by Luxie Ryder
“Yes, I got them.” She sighed and the anger drained from her face. “But that’s hardly the same as seeing with my own eyes that you were alive. Ethan, I truly thought you were dying.”
“I’m sorry, really I am. But as you can see, I’m fine.”
He moved a little closer to the door, his hand extended as if to grab the knob. Any hopes that she’d accept his flippant answer and leave him to his misery were dashed when she walked back to the sofa and sat down again.
“Are you going to tell me what happened?”
“Why?”
She smiled, but it didn’t reach her tired eyes. “Besides the fact you owe me an explanation, I’m a lone woman living in a house with a man I don’t really know as well as I thought I did. If you have drug or alcohol problems—”
Ethan swallowed his offense at her words. “I don’t drink, and as for drugs, do I look like an addict to you?”
Hallie shook her head, a shy smile lighting her features. “Not really. You do look well, though. Amazingly so, considering how bad you looked two weeks ago…” Her voice drifted off and she seemed to lose her train of thought as her gaze crawled over him slowly. Ethan tensed and turned away.
“So, what happened?” she asked, the weariness back in her tone.
“I don’t know the details.” That much wasn’t a lie at least. “I was researching a story at this club and the last thing I remember is a young Creole woman—”
Hallie cast her gaze downward. “Did you…you know…with her?”
“Have sex with her? No.”
The blush crawling over Hallie’s cheeks almost made him growl. He didn’t need to be reminded that her warm, sweet blood lay mere millimeters below the surface of her skin.
“So what did she do to you?”
He shrugged, feigning ignorance. “I can only guess what happened but it doesn’t matter now anyway. As you can see, there’s no lasting damage.” Hallie fell silent. If he was very lucky, she’d let it drop. But since when had he ever been lucky?
“I’m sorry Ethan, but that’s bullshit. You’re a reporter for God’s sake. Do you really expect me to believe you didn’t try to find out what she did to you?”
“Like I said, it doesn’t matter—”
“Like hell it doesn’t! All kinds of shady stuff goes down in New Orleans. How do you know she didn’t poison you? Doc Fletcher said—”
“Whatever he said was wrong.”
“So you do know what it is.” Hallie got to her feet and closed in on him, her voice a gentle plea. “Tell me.”
She reached out to grip his t-shirt but he stopped her, wrapping a hand around each of her wrists and held her away. Hallie gasped from the contact, obviously shocked at how cold he felt. For him, her skin almost burned his palms as her heat radiated through his flesh.
“Please, I need to know,” she whispered.
“It would only frighten you.”
Ethan dropped his gaze, unable to look into her eyes while they silently begged him to open up to her. Instead, he gazed at her trembling lips, groaning when the sight of them caused a hard jolt of desire to course through him. Ethan let go of her and tried to move away but he stopped, frozen with dread when her fingertips caressed his cheek.
Ethan felt her heart thud with frenzy and she sucked in shallow, rasping breaths. He stared at her face, then her sensuous lips slightly parted as she tilted her head back, telling him without words she wanted to be kissed. Ethan drank the sight of her in, promising himself this was all he would take…but then he caught another aroma…one he couldn’t resist.
Hallie’s arousal perfumed the air, assaulting his senses without warning. The tiny amount of restraint Ethan had left, snapped, replaced by the hungry entity within him. He couldn’t control himself any longer, not when the intoxicating woman tormented his basic desires. He reached out and cupped her jaw, lifting her chin as his mouth descended.
Hallie sank into him, moaning softly when his lips slid across hers. Her hands brushed his hair and she tugged, trying to pull him closer, her body pressed against his. Her warm, soft flesh burned into him, even through his t-shirt, and he craved more of her heat. Ethan wrapped his arms around her back and trapped her against his torso, thrusting his groin into hers in response to the way she writhed against his erection.
He only intended to give her a little of what she asked for while taking a taste for himself, but he was unprepared for the spike of lust spearing through him when her tongue slid boldly into his mouth. An image of her, naked and writhing beneath him, leapt into his mind and he knew he no longer had the strength to stop.
Hallie pulled away first, her breath ragged as she released a throaty, self conscious laugh…but when she looked up at him, a hair-raising scream tumbled from her lips, as she stared in horror at his mouth.
Ethan brought his hands to his lips, wiping them quickly to check for her blood. He wiped again and winced as something sharp pierced the back of his knuckles.
Fangs. He’d forgotten about the fangs.
Chapter Two
“Oh my God, oh my God.” Hallie chanted the prayer like a mantra, pacing in tight, erratic circles. She’d been back in her own apartment for almost an hour and her heart still hadn’t stopped threatening to beat its way out of her chest.
What was he?
Vampire, a little voice in her mind whispered.
The first time she’d put a name to what Ethan was, she’d cried. The next, she’d laughed. In the end, she just kept repeating the word in her head, trying to desensitize herself to the panic knotting in her chest every time she thought of it. Any argument she might raise that such things didn’t exist were crushed by the overwhelming evidence of what she’d just seen with her own eyes.
Hallie’s mind raced through the facts. She finally understood why he looked so different and suffered such agony that night she’d watched over him…which meant she’d had a vampire living under her roof for two weeks. Okay, so what did that tell her? For a start, he obviously meant her no harm. He could have broken into her apartment and killed her any time he wanted, but he’d stayed away—tried his hardest to avoid her in fact. And if things hadn’t gone as far as they just did between them, she might never have known.
The memory of the lust raging through her at his touch made her breath catch and her stomach flutter with anticipation. God help her but whatever he was, she’d wanted him so badly it hurt. Never in her life did she crave someone’s touch the way she needed Ethan’s. He made her come alive after feeling alone for so long. Her lips tingled from his kisses and her nipples throbbed from the memory of his touch. A heady ache pulsed between her legs, sensitive to her every motion that eventually she had to sit down to stop the torture.
When the adrenaline finally faded away, Hallie couldn’t fight the exhaustion and fell asleep on the sofa. She dreamed of Ethan again— an erotic edge to every image now, her lust for him an integral part of the dreams. Hallie saw herself wrapped in Ethan’s arms as his body claimed hers, his handsome face taut with pleasure. Then his expression suddenly contorted in agony and he was dragged away from her by unseen hands. She searched for him through the dark labyrinths of her nightmare, just as his life ended in a cruel and violent way, killed by a demon wielding an ancient sword. She screamed out in agony and terror as she watched the man she loved die.
“Hallie.”
She woke with a gasp. Strong hands held her down and she struggled against the restraint, her breath ragged from the effects of her dream. After a heart-pounding moment, the fog of sleep cleared and she recognized the face looming above her.
“Ethan! What are you doing here?” What was he doing in her room? Oh God! “Please! Don’t hurt me. I…I won’t tell anyone.”
He leapt to his feet and staggered away from her, horror etched in his handsome face. “Jesus, Hallie. Is that what you think I’m trying to do? Don’t you know I’d die for you?”
Ethan’s passionate vow pulled her up short and chased away her fear
. Since when had he cared enough to even speak to her, never mind die for her? She processed his words, unable to look him directly in the eyes.
“I’m sorry. You frightened me, that’s all.”
Ethan had lost some of the clothing he’d had on when she spoke to him earlier. He wore no shirt. The fly of his jeans gaped open, exposing a dark line of hair that disappeared inside the hard ridges of fabric. She dragged her gaze away and turned towards the wall, gasping again when she saw the familiar picture that hung opposite her bed and realized she wasn’t in her lounge anymore.
“What’s going on?”
“It seemed unfair to leave you sleeping on that hard sofa when it’s my fault you’re not in your own bed.”
“But how…” she looked down to check she was still fully clothed before struggling to sit up. “Did you carry me in here?”
Ethan arched a dark eyebrow. “As I said, you were asleep.” He dropped his gaze. “I checked in on you a couple of times and put you to bed about an hour ago. I wouldn’t have come back again except I heard you scream.” He lifted his gaze, concern furrowing his brow. “Did you have a nightmare?”
Hallie nodded, surprised to realize she actually felt safer with him near, and undeniably touched knowing he’d been watching over her.
He grimaced. “Well I guess there’s no need to ask who caused it.”
She saw the self loathing in his eyes again and it hurt her to know what he’d gone through—was still going through—must be terrifying for him. The fear and repulsion she’d shown him were all he could expect from others now as well. Hallie reached out and grabbed hold of his thumb in a gesture of comfort.
“It’s not your fault. You tried to protect me and I was too stubborn to let you.” She tugged on his hand and forced him to sit on the bed beside her. “It was a shock, that’s all.”
“For you and me both.” A slight smile curved his lips. It was the first she’d seen in weeks.
“You poor, poor man.” Her voice trembled and the tears that had been building overwhelmed her. Ethan looked so scared and alone. He had no-one to turn to.
“Hey…hey, I’m okay, sweetheart. Don’t cry for me. I’m not worth it.”
He pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her, crushing the side of her body to his chest before she had a chance to be scared. For all his bravery, Hallie could sense the agony in him and a need for comfort, and she didn’t want to pull away, despite the cold touch of his skin. It seemed only natural to turn her body fully against him and hug him too, but again he tried to move away, so she clasped her hands behind his neck and hung on tighter.
She wasn’t aware of the exact moment her touch turned from simple comfort to a caress, but suddenly she was holding him a little closer and letting her hands wander a little further. The desire that left her weak hours earlier roared back to life and she lifted her gaze to his.
“Ethan?” Was he feeling the insane heat between them? Did he know what he was doing to her and how much she wanted him?
He averted his gaze to the window. “You need to sleep.”
‘That’s not what I need…” She left the sentence hanging, hoping he’d read between the lines and react the way she wanted him to. The tension of his jaw drew her attention and she couldn’t resist the urge to run her tongue over it.
Ethan groaned and leaned away. “Hallie, I don’t know yet where my limits are,” he warned, his gaze locked on her mouth.
“You won’t hurt me,” she whispered, angling her body closer to his and brushing her lips against his mouth. “You’ve had plenty of opportunity to do me harm, even tonight while you watched me sleep.”
“But you don’t know how intensely I feel things now.” He gazed at her again and the midnight blue of his eyes seemed to darken with each spell-binding moment. “The hunger I have for you scares me.”
“It scares me too but not in the way you think.” Hallie grasped his face between her hands so his gaze would stay focused on hers. “I’m scared because knowing what you are doesn’t lessen my desire for you.”
“But what if it’s not me you want? What if you are just reacting to some inbuilt lure, designed to trap you so I can prey on you?”
Hallie smiled. “Are you going to prey on me?” Ethan looked like he wanted something from her but she didn’t think for one second it was her blood.
“No, but that doesn’t change the fact that your reaction to me might be beyond your control.”
“Would it help you to know I think I fell a little bit in love with you the first time I saw you?” Ethan seemed about to argue with her so she put her hand against his lips to silence him. “It’s you who didn’t want me, remember?”
He groaned and shook his head. “It may have looked that way but I couldn’t afford to act on how I felt. My getting involved with you could have put you in harm’s way and I thought it was for the best if I kept my distance until this assignment was over.”
“What assignment?”
“So you’re in love with me, huh?” Ethan’s smile lit up his face, her question either forgotten or ignored.
She blushed. “Just a little bit.”
He closed his eyes, sighing deeply. “That’s more than I deserve.”
Hallie kissed him then, desperate to show him how worthy he was. He gasped when her mouth met his and his hands reached up to tilt her head as he deepened the kiss, his tongue urging her lips apart. The hunger of his kiss tingled throughout her body, and she whimpered when he tore his mouth away from hers too soon, only to sigh with pleasure as he grazed his teeth down her throat.
Ethan stood with her in his arms and let her body slide down his as he set her on her feet. He bunched the fabric of her sweats in his hands, using them to bring her hard against him. One of his thighs pushed between hers, and she felt another flush of heat course through her. He slipped the sweatshirt over her head, dropping his gaze to her pink lace bra when it came into view. Hallie moaned languidly as he sucked her aching nipple through the fabric, all the while fumbling with the tie at the waist of her pants. The touch of his fingers made her gasp again and he slid his palms inside the fabric at her hips, running his hands over her skin to knead her buttocks.
Hallie freed Ethan’s erection from the confines of his clothing and rubbed the hard shaft between her palms as he pushed her pants down her legs to pool at her feet. He stepped around, unhooking her bra and slid it away from her body, releasing an agonizing groan as his cock slid out of her grip.
He kicked off his jeans with a devilish grin.
Bathed in the soft amber light of her lamp, they embraced, completely naked, every inch of Hallie’s skin touching his. Ethan was so tall he had to bend to kiss her and he took advantage of the opportunity to run his hands up her thighs and over her butt, before bringing one around to dip into the wetness between her legs. Hallie shuddered and threw back her head, her fingers digging into Ethan’s shoulders to steady herself.
He pushed her down onto the bed and leaned over to kiss her mouth again before trailing his lips over her collarbone to her breasts, sucking each nipple tenderly. Then, with agonizing slowness, he continued down her body to her pulsing clit. Hallie held her breath as he flicked his tongue over her for the first time but couldn’t control her sudden gasp when his next taste was possessive. She jerked upright from the bed, burying her hands in his hair to keep his mouth against her. Ethan slid his tongue along her wet lips with devastating skill, holding her firm, repeating his ministrations over and over again. Her legs began to shake, and he pushed them out of the way with an urgent nudge on the inside of each thigh, groaning as he buried his head further. Hallie felt a thick finger probing at her entrance, but he didn’t enter her, leaving her to jerk helplessly against him as he held her on the brink.
She gazed at him, wondering what he might be waiting for, only to find him staring up her body as if drinking in the sight of her reaction to his touch. Ethan’s thumb circled her clit and suddenly, slid the rest of his finge
r into her pussy, sending her muscles into convulsion around him as he pushed deeper and deeper with each thrust. Hallie’s hips arched off the bed when her orgasm hit, and Ethan moved up to suck a nipple into his mouth while his fingers continued to coax her devastating release.
When her quivering subsided, he covered her body with his own. His lips were clamped firmly shut and Hallie knew he was hiding his fangs from her. She rubbed a thumb across his mouth, pressing gently to ask for access. When he opened for her, revealing strong white fangs, she touched them softly and smiled to show him that she wasn’t afraid. Her caress caused a growl to rumble through Ethan’s chest and he nudged her legs further apart, holding her steady as he pushed his cock inside her.
‘You are so beautiful.’ He slid into her, cupping her head in his hands while she urged him deeper inside by clasping the cheeks of his ass. The change in position brought Ethan’s pelvic bone into delicious contact with hers and tiny electric shocks of arousal speared through her again as she ground against him.
Hallie jerked helplessly as wave after wave of sensation rocked through her. With every part of them so intimately joined, she marvelled at the way her soft body moulded around his hard muscle as if they were created only for each other. Hallie planted her feet on either side of his hips and thrust up towards him, allowing him to enter her deeper than before. He gave a hoarse cry and pounded into her like he’d been waiting for Hallie to show him that it was what she’d wanted all along.
She threw her head back against the pillows when the first spasms of another orgasm hit hard. Her hands searched blindly for his shoulders and she clung on to him, pulling him closer. A whimper of unrestrained pleasure tumbled from her lips when she felt him pulse with his own release, the intensity of his climax epitomizing hers.
She didn’t know how long they laid abed afterwards, limbs entangled, still joined. Hallie slept wrapped in Ethan’s arms and woke sometime later to find him watching her.