Sundown & Serena (10 page)

Well, one man had. One man had wanted to give
me everything he had. Terian had wanted to marry me.
Now he’s with Sar...
I let out another sob.

“Sun, say something,” Lash hissed again, his
snake eyes looking into mine. But for once, I didn’t find them
cold, though they held no expression. “What’s wrong?”

“Please hold me, please,” I whimpered.

He did, sliding his arms around me, and
fitting my head under his chin. I cried a few more tears, but in a
while, I began to feel better.

Lash was still holding me in his arms,
waiting for my answer to his question. And there was no way I could
tell him the real reason I was crying. It was just too pitiful, and
I didn’t want him to pity me. Horribly, something else hit me then
like a bolt of lightning, and I swore mentally.

“Shit, I’m such an idiot,” I said, lying back
with a grimace and wiping my tears away. “I only thought about
catching something, but not

about—”

“There won’t be a child,” Lash interrupted,
hugging me. “I can’t, even if you can. So don’t worry, Sun. Don’t
cry over that.”

I looked at him. “You sure?”

“Very sure,” Lash said, grinning. “You can
trust me about that, too.”

“Then come here,” I said, crooking a
finger.

I didn’t need to ask him more than once. We
had sex all that night, until the early hours of the morning. Lash
was far more skilled than I thought he would be, and I enjoyed his
body, and the ways he’d used it to make me feel oh so good. He went
to lengths to make sure every time was as good as it could be for
me, asking me if what he was doing felt good to me, and stopping
when I asked him to. That touched me, especially as he refused my
hesitant offer of oral sex, saying if I didn’t want that from him,
then it wasn’t fair to ask me for it.

He felt no different to me from other men,
and I wondered several times during our passion why he’d made such
a point of him being weresnake. He kept his tongue in his mouth,
but I felt his fangs sometimes in his kiss. The feeling wasn’t much
different from a regular man’s teeth. He didn’t bite me or
anything, not even when he sucked on my skin. With the areas he was
teasing with his mouth, I was sure he was going to draw a little
blood just by accident, but there wasn’t even a scratch. In fact,
the only differences at all between him and a human man was that he
never got soft after coming, and he never pulled out of me after he
was done. Even when we rested between bouts, he stayed close to me,
holding my hips to his so that he might stay sheathed. I thought
that odd, but guessed he liked the sensation.
Maybe it’s a were thing?
I wasn’t sure, as he was the
first were I’d ever been with, to my knowledge.

“Why do you like it?” I finally asked
sleepily, sometime near dawn.

“Sex?” he hissed with a grin, hugging me.
“Duh. It feels good. I sometimes feel like I live for it, but maybe
that’s just my snake side talking.”

“No, being in me, after.”

“After sex?”

“Yeah.”

“It feels good, too,” he hissed with longing.
“You’re so warm inside, Sun. I’d put my whole body in you if I
thought I could find a way it would fit.”

“You feel good in me, too,” I said languidly,
snuggling against him. “I like laying here and having you there
inside throbbing gently.” I ran my hands down, clasping his rear.
“I like that you don’t get soft.”

Lash held my hips, then moved closer, sliding
his penis in to the root, drawing a long groan from his lips. He
held me close, keeping my hips tight against his. “Then you don’t
mind if I stay where I am?” he hissed softly in my ear. “I like how
it feels, being held by you like that.”

Unable to resist, I squeezed him with my
vaginal muscles.

Lash went completely still, his entire body
tensing up rigidly, his eyes closing. He stayed like that,
unmoving, as if bracing himself.

Did I somehow hurt
him?
“Sorry,” I whispered, “I—”

“Please, do it again,” Lash hissed eagerly.
“Please, Sun, please for me, do it more?”

Surprised but pleased, I squeezed him again.
Lash let out a long, loud hiss. I began to do it in rhythm. Lash
began to shake in my arms, hissing almost continuously.

I did it faster. Lash again grasped my hips,
straining closer to thrust himself in as deep as he could, holding
himself there, his body pressed so tight to mine there was not a
hairs breadth between us. A moment later, he squeezed me in his
arms so hard it cut off my breath, a loud yell tearing out of him.
His hips began spasming lightly, his dick pulsating in me as he
began to come. His climax lasted a long time, groaning loudly every
time he shot himself into me again, every squeeze of my body around
his dick teasing out more semen. Finally, he softened, his body
going limp.

“Fuck, that was great,” Lash hissed in utter
satisfaction. “I didn’t know humans could do that, only weresnake
women.” He pulled back slightly, slipping out of me, then gave me a
gentle kiss. “Thank you, Sun. It means something to me that you did
that for me, though you must have thought it was pretty weird.”

“Not a problem,” I said, hugging him. “I’m
glad you liked it.”

“I fucking loved it,” Lash said, a smile
splitting his face from ear to ear. “Even though I’m too soft now
to stay in you and my ears hurt, it’s a small price to pay.”

Hearing his confession, I thought it was
probably good I’d been quiet during my climaxing. “Good.”

Both of us were exhausted. We dropped off to
sleep in a few moments, holding one another.

Chapter
Ten

I awoke about ten a.m. Lash was awake beside
me, gently running his hands over my naked flesh and hissing
softly. It felt strange to see him next to me in bed in the light
of day, me naked, and him still in his T-shirt. But I hadn’t been
drunk when I told him yes and it wasn’t bad at all, waking up with
him.

I reached out and hugged him. “Hi.”

“I liked being with you,” Lash hissed
hesitantly. “Did you enjoy me, Sun? Honestly?”

“Yes,” I said, flashing a smile. “You were
great. Better than great.”

“Good,” Lash said with finality, getting up
from the bed. “I wanted it to be good for you; as good as I could
make it.”

He began putting on his clothes. It hit me
then that he expected me to do the same. We’d fucked, but now that
the night was over, he was just going to leave.

He noticed me staring as he buckled his belt.
“What?” he said curiously.

What indeed.
It
wasn’t like I was in love with him. But maybe that was better, not
to love a man I was lovers with, to just like him as a friend. In
fact, maybe that was the best.

“Why don’t you stay, and not leave?” I
asked.

He stopped moving, his eyes flat and
unreadable. “We need to be out by noon.”

“Come home with me?” I asked hesitantly,
feeling foolish and a little lame.

Lash gave me an incredulous stare. “Sun, you
want more? I thought for sure you’d be rubbed raw by now, being
human. My body heals itself like nothing, but yours—”

“I just don’t want you to leave now.”

“Why?” he asked, slipping on his weapons.

Because I want there to be
more than this.
More than just good sex,
and leaving each other, and then finding someone different to do it
with all over again the next time I wanted sex.
Terian had
ruined me for that. I just hadn’t known it until now.

“Are you going to answer me or not?” Lash
probed, curious.

Blushing, I cast down my eyes. “I like you. I
liked spending last night with you. I don’t want you to leave. I
want there to be more.”

Lash grinned widely, surprise on his face. He
came over and kissed me gently. “Then tell me where you live now,
and I’ll come by tonight. I’m off work at ten. But I have to go
now, Sun; I have to be at Hayden by eleven-thirty.”

I gave him the address, and got dressed. He
dropped me off in his truck at my car, and told me with a grin he’d
see me tonight.

I got another odd twinge watching him drive
off. After he left, I sat for a while by myself and thought about
things.

I was asking for trouble. Lash had told me he
killed people. He was best friends with Devlin, the world-class
asshole. Just that should have been enough to have me running.
Instead, I was beginning some sort of relationship with him.
What the fuck is wrong with me?

But he wasn’t bad.
He just
isn’t.
He’d helped me get away from Devlin. He’d listened to
me, and talked to me, and he’d never once made a move, though
clearly he’d been interested in me all along. When we’d been
together last night, he’d been almost certainly the best lover of
my life, screw that he wasn’t human. So what if he wasn’t the most
handsome man I’d ever been with? So what if he was older than me by
a few years? I wanted to try to have something with him if he would
agree to try with me. That meant I was going to have to ask him if
he wanted to try. But hell, what did I have to lose? If I didn’t
ask him to stay, he’d leave for sure.

Fuck it. I’ll ask him
tonight.

I returned the hotel room key, and went into
work about noon. Work sucked royally, being the afternoon and early
evening shift with almost no clientele to speak of, but I got
through it. At quarter to nine, I left work, picking up a pizza on
the way home. I was still eating some of it when Lash arrived.

I let him in. “Want a piece?” I tempted him
with a smile.

Immediately, his face closed down and he
bared his fangs. “No, I want to fuck,” Lash hissed, grabbing hold
of me roughly. “You didn’t ask me here to eat, Sun. I’m here for a
repeat of last night, so let’s fuck.”

Taken aback, I led him to my bedroom. In a
few seconds, I was on my back, my jeans around my ankles as Lash
pounded himself into me. But he stopped almost as soon as he’d
begun. “What is it?” he hissed worriedly. “Doesn’t what I’m doing
feel good to you? Did you reconsider during the day? Do you want me
to leave?”

“It does, and no, I didn’t, and I don’t,” I
replied awkwardly, touching his arm. “I’m just a little nervous,
because you were kind of fast tonight with me. I thought we could
work up to the sex—”

“Don’t be nervous,” Lash said eagerly,
beginning to move again. “You feel wonderful to me, Sun, just like
you did last night. Relax and enjoy yourself. Let me do the work.
I’m sorry, I should have been slower. I’ll take my time, until
you’re as worked up as I already am. God, I’ve been thinking about
you all day. I couldn’t drive here fast enough!”

I had to grin at how his mind worked. When he
leered back at me, I kissed him, wrapping my arms around him.

True to his word, Lash took his time, drawing
out the stimulation, stroking me with his hands, kissing me,
rubbing my clit, his deep thorough strokes making me whimper with
longing. It went on and on until the feeling built up so much I
felt as if I was going to shake to death, I wanted it so bad. Like
a clap of thunder, the climax hit, engulfing me, making me scream
as I writhed under him. Lash groaned, his body going rigid on mine
as he came, his arms squeezing me, his hands gripping my breasts
possessively.

When we could talk again, Lash pushed his
upper body up off of mine with his arms. “Same as last night, Sun?”
he asked with a leer. “Or you want something different tonight? So
long as I get to be in you and come, I’m up for anything you want
to do.”

It’s now or never.
“Lash, I want you to stay here, and not go with Devlin to South
America,” I said, flushing. “Tell me, is there something I could do
so you’d agree to stay here with me?”

Lash blinked once at me, then got up off me
with a sigh and began pulling on his clothes, moving towards the
door.

I pulled my jeans up, and followed him
anxiously. “Lash, why are you going now? What’s wrong? Am I not
supposed to like you, after spending the night with you, and all
those months talking?”

“Because I can’t stay here with you, I have
to go with Dev,” he said, his back to me. “He needs me, Sun, more
now maybe than he ever has. And it goes without saying I can’t take
you with me, much as I might like to. I can’t risk that Devlin
wouldn’t hurt you again, when he gets in one of his moods. Dev is
not over Sar, not at all, no matter that that stupid Theo thinks he
is.”

“Theo’s alive?” I said in shock.

Lash looked over at me, grimacing. “Alive and
married to Sar,” he hissed with distaste. “She’s such an idiot to
be with him, after what he...well, never mind that.”

“What about the baby?” God, Terian must be a
wreck.

“Theoron?” Lash said, and shrugged. “I’m sure
he’ll stay with Danial like he has been, that’s his father.”

I let out a squeal.

Lash whipped around, taking a step toward me.
“Jesus, Sun! What is it?”

“I thought it was Terian’s baby,” I
blathered. “I thought all this time that they were together, he and
Sar.”

“No,” Lash said, looking at me strangely.
“Sar went after him once when she was pregnant, I heard, but he
rebuffed her. It was some kind of vampire thing, because of the
bloodlust, Dev said. Danial is Theoron’s father through some sort
of magic spell Terian made. Terian’s never been with anyone. As far
as I know he’s been alone this whole time, the last year and a
half.”

Oh God. I’ve been an
absolute idiot.
I shut my eyes and put my face in my
hands.

Lash sat down beside me. “I gather it’s not
important to you anymore if I leave or stay,” he said bitterly.
“Because you still love Terian.”

“Lash—”

He patted my knee. “Don’t worry about it,
Sun. This works out better for both of us.”