Chapter 43
43
M y nervous chatter dies down when Blair trails her hand from my cheek down the side of my neck to caress across my collarbone, leaving goosebumps in her wake. She strokes down my arm and back up, grazing the side of my breast. I lean into her touch, savoring how right it feels to have her hands on me. She repeats the motion one more time, before circling around behind me and placing her lips against my shoulder.
“Sit for me, love,” she commands gently, gesturing down to the floor.
I lower myself onto the soft carpet, sitting with my legs to one side. Blair lowers to her knees beside me, reaching over to grab one of the long strands of deep pink rope. My breath hitches as she runs it between her hands, wondering how she’s going to use it.
Images from the night months ago where I saw her demonstrating her shibari skills float into my mind. Her submissive was still and obedient, letting her weave the rope around his body to create a beautiful harness. Blair was methodical with her use of the rope, all poise and control. So it surprises me when she moves behind me, setting down the rope so she can place her hands on my shoulders.
“It’s crucial that you tell me immediately if any of this bothers your neck or you feel numbness or tingling anywhere,” she says as her hands run down the length of my arms, then move to skim across my hips and stroke up my spine, in slow, soothing motions.
“I will.” My eyes flutter closed as she draws hypnotic patterns along my skin with her fingertips.
Once I’m relaxed and leaning into her touch, Blair guides my arms above my head, and I instinctively turn to look at her. Our eyes catch over my shoulder, and I tilt my chin up, silently asking for her kiss. She grants my wish, her lips pressing to mine, stealing my breath with how tender the kiss is.
Blair only lets me linger in it for a moment before pulling back with a soft smile. She picks up the rope again, looping it around my waist. Her fingers trace along where she’s placed the rope, slipping across my ribcage with enough pressure to not tickle. All of my focus is on her touch and the soft rope against my skin as she winds it around me again, and my breath hitches as she weaves the rope to frame my breasts, my nipples stiffening in response.
Each sensual, teasing touch and weaving of the rope builds until I’m almost panting, desperately wanting more. Blair pauses after completing a knot, closing the gap between us to press her chest to my back and wraps her arms around me to stroke across her handiwork. When she palms my breasts and kneads them gently, I let out a needy moan.
“Mmm, that’s it, baby. You’re doing so well,” Blair murmurs in my ear, playing with my breasts for a moment longer, before pulling back to get more rope.
I whimper at the loss of her touch, but she doesn’t chastise me. No, she leans back in and presses a kiss to the column of my throat, letting out a pleased hum.
She continues, making art of my body with intricate weaving and knots trailing down my stomach, then guiding me up to my knees to bind my hips and thighs.
I lose any sense of time or anything outside of her touch and the ropes. They should feel constraining but instead there’s a potent relief, like each winding loop and knot is anchoring me in the moment. My mind can’t focus on my worries or fears because it’s too busy being held by the ropes, and in turn, held by Blair.
When she’s done with the harness on my body, Blair moves on to my hands, binding them together until I’m truly helpless. She presses kisses to my palms as she finishes tying the ropes, and for a moment, rests her cheek against my hand. The raw, vulnerable look that crosses her face as she closes her eyes and leans into my touch knocks the breath out of me.
She needs this as much as I do. I crave the surrender and the knowledge that she’ll take care of me, and Blair needs to know that I’m not going anywhere. At least not for a long time.
Blair checks the knots across my body, testing to make sure they’re not chafing or too tight, then sits on the chaise, her eyes gleaming with desire and adoration as she takes in her handiwork.
In response, my eyes well with tears. I don’t bother trying to hold them at bay, letting them slide down my cheeks.
“Tell me what you’re feeling,” she says, tilting my chin up gently so I meet her gaze.
There’s no room for pretense that I’m not hurt from what she did. No hiding that I’m desperately in love with her, and that each messy, imperfect part of me is utterly hers. It feels right, laying my heart and body bare to her.
“Like I’m where I belong,” I say. “Like I can finally let go because you have me.”
“You can,” Blair rasps, her voice thick with emotion.
We linger in the moment, neither one of us saying anything. Before I know it, she’s kneeling beside me to undo my binds with care, pressing soft, reverent kisses to my skin where the rope touched. It’s just as erotic having her remove them, and by the time I’m completely unbound, I’m desperate for more.
Blair helps me up from the floor, and once I’m next to her, my hands immediately go to the hem of her shirt to take it off. There’s a hot gleam of hunger in her eyes as I remove it, then bend down to take her nipple between my lips through the thin lace of her bra, my hands digging into her ass to press her body close to mine.
“Fuck, Grace,” she gasps, her fingers threading into my hair as I move to her other breast while she fumbles with her free hand to take her bra off.
I pull back and smile at her as I move to the bed, lying back and spreading my legs. A flash of something above me pulls my focus, and I look up to see a giant mirror hanging over the bed. Showing me sprawled out on Blair’s bed, naked and wantonly awaiting her.
“Like what you see?” Blair asks, and my eyes snap back to her.
I flush. “Yeah, but I’ll like it a hell of a lot better when you’re here with me.”
She chuckles and shucks her pants and underwear with a curse, then climbs over me. I loop my arms around her neck and pull her down into a kiss as she grinds her wet pussy against my thigh.
“Bite me,” I beg between fevered kisses.
Blair drops her mouth to my throat with a groan, sucking at my neck but not giving me what I asked for. For a second, all I can see in the mirror above us is me, but then she appears in the reflection. The sight of her poised over me, and the stunning picture we create together makes me burn with the need for more.
“Please. I want you to bite me. Mark me. Make me yours again,” I whimper as she slides a hand between my thighs to rub my clit.
An animalistic growl rumbles out of Blair, followed by sharp pain as her fangs sink into my throat. A moment later, hot, honeyed bliss pulses through my body as she laps at the blood flowing from me. Each pull of her sucking lips connects directly to my clit, and I come in long, languorous, unending waves.
“You’re mine,” Blair growls, crimson coating her lips and chin as she pulls back, only to move down to bite my breast as she slides her fingers inside my pussy, stroking them insistently in time with her swallows.
She’s greedy for me tonight, consuming more than she ever dared before, until I’m lightheaded and euphoric. When she’s finally sated, bites cover my body, throbbing reminders of her taking what she needed and claiming every inch of my body. It’s the best feeling in the world.
Blair caresses my hair as she lies beside me, her eyes glassy from her own overload of pleasure.
“How are you feeling?” I ask, wondering what’s going on inside her head.
She smiles, her expression warm and open. “Like this is where I belong,” she replies, repeating my response from earlier. “Like I can finally let go because you have me. ”
I grab hold of her hand and bring it to rest on my chest. “You can.”
The rest of the night passes in a haze of pleasure, touch, and whispered confessions of love, fears, and hopes for our future together. We sleep through most of the day, and when I wake up in the late afternoon, Blair is still dead to the world. She doesn’t stir when I sneak out of bed to get something to eat, my stomach clenching impatiently as I pour myself a bowl of cereal.
I still can’t believe she got all this food for me. How did she even know what to buy?
I bet Mona told her. I pull out my phone, which I miraculously had the presence of mind to grab from the bouncer at The Vault last night, and open my texts to send Mona my thanks, only to find three missed calls from her.
Crap! I assumed Samantha would’ve told her what happened with Blair, but maybe she didn’t go back to their place last night. Better call Mona back before she comes to bust down Blair’s door for information about what’s going on.
The phone rings twice before Mona answers.
“Grace? Where have you been? Are you okay?” Her voice is threaded with clear agitation.
“Whoa, relax. I’m good. I’m with Blair,” I say, my heart fluttering at the dual meaning of my words.
“You are?” Mona sounds incredulous. “She’s with Blair,” she repeats in a hissed whisper.
“Told you!” replies an amused sounding Samantha, who must be hovering nearby .
“I can hear Samantha there. Didn’t she tell you what happened?” I ask.
“She did but, I don’t know… I didn’t think you’d take her back right away.”
“You didn’t see what I did. It was romantic as fuck. And the emotions coming off that vampire…whew. I don’t even know Blair, but I would’ve taken her back if she’d come to me like that,” Samantha says loudly enough that I can hear her.
“Sam, go away and let Mona talk with her friend!” Max chastises, and the sound of them arguing in the background fades.
“Sorry about that,” Mona says with an exasperated sigh. “I’m alone now. Well, Nugget is in here with me, but he’s more interested in napping than your love life.”
I laugh. “I respect his priorities.”
“So…you accepted Blair’s apology?” Mona prompts.
“Yeah.” There’s a flicker of worry that Mona is going to judge me for letting the woman who crushed my heart back into my life so easily, but I push that aside. I’ve made my choice and something in me keeps telling me it’s the right one. “I know you probably think I’m being reckless, but I love her, Mona. And I believe her when she says she’s sorry and wants to be with me.”
“You do?” Mona asks, her voice growing softer.
Certainty swells inside me. “Yeah.”
“Oh, thank god,” Mona says with a gusty exhale. “I thought I was going to have to worry about the two of you being miserable for a lot longer. Not that I minded being there for you, but it’s hard to see the people you love in pain. Especially when you keep dreaming about them getting married.”
“Wait, what?” My heart leaps up into my throat. “Do you mean like, ‘oh it’d be so cute if my best friends got married’ or actual magic dreams of our wedding?”
“Shit, I… forget I said anything!” Mona lets out a falsely light laugh, trying to play off what she said.
“Mona! You can’t do that to me!”
“What’s she doing?” I almost drop the phone when I hear Blair’s voice behind me.
I turn to look at her and my chest squeezes with affection at the sight. She’s still half-asleep, with mussed hair and a worn, oversized t-shirt. The effect is equally adorable and enticing.
I’m so wrapped up in fluttery warm feelings seeing Blair that it takes me a second to realize that she shouldn’t be awake. My eyes dart toward the sliver of late afternoon sunlight shining right beside her, and the phone clatters onto the floor as I drop it in my panic.
“What are you doing up? The sun!” I cry, standing up and pulling Blair into the kitchen and away from the light.
Blair’s brows lift in surprise as she collides against my chest with a thud. I run my hands over her arms, then cup her face, looking for any sign of damage.
“I’m okay,” she says, her voice a little hoarse from sleep.
“How?! I thought you couldn’t be in the sun at all, but you had to walk through the living room to get here.” My heart is slamming against my ribcage, and I ignore the faint sound of Mona coming from the phone, asking what’s going on.
“I can’t. Usually I can’t physically bring myself to get anywhere near sunlight. But when I woke up, you weren’t there, and the aversion to light wasn’t as strong, so I figured I’d see what happened.”
“What?! Why would you risk that? I would’ve come down soon.” I hold Blair’s shoulders and frown at her. “Did you think I left? I promised I wouldn’t.”
“No, I knew you were still here,” she says, a hint of a smile curving her lips. “It wasn’t a risk. There was a sense inside me like my monster knew it would be okay. And it was. I don’t know why it didn’t hurt.” She wraps her arms around my waist, going up on her toes to press her lips to mine in a soft kiss. “Maybe you’re magic.”
I snort. “Doubtful.”
“You taste pretty fucking magical,” Blair says, kissing me again, deeper this time.
My breath hitches as she palms my ass. “Oh, yeah?” I ask. “Are you already hungry for more?”
Blair’s eyes flare. “Yes.”
“Hold that thought for one second,” I say, pulling back despite a displeased groan from my vampire. I pick my phone back up, worried about Mona freaking out at my abrupt disappearance. She’s hung up, so I send her a quick text to let her know no one is hurt before she drives over here in a panic.
“There.” I set the phone back down and press close to Blair. “You were saying about needing more of me?”
She grins, flashing her fangs. “I’ll never get enough of you, Grace.”