Untamed (Vampire Awakenings, Book 3) (12 page)

She didn't want anything to ruin what they
had shared, but dread crept through her as she realized what she'd
done. Unfortunately she couldn't deny the fact that she'd just had
unprotected sex with a man that though she'd spent a lot of time
with this week, she still barely knew him. Not to mention all she
could think about was what he'd said earlier about his past
relationships. Maybe he hadn't made it clear earlier but would he
now tell her that he wasn't really looking for anything
serious?

She didn't know how she would take that. On
one hand she couldn't expect him to want anything more than a
summer fling with her, they were both on vacation, and they lived
on opposite sides of the country. On the other, it was the best sex
she'd ever had; she was still basking in the afterglow of the
ecstasy that having him inside of her had given her.

She cared for him, she didn't want to hear
the words that this would end within the next three weeks, that he
already knew she wasn't the one. He wasn't into one-night stands
but three weeks together wouldn't be considered a one-night stand.
And that was if he even
intended
to
continue seeing her after this. There'd been no promises between
them; there were no guarantees. Emma shook her head to clear it of
her rambling thoughts before she became a bumbling, clingy mess
that drove him out the door right now.

"We didn't use protection," she muttered.

He almost laughed out loud but managed to
stifle it before he upset her. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell her
that no disease would be able to survive in his system. "I've been
tested, I'm clean," he assured her instead.

She swallowed heavily. "I'm on the pill but
we still should have used something more." She'd considered going
off of it after Tristan but it had helped with her acne so she'd
chosen to stay on it.

He nuzzled the side of her neck and kissed
her. "It's ok Emma."

"Ethan..."

"It's too late to worry about it now, we got
carried away, but we will deal with it
if
the time comes."

She leaned back to look apprehensively at him
again but he kissed her nose before she could offer any further
protest. Though it was the last thing he wanted to do, he lifted
her up and reluctantly pulled himself from her. He placed her on
her feet and helped her to adjust the straps on her dress. Clasping
her cheeks in his hands, he tilted her face up and kissed her.

"Why don't you go get out of these wet
clothes," he suggested. "Where are the towels?"

"There's some in the hall closet, I'll get
them."

"I'll grab them, clean up out here and I'll
join you in a few minutes." She looked as if she was going to say
more but he turned her toward the hall. "Go on," he urged.

She glanced back at him as she stopped
outside of her bedroom door, but he waved her onward. She hesitated
before slipping through the doorway to her room. Ethan pulled his
jeans up and buttoned them before grabbing the towels from the
closet and using them to wipe up the water. He grabbed her ruined
panties from the floor and hurried down to the room she'd
disappeared into.

She was already lying in the bed, she watched
him as he entered the room. Her damp hair spread out around her,
the white t-shirt she wore was baggy on her small frame and made
her appear extremely vulnerable. The thought that he would enjoy
seeing her like this forever hit him and he stopped to savor in the
sight of her.

"There's a towel on the chair for you," she
informed him.

He stripped out of his wet clothes and
toweled off before crawling into the bed beside her. "Ethan, what
does this mean?" She hated asking the question, hated the
desperation that she felt by having to say the words, but she
couldn't go to sleep tonight without at least some sort of
resolution.

"I don't know," he admitted.

"You said with the other girls you told them
in the beginning..."

"You're not like them Emma, this
isn't
like those other times. I
don't know what any of this means, not yet, but nothing that has
happened between us is anything like what I've experienced with any
other woman. I wouldn't be here right now if it was, I would have
already walked out of here and gone home."

Emma couldn't help but smile as her finger
slid over his chest and entwined in the curly hairs running across
the top of it. She wasn't expecting forever but at least he wasn't
telling her that there was absolutely no hope for them. The chances
of this lasting past the end of the month were slim, but she would
take those chances if they were able to have the next three weeks
together. She stifled a yawn as she rested her head on his
chest.

Taking her into his arms, he held her close
against him as he breathed in her scent. Yes, he could spend every
night like this, he decided as she relaxed against him. He was well
aware of the fact that that thought, and the certainty that
followed it, could spell doom for them both.

Emma's eyes were sluggish to open the next
morning as sleep clung to her. The powerful body pressed against
her back swept away the last dregs of sleep. The rhythmic sound of
his breathing caused a smile to curve her mouth before she rolled
over to look at him. He was stunning in the early morning sunshine
filtering through the blinds. His arm was thrown over his head; his
black hair was in disarray as it curled around his forehead and
cheeks. Her heart melted at the sight of him and memories of what
they had shared flooded her.

She'd never experienced anything like what
she had experienced with him last night. Sex with Tristan had been
pleasant, but she'd never really understood what the big deal about
sex was. She'd never lost such complete control of herself with
him, never known such a feeling of rightness, and reckless abandon
before. She'd thought that she'd had an orgasm before but she knew
now that she'd been wrong. The time she'd spent with Ethan had been
far shorter than her time with Tristan and yet she'd given herself
more freely to him than she ever had to Tristan.

From the kitchen she could smell coffee
brewing and the scent of bacon frying caused her stomach to rumble.
She brushed back a strand of his hair before placing a kiss on his
cheek. The stubble lining his jaw was rough against her lips, but
she found the sensation enjoyable.

His emerald eyes were on her when she pulled
back. Heat crept into her cheeks as his eyes ran over her face.
"Good morning," he greeted in a tone of voice that caused her
stomach to do a strange little flip.

"I didn't mean to wake you."

He chuckled as he wrapped his hand around the
back of her head and pulled her toward him. "The rumbling of your
stomach woke me," he said against her mouth.

She laughed but she was already losing
herself to the feel of him as his lips slid over hers and his
tongue brushed against her own. A quickening of her pulse was just
beginning to spread through her when he pulled away and kissed the
tip of her nose. "Let's get you something to eat before your
stomach wakes the dead," he teased.

"Ugh," she groaned in protest.

He grinned at her before rolling away.
Propping her head on her hand, she admired his chiseled ass and the
carved muscles of his back and thighs as he walked away from her.
The tattoo on his arm flexed as he stretched out his shoulders and
back. She admired the black flames on his wrist that licked upward
toward the black phoenix on his upper bicep.

"Does the tattoo mean anything?" she
inquired.

Ethan glanced absently down at his arm. He'd
gotten it because he'd relished in feeling the pain from the
needle. He'd been determined to punish himself for his endless
thirst for blood and to drown out the insanity begging to be heard
within him. It had taken almost three days to complete but he'd sat
patiently in the chair as the vampire tattoo artist repeatedly went
over the lines until his body stopped healing itself and rejecting
the ink. The tattoo artist had assured him that after a few hours
the ink would begin to stay in, but it had taken days longer than
the artist had expected, probably due to his purebred heritage.
Even though it had taken much longer than expected to be completed,
it hadn't been enough pain for him and it had done nothing to drown
out his incessant bloodlust.

"Eternal life," he said to her over his
shoulder. "Rebirth. A new start."

She frowned at him and he could understand
her confusion but he didn't know how to explain that he'd hoped the
pain would somehow cleanse him of what was inside of him. He should
have known it would never work. Looking at her now though, for the
first time he felt cleansed, he felt free. He walked over to her,
and brushing the hair back from her face, he bent to kiss her. He
fought against the blood flowing into his dick, all he wanted was
to climb into that bed with her and lose himself again, but she was
hungry. Anyone within a hundred feet of her would know that, and
her needs came first.

He reluctantly pulled back and walked away
before he couldn't do so anymore. "It was something to do," he said
as he pulled on his underwear.

"I like it," she murmured.

He lifted his jeans to examine them before
pulling them on. They were still wet but not soaking and he really
didn't have any other choice unless he was going to walk around in
his boxers. He buttoned them up before turning and holding his hand
out to her. She slid her hand into his; he helped her to her feet
and held her against him.

This man could do the most amazing things
she'd ever experienced to her; he could also make her feel like a
child, especially since he was so much larger than she was. She had
to tilt her head back to get a look at anything past mid-chest. The
spread of his shoulders was almost three times the size of hers.
The thought that he could kill her in a second hit her but even
with that realization, she felt immeasurably safe in his arms.

His fingers brushed over her neck as he
pushed the hair back from her shoulder. She detested her stomach as
it began to grumble again loudly. He chuckled, took a step back and
grabbed his shirt from the floor. He flicked his shirt at her,
hitting her lightly on the butt with the tip of it. "Get dressed,"
he said with a grin.

She frowned at him but still gathered her
clothes and stepped into the bathroom that her room shared with
Jill's. She brushed her teeth and took a fast shower before
dressing in her tank top and cutoff jeans. She didn't bother to
blow dry her hair, as she was eager to get back to Ethan and eat
some breakfast. He was standing by the window, leaning against the
wall and staring outside when she rejoined him. His head turned
toward her and a lazy smile spread across his lips before he
stepped away from the wall and strode toward her. Taking hold of
her hands, he pulled her toward him and kissed her forehead.

"You look lovely." She shrugged his words off
with a little snort, but even still a thrill went through her at
his sweet compliment. "I was thinking about taking a trip today,
and exploring some of the island, would you like to come with
me?"

"That sounds like fun."

Goosebumps erupted over her skin when his
mouth brushed hers again. She
really
didn't have to eat right now; she found her
appetite for him was far stronger than her one for food as her
hands encircled his biceps. His eyes were nearly black when he
ended the kiss and she could feel the evidence of his arousal
against her belly, but even still he stepped away from her.

"Food for you, fresh clothes for me," he
informed her with a grin.

"Food is overrated," she muttered.

He chuckled as he took hold of her hand and
led her toward the door. Pulling it open, he made a sweeping
gesture with his arm as he stepped back to let her move into the
hallway first. He walked with her toward the kitchen. They stepped
into the narrow living room that ran parallel to the small kitchen
just beyond. Mandy was sitting at the breakfast bar that divided
the two rooms, eating eggs as Jill continued to fry bacon at the
stove. The fork paused halfway to Mandy's mouth when she looked up
and spotted them standing in the living room. Emma thought she
should feel embarrassed, she'd had sex with him up against the wall
to her left last night after all, but there was no embarrassment as
he stood by her side with his shirt in hand.

Jill was chattering on about something and
hadn't noticed them yet. She turned with a plate of bacon in hand
and approached Mandy with it. Jill frowned as Mandy ignored her and
finally followed Mandy's gaze over to where they stood in the
entryway. The plate clattered against the granite as she
practically dropped it onto the counter.

"Uh hey," she greeted awkwardly, something
that Jill never was. "You hungry?"

"Starving," Emma admitted.

"I should get going," Ethan said. "I'll be
back in an hour."

She hated the disappointment that filled her
at the thought of him leaving, but she forced herself to smile.
"Sounds good."

He kissed her cheek before slipping out the
door. Taking a steadying breath, she braced herself before turning
to face her friends again. They were both staring at her as if she
were a piece of meat they couldn't wait to sink their teeth into.
Oh hell, she was in for it, she realized with a sigh. Resigning
herself to the barrage of questions she knew were about to unfold,
she climbed down the steps and walked over to join them.

"I guess we know why
you're
hungry," Jill said as she heaped eggs onto
a plate and placed it in the empty spot next to Mandy. "And why you
didn't join us last night."