Midnight (13 page)

Whether she knew it or not, Amara now belonged to him.
Forever
.

If she’d have him. They still had a lot of talking to do,
and she had a lot of his transgressions to forgive. They knew each other in the
physical sense, but if he thought about it, he didn’t really know her as well
as he wanted to. He planned to change that. Soon. But for now, he’d be content
with what she’d give him. If that was only physical, he’d accept that on a
temporary basis.

The last thought was gone as his own orgasm took him. His
thoughts shattered as he spurted himself inside her. Inside his woman.
His
woman. He never thought that phrase would enter his mind again, but it had
snuck up on him when he’d least expected it.

If he had to admit it, he even kind of liked the sound of
it.

Amara flopped back on the mattress, spreading her arms. “Wow.”

He couldn’t help the smugness he felt at her comment. “You
think?”

“Oh, please. I know you felt it, too.”

“How do you know that?”

He settled in next to her, rubbing his hand up and down her
thigh.

“This is going to sound strange, but I
felt
how you
did when you came. I, um, could feel what you were feeling pretty much the
whole time.” She furrowed her brow. “Then again, it probably doesn’t sound all
that strange to you, does it?”

Strange didn’t even begin to describe it. As far as he knew,
the only vampires who could read minds were the ones who were psychic as
humans. He shrugged. What did he know? He’d spent the better part of four
hundred years emotionally ignoring just about every vampire he’d met.

“In all honesty, this is pretty new to me, too.”

“How?”

“I’ve never let myself get attached before.” Mentally, he’d
preferred to keep his distance. He hadn’t been able to do that with Amara, not
from the start.

“Are you attached now?”

“You’d better believe it.”

He wasn’t about to tell her how cute she looked with her
budding fangs.

She blinked hard and ran her tongue along her teeth. “My
what? Oh, God. I can’t believe this.”

He just stared at her, not knowing what to think. He hadn’t
spoken that thought out loud.

Her brow furrowed even further. “I thought you said vampires
can’t read minds.”

He shook his head. “No. I said
I
can’t read minds.
Some can, others can’t. It really depends on what they were as humans.” Then
what she was saying hit him. “Are you telling me you read my mind?”

She nodded slowly. “I guess. It was more of sensing your
thoughts than an actual reading. It wasn’t very in-depth, just a touch.”

“You sound like you know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah. My grandmother was a fortune teller in one of those
little shops back home. It was one of those tourist attraction things.” She
rolled her eyes. “She did it for years. From what I’m told, she made some
pretty good guesses, too.”

A mental light bulb went on in his mind. “Your grandmother
was a psychic?”

Amara laughed. “No, silly. She was a palm reader at a campy
little fortune telling shop. That’s all a bunch of bunk, anyway.”

“Like vampires?”

Her eyes widened. “Oh…my…God.”

He sighed. If she’d inherited even a small amount of psychic
abilities, she was going to be one powerful vampire.

She’d fallen asleep sometime in the midst of their
discussion. When she woke up, her mouth felt like she’d been sucking cotton and
her head throbbed. But she didn’t feel hungry anymore.

Creepy.

She found Marco sitting at the kitchen table, reading the
newspaper. Such a normal thing to do, for a man who was anything but. Her own
emotions were in turmoil.

She tapped her fingernails on the table to get his
attention. “So what happens now?”

She waited for him to tell her last night had been a dream.
She was most certainly not about to become a vampire.

She couldn’t, seeing as vampires didn’t exist.

Marco was just a crazy fan who, even though he was sexy as
hell and up for anything, needed some serious medication.

She could ignore the fangs, she could ignore the whole
drinking blood thing—hey, everyone was different—but she couldn’t ignore the
fact that he’d kidnapped her and locked her in a room when it should have been
he who was locked away…hell, this wasn’t working. She felt different, she had
fangs
,
and she didn’t like it.

He smiled and winked. “What do you want?”

A million dollars, a new house, a lover who
didn’t suck
blood…
“You know what I mean.”

“I don’t think I do.” He sighed and ran a hand through his
hair, obviously trying his hardest not to look upset. “Are you okay with all of
this?”

Okay?
Okay?
Not only did she find out her grandmother
was probably not a fraud, making her have some kind of strange,
out-of-this-world powers, she was also turning into a total freak of nature.
What kind of a life was that?

She stomped around the room, trying to decide if she should
yell at him, or cry. Technically, it wasn’t all Marco’s fault. She’d bit his
lip. But he should have told her what could happen. If he had, she never,
never
,
would have considered doing anything to him that might break the skin.

Right?

Her hands were shaking; in fact her whole body was shaking.
She hated Marco, hated herself for doing that. Why had she even let him in the
same bed with her in the first place? She should have kicked him out,
delusional bastard that he was. She had enough stress in her life right now.
She didn’t need this, too.

“I want you to leave.” She struggled to keep her fury under
control.

He shook his head. “Nope. Sorry. Anything but that. I’m not
leaving you alone right now. It isn’t safe.”

“Why the fuck not?” She tried to keep her voice down, but it
was no use.

Marco looked shocked. “Listen. I know this can be a pretty
scary thing. I don’t want you to have to go through it alone.”

She glared at him. “I
like
being alone. I crave
aloneness, oneness with myself and the environment. Besides, you left me alone
for days.”

“That’s beside the point. A couple hours ago you didn’t want
to be alone.”

“A couple hours ago I didn’t realize I was losing my mind!”

He grabbed her wrist as she walked by. “Okay, okay. Calm
down, Amara. Yelling isn’t going to solve anything. If you just relax, we will
get you through this.”

“And what will happen when I do?”

“This is hard enough on your body as it is. If you don’t
calm down it’s going to be worse.”

That stopped her tirade. “Is it going to hurt?”

“Have you hurt so far?”

Not
hurt
exactly, just more of an uncomfortable
sensation. “Well, not yet. But will it hurt later?”

“What do you mean?”

Oh, for God’s sake. “When the, you know, change starts to
happen.”

He laughed. “It’s already happened.”

“But you said it could take weeks.”

“It’s been about that, hasn’t it?”

She blinked. “Yes, I suppose it has.”

She didn’t like the way he hesitated. Taking a deep breath,
she pulled her wrist out of his grasp. “What do
you
want from
me
?”

He looked at her like she was just as crazy as him. “Everything.”

“Everything?”
Well, wasn’t that quite the answer? “I
can’t do this.”

“It’s kind of too late for that.”

“It was an accident.”

He shrugged. “Regardless, you can’t take it back.”

“There’s nothing I can do?”

“You could try accepting it.” He was beyond irritated now. “Accepting
me.
”

Typical male. Here she was worrying about a major life
change and he was taking it personally. “Cut the crap. I
do
accept you,
and you know that.”

“As what?”

As a total nut job who thinks—who
is
a vampire.

If she accepted Marco for what he really was, she would have
to accept what she was, too. She was
so
not ready for that. It was bad
enough when she started to notice a couple of gray hairs. This was too much to
take.

But if she didn’t accept him, he’d be crushed. She had a
hard time picturing the big guy crushed, but he would be. He wouldn’t show it,
that wouldn’t be the macho thing to do, but he’d be devastated.

So, what was she supposed to do?

“Hey, Mr. Scary. At least you could have warned me about
what would happen if I, you know,
drew a little blood
.”

He laughed. “Is that a common occurrence for you?”

“Drawing blood? I’ve been known to, on occasion.”

His eyes widened in surprise. “Really? I hope you plan to do
it again.”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“If I ever decide to let you into my bed again.”

The corner of his mouth lifted a little. “You don’t have a
choice.”

“Ha! I choose how I live my life. Or unlife. Or whatever I’m
supposed to call this.”

“You’re wrong on both counts, sweetheart.” He got up from
the chair and walked toward her, backing her against the wall. “Vampires are
not undead. We’re living and breathing, similar to humans. We just have much
longer life spans and a different genetic code.”

“Oh, yeah? What else was I wrong on?”

“You don’t get to choose whether you have me or not. You’re
my woman, plain and simple.”

“
Excuse me?
Where do you get off telling me something
like that? I can make my own choices, thank you very much.” Marco brushed his
fingers over her breasts, barely concealed by the worn tee shirt she’d pulled
on before coming downstairs. She blinked as his thumbs skimmed her nipples. She
wanted so much to be angry at him for his comments, but she couldn’t muster up
enough of the emotion. He was baiting her again, toying with her because he
knew it would make her angry. “Stop that!”

“Why? Don’t you like it?”

“Whether or not I like it is beside the point. I’m trying to
get it through your thick skull that I don’t want you—”

He slipped his hand under the hem of her shirt and cupped
her mound. “Funny, you feel like you want me.”

“You didn’t let me finish what I was saying. I don’t want
you referring to me as your woman. I’m my own person. I don’t need you telling
me what I can and cannot do.”

“I don’t plan on doing that. I just want you clear on the
fact that this is a monogamous relationship. I don’t want you running around
with other men, and I won’t touch another woman.”

“Ever?”

“Ever.”

She’d heard that before, but somehow she knew this time it
was the truth. Monogamous? She could handle that, as long as they were both
clear on the rules. He slid a finger into her already wet cunt and she lost her
train of thought altogether. She tried for a token protest, but it came out
sounding suspiciously like a moan. She was glad she hadn’t bothered to put on
panties this morning.

“Yeah, that’s what I want.” He leaned in closer and nipped
her earlobe. His voice was a hot whisper against her sensitized skin. “You’re
so hot, so wet. I love how tight you are. You fit my cock so snugly, like a
warm, wet glove. You were made for me, sweetheart.
Me
, and nobody else.
No other man is ever going to touch you like this. Do you understand?”

She whimpered in agreement. She’d agree to dye her hair
green and tattoo a dragon on her forehead if he’d just move his fingers a
little to the left…

He continued. “I’m going to make you come, right here
against the wall. Then I’m going to take you to bed and spend the rest of the
day fucking you. We should both be sleeping, but I can’t sleep at all when I’m
around you. So we’ll spend the day exploring each other’s bodies instead. Do
you want that?”

She nodded.

To her dismay, he stopped moving his hand. “Do you want me
to fuck you, Amara?”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“
I said yes
!” She cried out in frustration when he
still held back.

“Yes, what?”

She didn’t know what kind of games he was playing, but she
didn’t like them very much. She tried to shove him away, but it was like trying
to move the Great Wall of China.

He bit into her neck enough for her to feel the sting. “Tell
me what you want.”

“I want you to go away!” She took a breath. “I want you to
fuck me!”

“Yeah, I thought so.”

He stroked his finger in and out of her. She wasn’t about to
let him torture her physically, not after what he’d just put her through
mentally. She dragged her nails over his back, pressing hard enough that he
could feel the scratch through his tee shirt. He moaned and pressed her harder
against the wall, his breath escaping in a hiss. She smiled in satisfaction.

Her satisfaction was short lived. Marco turned the tables on
her easily, spreading her legs wide and rubbing his thumb across her clit. When
she was on the verge of orgasm, he pulled back.

She cried out, trying in vain to impale herself on him. It
was no use, their position was too awkward.

“Knock it off, Marco.”

He laughed. She wanted to punch him in the gut. Hard. Here
she was, in absolute agony, and he was making a joke.

“Tell me what you want.”

He was starting to lose his patience. She may not have known
him long, but she’d known him long enough to know when he was about to crack.
Poor baby. “I already told you.”

She reached between them and unzipped his pants, pushing
them and his boxers down his hips. Her knuckles brushed his cock on the way
down and he groaned. Grabbing her legs, he wrapped them around his waist.

“I need to know you’re mine. Forever.” He slid his cock
inside her once before he pulled out completely. “I need to hear you say it.”

“Are you suddenly having a self-confidence problem?”

“Say it, Amara.”

If she kept silent, she’d be left hot and bothered for the
rest of the day. If she stopped torturing him and told him what he wanted to
hear, which was what she wanted as well, they’d both be happy. “I’m yours.
Forever. But you’re mine, too. This has to be equal.”