In Blood and Worth Loving

by Marilyn Lee

  He bent and kissed her cheek. “Good night, honey.”

  “Good night.”

  Alone in her apartment, she undressed, removed her make-up, and slipped into bed. She lay wondering what Adrian was doing and who he was with for a long time before she fell asleep.

  Had Adrian contacted her immediately after her dinner with Conner she would have been more willing to believe that he actually had real feelings for her. The next morning she received flowers from Conner along with a thank you card.

  Thanks for last night. Call me anytime you need me. Conner.

  She sighed. Why couldn't Adrian be half as considerate?

  Doug called her that morning at work to ask her out on Saturday. Although she was tempted, she declined. “I wouldn't be very good company.”

  “It's going to take awhile, huh?”

  “What’s going to take awhile?”

  “Getting over whoever is standing between us. What’s his name?”

  There was no point in dissembling. Besides, she didn’t want to start their relationship with secrets between them. “Adrian.”

  “Do you love him?”

  “I’m not sure what I feel for him. I just know that he’s not good for me and I need to forget him. I just need a little time. So next weekend, I’m going to need you to take it slow, Doug.”

  “By slow I’m assuming you mean platonic.”

  While Doug was a considerate lover, it would be a while before she was ready to sleep with another male and not compare him unfavorably with Adrian. “Yes. Are you going to be okay with that?”

  “Not really,” he admitted. “But you’re worth waiting for, so I’ll deal with it.”

  He was so understanding. He was worth three of Adrian. Why couldn’t she feel half the passion for him she felt for Adrian? “I’ll see you next Friday at six, Doug.”

  “Not before then?”

  “I just want to work things through in my head for the next week. I want to be mentally ready to enjoy our weekend. I need some alone time until then.”

  “Does that mean you don’t want me to call?”

  “No. Call me after the weekend.”

  “I will and I’ll look forward to seeing you next week.”

  “Until then.”

  She hung the phone up and sat staring at her desk trying to assure herself that spending the weekend with Doug would not be a mistake. She had been relatively content with him once and she could be again. It was just her luck that relative contentment paled in comparison with what she knew she could share with Adrian.

  The day seemed endless. Brandi was prepared to go home and spend the night reading. Several coworkers convinced her to go out for dinner after work instead. Since she had walked to work that morning, she had several drinks before she had a salad followed by steak and roasted vegetables. After enjoying coffee and a slice of decedent chocolate cake, Steve, the designated driver for the night drove everyone home.

  The drinks helped relieve some of her tension. She arrived home feeling so relaxed she thought she could get right to sleep after a quick soak. She kicked off her shoes in the small entrance hall and padded barefooted into the living room. In the doorway she stopped. Adrian, eyes glowing, turned from the living room window to stare at her.

  Her heart raced with a combination of joy and anger. She clenched her hand into a fist and remained where she was.

  “Who was that?” He demanded.

  No how have you been or nice to see you again. Nothing had changed with him. “Who was who?”

  “The man who walked you across the parking lot.”

  She bit back the urge to snap that it was none of his damned business. “A coworker who was the designated driver for the night.”

  “Not your boyfriend? You do know he’s gay?”

  Did she detect a hint of jealousy in his voice? “Yes, I know he’s gay.”

  He glanced at the roses Conner had sent, which sat on one of the end tables. “So you’re dating Conner?”

  She blinked at him. “Dating…no!”

  “But you’ve been out with him?”

  “Not in the way you’re making it sound.”

  “How many ways are there to go out with a man?”

  She compressed her lips. Damn him. After nearly a week of silence, he showed up uninvited with a tree-sized chip on his shoulder. “I’m tired. I want to take a bath and go to bed so if you could get to the point of your visit.”

  His nostrils flared. “You’ve been drinking.”

  She shrugged. “I’m over twenty-one. I can drink if I like.”

  He bared his incisors and crossed the room to stare down at her. “I know you’ve talked to Rayna.”

  “So?”

  “So what if you’re pregnant?”

  She sucked in a breath and turned away.

  He caught her hand and turned her back to face him. “I hope you enjoyed drinking tonight because you’ve had your last damned drink.”

  She bit back the urge to tell him she’d do whatever the hell she liked. He was right. Until she knew she wasn’t pregnant drinking had been a bad idea. But hell would freeze over before she admitted that to him. “What do you want, Adrian?”

  He took a deep breath before he answered. “Are you pregnant?”

  “We met a week ago.” She tugged at her hand, which he still held. “It’s too early to tell.”

  He lifted her hand and pressed her palm against his chest. “Do you want to be?”

  “No.”

  His fingers tightened on the hand he held against his chest. “No?”

  The uncertainly she heard in his voice and the hint of hurt she saw in his eyes touched her. “You haven’t exactly gone out of your way to make me want to have your baby,” she told him.

  He lowered his eyelids, shielding his expression from her. “This is a difficult time for me.”

  He sounded vulnerable. The last of her resentment melted. She leaned into him, linking her free arm around his neck. “Adrian?”

  He raised his eyelids.

  His expression revealed none of what he must be feeling. She sighed. “I can’t handle this.” She pulled away from him. “Please leave.”

  He stared at her, his lips compressing. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “My leaving isn’t one of your options,” he told her in a cold voice.

  She balled her hand into a fist and hit his shoulder. “I am not in the mood for any shit from you, Adrian! I don’t care if this is a bad time for you! You’ve gone out of your way to make sure each time I see you is a bad time for me!”

  He stepped back from her. “That wasn’t my intention. I didn’t intend to…”

  “What? You didn’t intend to make me feel as if I weren’t worthy of the time it took to fuck me?” To her dismay, her eyes welled with tears. Despite her struggles to blink them away, they spilled down her cheeks.

  He swore angrily and turned to stalk across the room towards the door.

  “I hate you and wish I’d never met you!” She screamed after him, angry that he was walking out on her again.

  He stopped and spun around to look at her.

  She sucked in a breath. His eyes glowed and he’d bared his incisors.

  He stood staring at her in silence for several moments before he shook his head and closed his eyes briefly. He crossed the room quickly to take her in his arms.

  She closed her eyes and burrowed against him. “I hate you!”

  He brushed his lips against her forehead and lifted her in his arms. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  She balled her right hand into a fist and hit his chest. “Well you did. You fucked me and walked out on me after making sure I knew you found me unattractive.”

  “If I found you unattractive, I wouldn’t be here now,” he told her, his voice brusque. He lifted her fist to his mouth and kissed it.

  She opened her eyes and looked up at him through a flood of tears. “Why are you here?”

  “Because I couldn’t stay away.”<
br />
  “Why not?”

  “I don’t know why not.”

  So he wasn’t ready to admit he thought of her as anything more than an easy lay. She closed her eyes on a fresh rush of tears. “Then go away and leave me alone until you know why you’re here.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  He bent his head to brush his lips against her neck. “I’m not leaving.”

  His refusal angered her. He obviously didn’t care anything about her. Everything had to go according to his rules. She drew her head away. “You’re not touching me either!” she told him. “And if you need blood, go get some from whoever the hell you’ve been with for the last week!”

  He swore and put her on her feet. “What makes you think I’ve been with anyone else?”

  “We both know you have so don’t bother lying to me.”

  “I don’t have to lie.”

  “And I don’t have to put up with your vampire shit!”

  He narrowed his gaze. “Be very careful, Brandi.”

  “Or? Or what? You’ll force yourself on me again?”

  He sucked in a breath. “You said you wanted to be ravished so don’t you give me any of your shit, Brandi! You can’t have it both ways.”

  “That didn’t give you the right to use force.”

  “Yes. It did.”

  She stared at him. “Well I no longer want to be ravished by you. I don’t want you in my life or in my apartment. I don’t want to look at you!”

  “You’re in no position to issue orders to me, Brandi,” he told her in a voice all the more powerful because it was cold and perfectly controlled. “I’ll decide when you’re allowed to say no to me.”

  She turned away without answering. She made it as far as the door leading to the short hallway which led to her bedroom before he caught her hand and turned her back to face him.

  “I won’t hurt you,” he whispered.

  Why did she want to believe him when she could almost feel his anger and turmoil? Even if part of him wanted to keep that promise, another part of him probably wanted to tell her not to flatter herself before he stalked off. She closed her eyes on a fresh flood of tears and buried her cheek against his shoulder.

  He lifted her chin and brushed his cool lips against hers.

  She clenched her hands into fists, determined not to sleep with him willingly.

  He slipped an arm around her waist and deepened the kiss.

  Feeling his cock lengthening and hardening against her, she gasped.

  He responded by sucking her tongue into his mouth while cupping both palms over her ass.

  She shivered, linking her arms around his neck.

  He lifted her off her feet.

  She pulled her mouth away from him. “Adrian…”

  “Shh…I won’t hurt you, honey. I promise.”

  “No sex, Adrian. I don’t want to get pregnant and I haven’t started my birth control yet.”

  “Good because if you’re not already pregnant, I have every intention of getting you pregnant.”

  “Why?”

  He didn’t answer as he carried her into her bedroom. He set her on her feet. Then he cupped his palms over her face and kissed her with a heat and intensity that set her entire body on fire for him.

  By the time he released her, she was so aroused, she couldn’t even mount a token protest when he quickly undressed them both. He sat on the side of her bed with his legs parted and beckoned to her.

  She stumbled forward.

  He wrapped his arms around her, burying his face against her body. “Brandi…”

  He sounded as vulnerable as she felt. She bent to kiss his hair.

  “Brandi…” He stretched out on the bed, pulling her on top of him.

  Feeling his cock pulsing against her body, she couldn’t resist her need for him or the desperation she heard in his voice.

  He rained kisses along her neck. “Brandi…give me my pussy.”

  “We should use a condom this time, Adrian.”

  “No. No.” He bit her earlobe while slowly grinding his cock against her. “There’s never going to be a condom between me and my pussy, Brandi. Never.” He raked his teeth against the side of her neck. “Brandi…oh, Brandi. Give me what I need.”

  She mindlessly reached between their bodies, gripped his cock, and pressed it against her entrance.

  He pushed his hips up.

  She closed her eyes, gasping and shuddering with pleasure as he slowly slid up into her pussy. When he was buried inside her, she placed her hands on his chest, and sat up.

  He cupped his palms over her ass cheeks. “Fuck me.”

  She opened her eyes to stare down at him. The small part of her mind that could function screamed at her not to sleep with him. But her heart beat a wild cadence. She was with him again. No matter what happened in the morning, she had to have at least one last night with him.

  “Fuck me,” he said again.

  His voice was brusque with desire for her.

  “Only you,” he told her.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  She lifted her hips until only half his cock remained inside her. “Then open your eyes so I’ll know you’re not thinking of anyone else.”

  He lifted his lids. “There isn’t anyone else.”

  Commonsense told her it wasn’t true, but she wanted to believe him. She pinched his nipples and smiled down at him while she slowly impaled herself fully on his cock again.

  He shuddered, tightening his fingers in her ass. “There’s only you, Brandi.”

  Only her. She closed her eyes and slid up and down on him. Each time she pushed her hips down to drive his cock back into her pussy, she rotated her ass so they each had time to savor being locked so intimately together before she lifted her hips again.

  He rained sharp slaps against her ass, making each cheek burn and sting.

  She moaned, rocking herself on his cock.

  He slid his palms up her back, urging her forward. “I need to feel your breasts against my chest.”

  Keeping his cock inside her, she stretched out on top of him.

  He cupped a hand over the back of her head, guiding her mouth down to his.

  With a flash of tongues, they fucked each other with a greedy delight that had them both shuddering within minutes.

  With his tongue flicking against hers and his hard cock sliding in and out of her wet pussy, she drowned in a river of ecstasy. When he slipped a finger up her ass, she sobbed against his mouth and came all over his cock.

  Clutching her so close she knew he would leave bruises, he dragged his mouth from hers.

  She opened her eyes to meet the blue gaze which glowed. “Brandi…?”

  After a brief hesitation, she tilted her head. “Yes, Adrian.”

  He quickly buried his incisors in her neck.

  She shivered with pleasure as her blood flowed into his mouth. “Oh…Adrian…yes…yes…” she moaned, tightening her vaginal muscles around him. “Take my blood and my pussy. Make me yours.”

  He fucked her so hard and deep as he fed on her that she moaned and came again before he suddenly rolled her onto her back. Gripping her hips, he lay on top of her and fucked her with a painful intensity for several long, bittersweet moments before he shuddered and jetted his cum deep in her pussy.

  She wrapped her arms and legs around him, holding him close, enjoying the sensation of actually feeling him coming inside her.

  Finally, he removed his incisors from her neck and pressed his weight on her.

  She kissed his hair, stroking her hands down his back. “You’re crushing me,” she whispered.

  He rolled onto his back with her still impaled on his cock. He ejaculated inside her and pulled the cover over them.

  When he touched his lips gently to hers, she tasted her blood on his mouth.

  “It’s no longer your blood. It and you now belong to me,” he told her.

  She supposed she should have taken issue with his stat
ement. And they needed to talk. But she felt too content and sexually sated to risk ruining the mood between them. She closed her eyes. They would talk in the morning. She fell asleep to the delicious sensation of his cum seeping from between her pussy and his big, hard cock.