“Yeah.”
“How is he?” he asked, feeling like an ass for not having asked that particular question sooner. Micah Sabin suffered from a powerful vampire poison that affected his sanity, at times making him a violent, volatile danger, even to those he loved. When he was going through one of his bad spells, the Sabins often had to lock him up, since they couldn’t bring themselves to kill him.
She ran her hands over her arms, her shoulders lifting in a weary shrug. “He’s better. Worse. It all depends on the day, really.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah.” Her voice sounded thick with tears. “Me, too.”
She looked so lost suddenly, it was all he could do not to walk over and take her into his arms, offering what comfort he could. Granted, after becoming a hard bastard at an early age, comfort had never really been one of his strong points. But it hadn’t mattered. He hadn’t felt the need to offer it for years, and damn it, he shouldn’t be feeling it now. Not with Juliana.
Every single time he looked at her, loud, ear-shattering sirens bombarded his brain, as if a nuclear holocaust was bearing down on him. They were irritating as hell, but he figured he’d just keep ignoring the buggers and stick to his plan of getting as much of her as he could before it ended.
And, yeah, he knew what he sounded like. Some desperate junkie trying to justify his next fix. Stupid. Dangerous. And potentially lethal. But even knowing it, he couldn’t stop. His plan might not be perfect, but it was the only one he had, and he was sticking with it. Hopefully Gabby’s blend would be enough to prevent him from making the mother lode of all mistakes. And if it didn’t…
No, he wouldn’t think about that. He’d resist it with everything he had—even if it meant doing the unthinkable…and sending Gideon in to take his place.
Which meant he needed to start getting his fill, now, while he still had the chance.
“What are you doing?” she asked, a wary note edging into her voice as he sat down in the chair again and started taking off his boots and socks. Then he stood back up and pulled off the T-shirt he’d changed into earlier, dropping it on the floor, and reached for the top button on his fly.
“I’m getting ready for bed,” he told her, his fingers sliding to the next button.
Her eyes went huge. “But this is my room.”
He worked open another button. “Which is precisely why I’m here, and not in another one. I’m dead on my feet, but there’s no way in hell I’ll be able to sleep when I’m this wound up. So I plan on fucking you until we’re both too exhausted to move, then grab a few hours of downtime before I do it again.” He finished with the last button, the denim slouching low on his hips as he made his way toward her, saying, “And by that time, I reckon it’ll be time to check back in with Knox.”
She took a deep breath, looking as if she was trying very hard not to panic, while at the same time doing her best to rein in her temper. “I’ll have sex with you, because that’s what I agreed to. But I’m not…I won’t sleep beside you.”
His brows drew together in confusion as he reached the place where she stood, no more than a foot of space between them. “Why the hell not?”
“Because,” she explained, wetting her lips, “that wasn’t part of the agreement.”
Shrugging his shoulders, he said, “I’m making the rules up as I go along.”
Her nostrils flared, arms crossed so tight over her chest it was probably difficult for her to breathe. “How convenient for you!” she practically shouted, the panic in her words impossible to miss.
“You’re not…afraid of me, are you?”
“No!”
A wave of relief, followed by a fresh burst of frustration. “Then what’s the bloody problem?”
“Sleeping is like feeding,” she argued. “It’s too…too intimate.”
“Then it’s too damn bad you feel that way,” he bit out in a hard voice, irritated as hell that he was apparently good enough to fuck, but not to share a bed with. “You should have made that stipulation last night, when we were negotiating, but you didn’t. Now it’s too damn late.”
“That isn’t fair!”
“Fair?” he growled, yanking her against his chest. “What isn’t fair is spending the last year needing to be inside you so badly I can’t see straight, and you turning your little nose up at me every time I got close to you!”
She craned her head back to gape up at him. “I did no such thing!”
“The hell you didn’t,” he groaned, suddenly covering her mouth with his in a kiss that was hot and angry and hard, flavored with raw, seething emotions that had him tearing away before he got lost in the storm.
Keeping his fingers locked around her arms, he stared her right in the eye, his chest rising and falling from the jagged force of his breaths. “I want you in a bed, Juliana. I want hours on top of you, under you, beside you. Hell, I want it all. And I want to be able to drift off, knowing that I can roll back over at any time and sink right back into you.” His voice dropped even lower. “So stop arguing and get back on the damn bed.”
“You know what your problem is? You’re too accustomed to getting your own way.”
Sliding his hands up to her shoulders, he gave her a cocky smile. “No harm in that.”
“It’s bad for your ego!” she fumed, thumping her fists against his chest.
“You’re the only thing feeding my ego,” he said, digging his hands in her hair to keep her from pulling away, his fingers shaping around her skull. “I touch you and you start coming,” he growled, turning her head so that he could put the gravelly words in her ear, giving a quick nip to the delicate lobe. “Makes me feel like a god when you do that.”
“A g-god?” she said with an angry burst of laughter, trembling so hard her teeth were chattering. “You’re c-crazy!”
About you… He almost said the words out loud, but bit them back at the last second, knowing that was a bit of insanity he could never allow. Bad enough that she knew how much he wanted her physically. He had no intention of letting her know exactly how much he enjoyed the rest of her.
“I know this place isn’t ideal,” he told her, forcing himself to take a step back and let her go, giving himself a minute to get his head on straight, “but it’s better than nothing. And I’ll probably cause some kind of permanent damage to myself if we don’t go ahead and get this over with.”
Her spine stacked up to her full height, which still left her a good ten inches shorter than him. “Over with?” she choked, her gray eyes flashing with indignation. “I swear you’re the most crass man I’ve ever known.”
“You want some smooth-talking seduction,” he muttered, rubbing a hand over his mouth, his heavy-lidded gaze lowering to her breasts, “you’re going to have to let me take the bloody edge off first. I’m dying here, woman.”
That was such a guy thing to say, Juliana almost laughed. But the husky sound was cut off as soon as he reached down and shucked his jeans, his tight black boxers doing little to hide his blatant, jaw-dropping erection. But then, the rest of his body was just as incredible. Tall and hard and dangerously powerful, he was all tough, ropy muscles and sinew bunched beneath dark, hair-dusted skin. So ruggedly gorgeous he could have made a freaking fortune as a model.
With a hard swallow, she tried to clear the husky note of lust from her throat. But it didn’t work. “Ashe…I’m not sure this is smart.”
“Like I told you before, fuck smart,” he rasped, his rough tone the sexiest damn thing she’d ever heard. He lifted his hand, tipping her chin up with his fingers, while his other hand grabbed a fistful of her hair, dragging her closer. Then he lowered his head over hers, his mouth close enough for her to feel the sensual warmth of his breath. “You don’t want me buried inside you, Jules, then you had better tell me now,” he whispered, the bright, molten look in his eyes making her want impossible things. “Because in another thirty seconds, honey, it’ll be too late.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
JULIANA HAD EVERY INTENTION of telling the man no, even with that blasted agreement weighing between them. She knew she wasn’t ready yet…that she had to find some way to bolster her defenses before letting him inside her. But when she opened her mouth, the words wouldn’t come. All she could make was a soft, needy sound that made his silver eyes burn hot with triumph.
God, she was so easy it was embarrassing. After everything she’d been through, everything she and her loved ones had suffered, and she still couldn’t turn her back on a beautiful face when it counted.
He wrapped her in his arms, his big hands hot and strong against her back, molding her against the front of his body as he took her mouth, claiming it, reminding her of exactly how perfect it felt to lose herself in him. To lose herself in this pulsing, deafening, shattering rush of sensation, everything warm and heavy with promise, like some kind of incandescent emotion thrumming through her veins. She couldn’t put a name to it. All she could do was fall deeper into that blazing, blinding light as he thrust his tongue against hers in a kiss that was blatantly sexual. He held nothing back, his aggressive hunger like a physical entity wrapping around them, binding her in his spell. His arms tightened, lifting her off the ground, his delicious, devastating mouth never leaving hers as he turned and carried her to the foot of the bed.
She lost herself in the scorching depths of the kiss, drugged by the sensual pleasure, her heart pounding in deep, rhythmic beats as she felt him reach for the bottom of her shirt. He broke away only long enough to rip the shirt over her head, then took her mouth in another blistering kiss, his chest rubbing against her sensitive breasts, making them feel swollen and full, while his fingers started to work on her jeans. Within seconds, her jeans and panties were lying on the floor at her feet, and she was standing naked in his arms. His black boxers were the only thing that separated them.
“I can’t get enough of your mouth,” he groaned, kissing her with an almost visceral hunger, her breath coming in short, choppy bursts as she tried to keep up with him. She held on tight to his big shoulders, her knees shaking as his hands moved in bold sweeps over her breasts and hips, before curving around to squeeze her ass. “You need to get on the bed,” he growled against her lips.
Breaking away from the kiss, Juliana struggled to catch her breath. “Can we turn off the lights first?”
His hands tightened on her hips, his bright gaze tracking down her body. “No way in hell.”
She opened her mouth to argue, feelings of insecurity and shyness nipping at her heels, but then snapped it shut. They’d already argued enough for one day. If this was going to happen, and it sure as hell appeared that it was, she didn’t want to remember acting like a shrew. For once, she wanted something amazing to look back on. Something hotter and more wicked than anything she’d ever read in a book. An incredible memory to keep her warm on a cold winter’s night.
And if any man was capable of creating a memorable sexual moment, she knew it was this one.
“On the bed,” he grunted, picking her up and tossing her into the middle of the mattress as if she weighed nothing.
“Damn it,” she gasped, throwing her arms out as she stopped bouncing, her knees bent and spread in a way that was no doubt giving him a hell of a shot. Arching her brows at him, she asked, “What is it with you and tossing me onto things?”
“It gets you where I want you faster.” His voice was low, his attention focused hard and tight on the tingling flesh between her thighs. Juliana started to snap them together, but he said, “Don’t!”
She probably would have ignored him and closed her legs anyway, if he hadn’t diverted her attention by reaching down and shoving his boxers over his hips, the soft cotton dropping to the floor. She was still blinking, trying to take in her first stunning encounter with his completely naked, mouthwatering body, when he said, “How do you take your birth control?”
“What?” she asked, distracted. But in her defense, it was hard to concentrate when his impressive erection kept stealing her attention. Then she thought about what he’d said, and her wide-eyed gaze locked with his, his expression taut with hard, masculine need.
“I was so wound up in London,” he said roughly, “I didn’t even think about the possibility of pregnancy.” A wry, crooked smile kicked up the corner of his mouth, the crinkly lines at the corners of his eyes making him even sexier. “I guess you blew my mind. We’re talking complete and total meltdown.”
She opened her mouth, but couldn’t think of a single thing to say.
There was an odd expression in his eyes that she couldn’t define, his tone turning almost tender. “Problem is,” he said, settling on his knees on the foot of the bed, “I still don’t want to wear a condom. I want to feel all those cushy little muscles inside you gripping my naked dick, without anything between us. But I can try to pull out if I need to. Just tell me now, so I can be ready.”
“I… Uh, it’s not a problem,” she stammered, wondering what she was supposed to make of this. “We’re covered. You don’t need to…uh, pull out.”
Juliana was afraid he would press her for details, but he accepted her words with a slow nod, his gaze sliding from her face, taking a slow sweep of her body. Still staring, he reached down and gripped his cock, fisting the heavy shaft in a brutal hold as he studied the flare of her hips, then the curve of her breasts, before dipping once again to the damp curls between her thighs. “God, Jules. You are so beautiful.”
She smiled, her hands grabbing on to handfuls of the bedding as she watched him crawl toward her, his powerful muscles rippling beneath the tight stretch of his skin, making him look like a predator. Which he was. A mouthwatering, sexy, gorgeous one that she wanted to hate for making her want him so deeply, for the simple fact that he could never be hers.
But for the moment, Ashe Granger was in her bed, and she was going to enjoy the hell out of him, not expecting any more than this. Than these fleeting moments of pleasure.
Shoving any mood-killing thoughts of the future out of her mind, Juliana gave herself completely over to the moment. And to the man.
As if he sensed her silent surrender, he placed his hands on her ankles, the calluses on his palms scraping lightly against her flesh as he stroked his way up her legs, his thumbs rubbing against the inner curve of her thighs. Then his grip tightened, his gaze zeroed in hard and tight on her sex. He made a rough sound in his throat, then pushed her thighs wider. And even though she’d known what was coming, she still cried out when he leaned down and lashed his tongue over her clit.
She blinked, unable to believe that keening sound had come from her.
Tucking her chin into her chest, Juliana stared down at his dark head buried between her legs, his tongue doing some kind of fluttering tremolo that made it impossible to breathe. Pushing two thick fingers inside her, he twisted them deep as he kissed his way up over her belly, her ribs, until he’d taken one of her tight nipples into the scorching heat of his mouth.
“I need you,” he groaned, his lips moving against her nipple while his fingers continued to move in slow thrusts, working against the tightness of her body. “So badly, Jules.”
“Then take me,” she whispered, running her hands over his powerful arms, the muscles so hard and thick they’d pushed his veins to the surface, her knees hugging his sides.
He lifted higher over her body and claimed her mouth again in a kiss that was deliciously wicked, his tongue tasting like her as he licked and stroked, scattering her rational thoughts like confetti. He moved one hand to the back of her neck, holding her still for the marauding pressure of his mouth, his other hand now curving around her thigh as he rolled his hips, rubbing the hot ridge of his cock against her sensitive folds. He was teasing her…drugging her, building her up until she was ready to scream for him to just do it already.
“Ashe, please!”
“You’re tiny, baby, and I’m not.” The words sounded as if they were ripped from his throat. “I’ll try not to hurt you, but…”
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