Fallen Ever After (13 page)

“Can I wash you?” I asked.

Arie smiled and kissed my chin. “Yes, and then I’m going to make you come again. Scream my name a few times.”

I grabbed the soap from where it had been discarded in the midst of our shower when it had turned steamy. With the same thorough attention he exhibited while washing me from head to toe, I soaped his chest and that friggin’ eight-pack stomach of his.

“Please do,” I said, meeting his smile with one of my own.

He grabbed my chin where he had kissed it and pulled my face toward his. He answered me with a kiss that got me going all over again.

Chapter 8

If he kept kissing me like that there’s no way I would be able to get through washing him, but I wanted to return the favor. Damn, I loved how he kissed me. Arie could kiss me like nothing else in the world mattered, and when he kissed me like that, nothing did. Not the poisoned Puncture or our dispatched brethren back at the club, and not the note from the mysterious stranger that I hesitated telling Arie about. I’d be damned if I brought up anything that reminded him of Katarina. So I ignored the pang of guilt because I’d kept it from him. And I couldn’t think about Victoria. I cared too much to dwell on something I figured she’d been trying to forget since the day it happened. If I kept kissing him back, I could forget it all.

Arie’s tongue swept the inside of my mouth and I put aside everything, melting into his arms as I rested the bar of soap on his chest. I met his kiss with all the adrenaline and fear from the past few hours. We both needed the release—I didn’t know who needed it more—but I slid the soap up his chest to his shoulders as I broke the kiss.

“You keep kissing me like that and we’re going to…” I coughed. “Not end up showering.”

Arie’s laugh rumbled in his chest. “I’m all right with that.”

“Yeah. Go figure,” I said with a smirk. “I want to wash you. Let me wash you.”

He brushed his thumb across my bottom lip. “Just be quick about it. I want to be inside you. I want to feel you wrapped around me.”

I lowered my lashes as I soaped his shoulders and continued down his muscled arms. Arie wasn’t lanky by any means, but he didn’t remind me of the bouncer at the club either. They’d both probably be able to bench me, but Arie’s muscles were lean except for that rock-hard stomach of his.

I stooped to wash his legs when a sudden thought made me smile. Arie leaned forward, bracing one arm on the shower wall. His eyes were closed as he let the warm spray stream down his back. I wanted to reciprocate and make him feel as good as he made me feel. So I took the soap in one hand and began working up his leg, while I cupped the back of his calf with the other.

His calves were strong, firm, and I took my time lathering them. The Sight had always been inconvenient when it came to relationships; Arie had been the only one who could make me come. His physique was rugged yet classical, and reminded me of those ancient marble statues you see in museums. Good thing I had forever to look at him, because I’d never been so attracted to anyone in my life.

Arie’s eyes were still closed as I finished washing him. Water ran down his legs, washing away the suds. I ran my hand up the inside of his thigh, cupping his balls, before I wrapped my hand around his penis. He glanced down at me, desire warming his wintery eyes. Within seconds I had his full attention—his erection elongated as I moved my hand up and down his shaft.

“Holly…”

I took him in my mouth, taking in his length to the root. I hollowed my cheeks to make the suction around his cock even tighter as I bobbed up and down on his shaft.

“Ah, fuck.” He put his other hand on the shower wall, bracing both hands on its surface. “Do you know what you do to me?”

I released his cock. “Only the same thing you do to me.”

Then I ran my tongue around the head of his cock, licking up his pre-come. I opened my mouth wide and closed it around his shaft. His cock was straining and pulsing, and I knew that he would come if I quickened my pace. As I sealed my lips around his cock, he grabbed my head—just like I had wrenched his hair in my fist while he had tongued my clit. Arie started pumping his cock into me, fucking my face. It turned me on that he wanted me, needed me that bad. I drove him on and kept sucking his cock, tonguing his shaft as he pumped. I grabbed his ass with both hands, digging into it with my nails.

He groaned. “Don’t stop, don’t stop. Fuck, fuck…oh, fuck.”

His cock expanded in my mouth as he quickened his stroke. Jets of hot come filled my mouth. I sealed my lips around his cock as tight as I could, swallowing everything he gave. I kept going, but slowed my pace until I’d taken every last drop and felt him start to soften. I looked up at him while he was still in my mouth, and his eyes met mine. He brushed away a wet strand of hair that clung to my cheek. Without a word I released him and rose to meet his gaze, which seemed taken aback, but at what I couldn’t be sure.

“You amaze me, Holly.” He looked at me like he’d just realized something, but I needed to know it wasn’t because I just blew his mind.

“Why? Tell me why. I need to hear it.”

I needed to hear something that wasn’t based on our undeniable chemistry, and even though I could hardly trust it at the moment, I needed to hear it anyway.

He paused, but not as if he was trying to find the words or make up something pretty, something that he thought that I wanted to hear. His pause seemed to measure whether he was ready to admit something that made him feel vulnerable.

“Because I’ve never had anyone make me feel the way you do. And I haven’t been afraid of losing someone in a very long time.”

Standing on tiptoe, I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed his mouth. Sometimes it was just easier not to talk. He’d said it all, and this was a moment that didn’t need more words. He’d left me shocked and ridiculously happy at the same time. I didn’t want the moment to end with me screwing it up by saying something stupid. Arie pivoted and turned off the shower before opening the glass door, grabbing two white towels from a shelf around the corner. He handed one to me and started toweling off with the other.

I did the same as I watched him drying himself. I glanced down as I bent to dry my legs.

“Eeep!” I squealed when he smacked my ass.

Arie laughed. “I couldn’t help myself.”

I smiled back at him despite my stinging backside. “You know payback is—”

He scooped me into his arms, carrying me to the bed. I laughed when he plopped me onto it and fell on top of me.

“Payback?” Arie asked as he nuzzled my neck, his body pinning mine to the bed. His kisses slid down the slope of my neck, to my shoulders.

“Mmmmmm. Well, I suppose I can let you off if there’s some other way you can…” His kisses dotted along my collarbone. “Persuade me,” I murmured, curling my fingers into his hair.

Arie’s kisses trailed between my breasts before he stopped, looking up at me. “I told you, Holly. I need to be inside you. I want to feel you.”

There were shadows in his eyes. He was as desperate as I was to put tonight behind us. I needed his love like I’d never needed love, never needed anyone before. As long as he was right there with me I could face anything. Without him in my world and in my life I wouldn’t know where to begin. I’d never felt that way. It felt crazy, clingy, needy, and so damned desperate that I knew I could never admit it.

“I need to feel you too,” I said.

It was as close to the truth as I could tell him without sounding like a desperate, love-struck fool. How I was falling for him and how fast we’d moved into the loft scared me, but I didn’t think I could run. God, Arie was right. I wanted to run, and I’d been damned good at it. I’d run from relationships when the Sight got in the way. Running was easy. Running meant that I wouldn’t lose myself in him or get hurt. I’d never have to worry about his past or Katarina. I’d never have to deal with all my nagging insecurities. I closed my eyes. He planted kisses across my stomach before moving back up. When he cupped my face, I opened them and he took my breath away. He kissed me. Slowly, gently, and with such tenderness that I fell apart.

Arie leaned up and maintained eye contact as he slid inside of me. Our hips rocked together with excruciating slowness. I wrapped my legs around his waist. He took his time, and I could feel him deep inside of me as he made love to me in a way that could only be described as reverent. It wasn’t our usual fevered or rough-and-tumble union, where he relished dominating me. The way he made my body respond to his slow, deep strokes surprised me. I closed my eyes.

His strokes became harder, deeper, but were still at a slow steady pace that ratcheted my desire even higher. If he kept up that rhythm I knew I would come. Arie kissed my cheeks, my closed eyelids, and then the side of my neck. As I wrapped my arms around his neck, I tightened my grip on his hips with my legs, urging him to pump faster. He quickened the pace and I came in clenching waves that fluxed around his shaft. His body shook as he spilled inside of me at the same moment. We were red-hot together but had never been able to climax simultaneously. We fell in a tangle on the bed—bone-tired, spent, and completely satisfied.

Chapter 9

I didn’t want to move. We had stayed up most of the night and then collapsed in a tangled heap. Except now there was a cold, empty spot in the bed next to me. A familiar voice broke through my semi-dozing, ‘don’t want to get out of bed yet’ stasis.

“Wake up, sunshine. Get your ass up and at ‘em.”

“Ow.”

I rolled from my stomach to my back, pulling the sheet around me. Apparently, Tessa had decided to wake me up by slapping my ass since I almost always slept on my stomach. I hardly knew why she’d be here at all, let alone so damned early, and I sure as hell didn’t appreciate waking up to her smacking me.

Tessa flicked a polished red nail. “Get dressed and come down or you’re going to miss breakfast.”

“Breakfast?” I grumbled.

I’d never been much of a morning person, and becoming a vampire hadn’t changed my attitude toward daylight.

“Arie ordered a Crimson Dusk and she should be here in ten minutes. So get moving and get dressed already.”

I sighed. “I suppose I shouldn’t trust any other sources for now.”

“Straight from the tap is always preferable anyway,” Tessa said with a smirk.

I scowled up at Tessa. Her casual remarks came before coffee, before blood, and I could barely handle Tessa’s cavalier attitude on a good day. But wake me up the way she did and it made me punchy.

“All right, just give me a minute,” I said as I swung my legs over the side of the bed.

Tessa turned on her heel, heading downstairs to where I could smell coffee brewing. I threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt before shuffling to the bathroom. As I brushed my teeth, I thought of last night. I didn’t have time to consider making love to Arie or our living situation. Or what an insecure idiot I was mentioning my doubts. All I could think about now was that Victor Monti’s brother Lucca had cooked up something that could kill me and a whole bunch of vampires. And the Slayers. I didn’t even want to consider that they had their own league of succubus-like assassins running around doing their dirty work.

Victoria.

She’d been through so much. Now I understood why she was aloof and reserved most of the time. I finished brushing my teeth and threw my hair into a ponytail before heading downstairs. Tessa sat in my usual seat at the breakfast bar while Arie leaned against a counter. They seemed to be talking security when I took a seat next to Tessa. Arie stopped talking when I sat down.

“Good morning. You want some coffee?”

“No, thanks. I’ll wait for the donor before I eat anything else.” I wanted coffee and breakfast, but I didn’t think I could choke down either without some real sustenance first.

“Tessa stopped by because she tried to call us after we left but she couldn’t get a hold of us,” Arie said.

Because we were too busy making love and didn’t hear the phone ring.

“Oh, well, we pretty much crashed as soon we got back,” I said. “And my cell phone was dead. I put it on the charger but it wasn’t turned on. Sorry about that.”

Shit.
I realized as soon as I said it that I’d piled on the excuses pretty thick but I didn’t feel like sharing the details of my sex life with Tessa right now.

“Whatever,” Tessa said. “It was way too much for me to text and I figured I’d stop by on my way to the club. But anyway, as I told Arie before you came down there was an incident after you two left last night.”

“What happened?”

“Victor sent some thug over Victoria’s townhouse to fetch his daughter.” Tessa took a sip of coffee. “I figured I should stop by to fill you in on my way over to the club, because I have no idea what else he has planned, and you’re on the way.”

Arie coughed.

“Oh my god. Are they okay?” I asked.

“Yes, Victoria took care of him.”

“So what are we going to do?” I asked.

“Victoria and Luna are staying in Arie’s old apartment at the club for now.”

The third floor at HFC housed Tessa’s office, her dungeon, an interrogation room that was way scarier, and apartments for some of the staff or visiting vampires.