“You’re pussy’s wet. You can’t imagine how much I love the scent of your arousal. It used to drive me so crazy when I was around you that I thought I was losing my mind. I’ve missed it more than you can possibly know.” His voice was warm and soothing to her body, and she recognized it—just the tone, the sound, the delicious purr of it as he spoke. Her arousal seemed to know what her memories refused to give up—somewhere deep inside her, she knew him so intimately well.
When she lifted her head from his shoulder, he watched her, and when he reached to her hips and pulled them toward his own, she didn’t even consider stopping him, let alone being a bitch. She could feel the hardness of his length snug against her own cloth-covered wetness, and she wanted to make the fabric disappear. She wanted his body against hers—fully against hers, and she’d welcome him into her body with no hesitation.
He lay back, pulling her body down with him, and as he rolled their bodies to the side, he rose and turned off the lights. When he returned, he pulled her into his body, and she let him. She spoke the words she’d spoken without getting a response three days before. “Please don’t give me away to someone else.” She was emotional as she spoke, her voice lurching in terror as her fears came to the surface with her words. She couldn’t imagine being handed off to another person—not when her body wanted him so very much.
He shushed her sweetly before he spoke. “I’m not giving up. I just wish you could remember how good we were at this.” She wished she could too, but as wetness seeped from her body, she had to acknowledge her body seemed to remember very well, even when her mind forgot. His quiet moan at her body’s response to him was the last sound she heard before falling into sleep.
Chapter 18
Ember hadn’t woken until a couple hours after he had. He’d taken the time to speak with the council about something he wanted to do. They’d assured him he’d be given time with Ember to deal with the lifetime of memories she was missing, and he needed that time now. When she woke, he was lounging beside her. She was instantly nervous—he could smell it in her body chemistry. They had become far too comfortable distrusting one another, and he could see her sizing him up. His expression could kill her mood, and he didn’t want to be the cause of her shutting down again.
“Can you pack a bag for overnight? We’re going to take a short trip.”
She looked at him curiously but nodded. “Will they let us do that?”
“I’ve already taken care of it.” And as he watched her, he decided to push it just a bit further. “Let me taste you. I want to bite you.” She watched him for many long and painful seconds while he forced himself to hold her eyes. She finally nodded, and as he leaned into her body as she watched his body closing in on hers, he moved to her neck. He hadn’t tasted her since he’d resired her, and he wanted it—desperately.
He bit deep into her flesh, and she gasped. He knew it would hurt, but he also knew she would like it in the same way he enjoyed her feeding on his body. He could absolutely do this for a hundred lifetimes with her—now he just had to convince her she could do the same with him. But after the night before … he was finally feeling some degree of optimism. Could she fall in love with him again? He had every intention of finding out.
When she had begged him not to, he’d felt guilty for wanting to give her away, and when she asked the question, it crammed his guilt right down his throat. Her eyes were honest and desperate, and it broke his heart. But he’d gotten to the point that he was almost afraid to be kind to her anymore, fearing she would use his kindness to hurt him, but she had such an amazing hold on him, and as he had held her snug while they slept, he gave into it once again. He didn’t want any man to own her except for him, but something had to give before they ended up hating and destroying one another. She may have softened somewhat, but he could see the distrust swimming behind her eyes still, threatening to tear them apart. And he wondered if perhaps a history lesson was in order.
He pulled his mouth from her neck, having tasted and indulged in her flavor. He’d taken very little from her really, and it was a treat he’d dreamed of since siring her and tasting her flavor for the first time.
“Where are we going?” She looked nervous.
He looked to her eyes, licking her taste from his lips. “Sightseeing.” And winking at her before he could stop himself, he stood and left.
He gave her time to get ready, and when he checked on her shortly after, she looked nervous, but her bag was packed and sitting on the floor beside the bed. He picked up her bag, and she followed him from the room. It took a bit of maneuvering to get the council to go along with his request. He hoped they wouldn’t always be so managed by the council, but the council was concerned with his safety, and they weren’t willing to take any chances that the newest vampire in existence for over a hundred years might go off on a blood bender. She would likely be the most controlled and managed vampire in history—it wasn’t every day the council broke their own rules after all, and Sylvan was a stickler for his rules if nothing else.
His car was brought around by their valet, Jonathan, one of two humans who worked for them, and Truman opened her door. They set off toward Laconia, and the place they first met. It was a two-hour drive, and he was nervous. It was two hours where they could either be civil to one another or resort back to cruelty. They’d been plenty cruel to one another over the past few weeks, and he was desperately hoping they could change that dynamic. It wasn’t them, not at all.
They were quiet most of the way, and he caught her looking at him a time or two, but her face was relaxed and curious. When they were close enough that she knew where they must be going, she stilled, and she inhaled a deep and emotionally loaded breath. Ember hadn’t returned to Laconia since selling her mother’s home, and he was sure these memories would hold far more pain than pleasure. But this was where they’d begun, and he wanted to share their history with her.
When he pulled up to the dilapidated, old house that had remained vacant since the monster was killed, he could hear her heart pounding. This could upset her, but it was a chance he was willing to take. He grabbed a flashlight from the floor behind Ember’s seat, stepped from the car, and rounded to her side. He offered her his hand, and she took it. She looked pale, even for a vampire, and her eyes were focused on only the house. Her hand was shaking as he held it, but she didn’t pull away, and she let him lead her to the door. The screen door was blowing in the early fall wind, and it creaked and groaned as it was wrenched around. The door itself was locked, but it took Truman only a moment to push it off its hinges, giving them access to the stench-filled space within.
She studied him, searching for his reason for bringing her here, but she still followed. It was hard for him to return too, and as he held her hand as they crossed the threshold, he almost reconsidered. The home was filled with filth and garbage, and as they looked around, their faces mirrored one another in their disgust. He led her to the basement stairway. The door that once hung there was missing, and as he walked down the steps first, she stalled and whimpered in long-restrained emotion. Her entire body was vibrating and quivering, and she was gasping with her eyes wide and startled. He squeezed her hand with soft, reassuring pressure, and eventually, after he turned to her and held her frightened gaze with his forced calm one, she exhaled one final breath and took the first step down. As he stepped into the open space at the foot of the steps, he pulled the string on the light that hung over the center of the basement floor, not expecting it to work, and as he suspected, it didn’t. The power was no doubt off, and as he turned on the flashlight, he illuminated a space they both knew so well.