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He opened his mouth and let his fangs fall. “She said?”
“That a bite on the neck is particularly . . .”
Perhaps it was ungentlemanly not to rescue her. But he was too curious not to allow her to finish.
“. . . intimate,” she finally said.
“Indeed, it is. It’s a vulnerable position for both of us, and—”
Toni tilted her head to the side, offering herself to him. Her breathing quickened, but she did not flinch away.
“You’re nervous?”
She nodded, not taking her eyes from his mouth.
“Understandably so.” Lawrence leaned down until his lips were nearly touching her ear. “I vow to you, Toni O’Neill. As long as I walk this earth, no harm will come to you. Ever. Not from vampires. The Cheld. Or humans.”
He let his lips blaze a path down her neck, pulling her even closer as his hand dipped to rest on the small of her back. Making small circles with his thumb, he opened his mouth wide enough that she could feel the very tips of his teeth.
His heart beat as erratically as hers. It had been some years since he’d shared this intimacy with someone, and the anticipation drove him to the brink of pleasure.
Just when he was about to sink his teeth into her, Lawrence felt her body shudder.
Fear.
I will not do it. Not like this.
He kissed her neck instead and brought his hand around from her back, sliding it down her hips toward the top of the lace thong. Pushing them down, he let his hand splay wide, not moving.
Yet.
Giving her a moment to adjust to his change of course, Lawrence moved lower still, slipping one, then two, fingers inside. He considered capturing her gasp with his mouth, but instead he let her become accustomed to the sensation of his teeth against her soft skin. Nipping at her ear ever so gently, he ignored his own growing need as his fingers moved in and out of her tight warmth.
She’d been wet when he’d entered her. Now the slickness beneath his fingers encouraged him to once again position himself on her neck. Convinced by a throaty moan she was sufficiently distracted, Lawrence moved quickly, sinking his fangs into her flesh.
And then he drank, filling himself with another type of warmth and remembering to give her more pleasure than he was receiving. When she began to clench against his fingers, he gave no quarter. It was only when Toni clutched his shirt and throbbed in truth that he removed his fangs from the sweet, tender flesh beneath his lips. He stood up just in time to witness the peak of her pleasure.
She stared, eyes wide and filled with awe. He ran his tongue across his lips, tasting her blood one last time as she closed her eyes and continued to pulse beneath his hand.
Soon, she would feel an overwhelming desire to sleep, and this entire incident would be nothing more than a fuzzy memory. He should have prepared her for that. Alessandra, a Cheld, would be immune to the side effects of a feeding. She was not.
He didn’t want Toni to forget a moment of this night, but there was no avoiding it.
Removing his hand and dropping her pristine white sundress, Lawrence held her tightly against him. “I would apologize for bringing you to the point where you’re unable to stand, but I must admit,” he said into the mass of red hair he brushed away, “I’m not the least bit sorry.”
Toni did not respond, so he allowed her time to recover. He would be happy to stay like this forever, his face buried in her hair, her hands clutching him as if he were a life raft.
Pulling back and looking at him with a mixture of bewilderment and satisfaction, Toni opened her mouth and then closed it. When she reached up to his lower lip, presumably to wipe off a drop of blood, he captured her finger in his mouth. He kissed it, allowing his tongue to linger, then pulled it out slowly.
“Did it hurt?”
She swallowed. “You’re kidding, right?”
Chuckling, Lawrence spoke quickly, cursing himself for not having prepared her sooner. “I should have told you . . . you will become quite tired very shortly. And when you wake, everything from the bite onward will be unclear in your mind.”
“I know.”
So Alessandra had told her.
