easy. He'd never give up.

”Lissie, my sweet, why are you so determined to be mad at me?” He paused for a moment, soaping up her back and neck. ”I thought I made you happy.”

She was silent for a moment, trying to gather her words. ”You do. Most of the time.” Despite his recent admission, it still ate at her that she felt so much more for him than he appeared to feel for her. It wasn't that he was inattentive or neglectful. Most of the time he was very sweet and attuned to her.

But she loved him. She loved him, and he was a f.u.c.king vampire king who had a harem of ten women that writhed all over him every night when he woke up. It wasn't so much that they gave him blood. h.e.l.l, it wasn't even that they got off from his feeding from them. It was that they all wanted to have s.e.x with him and repeatedly threw themselves at him. It was enough to give even the most self confident of women a complex! She didn't do vulnerable well, and this man made her feel it with a sting.

Oh, and his bats.h.i.+t crazy mother. The one who wanted to break them up and wanted to kill a twelve year old boy. Oh, and probably her now that she'd taken him in.

And she couldn't get the sight of him with Cherry at her bar out of her head either.

There were, she realized with a start, a lot of things making her feel unhappy about their relations.h.i.+p. Love wasn't everything and certainly not enough to live with feeling insecure all the time. But she had no idea what to do about it. Try as she might, she couldn't imagine her life without Stryker in it. Even the last day without him was h.e.l.l.

”You're thinking. Tell me. You can trust me, you know.” He ma.s.saged the shampoo into her scalp. She was so p.r.i.c.kly, and so dear to him. She was also p.r.o.ne to over thinking each and every thing that came up. He had no idea what was going on inside that gorgeous head of hers, but he knew enough to understand it was his job to fix it.

”I thought you were going to feed from me.” She stepped back, bringing her body into full contact with his. Tilting her head, she bared her neck to him, exposing the flesh for him to bite.

He knew it for the stalling tactic that it was, and he tsked under his breath. ”Mmmm hmm. I will. Later.” He pulled her out of the tub and quickly toweled off, turning to watch her. Impatient as she dried her shower flushed skin-bare and dewy-he grabbed the towel from her hands and tossed it on the counter. Taking her hand, he pulled her into the bedroom and pushed her gently onto the bed, moving to stand beside it.

She looked up at him, into his face as he loomed over her, blocking out the light. All she could see was him-his face with those high cheekbones, those ice blue eyes, the cruel but carnal lips, the rakish blond hair that grazed his shoulders. She loved that face. Loved the way he moved, the ripple of muscle under his skin. She let it happen, pushed away everything else for the time being to appreciate him.

Her eyes traveled down and over broad shoulders with flat hard muscle, a tight stomach, lightly furred with the same golden arrow of hair trailing southward. Long legs, powerful thighs, andoh the c.o.c.k . She looked her fill and got a wicked smile as it hardened at her perusal. She'd never felt anything as good as him inside of her. He was meaty and thick, capable of filling her up to just about too much.

The way she looked at him always did him in. No one in the world ever looked at him with that combination of yearning, desire and adoration. She saw pretty deeply into him, and it used to scare him. Now he wanted to be sure she saw all the way, right into the place in his heart where she lived.

”I love the way you look at me,” he said softly, kneeling beside the bed. He pulled her b.u.t.t to the edge of the mattress and smoothed his palms up the inside of her thighs. Pus.h.i.+ng them apart, he looked at her, p.u.s.s.y spread open to his gaze. ”And I love this. Your p.u.s.s.y so pretty and glistening with honey. Swollen and slick-ready for me. Me and only me. I love how you're always ready for me.” Holding her open with his thumbs, he leaned in and took a long lick, giving her aching c.l.i.t a flick with the tip that made her gasp.

She slid her hands over her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, cupping their weight in her hands. His eyes darkened to a deep gray-blue as he watched her touching herself. She watched him watch her hands, his teeth gently grazing over her c.l.i.t, tongue spearing into her. They both moaned as she pinched her nipples and then tugged on the ring. His hands were holding her up to his mouth, as if he were serving her p.u.s.s.y to himself, fingers digging deep into the flesh of her a.s.s.

He sucked her c.l.i.t in between his lips, bringing a squeal of delight from her as she arched into his mouth.

Pressing two fingers slowly into her, he hooked them, making a come here motion. He found her sweet

spot, and stroked over it the way he knew she liked.

”Oh G.o.d, Xander, that's so good.”

The murmur of his first name on her lips instead of her usual insistence on calling him Stryker, sent more blood rus.h.i.+ng to his c.o.c.k. That deepening of intimacy hardened him to the point of near pain. He could taste her desire, hear her yearning for him.

Flicking his tongue over her c.l.i.t, he reached out, his strong hands pulled her even closer to his mouth as that sensitive flesh came into contact with the edge of his teeth. His fingers f.u.c.ked into her and then over that sweet spot in a continuous movement of into and across wet flesh.

He watched her hands as she touched herself, his eyes sliding up to hers, half lidded and liquid with desire. He'd never seen anything so beautiful in his life, never wanted anyone more desperately.

He knew by the quicksilver change in her taste, her climax was there. Her back bowed off the bed just moments later as her thighs clamped over his ears. Lost in her own flood of pleasure, she pressed herself into his face, and he took every bit that she was offering and more until her thighs fell open and she sighed, satiated.

He arched up and laved the vein on her inner thigh, taking a moment to revel in the feel of her pulse beat under his tongue. Incisors, hard and waiting to strike, slid across her skin, opening her, pulling her rich, velvety blood into his body. The essence of her life exploded through his system like nothing else ever had.

”Oh G.o.d.” She groaned, clutching his head as he drank from her. Endorhpins rushed through her system as climax claimed her again. The interaction of the chemicals in his saliva and her blood created an explosion of pleasure that was the byproduct of a vampire feeding on a human. But between them it was far more. It was a twinning of their lives again, a stronger statement than mere words could make about how each felt about the other.

He took her in, knowing her more intimately than he deserved to. This woman was someone so special, so strong and s.e.xy. Sharing her blood was like a sacrament. She filled him up in ways he was afraid to ponder too deeply but could no longer avoid.

Drawing his tongue over the bite, he moved up her body and rolled, pulling her on top of him. Her hair was a glorious cloak of flame around her shoulders, her lips swollen from his kisses, skin flushed from pleasure. She rose up on her knees, positioned his c.o.c.k and sank down onto him, bringing a deep moan from them both.

”I love you, Lissette,” he murmured, eyes locked with hers. He saw the surprise and the rush of emotion she couldn't hide.

She put a finger over his lips. ”Don't. Don't say it if you don't mean it, Stryker. I have no plans to kick you out of my bed, so if you're just saying it because you think it's what I need to hear, it'll only end up hurting.”

Seeing the fear in her eyes, he kissed her finger before he pulled it away from his lips. ”You're such a wounded bird, love.” He stared at her body, at the swell of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, the graceful line of her neck, her beautiful blue eyes, the heart shaped face with the rosebud lips, and the smattering of freckles across her nose. He loved every bit of her.

”I don't just say things-especially not to you. I love you, Lissie. I've loved you for a while now. I suppose it took the thought of losing you to make me admit it to myself and say it out loud.”

She arched, taking him deeper into her body. ”I love you, too. Desperately. And it throws me off balance, scares me.” The words exploded from her of their own volition.

”You love me?” He grinned.

”Yes, you arrogant b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I love you. I'm easy apparently. All it took was that s.h.i.+pment of bottled blood.” Her eyes got sad as she finished, and the memory of his using that as a chip to get her to take Alex in hung in the air between them.

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