“I can’t stand it,” she managed to gasp.

“Mmm,” he crooned against her. “You can.”

“Seriously. Julian, please.” She lifted her hips to his wise, wicked mouth. It was literally the only thing she could do. With every caress, he stripped her down until she was even more naked, more in need, and the pleasure built and built…

Until the most glorious sensation flared up, blooming through her body like a glowing lotus flower.

A ragged cry broke out of her. She was not in control of it. She wasn’t in control of anything. After the first wave of pleasure, her climax pulsed rhythmically. He found the secret of it, tonguing her in rhythm with the pulse, and oh my God, how did he know to do that, and she couldn’t take any more.

“Holy shit,” she said. Her voice was shaking badly, while tears spilled out the corners of her eyes. “Okay, okay – Julian, I can’t do any more —”

Yes, you can, he said in her head.

He didn’t let go of her hands.

He didn’t lift his mouth from her, or stop.

Oh, God.

Her next climax didn’t bloom like a flower. It cracked through her body like lightning. Lifting her head from the force of it, she would have screamed except she had lost her breath. All that came out of her mouth was a helpless, mewling cry. She tried to swear. Inside her head, she was going off like a sailor, but what came out of her mouth was begging.

“Please. Please.”

Oh, baby, he said gently. I’m not going to quit until you give me another one.

“I c-can’t!”

You can, he murmured. You will. Tell me what you’re feeling.

He was the darkest of voices inside her head, the Nightkind King, and when he turned his gift of persuasion onto her, she wanted to take her soul out of her body and hand it to him.

Somehow she made her shaking mouth form words. She whispered, “I love you.”

He stilled. The world stopped.

Then, while she lay totally open and shivering uncontrollably, he released her hands and lifted up to settle on her fully. The weight of his big body was such a relief, she wrapped her arms and legs around him.

Another, softer man might have stopped at that point.

But he wasn’t a soft man, and he didn’t stop.

Stroking her hair off her forehead, he played his lips over hers, with such light, ravishing voluptuousness, she lost even more of herself to him.

“Say it again,” he said against her mouth.

That time, she couldn’t articulate verbally and had to switch to telepathy. I love you.

He reached between them to bring the broad head of his cock to her opening, stroking her until she was ready for him. Then he pushed in and didn’t stop rocking until he had planted himself, all the way to the root.

He felt so big and good, nestled inside. He pulled out and pushed in again. Pressing her face against his shoulder, lifting her hips for each thrust of his, she reveled in his penetration.

Gradually he picked up his pace until he was fucking her with long, sure strokes. At first she simply enjoyed it, but his pace was so relentless, so inescapable, it reached her deep inside, and the pleasure began to intensify again.

She couldn’t reach another peak. She was spent. But then he reached between them again and found her clitoris.

“Look at me,” he said.

She met the Vampyre’s red, fierce gaze.

Baring his fangs, he said, I told you. I’m not going to quit until you give me another one.

She whimpered and gave it up to him. This third climax went bone deep, soul deep. It stamped itself onto her DNA. While she shook from it, he pistoned into her, hard and fast, until his back arched and he twisted with a gasp.

Inside, she felt his erection pulse, which was when she remembered how the whole thing had started.

Damn it, she was going to suck on that.

As quickly as the thought occurred to her, it ghosted away again. She was left watching him, feeling him climax. It was so beautiful to watch the power of what he experienced transform him. Greedy for every moment, she soaked it all in.

Afterward, he rested his forehead on the pillow beside her. She realized he was breathing heavily and smiled to herself.

That was when he whispered in her ear, “I love you too, Melly. Always have, you know.”

All of her filters had been stripped away. At times, that could be a good thing.

Other times, it wasn’t. The first thing that came to mind was what fell out of her mouth. “You have a hell of a way of showing it sometimes.”

The silence that greeted that felt too charged and unpredictable. Inwardly cursing herself for shattering the moment, she turned her face away and covered her eyes with one hand.

Maybe they were going to have that talk right now, whether they were ready or not.

Fourteen

J

ulian stared down at Melly’s averted face. She was hiding her eyes, but the rest of her was available for his perusal.

She looked so much better than she had when he had first laid eyes on her in the tunnel. Her skin glowed a warm, healthy color in the soft bedroom light, and her blond, curly hair glinted with gold highlights. The tip of one of her elegant, pointed ears peeked out of a curl. The healing properties from his bites were aiding her natural Light Fae ability to heal. Her bruises were fading, and her cuts and scratches already looked like they were several days old.

She was clearly upset. He rolled away from her, onto his back, and stared up at the ceiling.

He said in a controlled, even voice, “We’re short on rest, and our emotions have been running at full throttle. Are you sure you want to have this conversation right now?”

“I don’t know.” She sounded frustrated. “Apparently the nap I took in the bathtub reenergized me. I’m sorry that fell out of my mouth, but I can’t take it back. And I’m not even sure I want to.”

“All right.”

He watched as she left the bed, walked into the bathroom and reappeared a few moments later. She wore his dark blue silk bathrobe, and she had pulled her hair back into a loose braid. Not looking at him, she went to sit in the armchair where she lifted the lid off the covered food tray and inspected the contents.

After a moment, she picked up a cup of tea and cradled it in her fingers. Her expression was shuttered and unhappy.

He closed his eyes. Then he sat at the edge of the bed, pulled on a pair of dark gray boxers and put his head in his hands.