Kathi S Barton - [Aaron's Kiss 04] (16 page)

As soon as he could move again, he rolled to his side, pulling her lax body with him to drape her across him. He pulled her tight, hugging her to his body and his heart. He started to ask her if she was all right, if he had hurt her in any way, when he heard her soft snore emanating from her mouth. For the first time in more centuries than he could remember, he was smiling as he drifted into a light slumber.

He woke an hour later to a cold, empty bed. She was gone from the tiny apartment.

He reached for her and felt that she had gone down to the kitchen just behind the shop.

Tucker could feel her emotions were in turmoil, rioting through her, changing with each breath she took. He got up and pulled his jeans on, grinning at the missing snap.

He stood in the doorway from the stairs and watched her work. She seemed to be gluing tiny flowers, roses it looked like, onto a large round cake, more than likely one of the wedding cakes she had mentioned earlier. He didn’t realize she knew he was there until she spoke.

“I don’t want a relationship with you, well, with anyone really. I...we can’t be...what I mean is that...I’d like for you to leave now. You can’t come back here.”

“It’s too late for that, Sam. You’re mine. We are a bonded and mated. There is no going back for us.” He realized that he was glad for it, for their bond.

“See, that’s what I mean. I don’t want to belong to you. I...you can...you can go tell your lordy guy that you’ve done as he asked and that’ll be the end of it. He won’t have to...to whatever he does to his underlings for not following his rules, no matter how asinine they are.”

He had her pinned against the wall in a second, not even aware that he had moved until he was there. He pressed his hardness into her soft flesh, showing her without words what he wanted, needed from her. He pushed his cock into her, once, then again.

Tucker kissed her, devouring her mouth, taking her breath away.

“Does this feel like an order to you, Sam? Do I feel like a man who’s had enough? I want you, right now. I want to fuck you right here, then I want to take you upstairs and fuck you again, and again.”

Tucker pulled her shirt open, ripping the buttons off. Then her shorts were shredded, the jersey material no match for their passion, because as soon as he touched her skin, she began to tug at his clothing as well. His own pants were ripped from him before he could remember he had no other clothes.

As soon as they were both naked, he palmed her ass, lifted, and entered her in one hard push, slamming her back against the kitchen wall. Her legs tightened around his hips, squeezing him closer. His fangs burst through his gums, the anger and need pushing his passions higher.

“Sam, Christ, come for me. Come now!”

He pinched at the point where her shoulder met her neck with his fangs and as soon as her first wave hit her, he bit down, pierced her flesh, and triggered her second climax. She came, screaming out his name as he rode her harder and faster. As soon as she went lax in his arms, he cradled her next to him and strode to the stairs, up through her rooms into the bedroom. His cock still hard and inside of her, Tucker laid her onto the bed, and then rolled to his back, taking her with him.

“Baby, I need you to ride me. Give me all of you. Ride me, Sam; I want you to fuck me.”

It took her a moment or two to get rhythm. Each stroke, each time she moved over him, had him surge upward into her.

Her movements were slow and sensual at first, but as he lifted his hips up into her harder and harder, they became frantic with a need to take. Tucker sat up, reached for her nipples, and pulled on first one then the other, her inarticulate sounds driving him closer. He took her hands from his chest and cupped them around her plump breasts, pushing them together for him. When he was satisfied she would leave them there, he sucked hard on one then the other in quick consecution, back and forth. Digging his fingers into her hips to bring her harder down on his cock, he looked up at her.

“Sam, I want you to drink from me. I want to feel your mouth on me, for you to drink from me.”

She surged on him. He felt her tighten around him and her eyes darkened to a deep violet color. He had his answer. Pulling his right hand from her, he reached under her pillow where she kept a switchblade, and flicked it open. Never taking his eyes from hers, he sliced an opening across his chest, just where his heart pounded. As he leaned back on his hands, he dropped the bloodied knife over the side of the bed, then lowered himself to his back and waited for her.

His blood running down his chest seemed to be mesmerizing for a few seconds, and then she leaned forward, her breath soft and warm on his chest as she ran her tongue along the thin stream that ran from his abs to the cut. His body reacted to the sensation of her tongue tracing the blood line and had him moaning with anticipation.

When she reached the source, she opened her mouth over the wound and sucked. He nearly bucked her off in response, never had anything felt so right. He pulled her arm up from beneath her and put her wrist to his mouth. He bit her deep in the artery there, taking her in as she was him. Their combined climax shattered them, bringing them both to the heavens and then back again.

~CHAPTER THIRTEEN~

Tucker woke first this time, as it was nearly ten o’clock and he needed to be in shelter before the sun was too much higher in the sky. Tucker was an old vampire and could take sun up to the hottest part of the day. He got up and realized that their clothes, or what was left of them, were still down in the kitchen from last night. She’d be mortified if one of her employees found them there. He materialized to the house he was renting, dressed quickly, then returned to her kitchen. Someone had already picked the kitchen up. He looked around and didn’t see anything amiss. Even the trays of flowers were put away. He walked back up to the bedroom just as she was getting up.

“Hi,” he told her softly, not wanting to break the quiet of the morning. “I went down to get our clothes and they were gone.”

“I...I went down earlier and got them. I...it’s not really...they, Sally and Betty, they…they don’t need to know my business. Not that they’d mind...I mean, they shouldn’t...I got them already. There wasn’t much left of...your pants were shredded and, well...I had to...damn it. I’m gonna take a shower, then I have to go to work. I guess you need to leave, or I guess leave again. You didn’t bring clothes here, did you? Last night, I mean?”

“No, I didn’t.” He thought it was funny that she was babbling. “It’s all right, baby. I can move through time, sort of transport myself from here to there over great distances.

It’s my talent, so to speak. And about the pants, that’s fine that you threw them out. I’m sure they were a mess.” She only nodded and got up, pulling the bed sheet around her.

He watched her. She moved a little stiffly. They had made love several times throughout the night and morning, and as he was a large man, he was sure she was a little tender. He moved to her as she struggled with both the sheet and the door, balancing her and opening the bathroom door for her.

“Here, let me. You don’t need to hide yourself from me, Sam. I’ve tasted nearly every inch of this delectable body, and I love looking at you.”

“I’m not comfortable like this. I mean, I know you must think I’m being silly, but I—” He cut her off with a kiss, a kiss that was so gentle and though even in its simplest form, was sensual and heated. When she pulled away and leaned her forehead onto his chest, he held her close, just giving her comfort.

“I don’t think you’re silly. I think you are a very passionate and vibrant woman who hasn’t bared herself, as it were, to anyone and you’re shy.” He tilted her chin up so that he could look into her eyes still wet with unshed tears. “Don’t cry, baby. I won’t hurt you. I promise.” She nodded again and put her head back on his chest.

He could see her in the mirror over the sink in the bathroom. Tucker pushed the sheet down just enough that he could see the bullet scars well now. He reverently touched the one on her waist, circling it with his fingers. When she stiffened, he nearly stopped, but wanted to reassure her that they didn’t bother him.

“Don’t, Sam, I want to see. They are a part of you, and they make you who you are.

Let me touch them.”

He hadn’t thought about the bullets going through her, but she had been so small.

Where else would they have gone? He touched the second one that was near her spine; another two inches and it would have severed it. The third and fourth were on her right side. Close, he thought. Close to her heart both times. The fifth was low on her belly, and had probably nicked if not gone through her kidney. He shuddered as he thought of the pain she must have been in, even with her mother healing her. He looked for the sixth and didn’t see it, but before he could ask, she shifted in his arms, lifted her hands to her hair, and showed him the sixth scar.

“This one he shot last. I didn’t feel it. By then I was in so much pain, I couldn’t think, let alone realize that he’d shot me again. But it was the one that changed me.” The bullet went in just above her right ear and came out the back, near the middle of her skull. “By all rights, it should have killed me instantly; I think my mother had something to do with why it didn’t. I was only a weak telepath before, getting a small, very small taste of people’s thoughts. After that night, I could feel and hear everything.

Then there were the other things. I...they scared me at first...I didn’t tell anyone, but it...I could suddenly...one of the things I could do was remember everything. Everything I heard, smelled, touched. Even things I’d read.”

“Photographic memory, you have a photographic memory. You said other things.

What do you mean? What kind of other things?”

“I can move things by simply thinking about it with telekinesis. It was hard at first, but I got stronger, and the objects got larger, kind of useful now and again. Then there is clairvoyance. I can see things about other people. It...that’s how I met Betty. She came into the shop one day. I was running it on my own then, and I got a glimpse of her boyfriend killing her that night, or it turned out to be that night. Anyway, she had come in for a sample and I felt her pain. She had been beaten earlier. So I ‘pushed’ her into giving me her address and went to her home that night. He had been beating her, and I shot him.” He knew that there was probably more to the story than that, but he didn’t push her. He just tucked her closer to his body.

“Then there is the psychometric thingy. I can just touch something or someone and tell everything about them or it. I can locate things, lost objects, and people. So long as it hasn’t been touched by too many, I can get a reading on things very quickly.” He didn’t press when she wouldn’t look at him. It was probably easier for her this way. He decided that she would trust him soon enough to face him and herself.

“Who else knows about these abilities?” He worried about her more now. She was a walking lab experiment, and anyone would want to cut her head open and see just what made her the way she was.

“Betty knows, I think. She’s never asked, but I know she wonders. But no one else, well, you do. I don’t exactly flaunt it, or tell anyone. I know the men in lab coats would have a heyday with me.” She finished her thought with a gentle touch into his mind. “I can read your worry, Tucker, as well as your thoughts. I’m not trying to pry, but when you touch me, it’s like a direct line to that extrasensory plug-in.”

“That’s why you don’t like to be touched, why you back off when people reach out to you.”

“Yes, it’s like information overload. Like ‘too much information’ all in capital letters. That little kid…Lizzy? She felt me pop. It’s like we both got a jolt. Most can’t feel it but I…she must be a very strong sensitive too.” He could feel the sun bearing down on him even though they weren’t near a window. He needed to get below ground. He pulled back from their embrace, and looked down at her. When she smiled at him, his heart flipped over in his chest. Mine!

“I have to go, it’s nearly noon. I need to...will you please do me a favor and not go out today? I need to tell you something. It’s important, it’s...I have a...I need to explain something to you. Will you wait inside for me to return, please, Sam? It’s important.”

“I need to get these cakes finished today. They’re being picked up tomorrow.” She stiffened as she spoke. “I won’t have time to leave, but I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing a pretty shitty job of it, but I’ve managed to not get myself killed all by my lonesome.”

“I know, but now that we’re mated...I...it could be dangerous for you. Please stay inside. I know its daylight, but there are other creatures that could harm you for...I really need to go. I’ll explain tonight, all right?” At her promise to try her very best not to leave the shop, he left. He knew she was giving him the best answer she could under the circumstances.

Instead of going to the rental house, he materialized in the master’s mansion kitchen. Duncan, apparently used to people popping in and out, didn’t even bat an eyelash as this latest embodiment appeared before him.

“Master Tucker, how nice to see you again. The master and the missus are in the dining room. Would you like for me to announce you?”

“Hummm, no. I need to...I was wondering if I may seek shelter here for the day? I need to talk with my master, but it’s too late, I must go to ground. Would you please ask him to…tell him I need to talk with him about something? Something important...it’s about Sam, well, Sam and me. Would you please ask him for me?” Duncan had been around enough vampires in all his lives to know when fatigue from the sun was beating down on one. As he rushed Tucker off to shelter, Tucker was glad for the man and wondered if he would ever find someone so well versed in vampires’ needs. Duncan assured him that he would tell the master and the lady of the house.

~~~

“Did he say anything, Duncan, that might give us a clue as to what has happened?” Sara asked as she continued to eat her breakfast. Aaron watched her, only paying about half attention to what Duncan was saying. He was so turned on he hurt. It wasn’t until Sara glared at him that he started listening with his entire mind.