Elissa’s smile stopped Payne’s heart and she stared into his eyes, hers shining with love and happiness. He was new to this parenting thing but he had a feeling that with Elissa tutoring him, he would get the hang of it before long, and Elissa would get her wish, and so would he. They would be family.
Elissa stepped up to him and his heart beat again, thumping hard against his chest with anticipation. She stroked both his and Luca’s cheeks, and then looked deep into Payne’s eyes, her smile holding and her blood telling him that she would always look at him this way, with unconditional love and devotion.
Payne snaked his free arm around her back and drew her against him, holding both her and Luca close to him.
He would prove to her that he could be a good man, the man she needed him to be, and that she would never have to fear him again if she gave him this chance with her.
He looked down into her eyes and teleported them to his room.
CHAPTER 17
Elissa settled Luca in Payne’s four-poster bed, drawing the dark grey covers over him. The room was a little sombre for her tastes, decorated in shades of grey, but it suited Payne for some reason. Luca looked restless and she stroked his brow, sweeping the rogue strands of sandy hair from it and trying to soothe him. He had been through a lot tonight and needed to sleep. They had all been through a lot. She gently used her magic to help him fall asleep again and looked up at Payne as the spell took hold.
Payne stood in the middle of the room, bloodstained and beaten, his eyes locked on her. She blushed under the intensity of his gaze. It wasn’t hunger or desire filling them now. There was affection in them as he watched her with Luca, and it warmed her, soothing away her fears. The past few hours had been insane, from Arnaud’s attempt to violate her to Payne coming to her rescue, and from landing on the stage in the middle of an extremely naughty act, one she would be asking about later, to being attacked by incubi and threatened by her coven.
Not to mention how rocky things had been between her and Payne. The man fluctuated between cold and warm towards her so rapidly that she couldn’t keep track, but she could understand why his mood kept swinging violently from one end of the spectrum to the other. He was afraid.
So was she.
She didn’t fear Payne. She already knew in her heart that he would never hurt her or behave as he had the last time they had made love, because she had vowed to never push him over the edge again. She was afraid that she would do or say something to make him feel he would hurt her, or make him feel that they couldn’t be together, or she thought he was messed up and a monster. She feared he would leave her now that he had made her fall in love with him.
Now that he had made her want to be his mate with all of her heart.
“So... a dirty theatre... seriously?” She had to say something to break the heavy silence between them and lighten the mood.
He smirked. “I know what you’re thinking. I can’t accept my incubus nature but I work in a place that deals in erotic shows and sex. I’m only here temporarily to cover for a friend of my family.”
That sounded like the Payne she knew. His family had turned their backs on him but he had never been able to turn his on them. He still sought a way to gain their love again. He wanted his family back. A small part of her heart hoped that desire would be fulfilled by having her and Luca in his life. They could be family.
“Not everyone here are vampires... are they?” she said and he shook his head.
She had figured out that there was another fae here, and judging by her appearance and what she had done to the big vampire everyone had called Snow, she was a succubus. It was strange seeing a succubus acting friendly towards an incubus. Elissa had wanted to intervene when the woman had pulled Payne into a hug that had pressed the full length of her rather shapely body against his.
“That’s a dark look,” Payne said, his smile widening as though he knew what she was thinking. “Chica didn’t mean anything by it... but I’m flattered that you’re jealous.”
Elissa levelled him with a glare. He was reassured more like. She stifled her desire to sigh and stood instead, smoothed her top down and crossed the room to him. She took hold of both of his hands and looked up into his eyes, catching the sparks of blue and gold that shone against the cool grey. How could she make him see that she was here to stay and that she had truly meant what she had told him? There had to be a way to reassure him that she wasn’t going to treat him as others had in his life and that her feelings for him would never die, they would only grow over the coming years.
“I meant what I said downstairs, Payne. You don’t have to keep doubting me. I want to be your mate.”
He closed his eyes and hung his head, a sigh escaping his sensual lips, drawing her gaze to them. “I want that too... but...”
“No buts.” Elissa released his left hand and raised hers to his face, cupping his cheek and lifting his chin so he was looking into her eyes again. “I know you... I see you... and I believe you’re good mate material and that you’ll keep your promise to protect me and Luca... what happened back at the incubi den can’t colour our future together. I won’t let it. I pushed you too far and I knew the risks. I should have stopped myself. I know how dangerous it was of me to do what I did and I understand you better now. It won’t happen again. I trust you, Payne... I want to be with you. I want to be your mate.”
“Why?” his voice cracked and her heart went out to him again as his eyes searched hers. He needed more from her and she was willing to give it to him, to take the leap and risk her heart, because he had suffered so much rejection and darkness in his life that he couldn’t bring himself to be the one to do it.
Elissa smiled into his eyes. “Because I’m in love with you.”
He closed his eyes, snaked his arm around her waist and dragged her against him, clutching her hard against his body. His free hand settled against the back of her head and she shut her eyes as she rested her cheek against his chest, listening to the rapid beat of his heart, feeling him trembling.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, voice strained and hoarse, laden with emotion. He smoothed his hand through her long hair and she knew he was looking at it, watching as the strands turned silver. Verity had taken to dyeing hers to conceal what she had done.
Elissa would never do that.
“Don’t be,” she said and drew back enough that she could look up into his eyes. “I don’t regret what we did. I want the world to know that I belong to you, and that I’m not ashamed of what we have done... because I love you.”
Payne pulled her back to him and kissed her, claiming her lips with such ferocity that she melted into him, lost in how good it felt to be back in his arms and to feel things between them were beginning to find solid even ground again.
She returned his kiss, dancing her lips over his, savouring the way he held her so close to him that she could feel his heart pounding against her breasts. He would never let her go. She knew that and it touched her, soothed her, and she wanted him to know that she felt the same way. She would never let him go. She would always fight for him, even during the times when he hit rock bottom and his past haunted him. She would be there to tell him that she loved him, all of him, and that the past was behind him now, something they would help him deal with together so he could put it to rest and accept that there was good in his life at last.
Elissa paused when she tasted blood and caught hold of his shoulders, pushing him back so she could see his mouth. A single red line cut over his lower lip and the soft flesh around it was swelling. There was a nasty bruise on his left cheek too, and another on the right side of his jaw, that one partially concealed by dried blood.
“You’re a mess,” she said, frowning as she stepped out of his arms to run an assessing gaze over him. Elissa slipped her hand into his and tugged. “Come on.”
He didn’t question her as she led him into the dull grey tiled bathroom and released his hand. She closed the door behind him, not wanting Luca
to see or hear what was about to happen. She needed to clean Payne up, but more than that, she needed to prove to him that things could be good between them, and that they could make love without worrying he would lose control.
Payne stood immobile in the middle of the cramped bathroom as she unbuttoned his dark bloodstained shirt and pushed it off his shoulders. There were more bruises on his chest and some cuts too. The fight had finished off what she had started on his shirt, completely wrecking it beyond salvation. She dropped the garment to the floor and moved her attention to his jeans. He tensed when she undid his belt and she glanced up into his eyes.
Crimson ringed them but it was the dazzling flecks of gold and cobalt in them that caught her breath. The same colours shimmered over his fae markings, together with dark pink. She had heard what Chica had told him when she had seen those colours on his markings. A mate. Did these colours mean he cared about her and considered her to be his mate already?
Elissa ran her fingers over the line of fae symbols inked along his left shoulder and followed it down over his biceps.
“Pretty colours,” she said, afraid of asking him outright whether he returned the feelings she had confessed she felt for him just minutes ago.
“Only one emotion has that shade in it, and it will always be there when I’m with you... even when my incubus nature is in control.” He captured her hand and brought it to his lips, pressing a kiss to it.
Elissa raised her eyes to meet his. Her voice shook. “Because you’re in love with me?”
“Because I’m in love with you.” He nodded and relief swept through her, chasing away the last of her fear. He gathered her into his arms again and kissed her, soft and reverent, filled with the emotion that coloured his markings. Love.
His hands caught the hem of her black halter-top and he pulled it up, severing their kiss for only as long as it took to get the garment off over her head. He dropped it to the floor and pulled her back into his embrace, his mouth capturing hers again, his kiss warming her from head to toe. She skimmed her hands over his upper arms, delighting in the feel of his tensed muscles beneath her fingers, and then ran them down the ridges of his stomach.
Mother earth, she would never get tired of exploring his delicious body.
She undid his belt and then set to work on his buttons, popping each one slowly so her fingers grazed the hard bulge they caged. Payne groaned into her mouth and eased back enough that she could push his dark blue jeans down to his thighs. She broke away and pushed them down to his feet, ending up crouched before him.
Elissa looked up the length of Payne’s taut, godly body and moaned, a flood of desire burning up her blood. She bit her lip and then leaned in and licked his cock, running her tongue from root to tip and swirling it around the sensitive crown. He sank his fangs into his lower lip and groaned, the sound strangled and desperate.
His markings remained flushed in blue, gold and pink, swirling and shifting, mesmerising to watch. Did this mean his incubus side was in control now, already at the fore? He wasn’t pushing her away though, and she took it as a green light to continue. She wrapped her lips around his cock and took him into her mouth, sucking him as she fondled his heavy sac.
He groaned again and thrust his hips forwards, gently rocking his hard shaft into her mouth, his hands coming down to clutch her shoulder and the back of her head.
“Elissa.” He sounded deliciously breathless and lost.
Elissa ran her tongue up the underside of his erection and then rose before him. Blue and gold eyes locked on her, his pupils dark chasms of desire and passion. Mother earth, she wanted him when he looked at her like that, as though he wanted to devour her.
She hastily stripped off her jeans and shoes as he shed the remains of his clothes. Payne advanced on her, forcing her backwards, towards the shower cubicle. It was as small as the one back at Verity’s house and it would be cramped, but she was damn well getting him in that shower and wet all over.
Elissa stepped into the cubicle and Payne followed her, his gaze still rooted on her, burning her with its intensity. She fumbled with the controls, nerves and desire combining to make her fingers tremble. Payne calmly reached past her and switched the shower on, his body crowding hers, pressing against it in the most erotic way.
The moment the water was running, he backed her under it and it was a struggle to do what she had come here for. Washing him. She turned around, intent on finding the soap, and he slid his arm around her waist, pulling the full length of her back against his hard front. She moaned and he groaned along with her, the sound bordering on a growl that thrilled her. He grasped her left breast in one hand, palming it and teasing her already hard nipple, and lowered his other to her groin. She gasped as he delved between her plush petals to finger her clitoris, sending hot sparks skittering over her skin. She leaned back against him and rocked her body in time with his fingers, seeking more from him.
Payne ground his cock against her backside, wedging the hot hard length between her buttocks. He dropped kisses on her wet shoulder as he brought her to a shattering climax with his fingers. She breathed hard as he teased her down, gently circling her clitoris now and rolling her nipple between his fingers. He pressed his teeth against her shoulder and she knew what he wanted from her, what he needed. He had lost blood during the fight.
He needed to replenish his strength.
She turned in his embrace, intending to offer her throat to him, and paused when she caught the flicker of fear in his eyes.
Elissa raised both of her hands and settled her palms against his cheeks, holding his face and letting him know that she was there with him and that she wasn’t afraid of what might happen because she felt certain that he would retain control this time.
“Make love to me, Payne.”
His eyes darted between hers and she did the only thing she could to reassure him that she wanted this and she wasn’t afraid. She lured him down to her and kissed him, moulding her mouth over his and capturing the moan that left his lips.
His hands grasped her hips again and he backed her into the corner of the cubicle, out of the spray of the shower. She circled her arms around his neck and pulled herself up his body, settling her legs around his waist. A feral snarl escaped his lips and he kissed her harder, stealing her breath away and reigniting her hunger for him, her need to have his body filling hers and bringing her to climax with him.
He pinned her against the cool tiles and reached between them. She gasped at the feel of the head of his cock rubbing her, teasing her and drawing another flood of arousal from her core. She rocked against him, unable to contain herself, desperate to feel him inside her once more and to make it good this time, to shatter the hold that their last encounter had on Payne.
When he ran his cock downwards this time, Elissa shifted her hips, rocking them forwards so he went further than intended and the head of his shaft slipped into her sheath. She eased down onto him, not giving him a chance to pull out. He groaned against her lips, as still as a statue and taut as a bowstring.
Elissa kissed him, distracting him by running her tongue along the length of his and teasing his fangs, trying to take his focus off the past and bring it to the present. She shifted her feet, drawing him closer to her, deeper into her.
Payne clutched her backside and slowly withdrew, teasing her by almost leaving her before he slid back in, setting a torturous pace that had her writhing in his arms, hungry for more.
He pulled back and stared into her eyes as he moved into her with slow, deliberate strokes, touching every part of her, teasing her towards what she knew would be a mind-blowing orgasm. Elissa held his gaze and ran her fingers through his hair, losing herself in the moment and the beautifully warm look in his eyes. A man had never looked at her like that before, as though she was special and beautiful, as though they were made for each other. She smiled at him, wanting him to see that whatever he was feeling as he moved against her, made love to her, she was feeling it too. From what h
e had told her about mates, she had been made for him, someone he couldn’t control or influence.
Someone he could believe loved him because of who he was not because his incubus side affected her.
She loved him because he was strong, brave, beautiful, and she had never met a man like him.
His fae markings shone brightly and his eyes did too, his incubus side fully in command, but he didn’t look as though he was close to losing control. He had never looked more in control. Was it because he knew now that she wouldn’t hurt him because she loved him and she had consented to being his mate?
He leaned forwards, slowly driving into her, taking her higher and higher, his hands cool against her hips. She brought her head forwards and pressed her forehead against his, and then kissed him again, sweeping her lips across his and following them with the tip of her tongue. He tilted his head and claimed her mouth, seizing control of the kiss and dominating her as he quickened his pace. He moaned against her lips and she joined him, rocking her hips against his, daring to lose control a little and obey her instincts.
Payne pushed her harder against the tiles and angled his body so he could drive deeper, harder, his pelvis striking her clitoris each time their hips met. She tangled her fingers in his hair and arched her back, tightening around him, seeking more. He grunted and then growled and kissed her desperately. His fangs caught her lower lip and she moaned as he sucked it into his mouth, causing it to tingle and a rush of heat to cascade down her body, settling in her belly. She met each thrust of his cock, using her feet to force him to keep going, to take her harder because she was close now, could almost reach out and grab bliss.
A flash of Payne with his body pounding into hers and his fangs in her throat burst across her mind and she moaned at the image, knowing it was born of her imagination not his. Payne growled and she grabbed his hair, tugged him away from her mouth and forced his head down to her throat. She wanted him to bite her again, ached for the feel of his fangs penetrating her throat and the connection it brought to life between them. It was the push she needed to find release, and she knew he needed it too.
Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance Page 43