Page 27 of The Bleeding Hearts Club

My nostrils flare, and I can feel my eyes darken to that blackish hue and bright blue. Mina inhales a quick breath as she watches the change in my demeanor. Looking to the bed, I see the sheets a crumpled mess, her Kindle laying against her pillow, and a peek of hot pink hidden beneath the comforter.

A growl escapes me before I can swallow it down and she audibly gulps. If I thought her blood alone was something to lust after, I wasn’t prepared for this. The smell of her arousal, salty, tangy, with the sickly sweet scent of her blood—cherries and slightly metallic. It’s dizzying being confined and suffocated in the most amazing smell in the whole fucking universe.

“Mina,” I say in a low voice, dangerous. If she can’t see the predator before her now, there is no helping her.

“What were you doing?” My question comes off as a demand. Any grasp I have on my self control is waning horribly. An itch begins to crawl up my spine where my wings are, my fingers twitching to grab her, kiss her, squeeze her, taste her. It’s too much. My skin feels too tight, but not nearly as tight as these shorts are feeling right now.

Note to self: Khaki’s aren’t good for boners.

Beware of khaki around Mina.

Thanks, me.

Mina’s mouth opens and closes. I would have made a joke about her looking like a fish any other time, but not now. I’m too focused on the way her pulse throbs in her neck, and the thin sheen of sweat coating her chest, and the fact that I can hear how badly she wants to be fucked. Throbbing pulses and heart beats in the chest aren’t the only place I can hear them.

“I—I was reading,” she murmurs looking away, shuffling on her feet.

I hum. “I see. And, there’s no possible chance that you took my advice, hmm?” I was baiting her.

Please. God, are you there? It’s me, Theo. Been a hot minute. Hey? What do you say to throwing me a bone here?

Her flushed face turns a darker shade of pink, and an embarrassed sort of grin takes over her. “May—”

“Mina?”

“Yeah, Theo?”

“I’m going to kiss you,” I state, the monster inside of me rearing its head as my voice deepens.

She barely has time to give a slight nod before my mouth crashes against hers. Mina is just as steadfast in her kisses as she is in any other aspect of her life. She takes what she wants from me and I am only the happiest of little bats to oblige wholeheartedly.

For a second, I can almost feel a small flutter in the middle of my chest, like she has somehow gotten my heart to beat for the first time in almost ten years. This woman, as much of a handful that she is—literally and metaphorically—has made me feel the most alive in this single kiss than I have experienced in my entire time on Earth.

My hands grip the side of her face, pulling her closer to me. Her skin is so fucking soft, and warm. I slid one hand to the back of her head, my grip tightened in the silky strands of her hair. I must have been a bit rougher than I meant to because she moans softly against my lips, nipping at mine. The groan that comes from me is not voluntary at all, and neither is the lightning fast speed I use to grip the backs of her thick thighs and rush toward her bed.

Mina bounces in the abundance of sheets, her eyes watching my every move with so much intent, but it doesn’t seem to be fear at all. No, it’s all desire. She’s not scared of me, and I’d like to keep it that way.

Please.

“What do you want, Mina?” I echo the words I had said to her the night before. She grins at me like she’s going to tease me, but before she opens her mouth I stop her. “You still have candy. So, if there’s anything you want in your mouth right now, you better say something that’s a bit bigger and a lot fucking harder than a goddamn Jolly Rancher.” She laughs, the sound is the same melodic joyous tune that has lifted my hopes all week long.

Asshole.

“I was going to say that I’d like to finish reading, if you wanted to know,” she snarks, a mischievous glint in her eye.

My head dips to trace my lips down the smooth column of her neck. I inhale deeply, a pained noise escaping me. “So, you’re telling me your book is more interesting then what’s happening right here,” I pause, grinding my hips against her thighs and she parts them with a gasp before I continue, “right now?”

Mina shakes her head. “No, Theo. But,” she begins with a wicked gleam in her eyes, “your little…gift earlier was kind of useless. It didn’t have batteries.”

I click my tongue, running my hand down her side to squeeze her hip. “I’m sorry, Mina. Do you forgive me?”

She hums in thought. “Maybe. I haven’t gotten to test your theory, and I was at a particularly good part of my book.”

Her spine straightens a bit before she shakes her head and takes a deep breath. The flush begins to spread down her neck to her chest, and breathing quickens. “Maybe…” she swallows nervously. “Maybe you can help me, Theo?”

Thank you, God. You’re the fucking man, bro.

“I’ll do anything you ask,” I say to her, staring into her bright eyes. They soften slightly as she leans forward to kiss me gently.