His uncle had bought her to feed him.
Funny, as he considered it now, was it really a surprise where he’d ended up? Sex as a commodity had been drilled into him pretty damn early-even though that first fuck or six had been on the house, so to speak.
So yeah, if this dark scent meant his vampire nature had bonded with Ehlena, it was not good news.
Rehv picked the coffee up and carried it carefully through the butler’s door and out to the dining room. As he placed it in front of her, he wanted to touch her hair, but sat down instead.
She lifted the cup to her lips. “You make good coffee.”
“You haven’t tasted it yet.”
“I can smell it. And I love the way it smells.”
It’s not the coffee, he thought. Not all of it, at any rate.
“Well, I love your perfume,” he said, because he was a dolt.
She frowned. “I’m not wearing any. I mean, other than the soap and shampoo I use.”
“Well, I like them, then. And I’m glad you stayed.”
“Is this what you planned?”
Their eyes met. Shit, she was perfect. Radiant as the candles had been. “You making it all the way to the coffee? Yeah, I guess a date was what I was after.”
“I thought you agreed with me.”
Man, that breathless quality in her voice made him want to have her up against his naked chest.
“Agreed with you?” he said. “Hell, if it would make you happy, I’d say yes to anything. But what are you specifically referring to?”
“You said…I shouldn’t date anyone.”
Ah, right. “You shouldn’t.”
“I don’t understand.”
Fuck him, but he went for it. Rehv put his numb elbow on the table and leaned into her. As he closed the distance, her eyes got wider, but she didn’t pull back.
He paused, to give her a chance to tell him to cut the shit. Why? He had no clue. His symphath side was into pauses only for analysis or to better capitalize on a weakness. But she made him want to be decent.
Ehlena didn’t tell him to step off, however. “I don’t…understand,” she whispered.
“It’s simple. I don’t think you should date anyone.” Rehv moved in even closer, until he could see the flecks of gold in her eyes. “But I’m not just anyone.”
TWENTY-NINE
I’m not just anyone.
As Ehlena stared into Rehvenge’s amethyst eyes, she thought that was so right. In this quiet moment, with an explosive sexual vibe linking them and the scent of dark cologne in the air, Rehvenge was everybody and everything.
“You’re going to let me kiss you,” he said.
It wasn’t a question, but she nodded anyway, and he closed the distance between their mouths.
His lips were soft and his kiss softer. And he pulled back too fast, in her opinion. Way too fast.
“If you want more,” he said in a low, husky voice, “I want to give it to you.”
Ehlena stared at his mouth and thought of Stephan-and all the choices he no longer had. Being with Rehvenge was something she wanted. It didn’t make sense, but right now that didn’t matter.
“Yes. I want more.” Except then it dawned on her. He couldn’t feel a thing, could he. So what would happen if they took this even further?
Yeah, how did you bring that up without making him feel handicapped? And what about this other female of his? Clearly, he wasn’t sleeping with her, but there was something serious going on.
His amethyst eyes dropped to her lips. “You want to know what I get out of it?”
Man, that voice of his was pure sex.
“Yes,” she breathed.
“I get to see you like you are now.”
“What…am I like?”
He brushed a finger down her cheek. “You’re flushed.” His touch went over to her lips. “Your mouth is open because you’re thinking about me kissing you again.” He went lower with that soft stroke, going down over her throat. “Your heart is pumping. I can see it in your vein here.” He stopped between her breasts, his own mouth falling open and his fangs elongating. “If I keep on going, I think I’d find your nipples are hard, and I bet there are other signs you’re ready for me.” He leaned into her ear and whispered, “Are you ready for me, Ehlena?”
Holy. Shit.
Her rib cage tightened hard around her lungs, a sweet, dizzying sensation of suffocation making the rush she suddenly felt between her thighs even more stunning.
“Ehlena, answer me.” Rehvenge nuzzled her neck, running one sharp canine up her vein.
As her head fell back, she grabbed onto the sleeve of his fine suit, crushing the material. It had been so long… forever…since she’d been held by anyone. Since she’d been something other than a caregiver. Since she’d felt like her breasts and her hips and her thighs were anything other than parts to be covered up before she went out in public. And here this beautiful, not-just-anyone male wanted to be with her for the sole purpose of pleasing her.
Ehlena had to blink quickly, feeling as if he’d just given her a gift, and she wondered how far what they were about to start could go. Back before her family had fallen out of the glymera’s graces and been torn apart, she’d been promised to a male and he to her. The mating ceremony had been scheduled, but didn’t come to pass after her family’s reversal of fortune.
When they had been together, she had lain with the male even though as a female of worth in the glymera, she shouldn’t have because they had yet to be formally joined. Life had seemed too short to wait.
Now she knew it to be even shorter.
“You have a bed in this place,” she said.
“And I would kill to take you there.”
She was the one who stood up and put out her hand for him to take. “Let’s go.”
What made it okay was that this was all about Ehlena. Rehv’s lack of sensation took him completely out of the equation, freeing them both from the nasty implications of him being involved.
Man, what a joy this was. He had to give the princess his body. But he was choosing to give Ehlena…
Well, shit, he didn’t know exactly, but it was a fuckload more than just his cock. Worth so much more, too.
Palming his cane, because he didn’t want to have to rely on her for balance, he took her to the bedroom, with its swimming pool-size bed and its black satin duvet and its view.
He shut the door with his mind, even though there was no one else in the penthouse, and the first thing he did was turn Ehlena to face him and take her hair out of its twist tie. The deep strawberry blond waves fell to just below her shoulders, and though he couldn’t feel the silken strands, he could smell the light, natural bouquet of her shampoo.
She was clean and fresh, like a stream he could bathe himself in.
He paused, an unfamiliar spike of conscience reining him in. If she knew what he was, if she knew what he did for a living, if she knew what he did with his body, she wouldn’t choose him. He was sure of this.
“Don’t stop,” she said, tilting her face up. “Please…”
With force of will, he compartmentalized himself, putting the bad things and the vicious life he led and the dangerous realities he faced away from the bedroom, locking them out, shutting them down.
So that it was just the two of them.
“I won’t stop unless you want me to,” he said. And if she did he would, no questions asked. The last thing he ever wanted to do was make her feel the way he did about sex.
