Once Bitten, Twice Shy (18 page)

“I can’t talk about this, Dee,” I said, trying to evade the subject.

“Ivie, you know you can tell me anything. What’s going on?”

I sighed and began pacing the floor by the bed. Crap, I didn’t want to have this discussion with her because I knew it would bother her and, no matter what she was, she was first and foremost my friend. I didn’t want to hurt her.

“Even if he was serious, hell, even if I loved him, I wouldn’t want to be Claimed.”

Donna looked confused. “Why?”

I threw my hands up in the air, annoyed and afraid that I was about to lose one of my closest friends. “I won’t commit to someone who wants to change me on a fundamental level.”

Her eyebrows lowered. “I don’t understand.”

I sat down on the bench at the end of the bed, sighing heavily. “Donna, he would eventually want to change me into a vampire, as though being human isn’t good enough. I mean, think about a few weeks ago when Conner and Lex said they couldn’t tell me what was going on because I am human and vulnerable to manipulation by vampires. I don’t want to be with someone who won’t view me as an equal partner in the relationship. Just because I enjoy being bossed around in the bedroom, doesn’t mean that I want that in the rest of my life.”

When I finished my impassioned mini speech, I looked over at my friend. She was studying me intently and looked surprisingly calm. In fact, she didn’t seem hurt in the slightest by my comments about vampires.

“Do you like it when a man opens your door for you?” she asked.

“What?” What did that have to do with anything?

“Do you?” she prompted.

I nodded.

“Okay, do you like it when he walks you to your door? Or changes your flat tire?”

I nodded again, still unsure where this was going.

“If a man says he wants to protect you and take care of you, are you offended?”

I was beginning to get an idea where this was going and I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. “No, I’m not offended.”

She leaned forward. “If a man told you he wanted to spend eternity with you, would you feel as though he saw you as inadequate?”

Goddammit, she had a point. “No, I wouldn’t think that.”

Looking satisfied, Donna grabbed her glass off the nightstand and drained it, giving a delicate shiver after she was done. I wanted to laugh at her obvious distaste for the wine and the fact that she was still drinking it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t because I was too twisted up by the point she had just made.

She put her empty glass on the nightstand and leveled her eyes at me. “I can’t speak for Lex, Ivie, but I do think that vampire is enamored with you. He watches you when you aren’t looking. He wants a taste of you, not just your blood, but all of you.”

I couldn’t control my mouth. “Yeah, he’s had a taste of a lot of women.” I pressed my lips together, unable to believe that snide comment came from me.

“Now you’re just trying to find a reason not to give him a chance,” she said.

I couldn’t meet her eyes. I hadn’t even told her about my ability to ‘call’ him to me. Though she probably wouldn’t see that as a minus in the relationship department. In fact, I could almost hear her now.
He’d never be able to avoid a conversation. All you’d have to do is make that call and he’d be forced to answer.
She would probably see that as a huge plus.

I shrugged, trying not to seem sullen, even though I was definitely pouting.

Donna’s eyes showed her disappointment. “I suppose you were a virgin last night,” she said.

I sighed and shook my head. “You’re right. That was completely unfair of me. I mentioned that to Lex also this morning, implying that I was one of his harem. He didn’t like it.”

She was also right about my obvious double standard. When I was younger, I enjoyed experimenting and went through several boyfriends. It wasn’t until I hit my mid-twenties that playing it fast and loose lost its appeal. I had no right to sit in judgment of Lex. He had been alive for centuries. Even if he only had one girlfriend every few months or a year, like a human man, he would still have quite a few lovers.

Donna grabbed my hand. “Ivie, I’m not saying that you have to let him Claim you. You don’t even have to let him bite you. Just promise me that you won’t avoid a relationship just because it’s different. There are no guarantees with human men either. The only way you’ll know is to try.” She took a deep breath. “And don’t agree to a Claiming unless you are completely sure that you want to be with Lex for the long haul. It’s almost like a marriage between a vampire and a human and it lasts for a minimum of five years. Usually, the human is turned at the end of the five years. It’s very rare that a Claiming does not lead to a permanent partnership.”

I nodded. “I understand.”

Donna got off the bed. “Well, it looks like you’re all packed. Wanna see what the boys are doing?”

We walked back downstairs to find Lex and Conner talking in the study.

“Hi, love,” Conner said with a smile as we entered the office. “Lex and I are discussing some important Council matters. Do you think you can entertain Ivie for a bit?”

I looked at Lex and found him staring at me. His chocolate brown eyes roamed all over me, possessive and hot.

“No problem. We can find some trouble to get into,” Donna answered.

“Will that be ok with you, little one?” Lex asked.

“Sure. We’ll get drunk and talk about penises. It’ll be fun.”

Lex gave me a knowing look and both Conner and Donna laughed. I gave him a little goofy finger wave and followed Donna out of the study and into the kitchen.

As soon as we entered the room, Donna whirled and trapped me against the kitchen counter. “He asked you if you were okay with hanging out for a while. Still think he doesn’t see you as an equal partner in the relationship?”

I skirted around her. “Shut up and make me a drink.”

She giggled and got to work on getting me drunk.

I
t was dark
before Lex and I left the McMansion. He had to help me up into the SUV because I was pleasantly buzzed and the vehicle was set high off the ground. The ride back to his house was quiet. He seemed to be in a pensive mood and I was contemplating all the things Donna and I had discussed.

He came around the SUV, hauled me out, and we went into the house. Lex grinned at me as I stumbled a little and caught me before I could do any damage to myself.

“Well, there goes my plan for the evening,” he murmured.

I smiled slightly. “What?”

He leaned closer and I caught a whiff of his cologne. It was good that his hands were on my hips because my legs went weak. My guard was down because of the strong drinks Donna had mixed for us. Even she had been tipsy when I left and vampires had to drink a lot to feel the effects of alcohol.

“I planned to take you downstairs, put a plug in your ass, and give you so many orgasms that you lost count.”

I leaned against him, my legs simply refusing to hold my weight. “Why can’t we do that?” I asked.

He chuckled at the wistful tone in my voice. “Because you’ve had too much to drink. Any time we play, I want you completely sober. It affects your judgment and your ability to determine if something is too much for your body to handle.”

I sighed. “Okay.”

Lex leaned down and put his mouth to my ear. “That doesn’t mean I won’t fuck you blind, though.”

At his words and the heat of his breath against my temple, my nipples hardened and my clit felt as though it had been zapped with an electrical current.

“Oh my God,” I whispered and my legs collapsed completely.

His dark laughter made me shiver as he put one arm behind my back and the other under my knees and lifted me easily. I’d never been with a man who could haul me around like I weighed little more than five pounds.

He moved through the foyer and up the stairs so quickly that my head spun. He reached the bedroom and set me on the bed. I lay back, gasping for breath. All the quick motion made me so dizzy I could barely see.

By the time my head cleared, Lex was standing before me in nothing but a pair of black boxer briefs. I took a deep breath, my balance still off, but not because of the alcohol. He was perfection personified.

As I watched, he pushed the briefs down his legs and kicked them to the side. I hadn’t had a chance to really look at him last night. His cock was long, thick, and curved upward slightly. The sight of it made my mouth water.

I started to lean forward and reach toward him, but Lex bent and grabbed the hem of my shirt, whipping it over my head. A few seconds later, he stripped my yoga pants and underwear off my legs. Then he was crawling up from the bottom of the bed and reaching behind me with one hand to unsnap my bra and strip it from me.

My hands flew up to grasp his shoulders. Holy shit, he was moving quickly.

“Lie back,” he said, his voice deeper than usual.

I didn’t move. I was still trying to process his words when he growled and grabbed my legs, yanking them apart and down. I was flat on my back, staring down the length of my body at him before I could blink.

Lex’s dark eyes were painfully bright as they wandered all over my nude body, ending with the area between my thighs. His hands lightly gripped my inner thighs and pressed them wider apart. He growled again, low in his throat.

Normally, the idea of a creature with fangs, growling between my wide-spread thighs, would terrify me. However, I knew exactly what Lex was capable of and I felt heat spreading within me.

I jumped at the first hot swipe of his tongue.

“You taste like candy.”

Without my permission my eyes closed and my head fell back as Lex continued to lap at my clit. Suddenly he latched on to the small bundle of nerves with ferocious intent. He was voracious and merciless. In less than a minute, I hung on the edge of the precipice, writhing beneath his mouth.

Too lost in sensation to even form words, I moaned and gasped, hips bucking against his assault. His hard hands pinned me to the mattress.

It was the feeling of him holding me down that threw me over the edge. My back arched so hard only my head touched the mattress and I cried out. The peak was high and sharp enough to cut me in two. The pleasure was so intense it burned like fire throughout my body. Each time I thought it was ending and that I would come down, Lex pushed me higher and harder.

It hurt. Ecstasy and inescapable agony centered on the point between my legs. I screamed, unable to endure it any longer. The blade of my orgasm still sliced through me as Lex lunged upward, thrusting into my body, deep and rough.

He rode me hard. My hands grasped his shoulders, my nails digging into the solid muscle. My eyes drifted shut until one of Lex’s hands twisted into my hair and pulled my head back. My chin lifted, leaving my throat exposed.

“Look at me,” he demanded, moving faster and harder.

My eyes snapped open and I stared into the deep, dark irises of his. Unbelievably he was building another climax within me, this one promising to be explosive.

“Lex,” I whimpered.

I watched as his mouth opened and his canines elongated.

“Lex.”

He stared down at me, his face fierce. “Let me in, Ivie. I promise you won’t regret it.”

Somehow I knew he wasn’t just referring to biting me, but also to lowering the barrier surrounding my thoughts.

“Yes,” I whispered.

Just as I reached out to him, inviting him into my mind, he struck. I felt his fangs sink into my skin, but it was a delicious pain. At the first pull of his mouth, the tsunami of my orgasm broke over me, breaking down every wall, every defense I erected around my heart and mind. I belonged to him. He owned me, body and soul. And he would for eternity.

Unable to withstand the forces exploding within me, I shrieked. Then my vision went white and there was nothing.

*     *     *

I drifted back
to reality, my senses still raw from the overload. My eyes opened and I looked around. Lex was lying on the bed next to me on his stomach. He had a pillow stuffed under this upper chest and arms and his chin resting on his forearm. His other hand stroked my breast.

When my eyes met his, he grinned and said, “Welcome back.”

“Wow.”

His grin widened. My head was still fuzzy but my body felt like melted wax.

“I can’t move my legs,” I mumbled and Lex laughed. I loved making him laugh. The number one reason was because I knew he didn’t do it often. However, the fact that his laugh was deep and rich ranked right up there too.

He was still smiling a little when he asked, “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “Is it like that every time you bite during sex?”

The last of his amusement faded from his face. “No. Only with the right person.”

My lungs suddenly felt too small. I sucked in a breath. The revelation I’d faced during the peak was in the forefront of my mind, but I couldn’t let myself feel it. He didn’t want me as I was. He would want to turn me, make me into a vampire as he was. It hurt to know that I wasn’t enough.

Still, I played innocent. “What do you mean?”