Deadly Is the Kiss

by Rhyannon Byrd

  He brought his gaze back to hers. “When this started, I thought I was being punished.”

  “And now?”

  His lips curled, eyes crinkling with a breathtaking look that was both tender and suggestive. “Now I know I must have already paid for my sins, because Burning for you is the most amazing thing that could have ever happened to me. I know I don’t deserve you now, Jules. But I’ll do whatever it takes to become a man who does.”

  With a hard swallow, she said, “You really want me?”

  His eyes were bright. “I want you. More than… Christ, I want you so badly, I can’t even put it into words.”

  “Oh, God.” She wrapped her fingers around his strong wrists, completely destroyed, her heart melting into some kind of warm, glowing flame in her chest. She shivered and trembled, lips tingling, eyes hot from the sting of tears. How the hell did he do this to her?

  Lowering his head, he rested his forehead against hers as he said, “I know you’re scared. And probably still mad at me. But I won’t give up on you, Jules. Ever. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you love me. I’ll—”

  “Ashe—”

  He raised his head, his hands warm against the sides of her face as he stared deep into her eyes. “Damn it, let me finish. I’ll—”

  “I already do.”

  “Do what?”

  Her smile was wobbly. “Love you.”

  He blinked. “You love me?”

  “Yes!” She gave a watery laugh. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

  His mouth tilted at a rakish angle. “Then tell me again. I’m listening now.”

  Knowing this was the most incredible moment of her life, Juliana wet her lips, and said, “I love you, Ashe Granger. So much that it hurts.”

  And with those simple words, she let loose a storm of hunger, his mouth ravaging hers with wild, devastating skill, her thoughts scattering like the windblown seeds of a dandelion. But she somehow managed to focus on the words she knew she had to say. “Wait!” she gasped, turning her face away as she tried to catch her breath. “We haven’t talked about children.”

  Panting, he asked, “What about them?”

  Juliana forced herself to meet his gaze. “Ashe, you know I can’t have any. I…I won’t be able to give you sons and daughters. I won’t—”

  “Jules, stop.” He wrapped his arms around her, crushing her against his chest. “I hate, hate, what those bastards did to you, but don’t think for a second that changes the way I feel about you. If you decide you don’t want a family, I’ll accept that and I’ll understand. But if you decide that you do, then, honey, there are millions of children in the world who need parents who will love and cherish them.”

  She stared back at him, trying to put her intense, incredible feelings into words. But it was impossible. So she simply grabbed him instead, pulling his head down to hers and kissing him with all the love and fiery passion he’d ignited inside her. He growled, rubbing his hands over her hips and pulling her closer, while she clutched his broad, muscular shoulders, squeezing the tough muscles.

  Lifting her into his arms, his voice was breathless as he said, “I want to be with you, Jules. Today. Tomorrow. Every month and year and decade that goes by. I want every morning and every night. I want it all. I don’t ever want to be apart from you.” He kissed her lips as he laid her down on the bed, his tongue slipping inside her eager mouth, slow and deep and tender. Then he came down over her, and tenderness bled into raw, heart-pounding hunger, their hands desperate for the touch of bare skin as they ripped at the thin layers of cotton separating them.

  When they finally broke apart for air, Juliana watched his dark head lower over her chest, her breaths coming faster, sharper, as she felt the touch of his tongue against a swollen nipple, then lower, nuzzling hungrily against her cleft. He tasted her with deep, ravenous licks, his low growls of satisfaction vibrating against her, adding to the hot, shimmering glow of bliss pouring through her veins.

  “God, you’re incredible,” he groaned, his lips moving against her clit as he spoke. Then he gave a tender nip with his teeth, followed by a provocative swirling suction that nearly brought her off the bed. “I’m addicted to the way you taste. Can never get enough of it,” he told her, his deep voice thick with lust…and love. She could feel it in the way he touched her. In the mouthwatering warmth of his scent. The ragged tones of his voice. He thrust that wickedly clever tongue inside her, penetrating her with slow, savoring strokes until she was begging and moaning. Her nails dug into the hard, thick muscles in his shoulders as she pleaded for him to fill her…to come inside her, until he pulled away with a harsh, animal sound rumbling deep in his chest, his expression as he came down over her carved with breathtaking need.

  His magnificent body trembled, the muscles in his strong arms bunching hard and tight beneath his dark skin as be braced himself over her, staring down at her through eyes of fire. She’d never seen so much hunger. So much raw, visceral need.

  “You’re mine,” he growled, pressing the heavy tip of his cock against the slick, tender place where she needed him most. And then, with his jaw clenched tight, he drove into her, burying every fever-hot inch of his massive shaft hard and deep.

  “I love you,” she whispered, the husky words causing him to stiffen and pulse inside her. He lowered his head into the crook of her shoulder, the provocative scrape of his fangs against her vulnerable throat making her arch beneath him. He pulled back his hips, shoving back into her with a thick, hammering thrust as his fangs suddenly pierced her flesh. Liquid fire raced through her veins as he pulled against her throat, drinking her in, and then he tore his mouth away with a breathless gasp.

  “This is why I’ve been drinking nothing but bagged blood for so long. No one tastes right but you. So hot and sweet.” He sank his fangs in again, forcing deeper, hotter, more voluptuous waves of ecstasy through her body with his desperate feeding as her own fangs burst into her mouth, heavy and aching. Then he pulled back his hips and fangs once more, making her whimper.

  “I’m giving you the serum with my next bite, but I want you to bite me at the same time,” he said roughly, rubbing his lips against her throat. “You ready, Jules?”

  “God, yes,” she cried, so excited she thought her heart might burst. Then she could have sworn that it did as he sank his fangs in at the exact moment he drove savagely inside her body. She screamed from the pleasure, from the scorching burn of heat as the serum rushed through her veins, her craving for him impossible to ignore as she turned her head and buried her fangs in his strong, corded throat. As his blood hit her tongue, exploding over her senses, Juliana started to come, the orgasm slamming into her with such ferocity she felt stunned. It was as if the molten heat in his veins was pouring into hers, his body shuddering as he followed her over into that blinding, shattering madness. She could feel him in every part of her. In her mind. In her body. Her thoughts and her moans. He filled her completely, crushing out the loneliness and shadows with his sharp, burning heat, incandescent waves of pleasure blasting through her, giving her new life…new dreams. A shining, vibrant hope for the future.

  As the fabric of their souls was bound together, she could feel her life being intertwined with his, uniting them in a connection that could never be undone. Nothing in her life had ever felt more right…or as perfect, and in that moment, Juliana suddenly realized that the magnets had been flipped. Instead of pushing apart, they were now drawn together. Body, heart and soul.

  They both pulled their fangs free at the same time, their ragged breaths filling the quiet room as he nuzzled the side of her throat, his heart pounding heavily against hers in a deep, drugging rhythm. “I love the way you hug me,” he groaned, still moving inside her with slow, pleasure-thick lunges, as if he couldn’t bring himself to stop. “It’s like…like I’ve finally found my home.”

  Emotion washed over her at his gruff words, blissful and surreal, like a dream that would carry her away. But his arms were solid
and strong, wrapping her in a tight, possessive hold. She felt so safe, so loved, that tears burned in her eyes.

  “Oh, angel. Don’t cry,” he whispered, pressing his lips to her cheek, his tongue taking her tears into his mouth. It was so sweetly intimate that she started coming again, pulsing warmly around his shaft, and he growled, thrusting against her, giving her more of his seed, his body shuddering as he wrapped her in his arms and crushed her against him.

  “Christ,” he groaned in a raw voice, when the rhythmic spasms of pleasure had finally eased. “I think you’re trying to kill me.”

  Juliana laughed, the sound freer than any she’d ever made. Somehow they’d come through the storm…and survived. Stronger, happier. She knew old fears would creep in on her from time to time, but she didn’t doubt that Ashe would sense the moment they did, easing her with his touch and his smile.

  Minutes later, when he’d finally found the energy to draw his head back, he stared down at her with eyes that were like bright chips of lightning, more beautiful than anything she’d ever seen. “I’m going to make you so incredibly happy,” he told her, the solemn words like a vow.

  “I’ll make you happy, too. I promise I will.”

  A slow, sin-tipped smile curved his lips, and she felt his body already hardening inside her. “Sweetheart,” he rasped, his hips beginning to move in that slow, devastating rhythm, “you already do.”

  EPILOGUE

  WITH A SMILE OF SWEET anticipation curving her lips, Juliana moved from her dresser to the suitcases that were laid out across the sprawling king-size bed she shared with her husband. Tomorrow was their first wedding anniversary and Ashe had surprised her the week before with plane tickets to the private island where they’d been married. It would be a second honeymoon for them, their days spent making love on a blanket in the sand, while the crashing sound of the waves filled their heads and the sun beat down on their glistening skin. They were leaving in the morning and she couldn’t wait.

  Though they’d bonded that incredible night at the Hotel de Russie in Rome, Ashe had waited until they’d traveled to his apartment in Naples the next day before he proposed to her, using his grandmother’s ring. It was a square-cut emerald surrounded by diamonds and she loved it. But then, she would have loved the plainest of bands, simply because he’d given it to her.

  Their wedding had been held in the spring, on a private Caribbean beach, with soft white sand beneath their feet and the warmth of the sun bathing them in a golden glow. All their family and friends, with the exception of Micah, had come to share the momentous occasion with them, the guys in his Specs team and their wives staying for an entire week to help them celebrate. Even Knox and Essie, along with Mo and her family, had made it to the wedding, a grinning Alex still exuberant over the Ferrari Ashe had given him.

  For herself, Ashe had promised to give her sunshine and happiness after the cold years she’d spent in the Wasteland, and he’d more than succeeded. Juliana smiled so often these days, and so easily, every moment with Ashe a treasure that she held dear to her heart. It still amazed her, the fact that he was hers and hers alone. But she had no doubts about his devotion. Every day, her husband showed her how much she meant to him, from the simplest romantic gestures to the darkly provocative ones that brought a flush to her skin just from thinking about them.

  The only part of her past that pained her still was her inability to give Ashe a child. She was painting again, much to her husband’s delight, and had made strong friendships with his friends and their wives. They’d even made their home in a beautiful house that Ashe had bought for her not far from the Specs team’s headquarters in the Lake District, and Gideon stayed with them whenever he was in town. Even Micah was doing better, undergoing treatment at a nearby facility, and she and Ashe visited him often. Gideon had also managed to find Raphe’s little sister, and the girl was flourishing under the love and care of her family. But despite how blessed she felt, Juliana couldn’t help but feel that there was something more meant for her and Ashe. That they were meant to have a family to cherish and protect and shower with love.

  The door to the bedroom opened behind her, and she added a bathing suit to her luggage before turning to greet her husband. He’d been out all morning, taking care of some mysterious errand, and now that he was back his eyes were glittering with excitement as he crossed the room to her and pulled her into his arms. “Do you love me?” he asked huskily, his deep-grooved grin unbearably beautiful as he stared down at her upturned face.

  “You know I do,” she told him, wondering what on earth he was up to.

  He touched his lips to hers, smiling. “You’re about to love me even more.”

  “Not possible,” Juliana protested, giving a playful nip to his lower lip.

  “We’ll see,” he teased, telling her to close her eyes.

  Her pulse was starting to quicken. “Ashe, what’s going on?”

  Stepping away from her, he said, “Just trust me and close your eyes, sweetheart. I promise you won’t regret it.”

  “Fine,” she murmured, feeling ridiculously nervous as she lowered her lashes.

  “Now, before I give you your surprise—”

  “I thought our trip back to the Caribbean was my surprise,” she said, cutting him off.

  She could hear the smile in his voice as he said, “I’m afraid the trip’s going to have to be postponed for a bit.”

  They were postponing their trip? Her mind raced as she tried to understand what was happening.

  “Who is that?” she asked, aware of someone coming into the room, and then leaving, pulling the door shut behind them. But though they were alone again, she could detect a new scent in the room with them. It was something sweet and lovely and warm, and she started to tremble.

  Ashe’s deep voice was achingly tender as he said, “Everything’s wonderful, Jules. There’s nothing for you to worry about. Just hold out your arms for me, okay?”

  She was still worrying her lower lip with her teeth when she felt a soft weight being laid in her arms. “Careful, now,” he murmured. “She’s only three weeks old.”

  With a soft gasp, Juliana opened her eyes and found herself staring down into the precious face of a beautiful little baby girl. Big gray eyes blinked up at her with childish wonder, one tiny hand grasping on to a long strand of her hair.

  “Ohmygod,” she said unsteadily, unable to take her eyes off the lovely newborn.

  With his hands caressing her trembling shoulders, Ashe lowered his head and pressed a gentle kiss to her tear-covered cheek. “Are you happy, sweetheart?”

  It took three tries before she was able to find her voice. “We have a…daughter? She’s ours? Forever?”

  “Yes.” Ashe lovingly placed his big hand on the little girl’s fuzzy head of hair. “Her parents, who were Deschanel, were killed by some human vampire-hunters a few days ago and there was no other family to take her in. So if you want her, she’s ours.”

  “Want her?” she cried, cradling the little girl’s soft weight against her heart. “Oh, God. She’s so perfect and beautiful and I love her already.”

  “I thought you might,” he whispered, his own voice thick with emotion.

  Juliana lifted her tear-filled eyes to his handsome face. “I hope you know how much I love you. How important and precious you are to me.”

  “You’re my life,” he groaned, his breath hitching as he took her face in his shaking hands, his silver eyes glistening with more love and devotion than she could have ever imagined. “You’re my heart and my soul, Jules. From now until forever. All I want is to make you happy, to spend my life with you, and to raise a family with you. I know it won’t always be easy, but I swear that I will never let you down, and I will always be true to you, in every way. You’re the only woman I’ll ever want, that I’ll ever need. You’re the last thought in my head when I fall asleep at night, and my first thought when I awaken. You’re my sun and my moon and my stars, and I will always work hard to be the
kind of husband and father that you and our children deserve. And I give you my word that our daughter is going to have more love than any child’s ever known.”