Chapter 4
Chapter Four
LORI
The kiss ends much too soon. I could gorge my senses on a steady diet of Ion. He’s sensual without trying and safe, yet probably the most dangerous creature living in Harmony Glen. A perfect contrast of delight for all my senses. I’ve never wanted anyone so desperately.
He pulls his cool mouth from mine, and the sound that escapes me is full of longing.
Still, if he doesn’t feel the same, I won’t make a fool of myself. I was an idiot once when it came to falling for the wrong man; that will never happen again. “Would you like some more wine?”
With a nod, he sits at my table and watches as I refill his glass.
Once I’ve poured, I sit adjacent to him. “Would you tell the rest of the story from last night, what happened after you delivered the heavy box up the hill?”
He sips. “The rain made the journey up the mountain very difficult, and my priority was to keep the box I’d made for the landowner safe and as dry as possible. My main concern was that he would not pay me the remaining balance we’d agreed on.
“We transferred the box to a barn where the landowner, whose name was Drack, had captured a witch, and he’d used dark magic to keep her in thrall. She was a seer, and he forced her to tell him the future.”
“That’s terrible.” My heart is pounding as if this atrocity happened recently and not over a thousand years ago.
He takes a long breath and lets it out slowly. “She was strapped to a wall, and the box that I had so proudly made was her future prison. During the transfer, she used the last of her magic and life force to break free and curse all of us. She turned us into the monsters she believed us to be.”
“But you didn’t do her harm. Why did she curse you?” I feel outraged on Ion’s behalf.
He shrugs and drinks more wine. “She had suffered greatly and wanted others to suffer. We didn’t make any attempt to save her after we saw her.”
“Why not?”
Running a finger along my hand to my wrist, he meets my gaze.
“Drack was a wealthy landowner, and I was just a local carpenter of no worth. The men with me were local as well: a butcher’s son, the mason, and an errand boy.
We didn’t have any authority, and we feared what the landowner might do to our lives and livelihood if we went against him.
“When we realized what we’d become, four of us ran away from the area. Drack, in his arrogance, stayed. A year later, our village was gone. Every soul had disappeared without explanation.” Sorrow shines in his eyes.
“A few years after that, we saw Drack in Paris, and the butcher’s son killed him by cutting off his head.” Ion looks older suddenly. “We didn’t go back to Paris for many years.”
It’s a terrible story, but my heart clenches with sympathy. “You must know, after so much time to separate yourself, it was not your fault. You could not have known what that witch would do. Drack was a terrible man.”
His gaze snaps to mine, and he touches my cheek.
“I have made peace with my past, Lori. It took many centuries to accept my part and realize the effect of my inaction. In the end, I believe all things happen for a reason, and I, even at my advanced age, am not privy to those reasons.” With his thumb, he caresses my cheek.
“You should have been repelled by this tale.”
Loving his touch, I lean into his hand. “Why did you tell me the story if you believed that?”
With a shift, he leans in and kisses me, then sucks my bottom lip between his, before giving the top the same treatment. “I’m not certain. To share something of myself that is personal.”
On the edge of my chair, I press my lips to his and run my tongue along his long canine. A surge of pleasure rushes through me, and I moan. I close my eyes and squeeze my thighs together, wishing I were brave enough to make a move beyond a kiss.
Breathing deeply, he growls and claims my mouth. He lifts me from my chair, placing my ass on the counter and pressing his body between my legs. With slow exploration, he runs his tongue along my teeth and lips. No kiss has ever been so erotic or made me as wet and wanting.
Cupping my ass, he grinds against my needy pussy, and I wish with all my heart that I was wearing a skirt rather than jeans. I think he told that story to scare me away, but it didn’t have the desired effect. I can’t imagine not wanting Ion Radu.
I can’t get close enough and grip his shoulders while wrapping my legs around his hips.
His fingers dig into my fleshy ass, and I want more, but he breaks the kiss and presses his forehead to mine. A low, steady growl hums in his throat. “You are magnificent.”
Breathing heavily, I close my eyes and hope this is not over, even as I know it is. “I’m just a single mother, but you make me feel things I haven’t in a long time.”
Taking a slow step back, he lifts me and returns me to my feet. “You should sleep now. I will keep you and the children safe through the night.”
“I don’t know if I can fall asleep right now, after that kiss.” It’s true, but I’m not above luring him to my bed.
The briefest hint of a smile tugs at his lips. “You have a similar effect on me, but this is not the time for that. You need sleep. I offered to assist you.”
“Are you telling me you want me, but you won’t make love with me, Ion?” There was a time when I would dance around the things I wanted to know in order to make those around me feel more at ease. After years of failed dating, I realize there’s no time for that kind of game.
He nods. “A relationship between a vampire and a human is fraught with issues. You deserve a man who can give you more children and grow old with you. I can offer neither of those things. In the end, I would watch you die, and that would be torture.”
A surge of hurt and anger rises up from my gut. “I see. I think you took this relationship further than I did. My death hadn’t entered my mind.”
Calm as ever, he lets out a long sigh. “I’m afraid I’ve angered you. Forgive me and believe that I am no different from anyone wishing to protect myself and those I care about from inevitable hurt.”
Damn him for being so cool and under control. I swallow down my desire despite the way my clit still throbs from the lingering effects of his kiss. “So, you go around getting women hot, then tell them to go to bed aching for more?”
Something dangerous flashes across his eyes. In an instant, he closes the distance between us and wraps his arms around me. “I’m not perfect, Lori. I want you and lost control. I could never wish to cause you discomfort.”
My heart is beating so fast, I have to swallow to make words come out. His thick cock presses against my middle even through our clothes. I feel the way he wants me. “No?”
Gold flecks and hints of green spread out like fireworks in his beautiful eyes. “Lick my fang, sweetheart.”
“But that just made me want you more.” I flick my gaze to the long white fangs that curve over his bottom lip, and they grow longer at my gaze.
“The vampire elixir shifts with my mind. When I want to influence someone, the elixir can create a thrall or impress a suggestion into someone’s mind. For your daughters, I suggest calm sleep. My desire for you brought you pleasure before.”
“What will it bring me now?” Blood rushes away from my brain directly to my nipples and clit, and all three ache with longing.
“Release.” His voice is low and alluring. “Pleasure.”
“What about you?” As much as I need what he’s offering, I’m hesitant to take without giving anything in return.
His smile reaches those wildly unique eyes. “I will be fine.”
It’s difficult to resist any pleasure that comes from Ion, even with the idea of this strange delivery. “I would like to give you pleasure as well.”
Lowering his forehead to mine as he did after the kiss, he closes his eyes.
“Oh, Lori, you cannot know how your existence in the world has already been a boon to my mind and body. You are pure and good, and everything about you calls to the man and the monster inside me in ways I have not felt in many lifetimes.”
“Then why tell me there can be nothing between us?” It’s hard to look away from his fang and what it offers.
“That’s not what I said. There is already much that we share; desire and friendship are important.” His incisor glistens.
“Those are good, and I do need to rest. It feels like forever since I had a good night’s sleep. Maybe I should just go to bed and stare at the ceiling until I can’t keep my eyes open.” I close my eyes as my aching pussy tightens, wanting more. “I can find my own pleasure.”
Another growl. “Lori, I am begging you to let me give you this one thing. Please, run that pretty pink tongue over my fang. Do this for me.”
Locked in his gaze, I shift my attention back to his tooth. Easing forward an inch, I run my tongue over the sharp edge. A tiny sting of pain follows as it nicks me, then I lick upward to his lip.
He moans low and long as his cock jerks between us. Tightening his hold, he sucks the tip of my tongue. “So sweet. Perfection.”
At once, pleasure rushes through my body.
My nipples tighten, my uterus tightens, and an orgasm of epic proportions rocks me.
My vagina clenches with the onslaught of pure rapture.
A cry falls from my lips and is muffled by Ion’s cool lips.
My legs are weak, only his arms keep me from collapsing as wave after wave of more exquisite release than I’ve ever experienced crashes around and through me.
I make noises that sound as if they’re coming from someone else and can only grip Ion’s shoulders to keep purchase with reality.
As the sensations ebb, I flutter my eyes open and find him staring at me in a way that could give a girl ideas about forever, despite the fact that he just told me that would never happen.
Cupping my cheek, he kisses me gently. “Sleep now, sweetheart.”
The fog that’s been hovering at the back of my mind since my daughter’s kidnapping—if I’m honest, perhaps since the twins were born—forces its way forward, and I let Ion lift me in his arms as the world fades away to darkness.