Chapter 17
Marcus
I’m still watching her when her eyes flutter open. Watching as she draws in a startled little breath as she blinks at me in alarm. She’s beautiful as she wakes, her skin like porcelain, flawless aside from the tiny smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose.
“What are you doing here?” Auburn brows pull together above eyes like the depths of the ocean. “Did you come back?”
“I never left.” I brush a stray curl from her cheek. It’s silky.
“But…” Her eyes dart to the firmly drawn drapes. “I thought you people couldn’t be out during the day.”
“We people,” I pause, settling back into the cushions and pulling her with me, “can do whatever we want during the day. As long as it doesn’t involve sunlight.”
“So I’m guessing kite-surfing is out.”
I chuckle. “That and sunbathing.”
“Figures,” she says, running a fingertip over my chest. “That’s probably why you look so good for your age.”
I slide a hand behind my head and stretch. It’s been a long time since I felt this comfortable in my own skin. “Yep. That’s what the honeys always tell me.”
“The honeys?” she snorts, then pinches my nipple. Hard. I flinch, though it doesn’t hurt. In fact, I feel a stirring down below. “You’re arrogant, you know that?”
“Is that meant to be an insult?” I like the way she’s pressed against me. Something is definitely stirring. Stiffening.
“Oh, my God,” she laughs. “You think that just because you’re pretty—”
“You think I’m pretty?” I bat my lashes at her.
“Marcus Nightshade! You are a…a…”
“Knuckle-dragging vampire twatwaffle?” I raise an eyebrow.
She makes a choking sound. “Oh, my God, you remembered that.”
“How could I forget?” I trace her jaw with my fingertip. “But then, I remember everything about you, Kara.”
“You do?” Her eyes are wide. I lean in and brush my lips over hers, marveling at how soft and plump they are. How warm.
“Yes, I do,” I say against her mouth.
“I’m flattered,” she whispers back a moment before I cover her lips.
I kiss her deeply, savoring the taste of her lips, the way she responds with a soft moan. My hand finds her shoulder, cupping it before sliding lower, fingertips trailing over her silken skin. Each touch ignites something within me, something I’ve never felt before in all my centuries.
She presses closer, her palm sliding down my chest. The warmth of her touch sets a trail of fire down my skin. I can feel her heart racing, her breath catching as my hand moves lower, tracing the delicate curve of her shoulder blade.
“Marcus,” she breathes against my mouth.
I capture her lips again, harder this time. Her tongue meets mine, and the taste of her – sweet, intoxicating honey – makes my head spin. My fingers ghost over her flesh, mapping every inch, memorizing the way she trembles at my touch.
Her hand continues its exploration of my chest, nails scraping lightly across my skin.
The sensation sends jolts of pleasure through my body.
I deepen the kiss, drowning in the feel of her, the scent of her, the way her magic throbs in harmony with mine.
I fight to maintain control as she traces each ridge of muscle, exploring with a deliberate slowness that’s pure torture.
My breath catches as her hand dips lower, trailing over my abs. They twitch reflexively under her touch. My skin feels hypersensitive to every brush of her fingertips.
“You’re trembling,” she whispers against my mouth.
I am. God help me, I am. In five hundred years, no one has affected me like this. My body responds to her exploration with an intensity that surprises even me. Heat pools low in my belly as her fingers continue their teasing path downward.
My hands fist in the sheets. The scent of her arousal fills my nose, making my fangs ache. But I won’t bite her. Not now. Not like this.
Her palm presses flat against my stomach, sliding lower still. A groan escapes me. My hips buck involuntarily.
“Kara,” I manage through gritted teeth. It’s both a warning and a plea.
She smiles against my neck, and the light scrape of her teeth makes me shudder. My cock is rock-hard now, straining toward her touch. When her palm slides along my shaft, I give a grunt of pleasure. Soon, she’s stroking me in an even rhythm that has my muscles cording.
Shifting and lifting herself, she begins a slow descent down my body. Her fingers stroke me, squeezing gently, while her tongue traces my chest, my stomach, down over my abs, a slow path straight to hell and back. I give a low moan, arching into her.
“Fuck,” I grit out through clenched teeth.
This is heaven, surely. Or the closest I’ll ever get to it.
Her eyes find mine, watching me as she takes the tip of my cock into her mouth. God, the feel of her lips around me, the moist heat, the light scrape of her teeth. I could lose myself in this – lose myself in her.
Her mouth slides down my length. Her tongue swirls around my girth.
I watch, transfixed, as her head bobs. One hand is fisted around the base of my shaft while the other plays with my balls.
I jerk my hips involuntarily, the need to thrust, to go deeper, overwhelming.
But I can’t. My body belongs to her now – or at least some part of it does.
Her teeth scrape my sensitive flesh, and I emit a hiss of pleasure. I fight for control. Fight to stay still as her mouth works me. A bead of sweat trickles down my temple. Her lips are hot and wet, her hair tickling my thighs.
Her face is flushed as she looks up at me, hair clinging to her damp cheeks as her tongue slides over the tip of my cock.
I moan for her, my pelvis jerking uncontrollably now as she swallows me down once more.
I thread my fingers through her hair, careful not to tug too hard, even as her mouth works me over and over again.
“Yesss,” I hiss, my head tipping back, jaw clenched. “Yes, like that…”
“Ummm,” she hums. Her tongue circles the head of my cock, and it’s all I can do not to thrust into that sweet, wet heat. I force myself to stay still, to let her take control, savoring the sensations.
“Kara,” I warn as the tension winds tighter and tighter, ready to snap.
With a soft moan of agreement, she takes me in once more. Her nose nuzzles my pubic bone, and she breathes in my scent. I tense, my body arching as pleasure lances through me.
“Enough,” I groan, regretting the word the moment I say it. “Come here.” I lift slightly, reaching for her, drawing her to me.
I pull her up my body, cradling her against me until she’s straddling my hips, her hair falling around us like a curtain. My cock is still throbbing, but I fight the urge to thrust up into her heat, wanting to savor every inch of her.
Her hands rest on my shoulders, her weight a pleasure as she grounds herself against me.
Her breasts are right there, inviting, and I can’t help but trace my fingertips over the mounds, cupping them, feeling her nipples tighten against my touch.
I lean up, capturing a hard bud in my mouth, my tongue flicking over the tip, sucking lightly.
She groans into the pleasure, head dropping back as I move my lips across her chest to lavish the same attention to her other breast.
“God, Marcus,” she moans, her fingers curling into my shoulders.
I move up higher. Taking her face in my hands, I kiss her deeply.
She meets my hunger with her own, her tongue tangling with mine, her hands sliding over my body, teasing, exploring.
She adjusts her position, and I watch as she rocks herself against my cock, moaning, before I’m guiding her down over my length.
She does it slowly, deliberately, a sexy smile curving her lips as she takes me into her inch by exquisite inch.
A groan tears from my throat. I try to hold myself still, wanting this to last forever, but her body is a torment. She’s so wet, so hot, so damn tight, and I’m dying for her. I sink my fingers into the lush flesh of her ass, lifting her, urging her to move.
“Take me, Kara,” I command roughly.
With a throaty laugh, she obliges, lifting herself, then sinking down. Her eyes close as she does, head tipping back slightly. Her hands come down on my chest for balance as she sets a steady, torturous rhythm.
I thrust up to meet her, my fingers biting into her flesh as I struggle to hold back.
But I don’t want to hold back – this incredible woman, this fierce witch – I want to devour her, to feel our bodies merge fully, our magic and souls and fates intertwining.
I can’t have that; I know I can’t, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting it with every fiber of my being.
Leaning forward, I trail my lips along her neck, biting gently, not enough to break skin, just enough to tantalize. She jolts as if shocked, her pussy spasming around my shaft.
“Don’t hold back,” I manage, gritting my teeth. “Take what you need.” I wrap my arms tightly around her body, silken skin against my palms, heat radiating from her core where we’re joined.
My tongue finds her pulse, tasting her, then sucking lightly as her nipples drag over my chest, teasing me. Her breath catches, then she’s moving, angling herself, changing the position ever so slightly, and it’s enough to make my entire body tense.
Fuck. I’m not going to last.
Reaching between us, I find the tight bud of her clit and trace circles over it, my teeth still grazing over her pulse point.
Her groan is torn from her. “Oh! God! Yes!”
That maddening spasming deep within her happens. She jerks her hips once, twice, then slides down me again. And that’s it – I’m gone, orgasm claiming me as my hips jerk forward, my release spilling into her. My vision whites out, my body shuddering with the force of it.
“Oh, yes. That! Right there. There it is!” she gasps, the words coming between sharp breaths. Her head drops back, exposing the elegant line of her throat.