Bitten by the Vampire (5 page)

“I told you, release your inhibitions. Relax, Mara,” he murmured.

With his fingers, he spread her wide, staring at her wet core. Warmth coursed through her veins, shuttling away fear.

“You're so beautiful down here. So wet for me. I want to taste you, Mara, will you let me taste you?”

A moan escaped her as he rubbed a finger over her throbbing clit. She swallowed hard. Nodded. Nothing mattered, the people languidly swimming, hot sun burning down upon them, the wanton openness of being naked and spread open.

Nothing mattered but the man ready to drag his tongue over her center.

A waiter in shorts and a tropical shirt approached. Mara stiffened, but he seemed oblivious to her nudity.

“Would you care for anything to eat or drink?” Pen and pad in hand, the waiter squatted down with eyeshot of one bare breast.

Amusement danced over Lucien's face. He glanced down at her wet, pink flesh, stroked gently with a finger as if considering. Mara bit back a moan.

“I already have something delicious to dine upon. But I will take a shot of tequila, lime and salt.”

Lucien teased and stroked her wet flesh, making her moan. When his order arrived, Lucien rubbed salt over her nipple. The crusty granules scraped her flesh, making the mounds rise eagerly. Slowly, his tongue lapped it off. Doing the same to the other nipple he dragged his tongue over the salt, swirling it in long, teasing licks.

Her hips pumped upward in nameless want. He took the tequila and drizzled it over her groin.

Mara's hands fists as she arched back, the warm liquor trickling over her clit, coursing down her parted cleft. When Lucien began to tongue her, she threw her head back, hot sun beaming on her face, her opened mouth.

Inhibitions. Lose them. Surrendering to sensation, she let go.

When he took her clit between his teeth and clamped down gently, she arched back with a shocked scream. He licked harder, faster, the pressure between her legs building higher and higher.

Wailing his name, she climaxed hard and fast. Shuddering, she gulped for air, her lungs bellowing as she drowned all over again, this time awash in a wave of pure pleasure. Lucien kept licking her until the shivers passed.

A wicked gleam lit his eyes as he looked up, wiped his mouth with the back of one hand. The lime went into his hand.

He gave it a slow lick, winking at her. “I do adore a good shot of Patron.”

The vein at his throat jumped wildly. She opened her senses to him and realized his heart pounded hard. This time he wasn't cool and unaffected.

Desire swirled in his black irises. Drowning in it, she felt the last inhibition slide away, replaced with a burning need. The space between her legs felt empty, aching to have him inside her. Joined fully.

He set down the lime, his big body tense and waiting.

“Mara,” he said thickly. “Upstairs.”

If she went with him, her capitulation would be complete. Mara hesitated.

Lucien stood, pulling her naked body against his. The ridge of his erection rubbed against her belly. His eyes narrowed, glittering with hard determination.

“Now.”

In his suite, Lucien tugged her toward the bedroom. He flung his wet trunks aside and paced toward her, his naked body glistening with droplets, water beading in the dark hairs of his groin. On his erection.

Mara looked down. His penis was veined, jutting out from his body. She'd taken her first lover when she was sixteen, and sex had been a hasty session in the backseat of his car, painful and filled with regrets. She had not taken another man into her body since.

Lucien would not be hasty.

His kiss was a brush of wet lips as he cupped her face in his strong hands. Moisture from his body mingled with hers as they touched, the droplets joining together and cascading in rivulets down her naked belly. His tongue glided over her lips, licking away moisture.

He guided her hand down to his penis. “Touch me,” he demanded.

Mara wrapped her hand around his erection, her fingertips failing to meet. He was huge. She grew wetter at the thought of all that male hardness pushing deep inside her.

“You want me.” His deep voice rubbed against her in a seductive purr. Lucien pressed against the damp curls at her center. “Here, deep inside you.”

No. No. No.

“Yes,” she breathed.

“Let me come inside you, Mara. Open your body to me, and let me enter. I promise nothing but pleasure, hot sweet pleasure.”

He ravished her mouth, tongue and teeth plundering and claiming. Mara opened her mouth wider under his coaxing. Lucien hungrily pushed into the wet cavern of her mouth, mimicking what he would do to her body.

Her nipples crested beneath the wicked thrust of his tongue. An agony of need twined with eager anticipation as he slid his hands over her naked body, cupping her hips. When he pushed her back onto the bed, still kissing her, she wrapped her arms around his neck. Lucien cupped her sex, stroking a finger around the edge of her vagina. Then he parted her with his fingers and pushed a single digit inside.

The pleasure was so sharp, she arched and cried out. Inside and out he stroked, fire licking between her legs. Mara dug her heels into the mattress.

Holding onto him, she shivered as he teased and stroked, culling moisture and sliding it across her cleft. He gently rubbed her clit, wringing tiny gasps from her throat. Mara opened her legs wide in a nameless plea. Lucien pulled away from the wet cusp of her mouth.

“Your mouth is like the most succulent wine. Your skin—” He nuzzled the long column of her throat “—tastes like little sweet berries.”

A hint of fang pinched at her neck. Mara shuddered, wondering what it would feel like for him to sink his teeth into her. Taste her deeply. Her core spasmed with need.

Lucien ran his tongue down her throat, pulled back to look deep into her eyes. In his gaze she saw her own desire mirrored.

“Like that?” he murmured. “Want more?”

Mara nodded. Words had escaped her pleasure-dazed mind. He gave a wicked smile and continued his exploration.

Tongue and lips worked wicked magic across her skin as he kissed her bare belly, licked the indentation of her navel. Wildfire blazed through her veins, pushing the cold darkness far, far down. Demon and angel danced with delight at each sizzling stroke. Then he mounted her, his muscled body heavy on top of her. Pushing up on his hands, he looked down fiercely. Against her breasts, she felt the silk hairs of his chest rub against her, heard the rapid drumming of his heart.

Emotions filled her. She hooked her hands around his neck, wrapped her legs around his lean hips.

“Do it,” she breathed. Lucien gave an experimental push of his hips and then slid deep inside. She gasped, holding herself still, becoming accustomed to the fullness.

Tenderness shaded his eyes as he gazed at her. “You okay?” he asked in a rough voice.

Mara nodded, words escaping her.

He pumped his cock into her, hard and hot. Need pummeled her with greedy fists as she lifted her hips, urging him onward. Lucien angled his hips, his body sliding over hers, possessing her fully. She felt drunk with pleasure as the hairs on his thighs rasped against her limbs.

The delicious torment continued as he stroked deep inside her. As Lucien's tongue swirled in her mouth, his hard cock pumped into her body. She caressed the firm muscles of his back and toyed with the damp strands of his hair.

The sweet pressure built higher and higher. Lucien ceased kissing her, angled his thrusts. Mara threw her head back, her mouth gasping. Almost there. Almost.

Lucien fisted his hand in her hair, forcing her to look at him. “My name on your lips, Mara. Say my name when you come. Let go and open yourself to me.”

She shook her head wildly back and forth, nearly sobbing with the need. Her body was no longer hers, it sang and hummed. Her back taut as a bowstring, she dug her heels into the mattress.

Shimmering on the edge of a climax, she opened all her senses. The darkness hummed, rising up to push through with each shudder of pleasure.

She opened herself, and the tension blasted out of her core, shattering her into a million pieces, something dark and delicious bursting from her. Lucien threw his head back, shouted her name as he bucked against her. Warm seed jettisoned into her. He kept pumping inside her until his muscles quivered and he collapsed atop her trembling body.

Boneless with pleasure, Mara fell back, gulping down several deep breaths. His lungs bellowing for air, Lucien pillowed his head beside her. Their mingled heartbeats gradually slowed until they beat in unison. She listened, wondering if he controlled that.

Lucien lifted his head with a sleepy, adorable look. Sweat dampened his dark hair. “Yes, I matched my heart's rhythm to yours.”

The sweat-dampened sheets began to cool. He pushed off her, watched her with a guarded look. The space between her legs felt wonderfully sore, her muscles ached.

She felt well-loved.

Loved?

What kind of starry-eyed B.S. was that? Lucien didn't love her. He couldn't love her. He hadn't even shared a small part of himself, while she'd poured herself open and given him everything.

Everything… Mara groped for her demon powers. Nothing.

Her gaze whipped up to see him study her with a speculative look.

Stunned realization pushed past the languid pleasure thrumming in her veins. “You seduced me,” she breathed.

Ebony hair mussed, Lucien propped himself up on one elbow. Splendid in his nudity, honed muscles glistening in the light.

“I warned you would be mine, Mara.” A wicked gleam shone in his onyx gaze. “You did not say no. Had you disagreed, I would have stopped.”

“I need to protect myself! Were you there in the basement when Jones beat me? Taunted me, wanted me to beg for my damn life? All because he condemned me as dangerous, when he didn't know me at all. You think sex with you will stop me from going after Jones?”

She swung her legs over the bed's edge and tried to stand. Weakness shot through her limbs and she fell back.

“It wasn't merely sex, Mara,” he said quietly. “I weakened your demon.”

Sitting up, he stretched out his long fingers. Inky blackness danced along the tips. Lucien regarded his hands with a solemn look. Then he inhaled deeply, and the darkness suctioned into his mouth.

For a terrifying second, his eyes flashed crimson. Evil.
Is that what I look like
?

Then he fisted his hands, breathed out evenly and his eyes resumed their normal color.

Mara drew in a deep breath, reaching for her source of strength. Still there, but dimmed as if diminished in strength. No wonder she felt listless.

“How?”

“When you climax, your demon rises to the surface. I pulled part of it inside me.”

The hurt was so piercing, she could barely breathe. They'd made love and he'd taken advantage of her. Deliberately. He'd warned her this would happen, but she'd been so intent on pleasure, she'd forgotten.

“You took my powers. I can barely move. Lucien, you had no right.”

Regret flickered in his gaze. “I will not allow the hunters to destroy you, Mara. It was the only choice. You still have not learned to control your darkness.”

“There's always another way.” She gritted her teeth and stood, swaying on two legs. Forcing one foot in front of the other.

She barely made it into the bathroom.

Nausea rolled in her stomach. Mara leaned against the sink and gulped several deep breaths, forcing it down. Lifting her gaze to the mirror, she stared at her kiss-swollen lips. Desire had bitten her, hard and fast. The vampire was a wonderful lover, but a dangerous one.

How could she ever risk sex with him again, knowing next time he could drain her?

 

She rested most of the afternoon. When she finally woke, feeling groggy and still weakened, Mara went into the living room. Petra hung upside down from the ceiling light fixture. Lucien was reading and glanced up.

At her mutinous expression, he sighed. “I had hoped a rest would revive you.”

“It did. Just enough for me to have strength enough to walk the hell out of here. Hunters or no hunters, I'm leaving.”

Petra gave her an arch look as she swung on her perch.

“Good idea. I wish you'd leave, Darklighter. Something is searching for you, something that walks on four legs and likes to eat Alpo. I don't like four-leggeds. Having you around means they might sniff me out as well.”

“Nothing will get to you or Mara.” Lucien flicked a finger at the door. “I've warned off the hunters from touching her. And as long as you refrain from snacking on mortals during the day, you'll be fine, Petra.”

A loud belch burbled up from the gremlin. Lucien narrowed his eyes.

“Petra? Have you been eating in public again?”

The gremlin's mint-green face pinked. She jumped down to the floor. “Well, maybe just once. Or twice. I met this dude from India while shopping and you know how I adore curry…”

The dawning horror on Lucien's face made Mara afraid. “You ate him?”

“Of course not. I only took a little blood.”

The glass coffee table shattered into thousands of shards. Lucien shot to his feet.

“We're leaving.”

Mara fought down panic. What would make this powerful Ancient so afraid?

As he barked orders at Petra to leave the room, Mara understood. Lucien didn't fear for himself, but for the gremlin.

Petra ran back inside. “Lucien, there's Alpo-eaters coming down the hallway.”

He swore, jamming a hand through his hair, mussing the elegant curls. “We'll go out through your room, Petra. Take the stairs. If there's more, they can easily trap you in the elevator. We'll head for the airport.”

“Airport?” Alarm filled her.

“Back to my home in Michigan. It's isolated and safe there.”

“I can't leave the city!”

“I don't have time to argue. They'll be here in a minute to take Petra. Petra, go out the balcony, it's faster than the stairs.”

“We're seventeen floors up. What are you going to do, fly down?” Mara stared at the gremlin.

“Duh, of course,” Petra said, rolling her eyes. “It's Miami. They're used to seeing crazy things.”

Lucien used his powers to lock the door behind them.