Alone (11 page)

“Fine, but I’m buying my own stuff,” I quipped as I led him back inside.

“Not a chance in hell, my Nina,” he chuckled, hitting the button for the garage door. “Not a chance in hell.”

I just rolled my eyes. Well, he was meeting me halfway at least.

It was a start.

The next morning I woke before my alarm which was no big since we’d gone to bed way before my normal time even with getting back up and talking in the garage. What
was
odd was Conall soundly sleeping next to me. I blinked at him and thought about what had changed and two things slammed into me at once.

One, his blood consumption.

Two, I could
see
him perfectly.

The first, he hadn’t had any from me in a few days. Before that it had only been during sex and then he hadn’t for a few days before that. He wasn’t getting his normal
nips
a few times a day like he had that first month after I’d met him. If my guess was right, that mattered, and he was worn down from it. We would need to have a discussion about that.

Now onto why I was practically
vibrating
as I laid there. I could see him. I’d taken out my contacts, and he wasn’t the least bit blurry. I’d needed something to correct my vision since I’d been in the
fourth
grade. The only reason I’d gotten contacts in eighth grade, when they were new and expensive as all hell, was because I’d used all my birth and Christmas money to chip in for the cost. Plus I’d played sports and my parents were supporters of that.

And I’d destroyed two pairs of glasses that year playing basketball.

But for the first time in my life that I could remember—besides the first year after having LASIK surgery—I could see everything perfectly, crisply, sharply. My reaction might have been weird, but I couldn’t think of a better way to say thank you to the person who made it possible.

I crawled under the sheets and swallowed Conall down.

“Oh
fuck
,” he moaned,
finally
waking up. He really had been tired. On top of always waking before me, he was normally a pretty light sleeper too. He should have roused the moment I’d moved.

I gave him the best blow job I knew how, crossing that line for the first time in our relationship. Yes, we’d had sex, but for whatever reason I’d not gone there. We’d started in such a weird, control-battling way I hadn’t wanted to… I’m not really sure. I just hadn’t gone there yet. Now I was. I didn’t say I had all the answer. It simply hadn’t felt right.

There. That was my answer to why.

“I’m not sure what I’ve done to deserve that,” he panted when it was over and I crawled up his body. He licked his lips, and I mimicked the gesture, letting him know I enjoyed it as well. “But do tell me what it was so I might receive the same treatment again. That was marvelous, my Nina.”

“I can see you,” I purred, reaching up, and positioned his hands by his head. When I moved my hands away and he started to as well, he got the idea to keep them there when I clucked my tongue.

“I wondered if my blood would improve your eyesight,” he murmured as I slowly leaned back and pulled off my night shirt. “Your prescription isn’t all that far gone so I wasn’t sure. It’s not an exact science what our blood does. All I know is that it makes the human body in prime condition. Now prime condition can only go so far. It can’t undo some damage, but it can correct other things. I don’t know all.”

“Well it fixed my eyes.” I pulled down my shorts, already on one side of him before I slid one leg over him. He nodded and visually traced the lines of my body. “You fixed my eyes by sharing your blood with me. You helped me lose all this weight and lose the stretch marks and get my energy back with whatever that was and stop having migraines and tummy aches and”—I let out a burst of giggles—“allergies. Nothing’s been bugging my allergies this summer. I’ve not even noticed that.”

“So you’re happy?”

“Elated.” I leaned over and licked his nipple as I squirmed on his lap. “Time to make sure you’re taken care of.”

“What do you mean, my Nina?” he groaned, getting harder under me.

“Yes, I’ll take care of him too,” I chuckled, kissing up his chest. “I meant, how you were still sleeping when I got up. You’re tired, aren’t you? How often do you need blood, Conall?”

“You don’t need to worry about—”

I reached up and grabbed a handful of his hair as I lifted my head up to stare down at him. “We’re in a
real
relationship here, right?”

“Yes,” he hissed, his eyes glazing over as his fangs came out. I reached down with my other hand and grabbed his cock, steadying it before lowering myself onto it. “Oh, Nina, yes. Please me, my woman.”

“I
am
your woman. You want to take care of me and I’ll want to take care of you. So you’re going to tell me about how much blood you need.” I smiled down at him and thought of something better. “Sit up and move your hands under your ass. No touching.”

“Evil vixen,” he moaned.

“I am. I’m your evil vixen and I don’t want my man rundown so start talking or I’ll just sit here and nothing more,” I threatened.

He whimpered as we changed positions, scooting back against the headboard. Then I took hold of his hair again, and before he could answer, I used his fangs to cut two deep lines across my chest.

“Do you want that blood, Conall?” I taunted as I started slowly pumping my hips, letting the red drops flow over my tits.

“You know I do, Nina,” he growled, his eyes filling with something more than a normal man’s did. “You’re playing with fire, lovely.”

“Then tell me what I want to know. How often do you need blood to stay strong? You promised to only drink from me. I’m not going to handicap you because we have a fight.”

He leaned forward to lick but I moved back. “It’s food to us,” Conall snarled, but then flicked my nipple with his tongue. “Just like you need food to stay strong, so do we, but blood too. I will sleep extra or get tired if I don’t have a nip once or twice a day. It works out to about a pint a day.”

I almost fell over but caught myself, sitting up on his lap. “There’s no way I give you a pint of blood a day and not
die
.”

“My blood makes your body replenish your own supply at about ten times your normal rate. It doesn’t affect you as normal. When I used to take a little nip, I’d take about a cup. A few cups a day. When we have sex and a bunch of bites, I take sips and probably a full pint and just like a well-balanced meal, I’m wonderful for having had it. Going a few days without, I get rundown. I. Am. Fine.”

“But you’re not with your analogy,” I argued.

“I am,” he growled, rolling us over and turning the tables on me. “You wanted to know how this works because we are lovers and partners. You are right. You deserve to know that and I want that with you. Do not tell me though how I feel and what is best for me. If I needed it, I would ask or at least for a pass to bite someone else since I promised I wouldn’t bite anyone other than you. I am not some simpering man who would pressure you for blood simply because I needed a nap to put pressure on you when you need space.

“I respect you too much for that. You were fair in your needs for time and distance, perspective as to what we are and what is here. Pressuring you with my thirst was not fair to add into the equation when all I needed was to add an extra hour or two to my sleeping regimen and to eat a bit more. A few more days without your blood and I would have brought it up. But you did and I don’t know if your pushing me to tell you or the way you did it makes me fall further in love with you.”

“And you not wanting to tell me how often you needed blood to possibly put pressure on me makes me realize you truly care about me and feel something even deeper for you,” I whispered against his mouth.

Conall gave me a toothy smile. “Glad we’ve come to terms regarding this topic.” He stared down at the blood on my chest and ran his tongue over his fangs. “Now am I allowed to partake in your luscious blood and perfect body you have been teasing me with or are we still playing games?”

“Partake away,” I offered with my own evil grin. His bite was instant and rougher than normal as was the way he snapped his hips.

I loved both. He screwed me like a man possessed, and when we were both finished, panting and staring at each other, for some reason we burst out laughing, as if realizing how ridiculous the whole encounter had been.

And how odd
we
were for having enjoyed it so much.

“I was going to ask if you have pressing work to attend to today but I don’t even know what you
do
,” I hedged as we lounged in bed, my alarm still not having gone off. Conall lifted his head from my chest, his tongue lapping at the cuts I’d caused with his fangs.

“Not much of anything really,” he admitted, giving a half shrug. “Old family money. Now and again I get in on new business ventures, make new investments, whatever catches my fancy, but I have enough money to last me several thousand lifetimes. Right now the only thing that has my fancy is a seductive blonde, with the brightest blue eyes I’ve ever seen and who gasps”—the fingers of his right hand moved between my legs as his left hand rolled me over—“when I touch her here.”

“Good fancy,” I moaned. “Anything else you fancy down there?”

“Let me see,” he teased before burying his face between my legs for the next half hour. By then my whole body was mush and my alarm was ringing. I couldn’t have moved to shut it off if I’d wanted to. Conall smiled at me as he scooted across the bed and did it for us. “Why were you asking about work? What’s in that pretty head of yours?”

“Not much now,” I murmured as I threw my arm over my face. I gasped as he flicked my nipple and let my arm slide away. “I wanted to see if you were willing to play hooky with me today and go to the zoo. I was thinking maybe we just needed a day off, out of the house, and just have some light fun.”

He thought about it a moment and nodded. “Yes, I would love that. It’s a weekday so it won’t be annoyingly overcrowded.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” I agreed as I rolled out of bed. “So are you in?”

“I am.”

Twenty minutes later, we were showered, dressed, and out the door. Then I had a second thought and darted back inside, grabbing my nice Nikon, the extra battery, and a few SD cards. God knew I loved taking pictures, and in the year I’d lived in Omaha, the one place I’d been dying to go was the damn zoo especially since I’d heard it was one of the best in the country behind San Diego.

Crazy right? Who would have thought
Omaha
for a great zoo, but I’d looked it up and it was in the top three.

We had the
best
day. I’d never seen Conall laugh so hard, wanting to check out everything, asking people to take our picture all the time. We were there a whole half hour before we walked right over to ticketing and bought season passes and Conall asked about their fundraising programs.

Guess he found some other endeavors he fancied. Hey, I wasn’t jealous, I loved worthwhile projects myself. Besides, the guy mentioned some snazzy gala they threw every year and I’d never been to a
gala
.

We decided we were going to leave the aquarium for another day, because that was too much to tackle. For sure. I looked at the map and laughed, grabbing his arm and leading him to the “Desert Domes & Kingdoms of the Night.”

He looked at me funny when he saw the sign. “You realize I was born as I am, right? I’m not some soulless beast of the night.”

“I know you’re not soulless,” I hedged, stopping in my tracks and kissing his cheek. “But you came through my window at night. That was the joke, Conall. Please don’t read more into it than that. Though I didn’t know you were born what you are.”

“I am, but now I get your joke and you are amusing.” He slid his hand in mine, and we walked into the attraction together, loving every second of it.

We were so in line with what we wanted to see too… Until we got to the insect one. Then he was on his own.

“Yeah, you go right ahead,” I bitched, digging in my heels at the doorway. “I’m not going in there.”

“Nina, they won’t be flying all around freely,” he chuckled as he rolled his eyes at me.

“I don’t care. Bugs creep me out. I’m not going in there. If I want to see them, I’ll watch Nova or walk out
into the woods in my backyard.
”

He frowned and glanced at the doors. “I find them fascinating though.”

We bickered for a few minutes until I saw the giraffes were right behind the bug barn as I kept calling it. Then I stood on my toes and whispered in his ear, “I’m going to go buy a snow cone, find a nice shady spot, and watch the giraffes while I wait for my handsome man while he plays with the buggies and he can crawl all over me, bite me, and enter my doors all he wants.”

Conall smiled as I leaned back. “I like this deal. It’s a good deal.”

Five minutes later, I was sitting on a bench under a tree enjoying a blue raspberry snow cone.