Microsoft Word - The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance.doc (18 page)

She opened the front clasp of her bra and his palms enclosed

her breasts, squeezing lightly.

“I like that,” she whispered, rubbing her back and shoulders

against him. “But you have too many clothes on.”

He turned her in his arms, reached down to cup her bottom

and lifted her.

Her legs wrapped around his waist and her mouth landed on

his cheek, his chin . . .

He turned his face to avoid her mouth. “Your bedroom?” he

bit out, although he already knew.

Mariah lifted her  arm to point and snuggled her cheek alongside his as he moved through her darkened living room and down the short corridor to her bedroom.

A single lamp beside the bed lit the room. He stepped towards the bed and climbed onto the mattress, taking her to  the centre before lowering his body to blanket her.

“This isn’t going to work,” she murmured.

145

He ignored her complaint and trailed his mouth down her neck, shielding his teeth behind his lips until he reached her breasts.

A soft cry filled the air above  him as he stroked her with his

tongue, chancing nibbles with his front teeth.

Her fingers thrust through his long hair, combing it, pulling it as he deepened the suctioning that drew her nipples into taut beads.

“Danny . . .”

Not Daniel, as he’d insisted. Did some small corner of her mind remember him after all? He pulled away and sat up to strip off his jacket and his T-shirt, then tossed them to the floor behind him.

Her hands reached for his belt and opened it. She thumbed open the waist of his pants, then groaned when he backed off the bed to remove his boots and jeans.

When he climbed back on, her greedy gaze raked his body.  Viper noted her heightened arousal in the flare of her nostrils and quickening breaths.

Her legs parted at his first gentle  nudge. He reached down to lift her knees and arrange them on either side of his hips.  Then he lowered himself, closing his eyes as his skin met hers.
 
Pure heaven
.

He was gonna roast in hell.

“This too fast for you?” he gritted out.

“I need you moving inside me. Now please.”

146

Her tight, urgent words were exactly what he wanted to hear. He lifted his hips and slid a hand between their bodies. His fingers closed around himself, and he fitted the tip to her entrance and slowly thrust inside.

Her eyes closed tightly and her thighs clasped him, her hips

tilting to receive him.

He settled his cheek beside hers and stroked deep into her liquid heat. Surrounded by her creamy walls, he began to move, his body shuddering, already in the grip of his growing arousal.

Planting his knees in the mattress, he slipped his arms beneath her thighs and lifted he hips off the bed, churning, thrusting and circling his hips to tunnel deeper inside her sweet body.

Her arms wrapped around his back. Her fingertips scraped

up and down, digging into his skin to urge him deeper, faster.

His motions increased in strength and intensity. He jerked against her, beginning a sweet pummelling that moved her up the slippery silk comforter. He followed, not lettimg her escape, not giving her a moment to deepen the quivering breaths that gusted against his cheek.

Wrapped inside her arms, sliding into her deliciously wet channel, he fought the tension growing inside him, not wanting to surrender, not willing to allow the beast inside him to  crawl out and take his pleasure and her blood.

The internal battle he fought made him sweat and tremble.

When her first shivers rippled along his shaft and her internal muscles clamped hard around him, he groaned and opened his mouth to suckle the salt and perfume from her neck,

147

testing with his tongue until he felt the surge of blood beneath

her skin, and gave into the urge to taste.

His razor sharp teeth slip into flesh, nicking the artery.

A sharp hiss sounded in his ear and her hands came between

them, shoving at his chest. Her body bucked, writhing under

him.

But he didn’t let go, even knowing he’d hurt her.
 
Wait, let it

happen
.

The next frightened roll of her hips brought him deeper and she groaned, her fingers now sinking in the hair on his chest to clutch him closer.

Her body spasmed, her back arched hard and a low

agonized moan squeezed from her tight throat.

Still he held back his own release, letting hers sweep through her, knowing the exact moment it happened because a keening cry rose around them.

When the quivering beneath him lessened, he withdrew his teeth, lapped at the tiny wounds to close them and drew back his head to stare down into her pale, shocked face.

“I know who you are,” she said, her voice rasping painfully.

Tears welled  in her eyes, but didn’t spill over. Her lips trembled.

“Who do you think I am?” he asked, afraid she might have

gleaned the truth.

“Husband,” she whispered, moisture finally leaking from

her eyes to track down the sides of her cheeks and slip into her

sweat-dampened hair.

148

Viper dived down to cover her mouth, stroking his tongue inside, greeting hers, claiming the taste of her as he continued to plow deep inside her body.

“Let me see,” she said, tears thickening her voice.

Viper closed his eyes and let  the beast surface, welcoming the primal force that scratched its way through his conscience to reveal itself.

His body stiffened, muscles hardened. Every part of him strained outwards. Even his sex, lengthening, thickening, pressing relentlessly against her inner walls until her hips undulated beneath him.

Another wash of quivering release shook her body, shuddering through him, as she cried out, her nails scraping harder, drawing blood from his back.

A deep rasping growl built at the back of his throat,  and he drew back his hips and lunged forwards, powering into her now, sliding through her tightening channel, churning in the cream that slid around him, until, at last, he threw back his head and roared.

Viper didn’t know how long he lay atop her, his body racked by fine tremors as the beast eased away, sliding back into his cavern. But he came to awareness with her hands gliding over his skin, cupping his shoulders, petting his hair, sliding along his slick back as she hiccupped beneath him.

She was crying.

Slipping his hands beneath her, he rolled onto his back, bringing her over him. He cupped the back of her head and urged her face into the crook of his neck. His lips brushed her

149

crown once, then he settled beneath her, waiting for her tears to

dry  while he held her close.

“I remember everything,” she whispered.

“I wish you didn’t,” he said tonelessly.

“How cruel is that?” she bit out, lifting her head to glare

into his face. “You took everything from me.”

“I wanted you safe.”

The corners of her  lips turned downwards. “I understand why you did it, but how do you bear it?  Knowing what we had?”

Viper swallowed and slipped his hands around her back to hug her closer. “I get through every single day,” he said, his voice roughening, “because I know you’re nearby. I know you live. And that’s enough.”

Her head shook slowly. “Will you leave me again without

even a glimpse of our past?”

The rasp in her voice scraped him raw. “I . . . have to.”

She snorted, her mouth stretching into a sad jeer. “This iswhy I can’t move on, you know. Something inside me knows about you.”

Move on? He closed his eyes, praying for the strength. “I can take that as well.” He opened his eyes to meet her steady gaze. “I can free you.”

“You’d let me take another lover? Another husband?”

While inside he wailed and thrashed, he schooled his face

into a mask. “I want you happy. Safe.”

150

She laid her head on his shoulder and rubbed her cheek

against him. “It’s our anniversary today, isn’t it?”

Hoping she’d given up and had decided  not to rant as she had the last time he’d sought her out, he exhaled slowly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t get you anything.”

Her fingers plucked his chest hairs hard. “There are other choices you know,” she said, her voice hardening. “Ones I should have the free  will to make.”

“You can’t come with me.”

“Because it’s too dangerous? I remember that. You shoved  me out the door of the warehouse, out into the street, while you  stayed inside.”

“I saved your life.”

“You sacrificed ours. You didn’t have the right to  make that

decision alone.”

“Well it’s done now. No going back.”

“Except you do  –  keep coming back, that is.”

“So I’m weak.”

Her fingers relaxed, and she lifted her head. “You could let

me come with you.”

The plea in her brown eyes nearly had him relenting. “You can’t come with me,” he repeated dully. “I don’t want you to see what I’ve become, how I live.”

151

“You’re a vampire.” She pressed her face into his chest.  “God they really do exist. I kept thinking there was something  more . . .”

“That Goth club  isn’t just a place for the wannabes. Vamps  feed there. Not all of them are nice. You shouldn’t have gone  there.”

“Why can’t you just make me one, too? Let me stay with

you.”

“Turning is too dangerous. As many die as make the

change. I won’t risk you.”

“Don’t I even get a say?”

“Mariah . . .” He lifted her head, forcing her to meet his  gaze. How could he make her understand? “Dying isn’t the  worst thing that can happen.”

Her eyes and nose were red now, her face wet with smeared tears. “Then explain it.  Make me understand how you could just abandon me.”

His thumbs wiped away the tears, then he slipped his hands beneath her arms and pulled her higher until her face hovered just above his. “Your soul could slip away, not make the journey. If that happened, I’d have to kill you.” He forced himself to finish it, despite the jagged edge entering his voice, despite the burning at the back of his throat. “I just. . . can’t.”  Tears landed on his cheeks.

“I remember the day you disappeared. I thought I saw you

outside.  On the sidewalk.”

152

“I had been attacked, turned. Bloodlust overcame me. I had  just enough sense left to know I couldn’t come to you. I would  have devoured you.”

“Where did you go?”

“To a den. An orgy. Blood in buckets. I sated myself, then

got sicker than a dog.”

“What about women? Has there been anyone else?”

Although he knew the answer would hurt her, he wouldn’t

lie. “No one that mattered.”

Her eyes closed.

“Bloodlust, sexual lust. They’re both primal hungers and  have to be fed or we get crazy. Even the most devoted lovers  have to feed outside their relationship.”

She sniffed and wiped a hand across her face. “I don’t know

if I could do that. Let you be with someone else.”

“Do you see why I left? Why I didn’t seek you out?”

“You couldn’t  have broken it off? Left me something, if

only my memories?”

“I was afraid you would try to find me. That you wouldn’t

be able to resist.”

Her eyes narrowed. Then a small, tight smile curved her

lips. “Again, you think you’re so irresistible?”

He lifted  one brow. “Aren’t I? To you?”

153

Wry humour gleamed in her eyes. “You had me here in this bed inside a half hour. I guess you’re right.” She released a deep sigh. “Danny, what happens now?”

“We have a little time left before I have to get back.”

“How will  you do it? Make me forget?”

“I’ll kiss you. When I leave you won’t remember me at all.”

“Danny . . .”

“Yes?”

“You’ve come to me before, haven’t you? Like this. I don’t  want you to free me. If this is all we have, just these few hours  of . . . connection. I accept it.”

“It’s not fair to you.”

“How would you feel, knowing I’m in this world, but not

waiting for you?”

She wasn’t thinking about herself. The thought nearly made him weep. “I’d be in hell,” he muttered. “But I’m willing to let you go. I want you happy.”