Lover Eternal

'I'm finished.'

'No, you're not. I can feel your hunger.' This time half a strawberry came toward her. 'Open for me, Mary.'

He fed her choice morsels, watching her with a primordial satisfaction that was unlike anything she'd seen before.

When she couldn't take another bite, he made quick work of what was left, and the moment he was done she picked up the plate and headed to the kitchen. She made him another omelet, filled a bowl full of cereal, and gave him the last of her bananas.

His smile was radiant as she laid it all out in front of him. 'How you honor me with this.'

As he ate in that methodical, tidy way of his, she closed her eyes and let her head fall back against the wall. She was getting tired more and more easily and felt a stab of cold terror because now she knew why. God, she dreaded finding out what the doctors were going to do to her after all the tests were in.

When she opened her eyes, Rhage's face was right in front of hers.

She jerked back, banging against the wall. 'I, ah, I didn't even hear you move.'

Crouched on all fours like an animal about to spring, he had one arm on either side of her legs, his massive shoulders bunched up from bearing the weight of his torso. This close, he was huge. And showing a lot of skin. And smelling really good, like dark spices.

'Mary, I would thank you, if you would let me.'

'How?' she croaked.

He tilted his head to the side and put his lips on hers. As she gasped, his tongue penetrated her mouth and stroked her own. When he shifted back to assess her reaction, his eyes glowed with the promise of ecstasy, the kind that would boil her bone marrow.

She cleared her throat, 'You're… welcome.'

'I would do that again, Mary. Will you let me?'

'A simple thank-you is fine. Really, I—'

His lips cut her off and then his tongue took over again, invading, taking, caressing. As heat roared in her body, Mary gave up the fight and savored the mad lust, the pounding in her chest, the aching at her breasts and between her legs.

Oh, God. It had been so long. And it had never been like this.

Rhage let out a low purr, as if he'd sensed her arousal. She felt his tongue retract, and then he took her lower lip between his—

Fangs. Those were fangs nipping at her flesh.

Fear threaded through her passion and thickened it, adding a dangerous edge that opened her even further. She put her hands on his arms. God, he was so hard, so strong. He'd be so heavy on top of her.

'Will you let me lay with you?' he asked.

Mary closed her eyes, imagining them going beyond the kissing to a place where they'd be naked together. She hadn't been with a man since well before her illness. And a lot about her body had changed since then.

She also didn't know where his desire to be with her was coming from. Friends didn't have sex. Not in her book, anyway.

She shook her head. 'I'm not sure—'

Rhage's mouth fit over hers again briefly. 'I just want to lie down next to you. Okay?'

Literal translation… right. Except as she stared at him, she couldn't ignore the differences between them. She was breathless. He was calm. She was dizzy. He was clearsighted.

She was hot. He was… not.

Abruptly Rhage sat back against the wall and pulled the blanket that hung off the couch into his lap. She wondered for a split second if he was hiding an erection.

Yeah, right. More likely he was cold because he was half-naked.

'Did you suddenly remember what I am?' he asked.

'Excuse me?'

'Is that what turned you off?'

She remembered those fangs of his on her lip. The idea that he was a vampire turned her on. 'No.'

'Then why did you shut down? Mary?' His eyes bored into hers. 'Mary, will you tell me what's going on?'

His confusion as he stared at her was appalling. Did he think she wouldn't mind being a pity fuck?

'Rhage, I appreciate the lengths you're willing to go to in the name of friendship, but don't do me any favors, okay?'

'You like what I do to you. I can feel it. I can smell it.'

'For chrissakes, do you get off on making me feel ashamed of myself? Because I'll tell you, having a man get me all hot and bothered while he might as well be reading a newspaper doesn't feel good on my end. God… you're really sick, you know that?'

That neon gaze narrowed in offense. 'You think I don't want you.'

'Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I've missed all that lust on your side. Yeah, you're really hot for me.'

She couldn't believe how fast he moved. One minute he was sitting back against the wall, looking at her. The next he had her down on the floor, underneath him. His thigh shoved her legs apart and then his hips drove into her core. What came against her was a thick, hard length.

His hand tangled in her hair and pulled, arching her up against him. He dropped his mouth to her ear.

'You feel that, Mary?' He rubbed his arousal in tight circles, stroking her, making her bloom for him. 'You feel me? What does this mean?'

She gasped for air. She was so wet now, her body ready for him to drive deep into her.

'Tell me what it means, Mary.' When she didn't answer, he sucked her neck until it stung and then took her earlobe between his teeth. Little punishments. 'I want you to say it. So I know you're clear on how I feel.'

His free hand dipped under her butt, tucked her closer, and then his erection pushed into her, hitting the right place. She could feel the head of him probing through his pants and her pajama bottoms.

'Say it, Mary.'

He surged forward again and she groaned. 'You want me.'

'And let's just make sure you remember that, shall we?'

He released her hair and took her lips with a raw edge. He was all over her, inside her mouth, on top of her body, his heat and his male smell and his tremendous erection promising her one hell of a wild, erotic ride.

But then he rolled off of her and went back to where he'd been against the wall. Just like that, he was under control again. His breathing even. His body still.

She struggled to sit up, trying to remember how to use her arms and legs.

'I'm not a man, Mary, even though parts of me look like one. What you just had is nothing compared to what I want to do to you. I want my head between your legs so I can lick you until you scream my name. Then I want to mount you like an animal and look into your eyes as I come inside of you. And after that? I want to take you every way there is. I want to do you from behind. I want to screw you standing up, against the wall. I want you to sit on my hips and ride me until I can't breathe.' His stare was level, brutal in its honesty. 'Except none of that's going to happen. If I felt you less, it would be different, easier. But you do something weird to my body, so totally controlled is the only way I can be with you. Otherwise I'm liable to lose it, and the last thing I want to do is scare the hell out of you. Or worse, hurt you.'

Visions swam in her head, visions of everything he had described, and her body wept anew for him. He took a deep breath and growled softly, like he'd caught the scent of her sex and relished it.

'Oh, Mary. Will you let me pleasure you? Will you let me take that sweet arousal of yours where it wants to go?'

She wanted to say yes, but the logistics of what he was suggesting hit her hard: getting naked, in front of him, in the candlelight. No one but doctors and nurses knew what had been left behind on her body after the disease had retreated. And she couldn't help thinking of those sexy women she'd seen come on to him.

'I'm not what you're used to,' she said softly. 'I'm not… beautiful.' He frowned, but she shook her head. 'Trust me on this one.'