Chapter 12
Chapter twelve
Ethan
“It’s almost a shame,” the vampire said, her tongue swiping out to lick up a drop of blood from the corner of her mouth. “To have to kill someone so… intriguing. So intelligent. A pity, really.”
Ethan swallowed roughly, putting all his strength into wrenching free from her tight hold that refused to yield. “Do it,” he bit out. “I’d rather die than spend another second looking at your hideous face.”
Her lips twitched, almost as if she was suppressing a grin. “In that case,” she replied, her hollow eyes drawing him into eternal darkness, “your wish is granted.”
A second set of teeth descended behind her normal ones, and when the fangs were fully exposed, she struck.
And luscious lips caressed his neck.
Jerking away, his body no longer locked in place, he stared at Tressa as she smiled at him. “It’s okay, Ethan,” she whispered. “I’ll protect you.”
He sank into the depths of her bewitching gaze, a sense of warmth and security pulling him in. She would protect him. He didn’t know where the sense of absolute certainty came from, but he trusted her.
“Tressa,” he murmured, holding her tight against his body. He dropped his mouth to her neck, smelling only that delicious bubblegum aroma. The cloying coppery scent of blood faded away until there was simply her and him. No monsters. No murdered best friends. No laboratory coated in streaks of red.
He peppered kisses up the long line of her neck, pausing for some reason when he felt the steady drumming of her pulse beneath his lips.
Moving without thought, he gave a tiny nip.
He’d never been into biting before, but with Tressa, it felt right.
To sink his teeth into her sweet skin and relish in the moans that followed.
The soft whimper that came from her was a stark contrast to the hard length growing in his slacks. “You taste so good,” he mumbled between kisses as he made his way to her lips. “And you feel even better.”
“Ethan,” Tressa sighed, running her hands along his taut chest.
“Fuck…” He let out a deep, desperate groan. “I need you. Why do I need you so bad?”
Tressa wrapped her arms around him tighter, the iron grip triggering something at the back of his mind, but he mentally brushed the distraction away.
Then all thoughts disappeared entirely when her pebbled nipples brushed against his chest. “Take whatever you need, Ethan,” she purred. “I’m yours.”
He captured her mouth with his own, his hands gliding along the smooth skin of her bare shoulders. Every part of her was silky and sensuous, and it awoke something inside him when she surrendered so completely to him.
As his tongue delved into her mouth, she pressed her hips into him, rubbing herself along the length of his very ready and willing cock.
He met her teasing with his own, grinding against her just as hard as she worked him. Then he slid his hand lower and cupped the treasure between her legs that was already so wet he could feel it through her thin, silky pants.
“Ethan,” she moaned, gently rolling her hips against his strong palm.
“Tressa.”
“Ethan.”
“Tressa.”
“Ethan?”
Her voice changed, the sensuality giving way to confusion. “Ethan, are you with me?”
He wanted to say yes, of course he was. But her voice grew distant, as if drifting through a cloud.
“Tressa?” he called. She was still in his arms, but she sounded miles away.
“Ethan, you need to wake up.”
The words jolted him out of sleep, his eyes flying open. He blinked furiously at the sunshine streaming in through an open window as he drowned in a haze of blinding light and bubblegum scent.
Then reality smacked into him, and he realized just where that scent was coming from.
Tressa. In his arms. Wearing only a thin pair of teal satin pajamas.
And his hand was still between her legs.
“Fucking hell!” he shouted, scrambling away from her.
What was going on? And what had he been about to do?
A quick glance down told him the only clothing on his body was an unfamiliar pair of black athletic shorts that were currently being tented by his raging hard-on. His hands dropped to his crotch in a useless attempt to hide his obvious arousal.
Promptly abandoning that pointless mission, he leapt from the bed and grabbed a pillow.
Holding it in front of his erection with one hand, he grabbed his glasses off the nightstand and backed up a few steps.
Fumbling awkwardly, he shoved his glasses on his face, then forced himself to look at Tressa, prepared to see the worst.
She rolled over and studied him but remained lying in bed, her face showing nowhere near as much outrage as he would have expected.
“You know,” she said, “you can feel free to relax. I’m already intimately aware of what’s going on behind that pillow.”
Ethan gawked at her. Why wasn’t she screeching and cursing his name? He had essentially assaulted her in his sleep!
“But… but… why?” It felt like his brain was bouncing around in his skull on tumble dry and he couldn’t find the off switch.
Tressa cocked her head. “Why am I aware of what you’re packing downstairs? Well, you see, when a man presses himself against a woman, that woman can feel every bit of—”
“Stop!” Ethan yelled, backing up even farther until he slammed into a solid oak dresser, knocking over whatever picture frames had been decorating it.
“I’m very well aware of what was happening in that regard.
But why were we in bed together? And why is that bed not a hospital bed?
And why aren’t you pissed as hell at me for touching you like…
like that! Why aren’t you trying to kick my ass? ”
Tressa ran a hand through her messy hair and collapsed against the pillow, the movement pulling her satin camisole up enough to expose a wide expanse of smooth, toned skin.
Ethan clutched the pillow even tighter as his cock tried to burst through the thing like a damned alien facehugger.
“Wellll,” Tressa drawled, oblivious to his internal struggle.
“That’s a lot of questions for so early in the morning, but I’ll see what I can do.
Long story short, you were attacked in the hospital.
I fended off the vamp but decided you weren’t safe there, which is why I brought you back to the compound last night.
It was late, and everyone was asleep when we arrived, so I figured we could share a bed for the night.
I didn’t want you to wake up alone and confused in a strange place.
” She paused, and her eyes crawled over his body, landing on the pillow he held with a white-knuckled death grip.
“When I made the call, I didn’t realize you were such a nocturnal cuddler. ”
There was no mirror in the room, but Ethan was pretty sure his pale face turned bright red.
He couldn’t say he was surprised he woke up wrapped around Tressa if they’d been sharing a bed.
He hadn’t been with a woman in, well, long enough he would need to check a calendar.
Not to mention she was sexy as hell. Of course he would gravitate toward her in his sleep.
And clearly something about her presence chased away the nightmare that had continued to plague his unconscious mind.
A fact he didn’t want to think too closely about right then.
But none of that explained…
“Okay, but why are you so cool about this?” he demanded, then decided aggression was the absolute wrong emotion for the scenario. Taking a deep breath, he let it out on a slow exhale.
The problem with releasing his anger, though, was it left behind only complete and utter embarrassment with an epic side helping of shame.
He dropped his eyes to the floor as he mumbled, “I was… you know, I was…”
“Very close to getting me off?”
His eyes shot up to meet hers, and for a solid minute, he could do nothing but gape at the relaxed woman reclining on the bed with a wide, mischievous smirk on her face.
“You know what I meant,” he protested. “I was touching you inappropriately, and we only just met a few days ago.”
“Why, Ethan,” Tressa gushed, rolling onto her side in a way that gave him a tempting view down her tank top. “Who knew you were such a gentleman?”
Eyes on her face, Ambrose, he ordered himself. Eyes on her goddamned face.
“Although,” she continued, “maybe you aren’t all gentleman. That tattoo on your low back tells me there might be a wild side to you.”
Her eyes gleamed with amusement, and he would have emptied his entire bank account for a hole to open up and swallow him. Of course she’d seen that tattoo. “I died,” he muttered quietly to himself. “I died in that coma, and this is hell—embarrassing myself in front of a hot woman.”
Tressa’s smirk grew into a full-blown grin when he said the word “hot,” but she must have registered the distress overtaking him because her amused expression faded as she sat up, thankfully making it easier for him to look at her face.
“I appreciate the chivalry and distress on my behalf,” she said, “but have you looked at you? Regardless of the circumstances that led us here, I’m not going to complain if you want to get some horizontal exercise in.
Although, I clearly made the right call by waking you up since you seem so horrified by the thought. ”
The shame overwhelmed him to the point that his cock finally decided to stand down, and something about the blood no longer rushing south reminded his body that it was still weak.
His knees shook, and he let his full weight fall back against the dresser, forgoing the no longer needed pillow in lieu of gripping the wood with both hands.
“No, I’m not…” He frowned, fully aware he was traipsing through a mine field, and one wrong step could mean disaster. “I’m definitely not… because you’re…”
Fuck, he couldn’t even speak.