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Even now, as she rests the tip of the stake lightly above my heart and repeats the next line of the ritual—“Tonight, two families become one blood.”—I’m so distracted by her cleavage that I forget to lift my arm until I see Baron lift his in my peripheral vision.
Hurrying to catch up, I raise my right hand and say, “One blood. One purpose. From this night to your last night and in everlasting memory.”
“In everlasting memory,” Blaire echoes along with the other women, again only a second or two behind the rest.
But it’s long enough that her voice is the last thing I hear before Colin says, “And so it shall be,” signaling it’s time for the other two “points” of the ceremony to come into play. Holding my breath and willing myself to remain in control, I bend my head as I sweep her hair from her neck.
The smell of floral shampoo and a lightly spicy perfume teases into my nose, but it’s the sunshine and blue-sky scent of Blaire that has my fangs descending so fast it sends an aftershock reverberating through my jaw. That’s what she smells like, I realize. Like the bright, beautiful, vampire-killing daylight that was stolen from me so long ago.
I thought I’d come to terms with the loss. I thought I was content with my life as it was and grateful for the opportunities I would never have had if I were still a human man.
But as I rest my fangs lightly against Blaire’s throat, mimicking the firm, but controlled pressure of the stake still pressed to my chest, my eyes slide closed and memories of my mortal life flood through me with enough strength to take my breath away.
I’m suddenly back in Oxborough on a sunny day, leading the ponies across the great lawn behind our home while June and Elizabeth dash ahead, giggling and chasing their new rolling hoop through the grass. The sunlight dances off June’s light curls and Elizabeth’s dark brown braids. It warms my face and fills my heart as I glance over my shoulder to see Catherine watching the children with that adoring expression I’ll never forget, no matter how many centuries pass me by.
Longing for those human days—for the sun and my sweet family and the knowledge that I only have a short time to sort out what to make of my one, precious life—swells in my chest and tightens my throat. For a moment I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop at touching my fangs to Blaire’s throat.
I need her sunshine, her hope.
I need to drink her and feel alive again in a way I haven’t in so damned long.
If Baron hadn’t broken the silence at that very moment, announcing, “We’ll be outside,” before toting a struggling, wild-eyed Janet out the door, I might have done it. I might have broken the trust this ritual is meant to instill in the Wonderfully sisters before it was finished and mortified myself in front of my brothers and every other vampire in this room.
I’m over two-hundred years old. I shouldn’t be this tempted or anywhere close to losing control.
But I am. Even now, with my mouth a good ten inches from her throat, I want her so badly I can’t get my fangs or any of the other aroused parts of myself under control.
Again, Blaire’s instincts seem to alert her to the danger. She keeps the stake pressed to my chest as she whispers, “Are you all right?”
“No,” I answer honestly. “I’m not sure I am.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asks, the compassion in her eyes as confusing as it is unwanted.
I don’t want this woman to feel sorry for me.
I want her to want me, to find the chemistry between us impossible to resist. I want her arms around my neck and her head thrown back as she begs to me to taste her, to devour her, to take the blood I crave and give her the bliss of a vampire’s kiss in return.
But Blaire likely has no idea that feeding a vampire can be an intensely enjoyable experience and doesn’t return my lustful feelings in this regard.
If she did, that stake wouldn’t still be aimed at my heart.
I force a tight smile to my lips. “No, thank you. I just need a drink.”
She arches a brow. “From the bar?”
“From the bar,” I echo, my voice husky and visions of Blaire naked and writhing beneath me as I fill her with both my fangs and cock dancing through my head.
I have to get out of here. Now.
But I have to make sure Blaire is safe from any other vampires struggling with temptation first.
“Permission to mist us both to the closest stiff drink?” I murmur, unable to keep my arm from circling her waist and drawing her close.
She melts into me, the feel of her breasts against my chest making the hunger roaring through me burn even hotter. “Is that safe?”
“Safer than leaving you here alone,” I say. “I promise to be good. As good as I can be, anyway.”
She tips her head back, meeting my gaze as she whispers, “I thought we were going to be bad tonight. If we want people to think we’re falling for each other, we need to turn up the heat a little. Don’t you think?”
