by Denise Agnew
When he finished swallowing he licked his lips. A red stain held her attention as it lingered on his top lip. Fascinated, she watched as he licked again and caught all remaining evidence he’d just consumed an entire tumbler of human blood. He captured her gaze a second and the concern she saw there surprised her. It looked as though he felt ashamed of what he’d done, even though it remained necessary. He tore his gaze from hers and went to the sink. He rinsed out the cup, filled it with water, then took several sips of water. Once he’d finished that ritual he placed the tumbler in the dishwasher and leaned back against the kitchen counter. No more signs of bashfulness or worry lingered in his eyes. So she’d seen him consume blood for the first time. So what?
Lachlan went to the small radio sitting on the windowsill and snapped it on. He tuned it to a local rock station. “Maybe we can get more information about what’s going on out there.”
Sure enough, the news superseded music, the announcer’s almost excited voice announcing the bizarre crime wave sweeping Pine Forest. So far there had been two armed robberies at convenience stores, five assaults, and one arson fire.
Then the announcer mentioned the incident at the diner. “This is the second such incident in this diner in the last two weeks. Also, a man was robbed at gunpoint at an ATM, but claims mysterious unseen rescuers subdued his attacker. Not long before this bizarre episode, a woman was almost beaten to death by her estranged husband. This man was found tied up in the woman’s home. Police say the 9-1-1 call was anonymous, and the man who assaulted his wife claims he didn’t call them and his attackers were invisible and then materialized.”
The announcer switched to the blaring entrance of an old rock tune.
Clarissa’s mind tumbled back to the conversation she’d been having when Ronan came back to the house. She didn’t think she could restart the topic considering how odd it sounded. She didn’t have to.
Pain ambushed her in the side and she gasped. She put her hand to her waist in reaction and tried to hold back a moan.
Ronan crouched down next to her chair and placed a hand on her thigh. As he looked up at her, she saw deep anxiety in his eyes. “Are you all right? What’s wrong?”
“Something is wrong,” Lachlan said, “but probably not what you’d think.”
Ronan’s glare cut right through his friend. “What?”
“Sex?” Clarissa asked, willing to just let it all hang out.
The handsome vampire’s frown intensified. “Sex?”
Erin reached out for Clarissa’s hand and patted it in sympathy. “She’s been feeling ill all morning. Nauseated, some pain.”
Ronan’s touch felt comforting through Clarissa’s jeans, but radiating hurt made her wince. Plus, she didn’t like the theme or the speculation. Embarrassed, she started to stand. Dizziness filled her head.
“Whoa, easy.” Ronan slipped his arm around her.
Another wave of pain made her bend a little at the waist as she put a hand to her stomach. She gasped.
Before she could protest, he lifted her into his arms. “Come on, you’re going to lie down.”
Clarissa tightened her arms around his neck, savoring the reassurance and safety easing into her as he held her cradled to his chest. Because she continued to feel dizzy, she laid her head on his shoulder. “This isn’t necessary.”
“It is. You need to lie down.” His eyes held a firmness that said he wouldn’t take an argument. “If this doesn’t go away you’re going to a doctor.”
Once inside the attic he put her down on the bed. With a tenderness that calmed her fears, he took her shoes off and then pulled a fleece blanket up over her.
“So what would I tell a doctor, Ronan? That sex with you makes me sick?”
He flinched as he looked down on her. “Does it?” He sat on the bed and stared at her, the rhythmic motion of his hand brushing her hair away from her face making her feel cherished. “Clarissa, I’m so sorry. If I’d known—”
“That can’t be it. I mean, unless there is something about vampires making love to a mortal woman that you haven’t told me. Is sex with you supposed to make me ill?”
“No woman has ever been sick after we’ve slept together.” She closed her eyes for a long moment and he leaned over and touched his lips to hers in a heartbreaking tender kiss. When his voice came again it held the rasp of deep regret. “Damn it, Clarissa, did I hurt you when we made love?”
Her eyes popped open. Worry etched across his face showed true remorse. “No.”
“Are you sure? I wasn’t exactly gentle. I felt like I couldn’t get deep enough inside you. I wanted to stay there day and night. It felt so damn good I lost control. But if I harmed you physically in any way—”
“Shhh. Stop it. You were wonderful. You think I could have climaxed if you were hurting me?”
Some concern eased from his eyes. “No.”
“Then I rest my case. Yes, we got a little wild.”
“A little?”
She knew right then Ronan needed her to confess, and she couldn’t hold these feelings inside any longer. “Okay, we were down right insane. But I wanted you so much, Ronan. You made me feel things I’ve never felt before and never imagined I could feel in a million years. Please don’t blame yourself for what is happening. It’s probably nothing.”
Anxiety returned to his eyes. “I can’t bear seeing you in pain. I don’t mind telling you right now that it’s worrying the hell out of me to see you this way.”
All the masculine reassurance and brawn she was used to seeing in this vampire dissolved. The ache in her side eased until it disappeared. “You’re sweet. In fact, if you keep looking at me like that, I just might have to kiss you.”
Instead of rising to the bait, he asked, “Do you feel a little better?”
“Yes.”
He put his hand to her forehead.
“Lachlan already did that. I don’t have a fever.”
“That isn’t what I’m checking for.” He frowned like a doctor who’d discovered something disturbing.
“What is it?”
He gathered her hand in his and brought it to his mouth. He kissed her fingers one by one. As he closed his eyes, she fixated on his long gorgeous male lashes. Her heart ached with yearning. She wanted to kiss him, but more than that, she wanted to remove his concern.
He pressed more tender kisses to her fingers. “Something’s changed. Your system is out of balance.”
“How can you tell?”
A gentle smile touched his lips. “Most vampires have the ability to tell if someone is sick and what the problem is. And some can heal.”
Intrigued, she asked, “Can you heal?”
“I can keep someone from dying by touching them, though I can’t heal them one hundred percent.”
She considered this new information. “Could making love with you alter my chemistry?”
“I’ll have to ask the seer. This whole situation is pissing me off.” Anxiety turned to anger as his eyes glittered with that danger Erin had talked about not so long ago.
She reached up and gripped his biceps, feeling the muscle bunch and tense. “I’m going to be fine.”
“Of course you are, because I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
She saw and heard it in his voice, a brutal protective streak that she couldn’t deny. “It isn’t that bad. I can take care of myself.”
“You can’t.”
Feminine independence couldn’t let that one go by. “Wait a minute. I’m a grown woman and I can take care of myself.”
His scowl held daggers. “Sure, and you think if the ancient one came in here right now you’d be able to fight him? You’re under my full-time protection until that bastard is gone forever.”
Then she understood, in a small way, what motivated him. “I’m not Fenella, you know. I’m not going to leave like she did.”
His fingers caressed hers, but his words came out hard. “She didn’t leave me.” Passion-laced Irish tones
spilled from his voice. “She was taken from me. I won’t let that happen to you.”
Clarissa allowed quiet to settle between them, the emotions crackling in the air full of potent sentiment and even sex. It would do little good to argue with him. This amazing, gorgeous, attentive, hot man wanted to keep her safe.
She couldn’t help but smile.
The ache in her side had disappeared and other than being a little tired she felt great. A stirring in her stomach, this one more from desire than anything else, took her by surprise. Sharp carnal need flared into her body like a rocket explosion and she gasped.
“What is it? More pain?”
“No. Something else.” She reached up and brushed her fingers over his mouth and tried to erase his displeasure.
His gaze intensified, fixating to her mouth as his nostrils flared a little and his pupils dilated. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“As if you’d like me to lie with you right now.”
“I would.”
With a tiny snarl he moved in, his mouth molding to hers. He kissed her deeply, his tongue plunging and moving against hers. Her arms slipped around his waist and she moaned low in her throat. He pulled back and her arms dropped to her side.
“Clarissa, we can’t. You need more time before we do this again.”
Feeling bewildered and dazed by the high-impact sexual craving, she shook her head. “Now.”
A smile moved over his mouth, sexy, masculine and tender. “Ease down.”
She didn’t know if she could. “Do you think this has anything to do with what the seer and that Yusuf guy were talking about? Maybe this strange sickness is what happens before I’m able to help you with the ancient one.”
“Maybe.”
She yawned unexpectedly, and he said, “Get some sleep. I’ll be downstairs if you need me.”
“But we should be discussing what to do about the ancient one.”
“I can do that with the others. Just get some rest and I’ll check on you a little later.”
“Stay.” She glanced down at his jeans and noticed the hard length of his erection pressing against the fabric. “You really want to leave the room like that?”
He glanced down and then smiled. “I can’t help it. It’s what you do to me.”
She knew what he needed and wanted to give it to him with everything inside her. “Come here.”
He walked toward her, wariness in his eyes. “Demanding wench.”
His teasing tone said he didn’t mean to offend, and she laughed softly. “Don’t argue with me, vampire. Just get over here.”
When he stood in front of her, she reached for his hips and tugged him closer. His growing erection strained against his jeans, and she ran her hand down over it.
He sucked in a breath and his hands landed on her shoulders. “Clarissa.”
“Understand what I’m doing now?”
“I think I’m getting a clue.”
He might have protested, if she hadn’t unfastened his jeans in record time. Instead his eyes widened as she tugged his jeans down. She palmed his ass cheeks through his snug briefs as spirals of arousal obliterated all illness she’d experienced earlier.
“God, Clarissa.” Ronan’s eyes blazed down into hers as he slipped his fingers into her hair and caressed her scalp.
She grabbed the waistband on his briefs and pulled them down his hips. As he hissed in a breath, she stared without embarrassment or hesitation at the hard thickness that pulsed with need. Without waiting for a buildup, she moved him closer and slid her fingers around the base of his cock. She squeezed lightly and then slipped her mouth over him with one swallow. He groaned and the sound that erupted from him gave new meaning to the word feral. She glanced up at him as she licked and sucked. A rapt expression entered his eyes as yellow flames danced in his irises. As she slid her mouth over his cock, she grabbed the base and started a new motion. Her hand slid up as her mouth did, until they worked in combination to stroke his swollen flesh. Panting, he let his head fall back as recurrent moans worked from his throat.
Warm liquid moistened the aroused flesh between her thighs, the tight, drawing sensation telling her one thing. She didn’t want to give him just a blowjob. No, not at all.
She leaned away and stood. The question in his eyes barely obliterated the heat.
Without hesitation she drew off her socks and her jeans, then whipped her sweater and bra off in a flash.
“Clarissa,” he said with warning in his husky voice.
She felt untamed, unable to control the rocket sled quality of her craving. She didn’t want preliminaries or foreplay but a quick, unbelievable coupling right this minute, right now.
“Do it now. I’m aching with it, Ronan, and if I don’t feel you inside me soon, I’ll have to take care of this myself.”
Oh, yeah.
She heard his mental exclamation. He’d love to watch her masturbate, she knew, but more than anything she needed him tunneling inside her wetness. She wanted to grasp his large thickness and hold on tight while he caressed her hot walls.
His eyes flared up, a red glow that would have looked sinister if she didn’t know he would never hurt her. Working quickly he got rid of his clothes, then urged her to lie on the bed.
“You’re pushing me too far,” he said.
“Oh?”
Without explanation he dug through her suitcase.
“What are you doing?” she asked him, certain he’d lost his mind.
“Aha. Just what I needed.”
He turned and held up her fleece winter scarf and a polyester scarf she’d added in her case on impulse in case she needed to dress up a blouse.
Still, she didn’t know what he wanted. “What are we doing?”
He didn’t give her any explanation, almost as if he didn’t hear her. Still, she’d tempted him into a quick lovemaking session and realized she had remarkable power over this vampire. Heady and excited by the idea, she closed her eyes.
Ronan turned her around. “Dog style.”
No other man could make those two words sound sexy. Her arousal burned deeper and higher. Oh, yes. Dog style would do fine.
“Standing.” His breathing came quickly, and as he turned her around gently she felt restraint pouring from him. “Bend over and put your hands out in front of you.”
Before she could blink he tied her wrists together and then lashed them to the bedpost. She gulped in surprise and pulled at her restraints. “Ronan?”
“We won’t do it this way if you don’t want to, but I wanted to see if you liked it.” He put his arms around her and drew her close. She could feel his cock bumping against her ass cheeks. He brushed aside her hair and kissed the back of her neck.
Delicious anticipation snaked into her body. “Let’s do it.”
Seconds later hot, thick hardness slid deep and sure into her center.
Clarissa didn’t think about the past or tomorrow. Only the smooth, slick passage of his cock meant anything. He kept his motion slow, his fingers buried in her hair, his breath rasping between his teeth. With each deep, exquisite thrust she experienced a joy that drew her straight out of the universe into unknown territory. Heady and filled with the strength of the ages, his loving made her feel precious, cared for, needed beyond everything.
Again he thrust deep, but kept his pace slow. She arched back against him and defied his desire to kept things gentle. Soon he couldn’t resist her urging and she knew when he’d lost control. The scarves tightened around her wrists and Clarissa pulled back against them. She eased the tension in her arms. With one hand gripping her hips, he tangled his fingers in the long hair flowing down past her cheek and held her in place.
“Clarissa,” Ronan said in what sounded like tortured voice.
He slammed into her, then paused. Slammed, then paused.
She closed her eyes. As he held high and deep inside her, her orgasm burned deep inside and burst forth in great, rolling contrac
tions that howled through her. Suspended at the top of a glorious sensation, she savored the climax as it seemed to go on and on. As the splintering beauty faded, she gasped for breath like a swimmer just coming up for air.
“Feckin’ A!” He burst inside her with a harsh groan.
His cock throbbed, and she absorbed the sensation with greediness. Quickly he pulled from her and wrapped his arms around her again, his touch possessive and incredibly loving. In a blink the bonds fell from her and landed on the floor. He gathered her into his arms and they laid on the bed for a moment in total silence. He peppered tender kiss after tender kiss on her nose, her lips, her cheeks, her forehead, her neck.
He let out a deep sigh. “I can’t believe we did that again.” He let out a low laugh and climbed off the bed to redress. “I need to go downstairs for awhile. Why don’t you rest?”
Before he left he leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Rest easy, sweet colleen. I’ll be right downstairs. If you need anything, let me know.”
After Ronan left the room and headed downstairs, animal need continued to fire his libido. More than anything, even though he’d worried only moments before that he’d harmed Clarissa, he wanted her. He wanted to slide deep into her hot, wet channel and fuck her into oblivion for what would be another heated exchange of their bodies. He wanted to feel his seed shooting deep inside her and enjoy his primal need to know she was his.
And she was, whether she knew it or not. She was his.
When he got downstairs the group had congregated in the living room, Jared and Micky included. As they said hello, he thought he could feel an extra element of fear residing in each of them. They didn’t know what the next day, next hour, next minute would bring. Everything hung in a balance.
“Is she all right?” Micky asked as she settled onto the loveseat with Jared. “Does she need to go to the doctor?”
Ronan leaned against the fireplace mantle. “I didn’t detect anything life-threatening, but I’m still worried about her. I’ll keep watch and if she doesn’t improve, then I’ll get her medical attention.”
Jared cleared his throat and leaned forward. He braced his forearms on his thighs. “We’ve been talking about the possibility that your link with her caused the problem.”