Love Your Entity (26 page)

“Uh, I think I’d know if we were having sex right now. I would know that, wouldn’t I?” she asked with a nervous chew on her bottom lip.

“Yes, you’d definitely know. I meant we know where this is leading. So we may as well get started.”

“Just like that?”

“Given the power of the vampire curse, it may be difficult if not impossible to go slow the first time.”

“The first time? Do you mean—”

“That we’ll be doing this more than once. Yes.”

“Okay, then. I … uh … let’s get started. Where do you want me?”

“Just relax.”

Sure, because there’s nothing to be nervous about after all. It’s not like I’m about to have sex with a vampire to prevent my being turned into one.

Only then did Sierra notice that the utilitarian bed she’d slept on last night had been transformed into something out of a fairy tale—a four-poster bed with a filmy white canopy. It was the most romantic thing she’d ever seen.

She looked over her shoulder at Ronan. “Too dainty for you?”

“When I first got here I slept in a coffin,” he said.

“Ew.”

“I realize you’re only having sex with me so you won’t become a vampire.” His voice was curt.

“That’s not the only reason.”

“It’s not?”

“No. There are other factors, like the strong attraction between us.”

“Caused by the vampire bond.”

“It existed before that,” she admitted before saying, “Why do you want to have sex with me? Or is that a dumb question?”

“It kind of is.”

“Gee, thanks. So I could be just any female?”

“No.” He brushed his thumb over her lips. “You could never be ‘just’ anything. You’re you. Special.”

“Because I see ghosts?”

“For a hundred thousand reasons.”

“That many, huh?”

“I won’t have another death on my hands,” Ronan said gruffly. “I won’t have your blood on my hands. I want my hands on your breasts and on the rest of your body.”

“I want that too.”

“I won’t have Voz take you.” Ronan’s voice was fierce with the emotion he claimed he didn’t have. “He can’t take you if our bond is broken.”

She sat on the bed, because it was that or fall down. Even the sound of Ronan’s voice was making her go all jelly-kneed. She ran her hand along the bed linens. She’d always wondered what the softest sheets imaginable would feel like. Now she knew. She’d never actually wondered what having sex with a vampire would feel like but she was about to find out.

Wait, he was probably reading her thoughts right this second.

Don’t rip my nightgown.

“Then take it off,” he said.

“I just put it on.” She took his hand and placed it on her breast. “It feels so good.”

He ran his hand down her body, over her stomach, to her thigh and then to the juncture between her legs. She’d already removed her underwear. He rubbed the heel of his palm against her feminine mound while inching up the hem of her gown with his free hand.

The first brush of his thumb against her clitoris sent a spiral of sinful sensation into her womb. She moaned her pleasure. He whisked her nightgown off before lowering her onto the bed and continuing his darkly talented seduction. First he slid one finger into the welcoming slippery dampness of her vagina. Then he replaced his hands with his mouth and his tongue.

A swirl here, a lick there. His actions shot her to another level of bliss. The clench of her orgasm rolled over her like a tidal wave … after wave … after wave. She screamed his name and gripped his shoulders. Otherwise she thought she might fly off the bed—not from an enemy but from her response to Ronan.

She didn’t have to speak. He knew what gave her the most satisfaction and he repeated that move with a twist here and a nibble there. She’d never felt anything like this.

The physical bond was incredible but there was more. There was a sense of recognition. Of something missing suddenly found.

Then Ronan abruptly stood. It took him the blink of an eye to remove all his clothing and stand before her as magnificent and nude as he had been the first time she’d seen him. Only there was one difference. Now his sex was rampant with desire. He was clearly fully aroused and ready to go.

She was spread-eagled and naked on the bed when he finally kissed her on the mouth. Instantly she wrapped her legs around his hips and lifted up to urge him in.

She felt a primal need to mate. Did he feel it too? Was the vampire bond creating this need so intense it bordered on pain?

“Now!” She could barely form the words. “Take me now.”

He thrust his tongue between her parted lips as he thrust his penis between her parted legs. She took all of him. The friction of his body against hers and within hers was sizzling and fiercely divine. She was enthralled by his power, entranced by his touch. Threading her fingers through his thick hair, she matched his passion. She loved the way he kissed her, the way his body filled hers.

He slid deeper until she sheathed him from tip to root. The walls of her vagina clenched around him as he possessed her. Tremors continued to ripple deep within her as she teetered on the edge of her orgasm.

There was a carnal rawness in each of his delicious thrusts. She broke off their kiss with a breathless cry of impending ecstasy.

Primitive needs took over.

“Mine,” Ronan growled. “You’re mine. Say it.”

“Yours,” Sierra gasped.

He held her chin and had her look at him as she came, the powerful spasms radiating through her. She watched his eyes darken and glow as he came. His animalistic snarls of pleasure didn’t frighten her. They empowered her.

Because this was what she’d been waiting for her entire life. Their bond hadn’t been broken, it was strengthened.

Chapter Twenty-one

Sierra woke up in bed alone. She panicked for a moment, thinking Voz had taken Ronan. Today was Valentine’s Day. But the deadline was supposed to be midnight tonight.

Then she saw the note on the pillow beside hers.
I’m in the passageway. Call out when you wake up. Ronan.

She touched the paper with her fingertip, tracing his words. This was the first time she’d seen his writing aside from his scrawled signature on their temporary lease agreement. Maybe she was just being sappy but his handwriting seemed deliciously old-fashioned to her now.

There was nothing old-fashioned about the way Ronan made love. Because that’s what it had been to her. There was no hiding her feelings by labeling it as sex. The vampire bond might be broken but the ties between them were more powerful than ever.

She loved Ronan. And not just because he was good in bed. Okay, off-the-charts totally
EPIC AWESOME
in bed. But there was more to it than that.

She loved the way he could catch a dish flying through the air. His sense of humor. His fierce loyalty. His old-fashioned sense of chivalry. His dark chocolate-brown eyes. The way his smile was slightly lopsided.

She was accustomed to being haunted by ghosts but not by being haunted by the power of her love for Ronan. She refused to allow Voz to have him. She’d do everything in her power to save Ronan, just as he’d saved her.

She might not have superpowers or magical abilities but she had other skills. The bottom line here was that yes, she’d fallen in love with a vampire. And yes, that created some unique challenges like the fang-and-blood thing not to mention the immortality stuff. But in order to work those out, she first had to make sure that Ronan wasn’t taken from her by Voz.

Which meant she had to get up and get moving. She found clean clothes laid out at the foot of the bed. After washing up in the tiny bathroom under the stairs and pulling on the black pants and red top, she called out Ronan’s name. He was beside her in an instant.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“I was just following orders. You said to call your name when I woke up.”

“Like you called it so many times in the night as you came,” he said.

“And I came so many times. I had no idea it was even possible to have that many orgasms.”

“Was it too much?” He cupped her cheek with his hand. “Are you okay today?”

She wanted to tug him back into bed and show him exactly how okay she was today. But first things first. “I will be fine when we find that key Voz wants. Any progress on that front?”

“I searched every inch of the passageway.”

“That map is confusing. And why would Hal need a map to begin with? He knew where he put the treasure in this house. It’s not like he buried it in a desert or wilderness somewhere. The treasure is in this house.”

“Or the backyard. I dug it all up, by the way.”

“Why? Did you think Hal was buried there? People bury their goldfish in their backyards. Not humans. Besides, Daniella’s dad already told us that he was cremated.”

“There have been plenty of serial killers who buried bodies in their yards or under the cement floor of their garage.”

“So you thought the key could be on a body Hal buried in the backyard? Did you find anything out there?” she said.

“Some bones. Not human, though.”

“And no treasure?”

“No. I even ran a metal detector across the property. Nothing,” he said.

“Okay then. So we can knock those two locations—the passageway and the backyard—off the list of possible hiding places. What about the front yard?”

“I dug that up too.”

“At vamp speed?”

“Of course.”

“And no one saw you?”

“It was still dark. Before the sun came up.”

She could only imagine what the neighbors would think. Wait, the neighbors were witches and vampires. “I still think we’re missing something.”

“We’re missing the third piece of that damn map,” Ronan said.

A warbling scream came from upstairs.

The door at the top of the stairs flew open and Ruby stood there, frantic. “It’s Valentine’s Day! Hello? Why aren’t you doing something?”

“Can she see us?” Sierra asked Ronan.

He shook his head. “It doesn’t appear so. Remember, this is a secure site.”

“Maybe she could hear me if I stand on the stairs. I’m still here,” Sierra told Ruby. “Ruby, can you hear me?”

“Yes, I can hear you but I can’t see you. Something new invaded the house the other night and now everything is out of whack.”

“Do you know what it was? Had you ever seen it before?” Sierra asked.

“I didn’t see it at all,” Ruby said.

“Yeah, me either,” Sierra said.

“But it was evil. Even worse than Hal. That doesn’t mean that Hal can stay though. He has to go. Today!” Ruby shouted. “He has to go today!”

“Today is the anniversary of her death,” Sierra told Ronan.

“Not my death, my
murder,
” Ruby said. “And no, I wasn’t part of the Valentine’s Day massacre. I had no idea that was going to happen. Why are you hiding down there? What’s going on?” She paused a moment. “There’s someone knocking at your front door.”

“Ignore it. They’ll go away,” Sierra said.

“It’s Tanya.”

“I’ll get rid of her,” Ronan said.

The knocking stopped and instead Tanya showed up in the basement with them. “I used the tunnels. I figured you couldn’t hear me. Maybe you were writing with your headphones on.” She looked around at the messed-up sheets on the romantic bed. “I like what you’ve done with the place.”

Tanya was dressed conservatively for her in a black skirt and a fuzzy red angora sweater. She had a large tote bag over her shoulder.

“This really isn’t a good time,” Sierra said, going back down the steps to face Tanya.

“I’ve been doing some research and self-publishing is the latest thing. Also fan fiction. I already wrote a chapter about Nicki and posted it. But here’s the bottom line. You need a street team.”

“Is that a vampire thing?” Ruby asked from the top of the stairs. “Can that help you get rid of Hal?”

“It’s a marketing promotional sort of thing,” Sierra said.

“I’m the perfect person to head your street team,” Tanya said.

“Let’s talk about this some other time,” Sierra said.

Tanya shook her head. “You snooze, you loose. Not that you two have been doing much snoozing down here. I really do wish you’d talked to me before you did the deed, Sierra. I was going to give you some helpful hints. You may not know this but I’m a graduate of the Mansfield School. I was their star pupil.”

“How about I meet you tomorrow at Heavenly Cupcakes,” Sierra said, “and we can talk about your childhood schooldays—”

Tanya interrupted her. “The Mansfield School was not for kids. The full title of their establishment was the Mansfield School of Undressing.”

Sierra blinked. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Not at all. Back in the fifties, they had a third-floor office downtown on State Street. The teachers gave us invaluable lessons. For example…” Tanya took hold of the hem of her sweater and started shimmying.

“Don’t you have someplace else you have to be?”

“No,” Tanya said.

“I was talking to Ronan.”

“I’ll be nearby,” he said.

Once he was gone, Sierra drew a deep breath. “Look, I know you’re only trying to be helpful here.”

“Because clearly you need help.”

“But this isn’t a good time.”

“Okay, then I’ll give you the one-minute lesson. We can’t have you practicing faulty disrobing techniques. You do not want the word to get out that you are a sloppy undresser.”

“Who’s going to put a word out like that?”

“No one once I’m done with you,” Tanya said. “Now pay attention. Do you see how I crook my knee? Do that while you are stepping out of your dress or skirt, sliding your clothing over your hips before gracefully stepping out of it. As for your top, never clumsily yank it over your head, getting your arms all trapped.” Tanya demonstrated. Luckily she was wearing a bra because Sierra did not want to be flashed by the tanned vampire.

Tanya smoothed down her angora sweater and started over. “Instead you peel it off with elegance. Do you see the difference?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now how is the book coming?”

“Slowly.”

“I don’t want to hear that.”