Forget Ever After (3 page)

But beyond the familiar, beyond the tenderness
of Liam’s touch and the comfort of his tongue tracing well-known
patterns against hers, she could once more discern something new.
It was in the slightly coppery taste of his mouth, and in the way
his flesh warmed at her contact. It was, also, in the low growl—or
was it a purr?—that she almost felt more than she heard. It was in
the tightly possessive hold of his hands on her waist. No longer
stroking but rather clutching, as though he were afraid she would
leave.

In all truth, she considered it. She had always
prided herself on being reasonable, and this certainly was anything
but. As much as she loved Liam, and even if he had professed his
continued love for her, she realized that she was in danger. But
when it came down to it, when they separated, when Liam helped her
up and slid out of the booth, she held on to his hand and
accompanied him out. Lena didn’t care about anything other than the
simple fact that Liam had returned to her.

* * * *

During the short walk to his apartment, Liam
revealed how he and the other vampires of his clan who had survived
their Master’s slaying had divided amongst themselves the money
they had found in their lair.

“It was more than we expected. Most of it in
cash and some jewelry. I’ve used my share to pay for a few months
rent.”

Lena did not respond, and tried not to let
herself wonder where that money and jewelry had come from. She
could easily imagine, of course, but as long as she didn’t let
herself acknowledge the victims that had certainly been
robbed—killed—things would be easier to accept.

The apartment was on the third floor of a drab
but clean building.

“The electric box is faulty,” Liam said,
apologetic, as he walked from room to room and lit a few candles.
“Since I don’t need much light, candles have been enough so
far.”

Lena could see only three rooms, a living room
solely furnished with a battered sofa and piles of books next to
it, a bedroom, and a small bathroom. The books, at least, were a
familiar touch. Liam would never go anywhere without one. She
followed him into the bedroom. The bed was smaller than the one
they had once shared, but the sheets and cover were tucked in as
neatly as they had ever been in their bedroom. More books were
spread out on the bedside table, next to the tall pillar candle,
along with an open notebook. As she approached, aware of his eyes
following her around the room, she could see his handwriting
covering half a page and had the urge to read it. Part of Liam was
still the man she knew, but there were new facets to him that she
wished she could have known—and others she feared discovering.

“It’s small, but I feel safe here,” Liam added
after a moment to fill the silence. “We were running for a while
after the Master was killed, so it’s good not to have Enforcers
hunting me anymore. And I’ve been trying not to give them a reason
to hunt me.”

She acknowledged what he wasn’t quite saying
with a nod. If he didn’t kill, Special Enforcers would leave him
alone. That meant finding willing victims, however, and that
explained why he had been prowling the club tonight. Lena shuddered
as though an icy finger had slid down her spine.

“Do you bring them here?” she asked, and at his
blank look added, “The people you feed from. Do you bring them
here?”

She tried not to wonder what he thought as his
eyes narrowed; tried not to wonder either whether he brought other
people here, other women, for a different purpose than to feed from
them.

“I don’t,” he answered at last, shaking his
head. “It would be too risky. A lair is supposed to be the ultimate
safe haven. I don’t bring anyone here.”

“Except me,” she pointed out with a small
smile.

“Except you,” he agreed. “But you’re different.
You’re not prey.”

To hear him say that word and remind her again
of what he was now made Lena uneasy, and she took a few steps away
from him and toward the window on the other side of the bed.
Metallic blinds covered it; they were cold beneath her fingers when
she pulled two apart to look outside. A bland view of the city
greeted her, anonymous buildings and flashing signs. She started at
the unexpected feel of his hands settling on her shoulders.

“Lena, please, don’t be afraid of me.”

“I’m not—” she began, but couldn’t finish as she
realized that yes, a veil of fear had draped over her.

“I want to taste you.” His murmured words
caressed the shell of her ear before sliding down her neck. “But I
won’t, not unless you give me permission.”

His mouth reached the crook of her neck and
settled there, cool and soft. Lena tensed, expecting a bite, then
understood what he had just said. He wouldn’t, not without her
consent. She almost wished she could have said the word and offered
herself to him this way, but she remained silent.

He kept his lips against her pulse point just a
little longer, as though waiting for her to change her mind, but
when she didn’t, he trailed them down the nape of her neck, pushing
her hair away as he did. At the same time, his fingers slid beneath
the straps of her wings and started pulling them down. He seemed to
hesitate for a second, and Lena urged him forward by arching her
shoulders back to help.

“An angel for a demon,” Liam murmured as he
removed her wings. “Ironic, isn’t it?”

Turning to face him, Lena met his eyes and hoped
that no fear remained in her own. “Not ironic. Fitting.”

Her fingers shook when they twisted and pulled
at the buttons of his shirt, but no more than his as they did the
same thing for her. She finished first, and slid her hands beneath
the fabric to push it off his shoulders. A pale mark caught her eye
and she frowned.

“What happened…” she started, but trailed off as
she gently turned his body toward the light of the candle.

She counted five scar lines over his chest, and
three on his arms. When she traced each of them with a finger, Liam
glanced down, frowning, and then shrugged.

“These are nothing. They’ll disappear in a few
weeks.”

“But who did this? Why—”

He cut off her question by pressing his mouth to
hers, hard and fast. She pulled back and tried to hold him off long
enough to get an answer, but he didn’t give her time to ask
again.

“I was in a fight, I got hurt,” he said,
reaching again for her shirt to finish unbuttoning it. “Nothing bad
and nothing for you to be concerned about. Really, Lena, love.”
With a finger under her chin, he tilted her face up toward his.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.”

Her white shirt joined his on the floor, soon
followed by the rest of their clothes. Lena couldn’t help but look
for more scars, more proof that Liam wasn’t telling her everything.
She found a few more, older ones it seemed, and as before, she
couldn’t help but reach out to touch them. Liam evaded her questing
hand by taking hold of her wrist and bringing it to his lips to lay
a kiss in the center of her palm, then a second one on the finger
that still bore his ring.

“Stop worrying so much,” he whispered, an
admonition that made her smile for being so familiar.

He drew back the sheets, then pulled her to lie
down on the bed with him. With his body against hers, legs
entangled, his hard cock trapped between them, her breasts pressed
against his chest, it became suddenly more difficult to focus on
anything but the burning kiss he initiated.

As she relaxed against him, he maneuvered her
onto her back and abandoned her lips. She would have protested, but
the feel of his mouth gently traveling over her collarbone then
down the curve of her breast stole all thoughts from her mind. His
lips fastened over her nipple and she moaned, then again when his
fingers ghosted around her other breast.

She closed her eyes and her hands played over
his back, becoming reacquainted with the feel of his skin. After
months of lonely nights, it was almost too much, and still she
wanted more of his touch, more of him. Taking his hand in hers, she
guided it down to the apex of her legs. He complied easily with her
request, and traced her folds with a delicate finger, spreading her
wetness around before easily sliding in. She arched up at the
feeling and his lips tightened over her nipple, eliciting a gasp
from her.

For a few moments—Seconds? Centuries?—she lay
against him and reveled in his caresses, each of them healing the
aching void his absence had left in her soul. But she had never
been happy with a passive role, and eventually the desire to show
him with her body what she had declared in words already, showing
him how much she loved him still, became an irrepressible need.
Capturing his hand, she lifted it off her body and gently pushed it
back until Liam had rolled onto his back. She followed immediately,
lying alongside him.

“My turn,” she murmured, her voice roughened by
want and need.

As she leaned on her forearm, she looked for
those white lines she had touched earlier, and this time caressed
them with her lips, kissing each of them and making the silent wish
that Liam would not get hurt again. When she reached the lowest
mark, an inch or so to the left of his navel, she felt him take a
deep breath. She could easily guess what had prompted it, and
rested her cheek on his stomach to lightly blow air over the head
of his twitching cock. He shuddered beneath her, his hand
entangling into her hair, and she smiled.

“Anything you want?” she breathed, and trailed a
finger over the length of his cock.

The request for her mouth that she expected did
not come, and instead his answer was simpler, though intense.

“You. Always.”

Sitting up, she looked at his face. He had never
seemed so serious and Lena knew, in a moment of perfect clarity,
that he had missed her during the past seven months, just as much
as she had missed him. Something inside her loosened, and relief
replaced a fear she hadn’t known existed until that moment. Need,
desire and love overwhelmed all that she was or felt, and almost as
if in a daze, she kneeled over Liam’s hips and guided his cock
inside her. They shared a sigh as she remained still for a few
seconds, savoring their union.

When she started raising herself up, he began
moving along with her, falling into the well-known steps of their
dance as though they had never been separated. His hands skimmed
over her skin, caressing her thighs and sliding up to cup her
breast then down again, urging her on faster.

She tried to resist, at first. She wanted this
to last, to somehow make up for too many worried and lonely nights.
But the fire in Liam’s eyes as he said her name, the heat in his
kiss when he drew her down to him for an instant were too hard to
fight. Raking her fingernails over his chest, she changed her angle
slightly so his cock would press against that sensitive spot inside
her with every thrust of her hips. She could feel the wave rising
in her and increased her tempo at the same time as she contracted
her muscles around Liam, pulling a grunt from his lips.

The wave swept her up first, making her vision
blur in the intense heat of pleasure and her body shake as she
struggled to keep moving and take Liam along with her. He captured
her hands and helped her when her movements started becoming
erratic, steadying her rhythm just a little longer. She could tell,
by the way his eyes tightened, that Liam was close. A last thrust
down pushed his cock deep inside her, and he came. A second orgasm
crashed through Lena as she collapsed on top of him with her face
buried in the crook of his neck and his arms tight around her.

She could feel him panting, his chest moving
along with hers. It would have been easy to forget he didn’t need
to breathe anymore. The scarred skin against her lips was too much
of a reality for her to pretend, however.

She remained on top of him until both their
breathing had calmed, and when she finally moved to lie next to
him, he rolled with her, his body pressing against her side. Even
with her eyes closed, she could feel his gaze on her, strong and
fiery. She rolled onto her side toward him and opened her eyes. She
didn’t need to ask him to tell her what was on his mind, and when
he did, his voice trembled with the same intensity it had held the
night he had asked her to marry him.

“Will you let me turn you?”

The need to consent flared in Lena. She’d give
anything as long as she could still be with him. However, in the
same instant, reality left no place for doubts as far as to what
her answer had to be. Her eyes filled with tears that she refused
to shed. She was done crying over Liam, not when she had found him
again, for however brief a moment.

“We could have forever,” he insisted, his words
and tone cajoling. “The happily ever after we deserve.”

“Sounds wonderful,” she said, unable to raise
her voice past a murmur. “But what if it changed me? What if I
didn’t…?” The idea felt incongruous, and yet she had to voice it.
“What if I didn’t love you anymore? You said there’s no way to tell
beforehand how much it will change someone.”

Liam didn’t answer. In that brief moment before
he rolled onto his back and pulled away from her, Lena saw his face
become a disappointed mask. She turned away as well, pulling the
sheet up to clutch it to her chest. She hated hurting him, but she
couldn’t do anything else. The silence that settled on the room
quickly became oppressive.

“I’ve cried myself to sleep for seven months,”
she said at last. “I’ve missed you so much. At times I thought I
would simply die without you. But I kept going, because that’s what
you’d have wanted. I stayed in school, because it wasn’t just my
dream, it was yours, too. I’m going to do it, Liam. I’m going to be
a doctor. For me and for you. That’s the one certainty that kept me
sane all this time. And I’d rather have this certainty and…and not
be with you, than believe in forever, and risk losing my love for
you.”