Christian slowly removed her jeans, his lips following where the denim revealed, trailing down over her hip, to her knee. Then he tossed the denim, stripped her of her socks and boots, then trailed his lips back up the other leg, tickling and stroking with his tongue and teeth. He slid his thumbs under the thin sides of her thong and glanced at the mirror behind her. “Delicious,” he said hoarsely and pulled them from her.
Tally couldn’t wait. She yanked her tee-shirt off over her head and threw it toward where her coat lay on the floor. Even before her hair settled back around her shoulders, Christian’s hands were on her breasts, sliding over them. His thumbs tugged as they slipped over her erect and painfully taut nipples and she moaned.
His mouth replaced one hand and Tally let her eyes drift closed as her pleasure spiked. He was doing things to her breast that no man had ever done before. There was a sweet sucking sensation, and sharp spikes of pleasure that made her moan and all normal thought halt. She wanted the sensations to go on forever, but there was a growing sense of urgency. Her climax was beginning to build. How long she would last, she didn’t know. She had never responded this quickly.
For the first time in a very long while she actually felt hot. Her runaway heart was responsible for most of that, but the heat spread a lethargy through her that was equally as thought-blanketing. She had no thoughts at all, except for a wordless need to have Christian batter his way inside her.
“Christian,” she whispered, reaching for him. She slid her hands down his chest, aiming almost directly for his cock. There was no time for subtleness or teasing. She needed him now.
Christian must have heard something in her voice, for he picked her up, his hands around her waist, and lifted her over him. Her heart lurched as she realized what he intended. She spread her knees so they landed on the bed next to his hips, as he lowered her down directly onto his cock.
Then he paused, the thick head of his cock nudging the entrance of her very slick pussy.
Tally beat at his shoulders. “No! Don’t wait,” she said breathlessly.
“I’m savoring. Don’t rush me.”
She groaned aloud her dismay. So close, and yet he had her hovering, on the very brink of getting exactly what she wanted.
“Tally,” he murmured.
She met his gaze.
“This is something I have been dreaming about and planning for a very long while,” he said.
“This? This moment right now?” she asked.
His cock eased inside her another fraction of an inch, spreading her slippery opening. She closed her eyes and moaned again.
“This moment right—” He thrust his hips up as he slammed her down upon him. His cock thrust inside her with the force of a battering ram and she threw her head back and groaned at the sheer pleasure of being impaled and possessed.
But he gave her no time to absorb and appreciate the taking. He stood up, while keeping her riding upon his cock, and turned and laid her down upon the mattress, still staying inside her. Then he leaned over her so that he was looking down into her eyes.
He withdrew and thrust again, and Tally wrapped her legs over his hips, lifting herself up so that he could push deeper.
The next thrust made her gasp, for his cock pushed up against her cervix. It was good, so good….
Christian began to thrust in earnest, his breath as unsteady as her own. His eyes were very nearly shut, as he strained over the top of her.
Tally found she was looking up at him in something like awe. Here was a man more powerful than her. Stronger. Not older, but it didn’t matter. He knew her. He knew her for what she was. There was no pretense.
Her climax caught her by surprise. It gripped her, making everything squeeze. Her pussy clamped hard around him, and her breath was snatched away. The pleasure washed over her in strong waves, one after another.
Christian strained over the top of her, as he came in tight, hard little thrusts, then grew still, his gaze upon her face.
“Wow…” she whispered.
“We can do better,” he assured her as he withdrew.
Before she had a chance to respond, he rolled her over onto her tummy, then picked up her hips, lifting her butt up into the air. Her knees folded under her hips and he settled her onto them. Tally pushed herself up onto her hands and drew in a sharp breath as he ran his fingers through her cleft, from clitoris to ass. His fingers circled the tiny aperture. “We can do much better.”
A fresh spurt of excitement spread through her. “You have been planning this for a while, haven’t you?”
He reached into the drawer of the bedside table and pulled out a tube of lubricant. His smile as he uncapped it was filled with heated wickedness. “Whatever gave you that idea?”
She shivered again, as he settled back in behind her.
* * * * *
They didn’t sleep, of course, but they rested. Christian curled himself around her and felt an odd sense of relaxation. He examined it while he stroked the hair back from her face and neck.
There was no pressure to remember who he was, this lifetime. No need to guard against slips – the wrong word, the wrong sentiment, moving too fast, showing too much strength. He had been moving among humans for decades, so mostly, those concerns were almost automatic. Pure habit. But the sentinel that stayed permanently on guard in his mind, watching for possible errors, had turned off.
Finally, she was in his arms.
He kissed her cheek, then indulged himself by caressing her mouth. The fullness and softness of her lips fascinated him. The feel of them against his fingers and his mouth were intoxicating.
Tally smiled, her lips brushing his thumb as they moved. “You like doing that.”
“I’m still trying to decide if you taste like apricots or peaches.”
She caught his hand in hers and kissed the back of it. “So, where are you right now?”
“Right here, with your ass pressed against my cock. You have a great ass, too.”
“You should know. You’ve examined it, licked it and been inside it.” Her silent laugh shook her. “But you know what I meant.”
He did and found he was shifting uncomfortably. “I told you. I’m right here.”
Tally rolled her head along his arm until she was looking at him over her shoulder. Her warm brown eyes regarded him. “You’re between lives? That’s interesting timing.”
“We knew about this date, thirty years ago,” he reminded her.
Tally sat up, a small frown marring her expression. “Wait…” she said. “When did you end the last life?”
“Does it matter?”
“Indulge me.”
Christian sat up, too. “A while ago,” he admitted.
Tally slid off the bed and padded over to where her clothes were scattered across the floor, her hips swaying in the most enticing manner. She bent over and plucked her tee-shirt from the pile and put it on.
“You’re getting dressed?” he asked, disappointment touching him.
She unfurled the scrap of satin that was her panties and stepped into them. “I’m covering my breasts and my pussy, as you keep focusing on them and losing track of what we’re talking about.” She came back to the bed and folded her long beautiful legs as she settled back in front of him. “How long ago?”
He examined his hands. “About… thirty years or so.”
She was silent, forcing him to look at her again. But she still didn’t speak.
“In 1969, the Vietcong raided our MASH unit. They lined up everyone. I was the first one they shot, as I was the only doctor on the unit right then.” He grimaced. “You know what is worse than going first? It’s not dying quickly like a human would, and having to lie there and listen to your friends and allies die, one by one.” He shook his head. “They left us there to rot in the sun. After they were gone, I burned the place down to the ground, along with all the bodies. Then I took off, through the jungle. I made China two weeks later, and didn’t stop until I reached Japan.” He
took a deep breath. “Japan had changed since I was there last, so I stopped only long enough to access money and buy clothes. Then I headed west. Bit by bit.”
“Across Asia and into Europe,” Tally summarized.
“I stopped here and there.”
She pursed her lips. “But never for very long, huh?”
“After Vietnam, I didn’t want to settle.”
“Because you had a date in thirty years’ time?” she asked. Her tone was devoid of anything at all.
Christian shifted the focus deliberately on to her. “What about you? Still marrying humans at the speed of light?”
Her brow raised. “One or two,” she agreed, her tone still neutral.
“You can’t remember how many, exactly?”
Tally considered him for a moment. “Three,” she said flatly.
“Three marriages. My, you have been busy.” He pushed himself off the bed and strode over to where his jeans lay and thrust his legs into them with sharp movements, then fastened them. “And where did you do all this marrying, pray tell?”
“The mid-west, the first two. This one, New England.” She turned on the bed to face him again.
“Does he know where you are tonight?” Christian demanded.
Tally hesitated. He heard her heart give a single beat. Then she gave a tiny shrug. “He knows who I am meeting…and why.”
Christian stared at her, as the reason for her hesitation revealed itself. “Jesus Christ on a pony! You told him what you are. You told a human!” All his anger swirled to the surface, taxing his heart and making him breathe faster. “Of all the stupid things, Tally! You gave me grief the first time we ever met. You said blood socializing with blood was too risky. It put us in danger of discovery.”
Tally lifted herself up so that she was on her knees on the bed. It should have stopped his thought, that provocative look – the little silk tee-shirt stopping around her waist, and the tiny satin panties, but he was too angry to let her enticing appearance filter more than skin deep.
“You don’t understand,” she said. “How could you? You don’t know Kyle, you don’t know about David. You don’t know any of it. You can’t judge until you know.”
“I don’t know who the fuck Kyle and David are. What, are you living in a ménage now?”
Tally blinked. “Kyle is my husband. David is…our son.”
“Your son?”
She pushed her hair off her forehead impatiently. “Kyle had a son from a former marriage, when we met. David was three. We’ve raised him together.”
“And does David know what you are, too?”
Tally pressed her lips together, and Christian could almost feel her caution, how it had made her careful about her answers. That she should be guarding her tongue with him was just the icing on the cake.
“Mother Mary,” he breathed. “The son knows, too.”
“David knows, yes. When Kyle becomes too old for my appearance, we’re all moving to Florida. I will become David’s sister.”
“How lovely and domestic for you,” Christian sneered. “How long do you think it’s going to be before Kyle gets old enough to start panicking about his mortality and asks you to turn him? What are you going to do then?”
Tally bit her lip. “I don’t know.”
“What happens if you turn him? You two become wedded together forever?”
Her lips parted in surprise.
“You didn’t think of that, either, did you?”
Tally climbed off the bed and spun to face him. “Just who the fuck do you think you are, passing judgment on me, anyway? I was of the blood long before you were even born. You should—“
“Do not use your age as evidence of your superiority,” Christian snapped. “Hell, Tally, I didn’t think you capable of that sort of stupid prejudice.”
She drew in a deep breath, reining in her anger.
“You’re pissed because I’m right about Kyle,” he added.
Her eyes, which he had always thought of as filled with warm and caring, seemed to become all ice and chilliness. “I have been looking after myself just fine for over a century. I don’t need your council, Mr. Hamilton.”
The use of his last name stung. He’d had to work to earn the privilege of her using his first name and it had taken decades. “You didn’t marry all those humans because you loved them. You wanted a home. You wanted acceptance. That’s why you told them.”
Tally stared at him, clearly stunned. The ice had gone from her eyes. “Aren’t you doing the exact same thing?” she replied.
“I haven’t had a permanent home in thirty years,” he pointed out.
“And what a magnificent waste of time that was,” she said dryly.
“Damn it to hell, Tally! I was waiting for you!”
Tally was looking at him again with the same cornered animal expression.
Christian sighed and pushed his hand through his hair. “I thought you would have known that,” he said. “I thought you would figure it out.”
“From a thirty-year-old agreement to meet by the lions?” she asked. But she wasn’t angry any more.
“Isn’t that what the date was for?” he asked. “So we could finally synchronize our lives and…” He blew out his breath. “…and be together,” he finished. “But now you’re with him, instead.” He whirled and faced the pile of discarded clothing again, and bent to pick up his shirt.
“I didn’t like being alone,” Tally said softly.
He looked over his shoulder. “You weren’t. You haven’t been since 1898.”
“But you weren’t there!” she cried. “God, Christian, I tried. But after you were hauled off by the FBI, I couldn’t stand it. We had been that close to… to…” She threw out her hands. “I have a family now. You can mock it all you like, but I raised David. He looks like his father, but he’s like me in so many ways. He likes comic books and reading, and hates politics and bigots.” She gave him a weak smile. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“No, I don’t. What happens when David gets old? Are you going to turn him, too?”
“I told you, I was lonely!” she cried.
“So was I!” he shouted back. “But I didn’t jump into the nearest bed to make it go away!”
She was breathless again. Angry again. “You have to live with humans, Christian. You can’t pass through time and not let it touch you. You’ll come to hate yourself.”
He dropped the shirt. “Then pass through time with me. We can be lonely together.”
She clenched her hands together. “I can’t. Not right now.”
It hurt. More than he thought it would, and he had been braced for her refusal.
Tally must have seen something in his face, for she stepped closer, in an impulsive movement. “Kyle knows what I am and he still wants me. He loves me.” She gave him a small smile. “You just want a cuddle rug to keep the boogie man away.”
He shook his head. Denial. The desperate man’s last defense. “Do you love him?” he demanded.
Her answer was just as soft. “As much as I can, yes.”
“You’re not in love with him. You’re in love with what he gives you.”
She threw out her hands. “Yes! I want children. A family. Grandchildren. He can give me that.”
She didn’t have to finish the other half of the sentence. The unspoken words hung between them, almost shouting in their silence. He can give me a family, but you can’t.
There was nothing he could say to dispute her. So he said nothing.
* * * * *
Tally’s flight back to New Hampshire wasn’t until noon, and it was barely three a.m. She didn’t leave, as he expected her to. Instead she turned the TV on and glanced at him. “I would just go back to my room and watch it there. I may as well stay here.” She got dressed as CNN reported on the new millennium celebrations around the world, then settled back on the end of the bed, her legs folded up under her, the remote in her hand.
Christian put on the rest of his cl
othes and sat on the bed next to her. He felt oddly old and creaky. His muscles ached like they once had when he had been at West Point and suffering through the most severe physical training he could remember.
They watched the fireworks around the world. He wasn’t interested, but he didn’t know what else to do. He had run out of options.
Tally pointed to the screen with the remote, where they were showing fire bursts over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. “That footage is only a few hours old, but it’s already made it around to the other side of the world. Technology is just amazing, isn’t it?”
He stirred and forced himself to answer civilly. “Communications is going to be the next big thing. Especially when you throw the Internet into the mix. You watch. The Internet will be a huge thing. People will communicate with people anywhere in the world, and news will move at the speed they talk. The news networks will lose their monopoly.”
“You really think it’ll be that big? The Internet?”
He nodded. “We’ll all be wired into it by mid-century.”
She flipped channels slowly. “That would be interesting, to be on the inside of that evolution.”
“It would,” he agreed, staring at the images flashing up on the screen as she surfed. At least half of them were from somewhere else in the world other than America.
Tally lowered the remote. A movie was playing.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“You haven’t seen it? It’s Love Bites.”
He shook his head. “I haven’t really been near a television. Not for a while.”
“Decades, I’m guessing. How have you kept up with human affairs?”
He didn’t answer, because the answer was negative. He hadn’t kept up at all. He had held himself apart. Waiting.
The heavy feeling seemed to sink into his bones and settle there.
“You must keep up, Christian,” she told him. “You have to stay current, or they’ll spot you.”
He nodded. “So what’s this movie about?”
“A vampire.” She smiled.
He rolled his eyes. “How bad is it?”
“Bad enough you just have to laugh.”
“I could do with a laugh right now. Let’s watch it.”
He didn’t laugh at the preposterous storyline, or the ridiculous antics of the vampire, played by another Hamilton, but he did feel the ache lessen. His heart grew a little lighter each time Tally giggled.
Wait (Beloved Bloody Time) Page 6