by Nina Bangs
Thorn leaned even closer until she could feel his lips moving against her ear. Goose bumps popped up along various body parts.
“But I can tell you what it’s like.” His fingers moved down her body, lingering on her breasts, stomach, and skimming up her inner thigh. “If you’ll open your mind to me.”
She clenched around the promise of those fingers. “How?” Why did she want to know this so badly? But the answer was too new for her to face right now.
“Open your mind to me in the same way you open your body. Want me there.”
He had no idea the many places he was welcome in—her body, her mind, her life. She nodded. “I’ll try. But can’t you get into my mind even without my consent?”
“I wouldn’t do that to you.” He kissed the hollow of her throat. “Do you want to know the complete vampire experience?”
Considering where his lips were, Kayla had an idea what the word “complete” referred to. Was she ready? She didn’t have to think about it for long. “Yes.”
“Focus on your senses. What do they tell you about me?”
Kayla turned onto her side facing him. Exploring her senses with Thorn was foreplay at its best. She smiled.
He reached out to trace the shape of her smile with his fingertip. “If you expect me to maintain my legendary iron control, you’ll have to stop doing this.”
She pasted on a mock scowl. “Better?” Kayla didn’t wait for his answer. She leaned close, breathing him in. “Your scent has eluded me since the day I met you. But that’s good, because it belongs only to you. I could close my eyes and recognize you anywhere. I’ll always remember it here.” She drew a line with her finger from the tip of her nose to her heart.
Thorn smoothed her hair away from her face. “So I don’t have to worry about you cozying up to a vanilla bean thinking it’s me.”
She laughed. “No, you’ll never be a vanilla bean.”
He grew serious. “All of a vampire’s senses are enhanced. For example: your scent is layered. Right now you smell of my soap and shampoo. But beneath that . . .” Leaning close, he buried his face in her hair. “You smell of apples and lilacs and arousal.”
“Apples? I love them. I had one yesterday.” His closeness quickened her breathing. “And lilacs are my favorite flowers. I fill my place with them when they’re in bloom. They smell of home.” She’d just decided not to touch the arousal part of his scent checklist when she actually smelled the faint scent of lilacs and apples along with that certain something she associated with wanting him. “How did you know about the apples and lilacs? And how did I smell them too?”
Thorn shrugged. “It’s as though our sense of smell carries with it a ‘knowing.’ Your scent tells me not only what you wear on your skin now, but what you’ve brought with you from other places and times. I simply connected with your mind and shared. Don’t ask me how the ‘knowing’ works. Not a clue.”
“Why don’t you give me the CliffsNotes versions of sight and hearing? I want to get to the good stuff.” Just the words “taste” and “touch” would probably have him fanning away her arousal fumes.
His smile touched every inch of her as he raked his gaze over her body. There was nothing slow or gentle in that look.
“I see all of you, Kayla. This part . . .” He touched the tip of his finger to each nipple. “This part . . .” His finger trailed down her stomach. “And definitely this part . . .” That marauding finger slipped between her legs and touched a part that was all too ready for him. “And even here . . .” He touched her forehead.
Thankfully, he didn’t pass on any mental pictures. “Maybe I’m wrong, but I could swear that came under touching.” Please touch me again. Everywhere.
His smile turned sly. “Touch is a crossover sense.” His gaze grew intense. “I see the face you show now and all the faces you keep hidden. I see you, Kayla.”
She swallowed hard. That couldn’t be good. Maybe she didn’t want him to have such great eyesight. “What about hearing?”
He shrugged. “I can hear the grass grow.”
“Really?” She knew her eyes were wide.
Thorn laughed. “No. Just seeing what you’d believe. But I can hear your heartbeat.” His laughter faded. “I’d know your heart. Always.” His smile returned. “Now we’re ready for the ‘good stuff.’”
“Taste first.” Once again she was five years old as her mother asked her what flavor ice cream she wanted in her cone. “Chocolate. Rich, creamy, decadent chocolate.”
“What? I taste like chocolate?”
She put her hand flat against his chest and pushed. He complied by flopping onto his back.
“Not actually like chocolate. You embody the spirit of chocolate. Tasting you is that first burst of flavor, the slide of orgasmic pleasure, and then the satisfying afterglow.” She held up her hand to keep him from replying. “Wait. I have to refresh my taste just to make sure you’re not Rocky Road or butter pecan.”
She could see him biting his lip to keep from laughing. And when he released that lip, she swooped down to slide the tip of her tongue across it. Then she covered his mouth with hers and savored his warm richness.
Finally, she abandoned his mouth to test-taste elsewhere. Kayla thought she should explain her method to him. “When I taste for overall flavor, I have to do a lot of samplings from different areas to make sure the quality is consistent throughout.”
“Makes sense to me.” His voice was low and raspy.
By the time she’d licked her way across his hard male nipples down to where his cock rose thick and long, she was sure he was chocolate. She decided not to tell him, though. “Just one more little nibble and I’ll be done.”
“Me too.”
His pained mutter was tough to understand.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
She’d left the best for last. With way too much relish, she slowly licked his staff in a spiral pattern. When Kayla reached the head, she nibbled her way around it until, with a harsh oath, he gripped her hair to pull her away from him.
“I’m not done.”
“Yes. You. Are.” He bit off every word as though it might be his last.
Kayla tried to look mildly puzzled, but couldn’t quite achieve that innocent an expression. Her lips kept tipping up in a wicked grin. “You passed, by the way. So, tell me about how vampires experience taste. I suppose blood figures into this.” Somehow the thought didn’t horrify her.
“I can’t remember. You’ve erased my mind.” His words were almost a groan. “Let’s go right to touch.”
Suddenly, she found herself on her back while he loomed over her. “And I’ll handle this lesson.”
“Oh.” Well, she supposed it was only fair that he get a turn. Her heart ker-thumped its approval.
“Touch, Ms. Taste-tester, is highly erotic for a vampire. Our fingertips are supersensitized.”
He demonstrated by smoothing his fingers over every aroused inch of her body. But when he spread her legs, put his mouth on her there, and used his tongue to torture her very own super-sensitized pleasure nub, she had to say something.
Kayla tried twice before her mouth would form any sounds other than moans and cries. “That’s not fair. You’re using your tongue. That’s—” Ohmigod, ohmigod! “That’s. Taste.”
His answer was low and guttural. “It is what I say it is.”
She forgot then—what they were talking about, where she was, even who she was. Kayla was nothing but one giant nerve ending, and every touch lit her up.
“Quick. Now, before I burn out and you have to change the bulb.”
Thorn didn’t ask what she meant, but he evidently got the message. He straddled her, slid his hands beneath her and lifted. Kayla wrapped her legs around him. She could feel the nudge as his cock pressed between her legs. Everything inside her opened to him.
Even as the heaviness low in her stomach grew, she knew there was one last thing she had to say. “Remember. Total experie
nce.”
He didn’t answer. Slowly, he slid into her. She felt herself stretching then tightening around him just in case he was thinking about sneaking away. Kayla gasped as he buried himself completely inside her.
She waited, breathless, for the sexual dance to begin.
He withdrew, leaving only a small part of him in her—what a giant tease—and then thrust into her again. And again, and again, and again. Each time deeper, harder until her cries formed a chain connected only by her pounding heart and tattered breathing. She met him over and over, trying to take him deeper when deeper wasn’t possible because he’d already filled her all the way to her heart.
She sobbed, each gasping cry equal parts joy so deep no words would do it credit, frenzy to reach that moment when the idea of “perfect” shone brightest, and a soul-deep yearning for only this man.
Her senses spiraled outward, embracing his heartbeat—yes, she could feel and hear it—and all that surrounded them. The air shimmered with almost a life of its own. Every object in the room stood out in stark detail. And the plant on his nightstand waved its vine in the air. Vine?
Then it was as though someone grabbed her and yanked her backward through a tunnel. Everything disappeared except the sensations he created—friction, filling, completing. The end drew nearer until each thrust threatened to destroy her and then rebuild her in a new form.
She strained. Reaching, reaching. And just as she teetered on the edge, she remembered. Kayla was able to ground out only one word. “Share.”
As the storm broke, she felt him kneel up taking her with him. She wrapped her arms around him and he lowered his mouth to the hollow of her neck where her pulse beat its potent invitation.
She felt only a brief sting. And while her orgasm shattered her, she knew he was replacing the life force he took with feelings she’d never experienced before—a physical intensity that burned through her, a pleasure so complete she wanted to . . . Once again, her mind failed her. There were no words.
Her spasms peaked and slowly faded until she realized he’d laid her back on the bed. He rested beside her. She was a glass-eyed rag doll, limp from the tips of her fingers and toes all the way to her brain. No, her brain wasn’t limp at all. Now that she really didn’t need it, her mind wouldn’t stay quiet or peaceful. Distracted, she touched the spot on her neck where . . . Nothing. Her skin was smooth and unbroken.
Tell him, tell him, tell him now. Kayla explained to her brain that telling someone you loved them right after making love could be construed as a sexually generated response and therefore not reliable. She watched his face as he lay beside her. Yes, she loved him. And she would tell him. Just not right now. What if you say the words and he doesn’t say them back? Kayla closed her eyes. No, she wouldn’t go there.
“Maybe I don’t want your input.” Thorn didn’t sound as though he was in a post-ecstatic state.
“What?” She opened her eyes.
“I wasn’t talking to you.” He nodded at the plant on the nightstand beside her. “Vince had a few . . . suggestions.”
Kayla sucked in an outraged breath. “He watched us with his beady leafy eyes?”
Thorn lay on his back. He flung one arm across his eyes. “No. He can’t see. But he sort of knows things.” He sounded more tired than he should after cataclysmic sex. “I think he needs to mind his own business.”
Kayla relaxed a little. “What did he suggest?”
“It’s not important.” Thorn finally moved his arm and turned his head to look at her. “What we just shared was—”
She put her finger against his lips to stop him. “Don’t. Words would spoil it. Just know that I never . . .” She smiled. “See? No words. But I will tell you that your plan for mind-numbingly slow and drearily gentle lovemaking was an epic fail.”
He reached over to smooth her hair away from her face. “Sleep. It’s been a long night.” His incredible lips tipped up in a smile. “You were indescribably delicious.”
“Like chocolate?”
“I’ve never tasted chocolate. It didn’t exist in my part of the world when I was human. But yeah, the concept of chocolate.”
* * *
Thorn watched her sleep. Vince’s advice bothered him. The little shit had said that Thorn should tell Kayla he loved her because you never knew if you’d have the chance again. Talk about a downer. Of course he’d have the chance again. He’d tell her as soon as he marshaled all his arguments for her loving him. He hoped she wouldn’t fight him on this. Love almost never has a happy ending. Thorn tried to shove the thought from his mind. This was the new and more positive Thorn Mackenzie. He had to believe that she’d choose to stay with him.
As dawn drew closer, he lost himself in the memory of their lovemaking. Too bad he couldn’t have DVR’d his sensations and emotions for future enjoyment. He was right in the middle of remembering the instant he first tasted her life force when Vince interrupted.
“Aegir is coming. I feel him. Get up!” His small voice in Thorn’s head was shrill and panicked. “Wake everyone!”
Thorn sat up, instantly alert. “Are you sure? Loki chased him off.”
“No, he didn’t. Aegir . . .” Vince paused as though he was tuning in to his own personal link to the sea god. “Aegir just wanted everyone to think he’d run away so that Loki would leave. He’s coming here to destroy everyone.”
“Why?” Thorn was already shaking Kayla awake.
“Vengeance. You ruined his setup.”
“What?” Kayla sat up groggily.
“Get dressed. Aegir’s on his way.” He didn’t bother with explanations. Thank heaven she didn’t ask for any, just jumped from the bed and ran to grab her clothes.
Once dressed, Thorn scooped up Vince and followed Kayla out the door. Once he’d yelled for Kel to get off the pier, he called his beach home. It would only take about ten minutes for the rest of his team to get their butts to the castle. Kayla called Sparkle on her cell.
Kayla raced across Seawall Boulevard beside Thorn. “How do you know he’s coming?”
“Vince told me.” He knew how that sounded. Kayla had been there when Cinn gave the plant to him. She’d heard what Cinn had said about Vince. But did she believe? Too bad he didn’t have more time to ease her into acceptance of all that was Vince.
He needn’t have worried. She just nodded and kept running. What a woman. And she was his. Thorn didn’t make any mental excuses for his caveman mentality. Possessiveness is not a sign of an evolved vampire. He didn’t give a damn.
As Thorn along with Kayla and Kel burst into the castle’s lobby, they were met by Sparkle and the rest of the nonhumans there.
Thorn couldn’t believe it. Sparkle wore leather pants, high boots with those damn heels, and some sort of clingy top. “Damn, woman, do you sleep in those outfits? Couldn’t you find anything more appropriate for a life-or-death struggle?”
Sparkle raised one brow.
Thorn had never realized how much one raised brow could say. Things like: you’re an idiot with the brainpower of a doorstop, I’ve known earthworms with more sense than you.
“Perception is everything. If we look like a ragtag army, that’s what Aegir will believe we are. I’ve fought barbarian hordes in ‘outfits’ like this.”
Thorn didn’t have time to argue. He turned to Kayla. “Stay inside.” He realized his mistake the moment the words left his mouth. You’d think he would’ve learned from their sea adventure on the good ship Death Wish.
Kayla lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes. “I feel perfectly capable of making my own decisions.”
Every once in a while, even after a thousand years, he’d feel the need to express his emotions with a human action. Right now he felt like heaving a huge frustrated sigh. “Great. Decide on how to keep yourself safe.” And if you set one foot outside the castle, I’ll keep you safe.
Thorn held up his hand to still the babble of voices. “I don’t know what you guys think, but I feel we should make our stan
d in front of the castle. Nirvana sticks out into the Gulf. It’s too vulnerable to attack from the sea.”
Edge, the cosmic troublemaker with the grim reaper tattoo, nodded. “We have to end this battle fast and cover our butts just as quickly. Once the human authorities get involved, everything will go to hell.”
“I’ll activate the park’s guardian gargoyles immediately.” Holgarth didn’t waste any more words. He headed toward the great hall.
“Gargoyles?” Thorn looked at Sparkle.
She was busy slipping into a short black leather jacket. “Live the Fantasy has protector gargoyles surrounding the park. The two main ones are on either side of the great hall doors leading into the courtyard.” She flipped her hair outside her jacket collar and started walking toward the lobby doors. “Holgarth mumbles some sort of spell and wakes them. Once roused, they’ll keep our enemies out.” She paused. “Most of the time.”
Before Thorn could comment, his team rushed through the doors. Relief flooded him. He hadn’t realized how much he was depending on them.
He motioned Zane over. “Your dad is outside waking the gargoyles. Maybe he’ll want help.”
Zane nodded and was gone.
Sparkle reached the doors and turned to face them. “I’m not as powerful as some of you, but I’m very good at organizing. I feel that our magic-makers should scatter themselves along the front of the building. They’ll weave wards to keep Aegir from the castle. If he gets past the wards, the rest of us will use our individual talents to defeat him. Don’t stand together in a big group. Too easy to take all of you out at once. Remember that Aegir is a sea god. If we can lure him onto dry land, we’ll have an advantage.”
Banan spoke. “If Aegir is coming, Ran will be with him along with her nine daughters. Don’t underestimate any of them. Ran is very good at ensnaring people in her net and drowning them. Her daughters are waves in their sea forms. Rogue waves can take apart most buildings and wash everyone and everything out to sea.”
A sudden roar filled the castle. Startled, Kayla spun in a circle. “Is that Aegir?”