Embrace the Heat (19 page)

“Come for me,” Simon murmured against
her.

“I can’t,” she said desperately. “You need to
be inside of me.”

His fingers found the right spot, and Layla
moaned as her legs nearly gave out. “Please, Si. I don’t know why,
but I can’t climax this way right now.”

Simon removed his fingers and placed a hand
on each hip to help steady her. “Turn around and get on your hands
and knees,” he ordered. “I want to see my mark on you when I take
you the first time.”

Layla did what he said, and Simon moved her
hair to the side so the bite mark on her neck was visible. Simon’s
groan was so sexy that Layla found herself getting even wetter.
Simon positioned himself behind her and gripped her hips as he
started to slide in slowly. Her muscles clenched around him. The
stretching sensation made her tense.

“Fuck me,” Simon hissed. “You’re so tight and
wet that I feel like I’m going to explode. Am I hurting you?”

“A little, but it’s making the pain from the
arousal better. I need all of you.” She pressed back with her hips,
and Simon must have gotten the hint that she didn’t want him to be
gentle because he pushed forward until he was completely inside of
her. His fingers gripped her hips tightly as he began to thrust
against her body in slow strokes. It’s not like she’d never been
with a man before, but she’d never been with a man Simon’s size,
and she’d never been this crazed with lust before. Her body was
torn between the desire to rock back against Simon, and the need to
adjust to his invasion.

Instinct won out, and she started to rock
back against him. When Layla began to move, Simon caught her hips
and held her in place as he increased his thrusts. At that point
she couldn’t think anymore. She tried hard to fight his hold and
move against him, but Simon held her in place. That made it even
better. Layla wanted him to prove he was stronger. She needed him
to be the dominant one. Instinct told her that only the strongest
male should possess her body.

“You’re mine,” Simon practically growled as
he gripped her hips so tight she was sure his fingers would leave
imprints.

When Layla finally climaxed it seemed to go
on and on. She screamed and fought the hold on her hips as she
tried to thrust back toward Simon, but he fully controlled her
body. Layla distantly heard Simon find his own release, and her
muscles clenched even tighter as she felt his penis jerk inside of
her.

As Simon slid out of her body, reality
returned. “We didn’t use any kind of protection,” she nearly
shouted.

“I know,” Simon admitted in a much too calm
voice.

“What if I get pregnant?” she asked with a
combination of panic and excitement. The excitement confused her.
There had never been a time when she’d wanted to bring a child into
this world. Not a day went by without the risk of being killed.
Parents could be taken from their children at any time. Even
children could be infected with the Moon virus and become turned
vampires. She’d seen children destroyed more than once, and it was
heartbreaking.

Simon helped her to her feet and tossed her
over his shoulder. “Time to go upstairs. This time I want to take
you on my bed.”

Simon jogged up the stairs to his room, set
her down on a huge four poster king size bed and crawled up between
her legs. “I wanted to do so much more that first time, but you
needed it fast. This time, I want to savor those breasts of
yours.”

“Simon,” she said and grabbed his hair.

He looked annoyed by the interruption.

“What are we going to do if there’s a baby? I
know we can’t change what happened, but we need to be more
careful.”

“If there isn’t a baby from that time, there
probably will be from one of the other dozen times I plan to have
you,” he said. “Raven said you wouldn’t be satisfied if I didn’t
finish inside of you. It’s the only way to make the ache go away.”
Simon’s attention returned to her breasts, and he took one nipple
into his mouth and sucked gently before swirling his tongue over
it.

Layla tried to squirm out from under Simon,
but he held her in place. “I don’t want to have a baby with you
just because you want to help me. A pity fuck shouldn’t end in a
child.”

Layla wasn’t weak, but she was no match for
Simon’s strength. Plus he was already on top of her and probably
outweighed her by a hundred pounds.

“Stop it!” he said as he slid up her body and
pinned her wrists beside her head. When she continued to struggle
he leaned forward and bit down gently on her exposed throat. Much
to her own shame, Layla moaned. Simon released her throat and
kissed her until Layla was writhing beneath him. “There were at
least a dozen men in this settlement willing to spend the next
couple of days in between your sexy thighs. I could have taken you
back out to those assholes in the woods and let them take care of
you. The reason I’m here with you has absolutely nothing to do with
pity. Right now, I want to be with you more than anything.”

“But a baby,” she said desperately.

“The idea of my baby growing inside of you
gets me so hard I can barely control myself,” Simon admitted. “I
know it doesn’t make any sense, but I
want
to get you
pregnant.”

“This is a huge mistake,” she said, but her
argument sounded weak. How could she argue when Simon was kissing
along her jaw line, and his erection was pressing against her?
“This world is a horrible place to raise children.”

Simon released her wrists and brushed his
lips against hers. “Don’t worry, Layla. We can try using protection
this time. If there is a baby, I’ll protect that child with my
life, and I’ll take care of you too.”

“I don’t want you trapped into staying with
me.”

“How many times do I need to tell you that
I’m not trapped? I was trapped before. Being away from you was the
real trap. Being with you is my release.” Simon chuckled at his own
humor.

“Very funny,” she said. “Over a hundred years
old and acting less mature than Mitchell.”

“I want to kiss you again,” he said and
brushed her mouth. “I’ve dreamed about being with you like
this.”

“You have?” she asked in surprise.

“Yes,” he said and sucked her lower lip into
his mouth. He released her lip and stared into her eyes. “In the
morning, I always hated myself and tried to pretend the dreams
meant nothing. The truth is, I’ve been dreaming about being with
you for months. The longer I know you, the more I dream about you.
Now that you’re really here in my bed, I intend to indulge in all
of my fantasies.”

Layla suddenly found it hard to breathe.

Simon gave her a slow lingering kiss,
savoring her mouth. Layla was surprised by how arousing the
occasional scrape of his fangs was. Soon she was aching for him
again. “I need you,” she said against his lips.

“You have me,” Simon assured her.

Layla pushed her worries aside. For now, she
had Simon. Whatever happened, she would not let fear ruin this time
with him.

Simon started to position himself, but she
pushed against his chest. “Protection,” she said.

Simon practically growled and seemed to work
hard to get himself under control. “Sorry,” he said. “I’m not
really sure what’s going on with me. We’ll try with protection.” He
rolled off of her and pulled out a condom from the bedside table.
They didn’t have them at the human settlement. She watched in
fascination as Simon rolled it down his shaft and frowned when it
didn’t go quite all the way down.

“Will it come off?” she asked.

Simon chuckled. “It’s never happened before.”
Then his face sobered, and he stroked her cheek. “Don’t worry,
Layla. If there is a baby, you aren’t alone.”

“I know you wouldn’t abandon your own child,”
she said softly.

Simon leaned forward and kissed her cheek.
“Look at me,” he ordered.

When Layla met his eyes, she saw pure joy in
them.

“Even if there isn’t a baby,” he said and
stroked her hair, “I’m going to take care of you. Not just for
tonight, but for the rest of your life.”

“Don’t make promises like that, Simon,” she
said.

“You don’t sound convinced about my
feelings,” Simon said with a wicked grin. “Maybe I’ll be forced to
spend hours worshipping your body to prove to you how much I want
you.”

Layla smiled. “Will you keep trying to
convince me until I believe you?”

“Absolutely,” he said and allowed his fangs
to scrape along her jaw line.

Layla moaned and closed her eyes. “Then I
should probably warn you that I’m a skeptic. It may take hours or
even days to convince me.”

“That’s what I was hoping you’d say,” Simon
drawled.

Simon watched Layla stumble toward the
bathroom on wobbly legs. His lips curled up into a satisfied grin.
He’d come damn close to keeping his promise about her not being
able to walk. Layla was absolutely wild in bed, and he had the
scratch and bite marks to prove it. Then again, she had more than
one new bite mark herself. Simon was surprised by his own actions.
Rough sex had never been his thing. Well, he’d never really tried
anything rough before. Layla seemed surprised that she enjoyed it
too.

“You look well loved this morning,” he
murmured.

She snorted. “Love, yeah right.” Without
waiting for a reply, she shut herself in the bathroom, and the lock
clicked into place. Hopefully she wasn’t going to try to shower
alone. He was sure she could do it, but he didn’t want her to.
Nope, he had plans to wash every inch of her sexy body. Then he
planned to take her back to bed and get it dirty again. Ian was
taking his patrol for the day, so he had hours to enjoy Layla.

Simon waited for several minutes without
hearing any noise. No water running, nothing. What could she be
doing in there? He was trying hard not to worry.

Layla looked at herself in the mirror as she
braced her weight on the countertop by the sink. She was a mess!
Her hair was tangled, and she had the distinctive mark from Simon’s
fangs on her left breast. When she turned to examine her back, she
saw a mark from Simon’s palm on her ass. Simon definitely had a
thing for spanking, and she didn’t seem to mind it. Who knew she
liked being spanked during sex? Who knew she’d be begging Simon to
bite her during sex? When she lifted her hand up to finger the
tangles out of her hair, she noticed that she had a rope hanging
from one wrist. Obviously, they’d been too tired to take that one
off. The rope was loose enough that she was able to remove it on
her own. Good thing since she needed a few minutes alone to clean
up before facing Simon. When she looked into the mirror again, she
was sure her eyes were playing tricks on her. Her normally brown
eyes appeared blue.

Just as she was about to reach for the
faucet, what felt like static electricity crawled up her skin. It
started out like pins and needles, and she fidgeted uncomfortably.
That sensation lasted less than a minute before she felt the energy
caressing her skin, moving along her spine. She took a deep breath,
and the world shifted around her. It should have been frightening,
but instead it was exhilarating. She welcomed the flow of energy,
and embraced the heat that surrounded her body as the world
blurred.

With no memory of how she got there, Layla
found herself on all fours. Looking down at her thick paws, her
only concern was how to get out of the bathroom. Her change in form
should frighten her, but she felt incredible. It was like a piece
of her that had always been missing suddenly slipped into place,
and she was complete.

There was no way her paws were going to grip
the door knob. Only one solution to getting out of the bathroom
came to mind.

The sound of a body slamming against the
bathroom door had Simon jumping out of bed and racing toward the
bathroom.

“Layla!” he shouted as he rattled the locked
bathroom door. There was no reply from Layla save the scratching
against the door. Shit! She was hurt, and he needed to get to her.
“Move back from the door as far as you can!” he ordered and then
listened for the sounds movement.

Simon didn’t want to hurt her by breaking
down the door, so he punched a hole in it and reached through to
unlock it. When he opened the door, the lynx sprang out at him.
Simon jumped back unsure if she would attack him, but she merely
stopped and did a little spin like she was showing off. Beautiful
silvery brown fur surrounded her. Her large feet padded against the
hard wood of his floor. While her eyes were blue in this form, he
still saw Layla’s intelligence and determination in those eyes.
This was still his Layla.

“Beautiful,” he murmured as he got down on
his knees and reached out a tentative hand to stroke her. “Happy
Birthday. Guess your mom was off on the date,” he said with a
smile. “Can I just say that this is the coolest fucking thing I’ve
ever seen?”

Layla took off down the stairs, nearly
slipping on the hard wood floors. She moved like a deadly predator
to the front door and looked back at him. “I get it,” he said with
a laugh. “We need to go for a run to test out the new body. I need
to shower first and update Connor. He may want to send guards.”

Layla growled which made him laugh. “Yeah, I
know you don’t like that idea, but I stink. If I don’t shower,
every vampire will be commenting on what we’ve been doing. As for
the guards, you can blame Raven for that. I don’t think Connor
would make us take guards, but I’m sure Raven will insist on it.
You know how much she worries about you.”

Layla let out a huff and laid down by the
door, glaring at him. Before heading back up to get ready, he
snapped a picture of Layla and sent it to Connor with a
message,