Hell, yeah. I’m on board.

She’s amazing, simply amazing. “I’m good with this.” That’s such an understatement. I’m well beyond okay with it.

“Perfect.” She leans closer and tilts her head. She’s trembling. I might mistake that for fear if I didn’t feel her emotions but I know better. It’s desire. She wants this as much as I do and it’s the ultimate turn-on.

I press my mouth against her neck to kiss it but I don’t pierce the vein just yet. I have other things I want to do first.

I splay my hands over the small of her back and pull her body close to mine. She grinds her hips against me and I breathe in the surrounding aroma. It pushes me to want–maybe even commands me–to do things I shouldn’t.

She grips the back of my head and presses my mouth to her pulsating vein. I go from wanting to kiss her sweetly to being driven toward something entirely different. Something … more. Something … human. And I feel myself being taken over by an intense desire to be joined to her but it has nothing to do with the consumption of her blood.

“No more waiting.” She leans back and brings me with her, my mouth never breaking contact with her skin. “Bite me now, Sol. I don’t want to go another second without feeling you.”

I want more but I’m confused by the means of how to obtain it. The act of drinking from her is the only method we have for creating the special fusion we covet so much.

I want to merge with her just as much as she does–maybe even more–so she doesn’t have to ask again. My incisors are out and ready. They lengthened the moment her intoxicating aroma hit my senses.

I pierce her vein quickly. She moans and slightly jerks when my sharp teeth enter her tender skin. I didn’t think I liked this–the part where I cause her pain–but it’s the complete opposite. She relishes the pleasure behind the pain so that makes me enjoy doing it. It’s another unexpected surprise.

I retract my razor sharp teeth from her skin and her blood pulsates into my mouth as I take a part of her body into my own. One swallow–that’s all it takes of Avery’s precious blood for us to be melded in a way I could have never imagined before this moment.

I’m able to feel Avery inside and out as I drink from her so there’s no room for doubt. This woman loves me. And I love her. Words aren’t required for us to declare this but I’m a vampire and she’s a human. It shouldn’t be possible for either of us to have these affections and desires for one another.

I slip my hands under Avery’s shirt and allow my fingertips to roam the bare skin of her lower back. I slide my hands upward and run them over her bra. I feel the clasp beneath my fingers and I’m confused by the desire I have to unfasten it.

I wonder what she’d say? Would she slap my hands away? I feel the crazy desire raging inside her and know she wouldn’t. She’d like it very much if I touched her that way but I’m terrified. I don’t know how to do things like that.

I stop drinking from Avery before I’d like but I end it because I don’t want to harm her by taking too much. She braces the back of my head and attempts to hold me in place as I pull away. “Don’t stop.”

I lick the puncture holes on her neck to cease the bleeding. “I have to, baby doll.”

She straightens and looks at me. “Baby doll? Where did that come from?”

It’s a name for someone precious to you. And that’s what she is–precious to me. “I don’t want to call you blood doll. It’s too much like calling you a whore and that’s not what you are to me.”

She brushes her thumb over my bottom lip. “What am I to you?”

That was the question I couldn’t stop rolling around in my head and I still didn’t have the answer. “I don’t think I know. I’m still trying to figure that out.”

She sighs. “I’m still trying to figure it out too. But I like it whatever it is.”

Like didn’t seem to be the right word but I’d roll with it since it’s what she had used. “I do too. I like it a lot.” I kiss the wound I just made on her neck and lick it again to encourage its healing so it would hopefully be mended before the others awakened tonight. They definitely don’t need to see puncture marks on her body or the jig will be up.

“Would you ever consider drinking from another part of my body?”

There were lots of places we could use but I loved her neck because I had great access to her mouth. “Do you have something in mind?”

“Yeah.” She casts her eyes down. “Would you be willing to try it next time?”

She’s nervous. And it’s adorable. “I will try any place you want. All you have to do is ask.”

“Okay. I want to experiment next time.” She kisses my mouth and tugs on my bottom lip with her teeth. “I’m taking vitamins because I want you to drink as much as you need.”

“My body no longer requires much. I already take more than I need because I’m prolonging the way I feel you when your blood is entering my body.”

“It ends too quickly.”

She’s pouting. And again, it’s adorable. “Longer isn’t safe for you.”

“But I’m fine. I don’t feel the loss at all. I’m a blood jewel. I can withstand losing a greater volume of blood than the average human.”

She could have a point. She tolerated chronic large volume loss when she was with Vincent. “I suppose you could be right.”

“I want you to think about amending our agreement.”

We only had one pact so I knew exactly what she meant. “How so?”

“Let’s try two days instead of three.”

I wasn’t into bending rules when it came to her health and safety. “No.”

“Just think about it. Please. For me.”

I swear she can talk me into anything. I wonder if she knows that. “I’ll think about it.” A huge grin forms on her face. “I didn’t say yes.”

“But you will.”

She seems so sure of herself. “Okay, Miss know-it-all. I have something for you.” This thing I was about to do made me nervous as hell. It could go really well or really bad.

Her eyes gleam like those of a hopeful child. “You’re nervous. What is it?”

I use my feet to roll the chair a bit so I can lean over and reach into the desk drawer to my left. “First, you have to close your eyes.”

She does as I ask while nibbling her bottom lip. I think it’s her attempt to stop the smile threatening to spread across her face. Her effort is unsuccessful because she’s grinning despite her best effort.

I dangle her surprise in front of her. “You can open your eyes now.”

She’s given up the fight and is beaming when she opens her eyes. “I love sur …” She stops mid-sentence as she sees the white gold butterfly dangling from my fingers. “My pendant.” She reaches out to touch it. “I thought it was lost forever. Where did you find it?”

Here came the tricky part. I didn’t know if she would be angry with me for taking it from her the first night we met. “Don’t be mad.”

“Why would I be mad? You just returned my most cherished treasure to me.” She’s holding it to her chest, close to her heart.

I clear my throat. “I didn’t just find it. I took it from your neck after Vincent made me drink from you.”

“But why?”

“I wanted a keepsake so I could remember how you made me feel. I know it was wrong but I had no idea how special it was to you when I slipped it off your neck. I didn’t know it was a gift from your mother. Then Curry told me how you made him go back into Vincent’s to look for it and I knew what a huge mistake I had made. And then it seemed like you hated me after you came home with Curry so there was never a good time to return it to you. Until now.”

She takes the necklace from her chest and stares at it in her palm. She’s silent and I’m on the verge of asking her if she’s angry when she lifts her face and tears are rolling down each of her cheeks. “Thank you.”

“I didn’t know how you’d react. I was so afraid you’d be angry at me.”

She kisses my forehead. “I don’t think I could ever be angry with you.” She passes the necklace back to me and lifts her hair. “Would you?”

“Of course.” I fasten the clasp so the butterfly is returned to its rightful place in the dip of Avery’s throat and I’m reminded of the old saying. “You didn’t let it go but it still came back so that means it’s yours.”

Chapter Five

Two days. That’s how long it’s been since I drank from Avery. And I don’t want to wait another day. Correction–I can’t wait another day. I’m not certain I’ll make it until dawn with the way I’ve had my baby doll on my mind all night. That’s why I’m sneaking into her bedroom at three in the morning instead of waiting a couple of hours for the others to go down for the day.

She’s sleeping. And dreaming. She’s having a pleasant one and I wonder what it’s about. I hate to wake her from it but I’m greedy this morning. I want her. Now.

I place my hand over her mouth before I turn on her bedside lamp. Her eyes pop open and I hear her muffled scream beneath my hand. I place a single finger from my free hand over my lips and she understands because she quietens down.

Her heart is still pounding hard–although she realizes it’s me–because I’ve just scared the shit out of her. I wish I could give her an explanation but I can’t without the others overhearing so I tug on her hands to pull her out of bed. It’s a gesture she understands.

I grasp her hand as I lead her out of her bedroom and we’re silent as we walk toward my office. I close the door once we’re inside and we’re cut off from the rest of the house. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you but there was no other way to wake you. I had to cover your mouth because I knew you’d scream if I didn’t.”