Chapter 12
Susie
Raoul naturally slipped his arm around my shoulder, turning me into the shelter of his body as he guided us back toward the hotel.
Of that unease, the wide-eyed confusion of his first day back in the world, there was no sign.
He moved as comfortably and confidently with me down the sidewalk as if he’d always navigated twenty-first-century traffic in a metropolis like Paris.
In a hushed voice, I explained Logan’s weird phone call—how he was on his way to Paris, perhaps even in Paris already; the need for air; and the way those thugs had seemed to think asking for the bag would solve their problems. Raoul only curled his lip in that derision he did so well, guiding me casually past the front desk of the hotel, then into the elevator.
He’d been so calm during the walk that I’d assumed he’d gotten his temper back under control.
How wrong I was. He lunged as soon as the door slid shut behind us and the elevator smoothly began climbing, crowding me against the mirror-paneled wall.
“You put yourself in danger, Susie! That is unacceptable.”
I lifted my chin, jutting it stubbornly, and rolled my eyes.
His mouth briefly quirked into something that almost resembled a smile.
His eyes were wild, though, fear dancing in them—fear I hadn’t expected to see.
Fear, for me. Lifting my hand, I cupped his cheek and stroked my thumb along the sharp line of his jaw.
“I know. It was stupid. I wasn’t thinking straight.
I’m okay, though. Thanks to you.” Lesson very much learned: when your vampire, ah…
boyfriend? says you need to stay indoors, he has good reason. “They weren’t human, were they?”
“Mon Dieu, Susie, ma chérie. No, they weren’t human.
A werewolf, a bearshifter, and, surprisingly, a snake too.
I’ve never seen such a group together.” He lowered his head, pressing his forehead to mine, apparently unaware that he’d sent my thoughts spinning for multiple reasons.
“Ma chérie,” he said casually, just as easily talking about werewolves and bear and snake shapeshifters in the same breath. My world was utterly crazy.
His mouth found mine, gentle, soft, and reassuring at first. The hard planes of his body pressed closer against me, tighter.
My hands found the lapels of his brand-new jacket, clung, my spine arching as he deepened the kiss.
Fire sizzled through my veins, passion igniting just as easily as earlier that evening in the hallway.
I forgot where I was, just held onto him and got swept away with each wave of pleasure he created with the press of his mouth and the heat of his hard body. His thigh slid between mine, pressing higher until the seam of my jeans pushed naughtily against far too sensitive folds.
The sound of someone coughing had me jerk back.
Raoul raised his head slowly, a smug grin pulling at his mouth in a way that was unfairly sexy.
Whoever had interrupted us was a blur in my peripheral vision, quickly scuttling away after receiving, no doubt, an extremely intimidating stare from my vampire.
He swept me into his arms next, carrying me bridal-style from the elevator and down the hallway to my hotel room.
I didn’t protest; it was pointless, and after a kiss like that, I was allowed to enjoy being in his arms, damn it.
If he refused to come inside again, I was going to go mad.
Thankfully, Raoul had no such plans this time, shouldering open the door without the aid of a key.
He’d have to tell me how he did that, but later.
“You should know several things before we proceed, ma belle,” he drawled in a voice husky with need.
The door slammed shut behind him, though he hadn’t touched it, and he strode across the room to the bed.
There, he laid me down as if I were precious, hands gliding, touch igniting sparks everywhere they trailed.
“What kind of things?” I asked, distracted when he rose and began stripping the jacket from his body. My eyes locked onto his capable hands as he undid the buttons on his pristine white shirt, tracing the way he yanked a sleek leather belt from the loops of his slacks.
“I am a very possessive man. I’ve discovered this since meeting you,” he said.
His eyes were glowing gold again, flecks in them dancing hypnotically.
“We do this, and we will, and you are mine forever. Do you understand?” He said this like I had very little choice in the matter, but I knew, in my heart, that if I protested now—if I said no—he would retreat.
“What does that mean, forever?” I asked, my mouth dry.
He was playing dirty by continuing to strip and making all coherent thought flee from my mind.
His chest was pale but sculpted like a fencer: sleek muscle, ribbed abs, and not an ounce of fat beneath marble-smooth skin.
Not pale white, but holding the glow of golden honey.
“Forever, the vampire way,” he said. His eyes locked on my face, flaring with a golden light.
“You are my soulmate, Susie. The only one for me, and I for you. Doing this,” he gestured between us, eyes flaring even brighter, “will bind us together. I want that. Do you?” It was the hint of vulnerability in his tone that made me recklessly nod my head yes before I could think it through.
Raoul pounced before I really could give it any thought, dragging me across the bed as he began divesting me of my clothes.
My shoes went first; then he peeled the jeans from my thighs and tossed them carelessly across the room.
My T-shirt went so fast I was pretty sure he had shredded it somehow, but with the lacy bra and panties, he took notice.
“Mon Dieu,” he groaned, his voice husky, his hand dropping to his pants as he adjusted himself. “You are a divine creature, ma chérie.” I glowed at the compliment, my breasts aching beneath the lace, and my panties already wet.
He shed his pants in a hurry, and it was my turn to swear as his cock sprang free. He was big, veined, and very ready for me. I licked my lips and found myself moving restlessly on the bed. He said things about forever, marks, and bonds, but all I could think about was finally having sex with him.
I wriggled out of my bra, the straps slipping over my far-too-sensitive skin.
Raoul leaned with one knee on the bed beside me, and my eyes tracked the way his chest rippled, a trail of blond hairs leading deliciously down to his jutting cock.
He braced himself with one hand beside my head and kissed me.
His mouth mimicked making love; his tongue brushing mine, invading, plundering.
At the same time, his hand trailed down my body, touching me gently until my blood was on fire.
A brush along my throat, then my collarbone, followed by a gentle stroke along the curve of my breast. He tweaked my nipple next, and the shock of sensation made me gasp and jerk off the mattress.
He followed the path of his hands with his mouth, sliding down my body and whispering sweet, worshipful things as he licked and nibbled.
“Ma chérie, you taste so good,” or my favorite: “I love this place,” as he reached the curve of my hip.
As if the stretchmarks there were a badge of honor, not a blemish to dislike.
If I’d ever had time to feel self-conscious, such thoughts vanished entirely when he spread my legs and licked across the lace of my panties.
With a moan, I clawed at his bare shoulder, pleasure lancing through me, sharp and fast. My womb clenched, an ache beginning that I knew only he could appease.
“That’s it, ma belle,” he encouraged, his golden eyes glowing at me from above the pale ivory lace.
His fingers were precise and competent as he slid the soaked fabric from my body and fully bared me to him.
He hissed then, with a groan, pressing himself against the bed, and against me.
His mouth buried in my most sensitive flesh.
He licked at me like a starved man, and it was a very different experience to be touched that way by him.
The presence of his fangs made it feel like I was flirting with the edge of danger.
The heat in his gaze made me feel like there was nowhere in the world he’d rather be.
His tongue was like magic, but his clever fingers, as he filled me, stretched me, set me off.
I came clutching the sheets in my fists, my heels digging into the mattress, and my thighs squeezing around his face.
He kept lapping at me until I got too sensitive, then withdrew just enough to watch my face from between my legs.
I wanted to apologize for squeezing him in the heat of the moment, but he looked so satisfied the words dried on my tongue.
His chin was shiny, a hint of stubble darkening his jaw, and his unnatural gold eyes, so heat-filled, seemed like fire.
“I’d do that again if you’d let me,” he drawled.
“Many times,” he added, and my belly clenched with renewed spasms of pleasure.
And he did, returning to his place between my thighs and licking me until I shattered a second time.
He filled me with two of his fingers, curling them just right so he set off quakes that touched nerves I didn’t even know could be touched like that.
It wasn’t until he’d licked the wetness coating his fingers clean that he rose above me and brought the head of his magnificent shaft to my core.
“Now, you are ready for me,” he declared.
No, I wasn’t ready for him at all, but not in the way he meant.
His cock slid deep on the first thrust, deceptively large, stretching me despite his fingers preparing my body.
It wasn’t the sex itself that wrecked me, but the way he looked at me as he made love to my body.
Such tenderness, such warmth, and, dare I say it, loyalty.
It felt like he was promising me with each stroke of his thick length into me that he’d never stray, that he’d always be mine, always love me.
Love was too laden a word, too big; I couldn’t handle that just yet, so I focused on the pleasure.
My body became sensation only, my mind hazy with pleasure as he fucked me.
His strokes were first slow and precise, then ramped up as our pleasure spiraled.
I clamped my legs around his hips and arched my spine to meet him.
My orgasm came hard, and it came fast. My muscles grew tight, and he shuddered, his thrusts stuttering.
“Mon Dieu!” he swore. “Susie!” We came together this time, and I was convinced I felt the hot blast of his seed as it burst from him in rough spasms.
Afterward, we both froze in that embrace, not awkwardly, but staring at one another as if trapped in a spell.
Very slowly, he rolled us, pulling me on top of him and holding me tight.
It felt so safe, so intimate, to have him hold me like that while still buried deep.
My head pressed to his heart, and I felt the solid, steady thump of it beneath my ear.
Vampires had heartbeats, what do you know? Though it was much slower than mine.
I still had so much to learn, but his words echoed in my head now. We’ll have forever. I am a possessive man. You are mine. Soulmates.
I did not believe it was real, right up until the moment my hip began to tingle.
We’d been lying entwined together for sometime, somewhere between asleep and awake, drowsy, warm, satisfied.
His hands had been moving in slow strokes up and down my back, petting me, learning me.
When the tingle began, they froze, and he lifted his left arm above his head and stared.
Craning my head, I could just see it, the way something began to coalesce, shaping into colors beneath his skin.
I watched a magical tattoo take shape right before my eyes.
It made me jerk upright and glance at my hip, both of us groaning as our bodies slid together.
He was still inside me, and as I shifted, his cock grew hard again, rapidly swelling.
“What is that?” I half moaned, half demanded.
His eyes went half-mast, gliding from his arm across my chest and naked breasts, down to where I straddled his hips and his cock. Then, finally, they flicked left to my hip, where I was pointing with my finger.
An identical sort of gray-and-golden swirl had appeared on my skin there. The very spot he’d admired most. As I studied it, I thought there were shapes hidden in the swirling design—a skull, a shadowy shape, and light too, like the rays of the sun. Light and dark, vampire and human.
“That,” he said with such satisfaction that my nipples perked, “is our soulmate mark. Proof that you and I are meant to be. You’re mine now, Susie, mine.” I glanced up at his face and saw the mark on his arm instead, identical to what had etched itself into my skin.
“Then you’re mine,” I pointed out. His eyes glowed, his body rippling beneath mine as he shifted his hips. His cock drove deeper into me, and I moaned as pleasure burst through my senses.
“So it would seem,” he agreed with a smirk.
Then he rolled us and began making love to me all over again.
As much as my head spun at the revelation, the passion was all-consuming.
I’d think about it later. Maybe there was no thinking required; there was just us and the bond I could sense flaring between us.
A warmth blossomed in my mind—tenderness, passion, desire—maybe something deeper I wasn’t ready to name yet.
He made me come twice this time before he followed me over that edge. Our bodies tangled, my mind drifting into exhausted sleep. Raoul, my vampire, my lover, my soulmate. He held me in his arms as I drifted off, and I felt safe.