Bite Me (13 page)

My chest heaved as my vision cleared. I felt Conner’s hips between mine just before he thrust inside of me. My hands were still in his hair, and I couldn’t stop myself from yanking hard as he began to move deep and fast.

Conner kissed me almost brutally, and I could taste myself on his mouth. We both moaned when I sank my teeth into his bottom lip. Not only did Conner like to bite me during sex, I discovered that he loved it when I bit him in return.

My orgasm began to build again as his pubic bone ground against my clit with every thrust. Desperate to feel his skin, I ripped at his shirt until I could put my mouth on his chest. I felt his mouth trail down my neck and knew what was coming. The knowledge that he was going to bite me again and give me one of those brain-numbing orgasms just turned me on even more.

His lips moved against my skin as he spoke. “I want you to come all over my dick, Donna, but not until I tell you.”

I made a sound I didn’t recognize. His voice was rough and his accent strong. I felt his words vibrate against my neck.

Conner fisted a hand in my hair and pulled my head back so that I had to look into his eyes.

“Do you understand me?” he asked, never slowing his pace and bringing me closer and closer to the pinnacle.

“Yes, Conner. Don’t stop!” God, if he didn’t let me come soon, I was going to pass out. Or die.

He gave my hair a slight yank. “Did I give you permission to come?”

I was desperate and did a little hair pulling of my own since my hands were still buried in his dark brown strands.

“Please,” I begged. Any longer and I wouldn’t be able to hold back. Before Conner, if a man tried to boss me around like this I would have punched him in the throat or laughed in his face. Somehow it felt sexy as hell when Conner did it.

His eyes flared, glowing so intensely that I could no longer meet his gaze. I realized he knew exactly how close I was to the edge. Before I could say anything, he used his grip on my hair to arch my neck, baring my throat to him.

“Come now, Donna,” he commanded just before he bit into my skin.

As he drank deeply, the orgasm burst within me until I felt like I was being turned inside out. I screamed again. Conner continued to suck at my neck, prolonging the pleasure until I didn’t think I could take it anymore. Just as I thought I was about to pass out, he stopped and began to lick my neck to help the wound heal.

I panted as Conner kept thrusting inside of me slowly. Since the first time he bit me, I had allowed him to take blood from me as often as he wished during sex. I never offered to allow him to feed from me at any other time, and he never asked. Still, I couldn’t turn down such incredible mutual pleasure.

Finally, he stopped moving, and we both stared at each other, chests heaving.

“I don’t think I will ever get used to that,” I said. “I’m amazed you aren’t being hounded by all the women from your past.”

Conner cupped my hips with his hands and lifted me off the counter. He walked to the sink, set me down next to it, and grabbed a clean towel out of a drawer. Still deep inside me, he damped the towel with warm water. He slowly pulled out of me and began to clean me with the towel. I took over the task so he could straighten his clothes.

“It isn’t like that every time, Donna,” he said.

I looked up at him in confusion and he continued. “The sex isn’t as intense with others.”

It dawned on me what he was trying to say, and I appreciated his attempt at tact. “Is this another one of those soul mate things?” I asked.

He nodded and focused on redressing. I felt my heart rate pick up but decided to think about it later. We agreed to take this one day at a time, and that’s exactly what I would do. If that meant I was deep in denial, then so be it.

After he zipped up his pants, Conner looked at his shirt and started to laugh.

“What?” I asked.

He held the edges of the material out for me to see. I realized that he was missing several buttons from his shirt. Apparently in my desperation to touch his skin, I had destroyed a very expensive garment.

I giggled. “I’m sorry.”

Conner helped me down from the counter and removed my destroyed panties.

“Don’t be. I like that you are so passionate.” He walked to a door and threw the dirty towel into what I realized was a laundry room. “Now, how would you like to finish the tour of my house, ending with my bedroom?”

I was still smiling when I put my hand in his and let him lead me out of the kitchen. Maybe this whole ‘one day at a time’ thing would work out after all.

The next day I was soaking in Conner’s fantastic bathtub when my cell rang. After I glanced at the Caller ID, I answered and shoved my phone between my ear and shoulder.

“Hello?”

“Hey, bitch! It’s time for Girls’ Night Out. When’s your next night off?” Ricki’s voice was so loud I almost dropped my phone into my bath water.

“Hey, Ricki. Girl, I don’t think I’ll be able to hang out for a while.”

“I call bullshit. It’s been a couple of weeks since our last night out. I want my girl time!” She paused. “It’s that guy, isn’t it? Conner Savage? Are you still seeing him?”

I sucked in a deep breath. Goddammit I hated to lie to my friends, but I couldn’t exactly tell them the truth either. “I am still dating him but it’s pretty casual. We don’t spend that much time together. I do want to hang out with you guys, but I’ve been slammed at work and haven’t had the energy to go out.”

“Don’t be such a pussy, Donna. I want to go out and have fun with my girls!”

I stared at my bright red toenails. I was beginning to see another drawback of dating Conner. I had never gone this long without spending time with my friends. It wasn’t because Conner told me not to, but I couldn’t exactly tell them all about my new boyfriend. I was also a terrible liar. I wouldn’t be able to make up anything believable to hide the truth.

“I can’t, Ricki. Maybe in a few weeks, okay?”

She grumbled for a few seconds but accepted my evasion. We chatted for a few minutes before I ended the call. Aggravated, I tossed my phone onto the small table next to the tub and slid down until the hot water closed over my head.

When I surfaced, I yelped. Conner was sitting on the edge of his tub with a concerned expression on his face.

“Jesus, Conner. Wear a bell or whistle or something when you sneak up on me. I’ll live longer that way.”

He didn’t smile. In fact, he didn’t just look concerned, he looked irritated.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Why haven’t you told your friends about us?”

I smoothed my wet hair back from my face. “Well, you told me that secrecy was important. I can’t exactly announce to them that you’re a vampire.”

He scowled at me. “I wouldn’t expect you to. You can tell your friends that we are together without telling them what I am.”

“I can’t lie to my friends, Conner.”

“I’m not asking you to lie to them, Donna, only to omit a small piece of information.”

I sighed. “No, what I mean is that I
can’t
lie to my friends. They can always tell when I’m lying, and I can assure you that the Spanish Inquisition would have loved to have these girls on their side. Also, they’ll get suspicious when they don’t get to meet you.”

“Why in the hell wouldn’t they meet me, woman?”

Dammit, he was yelling now. I didn’t understand why he was so upset.

“I just assumed that you shouldn’t meet them. I mean, what happens if they see you in five or ten years and realize that you haven’t aged a day since the first time you met.”

“Unless they are like you, which is unlikely, I can merely plant the thought that I’m aging well in their minds.”

I hadn’t thought of that. “Oh,” I murmured, “that makes sense.”

By his expression I couldn’t tell if Conner wanted to throttle me or laugh.

“What?!” I said.

He shook his head. The look on his face said he thought I was completely goofy. Before I even had a chance to think it through, I reached out, snagged the back of this belt with my hand, and yanked him ass first into the tub with me.

“Oh you’ll pay for that, lass,” he said as he lunged for me, splashing water all over the floor.

I squealed when he landed on top of me. A few minutes later I decided that the price of getting Conner wet was one I would pay anytime. Especially since he called me lass in that sexy accent.

Conner and I spent a nice, lazy day together. Considering it was a weekday, I asked Conner why he wasn’t at work.

“That’s why I’m the boss. I hire and train people to take care of things when I can’t or don’t want to be there and then I drop in unexpectedly to be sure they are doing their jobs.”

I could see the logic in that.

It was late afternoon before I left to go back to my apartment. Conner had a dinner meeting. He wanted me to stay so we could spend time together once he got home, but I didn’t want to sit around waiting for him. I had plenty to do around my place. Also, the idea of being the ‘little woman’ waiting around for her man made my skin crawl.

“I’ll come by after my meeting,” he said as he opened the front door for me.

I smiled. “That sounds good.”

He kissed me, much too passionately for a simple good-bye, but I liked it. It was almost as if he needed the contact to carry him through the few hours until he would see me again. It was sexy and it was sweet.

I was still basking in the afterglow when I unlocked the door to my apartment. I froze just inside the threshold.

Lounging on my sofa, wearing a skin-tight red dress and a cold smile, was Vanessa Santino.

“Are you going to come in, Donna, or are you going to stand there all day?”

My heart started thudding in my chest. That little voice of self-preservation in my head yelled for me to skip choices A and B and make a run for my life. Unfortunately, the voice of my pride was louder and said that I shouldn’t back down. Though Vanessa was a vampire, she was first and foremost a woman. A woman who craved power and was extremely strong. A woman like that would find retreat cowardly and never take me seriously. And I wanted her to take me seriously.

Every moment I spent with Conner pulled me closer and closer to the edge of falling in love with him. When that happened, I knew that it would be only a matter of time before he turned me and then I would be forced to deal with the likes of Vanessa Santino on a regular basis. I couldn’t afford for her to see me as weaker, even if I truly was.

I stiffened my spine, lifted my chin, and shut the front door behind me. Though it was difficult, I forced my breathing to remain even, and my heart rate began to slow. After I tossed my keys and purse on the small side table, I went to my overstuffed chair and sat facing her but still out of arms’ reach. It felt safer even though I knew it was just an illusion. Vanessa could move as quickly as Conner and probably be across the room tearing my throat out before I could blink.

“Hello, Vanessa. What can I do for you?” I asked. I was surprised my voice was so steady.

She watched me with narrowed eyes. “That is odd,” she murmured. “I thought perhaps Conner was blocking me from reading you a few days ago, but I still can’t hear what’s going on in that little head of yours.”

I cleared my suddenly dry throat. I wasn’t sure exactly what she was thinking either, but I knew I probably wouldn’t like it.

“It seems I have some natural immunity to the vampire ability to read minds.”

She studied me. “I see.”

She took a deep breath and her eyes began to lighten and glow. I realized what she intended to do and knew I had only a split second to decide what course to take. Should I show her my ability to resist or should I obey whatever commands she threw at me?

“Come here,” she demanded.

Shit, fuck, and damn. I immediately decided to do as she said. I knew she was dangerous and I needed all the advantages I could get. She knew she couldn’t read my mind, but perhaps she wouldn’t see me as such a threat if she thought she could control me.

I slowly rose from my chair and went to sit near her on the couch.

With a smug expression on her face, her eyes stopped their otherworldly glow. “You are not immune from all vampire abilities it would seem.”