by Jessica Lee
Markus blinked as if he were trying to comprehend a foreign language. His mouth opened, and the most beautiful three words she’d ever heard fell from his lips. “I love you.”
And she melted. Her brain misfired, and for a moment, she couldn’t make her throat work.
“You weren’t expecting that,” he said, the tone declaring it as fact, not a question. He rolled onto his back.
“No,” she sputtered. “I mean, yes!” She rolled to her side facing him. “That’s not what I mean. Gah!” She was screwing this up royally. “What I’m trying to say, that my head isn’t allowing me to express the way I want…is how could I not fall in love with you.” Lightly scratching his chest, she curled her fingers. “I love you so much I don’t know what to do with myself half the time.” She swallowed hard, forcing back the lump of emotions attempting to choke her.
“Vixen,” he breathed right before he grasped her arms and pulled her onto his chest. “My brain stays so damn rattled with need for you. I guess we’re going to have to help each other get through this.”
Straddling his waist, Alex leaned in and traced the full curve of his mouth with her thumb. “So, what is the best course of treatment for this ‘condition’?”
A roguish smile played on his lips. “I think there’s only one thing that can cure what ails us.”
His cock flexed against her backside, and she couldn’t help but grin. “Do tell.”
“Exercise.” A wicked gleam flashed in his eyes and he captured her nape. His fingers threaded into her hair. “Lots and lots of exercise.”
Alex laughed. “I like that plan,” she said, and his mouth claimed hers, stealing her breath.
She’d been beneath him, his body deep within hers, only hours before, but God…she craved him as if it had been years since she’d last tasted him, felt him thick and hard, pulsing inside her. Alex shivered at the thought. Her core tightened, moisture pooling. She broke the seal on their kiss with a gasp. “Need you,” she whispered.
His nostrils flared, and he captured her lower lip with his fang, the sharp edge pricking the sensitive tissue. She jerked, yet the sting went straight to her clit, swelling her folds. Markus soothed the wound with his mouth, sucking gently, and her core clenched.
“Markus…” She sighed and rocked back, pressing her bottom against the hard presence of his erection.
“You can have me, baby,” he murmured and his palms cupped the sides of her breasts. “Come here.”
He tugged her up until her nipples brushed his chin, then his tongue appeared, and he dragged the wide surface across the hardened tip.
A rippling spasm seized her clit, nearly taking her to the edge. Alex cried out. “God, Markus…”
But he didn’t stop there. He proceeded to perform the same maneuver to the other stiff peak.
“Christ,” he said, his voice rough. “I love your breasts. The way they feel in my hands.” He gently squeezed them. “The way your nipples grow even harder and tighter when I blow on them.” A cool puff of air skated over the surface, sending another wave of arousal rushing from her sex.
“Damn.” She moaned. “You love making me squirm, don’t you?”
“Only when you’re on my cock, baby.” The sound of his voice, his words, rolled over her like a warm shot of whiskey: stimulating, intoxicating.
Alex groaned, and her head lolled. God, how she needed him. “Markus, please…”
“Take me,” he demanded, and his hands fell away.
Rolling her head forward, Alex found Markus’s arms above his head, his fingers wrapped round the headboard’s spindles.
“All yours, Vixen,” he said. “Use me.” His gaze narrowed into a storm-filled fury. “Let me watch.” He licked his lips as if the mental image had taken his hunger to a higher plane.
The idea of having his eyes on her as she rode him should have had her cowering with embarrassment. And in the past, that would have definitely been her. But this was Markus, and the way he looked at her made her feel…beautiful and confident. He trusted her.
Instead of awkward, she found herself aroused at the request. Hell, she was damn excited. Her nerve endings alive with anticipation.
“Your pleasure is mine, baby,” he said.
She reached behind and tossed back the sheet covering his shaft. His erection flexed, then stood firm, eager and waiting for her touch. Alex wrapped her fingers around his rigid cock, the flesh hot, rock-hard, yet it glided so smoothly under her palm.
Markus reared his head back, the veins in his neck straining. A groan rumbled in his throat as if he were bracing himself to endure some great discomfort. But that wasn’t the case. It was the exact opposite. Her heart raced, knowing that her touch made him crazy with desire.
Alex lifted, positioning the slick head of his erection at her entrance. Markus’s eyelids shot open, and his gaze bored into hers. She pressed down, and his girth stretched her, sweetly burning her muscles. His cock slid deep, and she couldn’t help but groan. The broad head bumped her cervix, filling her, completing her. Magical.
A hard tremor racked her body.
“Oh, God…” Alex planted her palms on his pecs, her hair falling around her face.
“Fuck.” The rails inside his fists released a groan. “You’ve got to move, Vixen.”
Slowly rising back up, the thick length of his cock dragged along her sensitive nerve endings. “God, you feel so good inside me,” she muttered.
“So damn tight.”
She slammed back down, sending his rod deep once more. Alex cried out from the blinding, sweet sensation, then rose, savoring her quickening need. Prolonging the inevitable.
“Vixen…” His eyes squeezed shut. “Got to—”
Markus bucked, forcing his cock back inside. Their bodies met with a slap of skin on skin. The sudden erotic impact arrowed a spark of pleasure so sharp, so sudden, she couldn’t hold back the scream burning from her throat. Her fingertips curled, digging into his chest, needing the contact. Something to hold her down to earth, because she was flying.
More.
More of him.
Stroke for stroke, she matched him. Desire grew, coiled, and tightened inside her core. The world around her narrowed, converging on the constant thrust of his shaft. Every slide of his cock along the cluster of nerves inside. The pounding of her clit against his pelvis. The musky scent of their lovemaking, their mutual arousal, took her higher and higher.
Hunger and lust whirled into a tornado of need inside. Sweat beaded on her flesh and ran a cool trail down her spine. Her fangs throbbed. Her throat burned for the male beneath her, for the taste of his essence. Nothing else would do. No one else could compare.
Dear God, she was a storm on the verge of flying apart. “Markus,” she moaned. “Oh, God. Need you.”
“Take it, Vixen,” he gritted out. “Now, dammit.” He wrenched his head to the side, exposing the large pulsing vein at his neck.
His cock jerked inside her as if urging her on, and a spasm of ecstasy gripped her core. She gasped, squeezed her eyes shut, doing her best to make the moment last. But it was too good. Her orgasm couldn’t be denied.
A ripple—no—a tsunami of pleasure rolled through her, rocking her. Crying out, Alex struck, sinking her fangs into Markus.
A roar tore from her lover’s throat and a wave of heat filled her core.
His essence flowed into her mouth, electrifying her taste buds. She swallowed, taking him into her bloodstream as his cock pulsed below, filling her with his orgasm. No narcotic came close to the rush, the sheer mind-altering bliss.
Being with Markus went beyond making love. He took her to a different plane: a place of color, light, and sensation where only they existed. And she never wanted to return.
Yet all too soon, she was falling, cascading back to reality. The tremors in her arms and legs eased. Inhaling deeply, she reluctantly removed her fangs from his flesh. With her tongue, she sealed his bite wounds and lifted her head.
“
Hey, beautiful,” he lazily drawled, his eyelids at half mast.
“Hey.” She smiled.
“That was…” He shook his head. “You’re amazing.”
“You’re pretty damn good yourself.” She leaned in, brushed her lips over his, tugging on his lower one with her teeth.
Markus suddenly pulled back. “Stay right here.”
He eased her onto her side. His shaft slipped free from her core, making her want to cry out in complaint from the loss of their connection.
“Where are you going?”
Unabashed, he padded away naked toward the bathroom. And damn if it wasn’t a gorgeous show watching his firm ass disappear into the other room.
The sound of running water drifted into the bedroom. “Are you taking a shower without me?” She rose onto the side of the bed, tugging the bedsheet up and over her front.
“Not exactly,” he answered.
Not exactly?
A moment later, he appeared in the doorway, and Alex drank in the delicious sight of her warrior. His long black-as-sin hair hung loose over his shoulders, drawing her to the dark patch of hair on his chest. The pads of her fingertips tingled with the memory of how the fine strands felt against her skin. The exotic swirls and coils of the tats wrapping both his arms only added to his dangerous and sexy allure.
He strode toward her, and in spite of her best efforts to stay cool, her perusal fell south to the thick member swaying between his legs. Her midsection flip-flopped, and her mouth watered.
“You like what you see?” he asked, his tone taunting, daring her to deny that she was staring.
She flicked her lashes up, heat crawling up her neck and into her face. But she’d never been a damn shrinking violet. “Very much,” she said.
A smug grin twitched the corner of his mouth. He strode closer, not stopping until he’d wedged himself between her legs and planted his palms beside her. “Good,” he said. “Because I.” He brushed his lips over hers, melting her with his touch. “Definitely.” His mouth glided once more over hers. “Love what I see.”
How had she existed before him?
Then his arms were around her, lifting her up, cradling her. The sudden movement drew a sharp inhale into her lungs.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Trust me.” He placed a gentle kiss to her forehead.
“I do,” she breathed. And she meant it. With everything inside her, she trusted him.
Glancing down at her, Markus’s gray eyes darkened. “You’re everything to me, Vixen.”
“You make me feel it,” she said, placing her hand over the heavy thud of his heart.
They crossed into the bathroom, and he continued over to the large jetted tub. Kneeling, he lowered her into the water. The warm bath enveloped her, and the delicate scent of jasmine and lavender bath salts filled her nostrils, her senses, relaxing her muscles.
He lifted the shower wand and turned on the spray. “You make me want to be more,” he said and cupped her nape with his free hand. “Lean back onto the headrest.”
She did as instructed. But inside, her mind buzzed with the idea of her big bad warrior on his knees bathing her. Alex’s heart pounded, ready to burst from his tenderness. Not once in her life had any man ever cared for her in this way.
Warm water sluiced over her scalp and down her shoulders. Alex clasped his arm and opened her eyes. “You don’t have to do this. I’m perfectly capable of washing myself.”
“I know you are. You’re more capable and stronger than any female I’ve ever known. But I want to.” He broke free of her hold and snagged one of the bottles from the side of the tub. Squeezing a dollop of the gel into his palm, he added, “Let me take care of you.”
Markus smoothed the shampoo over her hair, and it was as if his touch, his words, held the power to make her let go, to transport her. Unbidden, her eyelids lowered.
They’d come so far to get to this place. Surely two people had survived greater obstacles.
But she refused to look back anymore. Their past was over, sealed tight. Because she couldn’t imagine a future without him.
His large, calloused fingers worked the thick lather through her strands, and the muscles in her arms and legs unwound with each stroke. “I love you.” The three words rolled off her tongue. As natural as breathing.
Easy.
Real.
The massage to her scalp paused. “You know without a doubt, I’d die for you,” he said. “But even more so than that, for you, I live.”
Her lashes lifted, and Markus’s gaze bored into her soul.
“My beautiful Vixen…I love you with all my being.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
One week later
Markus stretched out on his side along the edge of his bed and crossed his ankles, waiting for Alexandria to emerge from the bathroom after her shower. He wasn’t about to miss this. For what seemed like an eternity, he’d dreamed of waking to this each evening, lying in his bed with the gorgeous woman on the other side of the wall performing the mundane daily activities such as showering and dressing for the night.
How so very ordinary.
Normal.
Fantastic.
Alexandria padded from the bathroom wrapped once more in one of the mansion’s bath sheets. Her hair hung in a dark, wet, and glistening veil over her shoulders. She looked up, caught his stare, and smiled.
“I see you’re already dressed,” she said, and continued over to the dresser.
“Yup. Thought I’d wait here and enjoy the show.”
“Voyeur, much?” She tossed him a wicked grin over her shoulder.
“Depends on who’s on display.”
“Oh, is that how it goes? I should feel very special to have your undivided attention then?” Her towel fell to the floor, unveiling the smooth, pale curve of her back and the most glorious ass that had ever graced the planet. Blood rushed to his cock, swelling his shaft. She leaned over to grab something from one of the drawers, giving him a view that truly deserved to be worshipped. That is—if he could’ve managed to move and drop to his knees with his dick so damn hard.
“No, baby,” Markus said. “I’m the one who’s feeling quite blessed.”
She stepped into an undergarment, pulled it up, and a thin strap of black lace nestled between her cheeks. A groan rolled from his throat, and his cock throbbed. Fucking hell. How could one be envious of a single piece of cotton? He palmed the aching bulge pressed against his zipper.
“Are you on patrol tonight?” she asked, as if she were oblivious to his physical anguish. Vixen. She knew exactly what she was doing to him. Finishing her task of dressing, she tugged up a pair of tight leather pants, the cowhide conforming to her rear like a damn second skin.
Fuck this. She belonged to him. And it was about damn time he did something about it. He couldn’t go another night without making her his. For eternity.
“Markus?”
“What?”
“I asked if you were on patrol tonight?” She smiled. “Where did you go?”
He swung his legs off the bed and stood. “I was thinking about you.”
“Well.” She shrugged, then quickly donned a shirt. “How can a girl be mad at that?” She slid a palm under her hair and pulled the damp strands free.
“No. I don’t have to work tonight.” Markus moved in and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, bringing her close. “We have someplace we need to be.”
“We do?” she asked.
He phased, and the room around them shimmered into nothingness. The floor fell away, and they were in dizzying flight, weightless. Mere seconds later, they landed, coalescing in the basement of his mountain cabin.
“Whoa.” Alexandria grabbed his arm, steadying herself. “You could warn a girl.”
“No time.” Markus tugged her around until her chest collided with his. “I needed this too badly.”
He fused his mouth with hers, diving inside. She moaned, and he swallowed the sound. Her fl
avor sparked his already-simmering desire. So damn good.
Breaking away, Alexandria gasped. “Not that I’m not loving this,” she said, patting his chest. “But why are we here?”
That was his vixen. Tenacious. She’d never been easily swayed from what she had on her mind. “I brought you here because I thought it was time we made what we have together permanent.”
Her forehead wrinkled in disbelief and she took a step back. “Are you asking me to marry you?”
“I want more than that, baby.” He closed the distance between them, unable to stand another moment without her touch. “Something deeper. Unbreakable.” He pressed his body to hers, loving the way he could sense her every inhale. “Mate with me, Vixen.” It wasn’t a question. Hell, no. He was bastard enough to put it out there like a command, because the idea of her rejection wasn’t compatible with his existence.
“You’re serious…” She maneuvered out of his arms and turned away.
And his heart crashed against his breastbone.
“Yeah,” he muttered. “I’m damn serious.” He clasped her wrist, needing to make sure she didn’t make a run for it. “You don’t want this?”
She glanced over her shoulder, and he could have sworn moisture welled in her eyes. Looking up at him from under her lashes, she croaked, “You jerk.” She shoved at him, knocking him backward. “Of course I want this…more than anything. You caught me off guard.” She shook her head. “I just needed a moment to catch my breath.”
“Damn, Vixen.” Markus smoothed a hand over his chest.
“I’m not normally a fan of surprises.” She crossed her arms under her breasts, pushing them up until they swelled in the vee of her sleeveless black leather tank top.
“That makes two of us,” he grumbled, finding it hard to think straight with her cleavage making his fingers itch.
“But for you, and for this occasion, I’m happy to make an exception.” She smiled, and with a sway of her hips, moved within reach.
“Well, aren’t I the lucky vampire tonight?” He gave her his best arrogant smirk.