We!Mia almost had another meltdownat the comment. Why would he stay with her when she was such acomplete train wreck? She didn’t sleep at night, she fed onlyenough to keep going, and panic attacks had become a commonoccurrence for her once more.
A vampire with panic attacks; who’d everheard of anything so ridiculous? She felt like a fraud, but thenshe didn’t know why she expected that being a vampire would makeher exempt from such things.
There had to be other vampires with issuesout there. No one lived for hundreds of years without gaining a fewfreaking problems along the way.
A bitter laugh escaped her. David went tolower his hands, but she clasped one of them and brought it towardher. Without thinking, she rested his palm against her chest andheld it over her racing heart.
Awareness of the man himself caused hernipples to pucker, and a stab of longing speared her belly. Heheated her in a way no other man ever had. He made her feel thingsshe’d given up on feeling.
He felt the attraction between them too; sheknew he did. Not only had he said ‘we,’ but he also swayed towardher, and she heard his pulse quicken. Her gaze drifted down hisbody, her mouth going dry at the delicious sight of him swellingagainst his jeans. Her heart continued to race, but this time itwas fromneed.
If she moved his hand a little to the right,he would be cupping her breast. If he brushed his thumb over hernipple, she’d go limp and collapse.
He’d catch her if she did; she had no doubtof that.
David watched the emotions playing overMia’s expressive face as she tilted her head back to gaze at him.Beneath his palm he felt the staccato beat of her heart. Her tonguedarted out to lick briefly over her alluring lips.
Unable to resist tasting those lips forhimself, he lowered his head until his mouth brushed against hers.Her eyes widened, watching him. Intent on witnessing every one ofher reactions, he ran his tongue over her lips until she whimperedand her lids drooped but didn’t cover her eyes completely.
He swept his tongue more demandingly overher mouth. Her legs trembled, her hand tightening on his. Then thebreath of her sigh blew over his lips before her eyes closed andshe gave herself over to him completely. David’s heart thundered inhis chest when her lips parted and her tongue stroked his.
Before kissing her, he could have vaguelyrecalled the taste of strawberries, but now he remembered itclearly as the sweet taste of her enveloped his senses. Lust andsomething more, something deeper, swamped him as his tongueentwined with hers.
He was done for, he knew it, and right thenhe happily stepped over the edge to plummet into the abyss ofdecadence that was Mia alone. He wrapped his arm around her waistand pulled her flush against his chest.
CHAPTER 3
He knew instantly it had been the wrongthing to do when her pliant body stiffened against him. Her handsflattened on his chest to push him away. She broke the kiss andturned her head away from him while her hands shoved moreincessantly against his chest.
Fighting against the need to keep her lockedagainst his body, where she belonged, David gritted his teeth andreleased her. With a jerky movement, he forced himself to take astep away from her before he frightened her further. She kept herface averted, but he saw the flushed color creeping up her neck.Her shoulders heaved with her rapid inhalations.
Guilt and irritation with himself slitheredthrough him. He knew how skittish she was, how much she dislikedbeing touched, and he understood why after everything she’dendured. He shouldn’t have grabbed her like that, but once hismouth had touched hers, he’d been unable to stop himself fromtaking more.
He’d seen mated vampires battle against theinnate part of them that was unleashed when they encountered theirmate. Witnessed them nearly lose their minds before the bond wascompleted. Now he finallyunderstoodit, as everything inhis body rebelled against not being able to draw her closer andclaim her as his.
Shit, he thought as he ran a handthrough his hair. He was already screwing this up.
“Mia—”
She held her hand up to halt his wordsbefore he could become angry with her, or worse, apologize. Herinability to be touched was far from his fault, and if he said hewas sorry for kissing her, she may scream.
What is wrong with me?
So many things, she knew. There had beenmany things wrong with her since the fire. She’d eventually piecedherself back together the best she could in the following years.Then her entire world had been torn completely apart again whenshe’d been taken. Now all the emotional and physical woundsinflicted on her over the years were torn open and bared to theair. She had no idea how to bandage them up again either.
However, for a second, she’d forgotten allabout those wounds and his kiss had brought forth the deliciousfeeling of belonging within her. She’d lost herself to the headysensation of his tongue moving over hers in such a demanding andassured way. She’d been kissed more times than she could count overthe years, but she’d never been kissed as if she wereeverythingfor someone. That’s the way David had kissed her,and she wanted more of it.
She ached with the desire he stoked to lifein her with such ease. There had been a decent amount of men in herpast, yet she’d never once contemplated pouncing on one and tearingtheir clothes from them like she wanted to with David. The idea ofremoving his clothes and exposing what she knew had to be amagnificent body, enticed her as much as the idea of him touchingher, or of him being on top of her, made her inwardly cringe.
Just being held against his chest for thatbrief time made her recall all those vampires sitting on top of heras they feasted from her.
Her stomach turned over as the squeezingsensation returned to her chest. She could feel their flesh rubbingagainst hers as they laughed at her and with each other. The fearthat had come with the increasing weakness seeping through her bodyas they drained her blood threatened to overwhelm her.
She’d fought them so hard in the beginning,but as time passed the fight went steadily out of her. By the endof her captivity, she’d been ready for them to finally drain heruntil there was nothing left. To finally get the inevitableoverwith.
She despised herself for those times whenshe had lain there praying for it all to end. She should havecontinued to fight, but instead she’d been so weak and pitiful. Nowwith her newfound aversion to touching another, she knew she wasstill weak and pitiful.
She hugged her stomach as she steppedfarther away from David. “I’m a disaster,” she told him. “You’d dobetter to stay away from me.”
