Charming Charly (English Edition) (Lords of Arr'Carthian 3) (10 page)

He took a few steps away.

“And now look at me.”

Her trembling fingers closed tightly round the handle of the blade. She closed her eyes and breathed in and out deeply. Her stomach seemed to have knotted and she felt dizzy.
 

“Charly!”

She opened her eyes and stared at his feet. Her eyes moved slowly up a pair of muscular, slightly hairy legs. Quickly, and with very red cheeks, she skipped over the middle part of his body and rested on an unbelievable sixpack. She felt a tingling heat in her lower regions and briefly closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she moved her eyes further upwards. His chest was slightly hairy and looked so damn manly. She had already seen other, well-built men. At the sports club, at the beach, in films. But never before had the sight of a man done such crazy things to her body.
 

“Charly,” he whispered hoarsely. “Are you OK? Look at me.”

She raised her eyes and looked into his warm brown eyes.
 

“I’m coming over to you now,” he said calmly. “Move over a little because I’m going to sit next to you.”

Her eyes widened and she bit her lip nervously.

“I won’t do anything, OK? I’m going to explain to you why I’m doing this. Why I have to do something.”

She nodded slightly and moved away a little.
 

He came closer and sat down. She did not know where to look, so she stared at the knife in her hands.
 

He inhaled and exhaled deeply before he began to speak.

“I need to explain something to you. Something about the Carthians,” he began. “When a Carthian meets his mate he knows immediately that it is the right one. There is no doubt about this. When one of our males is intimate with his mate, he bites her and injects a hormone that increases pleasure. This hormone is only produced when a male meets his mate. I’m not a virgin, Charly. I’ve had other females before you, but none of those was the right one. My body had no need to produce the hormone. It is only produced at the moment when a male has found his mate.”

Charly listened, mesmerized. She was not sure what to think of this and, what was more, she did not know why he was telling her this and what he hoped to gain.

“The problem with the whole thing is …,”he continued. “… that this first hormone, that is intended for the first union, has a particular composition. It’s harmless for the female, but it becomes a fatal cocktail for the male if he can’t use it.”

Charly looked up in shock and stared at him.
 

“You mean fatal, as in: it’ll kill you if you don’t bite me?”

He nodded.

“You’re taking the piss,” she said uncertainly. “It’s just a trick to …”

“No, it’s not a trick,” he contradicted her. “It takes varying amounts of time, with each male, before it gets critical. It can take weeks or just days. It’s not fatal all at once. The first symptoms are restlessness and headaches. After that come cramps, then signs of paralysis and finally circulatory collapse. I have the first two symptoms as of today.”

Charly shook her head in disbelief.

“That means, if we don’t … then …?”

“I still have time,” he said. “There’s no reason to rush things. But I don’t have forever. That’s why I had to take matters into my own hands. I know that you’re scared and I would never hurt you. You don’t need to fear that I’m going to attack you now. I just ask you to allow yourself to get used to me – my company, my touch. Gradually.”

“Can’t you get rid of the hormone some other way?” she asked hopefully.

He laughed, but it sounded more desperate than amused.

“I’m not a snake that can be milked,” he said. “It only works when I’m sexually aroused. My body won’t allow itself to be betrayed. It has to happen during the act otherwise my body will simply produce more of the hormone.”

“That really is quite … bad,” said Charly at last. “I mean, I have heard that it can be quite uncomfortable for some men when they don’t … umm … can’t release pressure, but that someone can …”

“The problem is the hormone, not my dick,” he said dryly. “It’s not the same.”

“But in the end it is the same,” she insisted. “I have to sleep with you otherwise … otherwise …”

“Charly,” he interrupted her gently. “I haven’t told you this so that you think that you have to do something. I would never force myself upon you. I would never hurt you, I’ve already told you that. I only ask you to give me a chance. Nothing more.”

“But you’ll die if we don’t …”

She could not go on speaking. She was far too confused. Amano was looking at her calmly.
 

“You would … No, you wouldn’t do that, would you?”

“What?” he asked without taking his eyes off her.
 

“You wouldn’t just allow yourself to die just because I don’t …”

“Charly,” he said quietly. “You don’t understand. You … you mean the world to me. I would do anything to make you happy. If I thought that I could not make you happy then I would rather die. And I would absolutely definitely not hurt you just to save my own life. I could never face you again. I could no longer look at myself in the mirror. Is it so hard for you to grasp that someone loves you? Loves you more than his own life?”

She was staring at him from wide eyes. Did he really mean that? She could not believe it. She had given him no reason to love her. She had been nothing but cold towards him.

He reached out and undid her ties. Her pulse raced as his fingers brushed the back of her hand when he did this.
 

“Amano, I’m … I’m scared,” she said quietly.

“I know,” he whispered back. “That’s why we’ll do this step by step. I only want to look at you. May I undress you? I won’t touch you anywhere, where it’s …”

“You don’t understand what I mean,” she interrupted him. “I’m not afraid that you’ll hurt me. I know you won’t. I’m afraid that I … that I’ll refuse – that I’ll realize, at the last moment, that I can’t do it after all.”

“I can stop at any point. It’ll be difficult, but I can do it. I will do it. I promise you that. But for today we won’t try it at all. You’re not ready yet. I only want to look at you. May I?”

Charly blushed. But in the end she nodded.
 

Amano got up from the bed and reached out to her. Their eyes met. Hesitantly, she put her smaller hand into his large hand. He slowly pulled her up until she was standing in front of him. Blood was roaring loudly in her ears and she was afraid that her legs would give way beneath her. She was breathing heavily.
 

“It’s OK,” he said hoarsely. “Nothing’s going to happen. I’m now going to untie the lacing on your dress. May I?”

She nodded silently.
 

Amano walked round her slowly until he was standing behind her. She could feel his hands working on the lacing that held the dress together at the back, but he did not touch her, as he had promised. She thought she could feel his breath on her skin as the dress slid open at the back, and a shudder ran over her body. He slowly pulled the material over her shoulders until the dress slipped down her body to the floor. She heard him take a sharp intake of breath. Now she only had her panties and her bra on. Would he also …?

“You are so beautiful,” he murmured behind her.
 

It made her nervous, not being able to see him. She realized that they were now both more or less naked, but she trusted him. She could feel his fingers again, opening the clasp on her bra, and this piece of material slipped to the floor, too.
 

“Turn round,” he said, his voice husky.

She held her hands protectively across her breasts, as she granted his request. He reached out to touch her cheek, but stopped just before doing so. Her heartbeat raced.
 

“May I?” he murmured.

“Yes,” she whispered.

He gently placed his hand on her cheek. She could not take her eyes off his. Never before had a man looked at her in this way. His thumb brushed over the corner of her mouth as delicately as a butterfly’s wing and she trembled at his touch. Her hand, as if of its own accord, touched his chest. The sensation of his warm skin and the slightly rough hair under the palm of her hand sent a shock wave through her body. She could feel his heart beat, that was as fast and as heavy as her own. His face came closer to hers as if in slow motion. Butterflies began to dance the mambo in her belly as she realized that he was going to kiss her. Until very recently this realization would have caused her to pull away from him, screaming. But now her heart was leaping in her chest and her lips were opening slightly in anticipation of what was to come.
 

“Charly,” he groaned and he leapt away from her as if he had been given an electric shock.
 
“I’m … I’m sorry. For a moment I … damn it! I …”

She stood there as if frozen. Her hand was still tingling where he had touched her and she was trying to grasp what was happening here. She saw him grab his trousers and quickly pull them on.
 

With a hoarse: ‘We’ll meet for breakfast,’ he fled from the room and the door banged shut behind him. The noise pulled her out of her trance. Slowly, she lowered her hand.
 

“Oh. My. God!” she uttered with difficulty. “Oh my God!”

***

Amano fled from the house as if the devil itself was behind him. He had been a hair’s breadth away from kissing her. Whatever had got into him? She had begun to trust him and he had almost destroyed that, just because he could not control himself. He had promised her that he would take it slowly.

“Damn it!” he cursed, striding towards the stable. He would take a ride to the lake. The cold water would perhaps cool him down enough for him to be able to think clearly again.
 

It was dark in the stable, but his feline eyes did not need any light. He saddled his favorite stallion and led him out into the open.

“We’re going on a little night ride, dear friend,” he said, swinging up onto the animal’s back. The pergamo’s horn began to glow with joy. Eagerly, the animal set off, and soon rider and animal were rushing through the dark night.
 

***

Charly was standing at the window, watching the dark shadow and she knew that it was Amano on one of his pergamos. She ought to feel relieved that Amano had kept a cool head and had kept his promise. But this was not the case. Instead she felt a strange emptiness and she could not think of anything other than the kiss that almost happened and the feel of his naked skin beneath her hand.
 

“Oh my God, Charly, you’re a complete mess!” she admonished herself.

She turned away from the window and walked restlessly up and down the room. Her eyes fell upon the knife that lay on the bed. The memory of what he had told her came into her mind. She still could not believe it. Would he really die? By now she was gradually coming round to the idea of sleeping with him. But allowing herself to be bitten was quite another matter. She was not a particular fan of those vampire stories and that whole thing about biting and drinking blood. Well, Amano had said nothing about drinking her blood, but that he would inject a hormone into her. But that still required the part with the bite. The very thought of his teeth burying into her flesh gave her goose bumps – and not the pleasant kind. She felt torn inside. Under no circumstances did she want him to have to die just because she was such a damn coward. How did other women deal with this? She wished she had known about this before. Then she could have asked Lory. She thought again of the scene with her friend and Kordan in the cafeteria on board the
Cordelia.
Lory had not looked as if there was anything unpleasant about the whole thing. However, the FBI agent was a tough woman – a whole lot tougher than she was.
 

***

Charly awoke from a dream that left her restless and frustrated. It had not been a nightmare. She had dreamt about Amano. They had met up again and again and his presence had made her shaky and breathless, but whenever his lips came close to hers he had slipped away from her.
 

For a while she tried to get back to sleep, but with no success. After tossing back and forth restlessly in the big bed for half an hour, she finally swung her legs off the bed in irritation. She would see if she could get a glass of milk from the kitchen. Perhaps that would help her sleep. She pulled on a thin dressing gown made of a silk like material, and left the room.
 

The corridor was gently lit. She found her way down the stairs to the kitchen with no trouble. The fridge, that looked more like the cool shelf in a supermarket, gave off a greenish light and she found the jug of milk straight away.
 

She had two glasses of milk and also helped herself to a seductive-looking gateau with a sweet cream filling, licking her fingers afterwards. She was ready to try to get to sleep again. She now felt tired enough and, as if to confirm this, she needed to yawn. She turned and crossed the kitchen. With tired eyes, she opened the door and ran straight into a large obstruction.
 

The obstruction turned out to be a man.