At his lack of response, she arched a brow and turned away.
He ground his teeth together to keep from telling her how wrong she was, because it was pointless when there was no evidence to the contrary. If only there was some way to prove he wasn’t lying.
There was…but he didn’t know if they’d be seeing each other long enough to make it worth the effort. Not that having her meet Sasha would dispel years of her pack’s “education” on his kind.
“How old are you, by the way?” Shain asked her. “Actual years.”
She glanced over her shoulder, surprised at his question. And reluctant to answer. “I turned thirty last November.”
“Thirty? You’re a babe compared to me.” Next to her, he was a relic.
She stiffened. “Just because I haven’t seen two centuries of life like you have doesn’t make me a child.”
“It’s not that at all. You’re every inch a woman, Kimber.” If he remembered correctly, shifters could continue to age until their fifties. Unlike vampires, they were still vulnerable to illnesses like cancer and heart attacks. As long as they took good care of themselves, they had the potential to live very long lives, but it was a delicate endeavor.
Her energy crackled around him, her tone defensive. “I’m still immortal. No, I wasn’t around when people pissed in pots, or alive to witness the birth of a new nation, but I’m grateful I didn’t have to live through some of the things you must have. All the wars, the plagues, the lawlessness.”
“You’re right to be grateful. Humans have it pretty good, in my eyes.”
“If only our own kinds could say the same, right?” She looked over at him with a sad smile.
Side by side, they ventured to the shark tank, dozens of variations swimming above their heads and around them.
“Sharks are amazing,” she remarked, looking above.
He smiled at the wonder in her voice. “How so?”
“No matter what, they can’t not be a shark. They have to keep moving. They can’t take any breaks, no hiding under some coral or hopping on some rock to rest. It has to keep going, keep eating, keep reminding everything in the ocean it’s a shark and it’ll never play nice, never hesitate to show who it is.”
“Now you sound like a child.”
She tilted her chin up. “I’m not even insulted. I never want to be as jaded as you and your kind can be.”
He hoped she never would be. “It comes with age,” he joked. “It’s not that I don’t agree. How can you not admire sharks? And even envy them, in a way?” At her dubious look, he made his case by saying, “They have the freedom to do whatever the hell they want and get away with it. Sharks will never have to change what they are.”
He reflected on his kind’s history. “Vampires had no choice but to adapt. We will always have to, if we’re to survive. For a time, we had this planet to ourselves, basking in darkness, feeding on humans at our leisure. Then history started being recorded, and the secrecy of our existence began. After that, we had to learn to control our hungers, rein them in, which, for a long time, was unthinkable. Now it’s a part of life. After a few thousand years, we evolved from predators to seducers, in order to stay alive, and overall be left alone. The shark has never had to make accommodations for what it needs, and never will.”
Kimber cocked her head. “You make a good point.”
He stared at those lips, aching to bring them to his and taste her. “Come here.”
She stepped back. “Speaking of seduction, don’t. Or else we won’t stop. I don’t want to be banned from the local aquarium.”
“Is that why you chose to meet here?” he asked, drawing close, pleased she didn’t continue to move away from him. “You think it’d stop me from touching you?” His hand grazed across her jaw to underneath her nape.
“No,” she whispered.
No, don’t kiss her? Or no, she didn’t think it’d stop him?
She avoided his eyes. “The smell of the chlorine.”
“What about it?” He traced his thumb on the soft skin beneath her jawline. Did he just feel her throat vibrate with a purr?
“It’s strong,” she said. “If a shifter or a vampire happened to be here too, they wouldn’t be able to scent you or me. I thought it was as safe as we could get in public.”
Clever woman. He brought his other palm up to cup her face with both hands, barely leashing the urge to take what he wanted. “If you don’t kiss me, very soon, you’re going to see an already desperate vampire become comically desperate.”
And just like that, she pulled away with a smile.
Shain groaned. I’ve lost my touch.
“Attention, guests,” announced a recorded female voice. “The aquarium will close in fifteen minutes. Please make your way toward the exit shortly. Thank you.”
Thank the gods.
A corner of his mouth lifted as he watched Kimber walk into the next tunnel.
When he caught up with her, she was grinning at a separated glass pillar, full of jellyfish.
“So, what makes them amazing?” he asked.
She shook her head, delight in her eyes. “I could just watch them for hours.”
Just as Shain could do the same with her. “I have a new appreciation for aquatic life,” he said, looking around, realizing it was a world where no one would ever know all of its secrets. “Because of you.”
“Really?” she asked. “You can breathe underwater. If you wanted, you could spend a whole day swimming with dolphins and whales.”
“Now you’re the one forgetting what I am.” He made his eyes flash to remind her. “What would be the point when we’d have to do it at night? We can’t see that well in the pitch blackness. There has to be some light.”
“But you can be outside if it’s cloudy, right?”
He nodded, approaching the enormous tank on the opposite wall, touching his fingers to the glass. A gang of brightly colored little fish wiggled toward him. “For a little while. Still need sunglasses and long sleeves to make it more than thirty minutes without getting sick from the UV rays. I can be outside for about half an hour, then I’m forced to get indoors and restore my strength by taking some energy from a human or two. I was able to enjoy downtown today, thanks to the blessed clouds.”
Kimber came over, agape at the amount of fish he’d lured to his side of the glass. “How do you do that?”
With a smile, he came around her back, keeping his fingertips on the glass so that the fish remained in place. “Join your fingers with mine,” he instructed. She did, and he briefly closed his eyes at how his heart galloped in reaction. “Hold still.” Slowly, he moved their combined hands up and around, the dozens of fish following like magnets. More fish emerged from the coral to join them.
When he closed his fingers, the fish bunched together, waving their little tails in unison. He held them there for a few seconds, then spread his and Kimber’s fingers like a burst, sending the fish scattering like an eruption of fireworks.
Kimber gasped.
They really shouldn’t be touching the glass, but he couldn’t help but show her something positive about a vampire’s ability to attract.
“That was amazing,” she breathed. She stared at their entwined hands for a moment before turning around.
His eyes locked on hers. What she said, and the way she said it, the way she looked at him, had him feeling something strange. Something new. He’d seen awe in a woman’s eyes before, but coming from Kimber was a level he’d never reached.
By the gods, what was he really getting into? Was it really a game or was he fooling himself?
He bent down and brushed his lips on hers.
“The aquarium is now closed,” the speaker blared above them. “Thank you for visiting. Please make your way to the nearest exit.”
Kimber blinked, looking around as if she’d forgotten where they were too.
She was right. Whenever they got close to each other, everything else ceased to exist.
“We should go,” sh
e said.
“What? I don’t wanna leave,” he joked, affecting a child’s complaint.
Her giggle echoed off the walls. Damn, but did he love making her laugh.
They left the aquarium, standing under the awning that protected them from the pouring rain.
Funny, because although he burned for her, he didn’t want to take her to a hotel. It felt...untimely. Their afternoon together had been innocent. Having sex with her now would only ruin it.
Because then it would be over. And he didn’t want it to be over.
Not yet.
“I have to get home,” she said, brushing her knuckles along his.
“I understand.”
She looked as if she expected him to protest. With a small smile, she inhaled, tilting her head back. “I love the smell of rain. Especially the day after, when everything is fresh.”
“It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, too.”
“Another vampire’s day out?” She sounded hopeful.
“It’d be a shame to let it go to waste.” He gazed down at her, banking the urge to ravish her against the wall.
She looked up at him with her sapphire eyes. “Yes, it would.”
I’m spellbound again. He pulled her in his arms. “Let me drive you home. I refuse to let you take public transit. By the nine gods, I swear, my only intention is to get you home, safe and dry. I’m sorry, but as a patient wolf, it’s my duty to see a lady to her door.”
She laughed at his quip, searching his eyes. “I…just can’t.”
He frowned. One way or another, she wasn’t taking public transportation. “Then I’ll order a ride for you.”
“I’d still have to give you the address.”
“Man, you’re stubborn.”
“And you’re obviously not used to a woman telling you no.” She found his groan amusing as he pulled away. “How about I call a friend? Would that be okay? He might be able to pick me up.”
“He?”
She took out her cell from her little purse. “Yes. He.”
Jealousy poked at him while she made her call. He glowered, wondering who her “friend” was. Presumably someone she trusted enough to confess she’d snuck out of the house, and more importantly, who couldn’t be a shifter.
A minute later, she hung up. “He’s on his way. Happy now?”
“Pacified. This time.”
The wind suddenly gusted, sending rain on them, forfeiting the awning’s protection. He took her hand. “We’ll wait in my car.”
They rushed to his blacked-out sedan at the end of the row, unable to avoid getting drenched on the way.
Shain rounded to the driver’s side and slammed his door, then raked both hands through his wet hair. “Cold? I’ll turn on the heaters.” He started the car and tapped the display.
Kimber looked around the interior. “Is there nothing you own that isn’t black? You always wear black, you drive a black car...”
“Sometimes I’ll be wild and wear navy blue.”
She laughed, then settled in the seat. “I can already feel it warming up.” She fell back with a moan. “What I wouldn’t give for that kind of upgrade in my truck. Well, technically, it’s not mine. We share a fleet. There’s no way I could own something like this in Tavish—” She flinched, stopping short. “Shit.”
Okay, enough. He turned in his seat. “Kimber. Look at me.”
“What?”
“You may not want to think it. Years of despising vampires might not let your instincts believe it. I can hear your heart racing, and it could be for no other reason than the fact that being this close to me still frightens you in some measure. But you can trust me. I don’t care to know who your pack is or where they’re located. I will not tell anyone—my coven, my family, my friends—about you or them.” Emotion was driving his teeth down and he couldn’t draw them back. “The only thing I want is you. To see you again. This time, I beg you, don’t run from me before I know if I will.”
Kimber stared, agog, her silence deafening against the cacophony of the rain.
With a wolfish growl, she grasped the back of his head with one hand and kissed him. By the gods, yes, finally. The kiss turned immediately, mouths opening, seeking. Hungry. He was eager to draw her on top of him, feel her body on his.
Kimber must’ve thought the same, making a noise of complaint as she tried to bring herself closer. She pulled away and yanked off his jacket, somehow scrambling over the center console and climbing into his lap with the urgency of someone clambering to the surface for air. The moment their lips connected, it was like he could breathe again. Kimber was no lightweight waif. She was heavy, toned, with muscled thighs. Gods, she was unlike any other.
Shain locked his arms around her, taming his need, concerned he might tear her clothes apart otherwise.
He smoothed his palm down her back, going over the rise of her ass. He lifted his hips, wishing there were no barriers between them. Wishing that moment wasn’t taking place in his car. Wishing her friend wasn’t on his way to pick her up.
Well, he would not take this for granted. He blindly groped for the button beside his seat to lower it.
They kissed, not stopping for breath until he worked his way down her throat, licking her neck. He tugged at the hem of her shirt and she arched her back, allowing him to push it and her bra over her breasts. The moment he captured her nipple in his mouth and started to suck, she let out a stunted cry.
“Kimber,” he said, moving to the other breast, tugging at her nipple before saying, “Tell me you want me. I have to hear it.”
“I…I want you. Buh—”
He gently caught her nipple between his teeth. She slapped a hand to his window, which was fogged from the heater and their panted breaths.
Was she about to say “but”? Probably to utter “but we can’t right now” and she was right. That didn’t mean he couldn’t pleasure her in the brief time they had. He worked his hand inside her leggings. “I’m going to make you come.” He ran his tongue up between her breasts, easing her leggings down slowly, giving her time to deny him.
She didn’t.
He just wanted to taste her, give her something to think about, and long for.
“Take them off,” he whispered.
That was when she stilled and moaned in protest. “We can’t.”
“Not to do that,” he assured her, caressing her with soothing strokes. “But I want a taste, if you’re willing to make an adjustment.”
She feathered her lips on his. “What kind of adjustment?”
Estimating her height and how far back his seat went, he could make it happen. He’d done it before, albeit awkwardly, with a vampiress one drunken night.
“First,” he instructed, “take the leggings off. Don’t think, do it, or you’ll never find out what I have in mind.”
Her hesitation was expected, but so was her eventual cooperation. She climbed off him back to the passenger seat, took off her flats, wriggled out of her leggings, and looked at him, desirous, but unsure. And wearing nothing but a thong.
“This too?” she asked, hooking her thumbs in the sides.
He gave her a wicked smile. “No, you can leave that on.”
Good gods.
Seeing the little apex between her thighs was enough to drop his canines. He closed his mouth around his teeth, forcing them in. “Now, come back to me,” he said. “Except this time, I want you to face the steering wheel, put your left leg on my left shoulder, brace your right knee on the console, and use the dashboard for leverage.”
Kimber’s glowing eyes widened. “What, what, and what? That’ll never work.”
“Yes, it will.” He ran his tongue behind his teeth, practically salivating at the thought of licking her sweet center.
She swallowed, slid over his lap sideways, turned, and faced the dash. Shain helped guide her inner thigh partly on his shoulder while she tried to brace her right knee on the console, spreading her thighs before his eyes.
The smell
of her arousal filled his nose. His cock twitched, but it’d have to go untouched. I’ve got to show her what my mouth can do first.
Her body quivered as he traced a palm up her right thigh and over her cheeks.
Kimber panted, even though he hadn’t even begun.
He took a light hold of her hips to guide her closer, planting his hands on her butt, and used his thumb to move away the thong. Then he gently parted her seam, slick and glistening with arousal.
He used the tip of his tongue to tease and flick and sample.
Her pussy clenched each time, and she mewled in response.
He privately smiled to himself. She likes it.
He did it again, repeating two more times before burying his nose and mouth on her, sucking and licking her core while she moaned. He drew in again, slower, encouraged by the sounds she made. Was she…purr-moaning? Gods, he’d never heard such sounds before. He stroked her with a steady rhythm while his thumb toyed with her swollen hood.
“Omigod...” She slammed a hand on his knee and dug her nails in, shaking. “Don’t stop. Don’t you dare stop…”
The more he lapped her pussy, the louder she cried. Pushing herself farther into his mouth, he continued his tender feast on her. Within seconds, her clit hardened, filling, then convulsed on his tongue.
Kimber snapped her head back, letting out a half-growl, half-groan, carnal and raw. Music to his ears.
So that’s what she sounds like when she comes.
How many vampires were privy to that information?
Shain kissed her butt cheek, unable to help from giving it a harmless bite. The pleasure he got from giving her pleasure was a high all its own.
He wanted to do it again. Just for the sounds she made.
Panting for breath, Kimber clung to the steering wheel like a lifeline.
“Did you like that?” he drawled.
“I…don’t think I can move,” she whispered.
And he didn’t want her to, but she couldn’t stay. “As much as I love this view, I think you need to get dressed before your friend arrives.”
“Oh, God! I forgot about him.” She slunk her body into the passenger seat, clearly dazed.
Hiding a cocky smile, he licked his lips, then wiped the excess with his finger. He put his seat upright.
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