"Please!" I beg. "Please. Now."
Ben crawls up on top of me again, his thighs between mine, his arms on either side of me. I reach down to take him into my hand, thinking to guide him in, but I'm distracted by the feel of him. Now that I'm touching him, it is not as rock solid as I thought, but yields slightly to my touch. It's hot in my hand, and I can feel his pulse, fast, strong, and steady.
"Now?" Ben asks.
"Please," I say.
I let go of him and put my hands on his lower back. He settles onto me, so we are belly to belly and chest to chest. I roll my hips back and lift my thighs a bit, opening them as wide as I can. The pain I'd heard of is not there when Ben enters me, just an insistent pressure as he pushes his hips forward. He fills me completely, there is no part inside of me that Ben is not touching. My body feels like it can barely contain him, like something will have to give. I finally exhale, long and slow, as I let myself relax around him. I find myself in a world of pleasure I never could have imagined.
"Thank you," I whisper into his ear.
That's when I notice that his body is slowly quivering. If his reactions are anything like mine, I suspect he's just a heartbeat away from his own peak, and I appreciate more deeply the time he spent letting his hand explore and pleasure me. While having him inside of me is so divinely delightful, I want more from this moment. I want to be taken up to and over that edge again from these new sensations.
When his breath settles, he starts to pull back his hips, sliding slowly out of me. I feel less full as he does so, and for a moment fear that he's going to leave me entirely, but he stops just as the head of his shaft reaches the entrance to my body. His mouth goes to my neck again, to that spot right at the base of my throat where he is able to kindle a mighty flame with his kisses and nips. He toys with me there, stoking the fire within me until my hips demand he fill me again. Ben listens, and slowly presses into me. A half dozen more thrusts, all the while with his mouth working its magic, and we've found the rhythm my body craves. Every single thrust he makes, bringing his hips all the way into mine, all of him buried deep inside of me, I take another step up the mountain. I can hear in his breathing that he is doing everything he can to delay for me, and that only heightens my own pleasure. It takes just a couple more steps up, and I feel the explosion of pleasure start from deep within me, bursting outwards, up my spine until again I lose all sense of reason and time. Every inch of my skin comes alive at once. I grasp onto Ben with all my might, lest the pleasure throw me completely out of this world and into some other place. I need his solid anchor to hold on to, the sensations driving through me are so intense.
I come back to awareness just in time to see his eyes completely lose focus while he's gazing deep into mine, and he lets out this powerful moan, teeth clenching, and he wraps his arms around me as desperately as I was just holding him.
It takes a long time for my hips to stop lightly grinding against his body, trying to keep that pleasure going. Eventually, he softens and my body gently pushes him out.
I am simply exhausted, beyond measure. It is all I can do to say, "Good night, my love,” before I fade.
In the morning, Ben lets me sleep until nine, the curtains shut tight against the morning light, before he wakes me with the sound of running water. It’s the first I notice that we have whirlpool in the room. He’s obviously been up for a while, because I can see that there’s also a plate of fresh fruit, flatbread, and brie set next to a cup of hot coffee by the edge of the tub. I find myself much more comfortable this morning with the thought of Ben seeing me completely unclothed, so I don’t bother to cover up as I leave the bed and step into the tub. I enjoy a leisurely breakfast in a hot bubble bath with my sexy man before we dry off and return to the bed.
Once more, I take Ben inside of me. Even though I know a little more what to expect, it is no less magical with him than it was last night. When we’re finished, we take a quick shower together, so we can be dressed and ready to go before check out time. I really wish Ben had woken me up earlier, because our giggly fun soaping each other up makes me want to seriously explore every inch of his body with his hands, and get things started again.
As we leave the inn, Ben immediately puts on very dark sunglasses, adjusts his hat, and walks with his head down. Once we’re in the car, he immediately swings the visor down to block the sun, and I notice just how dark the tinting on his windows is. Not for the first time, I wonder if he isn’t so pale because he has a sensitivity to sunlight.
Ben holds my hand while he drives me home. I can tell he’s taking his time to stretch out our morning together. Truth be told, I don’t mind at all. As we get closer, I start getting nervous. I rushed out the door without telling Grandpa where I was going, and he’s not going to be happy when he sees who I was with all night.
We’re not far from my house. Ben is slowing down for a left turn, then suddenly abandons it, speeding up and continuing straight down the highway. “What was that all about?” I ask.
“Sorry. There was a cat crossing the road there. If I had started the turn, my two options would have been to hit the cat, or stop in oncoming traffic, and risk your side of the car getting hit.”
“No worries. Take Highland Avenue. First left after we cross 325.”
“Right,” Ben says. Almost hitting a cat must really be bothering him, because he seems very distracted right now.
He does make the turn, though, and follows the rest of my directions to the house, but his eyes are all over the place as he drives. We finally pull into my driveway. I spend a long time saying goodbye to him, between kissing him and simply not wanting to face Grandpa.
“Putting it off isn’t going to make it any easier,” Ben says, reluctantly. He’s still distracted by something. I can tell he’s watching up and down the road.
“I know.”
“Go. We’ll see each other again soon.” He reaches across me to open my door, giving me a nice, deep kiss as he settles back down in the driver’s seat.
“Soon,” I say, giving him one more quick peck before I get out of the car.
As I expected, Grandpa is extremely unhappy with me. I can’t stand seeing how disappointed he is in me. The worst part being that I don’t deserve it. Just because he doesn’t like Ben doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to fall in love with him or make love with him.
“Ivy,” Grandpa says.
I take a deep breath. I’m suddenly angry that somehow I’ve ended up in a position where two of the three most important people in my life hate the third. “Yes, I spent the night with Ben.”
“Where?”
“In his arms,” I snap. Grandpa seems taken aback by me fighting him on this. I push into the opening that leaves me. “I’m a big girl now, and I’ve been halfway taking care of myself for the past few years anyway, with you being on the road a few days every month.”
“That boy is no good for you. You need to stop seeing him, now, not get closer to him! There’s a lot about him you don’t know.”
“We’ve been over this already, Grandpa. I’m grown up now. This is my body,” I say, bringing one of my hands up to chin level, and sweeping it downwards in front of me. “My heart, my decision, my life.”
“This isn’t just a simple matter of me disapproving of a sketchy boyfriend. Ben is something different.”
“Yes, he is. And we all know how nice little Stokers Mill feels about anything that’s different. I can’t wait to get out of this tiny cage of a town.”
“It’s not that, Ivy.”
“I don’t want to hear it,” I say, and I stomp up to my room, slamming the door behind me.
I pull out my phone to see a text from Ben: ‘You forgot your bag. Sneak out and meet me at Fordham?’
Oh, dear Ben. Always proper English, even in a text message. Seeing him again sounds so good right now that even without needing to pick up my overnight bag, I’d jump at the invitation. I text him that I’ll see him in a few minutes.
I was al
ways a good kid, so I don’t have much practice sneaking, and we do have that squeaky step. “Time to go all out,” I tell myself, and open up my window. I find a quarter in my purse and use that to open the clips that hold the storm window in. I carefully lean the pane of glass up against my bedroom wall and crawl out the window. Gently, I lower myself down so I’m holding onto the sill. It should only be four feet of drop, but it still takes me a second of steeling my nerve to let go.
I hit the ground and fall into an undignified heap. My phone is still upstairs in my purse, but there’s nothing in it I need to spend a little bit of time with Ben. I assume Grandpa is in the den, so I pick a route to the road that keeps me out of sight of those windows, and walk down to Fordham Avenue.
I hop into Ben’s car and go straight for a kiss. He returns it quickly, puts the car into gear, and starts driving.
“What’s going on?” I ask. This is very unlike him.
“I need to get us both out of town, now.”
“Why” I ask.
“After I dropped you off, I took another circle around the neighborhood. They’ve almost found you. Your grandfather can’t protect you, Carl can’t protect you. I can, but only if we stay together and stay hidden.”
“What are you talking about, Ben? You’re scaring me!”
“You should be scared,” is all he says, his eyes twitching constantly between the road in front of him, and his mirrors.
“Ben. Tell me what this is about.”
“I was going to tell you this today, anyways. I promised myself I had to tell you once we became lovers.”
“What, Ben?” I shout. I am terrified of him and so angry right now. If he weren’t speeding down the highway, I’d get out of the car right now.
Ben turns to me, and opens his mouth. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. It looks like the most perfect set of costume vampire fangs I’ve ever seen in my life, and I never saw him put them in. “Touch them. They’re the real thing,” he says, facing front to watch the road and his mirrors again.
I reach between his parted lips and touch one of the fangs. I press on it, and it doesn’t move like a prop would. He slips off his sunglasses and looks at me. The whites of his eyes are now blood red, his glacier-blue irises have turned black and glassy, a frightening rattle escapes from his throat. “Watch,” he says, making a quick check of the road. His fangs retract, looking like his teeth have always looked. His eyes go back to normal. “I’m a vampire, Ivy. I’m a rebel against the most powerful and evil clan of my kind, and for some reason, they are drawn to you. I was hoping they weren’t as close as they are, but one of them is definitely narrowing in on your house. She’s close enough that she’ll find it tonight after the sun sets.”
I have no idea what to say to any of this, no idea what to think. “Call your grandfather, tell him to get out of the house, preferably out of town entirely for a few days. Tell him, ‘Negre hunters’ and he’ll know how important it is.”
“My phone is at home,” I say.
Ben fishes his phone out of a pocket and hands it to me. “Here. Be quick, and then throw the phone into the river as we cross the bridge up there.”
I still can’t process any of this. I can’t figure out where to even start. Ben puts his phone in my hand. “Please, Ivy. Trust me and do as I say. I don’t want to make you do it.”
I have no idea what Ben is talking about.
“Please, Ivy. Call him and throw the phone in the river. You’ve got less than a minute.”
I stare at the phone, dumbfounded. Ben turns to me. He puts a hand on my cheek. “Ivy,” he says.
I look up into his eyes of blood and obsidian, see his fangs are out again. “Call, now. Destroy phone,” he says in a voice that is pitched unnaturally deep. It seems to echo inside of my head.
I can’t stop myself from dialing Grandpa’s number. I put the phone to my cheek and listen to it ring and ring and ring until I get his voicemail. He never picks up on numbers he doesn’t recognize.
“Grandpa. Ben says you need to get out of town right now, and stay away for a few days. Something about Negre hunters. It seems important to him, and I believe him. I love you.” I hit the end button, roll down the window, and as we’re at the peak of a bridge over the river, I throw the phone out.
“Please don’t ever make me do that to you again,” Ben says.
He’s back to the Ben I slept with last night. There is so much pain in his eyes now, in every glance he dares make at me that I at least believe he did not want to do whatever it was he did that made me obey him. He certainly didn’t do it last night. I never felt the same pull when he kissed me or undressed me that I just felt when I made the call and threw the phone away.
He takes his right hand off of the steering wheel and sets it between us, palm up. An invitation.
I cannot deny that he is what he claims to be. I’ve seen him change twice now, I felt the force with which he made me obey his commands. I also cannot deny that up until he did that, I never once felt unsafe with him, threatened, manipulated, controlled. Just that one time he scared me driving like a madman on the highway, but I think that was him not knowing how stunting in traffic affects me. It was bad judgement on his part, not bad faith. I now know my lover’s secret. I have to decide if I can still love him despite it. I have to decide if I can trust that I am in danger, and that it’s not because I fell in love with him. There is a lot I need to figure out. Fast.
I think back to every time Ben has touched me or kissed me. Never before have I felt as safe and protected as I did when I fell asleep in his arms last night.
I place my hand in his, and we both hold onto each other tightly…to be continued in book 2.
About Cheri Winters
USA Today Bestselling Author, Cheri Winters got hooked on Urban Fantasy through Kim Harrison, Patricia Briggs, and Laurel K. Hamilton. Now Cheri writes her stories with kick-ass heroines battling their way through adventure and mayhem.
When not writing, Cheri practices Muay Thai and Karate or catches up reading her favorite authors.
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Blood Of A Vampire (Negre Clan Book 1) Page 10