Chapter 28 Katarina
Roman squeezed his eyes shut and let out a breath, and I worried I’d been too forward.
He didn’t move right away. Instead, he stood frozen in place as my lips brushed against his.
I didn’t miss the way his breathing sped up and as though fighting some internal dialog, he finally pulled away from me.
I thought I was losing him, so I said, “You need a bath. You smell like Death.”
That earned me a laugh and a raised brow. “You have no idea what I would do for you, Katarina. What I have done for you.”
“Just take your clothes off and get in here.” I needed to be touched and loved and cared for right now. Roman needed the same. We were grieving together and with everything that had happened since I stumbled into their lives, taking a bath with Roman would help ease some of the pain.
The vampire didn’t hesitate. In less than two seconds, he’d stripped out of his clothes and was climbing into the oversized claw foot tub.
He wiggled down into the other end, carefully lifting my legs into his lap once he got settled.
I winced a little when he touched my ankle, and he hissed. “Sorry.”
“I’ll be fine.”
His fingers massaged my calves, and I closed my eyes in ecstasy. I hadn’t realized how much my muscles were aching. But when I lifted my arms to rest them on the sides of the tub, white-hot pain from my stupid collarbone had me whimpering. “Son of a bitch,” I spat, annoyed at my body’s weakness.
“Come here,” Roman replied to my outburst. He was asking me to turn around so that I could rest my back against his chest. I wasn’t going to argue.
Getting settled once again, I leaned my head back into his neck as he rested his cheek on the top of my head.
This felt so natural and so comfortable.
A part of me wondered if I’d hit my head so hard that I couldn’t think straight.
But then a deeper, more honest part said that this is exactly where I was supposed to be right now. Here, in Roman’s arms.
“The others are going to be jealous,” I teased after a few minutes passed.
“They will survive,” he breathed against my face.
I laughed and then winced when the pain came back at the sudden movement.
“You know, I can help heal you.”
I turned my face so I could see him better. “What do you mean? Oh!” I said, suddenly realizing what he was offering. “Your blood?”
“Yes.”
“I’d always heard stories, but I never knew what was really true. Vampire blood can really heal wounds?”
He nodded. “Most wounds. Not all. But yours? Yes.” He swallowed hard, and I knew he wasn’t telling me everything.
I grabbed his arms that were wrapped across my stomach and reached for his hands. Weaving my fingers into his, I asked, “What is it, Roman?”
With another sigh, he kissed my head again and then said, “Our blood can be quite…intoxicating. It can heal but it can also create a bond. Sometimes people go mad with addiction and sometimes people get sick. It depends.”
“Depends on what?”
With a shrug, he said, “I don’t know what makes it different for each person.”
“Kind of like drugs,” I stated.
“What?”
“Like how some people have a really low tolerance and get sick if they take too much. While others can get addicted, and it ruins their whole life.”
After a pause, he said, “I guess that’s a good way to look at it.”
“Well, I don’t have an addictive personality.”
He laughed, and I savored the way his muscles moved beneath me. “My blood can also make you want me.”
“What if I already want you?” I asked before I could stop myself.
His instant erection poked at my lower back and I giggled.
Taking his hands, I moved them to my breast and made him squeeze.
He moaned underneath me, igniting a fire in my core that felt right.
“So, does your blood make the sex better?”
This time he coughed away the sound he was making.
“Yes,” he said gruffly, pushing his hips up into me so I could feel all of him.
He moved his right hand lower down my stomach and let his fingers dance along my thigh.
I sighed into his touch and opened my knees to give him an invitation. But he didn’t take my hint.
“Katarina,” he breathed against my neck. “I want to take care of your needs.” His lips sucked on the skin just below my ear, and I moaned. “All of your needs.”
“Please,” I begged, dying for him to caress my folds.
Roman’s fingers kept missing the spot I really wanted him to touch, teasing me relentlessly without really doing much of anything. My body still hurt, but the aching need I felt for him was starting to overwhelm my senses.
As if understanding what my whimpers meant, Roman lifted his left arm out of the water and bit into his wrist. I heard the slight pop of skin when his fangs broke through and I was surprised by how much that turned me on. He was giving me his blood freely, and I would be a fool not to partake.
With his now bleeding wrist in front of my face, he said, “Here, Katarina. Drink.”
I didn’t hesitate. The hot liquid tasted like Roman—like pine and forest and fresh rain.
I didn’t taste the metallic flavor and I didn’t think about how gross it was to drink someone's blood because within a few seconds, my body started to heal itself.
The first place I felt it was in my ankles.
The throbbing that had been underlying the sharp pain when I moved them disappeared.
My shoulder tingled as the blood healed my collarbone.
And while I pulled heavily on his wrist, the aching on my face and head subsided until there was no pain at all.
Roman continued to massage my breasts and thighs as I drank from him. He moaned beneath me, his hips moving in a slow circle while he rubbed his hardened length against my ass. He was right, this blood made me feel great, and it made me want to feel him inside of me right now.
I pulled my mouth away from his wrist and turned around so that I could straddle him. He maneuvered his body beneath mine and closed his eyes as I slid my sex along his erection. “Feeling better?” he asked with a wicked smile, grabbing my ass and squeezing hard.
“They should market this stuff. Healing powers and an aphrodisiac.”
He laughed, the feel of his body vibrating underneath mine almost too much to bear.
I leaned forward and smashed my lips against his.
With a fierceness I wasn’t expecting, he pushed his tongue into my mouth.
Like our kiss a week ago, he seemed to lose himself in my lips while I continued to glide my body over his shaft.
My clit was swollen with need, and it wouldn’t take much more for me to orgasm right on top of his cock if we kept this up.
“I feel amazing,” I breathed, taking a moment to look down at his handsome face. I rubbed my fingers along his jaw, the dark stubble somehow making him even more beautiful. “You’re so hot.”
He laughed and kissed my neck. “You’re feeling the effects of the blood.”
I reached back and grabbed one of his hands, moving his fingers down past my cheeks until he could touch my sex. He groaned against me while I guided a finger inside. “You feel that?” I teased. “That wetness is for you. Not from the blood.”
“Fuck, Katarina.” Pulling his finger away, he lifted my hips and grabbed his giant cock. “I need to feel all of you.”
“Yes,” I breathed as I lowered myself onto his length. There wasn’t an ounce of pain, and I attributed that to the blood because holy hell, Roman was very well endowed.
He let me take the lead, adjusting my opening to fit his massive girth.
After a few slow movements, I could finally take all of him in, and I let out a moan of pure pleasure.
This all felt right. Me with Roman and me in this house.
I needed these men in my life, and I’d be damned if anyone was going to take that away from me again.
Roman pumped his hips as he sucked on my breasts.
His tongue flicked my nipples and he bit down a few times, his fangs adding that extra erotic sensation that had me riding him hard.
The water splashed out of the tub, but neither of us cared.
I picked up the pace, slamming him deep inside because every time my body hit his, it sent a wave of pure pleasure through my core.
“Touch me, Roman,” I begged, and he instantly complied.
With his mouth on my neck, one hand playing with my nipples, and his left hand reaching around and teasing my other hole, I thought I would die of pleasure.
“Oh,” I moaned into the air, pounding him so hard I was sure to have a few more bruises on my knees.
“I’m coming, Roman.” I screamed as the first orgasm blasted through me.
Everything tingled while I rode the wave, tightening my sex around his cock and feeling him hit that other amazing spot deep inside.
Roman moaned into my chest as I continued to slide up and down.
Then, just as I felt another orgasm coming, he grabbed me under the ass and lifted us up.
On his knees, Roman had me wrap my legs around his waist while he drilled into me as hard as he could.
We were still partly underwater, and the slapping sounds of the waves had me smiling as they were so aptly timed with the thrusts of his cock.
“Harder, Roman. I need you to fuck me harder.”
Roman complied. Using his vampire strength, he somehow managed to hold me in the air while guiding my hips to accommodate his length.
I reached out to grab the sides of the tub, and now that the pain was all gone, I could hold on.
Arching my back so that he could bury his face in my breasts, I let Roman slam my hips against him.
The complete feeling of ecstasy drowned me and in no time at all, I was screaming with another orgasm, this one deep inside and making me quiver all over.
With a deep moan, Roman pumped harder until I felt his release. We shook and trembled with each aftershock as he held me tight against him. I’d never felt better. And while a part of that was probably the blood talking, I also knew that I felt good because I was where I belonged.
Once Roman was finished, he gently lowered my back against the tub and pulled out. With a sexy grin on his face, he lifted my leg and brushed his fangs along the inside of my thigh. I shivered. “Oh my god,” I breathed,
He laughed and gave me a little promising nip. “Thank you, Katarina.”
“Um, I think it’s me who should be thanking you.”
With a smile, he sat back, dipped his head under the water and emerged looking like a new man. I swear the circles under his eyes were gone and the color had returned to his skin. Seeing me watching him, he said, “I feel great.”
“You’re welcome,” I teased.
He continued moving different parts of his body while he smiled. “No. This is…different. I’ve never felt this before.”
I was pretty sure I knew why, but I didn’t want to discuss that mysterious visit from my grandmother right now. After all, I wasn’t even sure if I’d dreamt the whole meeting. Not wanting to totally ruin the moment, I said the first thing that popped into my head. “I’m hungry.”
Roman laughed and stopped examining his body. “That’s the blood working.” In a sudden move, he jumped forward, kissed me ferociously and hard enough that I wanted to feel him inside of me again, and then stood. “I will go make us some dinner. I’m sure everyone could eat.”
“Thank you, Roman.”
“Of course, Katarina. You are home now.”
Tears blurred my eyes as he grabbed a towel and sauntered out of the room.
I watched his every step and even laughed when I heard him telling the men waiting outside that they were to give me some time, take a shower, and get ready for dinner.
I wanted to give Dorian and Aiden a big kiss, but I did need to take a few minutes to myself.
My bond with these men was growing and despite the dangers it may bring, I knew I didn’t ever want to be without them again.