by Lexi C. Foss
Solange watched him gently handling her at the moment, very bitey dog. He was gentle, he was actually trying to soothe the animal. And it was working. “Put my dog down,” she demanded.
Crispin was murmuring to Mr. Scruffikins and managed to have the damn traitor wagging his tail slightly before placing him back on the floor. “What’s his name?” Crispin asked.
“At the moment… Traitor. But that’s not important. Did you hear what I said?” she asked, her voice rising.
“I did. And you’re wrong. I’d never compromise you. I’d never hurt you.”
“Yet here you are, visiting like we’re having Sunday tea,” Solange snapped.
“And you let me in like you were expecting me,” Crispin answered, taking the last step to put him only inches from her.
She felt him near, inhaled deeply, taking his scent into her lungs.
Then his hands came up and his fingers gently curled around her biceps as he looked down into her eyes. The warmth seeped into her skin and she couldn’t make herself pull away. She knew he wouldn’t hurt her. She knew it in the deepest part of her.
“You’ve fed. You’re warm,” she said, images of him killing to take what he needed to live had her frowning.
“I did. But I never take a life to continue mine. I take only what I need and leave them asleep with pleasant dreams.”
That had her thinking about him in the arms of another woman while feeding from her. She lifted her eyes to his and glared accusingly.
Slowly Crispin realized what she was thinking. His smile gradually grew again, unspoken pleasures peaking from his lips. “I am guilty of exactly what I believe you’re thinking, but not since you left me in Italy. I find I no longer have the stomach for a female that isn’t you. But, just for the sake of argument, would you mind greatly? I mean, it’s not just sex, it is a matter of survival, you understand,” he said, teasing her.
“What you do with your time is of no consequence to me,” she retorted, pushing the button to close the windows. “I expect you to leave before these windows are closed.”
“I don’t want to leave.”
“If you’re not gone, I’ll have to kick your ass. I can’t have vampires knowing where I live and what I do,” Solange said in a steely voice.
“Yet you let me in,” he said, moving closer so his body was touching the length of hers.
“Momentary lapse of reason,” she answered. “They’re almost closed. You should really consider leaving,” she said, looking straight ahead, her eyes focused on his upper chest.
“You won’t hurt me,” he whispered as he lifted a hand and pulled the scrunchy from her hair, allowing it to fall just below her shoulders.
“Why would you think that?” she asked quietly, her heart pounding.
“Because you know I won’t hurt you,” he answered, catching a stray hair strand and tucking it behind her ear.
Solange looked up at him and he smiled down at her, as he slid his hand behind her neck to hold her steady while he leaned down to press his lips to hers.
“I’m going to kiss you now,” he said just as his mouth covered hers.
Crispin’s lips claimed hers and she lost herself in him. She kissed him back, her hands desperately clawing at him to hold him tightly to her.
Crispin lifted her from the floor and pressed her against the wall just behind her, using his body to hold her in place as he pressed his thigh between her legs to steady her. Her warmth immediately enveloped his thigh. He pulled back just a little to look her in the eye suspiciously, a slight smile on his face. Then his hands dropped to her hips where he slowly gathered the edges of her shirt in his hands lifting as he peeked at it rising higher and higher up her thighs and over her hips. Once it had cleared her hips and he could see that she was naked beneath the shirt, his breath caught, and a hunger like she’d never seen filled his eyes. “You knew I was coming,” he accused, pressing his lips chastely against hers.
“I had no idea,” she answered, her lips swollen and red from his kisses.
“Yet, you have nothing on beneath this shirt. Do you often greet unexpected visitors in the night dressed this way?” he asked.
“I don’t have visitors. And I sleep nude every single night. It’s my home, I can walk around it any way I choose,” Solange answered.
Crispin glanced down at her thighs, running one hand up her thigh and over her hip to clasp her waist gently, before looking back up at her. “If you really want me to leave, say so now,” he said, giving her one last chance to send him away. Despite her blustering, she’d let him in without pause. If she didn’t want him here, she’d have never opened the door to him.
When she didn’t answer, he made himself clear. “I mean to know every inch of you. I mean to make you so addicted to me that you will never have a thought that doesn’t include me. I’m going to love you tonight, Solange. Tell me to go if this isn’t what you want,” he said urgently.
Solange heard his words, she felt him all around her, and she knew she’d heard the windows slide back into place. She turned her upper body just enough to reach the alarm system. She pressed the button to lock them, then rearmed her security system. She looked at him, holding her against the wall, felt his strength as he kept her balanced on his knee simply by pressing his upper body against hers, and his hand on her waist. And she decided to be selfish.
“I don’t want to think tonight. I just want to feel,” she whispered.
“I need you, Solange. Will you have me?” Crispin growled as he buried his hands in her hair, pulling her head back to give him access to her throat. He dragged his fangs across the tender skin there.
“You can’t bite me, Crispin. Don’t do it,” she said, her stomach flipping with his fangs so close to her.
“You said I had a link to you. I don’t want a link with you. I plan to have a bond with you. A bond will never compromise you, it will only make you stronger. I’ll know when you need me, and you’ll know when I need you.”
“No, Crispin. I’m a slayer. You cannot bite me. There are other bonds we can enjoy. I don’t want that one,” Solange said.
Crispin leaned back and looked her in the eyes again, his mind turning, his thoughts warring inside him. He wanted her. He wanted her bound to him and him alone. But ultimately it had to be her choice. “I won’t bind you to me until you say you want it. I give you my word,” he promised.
That was all Solange needed to hear. She actually trusted him. She smiled at him and leaned forward, sucking his lower lip into her mouth. “What makes you think I’ll ask?” she teased.
“After tonight, you’ll beg,” he countered, grabbing Solange by her hips and settling her around his own. “Where’s the bedroom?” he asked.
“That way, at the end of the hall,” she answered just before he claimed her mouth again.
14
Crispin wasted no time getting her down the hall and into her bedroom. He went straight to her bed and laid her down on the edge of it with her bottom just barely hanging over it, and her feet still at his hips. He pressed her legs apart as he went to his knees, swiping her from bottom to top with his tongue.
Solange was shocked. She was panting, her heart beating rapidly, her body trembling. She’d read about this in stories she’d kept hidden from her grandmama, and in her own choice of reading she downloaded to her kindle now that she was on her own, but she’d never, ever, had a male touch her like Crispin was now.
Crispin licked his lips and opened her with his thumbs before dropping his head and feasting on her soft, sensitive flesh. Solange moaned and whimpered, her hips rocking in rhythm to his ministrations. He lapped at her clit until he could take it no more. He stood and shucked his clothing hurriedly.
Then he crawled onto the bed and up her body, kissing and suckling along the way, nipping his way up her body.
Her fingertips trailed along his sides as he moved up her body, and she watched him with anticipation. He smiled, rubbed his nose against hers, before l
icking across her lips and pressing his mouth against hers. “Tell me what you like, Solange. Tell me and I’ll give it to you,” he promised.
Solange looked up him, looming over her, holding himself up on his forearms. She didn’t answer, just ran her hands up to his shoulders and held on tightly.
“Are you ready for me, Solange?” he asked.
Crispin rocked his hips, pressing himself against her, poised at her opening, ready to claim her for his own.
Solange didn’t speak as she felt his heavy cock, thick and hard, sitting against her wet flesh. He was lined up and ready to push inside her.
“I’m ready,” she whispered.
He twisted his upper body to be able to reach one of her breasts, sucking her nipple into his mouth. He flicked his tongue against it, just slightly dragging his teeth across her nipple as it slipped through them.
Solange moaned and lifted her hips to press against him.
Crispin sat back on his heels and scooted his thighs closer to her so that her ass and the backs of her thighs rested against the tops of his. He leaned over her, using one hand to hold her steady, then angled his hips to press the head of his cock just inside her.
Her breath caught as he slipped inside. She was no fool, she knew it would hurt, knew there was supposed to be pleasure right after the pain. But what she mostly knew was from stories, so, she fully expected it to be a complete letdown. She’d also heard some women just went through the motions because it was little more than exercise to them. She hoped, oh she hoped, she was one of the lucky ones — one of the women who actually experienced orgasm and enjoyed sex.
Solange looked up at Crispin. “I want it all. Show me why I should only give this to you. Show me why I shouldn’t take as many lovers as I choose, Crispy,” she taunted.
Crispin looked down at Solange and thrust his hips home with a snarl on his face. He was long. He was hard, and he was thick. He forced all he had inside her with a snarl, growling fiercely. “You will have no other than me!” he insisted as her scream filled his ears.
He drew back his hips and forced himself into her again and again, over and over until his strokes became frenzied and he had only one single thought. ‘Mine! She’s mine.’
Solange baited Crispin into giving her everything he had. All his passions, all his strength, all his expertise, all his dominance slammed into her at once. In retrospect, it most likely wasn’t the best idea, but now that the initial pain was over and his hips had fallen into a forceful rhythm, she began to feel little tingles as he hit certain secret places inside her. Her instinct was to raise her hips to meet his each time she felt a shiver race through her body from the places he was stroking deep within her, so she did. And the pleasure she felt was something she didn’t expect. She did it again. Panting and finally adjusting her grip on him to be able to swing her hips up as forcefully as he hammered into her.
Crispin felt her begin to move with him, almost fighting him with every stroke. He loved it. Of course she wouldn’t just give in and allow him to take her, she’d take him right back. He looked down at her, a snarl on his lips with every stroke. “You are mine. You allow any other male to touch you like this, I’ll hunt him down,” he growled.
The fact that he claimed her aloud, sent adrenalin rushing through her system. She lifted up just enough to slap her hand onto his ass, grabbing a handful. “This is mine. You share it with anyone but me, and I’ll hunt YOU down. Do you understand me?” she snarled back at him.
Crispin smiled, his fangs on full display. “Clearly,” he answered and slammed into her again.
He pushed forward, pressing his face into her neck and nibbling there.
“No! Don’t bite me!” she shouted.
“I’m not. I’m not, not until you ask me,” Crispin promised, changing to kissing her lips. Then he pulled out and flipped her over.
“What…” she started to ask, but she couldn’t talk anymore. He was behind her and had pushed inside her again, so hard and fast she could barely breathe. Then he slipped a hand around her hips and slipped a fingertip up and down her clit until she came on his cock, screaming and trembling, as he rode her through it before finally allowing himself to fall over the edge into his own orgasm, filling her with stream after stream of his own release.
Finally, having reached a point of being able take a moment to breathe, he held her to himself and rolled to the side, taking her with him. Both their chests heaved. And a satisfied smile graced hers. A smug smile graced his.
Solange rolled over and faced Crispin, still wearing her smile.
“What are you smiling about?” he asked, tracing her smile with a fingertip.
“Honestly?” Solange asked.
“Always, nothing but,” he answered.
“I’m just so damn glad I’m one of those women who can actually have an orgasm.”
Crispin burst out laughing, and Solange joined in.
After the laughter died down Solange asked the same question. “What was your smile for?” she asked.
Crispin looked into Solange’s eyes, he brushed her cheekbone with his thumb as he held her face gently in his hands. “I’m just so fucking proud that no one has ever, nor will ever, touch you but me.”
Solange raised an eyebrow. “And why would you think that?” she asked.
“I’m not new at this, lovely. I knew the minute I pushed all the way inside you, and it was confirmed when I pulled out to turn you over, and saw that spot of blood on my cock.”
Solange glanced down to keep from looking in his eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me? I’d have been more careful with you the first time,” Crispin asked.
“I didn’t want careful. Don’t deserve careful.”
Crispin moved quickly, placing his hand on her shoulder to roll her onto her back so he could look down at her. “What does that mean?” he asked, clearly bothered by her remark.
“Just what it sounds like. I’m a killer, trained for one purpose since the time I was able to walk. Care and tenderness don’t mean a thing to me,” Solange answered.
“Bullshit,” he snapped.
Her eyes snapped to his.
“I mean it. Bullshit. You saved the girl, you took her to receive treatment. You went back after the dog. You hunt Alastair to stop him from slaughtering the innocent. Caring, gentleness, tenderness, they come naturally to you just as the fierceness you wear as an armor does.”
Solange just stared into his eyes. She didn't like that he could see things about herself that she’d hidden away from everyone.
“Are you not going to answer me?”
Solange shook her head. “No. I don’t want to talk about this.”
Crispin looked deep into her eyes. He could feel her growing more and more uncomfortable with their conversation.
“Alright. I’ll leave it. But, instead, perhaps you’ll tell me what kind of slayer you are that you come equipped with your own set of fangs,” Crispin said, daring her to deny it.
Solange shifted beneath him, trying to move him off her. “I don’t have fangs.”
“Really? Then I suppose the pointed teeth I felt were my imagination.”
“Must have been,” she said, putting a little more force behind her shove and moving him off her.
“Solange… why are you afraid to tell me the truth? I’ve hidden nothing from you.”
Solange sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at her carpet while he spoke from behind her.
“I let you into my world, Crispy. Can’t that just be enough for now?” she pleaded.
“Do you still not trust me?” he asked.
“I trust you more than most. You’re here,” she said, looking around her bedroom. “You’re in my home. You know my name. I… we… you know,” she said, exasperatedly. “I don’t want to talk about it, Crispy,” she finally said.
“When then?” Crispin asked.
“Never. It’s not necessary.”
He was smart enough to know not to push
her any further than she was willing to go. “Fine. I’ll let you have your secrets, but one day, I’ll ask again. I want to know all your secrets,” he said, stroking her back seductively.
“My secrets will destroy everything in my life. Do you want to be party to that?” she asked.
“I will always stand beside you. Nothing will destroy you,” he promised passionately.
“It’s sweet that you think that.”
“I know that,” he snapped, growing irritated.
“How about we change the subject before the entire night is ruined?” Solange asked.
“Fine. What subject do you prefer?” he asked.
“How about the fact that the dawn is not that far away and you’re still here, in my home, filled with windows?”
Crispin glanced down the hallway, noticing for the first time the slight red-orange glow beginning to reflect off the white walls and carry down the hallway.
“Do you have somewhere nearby to shelter?” Solange asked.
“No. But I’ll find somewhere.”
Solange shook her head looking at the burgeoning dawn. “No, perhaps you should stay here. There are no windows in this room. You’ll be safe here. There’s a bathroom through that door if you need it. It doesn’t have windows either.”
Crispin nodded. “I’d like to stay with you.”
Solange finally turned to face him. “Then do. I’ve got things to do today. But you’re welcome to stay here. Rest, shelter here. Just don’t go down the hallway and you’ll be fine.”
“Where will you be?”
“Here for a while. And I’ll have to go out for a little while, but I won’t be long.”
Crispin scowled. “Will you wait for this evening and we can go out together?”
“I have a job to do, Crispy. And the fact that I’ve allowed you into the outer reaches of my life does not change what I have to do, nor who I am.”
“Solange…” he said.
“Crispin. I’m going to lie down right here in this bed and get a little rest before I have to get up. I’ve invited you to stay and shelter here. You can lie here with me and enjoy it, or you can really piss me off and make sure I kick you out. I’d rather not have to find you all crispy.”