Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 141492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
“It seems that you have to be the one to do all the adjusting.”
She sent him a brief smile. “I thought we weren’t going to play the blame game. It is what it is. We both have a few little shortcomings. Frankly, I’m glad, too. You’re a larger-than-life hero, and having to live up to that would be exhausting.”
He sent her a small, brief smile. She was certain he didn’t often genuinely smile, so it felt a little like a victory. “I’m glad I can provide you with a few flaws to make you happy.”
He gave her a courtly bow from his waist, long strands of his silvery hair falling around his face, giving her the impression of a beautiful fallen angel.
He lifted an eyebrow. “The things that come into your mind are such nonsense. A fallen angel? There is nothing angelic or beautiful about me.”
Safia couldn’t help laughing. He was beautiful whether he wanted to believe it or not. “A fallen angel can be quite sinful, and when you kiss, believe me, there’s a lot of temptation and thoughts of doing things I’d never considered before.”
He sent her a smoldering look. “I believe you’re the one tempting me. I’ve lived over two thousand years and never once been tempted by a woman, and yet I get close to you and discipline is gone.”
“Never once?” That was very hard to believe.
He shook his head. “For most Carpathian men, there is only their lifemate. Some men, before they lose their emotions, or if they are close to their lifemate and feel her but have no idea she is near, feel those urges. I was not one of those men. I felt nothing.”
“But you seem so experienced,” she objected.
He sent her another brief grin. This one was deliberately sinful. “Just because I didn’t have urges doesn’t mean I didn’t want to know every way possible to please my lifemate when I found her, and I was determined to find her.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “What does that mean?”
“Two thousand years is a long time to study sex and all the different ways men and women can pleasure one another.”
“Did you spy on people?”
“How else was I supposed to learn?”
“That’s called voyeurism, and it’s so wrong.”
“I suppose it could be if I was aroused, but I wasn’t. I was acquiring knowledge. I didn’t lust after the woman or the man.” He shrugged.
“You could share your knowledge with me the way you do the skills you acquired learning to fight various types of vampires. That way I would be as experienced as you.”
He shook his head. “That wouldn’t be nearly as much fun for us. I think I will like surprising you. Come here to me, Ku Tappa Kulyak.” He widened his thighs and pointed to the spot between them.
He sounded all at once dangerous and far too sensual. Safia’s breath caught in her throat. Her heart began to pound in trepidation. She studied his masculine features. Hooded eyes. The carved lines in his face. Was he going to take her blood? Give her his? She had made up her mind to do this, but it was terrifying. At the same time, she could already taste him.
Come to me. Choose me the way I have chosen you.
His voice brushed at the inside walls of her mind like velvet, filling her with him. She shivered at the sensual desire building in her veins.
Did you choose me, Petru? Or did fate force me on you?
I would have chosen you for myself the moment I felt the heart of you. Your courage. The beauty inside you. The moment your soul touched mine.
CHAPTER
13
Petru’s gaze drifted over Safia. She was so beautiful. He didn’t know what standards other men judged beauty by, but she met every single one he had. She seemed to shine from the inside out. Sometimes when he looked at her, he could barely draw air into his lungs.
Settling his hands on her hips, he drew her closer between his thighs. The trembling of her body was so slight it was impossible to see, but he could feel it.
Shockingly, she leaned into him and brushed her fingers through his hair. “I’m very afraid, Petru. I’m counting on you to get me through this.”
His heart clenched hard in his chest. She had no real reason to trust him. If anything, it was just the opposite, yet she’d made up her mind to commit totally to becoming fully Carpathian. She humbled him completely. He tightened his fingers on her hips and urged her to take another step closer to him.
“You will always be safe with me, Pelkgapâd és Meke Pirämet.” He kept his gaze steady on hers so she could see he meant it. “I give you my word of honor.”
“If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t be doing this,” she admitted.