had to mean something, right?
“Why didn’t you tell me before now?” she asked.
He met her gaze. “It’s a heavy secret to bear. And...I was afraid of how you’d look at me when I did.”
She tried not to think of that poor girl, instead focusing on the good Campbell had done since. He’d once said he was atoning, and now Olivia realized it was for much more than his attack on her.
“It wasn’t your fault,” she said. “You didn’t ask to be turned, didn’t ask to be left with no direction on how to deal with that.”
Campbell shook his head. “How do you do that?”
“What?”
“Forgive so easily.”
“I’m not discounting that what happened to Bridget was awful, but you were a victim that night, too. It’s no different than having a baby then abandoning it, expecting it to learn to walk and talk all by itself.”
He stared at her for a long time. “You’re amazing.”
“I just see you carrying too much on your shoulders. You have team members to help. Friends. Me.”
“You still want to be with me?” he asked.
“More than ever.” Wanting to push away the past, she gave him a wicked grin. “It’s not every vampire I invite into my bed.”
He stalked toward her slowly, a graceful animal. “I was afraid to tell you.”
“I’m glad you did. Your secret is safe with me. There’s nothing to be gained by its revelation. And if I know you, you’ve beaten yourself up about this since the moment it happened.”
He stopped close to her and rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip. “Thank you.”
“How about you thank me with something more than words?”
She squealed when he swept her off her feet and carried her into the bedroom. He fell with her to the bed and started trailing kisses up her neck to her ear. He bit her lobe just hard enough to send an erotic surge of need through her body. The words he’d said into that TV camera, that he loved her, fueled her need to touch him, to consume him and have him consume her.
She jerked his shirt out of the waistband of his pants and ran her hands up his back, then raked her fingernails back down all that cool, sinewy muscle. He responded by grabbing the front of her button-up blouse and ripping it open, sending buttons flying in all directions.
His mouth descended to the swell of her breasts above her bra, his lips and tongue working her into a frenzy. In a movement too fast for her to track, he ripped off her bra and sent it sailing across the room.
“Don’t like my bra, huh?” she asked between ragged breaths.
He met her gaze with eyes blazing with desire. “I don’t like anything between the two of us.”
“Then take it off. Take it all off.”
With another of those wicked smiles playing across his lips, he rid her of her jeans and panties, leaving her bare under his gaze. Then he stood and oh-so slowly unbuttoned and slid down the zipper of his pants.
“You enjoy torturing me, don’t you?” she asked.
“You’re more than welcome to help.”
Olivia lifted to her knees and slid her hands slowly below the top edge of Campbell’s pants, never taking her eyes off his. Then even more slowly, her fingers found their way into his underwear and started pushing them and his pants down over his lean hips, then his thighs. When they dropped to his ankles, he stepped out of them, but she didn’t let go. Instead she ran her fingers up his thighs, then his taut stomach. She broke eye contact only to place her mouth on his chest. She rained kisses across his smooth skin then trailed her tongue along the same path.
Campbell growled, and his nonessential breath became ragged. “Now who’s torturing whom?”
“You can end the torture,” she whispered in his ear. “Make love to me like you’ve never made love to anyone before.”
“Gladly.”
He lifted her effortlessly to his waist. “Wrap your legs around me.”
As she did so, he entered her in one swift motion. Olivia gasped and let her head drop backward, her hair coming loose in the process. Campbell’s mouth captured her right breast and sucked as he withdrew, only to drive into her again.
She laced her fingers behind his neck as he grabbed on to her hips with both hands, holding her firmly against him as he increased his pace.
“Yes,” she said. “Faster.”
He complied, and she lost the ability to focus on anything but the pulse and frantic motion where their bodies joined. As she felt her climax building inside her, the muscles beginning to contract, she held on to him even tighter and tried to meet each of his thrusts with strong ones of her own. Somehow she felt his climax growing ever closer, too, and it spurred her lust even more.
“Don’t hold back,” she managed to say between gasps.
His in-and-out motions built until she’d swear they were a blur. Her body grew slick with sweat, but he didn’t lose his grip on her.
Her insides spasmed, signaling the beginning of her climax. Campbell pulled her body next to his, her wet breasts pressed against his chest, as he sent her over the edge, then followed. She was vaguely aware that she cried out, but she didn’t care if all of Manhattan knew that she’d just had the best orgasm ever. As the final waves drifted away, she collapsed onto Campbell’s shoulder.
“That was, hands down, the best sex of my life,” she said against his ear.
“We’re just getting started,” he said back, his voice so deep and gravelly that she was impossibly ready to start all over again.
Campbell laid her back on the bed and gently smoothed the hair away from her face. “I dreamed once of seeing you like this, with your hair fanned out across your pillows.”
“I thought you didn’t sleep.”
He smiled. “I can still daydream.” He planted a soft kiss on her lips. “What about you? Any hot fantasies about me?”
“A few. Don’t let it give you a big head,” she said.
He laughed. “That’s half the fun.”
She playfully punched his chest, not that she could even hurt him if she hit him with the full force of her strength.
He stopped her assault by gently gliding into her. Olivia’s breath caught and she arched against him.
“I like how you respond to me,” he said against her lips before he captured them in a long, agonizingly slow kiss.
“I love how you feel inside me,” she said next to his ear.
Compared to a few minutes before, this time they made love virtually in slow motion. But it was every bit as wonderful and left Olivia just as out of breath. There wasn’t an inch of her body he hadn’t loved in some way, bringing every single one of her nerve endings to full, glorious attention.
After they’d both found their release again, Campbell pulled her close to his side and she wrapped her arm around his waist.
“You should get some sleep,” he said against the top of her head.
“No, I want to experience every moment of this night with you. I’m afraid if I go to sleep, you’ll be gone when I wake up.”
“I wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye.”
She propped herself on her elbow and met his gaze. “I don’t want us to ever say goodbye again. Maybe a see you later, but never goodbye. I’m done with goodbyes.”
He lifted his hand to her face and caressed her cheek with a gentleness that made her heart fill with love. “Are you sure? There has to be someone out there who’d be better for you.”
“Someone who isn’t a vampire?”
“Yeah.”
“You’ve got to let that go. The vampire doesn’t define you.” She placed her hand over his still heart. “This might not beat anymore, but it’s what makes you who you are. Not the fangs.”
