“Long enough,” I said, reaching forward to slide my hands inside the neck of his jacket, pushing it from his shoulders. It floated on the surface of the lake before dipping, then disappearing beneath the dark.

David and I watched it; he shrugged. “Never liked that coat anyway.”

I looked up at the strange calm; the clouds overhead were moving fast, flashing blue with streaks of lightening every few seconds, but here, in David’s world, we couldn’t even hear the thunder. “This doesn’t feel real.”

His hands tightened on my body, scrunching my clothing up inside fists of desire as I wrapped my legs around his waist, letting the water lift me into his arms. “Well, if this is a dream,” he said, “it’s a damn good one.”

“Just shut up and kiss me.”

He laughed once then forced his lips on mine, shocking me with the ferocity, the tension and lust he’d saved up all this time, the kind that left everything else on our bodies wanting, starving for oxygen.

My hands moved fast across his chest, memorising each bone in his shoulder, his ribs and his jaw, and he met my passion and fury with the same fast searching, his fingers daring to inch beyond my waist, to my hips, and along my shoulder blades under my shirt.

His sweet scent and the flavour of his breath had been gone so long it was no longer enough. I needed him—all of him. I needed him inside me, on me, everywhere I could have him—everywhere humanly possible.

He leaned back and smiled at me. “Clothes off?”

I didn’t even think then. I grabbed the base of his shirt, peeling it upward as he arched his elbows and lifted it from his skin, casting it to the shore with one flick.

My breath shuddered.

In the pale moonlight, he looked like a vampire; his features chiselled and more refined, his eyes dark and mysterious, his smile, with his fangs showing, deathly.

Without taking his eyes off mine, his fingers crept up my spine, tracing every knuckle of bone until he lifted my shirt and unclipped my bra. My breath fell hot and short through my smile. I lifted my arms as he rolled my sticky, moisture-heavy shirt off my body, and sent it flying to the shore as well, then let out a long breath, infused with profanity, as he studied me.

“What?” I said.

“I forgot how beautiful you are.”

A rush of love flooded through me as our skin touched. I folded over, burying my face in his neck, wrapping my arms tightly around him, my breasts falling heavily against his chest. He traced loving lines over the back of my neck, then pressed each digit of his fingertips into my shoulder blades.

When the desperation to feel love passed, up rose the desire again, making everything in my body hot against the cool water. Lightning flashed above us—illuminating the lake like a stage, and as I pressed my lips to his again, not bothered by the wetness exchanged with each touch, the storm broke through his hold—cracking thunder bringing down a torrent of rain on top of us.

He laughed into my mouth, his breath becoming my next. “Sorry,” he said, “I can’t hold the elements while concentrating...elsewhere.”

“It’s okay,” I said, nibbling his neck, “I like the rain on our skin.”

He stopped me, lifting me from his flesh with a gentle hand, then leaned out from our hold a little so he could study me. With soft hands, a touch reserved for the most breakable things, he cupped my breast and sighed. “I’ve never touched you here before.”

“Yes, you have. In my dreams.”

He smiled. “And what else have I done in your dreams?”

I felt my cheeks blush, but the heat that rose with it only made me want him more. As I reached down between my legs to unbutton my jeans, David’s hand caught mine.

“Stop.”

“Why?” I met his eyes just in time to see a smile spread across his lips. “Why?”

He dropped his shaking head, kissing the place my locket used to sit. “You know why.”

“Oh my God! The virginity thing?”

“Yes.”

“But that’s not fair.” I placed my feet back on the sandy surface of the lake. “I don’t want to give it to anyone else—ever. Except you. Why don’t you want it?”

“Oh, Ara.” He placed his thumb to my quivering lip. “Sweetheart—it was never that I didn’t want your virginity.”

“Yes, it is.”

“No, my love. It’s not.” He bundled me into his arms and kissed the top of my head. “I never told you this, but, when a vampire takes the virginity of a human, she’s bound to him—for all eternity. She will be incapable of feeling for another man. The connection will go deeper than just the physical—deeper than the soul.”

“Then why won’t you let me have that with you?”

“Because you won’t be able to forget me, Ara.”

“I can’t now. Can’t you see that?” I studied his eyes.

“But there’s a hope.”

I wanted to hate him for that, but if there wasn’t a hope, or at least a hope of hope, then I would be a lost cause.

David chewed the inside of his lip. “What are we going to do?”

“Run away together?” I smiled, wishing he would.

“Wait!” His eyes narrowed as he pressed his nose to my hair. “Ara—when did you see Jason?”

“Tonight.”

“I knew it. I knew I could smell him on you.” He took my face in both hands and looked deep into my eyes with his liquid-green stare; “What did he want—did he hurt you?”

“No.” I shook my head, unclenching David’s fingers from my face. “No, he—he saved me.”

“What?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Show me,” David ordered in a short tone, touching my face again.

“No.”

“Ara. Show me. Please?”

“Okay, okay.” I closed my eyes and replayed the memory of everything that happened today with Eric and Karnivale, Jason and our chat, Emily and...Mike.

David pulled back suddenly and tilted his head. “Shit.”

“Did you just say shit?”

He didn’t answer, but simply placed his hand over my heart. “It hurt you to see Mike and Emily like that.”

“It shouldn’t though, should it?”

“Of course it should.” His brow pulled, making rivers for the rain to travel down. “Poor girl. Ara, I’m so sorry.”