Page 24 of Vacation with the Vampire
And he did, returning to his place between my thighs and licking me until I shattered a second time. He filled me with two of his fingers, curling them just right so he set off quakes that touched nerves I didn’t even knowcouldbe touched like that. It wasn’t until he’d licked the wetness coating his fingers clean that he rose above me and brought the head of his magnificent shaft to my core. “Now, you are ready for me,” he declared.
No, I wasn’t ready for him at all, but not in the way he meant. His cock slid deep on the first thrust, deceptively large, stretching me despite his fingers preparing my body. It wasn’t the sex itself that wrecked me, but the way he looked at me as he made love to my body. Such tenderness, such warmth, and, dare I say it, loyalty. It felt like he was promising me with each stroke of his thick length into me that he’d never stray, that he’d always be mine, always love me. Love was too laden a word, too big; I couldn’t handle that just yet, so I focused on the pleasure.
My body became sensation only, my mind hazy with pleasure as he fucked me. His strokes were first slow and precise, then ramped up as our pleasure spiraled. I clamped my legs around his hips and arched my spine to meet him. My orgasm came hard, and it came fast. My muscles grew tight, and he shuddered,his thrusts stuttering. “Mon Dieu!” he swore. “Susie!” We came together this time, and I was convinced I felt the hot blast of his seed as it burst from him in rough spasms.
Afterward, we both froze in that embrace, not awkwardly, but staring at one another as if trapped in a spell. Very slowly, he rolled us, pulling me on top of him and holding me tight. It felt so safe, so intimate, to have him hold me like that while still buried deep. My head pressed to his heart, and I felt the solid, steady thump of it beneath my ear. Vampires had heartbeats, what do you know? Though it was much slower than mine.
I still had so much to learn, but his words echoed in my head now. We’ll have forever. I am a possessive man. You aremine.Soulmates.
I did not believe it was real, right up until the moment my hip began to tingle. We’d been lying entwined together for sometime, somewhere between asleep and awake, drowsy, warm, satisfied. His hands had been moving in slow strokes up and down my back, petting me, learning me. When the tingle began, they froze, and he lifted his left arm above his head and stared.
Craning my head, I could just see it, the way something began to coalesce, shaping into colors beneath his skin. I watched a magical tattoo take shape right before my eyes. It made me jerk upright and glance at my hip, both of us groaning as our bodies slid together. He was still inside me, and as I shifted, his cock grew hard again, rapidly swelling. “What is that?” I half moaned, half demanded.
His eyes went half-mast, gliding from his arm across my chest and naked breasts, down to where I straddled his hips and his cock. Then, finally, they flicked left to my hip, where I was pointing with my finger.
An identical sort of gray-and-golden swirl had appeared on my skin there. The very spot he’d admired most. As I studied it, I thought there were shapes hidden in the swirling design—a skull, a shadowy shape, and light too, like the rays of the sun. Light and dark, vampire and human.
“That,” he said with such satisfaction that my nipples perked, “is our soulmate mark. Proof that you and I are meant to be. You’re mine now, Susie, mine.” I glanced up at his face and saw the mark on his arm instead, identical to what had etched itself into my skin.
“Then you’re mine,” I pointed out. His eyes glowed, his body rippling beneath mine as he shifted his hips. His cock drove deeper into me, and I moaned as pleasure burst through my senses.
“So it would seem,” he agreed with a smirk. Then he rolled us and began making love to me all over again. As much as my head spun at the revelation, the passion was all-consuming. I’d think about it later. Maybe there was no thinking required; there was just us and the bond I could sense flaring between us. A warmth blossomed in my mind—tenderness, passion, desire—maybe something deeper I wasn’t ready to name yet.
He made me come twice this time before he followed me over that edge. Our bodies tangled, my mind drifting into exhaustedsleep. Raoul, my vampire, my lover, my soulmate. He held me in his arms as I drifted off, and I felt safe.
Chapter 13
Raoul
She did not move when I opened my eyes. For a long moment, I simply watched her. She lay tangled in the pale hotel sheets, her golden-brown hair spilled across the pillow like sunlight captured and softened. The city beyond the balcony had long since quieted into the deeper hush of night, but here, everything felt suspended. Her breathing was slow and even, and her cheeks were rosy from sleep.
It had been a very long time since I had allowed myself such indulgence. Longer still since it had meant anything beyond distraction. Yet now, as my gaze traced the gentle curve of her shoulder, the rise and fall of her chest, the delicate mark I had left upon her hip…Mymark. A warmth—strange, unfamiliar, and dangerously close to reverence—settled deep within me.
The bond pulsed faintly, a soft echo I could feel, would feel, anywhere I went. It was not merely physical. It was a kind of recognition, her soul a complement to mine. “Mon Dieu…” I murmured under my breath. When I’d conceived the idea of slumbering for a while, I had never expected to wake to something as special as this: her.
I shifted slightly, careful not to disturb her, though the instinct to draw her closer was nearly overwhelming. Instead, I allowed myself restraint. Control had defined my existence for centuries, so I would not abandon it now, no matter how tempting.
She stirred faintly, a soft sound escaping her lips, and my attention sharpened immediately, but she did not wake. Good. It had been a strenuous few days, and I wanted her to rest as long as possible. This time, watching over her after we’d so deliciously tangled, had also given me a moment to plot a course of action—to plan them, and to set them in motion.
After she had fallen asleep, I had risen and quietly slipped from the room for a brief moment. The hotel staff had been very accommodating once properly motivated. Now, her bill was settled in full, an insignificant expense, though I suspected she would argue otherwise. Humans often did, clinging to numbers that meant little on the grander scale of time. Arranging our departure and settling our bills had been a minor task; much more importantly, I had taken the time to consider the attack.
The men—creatures, more accurately—had not acted without purpose. Nor had the intrusion into her room been random; there was a pattern, a singular focus. There had to be something they sought, but had not found. Which meant… My gaze shifted to the pants lying discarded on the floor. Whatever they wanted, unknowingly, Susie had been carrying it on her person all this time.
With a thought, I stretched a psychic ability I often considered lowbrow, nothing more than a bit of magic to wow the crowd at a bar or party. The trousers flew from the floor and into my outstretched hand, the fabric worn smooth and softened from washing. I checked her pockets carefully and came up victorious a moment later. A small, round object—it turned out to be a compact mirror with a compartment. I knew immediately this was what they sought.
A soft inhale, a drawn-out sigh, they drew my eyes back to Susie. She was waking slowly, with a smile curling her mouth even before she’d opened her pretty eyes. Her lashes fluttered, then lifted, revealing those striking blue eyes, still hazy with sleep but immediately finding me. For a moment, neither of us spoke, but her smile grew wider. It was disarming; entirely too effective. “Hey,” she murmured, her voice warm, unguarded.
I leaned toward her without hesitation, drawn as if by instinct, and brushed my lips against hers. The kiss was slower than before, less urgent, but no less consuming. “Bonjour, ma belle,” I murmured against her lips.
Her hand came up, fingers brushing lightly along my jaw. “You didn’t sleep.” She didn’t phrase it as a question; she already knew the answer. It was more like a marvel to her that I didn’t, or perhaps there was even a slight note of envy. Would she prefer it if she did not need rest as often? I rather liked the way she looked in sleep, and dreams had always felt like a reprieve from ennui.
“I do not require it as you do,” I said carefully. Not right now, after over two centuries of slumber powering me. With fresh blood singing in my veins, I did not think I would need true rest for several days yet.
“You can, though, right?” she asked. I could see her mind turn inward. Likely, she was recalling the moment in the catacombs when she’d woken me. I’d accused her of waking me from the beginning, so it was a correct assumption.
I nodded and thought of a future where I’d lie tangled on the bed with her, both of us asleep. It was a pleasant image, but one notwithin our reach until we’d terminated the threat to her safety. She squinted at me slightly, her gaze sharpening, and her hand rose to press against my chest. “You’ve got that look.”
I arched a brow, amusement warming me. “What look?” I asked, but I liked that she already thought she knew me well enough to recognize certain looks. That spoke of intimacy, of understanding; it spoke of the bond now throbbing with gentle warmth between us.
