“Nolan, this isn’t the first time you’ve fed from me,” I point out, pulling back so he can see how certain I am. “The only difference is that you’re trusting me to know when it’s too far. I do have one thing I need you to promise me. Promise not to regret it or feel guilty. Because if you feel bad, I’ll feel bad. And I don’t want to feel bad about this.”
“I’ll try? I can’t help but feel like I’m taking advantage of you,” he admits, bracing his forehead against mine. “I know you say it’s your choice, but I also know that you hate watching people suffer, especially someone you care about.”
“Well, then let me enjoy the high of being able to help you. Let me have all my do-gooder feels without you raining on my parade,” I tease, chewing my lips to make sure I keep them to myself.
He laughs, and it has that smoother, darker edge that makes my knees weak. “Can’t have that. Okay, love, one hard rule. No kissing… on the mouth anyway. As good as I am at leaps of logic, making out with you will make it impossible to… do what you suggest.”
I snort. “Kissing is your hard line? Not sex.”
“Probably shouldn’t do that either, but…” He trails off with a wicked smile while he opens the door to the backseat.
“You’re ridiculous. Now get in, it’s damn cold out here,” I command, clambering inside on my hands and knees.
“You’re the one that wanted to talkbeforewe got inside the car,” he counters, climbing in after me. He leans over the driver’s seat, hits the button to start the car, and puts the heat on full blast.
Nolan’s fed from me multiple times, and I try to keep that in mind as I tug my hoodie off and twist my hair over one shoulder.He’s the one making this a big deal,I mentally huff, ignoring the little voice that observes how this arrangement feels a lot like the opposite of what I convinced myself last week.We’re still just friends. He still needs to feed. There’s nothing wrong with me helping. As long as I ignore that I’m in love with him and how I want his hands all over me even before he’s bitten me.Stupid hormones.
“On my back or straddling you?” I inquire as casually as one can in this kind of situation.
He blinks at me and shakes his head before replying, “We don’t have to do this right here. I can get us a hotel room or something.”
“Nolan, we’re not making out, and we’re not having sex. Doing anything extra will make it… I don’t know… awkward?” I state, leaning my back against the door. “I know it’s been a while since we’ve done it, but this isn’t my first time.”
Shrugging off his thicker coat, he groans, saying, “Did you have to say it like that?”
I laugh, enjoying that despite his darker side showing through more readily, he’s still him and driven just as crazy by my unintentional innuendos as I am by his intentional ones.
“Yeah, you keep laughing,” he taunts, his voice a teasing purr as he climbs to his knees and leans over my body. “You’re also wearing a turtleneck.”
In my effort to make things between us okay again so he’d go back to feeding regularly, I forgot I’m wearing a sweater that literally covers my neck. The place he feeds from. Mei’s inquiry of if Nolan feeds from my breasts pops into my head, which I quickly shove away because that’s so not helping right now.
It’s not like he hasn’t seen me in my bra. He literally saw me less than an hour ago in one that’s a hell of a lot sexier than the plain one I’m wearing now. It was also in a store with bright lights and people around, instead of alone in a dark corner of a parking garage, sprawled across the backseat of his parents’ car—but semantics, right?
Rolling my eyes like it’s no big deal, I grab the bottom of my shirt and attempt to pull it over my head. Except it’s a turtleneck and I’m in the backseat of a car, so I get it to my head but start having difficulties getting it off.
“I know I didn’t say it before, but you did look really hot in that bra,” Nolan shares, a smile evident in his voice while he helps feed one of my arms out of its sleeve. “You look good in the one you’re wearing too. The little bow is cute.”
“I’m so glad you approve,” I deadpan, leaning forward so he can help me tug the sweater over my head. It wouldn’t be so bad, except my hair is down and I have a lot of it.
When I’m finally free, I throw the turtleneck to the floor and flip my hair back in triumph. My grin falls and my skin burns with awareness when Nolan, far more smoothly than I did, grabs the back of his sweater and tugs it off.
“Only fair,” he comments, his tongue running along his teeth. “And considering the… tight space, you should probably straddle me.”
“O-Okay,” I stammer, swallowing heavily while watching him shift to sit down, his abs more pronounced as he slouches low to give me as much room as possible. When his hands reach for my hips as I crawl over him, I try not to think too hard about how frequently I’ve been straddling the guys for the past couple months and what that says about me.
His mouth is open, his fangs dipping over his bottom lip, and he runs his hands up and down my back, digging his fingers into my skin. I shudder when he dips his face to my chest, and I can feel the sharp edge of his teeth scrape my skin.
He breathes a hot trail up my neck, and laced with dark promise, he murmurs, “Can’t say I didn’t warn you.”
He bites me hard and fast, and my scalp stings with the force he uses as he twists my hair in his hand. Heat and pleasure ripple through my veins, along with the racing heart that comes from dancing the line of danger. Moaning, I wrap my arms around his neck, holding him against me while he feeds.
His free hand roams with delight, sliding up my side and teasing my exposed skin. His fingers follow the lines of my bra in a way that makes me want to press into his hand. To have him fully touch me. Which he clearly knows, because his hand moves before I can attempt to do just that, slipping under the back strap as if to taunt me that I’m only a couple hooks away from getting what I want.
I grind against him in frustration, and unlike that first time, he presses right back into me, reaching for my hip to angle my body for better pleasure. A gratified hum vibrates through him that then ripples across my skin, starting from the point where he sucks at my neck. Even though he claims a loss of control, he feels anything but. It’s simply the goals that have changed.
Nolan plays me like a well strummed instrument, matching every bite of pain with a corresponding stroke of pleasure. He never removes any remaining clothing, only teases me with the option to, his fingers slipping here and there under my limited layers, igniting every one of my nerve endings with the awareness of how close he is to what’s never been touched.
When he finishes, the windows are completely fogged and I’m set to explode, every cell in my body alive and wanting. He takes his time licking my skin clean, sucking hard on the spot on my neck where he bit, even though his fangs have retracted back over his incisors. Sitting back, with sweat glistening at his temples and dripping down his chest, he smiles at his work—the blooming hickey on my neck.
