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  “I didn’t when you bit my mark either,” I denied hotly, even though it was a total lie.

  “Come on, Kate…I’m a vampire now, remember?” He looked into my eyes until I had to look away.

  “As if I could forget—that’s why we’re in this mess in the first place,” I muttered. “But what does that have to do with anything?”

  “I have heightened senses. I could hear your pulse racing and your rapid breathing, I could gage your physiological response.”

  “My what?”

  “You got wet,” he said bluntly. “Not just a little either. And your whole body went rigid.”

  “It was the shock of having your fangs in me—that was why I stiffened up.” I didn’t talk about the wetness I could still feel between my thighs. That was none of his business, damn it!

  “It wasn’t just what I sensed, it was what I experienced,” Michael insisted. Just like last time, I felt what you felt, Kate. I felt your pleasure.”

  “Okay, that’s enough. Put me down.” I struggled against his broad chest, trying to get out of his arms.

  “No,” he said again, implacably.

  I made my Glock, which I had shoved carelessly into the pocket of the leather jacket I was wearing, appear in my hand.

  “Let me down, please,” I said, pressing it against his heart. “Now.”

  He stopped walking—we were off the side of the mountain by then and into the regular rolling hills that surrounded it—but he didn’t put me down.

  “You know, Kate,” he said in a low voice. “Someday you’re going to find someone who won’t back down when you threaten them. What will you do then?”

  “I’ll worry about it when it happens,” I snapped. “Now put…me…down.”

  He did and took a step back.

  “I wasn’t trying to embarrass you, you know,” he said. “I think the reaction you had to me biting you on your mark was something we need to think about. It has some kind of significance and Welissandra knew it.”

  “Who?” I demanded, frowning. Now that I had my feet on solid ground again, my thigh was aching more fiercely than ever. Damn, I really needed to go back to the safe house and get this taken care of!

  “The snake-lady. She said her name was Welissandra,” he said patiently.

  “Oh. Right.” I shrugged and turned to start hobbling in the direction of the safe house.

  “Kate, I’m serious—we need to talk about this,” Michael insisted, catching up with me.

  “Nothing to talk about,” I gritted out, hobbling grimly forward. “So just drop it, okay?”

  “For now,” he said but there was a new note in his voice that hadn’t been there before. It made me think I was going to have trouble with him in the very near future.

  Somehow I managed to make it back to the safe house and hobble my way inside. Once there, I went directly to the tiny, postage-stamp-sized bathroom, determined to get the bite cleaned out directly. I propped my foot up on the lid of the toilet and reached for the half-bottle of holy water I had left in my pocket. I was about to pour it when Michael spoke right behind me.

  “Let me.”

  “What?” I twisted around and was irritated to see that he had crowded into the small bathroom with me. “What are you doing in here?”

  “Let me clean your wound.” He held out his hand for the bottle of holy water.

  “I can manage,” I said.

  “I know you can. I don’t care about that—I bit you so I should be the one to tend your wound.”

  There was steel in his gold-flecked green eyes and I saw that he wasn’t going to back down from this. Apparently he wanted to finish what he had started. Great. Somewhere in the back of my mind I heard the snake-lady’s voice, That which wounds can also heal. Was this what she had meant? Maybe…

  “Fine.” I handed him the bottle of holy water. “But make it quick.”

  “I will.” He took the holy water and then reached for my hand. “Come into the bedroom.”

  “What? Why?”

  “You’re still unsteady on your feet. I don’t want you to slip on the bathroom tiles and hurt yourself.” He tugged at me, gently but firmly. “Come on—I’ve got everything ready for you.”

  I didn’t know what he meant until I reluctantly followed him into the bedroom and saw that he had several towels open on the edge of the bed. Presumably he’d been raiding the linen closet while I was hobbling my way into the bathroom. Wait, we had a linen closet? Uncle Harry must have been more domestic than I’d given him credit for. Anyway, Michael had the towels all laid out and he indicated that I should lay down on them.

  I did as he wanted, although I wasn’t exactly sure why I was doing so. After all, I’d cleaned hundreds if not thousands of vamp bites out myself. Why should this one be any different?

  It was different though, and I knew it the moment I got situated, sitting on the towels with my calves hanging over the end of the bed. I knew it when Michael knelt between my legs for the second time that night and raised my skirt and shirt.

  “Hey,” I said uneasily as he bared me for him.

  “It’s okay.” He looked up at me and in the dim light of the bedroom lamp, his eyes glowed like two gorgeous green moons. “Not gonna hurt you, Kate. Or, not very much, I hope.” He uncapped the bottle of holy water. “Just hold still.”

  I did as he said, gritting my teeth while he poured the liquid over the two small fang marks he’d made in my inner thigh. Was it my imagination or was the liquid not bubbling as much as it had with other wounds in the past? What did that mean? Was my holy water out of date? Did holy water go out of date? I hadn’t thought so but now I wasn’t so sure.

  When the fizzing stopped, Michael blotted my thigh with a towel and studied the tiny wounds in my Slayer mark. They were so small you could barely see them—more like pinpricks than anything else.

  “So soft and sweet,” he murmured, stroking over my thigh and making me tremble again for some reason I didn’t want to name, even to myself. “I wish I could kiss you here again but I guess that would contaminate the bite marks all over again.”

  “Actually…” I cleared my throat. “It’s the essence that gets secreted by your fangs that makes the, uh, infection. Not your saliva. So it’s pretty safe to kiss…as long as you don’t bite.”

  Then I wondered what in the hell had gotten into me. Why would I tell him such a thing? It was almost as though I was inviting him to kiss me.

  It was an invitation he took me up on.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Holding my eyes with this, he bent his head and placed a long, open-mouthed kiss against my thigh. He dragged his tongue gently over the healing bite marks…and then higher.

  “Michael…” I whispered breathlessly as his mouth found the damp white cotton panel of my panties. “I don’t know…don’t know if this is such a good idea.”

  “It’s an excellent idea,” he assured me and I couldn’t help noticing his voice had deepened to a hungry growl. “Let me taste you, Kate. Without these.”

  He ran one long finger over my cleft, tracing the white cotton in a way that made me moan and bite my lip.

  “I…I…we shouldn’t,” I said, feeling a mixture of nervous fear and desire flooding through me. “I don’t…don’t let guys, uh, do that. I had a bad experience once and ever since…”

  “You were probably with someone who didn’t know what the hell he was doing,” Michael interrupted me smoothly. “Whereas I do.”

  “What—because you’re a doctor, you mean? You know all the, uh, anatomy?” I tried to make my words sarcastic but they came out sounding breathy instead.

  “That’s part of it,” he said mildly, his green eyes glowing from between my thighs.

  “And the other part?” I could hardly believe we were discussing this—that I was actually thinking about letting him…

  “The other part is I really, really like eating pussy.” The growl was back in his voice. “In fact, I fucking love it, Kate.”<
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  He didn’t curse much—hardly at all—so the dirty language in his deep voice gave me a naughty thrill right between my legs. I told myself I ought to close them and stop this discussion right now…but somehow I couldn’t.

  “You do?” I asked, unable to think of anything else to say.

  Slowly, he nodded. “It was pretty much the first thing I thought of when you came into my ER wearing your skin-tight slayer suit. And I’ve been thinking about it off and on ever since—well, in between the whole getting turned into a vampire thing.” He gave a soft laugh and I felt his warm breath puff against my sensitive pussy right through my panties.

  “Well, it’s great that you’re so, uh, sexually liberated but I just…I don’t enjoy it,” I said weakly.

  He raised his eyebrows at me. “You tried it what…once?”

  “Well…yeah. So?” I asked, aware that I sounded defensive.

  “So you have to give things more than one shot, Kate,” he said reasonably. “Besides, you already said I could do it.”

  “What? I did not!” I exclaimed indignantly. “What are you talking about?”

  “You said you’d let me make it up to you—before I bit you, I made you promise. Remember?”

  I did vaguely remember him saying something like that and me agreeing with it but honestly, I never would have if I’d know what Michael “making it up to me” entailed.

  Or so I told myself.

  “Michael,” I said. “I don’t think—”

  “Then don’t think,” he interrupted again. “For once, don’t plan and scheme and think of the worst case scenario, Kate. Just relax and let yourself feel.” He kissed my panties softly and stroked my thigh, where his bite marks were almost healed. “Please, baby,” he murmured. “Let me give you pleasure for the pain I put you through. Let me just kiss you once without your panties on. Let me kiss your bare pussy.”

  His words and the hot way he was looking at me—plus the way he’d called me “baby” were doing strange things inside me. They were melting me—melting my resolve—making me so hot and wet and ready I could scarcely breathe.

  “Just…just a kiss? One kiss?” I asked at last.

  “Just the one,” he murmured, a smile curving the corners of his sensuous mouth. “Unless you want more.”

  It was on the tip of my tongue to say I wouldn’t want any more but I closed my mouth before the words got out. At that point I didn’t know what I might want.

  Michael looked at me again, his eyebrows raised in a silent question—would I let him?

  Mutely, I nodded. I don’t know why, but I did.

  Before I could take my consent back, Michael was already hooking his long fingers in the fabric of my plain white cotton panties and tugging them down my thighs.

  I bit back a little gasp as he bared my pussy. I was still aching from my earlier orgasm when he’d bitten me—still throbbing from uncontrolled need—and the cool breeze caressing my hot flesh nearly made me moan.

  I keep that area neatly trimmed but I was embarrassed to see how hot and wet I’d become—how my intimate juices had smeared my inner thighs and my pussy lips looked almost swollen with need.

  Michael took a long moment to drink me in—so long I was starting to get uncomfortable. Then he looked up at me.

  “God, Kate—so beautiful,” he muttered hoarsely. “Can’t wait to taste you and feel you tremble under my tongue.”

  I wanted to give some smart-ass reply but nothing came to mind. Could it be that my lust had somehow impaired my sarcasm?

  Before I could answer that question, Michael leaned forward again and parted my pussy lips with his thumbs.

  “Hey,” I tried to protest, feeling twice as embarrassed now that my inner folds were clearly on display. I could even see the throbbing pink pearl of my clit. “Michael, I don’t—” I started to say but then he planted a wet, hot, sucking kiss right in the center of my pussy.

  I shivered as I felt his tongue pressing against me. He wasn’t licking—not yet—but I could feel him wanting to. Just like before when I’d felt his pleasure as he drank from me, now I felt his pleasure as he kissed me. His pleasure in my salty flavor and my feminine scent. He liked how hot and wet I was—how ready for him. And I knew the truth—he wasn’t lying, he really did love tasting me. Not only that but he wanted more—much more than just one kiss.

  And at that moment, I realized I wanted more too.

  “Michael…” I whispered and ran one hand down to tangle in his blondish-brown hair.

  The gesture seemed to turn him on immensely. He gave a soft, hungry growl and, still holding my eyes with his, he deliberately dragged his tongue upward, starting at the bottom of my cleft and sliding over my sensitive clit in a way that made me squirm and buck uncontrollably.

  “Oh!” I exclaimed. “Oh, Michael!”

  My fingers tightened in my hair and somehow, before I knew it, I was bucking my hips up to meet him and pulling his head down to my pussy again.

  I felt an instant surge of pleasure for him and understood that it wasn’t just my flavor that he enjoyed—it was my whole reaction to his mouth on me. He loved to feel my fingers in his hair, urging him onward, loved to hear me moan, loved to inhale my sweet, feminine scent while he made my pussy gush with my juices…

  God, what was wrong with me? Was I really picking all this out of his mind? Was it because of the times he’d bitten me or the mysterious connection we somehow shared?

  The questions were driven out of my head when Michael licked me again…and then again and again. I could feel the sharp points of his fangs but he was careful not to cut me with them as he lapped my inner folds. It seemed like he couldn’t get enough of me and for my part, I have to admit I couldn’t get enough of him either.

  Feeling bolder, I gripped his hair with both hands and urged him down to lick me some more. He complied and then sucked my throbbing clit between his lips and promptly began to torture it with just the tip of his tongue.

  I cried out breathlessly as he got more and more into tasting me. I could feel his pleasure growing exponentially as it touched and merged with mine—that damn connection again, I supposed.

  Not that I was complaining.

  “Michael,” I moaned, bucking up to meet him again as he lapped me. “Oh God, please—I’m getting close!”

  To my surprise he lifted his face and looked at me again, his green eyes glowing and hooded with need.

  “You like that, baby?” he murmured and as he spoke, two long fingers took the place of his tongue. I gasped as I felt them circling the swollen bud of my clit. “You like to feel me lapping your soft little pussy?”

  God, he was a dirty-talker! I loved that, although it was damn hard to find a man who knew how to do it right.

  “I…yes,” I confessed breathlessly. “I didn’t…didn’t think I would but…Oh God!” I writhed under his touch, feeling like my whole body was on fire with need.

  “Just relax, Kate,” he murmured and I felt the two long fingers slide down to slip inside me, filling my aching pussy and making me shift my hips restlessly. “Just relax and let me eat your sweet little pussy until you come for me.”

  I cried out my agreement as he continued to press up into me and leaned down to lick me again.

  He hadn’t been lying when he said he knew anatomy. Somehow as he licked and sucked my throbbing clit, he found a spot inside me I hadn’t known was there. I guess it was my G-spot? I don’t know—one of those places women’s magazines are always telling you how to find. But like I said before, I’m not into those.

  At any rate, Michael didn’t need Cosmo to tell him how to get me off. The minute he found that special spot and began rubbing it while he was licking and sucking my quivering pussy, I started to feel another orgasm rushing up to engulf me.

  It was nothing like the whip-crack orgasm I’d had when he bit me in front of the snake-lady. It was deeper for one thing—and more intense. Almost overpowering, in fact. I felt it coming and was afraid
I might shake myself to pieces when it hit me…yet somehow I didn’t want him to stop.

  “Michael!” I gasped and tightened my grip in his hair. In answer, he licked faster, bathing my throbbing clit with hot wet strokes of his tongue. As he did, I felt the two long fingers thrusting deeper into me, urging me onward, wanting me to come as badly as I wanted to. Wanting my pleasure as though it was his own.

  I could almost hear him in my head whispering, “Yes, baby—that’s right. Let down your guard for once and come for me.”

  I don’t know if I was imagining his words or not but I couldn’t help following the directions. With a wordless wail, I tightened my grip on Michael’s hair and dragged him closer while I bucked up to meet him.

  Shame was forgotten, uncertainty and fear and doubt were likewise burned away. All I knew was his mouth on me and his fingers inside me—all I knew was the pleasure he gave me and how good it felt to let him do this to me—to let him make me come.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  “Ahh…ahh!” Someone was moaning like a girl in a porno. After a moment I realized it was me. A moment after that, I recognized that I had my hands fisted in Michael’s hair and I was pushing my bare pussy up to meet his seeking tongue and fingers. The grip I had on him had to be hurting but he didn’t seem to care. He was too busy gripping my ass with one hand while he lapped and sucked my open folds and stroked inside me with his fingers.

  At last he looked up, his half-lidded eyes glowing green with lust, his mouth and chin shiny with my juices.

  “God, Kate—you taste so damn good,” he nearly groaned. “Knew you would.”

  “I…um…thank you,” I panted. I didn’t know what else to say. I just kept focusing on his eyes—vampire eyes—and thinking that I couldn’t believe what I’d just let him do.

  As the pleasure slowly faded, it was as though the orgasm had cleared my head. Here I was, in the safe house Uncle Harry had left to me, doing things he wouldn’t have approved of with someone he definitely wouldn’t have approved of. What was wrong with me?