It was always the same.
He had been naive when he had courted Mary. Communication between immortals had been very limited at the time and further hampered by his self-imposed isolation. He had foolishly believed that as long as he loved her, the inevitable changes in Mary’s appearance wouldn’t matter.
It wasn’t until the birth of the Internet that allowed immortals all over the world to meet and communicate with each other via chat rooms and message boards that he had understood the truth of it.
But as Sarah approached him, a sleepy smile lighting her face, there was a part of him that wished, just this once, it would turn out differently.
“When I woke up, you were gone.”
Walking into his embrace, she wrapped her arms around him and leaned her head against his chest. Her small hands were cold on his back, her toes icy where they brushed his.
He didn’t mind. Feeling inexorably heartsore, Roland rested his cheek atop her hair and let her presence soothe him.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, rubbing his back.
“Yes, it was just Seth’s Cleaner, calling to let me know everything had been taken care of. The police won’t be questioning us about the fire or the dead men.”
“Good.”
He couldn’t help but derive a certain masculine satisfaction from the fact that his scent was all over her. Beneath that was her own unique fragrance, tantalizing him as it always did.
She squeezed him tighter momentarily. “I’m sorry you lost your house, Roland.”
He shook his head slightly. “The only things irreplaceable in it were you, Marcus, and Nietzsche, and you all made it out safely.”
He felt her smile against his chest. “You’re so sweet.”
Roland choked back a laugh. Sweet was an adjective he didn’t think anyone had used to describe him since he was in swaddling clothes.
“You know what?” she asked mischievously.
“What?” he responded, still smiling.
Raising up onto her toes, she tilted her head back and whispered in his ear, “You’re wearing my favorite outfit.”
He laughed and glanced down. “I’m completely naked.”
She grinned. “And you wear it so well.”
His spirits buoyed, he lowered his head.
Sarah hummed her approval as his lips brushed hers.
When she had awoken and found herself alone, she had felt a moment’s panic. Then, from a distance, the faint murmur of his voice had reached her ears. The bed had felt so cold and empty. She hadn’t been able to go back to sleep without his big, warm body spooned up behind her.
After listening to the indistinct rumble of his voice for several minutes and hearing no responses, she had assumed he was talking on the phone, donned his T-shirt, gone in search of him, and found him standing gloriously naked in the living room.
For a moment, he had looked so sad. She had wanted only to hold him, comfort him, bring a smile to his face.
But now, with his sleek tongue slipping past her lips and speeding her pulse, all she could think of was how it had felt to have him inside her, moving in long, deep, hard strokes that had made her want to scream and had sped her toward one fantastic orgasm after another.
Withdrawing her arms from around his waist, she slid her hands up his muscled chest, over his shoulders, and tunneled her fingers through his short, silky hair.
He groaned as she raked her nails across his scalp and hungrily returned his kiss. Bending his knees so she wouldn’t have to stand on her toes, he grasped her nape with one hand and locked her to him while he slid the other down over her hip and thigh.
She shivered when that hand dipped beneath the hem of the shirt she wore and slowly began to climb again, drawing the soft cotton along with it. Cool air rushed over her rapidly heating flesh as he cupped her bottom and squeezed, dragging her tighter against him. The long, hard length of his erection prodded her stomach as he insinuated a strong thigh between her legs and pressed against her sensitive core.
Sarah moaned, breath catching. She was already wet, dampening his skin as she rocked against him.
His hunger rising, Roland released her tempting ass and slid his hand up her slender back. His body began to tremble with the need to be inside her.
Abandoning her lips, he whipped the shirt over her head and bared her beautiful body. He stroked her breasts, pinching the hardened peaks. She jerked against him.
Smiling, he lowered his head and took one pink bud into his mouth, swirled his tongue around it, took it between his teeth, and bit, though he was careful not to break the skin. He glanced up when she moaned again. Her face was flushed with passion, her hips urgent as they rocked against him. She was so wet for him. He wanted to taste her. Now.
Dropping to his knees, he parted her legs and feasted upon her center. The dark triangle of curls was damp with need, her scent going straight to his head like a glass of champagne.
She cried out as his tongue sought her clit, rasped across it. His cock hardened even more as she clenched her hands in his hair and held him to her. Again and again he teased the nub of her desire, circling it, flicking it, sucking it as he slipped one finger inside her, then a second, stroking in rhythm with his mouth until she was panting and begging for release.
A first orgasm crashed over her, drawing his name from her lips as her body spasmed around his fingers. And still he did not cease, building upon it, extending it. Not until the last cry was wrung from her lips and her knees buckled did he withdraw.
Roland caught her easily and lifted her even as he stood, urging her legs around his waist. He was shaking with need, her taste lingering on his tongue. The kisses and love bites she delivered to his neck only enflamed him more.
Turning, he took two steps and pressed her up against the wall. Her ankles locked behind his back as she eagerly sought his mouth.
“Be careful,” he warned softly. “My fangs are very sharp.”
She nodded wordlessly, then shocked the hell out of him by stroking one with her tongue. A shudder of pleasure worked its way through him at this evidence of her acceptance of him.
Supporting her weight with one arm, he reached up with the other to palm one of her breasts. He lowered his mouth to the other and again worshipped it with teeth and tongue.
He couldn’t wait much longer.
As if hearing his thoughts, Sarah reached down between them and took his cock in her hand. Roland groaned as she stroked him, squeezed him, drew her thumb in circles around the moist, sensitive crown.
“I want you inside me,” she murmured, her breath warm on his ear.
Raising his head, he met her heated gaze and told her hoarsely, “Take me there.”
Eyes fastened to his, she guided him to her moist entrance and drew him in.
He groaned. She was so warm and tight.
Sarah sucked in a breath as Roland sank to the hilt, loving the heavy feel of him.
His eyes glowed fiercely as he began to move, the amber bright against his tanned skin and dark eyebrows. His fangs were extended. Fangs he was careful to keep from cutting or puncturing her while he took her nipple between his teeth and stroked it with his tongue, sending shards of pleasure slicing through her.
“Roland,” she moaned, burying her hands in his hair and holding him to her. “You feel so good.”
His hands tightened. His thrusts increased. Quicker. Harder.
“Yes,” she groaned, urging him against her with her legs, head falling back against the wall.