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My face flames. My embarrassment is made more overwhelming by the fact he’s right. I can’t seem to control my body when he bites me. I pad to him slowly, and don’t argue when he takes my hand and pulls me down to straddle him on the stool. He runs a broad hand up my back to fist in my hair and tow my head gently to the side. I don’t have a chance to brace myself before he strikes, sinking his fangs into me.
Gods, it’s so good.
I clutch his shoulders and relax against him. His strength will hold me up, keep me caged, and I can’t decide if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. Why am I fighting this? It feels so good, it’s hard to remember my reasons.
Each pull feels like he’s stroking my breasts, my clit, my pussy. His free hand lands on the small of my back, urging me closer, and I’m only too eager to obey the silent command. I need. I roll my hips, rocking against his hardening cock. It feels so good. Too good. If Malachi stripped us and bore me to the floor, I’d welcome him happily. Knowing that, somehow trusting he won’t… It makes me bolder. I dig my fingers into his hair and moan.
Malachi growls against my skin, but instead of sucking harder, he lifts his head and drags his tongue over the spot where he bit me. “You taste too fucking good. I don’t understand it.”
“Keep going.”
“No.” He leans back, easily overpowering my hold, and reaches up to grab my chin. He runs his thumb over my bottom lip, urging my mouth open and presses the pad of his thumb against one of my canine teeth. They’re a little more prominent than a human’s, but nowhere near as long as a vampire’s. He frowns. “I don’t think you can break skin effectively with these little things.”
“Wow, I didn’t realize you were a size queen.”
His grin is quick and nearly knocks me on my ass. “We’ll have to improvise.” As I watch, he drags his tongue over his tooth, cutting it. Malachi shifts his grip to the back of my neck. “Come here.”
He doesn’t even have to pull me. I’m already moving, diving down and taking his mouth. He tastes of blood and man and, gods, I can’t get enough. I wish I could say it’s because of the blood zinging across my tongue and setting fire to my veins as if he’s poured lightning down my throat. That would be less unforgivable than the truth.
I like kissing Malachi.
He holds me easily to him and plunders my mouth. Tongue and teeth clash, this moment as much a battle as our earlier sparring. Maybe I shouldn’t like that. Maybe I should crave a softer touch, something like my single kiss before this. A tentative brush of lips against mine. A stolen moment filled with yearning. At least on my side… At least until I realized Darrien only kissed me on a dare from his friends.
That slams me out of this moment. No matter how devastating this kiss is, Malachi isn’t kissing me because he’s so overcome with lust he had to have my mouth on his. No, he’s playing a game of chess and I’m already seven moves behind.
I force myself to life my head. It’s only then I realize I can’t taste his blood any longer. He healed while we were kissing. If I hadn’t pulled away, would he have stopped me on his own? I look down into his handsome face, his eyes violently dark with desire, and I just don’t know.
I lick my lips, tasting him there. “That’s enough.”
“As long as you’re satisfied.” His voice is as rough as I feel. He strokes the small of my back, the slightest touch that almost seems to urge me to keep riding him.
I want to demand he bite me again, do the one thing guaranteed to override my spiraling thoughts long enough for me to orgasm like this. Worse, I almost don’t care if the bite is even involved. I want him to keep touching me, to keep doing this until neither of us can think any more.
That’s the problem, though. I might lose myself, but Malachi won’t. I can almost guarantee it. Aside from that first time in the foyer, he’s been perfectly in control during every encounter. Unlike me.
I shove to my feet and nearly land on my ass. For once, Malachi doesn’t move to catch me, merely watching as I stumble back until I’m steady. I press my fingers to my lips. “Give me the knife back and you won’t have to improvise again.”
He smiles, flashing a little fang. “No.”
“So this is all a trap. You say you aren’t going to sleep with me and then you cross lines all over the place the first chance you get.” I’m trying to work up a good mad, but my body is still crying out from the loss of his. I ache in a way I’m terrified only he can fix.
“Don’t be naive, Mina. A kiss is not the same thing as sex.” He leans forward and props his forearms on his knees. The position should look relaxed, but every one of my prey instincts is screaming he’s half a second from pouncing on me. “When I fuck you, it won’t be with a little tongue.” Another of those slow smiles. “But if you’re feeling needy and want me to kiss your pussy better, I’m more than happy to.”
I take a measured step back. Now is the time to retreat, to take the out he’s offered me and put some distance between us. It’s what a smart woman would do in my position. But then, a smart woman would have run the second she had the chance and damned the consequences. I’m here. For better or worse, I’m choosing this. I lick my lips. “Prove it.”
The words barely leave my mouth before he’s on me, bearing me to the ground. Once again, he makes a cage of his body and protects me from any impact. Malachi takes my mouth in a rough kiss. His fangs nick my tongue. Or maybe it’s his tongue. Hell, maybe it’s both. All I know is I taste blood and add a bolt of sheer lust to what’s already a tidal wave of desire.
He’s already moving down my body before I have a chance to sink into the sensation, kissing my breasts through my thin shirt before he settles between my thighs. I prop myself up on my elbows, breathless and a little shocked. “Um.”
He trails his finger down the seam of my yoga pants, stopping directly over my clit. “Changed your mind?”
“No.” The words burst out before I can think about the intelligence of waving a red flag in front of a bull.
“Good.” He does something, moving too quickly for me to follow. One second we’re staring at each other and the next he’s ripped my pants in half. The movement jerks my hips closer to him and then his mouth is on me.
I tense, expecting a bite. Anticipating a bite. But instead of the sharp pleasure of his fangs, it’s the soft heat of his tongue. He licks a long line up the center of my body. It feels so wrong and so right at the same time. His growl vibrates through my pussy and my arms give out. “Fuck.”
That’s when he moves up to drag the tip of his tongue over my clit. Over and over again. I thought this would feel different than when he bites me, and it does… But not as different as I expected. It’s too good. Desire drugs me, molten and fluid, winding tighter and tighter through my body.
I don’t make a conscious decision to move. One second I’m trying to get my equilibrium back and the next my hands are in his hair, pulling him closer even as I lift my hips to grind against his mouth. “Oh gods, that feels so good.”
He makes another of those hungry noises and then his tongue is inside me. He spears me with it, and the intrusion has me crying out in surprise. Malachi withdraws a little and lifts his head to look at me with eyes gone dark and feral. For a second, I could swear I see flames licking in their depths, but I blink and the illusion disappears. He drags his thumbs down either side of my pussy. “Mina.” My name sounds like a sin on his lips.
I have to swallow hard before I can speak. “Yes?”
“Are you a virgin?”
I really, really don’t want to answer that question. It’s too loaded, too filled with implications I want nothing to do with. Vampire culture doesn’t place the same importance on virginity the way human culture does—at least according to the media I’ve consumed—but it remains a thing.
He watches me closely. “Answer me.”
“Yes.” The word feels dragged from my lips against my will.