He lifted Vivi’s hand to his lips, kissed each of her long, slender fingers. She giggled softly.
And his heart—it cracked. It was like the shield he had built to keep out love was an iron door, and Vivi had kicked it down.
“Wait here, my love. There’s something I have to do.”
She blinked, confused. But she waited. Trusting him. He moved to the center of the room. He had one last throw of the dice, one last chance. One last hope … as long as Nikolai and the council proved to be as blindly arrogant as he had been all his life.
Sarah paced in her bedchamber. There were so many emotions boiling inside her, she wanted to keep a lid clamped down firmly on top of them. Fear. Love for her mother and Heath. Love for Julian, who was lost to her forever. Grief. That was the worst one. It seemed to be sucking away at her heart, pulling it apart piece by piece.
All her life, Mother had expected she would marry. Mother had wanted her to fall in love. But she had been afraid to—she knew her mother didn’t like men—so Sarah had always been terrified to give her heart to any male. But then Julian had come into her life. A rescuer. He was a vampire, but a gentle one, one who was so good and kind to her. And she had fallen into love so swiftly and so hard, she was surprised the entire world hadn’t heard the
thud
. But love was so awful. It made you hurt so much inside.
A rap sounded at her door. Sarah turned away, crossing her arms over her chest and shivering. She was a prisoner. If someone wanted in, they would come inside.
As she expected, the door swung open.
It was him. The vampire called Nikolai, the handsome man who was supposed to be her grandfather. But he was evil and hateful. He wanted to destroy Heath and use her mother to do it. He had locked her in this room. She backed away from him,
but he glided toward her as though his feet did not even touch the ground.
Finally he stopped and bowed elegantly. “You lost your great love, little one. I am so very sorry for you.”
She recoiled. How could he have known she loved Julian? “I don’t want your pity. I want my freedom.”
“I came to speak to you, Sarah. You see, I sent the demons to Dimitri’s mansion. And I controlled everything they did.”
His words snapped something inside her. She lunged forward and grabbed the fireplace poker. With the weapon raised above her head, she felt powerful. For the first time in forever, she felt
strong
.
She swung it at the vampire’s head.
Nikolai grasped the poker and jerked it from her grasp. “I can feel the strength of your anger.” He smiled. It was hideous how handsome he was, when his heart must be a black mass of garbage inside him. “Finally, the most important part of you has come to life. My dear, Sarah, you are exactly like me.”
Her chest heaved with exertion, but not with fear. She hated too much to be afraid. “I am
nothing
like you. You want to unleash some kind of demon to destroy the world. You want to force my mother to do something terrible. And you killed Julian—”
“Shut up and listen, foolish girl,” he barked. Before her eyes, Nikolai appeared to grow taller. He glowered at her. “I told you about the demons to explain something to you. I have the power to give your Julian back to you. He is not dead or destroyed. The puff of dust—that was an amusing conceit, I admit. It made it look as though each vampire died. But they did not die. I merely transported them to a sort of prison, using the power of black magic.”
Black magic? Her wits whirled. This was the sort of thing in Minerva Press novels. But she had fallen in love with a vampire, and she believed magic truly did exist. “You could bring him
back,” she repeated. She spoke the words flatly, not daring to hope. She knew what had happened to her mother, even though Vivienne had not been entirely honest with her. Dimitri had told her everything: the fact Nikolai had caused her illness, and about the medicine, and the price her mother had been forced to pay. She knew what sort of a monster this vampire truly was.
“You made me sick,” she accused. “You wanted me to die.”
He shook his head solemnly. “No, my dear. I would never have truly harmed you. What was draining you was your own stubborn fight against your true nature. The medicine was intended to bring out your vampiric qualities, the ones you inherited from me. But you were afraid of your awakening physical desires, your yearning for adventure, your fascination with the night. I saw into your thoughts. I saw you hide all those things, try to restrain them to please your mother. She wanted you to be a good girl, a proper lady.”
Sarah froze. It must be true. How else could he have known? “Do you mean I am a vampire even though I have never been bitten?”
“Let us be direct, shall we?” Her grandfather smiled. The serpent that offered apples to Eve—surely that snake had looked just like Nikolai now. “I will bring Julian back to you, if you let me turn you.”
“Turn me? You mean bite me!”
“I mean I will exchange some of your blood with mine and make you a full vampire.”
“And that is the price for bringing Julian back….?”
“Price? It is a gift. Agree, and you can have love, power, freedom. Everything your mother wanted for you. Everything you secretly dreamed of.”
Perched on the edge of the enormous bed, Vivienne watched Heath close his eyes, bow his head.
She held her breath. What was he doing? What should she
do? Urge him to come to the bed? The large, four-poster bed was out of reach of the sunlight, but they didn’t have long before light filled the room. There were no curtains on the windows to keep it out.
His lips moved, but she couldn’t read the silent words. And he said nothing to her in her thoughts. Then he shuddered as though he was going to change, and he snapped his head back to stare up at the ceiling.
She slipped off the bed to go to him. But she took one step and slammed into something warm, hard, yet smooth as velvet: his chest. He’d moved to her so swiftly, she hadn’t seen it.
When she had spoken to Guidon through her thoughts, he had explained how she could get Heath to open his heart—in stumbling, halting words. One way to do it was by making love. It might be the only way she could break through the shield around his heart, the only way she could banish his guilt, his belief he couldn’t look to the future. Sex would make him vulnerable and then she could try to change him.
Something she’d never tried with any man.
She had to be daring. And saucy and wild. Wearing a wicked smile, she bent forward and took his nipple into her mouth. He groaned, then growled as she gave his erect nipple a light bite.
She’d never been quite
this
daring. Never would she have dreamed of biting.
But his reaction—the way his cock bucked and reared against his belly—gave her confidence. She bit his other nipple gently, and she grasped his cock in one hand and his ballocks in the other and roughly stroked and played.
“God, Vivi, you are going to bring me to my knees,” he rasped.
“That,” she promised huskily, “is exactly my intention, my lord.”
Then, just as in the dream she had about Heath in Hyde
Park, she kissed her way down his cobbled abdomen and lowered to her knees. She was staring at the head of his curving cock. Slowly, she stuck out her tongue. And she licked up the bubbling juices.
Sour. Tart. Wonderful.
His cock told her exactly how much he liked it, by swelling and growing astonishingly larger.
Really, she had no idea how big he actually was, but his erection jutted out and must be far longer than six inches, which was supposed to be average. She had never seen anything so enormous. She loved sucking his cock, but could barely fit half into her mouth. Her lips only coasted partway down, where the shaft grew wide and thick.
She let him out and ran her tongue along the length. Then she whipped his ballocks with her tongue.
His knees buckled.
She stopped flicking, worried he’d fall, but he caught hold of one of the bed’s fluted columns. “Your clever mouth is sucking the strength out of me. You are very, very good at this. But I won’t last Vivi, if you keep doing this. And I want my orgasm to be deep inside you. After you’ve come many, many times, of course.”
He reached down to lift her, but she darted from his grasp and got to her feet. “You lie down on the bed, Heath. Once again I want you to obey my commands. And trust me.”
He lifted a brow. But a heartbeat later he was stretched out on top of the white sheets, waiting for her. His legs were slightly parted, his ballocks hanging heavily between his muscular thighs. His cock rose from its nest of dark auburn hair and stood proud. He put his fist at the base, holding the enormous length straight up into the air.
The sight took her breath away. She wasn’t going to lose him. Somehow, someway, she would keep him.
She walked to the bed, aware of the sway of her hips, the jiggle of her bosom. Never had she felt so sensuous. Love made every moment of this breathtaking and beautiful.
“You look like a houri, moving toward me,” he murmured. His hand tightened around his thick shaft. Heavens, even his fingers barely touched around the base of it.
Her nerves tingled as she climbed onto the bed. She’d never seen his erection look so large. Could love be making him swell like that? Or was it because he was transforming into a demon?
Obviously he wanted her on top. He’d pillowed one hand beneath his head. He looked far too casual, a dimpled grin playing on his mouth.
Vivi, I feel I’ve waited a lifetime for this. For you.
Those words … she’d heard many pretty words. But his were so special. Real and true and honest. She swung her legs over his thighs and straddled him just below the magnificent prick that would soon be inside her.
But first … temptation.
Her quim felt it was steaming with heat. But she planted her palms on his chest, brushed her nether lips lightly along the length of his shaft. Her breasts swung wildly over his face.
His eyes glowed like the moon, silver and bright.
Take me inside. I need this. No matter what happens I know I can’t live without making love to you. Even if this is my last day, I want it to be spent in bed with you.
Her heart stuttered, but she forced a smile. This is going to be our first night, she insisted.
There are too many things I’ve never dared to do. And I want to do each one with you.
She clasped her hand around his at the base of his cock. Holding her breath, she brushed the head against her clit. The contact of his firm head to her throbbing, aching nub made her quiver. And her juices flowed so she could play and draw circles and stroke and tease.
She couldn’t wait any longer. She knew she should. She must
make this last. To save him, she had to use his desire to make him more vulnerable. And every teasing, agonizing second of foreplay they shared was another moment together.
But this was too good. Her quim pulsed, wanting to hold his shaft and never let it go. Her heart felt so tight. Her ribs were like iron bands. Desire seemed to be making her expand and she couldn’t hold in her yearning. They had done so many delicious, erotic things together, but her favorite was having him inside her.
She held him right to the slick entrance of her quim. He surged his hips up and easily slid inside her a good three inches.
Oh God
. He was so thick, it was almost
too
much, yet not enough.
She took a deep breath. And lowered. Her tight quim resisted at first, but her juices flowed, and he slid into her. Down, down, down she went. Engulfing him. She had to close her eyes. It was irresistible, delectable agony.
Her moans floated up to the sunlight, to the shafts of sparkling light that fell on the floor by the foot of the bed.
Deeper, please, Flower.
She took him to the hilt, until her quim brushed his nether curls. Her bottom settled on the bulge of his ballocks.
Ride me, Vivi. Tame me.
Tame him? She didn’t know what he meant. But she rose and lowered. The shock of his cock nudging her womb made her stop. Made her gasp for breath. She could feel every inch of his erection. Surely it was even larger than the last time it had filled her, stretched her, pushed against her hot, sensitive walls.
She rose, lifting on him until she kept only the head inside her. Then she surged down again until her bottom struck his ballocks and she had to sob with pleasure.
Again and again she did it. Heath smiled, watching her. Enjoying the sight. But he wasn’t vulnerable. She needed to do more….
But she was so hot. So tense. So close, she didn’t want to stop.
She had to try something else.… She had to make him open his heart before he came … but she was going to come and she couldn’t stop.
He reached out and pressed his thumb to her nether lips as she bounced on him. He shifted his hand, his thumb slid over her clit, and she screamed up to the bed canopy. Stunning sensation blossomed into a delight that rushed through every inch of her body.
He stroked again. Circled, flicked, rubbed, teased, then gave one last hard brush of his thumb that sent her over the edge.
The orgasm slammed over her with a fierce wave of pleasure. Her whole body melted, as though her heart and soul had burst into flames over this man. She collapsed on his chest, coated with sweat, her limbs trembling.
The curse could only be broken if he became vulnerable, if he opened his heart to love.
She
felt vulnerable, but he was chuckling, still in control. Still rigid and thick inside her.
What could she do?
A golden glow poured through the window. The room felt filled with steam, and smelled of lush, rich scents—the sweat of colliding bodies, the juices that slicked their thrusts. Then she saw them.… There were no curtains, but the tasseled cords were still there.
She had to make him vulnerable. And now she knew how.
Heath groaned as Vivi lifted off him. Her cunny slid off him, his cock fell out and slapped his belly. She walked swiftly to the window, her lush bottom jiggling. She yanked hard on the curtain ties and tore them down.