Tall, Dark, and Vampire

never shown such a lack of self-control or intense reaction to anyone, and she hadn’t even tasted him yet.

Was this connection a lingering effect of the dreams she had? Was Doug her bloodmate? Or was it an echo from their human life together? They only made love once, that one fateful night, but in the dreamscape it happened over and over.

Memories of them entangled were burned into her mind, her heart, and her body. Images of them in the dreamscape—Doug falling to his knees, burying his face in her breasts, and teasing her to the edge of oblivion with his nimble fingers. Through it all, neither of them ever spoke, and as the dream faded, one word wafted through her mind on a whisper.

Eternity.

Olivia groaned as the sun rose, along with her driving need to taste him. She had to get out of here. Now. Olivia glanced down the alley and spotted the manhole, which was her key to freedom, and promised relief from the taunting, enticing sound of his heart.

She didn’t care if anyone saw her.

Already feeling the weakening effects of the approaching daylight, Olivia ran down the alley as Doug’s heartbeat called to her like a beacon. Her head was fogged with desire and desperation, which was probably why she didn’t see him as he stepped off the sidewalk and directly into her path.

Olivia swore loudly as she knocked him backward toward the street. In a blur, she snatched him in midair and flew with him back into the alley to safety. She pressed his tall, hard body against the wall of the building, using the shadows and a dumpster for cover. The blow knocked him out, but his heart still beat strong and steady beneath warm flesh.

Olivia glanced at the sky and noted it was getting lighter by the second. The sun was rising, and time was running short. She took his face in her hands and brushed her thumb over the stubble on his cheek. The feel of his sun-kissed flesh beneath her fingers had her aching with—what?

Desire? Love? Loss? Regret?

Her gaze skimmed over his masculine features as she threaded her fingers through his short blond hair. That was the only real difference between her memory of him and the man in front of her. His hair had been long and silky smooth, and she recalled the way it tangled temptingly between her fingers.

Olivia leaned closer and reveled in the way his body melded so perfectly with hers. Her breasts crushed against the hard planes of his chest, and the pounding of his heart reverberated through her, invoking memories of what it felt like to have a heartbeat.

She tilted his head to the right and breathed in his clean, masculine scent. Olivia pressed her cool lips along the smooth, warm skin of his throat that fluttered as his blood pumped through his veins. Her fangs vibrated, begging to be freed, but she clung to her last ounce of self-control.

He smelled like the ocean. Clean, fresh, and wild. She bet a year’s worth of blood that he tasted that way too. Just like she remembered.

Doug groaned as he wrapped his large hands easily around her waist. Olivia tensed as he pulled her close and held her against him. She glanced up to find his blue eyes peering down at her fiercely beneath furrowed brows.

“What happened?” he rasped. His fingers dug into her hip as he wavered, letting his weight lean into the wall. “What are you doing here?”

She should glamour him. She should do it and get in the damn tunnels.

But she didn’t.

“I—I bumped into you.” She blinked and barely noticed that her hands were now resting on his broad shoulders, and he was standing without her assistance. “I have to go, but I wanted to be sure you were okay. You hit your head on the edge of the building when we ran into each other,” she lied.

He never touched the building, but the force of her body slamming into his had been enough to knock him out for a minute. She was grateful he didn’t break anything.

Olivia stepped back and glanced down at the shadow line, which crept closer every second. With surprisingly fast reflexes, his hands snaked around her waist again and tugged her against his muscular body. She could have eluded him easily, but she didn’t want to; all she wanted was to press her cheek against his chest and stay there.

“You did a hell of a lot more than that,” Doug murmured as he pulled her tighter against him, while his hands spanned her waist. “Don’t go.” His voice, edgy and full of need, washed over her, while his thumb brushed the curve of her hip, heightening her desire and testing her strength. “Are you really here with me now, or is this just another dream?”

Heat emanated from him and covered her like a blanket. The truth was it could have been the sun getting ready to fry her, but she didn’t care. All she cared about or could think about was the man in her arms and getting one, sweet taste. It had been so long since she kissed anyone. But he wasn’t just anyone.

Olivia moaned, a sound that hung somewhere between lust and warning. She shook her head and meant to lean back, but before she could stop herself, she was leaning into him.

His mouth crashed down on hers with a groan of pleasure. She opened to him and sighed as his tongue tangled with hers, and she fleetingly noted that he did taste like the ocean. Salty, clean, wild, and full of life. Olivia held his head with both hands and angled hers, deepening the kiss. She licked and nibbled at his lips, desperate to get closer, as one strong hand slipped down her hip to cup her ass, and the other tangled in her long hair.

The dam broke.

Lust clawed at her. The rest of the world fell away as she allowed herself to revel in the taste of him on her lips and the feel of his body pressed against hers. She forgot how exquisite it felt to be cradled in the arms of a man and devoured as if she were the most desirable creature on earth. The sweep of his tongue along hers and the brush of his fingers against her scalp as he sipped from her lips, sent licks of fire through her body.

In the swell of lust and swept up in a moment of weakness, her fangs emerged. Holding him against the wall, tangled in his arms, the knifelike points of her fangs scraped his tongue as it explored, and then… the world exploded.

Light. Heat. A heartbeat.

His blood touched her tongue and danced through her body in life-giving electric pulses. It was like getting shocked by a defibrillator, and for the first time in close to three hundred years—her heart actually beat. As his blood shot through her veins, she clung to him in shocked desperation, wondering what it meant, and at the same time, not caring.

All she could do was feel.

With every beat of their synced pulses came a picture, a memory from his life now, his life with her centuries ago, and his dreams with her. As memories of this life and the last collided in a flurry of images, she realized that she was as much a part of him as he was of her. The floodgates had opened, and there was no going back.

Olivia gasped and broke the kiss, abruptly tearing her mouth from his, and she blinked as her heart beat in her chest almost to the point of pain. He looked at her through hooded, lust-filled eyes and tried to pull her in for more. As the sensations faded and reality came roaring back into focus, the sun rudely intruded and demanded an end to their stolen moment.

Breathing heavily, Doug pressed a kiss against her forehead as his heart raced with the clear cry of desire against her now silent chest. She lingered, allowing herself to lean into his embrace and float in the tender feel of his warm lips against her skin for one minute more.

A million thoughts raced through her mind, but one cried louder than the others.

Bloodmate.

His heated gaze was the last image she saw as she slipped from his arms and flew down the alley like the wind. The instant she left the shelter of his embrace, the sun blazed over her, and she waited, expecting to feel and hear the familiar sizzling as it burned her skin. Olivia tore off the manhole cover and dropped silently into the safe darkness of the sewer tunnel before securing the cover tightly behind her.

She stood in the dank space and touched her lips as they curved into a smile. She didn’t notice the rats that ran over her feet because she could still taste him on her tongue, and the lingering, brilliant effect of his blood echoed through her body. She held up her unmarred hands and touched the smooth skin on her face with genuine