Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138169 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138169 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
When her breast pocket lights up and jitters, she pulls her phone out—and I catch a glimpse of the new text notification on her lockscreen.
Vampire Man sent img.png
I raise both brows. “You saved me in your phone as Vampire Man?”
“Um.” Talia freezes, looking at me sheepishly with her phone clutched in both hands. “…guilty,” she whispers with an embarrassed smile. “Sorry?”
“Uh-huh.” I lean back on my hands, just watching her. “Why did you do that?”
“I just… you know, the first time we met—”
“You mean when I gave you mouth-to-mouth in the middle of town,” I growl.
Her face flashes pink.
She swallows loudly, nodding.
“Yeah. That time. It sorta felt like waking up from a dream. This beautiful man with sharp teeth and a red mouth hovering over me… I used to be a huge Anne Rice nerd. And Grandpa had me watching old Dark Shadows reruns from the time I was five.”
“Uh-huh.” I never take my eyes off her. She’s squirming now, and there’s a predatory pulse in my cock that loves every bit of it. “Have you thought about me biting you, Talia? Harder than last time? Do you want to be marked?”
“Marked? O-oh.” Breathy, soft, and she’s already saying yes without really saying a single word. She can’t look away as her lips gleam and her little tongue slips over them. “Maybe. I mean, you bit me before, but you were being gentle.”
“That’s not a yes or a no,” I tease.
Leaning forward, I prowl toward her.
Every last little vulnerable thing about her jumps out at me in the fire’s glow.
One minute, she’s this innocent angel who warms me with a light I can’t describe, who makes me feel like if I wanted, I might learn how to have a life again.
The next minute, she’s prey, plain and simple.
Her nostrils flare.
Her breathing quickens.
It’s like I can see her pulse thudding against the fragile skin of her throat as her eyes dilate, locking on me with wonder.
When she trembles again, I’m fucking gone.
Forever drunk on this woman.
My inner beast inhales deeply, intoxicated by her scent.
Fuck, her scent.
Vanilla heaven, mine for the taking.
My lips burn, aching to show her what being marked truly feels like.
Closer. Closer, every slow movement makes her tremble more until I’m right on top of her.
She whimpers as I stop, almost nose to nose with her, our eyes locked.
There’s more than rich vanilla rising off her now. This aromatic sweetness like pheromones, heady and stinging sharp.
“Yes or no, Talia,” I breathe. “Do you want me to fucking mark you?”
“Ohgod.”
One word. It comes out in this small, shaky rush.
Then her eyes close and she slumps toward me like her bones forgot how to hold her up.
She’s shaking like a leaf.
Her hands knot together in her lap, her lashes trembling against her freckled cheeks.
I’m waiting.
Impatiently, I’m waiting for this fragile, inexperienced girl to tell me no.
To tell me to stop frightening her and talking like a weirdo.
To push me away and ask why I can’t be normal, why I even want to bruise her just to leave a jealous mark of ownership.
To know why I need something else, something darker than last time, something lasting.
Only, it never happens.
Instead, Talia rolls her head to the side, this soft jerk of quivering submission.
My blood goes electric.
She reaches up to pull her hair free from its loose tail, shaking it down in a waterfall of cinnamon red fire, drawing it over her shoulder to one side to fully bare the long, smooth expanse of her throat.
“Yes.” It’s such a faint whisper I can barely hear it, yet so husky with desire.
Everything about her feels intensely erotic. Painfully inviting.
I don’t think she has the slightest idea what she’s doing to me.
I crave her.
I fucking need her like the storybook vampires that make her wet, but it’s not her blood I’m after.
It’s breaking her.
I need her to break for me, beg me to claim her in the sweetest ways.
My mouth dips to her neck.
Her vulnerable, slender throat waits, but some last thread of restraint holds me back. Slowly, I trace my lips over her ear, listening to her rough, uneven breaths.
“If I bite you,” I snarl into her ear, “I won’t be able to stop myself from marking you all over.”
She lets out another soft whimper, completely overwhelmed before she sways toward me.
“Then mark me. Even if it hurts. Cover every inch of me.”
Fuck. Me. Senseless.
I have to close my eyes for restraint.
Otherwise, I’ll pin her to the dirt and rip her clothes to shreds right now.
Just one minute.
Just a few precious seconds to remember I don’t want her to regret this.
Then I open my eyes again, fixating on the wild beat of her pulse, leaping like it’s fighting to break past her skin.
My tongue traces my lips in furious anticipation.
My entire body throbs, my cock swelling with vicious desire until it’s almost angry, straining against my jeans.