Chapter 10 Sebastian #2
When they knew, I could protect her and ensure her safety. I could love her and treat her exactly as she deserved to be treated. She’d be a princess, but she’d be my queen. The most important thing in my life.
The door opened just a fraction and Kayla peered out.
It was like I was visiting her bedroom to apologize all over again, except this time she was wearing her gown of stars.
I smiled at her, and her mouth relaxed in return.
Then I gave the door a gentle push and her eyes widened like she hadn’t actually intended to let me in. Or hadn’t thought that far, anyway.
But she stepped back and I followed her into her dressing room, inhaling the scent of her perfume, and beneath that, the scent of her skin, and her status as my mate, and, yes…her arousal again. Her heart rate picked up as I brushed against her.
“Your singing was magical,” I said. “You’re going to be a hit once everyone hears about this performance.”
All of New Orleans would hear. She’d left a lot of happy customers out there—people who’d return to hear her again, then tell enough of their friends that we’d be inundated with requests for membership.
She smiled uncertainly.
“You really were amazing,” I assured her, my hand on her elbow.
I wanted to do so much more than talk about business, but I didn’t want to push her too hard. I wanted her to accept me in her space first.
“I…” She hesitated and pushed her mass of hair over her shoulder, to her back, loosening the ribbon that held it in place. “I hope it was okay that I changed the last song. That just felt right before I went on.”
I nodded, watching her. She hadn’t finished talking — there was more to this story.
“After we were…we were in the kitchen, I wrote it when I went to my room.” She met my gaze almost shyly. “I didn’t know what to think about all the…all the stuff you said.”
She twisted her fingers together.
“I get it.” I tucked one of her curls behind her ear.
Couldn’t help myself. Needed to reach out and touch part of her.
Any part of her, and her hair seemed the safest. “I shouldn’t have just blurted it out like that.
It was unrefined of me.” And unrefined was an understatement.
It was like I was a schoolboy with a crush all over again, desperate to tell a girl I liked her.
“I have no idea what it means,” she continued. “Like it’s not logical at all, right?”
She turned and paced farther into her dressing room, so I clicked the door closed behind me before twisting the lock into place and facing her once more. She spoke while gesturing with her hands, like she was merely thinking out loud rather than holding a conversation with me.
“None of it even makes sense. Like vampire… witch. No. Nope. Nuh-uh.” She shook her head vehemently then whirled to face me.
“But after the other night… Shit. I can’t stop thinking about you.
” Her cheeks reddened, a slow blush rising from her neck.
“Your touch on my body, your lips on mine.” She pressed the tip of her forefinger fleetingly to her lower lip.
“It’s like you’re the one forbidden thing I can’t actually live without. ”
I was in front of her in a second, her chin between my thumb and forefinger as I lowered my mouth to hers. Her lips were soft and sweet, and she grinned against me as I flicked my tongue over them.
I maneuvered her toward the chaise lounge in the corner of her dressing room, and gently laid her down on it.
Climbing over her, I placed my legs on either side of hers so as to keep my weight from pressing on her.
I kissed her again, stroking her arms and her waist like I had the other night, then allowed my fingers to tease along her neckline and trace her delicate collarbone.
Then I dropped my hand right to the hem of her gown, where it had ridden up to the middle of her thigh and slipped my fingers beneath the fabric, tracing upward over her stockings until I touched a garter.
I froze before pulling my lips from hers. My excitement had just reached a whole new level.
“Kayla,” I whispered as I nuzzled the side of her cheek with my nose. “Kayla, are you sure you want to continue?”
If she wanted to stop, we needed to stop now — and if she didn’t, I needed to hear she was okay with moving forward.
Kayla
He kept talking, but it was like that adult voice in Charlie Brown. Just burbling I couldn’t understand. Hell, I didn’t want to understand it. I wanted his hands back on me, I wanted his lips on mine. I wanted his cock inside me. He was hard again. I could feel it against my thigh.
I’d done a lot of thinking in the past few days without him. and I’d been lonely without him near or where I couldn’t see him. It was still his house, and his presence was everywhere. It was almost like he resonated inside me sometimes, but I missed him. I’d wanted to hear him talk, see him smile.
Against my better sense, I longed for his company. I wanted him.
So now that we were in agreement—he wanted me and I wanted him—he was wasting time talking about moving forward. What the hell did I have to do? Roll out a red carpet? Get a welcome mat? Fucking issue a written invitation?
I pressed closer against him. “I’m ready.” Then I reconsidered. No. Not reconsidered. There was just some other stuff I should probably tell him. “I’ve never… I mean, I’ve done stuff but just never…” Shit. Now I was the one talking crap and delaying when I wanted to do all the things.
Of course, he knew I was a virgin—Naomi had reversed the spell. Probably every vampire and his dog knew. But I felt like I had to say the words. If Sebastian was asking for my consent, I owed it to him to tell him what this was for me.
He chuckled softly. “I know. I’ve known since the last time when we… were close.”
“I… thought you might.”
Sebastian’s words had killed the last of my hope that maybe Naomi had been wrong about the spell. It really wasn’t enough then that I wasn’t experienced, but my vagina was actually and actively signaling its not-yet-used status.
Sebastian chuckled again and nuzzled the side of my neck, sending a thrill of longing through me. “It’s a vampire thing. I could smell it on you as part of your scent.”
“What?” I threaded my fingers into his hair. “I smelled like a virgin?” I wrinkled my nose as I considered that state of affairs. “Virgins have a smell?”
“Only to vampires.” He ran a hand down my hip and his voice became smooth and silky.
“And it’s something I cherish very much.
” He stroked me again and I angled toward him, making an offering of myself.
“It’s an honor for me to be your first.” He pressed his lips to my neck, punctuating his words with warm kisses that I was sure would leave the marks of his attention on my skin if I looked in a mirror.
“And it means even more to me as your mate.”
“Huh.” I drew away from him a little, and he paused over me, no longer touching my skin but not moving away. “What exactly does being a mate mean? I’ve heard the term before, but I’m not sure I actually know what it means to me.”
He shifted his weight to the side slightly and drew me closer to him, his hold like he was treasuring me. “It’s…” He paused, and I watched him think. “It’s a life bond.”
“But…but vampires are immortal,” I whispered. “That’s a very long life.”
He nodded. “It’s a very serious bond.”
“And I’m human.” That was the part I struggled with the most. The only vampire mates I’d ever heard of had been vampire pairs.
“As I said, Leia was also human.” He made a slight choking sound over his next words. “It was Nic’s honor to turn his true mate so that she could live eternally at his side.”
“Turn her? Did she agree?” Turning was never a good thing in my experience. The people of New Orleans had feared becoming part of émile’s army or one of Francois’s failed attempts to find his queen.
I knew that better than most. I’d met too many of those failed attempts. Both before and after their demises.
Sebastian nodded. “Not only did she agree, she advocated for it. She had her own reasons. An agenda that… It’s not really my story to tell.
” He said that last part in a rush. “But they’re very happy now.
Almost sickeningly so.” He chuckled, the sound almost rueful as he made the acknowledgment.
“But finally, I think I understand that.”
“But how does turning work? Leia just became a vampire because she and Nic… wanted it?” I did know some of how it worked, but I wanted Sebastian’s confirmation. And the information beyond that of rumor and horror story.
He pulled his mouth to one side as he seemed to think it over for a moment.
“It’s a blood exchange. The exchange part is very important because — as you might have seen from the pets of some vampires, when a vampire only takes blood from a human without turning them, they become a thrall.
They’re literally blood slaves and can become almost mindless in pursuit of that repeated high.
They’re addicted to vampire venom.” He laughed softly again.
“That sounds much more awful than it is, the venom part. But turning is a subject I’ve read a lot on recently, especially since Leia joined us and also since making decisions about Nightfall and what sort of behaviors to allow within its walls. ”
“Do all mates have to turn?” Not that I was admitting I was even a mate, but it was a question I needed to know the answer to.
“Not at all. It’s a choice for the mated pair.” But pain flashed over his face, darkening his gaze to that visceral, limitless sadness for a moment. “That being said, sex will always strengthen a mate bond, but it won’t cement it. It won’t turn a mated pair into true mates.”
I turned my head, staring at the door. Sometimes it was easier to talk without him watching. Well, most of the time because he seemed to see right to my soul as if I was baring myself in front of him and had no secrets left at all. I wasn’t comfortable with that.
“I like the idea of sex.” I shrugged awkwardly, but there was no point in not being honest. I was lying half-underneath the man after all. It wasn’t exactly like I’d hidden any of my general desires or my singular desire for him. “But I need to think about the other things you’ve said.”
He stroked his finger down my cheek, redirecting my attention back to him. “It’s not something we’d do here anyway. It’s a special moment that takes time and shouldn’t be rushed. It’s about intimacy and dedication.” He sighed. “But our meeting with Nic and the other vampires is soon…”
“Oh…” I couldn’t keep the disappointment from the word. I’d thought maybe… I didn’t want to even finish my thought as it would probably result in disappointment.
Sebastian grinned wickedly. “I didn’t say we didn’t have time to do anything.” He pushed my skirt up around my waist as he slid down my body, and I squeezed my eyes closed at the tearing sound of fabric.
Cool air circulated between my legs and over my clit as my panties disappeared.
“Sorry,” Sebastian murmured, but I didn’t care about that tiny scrap of cloth anymore.
I especially didn’t care when he pressed a kiss to the inside of my thigh and his tongue touched my skin.
I simply wanted.
Holy fuck, I wanted. It had never been like this, and I strained toward him, offering myself with increasingly wild abandon even now as I waited for him to touch me again. It wasn’t a long wait as he kissed up my thigh from my knee to where I wanted him most.
He rolled my clit gently under his thumb, sending sparks of desire through me. I closed my eyes, and color bloomed behind my eyelids as I lifted my hips from the chaise, seeking his touch. I wanted it harder, I wanted more.
I hadn’t ever been able to think about sex. Not really. Not with being an outcast and really only mixing with vampires. And I shouldn’t have been thinking about sex now. Especially not with a vampire, but my body was doing all of my thinking for me.
And the answer was very definitely yes.
Yes, to everything. Yes, to touches. Yes, to hands. Yes, to mouths.
All the yeses.
He rolled my clit again, and I pressed my top teeth into my lower lip to try to stifle my groan, but he chuckled when he heard me anyway.
“You like that.” He did it again, and I made the same noise. “Yeah, you like that.”
He continued for a little while, his ministrations unhurried, like he was exploring me, enjoying me, and I relaxed at his obvious pleasure.
My muscles began to contract, and my breathing quickened, but his touch slowed and became fainter. I groaned and pushed my hips forward again, seeking the same pressure before his breath skated over my skin and I froze.
He replaced his thumb with his tongue and licked against me.
I moaned softly and writhed, caught between the chaise and Sebastian, my eyes still closed as I focused on the sensation teasing heat through me.
Then he sucked my clit into his mouth and I bucked against him, my hand finding his hair and making a fist around the soft strands.
I didn’t know what I wanted. To keep him right there, maybe.
Or to let him move and show me all the things he could do.
I wanted all the things. I pressed my body closer to him as his finger nudged inside me, stroking over a sensitive place I didn’t even know I had as his tongue and mouth continued the dedicated assault on my clit.
He was a magician. Not a vampire. Not a killer.
Just a magic man capable of conjuring inexplicable pleasure.
All of my nerve endings seemed to be gathered between my legs.
I sighed and drew breath at the same time, gasping my pleasure as I relaxed under Sebastian’s attention.
His movements changed and he flicked his tongue against me, gently but insistently until my pleasure rolled into a wave ready to crash over me and sweep me away.
My thighs tensed and my hand tightened in his hair, as I sucked one last breath before everything hung motionless for a moment. I held that final breath in my chest, drawing that moment out as my body pulsed around the finger he still had buried inside me.
He pressed more soft kisses to me, easing me down after my orgasm, and I waited for my heart rate to settle.
No one had ever done that to me before, and when Sebastian looked at me, there was a glint of satisfaction in his gaze like he probably knew.