“Do you have a credit card?” Killean asked the woman.
“Yes,” she replied.
“Good. Use that to pay.”
He’d planned to use his mind control to get clothes for them when they went out, but he had to use this woman to do it for them now. He doubted any of the stores would still be open by the time he could leave this room, and he wanted to hit the road as soon as night fell. Besides, it would be better if only a few people saw him and Simone while they were in town. He hadn’t planned this, but it worked better for them.
“And if anyone asks why you’re buying these things, say it’s for charity,” he instructed.
He suspected many of the locals knew each other and would find it weird she was buying clothes that wouldn’t fit her as she was more voluptuous than Simone. And if she didn’t have a boyfriend, buying men’s clothes could raise suspicions.
“Go now,” he commanded, and the woman left the room.
Killean stepped into the doorway she’d left open and watched as she strode across the parking lot and climbed behind the wheel of a new sedan. She sat stiffly in the seat as she pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road.
When Killean closed the door and slid the chain into place, he noticed the back of his hand was almost healed, and his face no longer felt like someone had taken a blowtorch to it. He turned to Simone, and when her white-blue eyes met his, they called to the most primitive part of him as he recalled how uninhibited she’d been while she fed on him.
The shift in Killean’s stance drew Simone’s gaze to the outline of his arousal in his jeans. She bit her lip as her body involuntarily responded to him by taking a step closer.
He should go in the bathroom and take another cold shower, but Killean found his feet frozen to the floor. If he couldn’t kill, he could at least enjoy having his mate feed from him again. She’d already drank from him once, feeding from him again wouldn’t progress their bond any further. Until they parted ways, when she required nourishment, he would give it to her.
“Are you sure you don’t want to feed, Simone?” he inquired. “From me?”
Chapter Twenty-One
The ideaof feeding on the woman hadn’t been at all appealing, but the idea of his blood sliding down her throat had her on the verge of launching herself onto him. As if he were the magnet she couldn’t resist, Simone found herself taking three more steps forward before coming to her senses and stopping.
Killean’s heart thundered in his chest when she halted in the center of the room and licked her lips. When she seemed unable to take another step forward, he strode away from the door and stopped in front of her.
Simone’s head tipped back as he stood over her. The harshness of his face and his scar made him appear far more intimidating than he was. She didn’t recall giving her hand the command to move, but her fingers suddenly rested against his chest. She should refuse to drink from him again until she knew what was going on with him and why he’d come for her, but she could no more turn away from him than the sun could refuse to rise.
Killean flattened her hand against his chest as he enveloped her neck with his other hand and drew her forward. Having fed from him last night, she shouldn’t have to feed again so soon, but she’d been starved, and her hunger was palpable on the air. When her delicate pink tongue flicked out to wet her full lips, Killean groaned and pulled her against him.
Rising onto her toes, the rush of his blood pumping through his veins teased her nostrils more than the pancakes and sausages her mother cooked on Sunday mornings. When Killean guided her to his throat, she didn’t resist. Needing to taste him, Simone ran her tongue over his salty flesh before sinking her fangs into his neck.
The warmth and sweetness of his blood filling her mouth overwhelmed her, and she mewled as her fingers gripped his shoulders. Of its own volition, her body pressed against his until a piece of paper couldn’t fit between them. When his hand gripped her ass, she didn’t try to pull away.
Her dress hiked up around her knees when he lifted her off the ground and she slid her legs around his waist. Then she felt his arousal between her legs, but this time, instead of being mindlessly unaware of what she was doing, she was very aware of it as she started to rock against him.
Simone bit harder as something instinctive rose inside her. In Killean’s arms she felt as if she were flying free of the cage that housed her for far too long.
“Shit,” Killean hissed when Simone rose and fell against him with increasing urgency. She hadn’t been this abandoned when she’d been starved and mindless in the woods. Though he’d meant to keep his distance from her and maintain control, he staggered back until his knees caught the edge of the bed and he sat on it.
He settled his hand in the small of her back as her fingers clawed at his shirt until the material gave way. Beneath the prim and proper exterior she exhibited was a hellion seeking to break free, and Killean so badly wanted to free her.
When Simone’s hands fell on Killean’s bare flesh, her palms heated until she was certain she’d branded her prints onto him. And with a shock, she realized sheyearnedto brand him and mark him as hers. She didn’t know where the urge came from, but it wedged deeper and deeper until she was filled with the impulse to etch herself ontoeveryone of his cells.
Retracting her fangs from his neck, she leaned back to gaze at his magnificent body. Beneath her palms his flesh was supple and his muscles as unbending as steel; the wiry brown hairs spreading across his upper torso tickled her fingers. She couldn’t get enough of exploring him and learning all the differences between their bodies.
Wrapping his hand around the back of her head, he pulled her down to him and claimed her mouth in a kiss that left her breathless. His lips burned into hers as his tongue stroked her mouth before slipping inside. Simone’s fingers curled into his shoulders as his tongue explored her mouth before entangling with hers.
His kiss on the beach had been an awakening experience for her; this one was soul shattering.
Gripping her ass, Killean lifted and flipped her until she was pinned beneath him on the bed. He broke the kiss to gaze down at the feral color of her eyes as she gazed breathlessly up at him.
Tugging at her dress, he pulled it up until it was a tangled mess around her hips. The auburn curls between her thighs glistened with her desire for him, and he found himself unable to resist stroking his fingers over her.
“If you tell me to stop, I will,” he said when she went to close her legs. They couldn’t have sex, it would only make the mating bond tougher to resist, but he could do so much more to her. “At any point in time, tell me no, Simone, and I will stop whatever I’m doing, but I’m asking you to let me pleasure you.”
