“Thank you,” I murmured into his smooth chest, draping myself over him like a blanket as I reveled in the feeling of completeness and wellbeing.
His hand traveled up and down the length of my spine in slow, firm strokes, and I could feel the rumble of his voice through my cheek as he spoke. “Thanking me already? I’ve just drunk succubus blood, pet. Even worse, my brain is still running in endless circles. Believe me when I say, you’re not nearly done with me yet.”
He rolled his hips as if to demonstrate, and my passage clamped around his cock—still hard and ready. As the sense of the words penetrated my happy cloud of contentedness, I moaned and pushed upright, bracing my hands on his broad shoulders. Fresh hunger rose inside me. When I lifted and lowered myself along his thick length, he looked up at me in challenge, one eyebrow lifting. His hands skimmed up my ribcage to cup my breasts, thumbs swiping across the tight points of my nipples.
I squeezed my inner muscles around him and rode him slowly, never breaking eye contact. “Sure you’re not the one who should be careful what he asks for?” I quipped.
He thrust up, lifting my entire body. “Believe me, luv... I’m absolutely counting on it.”
NINETEEN
WE DIDN’T LAST THE full four hours Nigellus had joked about, but it was definitely more than three hours later when we both lay curled together, sated in every sense of the word. I nestled against Rans’ side, naked skin against naked skin, my head pillowed on his chest as I drew aimless patterns across his skin with my fingertips.
“Brain stopped working yet?” I murmured, scraping a fingernail over his nipple to make him shiver.
“Mm,” he hummed in wordless agreement, burying his nose in my hair.
A nagging worry had taken up residence in the time since my libido had ceded control back to my intellect a few minutes ago. “Can you kick-start the old gray matter long enough to answer a question for me?” I asked, craning up to look at his face.
His eyes were closed and his expression, relaxed. “Depends on how complicated the question is.”
I shrugged, disturbed that I hadn’t been thinking about this before the fact rather than after. “It’s just... should we have been using protection? I was on the pill until I had to go on the run three days ago. But...” I trailed off.
The hand that had been wrapped around my shoulder lifted to smooth my hair back. “It’s fine,” he said. “I couldn’t do anything to you even if you were fully human—which you’re not.”
I relaxed a bit, but I also couldn’t help remembering that my mother was supposed to have been infertile. That hadn’t stopped her from having me.
“So...” I pressed, rolling up on an elbow so I could look down at him. “Is it an undead thing? Like, you can’t father children because your sperm isn’t viable?”
One eyelid peeled open, revealing a sliver of blue. “I’m a vampire,” he deadpanned. “Don’t you read books? I can’t come inside unless I’m invited.”
I blinked at him, torn between erupting into undignified laughter and hitting him in the face with a pillow. After a moment’s debate, I opted for the pillow, and he batted it away half-heartedly.
“That is not remotely funny,” I lied.
“Bollocks,” he said. “That line is god-damned hilarious. But to answer your question seriously, I can’t produce sperm and my body can’t harbor microbes. I’m bloody dead, Zorah—if it could, I would’ve rotted back into the ground centuries ago.”
I shuddered a bit. “Not an image I really needed... but thanks for the reassurance.” I frowned at him. “You’re a big fat liar, though. You waltzed right into my house without so much as a by-your-leave.”
“It was a joke,” he protested. “Ugh. Americans. No sense of humor whatsoever.”
I boofed him again with the pillow for good measure before relenting and brushing a soft kiss against his lips. He smiled, his eyes slipping closed again.
“I’m going to clean up and go down to dinner,” I said. “You should rest. You’ve slept way less than I have in the past couple of days. Do you need some more blood, though? I don’t like this feeling that I’ve turned into some kind of sexual parasite on humanity.”
His smile turned crooked and broken for a moment. “I’m not human anymore, luv. Haven’t been for a very long time. And when it comes to being a parasite, believe me—no one beats a vampire.”
“Even so—” I began.
He waved the words away. “I’m all right, Zorah. Might nap for a bit, though...”
It sounded like he was about two seconds from doing just that. I stroked a few strands of messy black hair away from his forehead. “You do that,” I whispered.
Even after hearing his reassurance, I still wasn’t sure how to feel about the fact that I’d clearly wiped him out with my succubus routine, while I, on the other hand, felt like freaking superwoman. I grabbed a quick shower in the en-suite and dressed, pulling my hair into a damp ponytail and not bothering with makeup. I wanted a word or three with our host, and looking pretty wasn’t going to be a prerequisite for this conversation.
* * *
It was five minutes past seven when I entered the dining room, where Edward was arranging serving dishes in the center of the table. Nigellus sat at the head, with two other place settings arranged on either side of him.
“Good evening, my dear,” he said. “Please, have a seat. Will Ransley be joining us this evening?”
I remained standing. “He’s not feeling himself right now,” I stated, watching Nigellus’ face carefully for any reaction. “I left him napping.”
The smooth, cool lines of our host’s expression didn’t so much as flicker. “That’s unfortunate. Ah, well—I daresay he needs the rest.
