Chapter 4 #2
“Me too,” she replied simply. She lowered her voice. “Honestly? I’m not even sure who I would be right now if she’d lived. Life would look so different. It’s hard to even imagine. Does that sound bad? I don’t mean that I’m glad she’s gone. If I could choose, she would still be here.”
I reached out and gave her thigh a squeeze.
“Of course you would. I didn’t think that’s what you meant.
If my brother Zeke wouldn’t have died, I wouldn’t have found you the way I did.
The sequence of events that led up to finding you in that garage would’ve never happened.
Doesn’t mean I would ever wish for him to be gone. ”
Rosemary let out a breath of relief. Reaching back, she pulled her long mass of hair over her shoulder and braided it into a loose rope.
I’d seen plenty of women get ready. I’d showered with them. Watched them put on their clothes and makeup. But nothing had ever felt as intimate as sitting in that dim room watching Rosemary in her pajamas braiding her hair.
“This is kind of weird, right?” she announced with a sweet smile. “Like, oh, here’s your mate. You just met, but fall into bed anyway and complete the bond.”
“Can I be honest?” I asked slowly.
“Always.”
“I’ve wanted to fuck you since the moment I saw you.”
“Bullshit,” she argued, her eyes twinkling. “My hair was one huge knot, my clothes were filthy, I stunk, and I was threatening you with a broken beer bottle.”
“Didn’t matter,” I said, smiling back. “Instant attraction.”
“Well, I guess that’s comforting.” Her lips twitched as she tried to hide her smile. “At least I know you’ll still find me attractive when I’m huge, pregnant, and don’t feel like showering or getting off the couch.”
The last words were nearly indecipherable as she realized what she was saying.
“I don’t think it’s possible to find you unattractive.”
“Thank you, mating bond.”
I let out a laugh, and she shushed me, glancing at the door.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with the mating bond,” I argued, lowering my voice. “You’re fucking gorgeous.”
“I wasn’t then.”
“Sure, you were. I knew it was there under the grime.”
She widened her eyes at me and shoved my shoulder.
The room was quiet as we looked at each other. She was outspoken and so sure of herself since the moment we’d met, but there was a vulnerability there too. She was showing it to me. It felt like a privilege that not many others received.
“So…you want kids?” she asked softly.
“Yeah.” The word came out rough. I cleared my throat. “Yeah, I’d like a couple. You?”
“I’ve always wanted a big family,” she replied. “Growing up as a single child was fine—I had my cousins to play with and stuff—but I always thought if I had kids I’d have at least two so they’d have a built-in best friend.”
“I liked growing up in a big family,” I replied, leaning down on my elbow so I could prop my head in my hand. “There was always someone around to hang with.”
“Yeah, exactly!”
“I can continue taking the pills if you want to wait a while, though.”
“You’re already taking them?”
“When I realized that my brothers seemed to be finding their mates in rapid succession, I figured it would be smart,” I confirmed. I’d felt like an idiot doing it, but now I was relieved I had.
“Oh, and I have an implant—” Her sentence cut off abruptly. “Right, my implant won’t work.”
“Unfortunately, no. But I’m happy to take care of it.”
“It’s like, I know all of this stuff, but I keep forgetting that it applies to me now. I didn’t think I’d be anyone’s mate. The odds of that were like winning the lottery or getting eaten by a shark.”
“Human men should be taking care of the birth control too.”
Rosemary scoffed. “Yeah, right. Have you met human men? I mean, don’t get me wrong, the good ones are out there. But counting on the majority of them to prevent pregnancy sounds like a terrible idea.”
“I don’t think we should take any chances while we’re dealing with all of this,” I said quietly, running my hand over the soft skin of her thigh. “We have plenty of time to start a family.”
“Agreed.” She took a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh. “So should we just dive in, then?”
For a moment, just a split second, when she reached for the hem of her shirt, I contemplated letting her take it off.
I wanted to see her so badly that my teeth ached.
But for that reason, I couldn’t let her do it.
I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep my hands to myself if I got a glimpse of her bare breasts.
My skin felt like it was on fire. Every muscle in my body ached. The tether between us seemed to pulse.
“I’m not going to complete the bond with your father across the hallway,” I said, my hand shooting out to stop her.
“But, I thought you said—”
“When we complete the bond, I’d rather your hands weren’t shaking with nerves,” I murmured dryly, giving her hand a slight squeeze. “You’re not ready yet.”
“I’m not a virgin,” she argued. “And it’s not like I haven’t had one-night stands before. I didn’t know them either.”
I tried and failed to hide my distaste at the idea of her having sex with anyone else. Thankfully, she ignored my expression.
“Finding someone you think is attractive and fucking their brains out isn’t the same as committing your body and life to someone you just met,” I replied, sitting up.
“I thought you wanted me to be protected,” she said, throwing her hands in the air.
“I do.” Leaning into her space, I inhaled the spicy scent of her hair. Gods, I wanted her. “But your father has exceptional hearing for a human, and I doubt he wants to hear his daughter getting railed across the hall.”
Rosemary’s breath caught.
“I’m going to fuck you, and if the Gods are merciful, you’re going to fuck me—”
“That can be arranged,” she replied hoarsely.
I groaned. “I’m not going to be able to get the fantasy of you riding me out of my head now,” I chastised, nipping at her jaw. She tilted her head back to give me more room to work. “But it won’t be tonight.”
I leaned back, and by the furious look in her eyes, it was a wonder she didn’t take my head off.
I couldn’t really blame her. Yeah, she was nervous, but she clearly had no problem touching me.
She’d leaned into the fact that we were mates from the moment I’d confirmed it.
No hesitation or disbelief, just immediate acceptance.
That wasn’t something that happened often—or ever.
Being raised in a Vampire family had given her an understanding that most humans didn’t have.
She didn’t seem scared that she was going to be bound to a Vampire she didn’t know.
She wasn’t worried if we would get along or if she could ever love me.
She just assumed correctly that those things would come.
I rounded the bed and locked her bedroom door before pulling off my T-shirt.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” she groaned, watching me from the bed. “Are you serious?”
“I should probably shower,” I replied, pausing.
“You are not stripping naked one room away,” she snapped, shaking her head. “Come on, dude. Be a pal here.”
I chuckled as I tossed the T-shirt on top of the clothes already on her armchair and reached for my trousers.
Rosemary let out a quiet grunt as I unbuttoned my pants, flouncing away from me as she tugged the bedding out from under her ass. She scooted down until the blanket covered her to her chin. Seconds later, she pulled out the little shorts she’d been wearing and tossed them on the floor.
My cock ached as I took off my boots and trousers and slid into the bedding from the opposite side of the bed.
The sheets were cool against my heated skin as I stretched. My feet hit the footboard before my legs were even fully extended. She hadn’t been kidding when she’d mentioned that her bed was small. It reminded me of the beds in hotels a hundred years ago. They’d never been long enough either.
Rosemary sighed loudly and reached out to turn off the lamp.
Seconds later, she sighed again.
I stared at the back of her head, less than a foot separating our bodies.
“Something to say?” I asked, smiling.
When she rolled toward me, our knees knocked together. I didn’t think she could fully stretch out in the bed either. I wondered how she ever got any comfortable sleep.
“I have a high tolerance for pain,” she whispered, the words almost a hiss. “I always have. My dad said that they were terrified all the time when I was little because whenever I fell or hit my head or anything, I didn’t cry, so they could never tell how bad it was.”
“Okay.”
“So just know that, okay?”
“Okay,” I repeated.
“But this is fucking miserable,” she griped, her voice strained. “My stomach has been in knots for hours. The heat is like living in a sauna with no way to escape. I’ve been turned on since we came into my room, and my downstairs is starting to ache—and not in a good way. It fucking hurts.”
“Ah, baby,” I murmured the second I realized that she wasn’t just annoyed that I’d kept my hands to myself.
“I can take it,” she grumbled. “But don’t expect me to frigging like it.”
I smiled into the dark as I reached for her.
“Come here,” I whispered, tugging her toward me by the bend in her knee. I didn’t stop pulling until her heat was pressed against my bare thigh, the scrap of fabric between us hiding very little.
Her hips gave an involuntary jerk as we made contact.
“Don’t fucking tease me, Daniel,” she warned.
“Danny,” I corrected as I leaned in. “I go by Danny.”
“And you thought now was the time to correct me?”
Rosemary’s last word was caught in my mouth as I pressed it against hers, running my tongue along the inside of her bottom lip. After that, she didn’t bother talking. We kissed like the world was ending, like we couldn’t get enough. Desperate. Wet.
She gasped quietly as she came up for air, and I used the moment to press my mouth against her neck, my teeth throbbing as I kept them behind my lips.