Vampire Encounters - Second Chances

by T. D. McKinney

  Cole’s kiss exceeded every fantasy she’d ever indulged in. It was gentle and full of care, but there was no doubt that he was in control. For all his tender concern, it was full of possessiveness; it dominated her will. She wouldn’t have been able to refuse him if she’d wanted to. Not that she had any wish to refuse him.

  She returned his kiss with a need that startled her. She’d never been one to give herself completely to any man, but no one had ever kissed her the way Cole did. And she had never felt any other man’s desire inside her own head. The connection she had to him had lessened in immediate intensity when the violet electricity had died away, but she still felt him inside, still linked to her. She could sense what he was feeling and it ignited her own desire from flame to inferno.

  She’d never been wanted this way and knew Cole felt the same. In recent years, his life had been filled with betrayal and lovers who only wanted to use him for his power or money. They’d all sought to gain something from him. None of them had simply wanted to enjoy his body or the pleasure and love he offered. Cole needed to make love to someone who had no ulterior motive, who simply wanted him and understood who he was. His mind kept whispering just how desperately he needed that. He needed her and what she could offer him more than he needed the surety he wasn’t insane, this was reality, and he wasn’t actually dead.

  Cole’s mouth was hungry against her skin as his kiss moved from her lips across her jaw to the tender skin just below her ear. He nibbled her earlobe, twirling her little gold stud earring with his teeth, tracing the outline of her ear with the tip of his tongue before he followed the line of her carotid artery down her neck.

  His tongue traveled back up the center of her throat and over her chin to trace the outline of her lips. It quested gently until she opened her mouth, then it plunged inside. He sought out her tongue, twining and exploring with his, indulging in an ancient waltz that drew a moan from Sam and sent warmth tingling through her body. His hands tangled in her brown hair, cradling her head as he deepened their kiss.

  She didn’t demur when he urged her to sit up so he could remove her T-shirt. As he freed her from the cotton knit, he gently trapped her wrists above her head and ran his hands slowly up and down her arms. His eyes began to glow with an inner light as he glazed down at her breasts, encased in smooth white cups. Sam felt her untouched nipples harden against the satin from the supernatural heat burning in his gaze.

  Cole stared at her hungrily as his hands continued to travel down her arms until they rested on her ribs just beneath her breasts. She’d always thought that a vampire’s hands would be cold, or at least cool, but his were warm and left her skin feeling too cold wherever they had passed. She wanted to feel the warmth of them all over her body. She wanted him to touch every inch of her.

  Cole lifted her full breasts as if testing the feel of their weight in his hands. He ran his thumbs over the smooth material of her bra, circling her nipples until they tingled inside their satin casing. Eyes filled with pale purple fire, he lowered his head and traced the line where her plain white bra met her skin with his tongue while his hands kneaded and squeezed her breasts.

  Sam ran her hands over his hair, marveling at its softness. It glistened as silken as her bra, utter darkness against her snowy underwear. His hands slid behind her and worked only a moment at the clasps before the hooks were free and she felt the bra go limp around her. His slender fingers followed the path that had been covered by the spandex, sliding the straps from her shoulders and down her arms until the garment fell away. He drew back to look at her bared flesh and his eyes glowed brighter. Sam could feel his pleasure in the sight of her.

  As their desire grew, the connection between them become clearer. With each touch of his hands and mouth, she felt more of what he was feeling. His experiences were hers. When desire made his groin grow heavy and a pleasant ache developed there, she felt it. And she knew he felt the warmth that was spreading out from deep inside her, making her arms feel limp and her legs want to open for him. Need and want spiraled and looped, growing stronger with each pass of emotion and sensation from one to the other. When he settled his mouth around her nipple and began to suckle, pulling softly with his lips while he rolled the hard nub with his teeth, she knotted her fingers in his sleek hair, holding him tightly to her, urging him to love her.

  Desire surged through her, building layer upon layer as his hands left her breasts to explore the rest of her body. Her fingers fumbled with the buttons of his shirt, suddenly nerveless and clumsy. He trapped her fluttering hands in his and kissed her fingers, bidding her to be calm. The warmth and affection of his smile sent a tingle through her.

  Together, they unbuttoned his crisp blue shirt, each freed button necessitating another kiss of her fingers before he allowed them to continue. Only when the last one slid from its anchoring hole did he let her touch his chest. With a deeply in-drawn breath, he pressed her hands to his body, luxuriating in her touch.

  He closed his eyes as his head fell back, exposing the strong column of his neck to her view. She crawled into his lap, straddling his long legs so she could press her lips to his throat, nibbling and sucking on his Adam’s apple. One of his hands spread broadly across her lower back, pressing her body to his while the other cradled her head, silently urging her to continue her assault on his throat.

  Cole groaned as she moved to his sensitive earlobe and mimicked his earlier actions.

  “Oh, God, yes!” he murmured as she sucked and then bit down. “Harder. Bite harder,” he ordered huskily. “Please, bite harder.”

  His request echoed in her mind; he needed her to taste him as he had tasted her. She complied with his request and started when something sparkling flowed over her tongue. Cole’s blood—it could be nothing else—filled her mouth, effervescent, vibrant, and tasting like nothing she’d ever experienced before. She swallowed without even realizing what she was doing, and Cole moaned in joy. Bright and refreshing with a hint of bitterness, his blood shot from her mouth to each part of her body bringing vitality and energy with it. It was a part of Cole and it was as if a bit of him now resided in each cell of her body.

  The dimly felt connection between them exploded.

  As it had been when they were encased in ethereal fire, there was no Sam and no Cole, only some creature that was both of them at once. They no longer needed words, they each knew what the other wanted and needed. Cole needed her to drink from him; he needed to give her the most intimate aspects of his body and mind. He longed to give her satisfaction and joy. He needed to find those tender and sensitive areas that gave her the most pleasure. He wanted to love her until she could no longer bear the bliss of it and passed out from sheer joy.

  She wanted to fulfill his every wish and drive away the sorrow that grayed his life and leeched the peace from his soul. She had to let him know that there was someone who cared for him, not just for what he could do for them, but for the person he was inside. She threw her head back as the power of their link surged through her.

  Cole popped the button on her jeans, unzipping them with expert fingers. With his hands flat against her swelling hips, he eased them down until he could rest his hands beneath her round ass. He squeezed and kneaded, strong fingers digging pleasantly into her muscles.

  He lifted her with absurd ease until she was on her knees and he could bury his face in her bust. He slid her jeans lower until her spread legs hampered further descent. He snarled slightly and she giggled at his impatience before she stood and let him divest her of the last of her clothing, smiling at his mental grumbles as her boots tangled in the denim and had to be removed before he could enjoy her naked form.

  Finally when she was standing nude with one bare foot on either side of his thighs, his thoughts and smile indicated he was happy. With a hand cupping each ass cheek, he looked up at her with a lopsided smile. There was a flash of passion as he communicated his intent to her, and then his face was buried in the dark hair between her legs. He pressed her
more tightly to him as his mouth sought out her most private elements. His long tongue delved and probed, searching and tasting her. She knotted her fingers in his thick hair and gasped as he found what he was seeking.

  Wordlessly he urged her to spread her legs wider for him, to let him have greater access to her. His tongue flicked and circled her as she panted and moaned. Heat pooled and overflowed and she felt herself growing wet for him. Her legs felt weak and she rested her hands on his broad shoulders, pushing his shirt away. His hands left her derrière and he pulled away.

  She watched as he removed his shirt and then the rest of his clothes. He did it slowly, deliberately revealing himself a bit at a time just as she wished him to. When he was done, he drew her back to him, sitting in front of her as he had before, tasting and pleasuring her again.

  As passion flowed, the depth of their connection grew and grew until there was no conscious effort involved in their communication. Neither could hide anything they were feeling from the other. In her mind she felt his need to give himself to her, to link himself to her. She stared down at him in awe.

  He was so beautiful in his nudity. His well-defined muscles played beneath his ivory skin when he drew back and looked up at her as he ran his tongue over his lips. His fingers explored her briefly, testing her readiness to accept his body into hers. They came away glistening with her want. He licked them appreciatively.

  Delicious, he said without speaking. Like all of you. Sam closed her eyes as dizziness assailed her and liquid passion flowed from her core.

  Cole prompted her down onto his lap again. With a hand pressed against her back steadying her he eased her down onto his hardness. For so slender a man, he was thick and broad, filling and stretching her.

  The sight of his lower lip caught between his teeth as he strove to control the need to slam into her sent her desire rocketing and she took control from him, lowering herself hard. He gasped in pleased surprise, his eyes wide as they stared into hers.

  “Want you,” she explained raggedly. “Now!”

  With a growl and eyes alight with demon fire, he conformed to her wishes and lifted his hips obligingly. With his hands beneath her round bottom, he lifted and lowered her in rhythm to his thrusts, helping her ride him strongly.

  So tight! So hot! Cole’s thoughts struck her mercilessly. Dear God, you’re killing me! He thrust harder, seeking the deepest center of her.

  Sam’s gasp grew into a wail of pleasure from his delight. His mind whispered soft obscenities to hers as he commanded her to contract inner muscles and tighten her thighs as he retreated and to then open and relax as he pushed upwards.

  In perfect sync, minds and bodies joined in an ideal duet, he fed her passion with words and thoughts while his rigid length rubbed across her sensitive core with each stroke.

  When it seemed certain they would both expire if they couldn’t reach beyond the bonds of their physical bodies, something burst inside her and she jerked in ecstasy and release as he cried out and pumped thick cream into her body. Riding the earthquake of each other’s climax, they clung tightly even after the undulations of their bodies calmed and they fell panting to the sheets.

  Chapter Three

  Sam woke up alone. The clock on the polished table beside the bed told her that sundown was hours past and far more hours than that had passed since the first time she’d joined her body to Cole’s.

  Their initial explosion of desire was only the beginning. Once released, their craving for each other was continuous. They had made love over and over until she was quite sure she’d die from an excess of passion and overexertion.

  Muscles unused for too long and overused in ways they had never been before screamed in protest whenever she moved. Without the softening effects of passion-induced endorphins she hurt all over. Still, she couldn’t regret a single second of it.

  Sam grinned even though that action hurt. Was it possible to sprain your lips?

  How marvelous the last day had been! Twenty-four full hours of pure unadulterated Cole love. The sex has been unbelievable. The man actually lived up to his reputation. It had really been the clichéd dream come true.

  But dreams ended.

  What was she going to do now? At some point this delusion had to end because that’s all it was—a dream, a fantasy. Not real. And now it was time for that much vaunted reality check.

  With a groan she eased from the big, rumpled bed. She noticed a large tear across the sheet and tried to remember how that had happened. Search her mind as hard as she could, she still didn’t have the least idea when or how they had done that.

  It took forever to stand up. Her thighs insisted they had done more than enough already and they weren’t interested in any further exertion. Her calves joined them in the protest. With the aid of the wall, Sam made it to the bathroom and turned on the shower.

  She didn’t dare sit down on the pretty little brass vanity chair; she’d never manage to get on her feet again if she did. Instead she leaned against the subtly colored wallpaper until the water ran warm enough for her to tolerate it. With considerable mental and physical effort, she managed to step into the stall.

  As the shower began to steam, the heat leached some of her aches away, and she was able to move enough to ascertain that she might live after all. The sweet-smelling soap helped clear her head as it washed the stickiness from her body.

  At some point Sam’s brain kicked in and she turned the showerhead to a strong massage setting. The beat of the water on her muscles felt good. She remained under the pulsating water until her skin was white and pruned from overexposure to the hot bath. With a sigh, she turned off the blessed water and stepped out of the stall. Feeling a good deal better, she wrapped her body in a generous towel and tried to take stock of her life.

  Wet from the shower, she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. The gash where the shattered cup had cut her cheek was pink with new skin. The theory that a vampire’s saliva helped heal wounds was obviously true. The wound was smooth and barely visible; it probably wouldn’t even leave a scar. The rest of the news wasn’t as good. At the moment she looked pretty much the worse for wear.

  She heard her brother’s voice in her head. “Girl, you look like you been rode hard and put up wet.” A smile twisted her bruised lips at bit. Rode hard was definitely the phrase for it. Though her daddy had said it better than Frank did.

  “Damn, I look like ten miles of back country desert road after a wash out,” she told the mirror with a shake of her head. “Rougher than Hell and twice as hard to get over,” she added to finish one of her daddy’s favorite expressions. Yes, definitely a better description of how she looked and felt than Frank’s cliché.

  Her eyes were somewhat bloodshot and the flesh underneath them was darkened and puffy from lack of sleep. There was a faint passion mark underneath her chin. Her uninjured cheek was reddened from a slight whisker burn. From the feel of it, there was a more serious one on the inside of her right thigh. She grinned, remembering how it had gotten there. It was well worth the current pain.

  She found a couple of other passion marks and couldn’t find it inside herself to be ashamed of how she got them, either. If she was remembering correctly, Cole likely had one on his left hip and a second on the inside of his thigh. She shivered, remembering his moans of encouragement as she’d sucked on his skin. Regardless of how he might feel about the marks now, he enjoyed getting them.

  She smirked and continued to critically survey her features in the huge mirror. All in all, she looked like shit. Of course, she hadn’t looked too great to begin with.

  What the Hell had Cole seen in her that drove him to keep her awake for hour upon hour as he enjoyed her body? She’d fall asleep only to wake to his touch or his kiss as he insisted he had to have her one more time, just once more before he could rest peacefully. Once more had turned into once more again, and ended up as several times more. Vampires apparently had built-in Viagra.

  But what triggered that sor
t of lust?

  It certainly hadn’t been any beauty she possessed. Hazel eyes half-hidden by too much wet brown hair stared back from her lightly tanned face. It wasn’t a bad face, but it sure wasn’t anything to write sonnets to or keep pretty vampire boys awake all day and half the night. True, she wasn’t ugly. Despite the strong west Texas sun, her face was unlined and her skin was still good. But there was nothing striking about it, nothing to compare to supermodels or actresses or the gorgeous women who surrounded Cole daily.

  It didn’t matter if the famous beauties of the day were all airbrushed, professionally coifed, pampered, and made up to within an inch of their highly publicized lives; they still had something that she lacked, though she couldn’t place a name to what that was. Maybe the word she was searching for was 'exotic' or 'exciting'. She was neither. She wasn’t hideous or even unattractive; she was boring. She was just plain ordinary and normal. She couldn’t even compare to Lurleen.

  Sam wrapped her hair in a towel, wincing as the movement sent streaks of pain into her arms and shoulders. She revised her evaluation. Considering how she felt, she actually looked pretty okay. She had to say that hickeys, whisker burns, and appearing seriously hung-over aside, she looked fairly good for a woman who had just spent a full calendar day having the most intense sexual and emotional encounter of her life.

  She had been granted the most intimate knowledge of someone else’s life and had spent twenty-four hours acting like she was sixteen. Feeling like she was sixteen.

  But still when all was said and done, she was just a normal, thirty-year-old, Texas redneck girl. And he was...perfect.

  There was nothing else to be said on that subject. Cole was perfect.

  “What did you expect, stupid?” she asked her reflection. “He’s an immortal vampire from a romance novel! Of course, he’s freaking perfect. Honest to God! When did you turn into an idiot?”