She bit her lip. “Even though I’m going to grow old?”
A sobering fact he tried not to contemplate. “We can’t know exactly what the future has in store for us. But I can tell you with absolute certainty that, young or old, I will love you every day we have together and will love you every day thereafter. I don’t pretend to understand how this could have happened so swiftly, but it has. I …” He broke off, uncertain.
“What?”
“I have little experience with this.” He hadn’t even tried to court a woman in centuries. “So I don’t know if it is crass to say this or not.”
She gave him a squeeze. “You can tell me anything.”
Drawing a deep breath, he shared with her the revelation that had come to him over the preceding days. “This is the first time in my nine and a half centuries of existence that I’ve truly fallen in love.”
The words definitely took her by surprise. “But, I thought …”
“I never felt anything close to this with Beatrice. She and I were more like friends with benefits. And with Mary I had even less.”
She stared up at him, saying nothing.
Unease crept in as he began to wonder if he had just put his foot in it. “Sarah? You aren’t blinking, love. What are you thinking?”
Her stomach growled. “You are so getting laid again after I refuel.”
Emitting a bark of relieved laughter, he hugged her to him.
The bleating of his cell phone made him swear. “It’s probably Chris or Marcus reporting in.”
Releasing her, he strode through the doorway into the bedroom and retrieved his cell phone from the bedside table. “Yeah.”
“It’s Chris. I have something you need to see. All of you.”
“When and where?”
“An hour. There at David’s place. I just didn’t want to call the meeting without you okaying it first.”
He frowned. “Who are you calling in?”
“Marcus, Lisette, Étienne, and Seth.”
“Étienne is in town?” He was one of Lisette’s brothers.
Chris made a sound of impatience. “He’s lived in Winston-Salem for the past thirty years!”
Roland scowled. Winston-Salem was only fifty or sixty miles away.
Sarah joined him and touched his arm, offering comfort.
“If we meet here, one of you might inadvertently lead Bastien to us and put Sarah in danger.”
“Since I assume you won’t leave her there alone, that could be said about any meeting place you choose. David’s house is the safest bet. It has an excellent security system and several secret escape routes.”
“What secret escape routes?”
Sarah’s eyebrows flew up.
A long-suffering sigh came across the line and Roland could guess what the man was thinking: If he hadn’t shut David out, he would already know.
“I’ll tell you when I get there. I have to make these calls.”
“Fine,” he grumbled, hanging up. “Chris has found something and is calling a meeting.”
“Here?”
“Yes, they’ll be here in an hour.”
She went to the armoire and started pulling out clothing. “Who? Him and Marcus?”
“Yes, plus Seth, Lisette, and Étienne.”
Even though it had been less than an hour since they had made love, his body hardened as she tossed aside the towel and pulled on a pair of white bikini panties.
“Who is Étienne?” Her bountiful breasts swayed as she reached for a pair of black cargo pants, nipples still rosy from his earlier attentions.
“I can’t remember. All the blood in my head just rushed to my groin.”
She glanced at the erection straining against his zipper, then dropped the pants. A sly smile tilted her lips as her eyelids lowered slightly. Eyeing him as though she were imagining him naked and plunging inside her, she slowly began to circle the perimeter of the room.
“You want me?” she asked in a low, sultry voice that made his body burn.
He stared, riveted, as she raised a hand, slipped her index finger between her full lips, and sucked, reminding him how it had felt to have those lovely lips close around his cock, her tongue stroking him until he lost all control. “Yes.” The word emerged as almost a guttural growl.
“You want to be inside me?”
When she drew that finger down over her chest to stroke her breast, his knees threatened to buckle.
“Hell, yes.”
“Then you’re going to have to catch me.”
By the time the words registered, she was out the door.
Eyes widening, another smile dawning, Roland gave chase. He deliberately refrained from using his preternatural speed, curious to see where she would lead him.
Sarah sprinted down the hall to the training room and darted inside.
Slowing, he entered behind her and paused by the door. Though he wouldn’t have thought he could get any harder, he did when he realized where she was heading.
Bypassing the assorted equipment, she crossed a large empty sparring area with a padded floor and turned to face him.
“Here,” she said, continuing backward with slow sensual steps as she watched him avidly. “I want you to take me here.”
Behind her stretched a wall of floor-to-ceiling mirrors.
Sarah jumped when Roland crossed the distance between them in a single leap. Her heart raced as he prowled toward her with all the grace of a jaguar, eyes glowing, fangs peeking out from between parted lips.
His jeans rode low on his hips, the long, hard ridge of his erection impossible to miss. Barefoot, making no sound on the padded floor, he matched her step for step. The heavy muscles in his chest and rippling abs flexed as he stalked her.
She stopped a few feet from the wall. Roland halted as well, his body so close she could feel his heat, smell his wonderful scent, unclouded by cologne. His head dipped, his warm breath falling upon her neck.
She was already wet and trembling for him.
He inhaled deeply and rubbed his face against her like an affectionate cat as he slipped one arm around her waist. “Turn around,” he whispered.
Her pulse leapt.
Swiveling in his arms, she stared at their reflection in the mirror. This is what she had wanted to see. The two of them locked together. So different, but so good together.
She leaned back into him, raising one hand to cup his head as he nuzzled the base of her neck. The arm around her waist, so strong and tan compared to her pale flesh, tightened, drawing her hips into the cradle of his so she could feel his heavy arousal. Heat seared her as his other hand slid around to cup one breast, kneading, teasing, trapping her hardened nipple between thumb and forefinger, then rolling, pinching.
She moaned, letting her head fall back against his shoulder.
“You like that?” he murmured.
She nodded helplessly, sharp darts of pleasure piercing her.
When he pulled back slightly, she moaned a protest and wavered where she stood.
His arms left her. In the mirror she saw him step back and shuck his jeans, tossing them aside.
He wore nothing beneath them.
Then he hooked his thumbs in the narrow waistband of her panties and tugged them down to her ankles, holding her steady while she stepped out of them.
Moving up behind her once more, he clasped her shoulders, trailed his hands down to her fingers, and drew her arms out away from her sides.
“Look at you.” His heated gaze, glowing that bright, otherworldly amber, swept her form. “I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my life.”
“Touch me,” she pleaded, every cell on fire.
A wicked grin tilted his lips. “On your knees first.”
Heart slamming against her ribs, she sank to her knees.
Kneeling behind her, he leaned forward to take her earlobe between his teeth, ever careful not to prick her with his fangs. “Spread your legs for me.”
She did so, watching his hand slide around from behind to recapture her breast.