She moved toward him. "Can you be honest with me?"
"Lara, I am falling in love with you."
She inhaled sharply. "Oh God." She pressed a hand to her mouth. "But how can we—is there any hope for us?"
"I've been told that when there is love, there is hope." You must have faith, the old man had told him.
Lara's eyes glistened with tears. "I'm afraid you're so much older than me, and so different from me."
"Inside, we are the same."
A cool breeze swept around them and fluttered her hair. She shivered and wrapped the cape around herself. Music drifted up from the piazza. An accordion played, then a baritone voice began to sing.
Jack glanced down. Lorenzo was playing the accordion, and he'd brought one of Venezia's finest singers to the piazza to perform for Lara.
"Oh my God." She peered down from the window. "He's singing Bella Notte. " She looked at Jack with tears in her eyes. "You arranged that for me?"
"Yes." He took her hand. "Will you be my lady, Lara?"
"I want to be."
"Then no power on this earth can stop us." He pulled her into his arms and kissed her with all the passion he'd kept locked up for so many nights.
This was the night—the bella notte when she would become his. He'd wanted to share Venezia with her. There was so little he could share, so little information he could tell her, that this had felt like the only way to get close to her. And the way she was responding gave him more hope than he'd had for almost two hundred years.
She was clinging to him, opening to him, melting against him. He invaded her mouth, and she sucked on his tongue. He smoothed his hands down her back and cupped her rear. When he pulled her against his swollen groin, she moaned.
"Lara." He kissed a path across her cheek and down her neck. She swayed her hips from side to side, rubbing against him.
Santo cielo. She wanted him. His passion escalated into a frantic need. He swept the edges of the velvet cape over her shoulders, then he undid the buttons down the front of her dress, stopping at her belt. He pushed the bodice and sweater back only to discover some sort of modern, strapless contraption barring him from heaven.
"It's not glued to you, is it?" He didn't want to rip something off her delicate skin.
Lara smiled and caressed his cheek. "It unhooks in the front. Shall I show you?"
"I can manage." He wrestled with the strange plastic hook, then suddenly, the clasp popped open. He sucked in a breath at the lovely sight. "Paradiso."
She shook her head, smiling and blushing at the same time. "They're just breasts."
"No, love." His eyes met hers, and he smiled. "They're your breasts."
Her blush deepened, and the scent of her sweet, rushing blood ignited his frantic need once more.
"I want you." He unfastened her belt and with vampire speed, he undid the rest of her buttons before the belt hit the floor. He pushed her dress wide open, then gripped her around the waist. Her creamy skin was shaded pink from the red glow of his eyes. He slid his hands up over her ribs, then he cupped her breasts.
"Yes." She arched her back, leaning into him so the pink-tinted mounds filled his hands.
With his thumbs, he circled the plump, rosy nipples. They pebbled before his eyes, and his groin seized up tight. He rubbed the tips of her breasts and felt them harden beneath the pads of his thumbs. His erection grew hard. With a tortured moan, he pinched the tips of her breasts and tugged slightly.
"Oh God." Lara grabbed his shoulders as her knees buckled.
"I've got you." He grasped her bottom and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist.
He pressed her back against the wall and raised her higher so he could feast on her breasts. He shoved her dress aside with his face and latched onto a nipple.
She shuddered in his arms. "Jack." She held his head tight.
He suckled her and nibbled on the hardened tip of her breast. Then a slight dizziness swept over him, making him freeze for a second. The sun. It was approaching the horizon. Merda.
"Jack, please," Lara breathed as she gripped his hair in her fists.
He nuzzled his cheek against her breasts as he fought to remain strong. He had maybe five minutes left before his energy would completely seep away. If he fell into his death-sleep here, the sun would kill him.
He inhaled deeply, and the scent of Lara's arousal stirred him. So rich and heady. Santo cielo, he would make her scream before leaving.
He adjusted his hold on her so he was supporting her with one arm. With his free hand, he burrowed under her skirt.
"Look at me," he whispered as he slid his hand up her bare thigh.
She did. "Your eyes are so red."
"Yours are so blue." He reached the slippery folds, and she gasped.
"Oh God." Her eyes flickered shut.
He stroked her till she was quivering in his arms. He teased her clitoris with feathery strokes, then suddenly tweaked it.
She cried out. Her heels dug into his back. More moisture drenched his fingers, and he moaned. She was so sweet, so responsive.
He leaned forward and whispered in her ear. "Cara mia, I love you."
"Oh Jack." She panted, her breath erratic against his cheek.
His death-sleep tugged at him once again. He'd have to teleport very soon. He slipped a finger into Lara's wet vagina, and her inner muscles gripped him greedily. She was so close. His erection pushed painfully against his jeans.
The sun crept closer to the horizon. Sweat broke out on his brow. He inserted two fingers and stroked her slippery inner walls.
"Jack!" Her muscles clenched and she stopped breathing.
All was deathly silent for a moment. Even the serenade from below had stopped. Jack pulled his fingers out and tugged at her clitoris.
With a scream, she shattered. Her body convulsed. Pigeons, scared from their roosts, circled the bell tower with a flurry of beating wings. Jack leaned against the wall, dizzy with weakness as the sky lightened, announcing the imminent arrival of the sun.
With the last of his strength, he teleported them to his room at the townhouse in New York City. He collapsed on the bed with Lara landing beside him.
The alarm blared, set off by them teleporting in. Fortunately, no one was around to hear it, other than him. Phineas would be at Romatech, working. Jack fumbled in his jeans pocket for his keypad, then punched the button to turn off the alarm.
"What… what happened?" Lara whispered.
He breathed deeply as super vampire strength poured back into his body. The night was still young in New York. He had hours now that he could spend making love to Lara.
And that was exactly what he planned to do.
CHAPTER 15
Lara pressed a hand to her brow as she waited for the room to stop spinning. Everything had happened so quickly. She'd had such a huge orgasm, she thought she'd passed out. But now, she realized they'd teleported.
Jack shifted position beside her, causing the bed to jiggle slightly. Bed? She was on her back in a bed. On a black-and-red-striped bedspread.
Jack propped himself up on an elbow and peered down at her. "Are you all right?"
She caught her breath. He'd said that he loved her. "Jack." She touched his cheek.
"Cara mia." With a smile, he skimmed his fingers down her neck, then down between her breasts. "Where were we?"
"Where are we?" She glanced around the room. The black furniture and plain, cream-colored walls looked awfully modern for a palazzo.