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As I stop beside him, my stomach rumbles, but it’s the pulse throbbing low in my body that I’m most concerned about. For all I know, Darcy’s sensitive vampire ears will pick up on it and realize that in addition to finding him irritating, I also want to ravage him up against the side of this barn.
Argh, why has my dormant sex drive decided to wake up now?
And for this man of all people?
Not only would starting something with Darcy be a bad idea for personal reasons—it would be hard to insist Annie’s making a mistake hooking up with a vampire if I’m messing around with one myself—but I don’t want to like him. I really don’t. And he sure as hell isn’t interested in me. Judging by gorgeous Janet and her tiny body, his tastes run more snarky supermodel than tomboy next door.
Clearing my throat, I press a hand to my stomach, “Sorry. Missed lunch.”
He arches a brow. “Would you like me to fetch you something from inside?” He lifts his nose, scenting the air before he adds, “The cheese plates and rolls are out. And there’s usually a bowl of apples, too.”
I shake my head. “No, thanks. I’m fine. We should get scouting. Annie was in the shower when I left, but she won’t be far behind me. She wanted to get here early to help with the decorations, since the town was nice enough to let her and Colin combine their event with the harvest celebration.”
“We pay for the celebration every year,” Darcy says. “But yes, it was still kind of them.” He glances down at my dress, sending another flash of unwelcome awareness pulsing through my veins. “You look…civilized this evening.”
I clear my throat again. “Um, thanks. You, too.” Then, like the smooth operator I am, I let out an awkward snort-laugh and trip over my own boot, stumbling a few steps to the left before righting myself again.
Maybe Darcy’s right. Maybe I am a goblin.
“Sorry,” I mutter again, shaking my head. “I’m nervous. I’ve never tried to set Annie up with anyone before. She was always happy to skip out on dating and I was happy to let her. Honestly, until we moved here, and she hooked up with Colin, I wasn’t sure she was into men. Or…anyone, really.”
“Well, fingers crossed she does prefer men, in general, and one of the eligible ones we’ll send her way in particular,” he says. “But if she is gay or perhaps asexual, that’s even more reason to call off the wedding. No one should be forced into an intimate relationship that goes against their preferences.”
Brows lifting, I nod. “Agreed.”
“You sound surprised,” he says, stepping away from the barn, once again towering over me now that he isn’t leaning against the wood planks.
“As far as I can tell, it doesn’t seem like vampires are super interested in respecting people’s preferences. What with you and all your brothers being turned against your will and Janet pouncing first and asking if I wanted to be her human blood bag later…”
His eyes darken. “Things were different when we were turned, and Janet won’t bother you again. I promise you that.” He rests a hand lightly at the small of my back, making the tingling and pulsing-in-embarrassing-places situation even worse. “Come, let me introduce you to Trevor and Paul. I asked them to meet me at the edge of the wood to help fetch a few logs to add to the bonfire.”
Doing my best to ignore the heat spreading from his cool hand to every inch of my traitorous skin, I let him lead the way through the open meadow behind the barn, where a giant pile of wood is already piled in the center of a stone circle and tiny lights are swirling above it.
I’m about to ask what the lights are when Darcy curses softly beneath his breath and turns to me.
Before I can so much as flinch, his hand is tangled in the hair at the base of my neck and his lips are on my throat, making my pulse slam dance beneath my skin with a mixture of fear, confusion, and good old-fashioned lust.
Chapter Six
Darcy
I only intend to touch her for a moment, just long enough to leave my scent on her skin and hopefully keep the fucking pixies off of her.
But the moment my lips brush against her throat, I’m lost.
Dizzied. So intoxicated I can’t resist lingering for a long moment, inhaling the heady scent of her as I drag my lips down her throat and her pulse throbs faster.
My fangs descend but even more troubling than that loss of control is the erection swelling behind my fly and the thoughts racing through my head.
I want nothing more than to transform us both to mist, sweep her deep into the shadows of the forest, and put us back together again without clothes, without distance, without anything between her skin and my tongue. I want to kiss my way down her throat to her full breasts, to discover the sounds she makes when I tease her tight nipples, to hear her blood rush as I make her come on my tongue seconds before I sink into her softness.
I want my fangs buried in the crook of her neck, my cock tunneling between her legs, and her sweetness flowing down my throat as I make her come again and again. The images dancing behind my closed eyes are so graphic, so intense that I can’t suppress the shudder that rocks through me. Blaire tips her head back in response and presses closer with a needy sigh that makes me think she feels it, too, this wild attraction.
This stupid attraction.
I can’t get involved with this woman, not even if I wanted to, which I don’t. She’s not remotely my type and I’m clearly not hers. The sex might indeed be hot as hell, but in the end, we’d bring each other nothing but misery, and I’ve had enough of that to last twelve lifetimes.
Holding my breath—the better to keep her mouth-watering scent from driving me even more mad—I wrench my face from her throat and my hand from her hair.
