Losing It: A Collection of VCards (33 page)

“And now?” She looked at him from the corner of her eyes as he pulled back.  Her pulse thrummed against her exposed neck. The scent of her hope was overpowering to him. The rising scent of her lust weakened his resolve.

“Now I have returned for you. I expect nothing. Only that I can be near you.”

Roseline laughed. “You expect nothing?  Oh, dearest Fane.  I demand the world from you and I intend to take it.”

His eyebrows rose at her intent but had no chance to speak before her hands wound about his neck and crushed his lips upon hers. Her taste was intoxicating, a mixture of human blood and berries she must have picked earlier in the day. Her nails dug deep into his neck, demanding and urgent.

“I know you want me,” she whispered against his ear as she pressed into him. “You always have.”

“Not like this.”

She laughed and nipped at his ear. “Do you sincerely think you have a choice in the matter?”

Sliding her hands down over his arms, she reached between them and tore his tunic open, revealing his broad chest.  Smooth. Chiseled. The strength that lay beneath her hands heightened her arousal.  

“I knew you would be worth my wait.” Her wicked grin pierced him through the chest. She was right. He had wanted her from the first moment they met. She consumed his dreams each night only to haunt his days as well. How many times had he fantasized of what it would feel like to have her in his arms?

These long years had been torture for him. No one else could sate his longings, though many tried. None could capture his attention, least of all his heart.

He cried out as her teeth sank into his neck, bringing him back from his thoughts.  “Easy!”

She pulled away and when she licked his blood from her lips, he found himself hopelessly lost.  “I thought you would like it rough.”

“I am not your husband,” he growled and seized her.

“No.”  Her lips curled with delight. “You most certainly are not.”

His pulse pounded in his ears as he gripped her arms, holding her in place. He should set her aside and walk away, at least until she came to her senses, but the way she looked at him...he was helpless to resist.

“No biting,” he demanded as he released her arms and curled his hands around her backside, lifting her up to pin her against the tree.  Her giggle did wild things to him as she wrapped her legs about him, grinding her hips. He grew tense, falling still against the sensations that washed over him.

“You are no fun,” she pouted and bit on her lower lip.

At the sight of the temptress in his arms, he rose to her challenge.  Plunging his hand into her hair, he held the back of her head as he consumed her lips until she was left wanting for breath. Her eyes glazed. Her lips quivered, bruised from his plunder.  “You have no idea what I am capable of.”

“Nor you, I,” she grinned and wound her hands down his bared chest.  Her nails along his skin sent vibrations of desire through him.  He held her weight with ease, spreading his legs wide as she unlaced his breeches.  She did not meet him in the eye as her fingers slipped inside.  A breathy groan escaped him as her fingers brushed against him.

“You have been keeping secrets from me, Fane.”

He grunted as she wiggled against him, holding her aloft as she hoisted her skirt up to her waist, baring herself to him. He sucked in a breath, mesmerized by the sight. She laughed and stroked him once more.  “Do you merely intend to look?”

Fane hesitated. It was true that he had spent years dreaming of this moment, of seeing her again but he never thought their reunion would be like this. His love for Roseline was pure, unbound and untainted by foul desires. To follow through now would be wrong and yet Roseline seemed determined not to give him the chance to be the gentleman.

He cried out as she jerked her hips against him and nearly lost his grip on her as she began a frantic thrust. Her eyes were wild as she wrapped her arms about his neck. Her bosom heaved with each down thrust. There was fire in her eyes as she locked her gaze on him.

The woods fell away. The distant battle sounds as well. The reality of how dangerous this public union was no longer mattered. If Vladimir or his brother Lucien were to discover them they would have their heads on stakes by nightfall for all at Castle Bran to see, but the risk felt all too worth it with Roseline finally in his arms.

The sounds she made, deep and guttural in her throat, sent him near the edge countless times, but each time she fell still just as he reached the brink. She was skilled in the art of love making.  No. Not lovemaking. Lust quenching.  Fane knew all too well that she had never allowed anyone to truly love her. Her heart remained guarded from all.

Resting his hands upon her hips, Fane stared into her eyes as he matched her tempo, refusing to look away. Her breath came swift and hard. The scent of her desire leeched from her pores.  The smoke shifted around them, concealing them and revealing them a moment later. None of that mattered.

Reaching up with one hand, Fane cupped her cheek in his hand.  Her eyes narrowed but her moans rose as she refused to slow. His muscles grew rigid beneath her hands. He pressed her back into the tree to alter his angle and cried out as she spasmed around him.

“Fane!” Her hair created a halo around her face as she rolled her head from side to side, lost to the waves of sensations that he hurtled her through as she reached her climax and pressed her beyond.  He did not release her as she fell limp in his arms.  He continued his pace, smooth and steady.  His blood boiled as he watched her in her throes of passion. Never before had she looked so beautiful. So free.

Gasping for breath, Roseline raised up and smiled, a challenge in her eyes.  “You are not tired?”

“I have only begun.”

Roseline grinned and placed her hands on the tree over her head.  Her breasts pressed against her tight corset, begging to be released. “We have little time.”

Without warning, Roseline pushed against the tree and Fane plummeted to the ground. His arms sought to curl protectively about her but she gripped his hands and tightened her thighs around him as he landed in a bed of leaves. Leaning low, she took his lower lip between her teeth and bit just hard enough to draw blood. A rumbling growl rose in his throat.

“So you remember me.”  With a knowing smirk, she pushed up off him and adjusted her skirt.

“Where are you going?” He called as she trounced toward where her sword had fallen, forgotten in the heat of the moment.

“As delectable as you may be, I have not forgiven you for leaving me.”  Sliding her blade into the leather sheath that lay across her back, she turned back.  “Perhaps if you remain long enough, you can earn my trust once more. Until then stay out of my way.”

Fane watched as she disappeared into the smoke, lost to his sight and vowed that he would find a way to free her of her torment. Remind her of the girl she had once been. He knew there was still good within her. He only had to find a way to bring it to the forefront once more.

The girl he once knew would never be so callous. Never leave him in such a manner, flaunting her obvious pleasure at using him. He was her conquest and though his heart ached at this knowledge, he could not deny that he had never felt more alive.

A soft smile crosses Fane’s lips at the memory of how far Roseline has come over the past three centuries. Yes, there was pain. Yes, he’d fought hard to redeem her, but every moment of that effort had been worth a thousand lifetimes.

This moment may not have been the sweetest they shared over the years, or even the most passionate, but it was the most memorable. It was the moment when he realized that Roseline was truly worth fighting for, no matter the cost. The moment when deep affection birthed a love so pure it had lasted through the ages.

“Your sword,” he whispers to Roseline without opening his eyes. The effort is too great now. He seeks his end, for herself and for him. “Kill Mateo.”

“No!” She cries out and resumes her struggles to reach him.

“You must.  It is my time, dearest.  Let me go in peace.”

“Fane, please! You can’t ask this of me!”

He lies still, barely breathing. He does not answer her again. To do so would be too painful.  He listens to the sounds of her withdrawal, the shuffling of her feet as she weighs out his final request. He knows what this act will cost her. He should not ask it of her, but if his life is to end, he could not wish for it to be by any other hand.

Fane hears the sound of a blade plunging through Mateo’s bone and flesh just before it pierces his heart. Fane smiles at the screeching howl of the immortal above.  His head rolls to the side and he sees Roseline collapse to the ground beside him before darkness sweeps in to steal away his sight.

I will love you for all of eternity, Roseline Dragomir.

***

About the Author

Author Amy Miles has always been a bit of a dreamer.  Growing up as an only child, and a military brat to boot, she spent countless hours escaping into the pages of a book, only to spend the following days creating a new idea of how to twist up the story to make it unique.

Amy is the author of several novels, including her popular young adult immortal books, The
Arotas Series
, which are an Amazon and iBooks bestselling series. 

She is currently working on completing her Immortal Rose trilogy, a prequel to her Arotas novels.  She has also embarked on two new journeys this year, one in the form of a co-written banshee trilogy, The Hallowed Realms, which is currently represented by GH Literary and she breached another genre with her upcoming adult horror novel, Wither.  

Want to know what Amy will be working on next?

Join her at
 
www.AmyMilesBooks.com

Follow on Twitter: @AmyMilesBooks

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Adventures in Dating

by Milda Harris

In this scene, Kait is getting ready to go on a double date with Troy, a suspect in the murder mystery she is investigating. It's her first date ever, but sadly the guy she really likes is Ethan. He's going on the double date too—with her ex-best friend, Ariel.

***

I went home and massacred my closet looking for something to wear for my first date ever. It was with a college guy! I was in a panic. My cat, Scarlett, was enjoying it, though. She was busy jumping into piles of clothes as I tossed them aside.

Troy was definitely cute. If I was able to cross him off the suspect list in Liz's murder, then maybe I could explain things. Maybe we could continue seeing each other, especially since Ethan still seemed to be oblivious to me in any sort of romantic terms. Sadly, he probably considered our relationship as just business since we were investigating his half sister's murder.

I finally settled on a dress that I had never worn. My aunt had gotten it for me for Christmas the year before when she took me on a shopping trip. Despite my protests that it was too low cut and that I knew my boobs would fall out of it, she insisted that someday I might want to wear something sexy. Since I didn’t have my mom to buy it for me, she would. Then she told me that I should definitely hide it from my dad. I had done just that.

The dark blue dress was perfect for a date. It clung to me in all the right places, from my decently ample bosom to my curvy hips. It was also short enough to show off my long legs and give a guy's imagination a good kick-start.

Hey, I know what guys want. I may not normally wear these things, but believe me I know.
Besides, even though I was wearing a clingy dress, that didn’t mean I would actually give it to Troy, not on the first date anyway. The color of the dress actually made the strawberry blonde in my hair look pretty too. I hoped Troy approved of the cleavage I was sporting. Maybe as a plus, Ethan would notice too. My other outfits had been way more conservative than this. Maybe Ethan needed a jump-start to really see me, now that he at least thought I was kind of normal and not just a funeral-crashing weird girl.

Because we didn’t want Troy to know where I lived, we were all meeting at the date location. It was a hamburger joint that was known for its build your own hamburger menu called The Burger. They really did have the best burgers.

The Burger was a busy hang out. If it turned out that Troy murdered Liz, he wouldn't be able to stick a heroin needle in my arm without anyone noticing. Ethan wasn’t taking any chances, though, and told me that I'd have to meet Troy at the restaurant. Instead, Ethan would be picking me up for my double date with Troy. His date, Ariel, was going to meet us at the restaurant too. I knew she’d totally hate that. Even as her ex-BFF, I knew that Ariel was a pick-me-up-at-my-house and open-the-door-for-me kind of girl. It would probably be a good idea for the guy to have flowers too, if he wanted anything to happen.

If this wasn’t the weirdest double date ever already, maybe I would have said something to Ethan about that. Not that I wanted to do any favors for Ariel where Ethan was concerned or anything, since I liked him and she knew it. Actually, just the thought of Ethan and Ariel as a couple made me feel ill, causing me to do further damage to my closet in making sure that I was wearing the perfect outfit.

Ethan knocked on my door promptly at seven o’clock. Luckily, my dad had gone over to his friend’s house to watch a basketball game. I was saved from any kind of explaining about Ethan and the dress. My dad might actually have made me change. He might have also thought that Ethan was the one taking me on the date, which sadly, he wasn't.

I opened the door and was pleasantly surprised to see Ethan do a double take. I knew I looked sexy! I tried to work it with a pose, but then I felt ridiculous. Ethan smiled, but didn’t say anything. He just kept looking at me.

So, I looked Ethan over too. That wasn’t weird, right? I mean, he seemed to be drinking me in. It was only fair that I do the same. His hair was freshly styled and he wore a crisp blue button down shirt that matched his eyes. He had it unbuttoned slightly and I had an urge to button it up for him. I didn’t want Ariel anywhere near his actual chest. I forced my hand to stay still. Another part of me wanted to unbutton his shirt further and torture myself with what I was missing.

Wait. How long had we been standing there staring at each other? I forced my gaze back to Ethan’s eyes and found his looking right back into mine. A jolt of electricity shot through me. Then it burst into fireworks somewhere in the vicinity of my stomach. My legs suddenly turned to jelly. Ethan’s arm shot out to steady me.

“Are you okay?” Ethan asked.

“I…I’m fine,” I managed, except now Ethan was standing even closer to me. My stomach was doing excited backflips. I hoped my legs kept holding me up. I could not faint. That would be really embarrassing.

Ethan’s hand was still around my arm. I looked back up at him. Our mouths were only inches apart. I was fascinated. How was it possible that I was this close to Ethan Ripley? My lips parted automatically at the thoughts that were racing through my brain. Wow. What was wrong with me? There was no way that Ethan was actually thinking what I was thinking…

“Kait,” Ethan said.

“Yeah?” I asked.

My cheeks were burning. Okay, he could never know what I had been thinking just then. It was so unlike me, but he was Ethan Ripley, so could anyone blame me? I was only human.

And then Ethan did something I would never have expected in a million years: he bridged the gap between our lips and kissed me. It was out of nowhere. His lips were just suddenly on mine. At first my lips didn't move. Was this really happening? But then as he continued to kiss me, I kissed him back, tentatively at first, and then more confidently. His tongue teased mine and I gave in as all of my rational thoughts melted away at the steady fire building inside my body. Then Ethan pulled away to look at me like he wanted to ask me if this was okay. It was more than okay. I was in heaven.

"No. Don't stop," I said and pulled Ethan back toward me and into my house.

Troy, the double date, and Liz's murder mystery were a far second, third, and fourth to kissing Ethan Ripley. It was something that I had wanted for so long. Since it had actually happened, I wanted it to keep happening. The fantasy had to continue for at least a few more minutes. Hours would have been better. Oh yeah.

Ethan deepened the kiss and I felt his tongue touch mine again. All of my senses went haywire as another jolt of heat flowed through me. Oh, this definitely needed to keep happening. I managed to kick the front door shut without breaking my lip lock with Ethan. Of course as I did that, I also accidentally swept his leg out from under him, causing us to crash down onto the floor with him on top of me. That's when we started laughing. I couldn't breathe, I was laughing so hard.

"Kait," Ethan tried to say, but he couldn't get any other words out.

We both tried to stop laughing. After a moment we were silent and staring at each other. Ethan still straddled me, looking down at me.

"We should go," Ethan said, but he didn't move.

I knew that Ethan was right. I had a mystery to solve, the mystery of his half sister's death. The thing was, though, that I didn't want to go on my fake date with Troy. Whatever was happening here might not happen if we left for that date.

I shook my head. "Troy can wait."

At my words, Ethan's mouth came down on mine again. I felt Ethan's weight shift and now he was completely on top of me, tangling his hands in my hair as he kissed me. My hands were running through his hair too, his soft and silky hair, and then down his back, and finally under his shirt. Ethan continued to explore me and found a breast with his right hand. My hips arched toward him at the touch as it ignited my body into a raging fire. He continued to tease it softly with his hand, driving my body into a frenzy as he continued his assault on my mouth.

Then Ethan took his shirt off. I had one of those moments where the whole world slows down and an ethereal light shines down on the person you're admiring. Yes, it actually happens, and all I'd needed to experience it was to have Ethan take his shirt off. Minutes ago this would have been unreal and now...wow. I ran my hands over his well-defined chest and flat stomach, all the way down to the top of his jeans.

Ethan gasped and pulled me closer. As we continued to explore each other, his fingers found their way to the zipper at the back of my dress. His hand touched my skin a moment later, almost immediately finding my bra clasp. He fumbled with it and it gave way. Now I was the one gasping.

We were moving forward and fast. Still, I didn't want to stop. I had wanted Ethan Ripley for ages and as insane as this was, I'd take what I could get. As I knew, life could be way too short and sometimes you had to seize the day. Besides, I didn't think I could stop now even if I'd wanted to stop. It was like a romance novel sex scene. I really wanted to see how it played out. I had to know. I needed him. Badly.

I kissed Ethan harder and his kisses matched mine. Then Ethan's mouth left mine and he moved down to nuzzle my neck. Even though my lips were open, I could barely breathe from the tingling sensations
coursing through my body from that intimate touch. The fire was now building in my stomach. More. I wanted more.

As if he sensed my need, Ethan's lips left my neck and moved lower. His kisses trailed across my clavicle. I felt him move the straps of my dress down my arms. Ethan's mouth continued a trail between the valley of my breasts to my stomach. A need that I'd never felt before slammed through me, causing a moan to escape my lips.

Ethan stopped to look at me and I froze, feeling embarrassed. I'd never gone anywhere near this far with a guy. Heck, the last time I'd kissed a guy, I was in the first grade. I didn't think it even counted. I thought it was gross. It was so not gross anymore. It was hot to say the least and with Ethan it was way beyond that. My whole body was still burning where he had touched and kissed me.

Then I noticed that Ethan was admiring me. My embarrassment melted away. My eyes met his and we stared at each other for a moment. I felt like I was glowing. I wanted him even more now.

I grabbed him and brought his mouth to mine again. My body shuddered as his hands roamed where his mouth had been moments ago. Then Ethan leaned completely into me, pressing my back down into the floor. His hands moved down to my hips, pulling my dress and underwear away completely. His hips thrust into mine. My back arched as my body took control of all of my thoughts.

Then Ethan broke the kiss and looked at me again. His breathing was ragged, matching my own. He was stopping. Why was he stopping?

"I don't usually do this," Ethan managed.

My brain could barely comprehend what he was saying. I responded with the words, "Neither do I, but it's okay. I want to."

"Kait, I..." Ethan started.

I couldn't let Ethan finish his sentence. It wouldn't make sense for him to say I love you or that he would be there for me or that he'd be my boyfriend. This moment was what it was and I was surprisingly okay with that. It probably helped that it felt so good right now. He felt so real, so alive. I needed him.

I kissed Ethan again, this time rolling on top of him. His tongue teased mine as I ran my hands up and down his smooth, muscular chest. Then his arms pulled me completely to him. Now I really knew that he wanted me. Our eyes met again as I pulled my mouth off of his. I silently helped him peel off his jeans. Then there he was—all of him, naked in front of me. I only had a few seconds to admire him before he took my hands, pulling me back toward him. I eased over his hips, feeling his hardness beneath me. This was it. I met his eyes and with Ethan's help, our bodies joined.

We started to slowly rock back and forth, waves of pleasure rolling through my body. My position on top
gave me a clear vantage of Ethan’s ripped abs and I splayed my hands over his stomach, touching what I wanted. Ethan's fingers found my hips and the rhythm of our bodies intensified. I suddenly couldn't get enough of him and it was like he felt the same way because his hands were suddenly everywhere, touching, teasing. The fire that had been building inside me spread like heated bliss throughout my body.