Inside the bathroom he eased up my dress, pulling it over my head. Then he threw it onto the tiled floor. I wrapped my arms around myself, shielding my bra, blushing wildly.
“Take them off.” He gestured to my underwear.
I refused, remaining still and defiant.
Even though he’d seen me naked before, made love to me, there was something about his aloofness that made me question being so vulnerable. Unfazed, he calmly slid open the glass door and leaned in to turn on the faucet. Water poured from the showerhead.
“Get in,” he said.
“You had no right to treat me that way.”
“In.” He slid the door farther open.
His glare convinced me. I stood beneath the pounding hot water, gaining some comfort from the way it caressed my scalp and warmed my flesh. My bra and panties were soaked and clinging.
“I’m waiting for your apology,” he said, peeling his shirt off his body, up and over his head, then making quick work of the rest.
He joined me in the shower.
I averted my eyes from his nakedness, his swelling manhood, the beauty that was Jadeon Artimas. Two-hundred years ago he’d been turned in his prime and at his fittest. A twenty-five-year-old sculptured to perfection. Tall and lean and oh so strong. A body primed for fencing with the most agile of opponents and easily winning.
And I was in the shower with him.
Jadeon’s lips curled in amusement, having read my thoughts. He neared me, reaching around my back. I felt the clasp of my bra give. He threw it over the shower door. Next, his fingers were on my hips, hooking through the string of my panties, and he knelt to slide them down my legs.
I stepped out of them. “Is this how it’s done? How you turn someone? You strip them first to humiliate them?”
He rose with the grace of a hunter and towered over me, placing a fingertip on my lips. “Shush.”
Jadeon threw my panties next to where my bra lay. It was impossible to drag my gaze from his gorgeousness. That intense stare locked on me with a startling blaze.
I took in his beautiful kind face, his supernatural grace, his jaw tensing and relaxing and tensing again as though he was thinking this through.
My breathing became ragged and I closed my eyes, wanting it to be over, allowing the inevitable to find me. “What are you waiting for?”
“For you to hand me that.” He glanced at the sponge.
Hand shaking, I reached up and handed it to him.
“And that.” He pointed to the bath gel.
I gave him that too and watched him pour the soapy liquid onto the sponge. The scent of vanilla mixed with sandalwood filled the air. He reached past me to place the bottle down. That tuft of hair on his chest made him look so human, so virile. I turned my back on him, overcome with having him so close, dazzled by his domination of every nuance. His every gesture mastered each moment.
Mastering me.
Rising steam enveloped us both.
The sponge caressed my shoulders, sliding down my spine and lower still over my buttocks, sending quivers. I allowed myself to savor this time with him, these moments I’d yearned for every night since the last time I’d seen him. I’d imagined this, prayed for this, and now he was with me again, his fingers lifting my wet hair from my nape and massaging my neck with the sponge, gentle, slow strokes lulling me.
“Turn around,” he said.
The sponge slid from my throat, moving languidly, caressing my breasts, lingering over my nipples and encircling each one, sending spasms of pleasure low into my belly. My hardening buds begged for more of this languishing friction. Jadeon’s cologne wafted through the steam, the darkest invitation of him, and it calmed me. Reaching out, my hands met his chest and I dug my fingernails into his flesh.
“Did I give you permission to touch me?” he said.
I let go and watched him lift the shower faucet off its hook and use it to wash off the soap suds covering my body, sweeping the spray across my front and teasing it over my stomach.
“You need to do as you’re told,” he said, directing the water between my thighs and holding it there, forcing the pressure over my clitoris.
My hands shot out to either side and I scraped my fingernails across the tile, my sex rippling in response to the water pounding me there. My thighs weakened and the softest gasps escaped, leaving me breathless. The rawness of his power, his fierceness, brought me ever closer to losing my mind, losing my way...
“Do you think you can do that?” he said firmly. “Do as you’re told?”
A frown gave my answer and my thoughts raced, wondering when he would lead me over to the other side of mortality. I tried to read his expression and gauge if he really planned on doing this.
I’m not ready.
Jadeon replaced the showerhead and threw down the sponge. Water cascaded again, spraying over us both and around us. I stole those few short moments to steady my breathing.
“Orpheus warned you about the need for punishment.” Jadeon gave a ghost of a smile. “As Dominion, I get to deem which punishment is appropriate.”
My back struck the tiled wall and all air left my lungs. “What are you going to do?”
“This.” He leaned low, his mouth kissing my right breast, sucking the nipple. His teeth grazed the delicate flesh and his arm wrapped around my waist to pull me closer to him.
My eyelids fluttered shut, responding to his mouth’s taunting, and my thighs shifted apart, allowing his hand to advance between them. His fingers rubbed my clitoris in delicate circles, leisurely pleasuring. I wanted to grab locks of his hair, but only moments before he’d denied me this. Arms by my side, I felt powerless, beholden to him to keep me standing.
“Well?” His fingers slowed to a hypnotic pace. “Have you learned your lesson?”
Our eyes met and I drowned in his deep brown gaze, catching those few specks of hazel in his irises. Despite knowing what that meant, I couldn’t resist him, couldn’t pull away from this intoxicating rhythm.
Yet some part of me still needed to defy him.
He frowned, picking up on my rambling thoughts.
“Then you leave me no choice,” he said, sliding his left hand down my back and resting it against my lower spine, pushing me toward his other hand that lay at the crest of my thighs. His fingers bestowed masterful flickering strokes, causing my moans to echo.
How could I fight him off if he turned me during an orgasm?
Dizzy with pleasure, my head lolled to the side, my lips parted. I wanted more of him, needed him inside me. His arched brow revealed he’d caught my need, my unbound desire.
Water cascaded over my chest and shoulders, caressing me from above as his fingers caressed below, sending shivers from his touch. These relentless sensations between my thighs forced me to pump against his hand, yearning for this moment never to cease.
“Ingrid,” Jadeon murmured. “Surrender to me.” His fingers nudged past that delicate cleft and plunged inside. My channel rippled around his strokes that set into a hypnotic rhythm. His thumb strummed my clitoris in perfect timing with his thrusts.
My arms flung around his neck, my nails buried in his flesh, and my body betrayed me. Or perhaps it was my mind. It was hard to keep up with my scrambled thoughts. I screamed my rebellion, soon to be snatched away by an orgasm. My entire body shook as I exploded with desire and ached for him.
I fell against him, my mewling silenced as my mouth pressed into his wet chest, tasting him. Carried away to the place of forgetting, I was too far gone to think, to care. My entire body shuddered and my breasts trembled. Captured by this endless searing pleasure, I came hard, screaming his name.
When those last ripples of pleasure finally left me, Jadeon hugged me into his chest, his arms wrapped tightly around me. My legs felt weak, useless. Where his fingers had brought bliss now delightfully tingled, sending shivers throughout my body, which was wracked by pleasure.
He held the world at bay.
The water cleans
ed, washing away any threat as peace embraced us, promising nothing could touch us.
“There.” Jadeon kissed my forehead. “Now as far as punishments go that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
CHAPTER 11
My entire body tingled in the wake of Jadeon’s touch, and despite exhaustion pulling me down toward sleep I wanted to hold onto this moment, hold onto him being here.
Dressed in my pajamas, sitting up with my back pressed against the headboard, I felt lulled from our post shower tryst, the wake of my orgasm relaxing me.
Embarrassed that Jadeon might eavesdrop on my musing, I turned my attention onto more mundane thoughts, focusing on my cereal instead and dabbing a drop of soymilk from my lips.
Jadeon sat in the corner armchair with his long legs stretched out. “I can’t recall ever being quite so disturbed,” he said, watching me spoon in another mouthful of Special-K. “What must that taste like?”
“It’s the only thing I have to eat,” I said. “It’s got chocolate bits in it.”
“I should have ordered food in for you.”
I wondered if he knew I’d eaten a Mars Bar for lunch. “It’s better than the stuff you eat.” I gave a wry smile.
He rolled his eyes. “At least blood is nutritious.”
“So is this.” I raised the bowl. “Says it right there on the box.”
“You believe everything you read?”
“Yes, and sometimes I even believe what people tell me.” I placed the bowl on the side table.
“Ingrid, this time apart from you has been hard for me too.”
“Then help me understand it.”
“You must trust me.”
Tugging up the bedsheet, I said, “I’m trying.”
I liked this room, his room, more for its contemporary taste than anything. Even though Jadeon had never lived here, he’d made sure the place was decorated tastefully. From this tall headboard I rested against, to the antique armoire with a TV tucked inside it, and I loved the sprawling walk-in closet. The black and white prints of lilies on the far wall seemed so different from his usual taste and added an arty flair.
Jadeon gave the softest hint of a smile, as though he too savored our time together.
I wanted to reach out and grab his hand, pull him into bed with me and feel his body next to mine again. Feel his strength, his weight, his love. To have those strong fingers of his return to mastering my body like he’d done within the hour beneath that hot shower. My eyes fluttered shut with the realization he could of course hear every thought.
“Sure you don’t want me to get you something more palatable?” On my reaction, he added with a smile, “To eat?”
“I’ve lost my appetite. Waiting to be turned into a vampire kind of does that to a girl.”
“I did warn you it would happen.” He arched an eyebrow. “Didn’t say when.”
“Do you still love me?”
He went to answer and looked away, his frown deepening.
Within came the deepest fracturing of my soul, and it was hard to tell if something nameless had buried itself deep inside of my chest or crawled its way out, ripping my insides apart as it went and leaving behind a hollowed heart.
Reacting to my haze of confusion, he said, “I’m sorry to be the cause of so much pain for you.”
“Then love me. Be with me. Hold me.”
He tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling. “I’m doing everything I can not to devour you right now. Please don’t make it any more difficult.” The tips of his fangs disappeared as he closed his mouth, his kissable lips hiding them.
“You still have feelings for me?” I said, reading that tell-tale sign of a vampire’s desire.
“I’m very fond of you.”
“You’re still angry because I turned up at that place?”
“I’m angry with myself for not getting through to you.”
“You realize why I came there tonight?”
“We have our own people working on it, Ingrid.”
“Care to share what you have?” I pulled myself farther up the headboard. “The odds of finding Beatrice decrease by 50 % if no solid lead is found.” I shook my head. “Usually I ignore those kinds of stats and place my full attention on doing what I do best.”
“We’ve doubled our efforts.” He paused. “Her home was undisturbed, which indicates the kidnapping didn’t occur there. She may have been snatched after the car accident. Beatrice is very well-liked. Trust me, we have everyone working on this.”
“Your files, your reports,” I said, “I want them.”
He sighed deeply. “I thought you weren’t working this aspect of Hauville’s case?”
Easing up my left sleeve, I showed him my circled brand. The one that both he and Orpheus had given me. “You think this now puts me in danger, don’t you?”
He conceded with a nod. “For centuries Orpheus used the symbol to protect his Gothicas, but we’re now concerned Hauville might use it to distinguish girls he’s developed a taste for.”
“More girls have gone missing?”
“Ingrid, we’re not doing this.”
I glared at him. “He’s missing. Do you know that?”
“We’ll find him.”
“You think his motivation is sexual?”
“Possibly.”
“Something is telling me it might not be.”
“Place all your attention on those cases in your in-tray.” He sat forward and rested his elbows on his knees.
“How do you know I have an in-tray?”
He shrugged. “You have an office.”
“Listen—”
“This is not up for discussion.”
“Who showed you the photo? Orpheus?”
He sighed. “What we have so far is tenuous.”
I caressed my face to ease my frustration. “I’m being kept at arm’s length by my department, by you, and Orpheus.”
He interwove his fingers. “It’s best if you let us deal with this.”
“Are you making any headway?” I balled my hands into fists. “Beatrice is Anaïs’ lover. She’s asked me to help her.”
“Stay away from Anaïs. She’s more reckless than you and that’s saying something.”
“What will happen to her?”
“Orpheus is with her now.”
“Please tell me he won’t hurt her.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine.”
“I thought you hated Orpheus?” I said. “You’re arch enemies.”
“Things change.” Jadeon leaned back. “Orpheus has behaved with you so far. Please don’t give him an excuse to take liberties. I get to read his thoughts too.”
I blushed wildly.
“A friendly warning, that’s all. He’s obsessed over you in the past. You know how unpredictable he is.”
“And yet you’re best buddies now?”
He paused, brightening suddenly. “It’s good to have all that behind us.”
“Can we talk about what happened to you and him?” I said, having been closed down by him last time I tried to discuss it. “You have specs of hazel in your irises. And Orpheus has a brown ring around his.” Something told me these were the aftereffects of what they’d both been through three months ago.
“I can’t...” He flinched.
“Jadeon?”
Tension marred his face. “It’s a blur.”
“What do you remember?”
“Vampires aren’t meant to get headaches. Thinking about it gives me one. Talking about it makes me…” He winced in pain.
“When you’re ready,” I whispered. “I’m here for you.”
“You will never visit the Athenaeum again,” he snapped. “I do my part to protect you, exhaustively so. You need to work with me on this. We had this discussion in Trafalgar Square. We agreed it’s safer for you keep a low profile. Stay away from the underworld. Stay away from me.”
“Those were your words. I don’t recall getting a word in.”
“Ingrid,
this is bigger than both of us.”
“What is?”
He blinked several times, his gaze not meeting mine. “My position does not allow for such luxuries as—”
“Love?”
The silence encroached into our space, forcing a rift between us and threatening to ruin everything. All the groundwork I’d made over the last hour was seemingly now lost. Our reunion tonight had been an illusion; a lie rearing its ugliness.
Hating the quiet, I broke it. “You berated me in front of the elders—”
“To placate them,” he said. “They were ready to turn you. Orpheus would only have been able to hold them back for so long.”
“Why do they want me turned?”
“You saw too much.”
I looked incredulous. “It’s a library.”
Something in his stare made me pause.
Not just a library?
“Anyone breeching my command to stay away from there risks their own death,” he said.
“You would never hurt me.”
His silence stunned me.
My lips quivered at his sternness. His change of demeanor had gone from friend to antagonist in a heartbeat.
“Get some sleep,” he said. “I’ll have my driver take you to work tomorrow.”
I eased my way down beneath the covers. “I’ll take the tube.”
“No, you won’t.” He pushed himself to his feet and came over, sitting beside me on the edge of the bed. He pulled the blanket up and over me.
The sensation of his fingertips caressing my scalp made my eyelids flicker.
“You’re not going to turn me while I’m asleep are you?” I said.
“That’s actually rather a good idea.”
“Not exactly reassuring.”
“You’re a difficult woman to get through to.”
“Promise me you’ll not shut me out again.”
“You have a remarkable future. Please don’t mess it up because of me.” He climbed onto the bed beside me and pulled me back toward him, wrapping his arms around me. Despite the blanket being between us I felt his warmth, his strength, and that comforting scent reached me. He was intoxicating.
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