12
With a low growl rumbling deep within his chiseled chest, Nick pulled me closer and tipped me back in his arms, then brought his mouth to mine. Soon, reveling in the feel of his soft lips gently savoring my own, I was lost in pleasure, breathing in his woodsy, masculine scent through my nose. It wasn’t long before we soon agreed that going to sleep could wait just a little bit longer.
Maybe an hour or so later, I rested in the strength and safety of Nick’s strong arms. "Now, I think I'm finally ready to go to sleep. But how about you?"
I'd learned that most Everglen Coven vampires only slept a half-hour or an hour a night. Members of the Dormio Coven needed even less sleep than that, with most of them only requiring twenty minutes or so. I'd often found it unnerving for some reason, always surprised to hear James getting up and out of bed again after just a brief rest, usually just as soon as I was beginning to fall asleep myself.
Nick smiled at me, with his perfect white teeth glinting in the soft lamplight. "I might catch a few minutes of shut-eye, but I might also be staying up just to watch you sleep for a bit. Maybe that sounds creepy, but see, extreme creepiness is a vampire specialty."
I laughed, genuinely amused, and once I'd managed to rein in my giggles, I smiled at him. "No. Sorry, but I'm afraid you won't be staying up just to watch me sleep. In all seriousness, there's just no way I could stand for that. You see, that’s not just garden-variety creepy; that’s extremely creepy. So, why don't you get your half-hour of shut-eye, or however long of a length of time you need, and then you can exit my bed and just leave me alone to sleep longer. Okay?"
Tracing the side of my face with a finger, Nick smiled. "How about this? How about I sleep next to you for the next little while, then when I wake up, I go to meet with my council members like I planned. Then in the morning, I’ll rejoin you for a little more dozing before I head out on patrol. Just because after a long night of debating and discussing things with the council, something just tells me I'm going to want to see your beautiful face again before heading back out. So, how does that sound? A brief sleep beside you, an exit overnight, and then a hello in the morning."
I smiled. "Sounds good. I'd add one more thing to that, though."
"And what's that?"
"A promise from you that you won’t stare at me while I sleep."
Nick chuckled, flicking off the lamp on the nightstand beside him. "There. Now it's pitch-dark in here. Now I can’t stare at you."
I snorted. "Right, maybe if you were a normal man. But I just happen to know that vampires have sharper sight than regular humans, and this allows you to see at least the outlines of things even in pitch-darkness."
Nick scoffed. "A complete lie. Who told you that?"
"Dana did."
Not to mention that I knew it from dating James. Members of the Dormio Coven, too, had special "night vision." It didn't allow them to see perfectly in the dark, by any means, but definitely with more clarity than an average human.
Nick scoffed again. "Well, maybe there's some truth to what Dana said. But I'll tell you what. I'm closing my eyes right now, and I promise not to watch you while you sleep. No longer than a minute, anyway. How's that?"
I sighed. "Fine. Just because I think you're going to do it anyway."
Nick pulled me into his arms and spoke in a low voice near my ear. "Smart girl. Goodnight and sweet dreams."
"Goodnight, Nick."
Amazed that I was becoming so close to a man who I’d once planned to kill, I closed my eyes. With my eyes still closed, and without changing my position in Nick's arms, I slowly reached my right hand back behind my hips, hoping that it would connect with his free hand, and it did. Clasping his fingers, I caressed the side of his hand with my pinkie while he continued stroking my hair. Soon, I fell fast asleep, tightly held by the man that I now trusted almost as much as I did my own self.
I awoke sometime shortly before dawn, alone. An inch-wide crack in the curtains revealed the sky just beginning to turn from a pale gray to a gray-lavender with the faintest hint of peach.
I got up, used the bathroom, and brushed my teeth, intending to get up for the day. However, the sight of my bed called to me more than any thought of breakfast. I got back in, covering up with a thick cream-colored blanket that did a wonderful job of keeping the pre-dawn chill at bay. Even though it was spring, mornings were still plenty cold. Not that my apartment wasn't climate-controlled to about seventy degrees at all times, but nonetheless, I always seemed to feel the pre-dawn chill.
Probably not even a minute after getting back in bed, I was dozing again, having some vague dream about Nick and me. However, the dream was so vague I couldn't really even tell what it was about. I could just almost feel Nick near. And then soon, I felt him touching me, or at least I thought I did. A strong hand was caressing my thighs as I remained on my back, sleeping but aware at the same time. Although not quite so aware that I was a hundred percent sure if I was really dreaming. But at the same time, my eyelids were so heavy that opening them seemed like an impossible task.
Moments after the strong hand began caressing my thighs, it was joined by another hand. Then, I felt two hands slide beneath my silky camisole to cup my breasts. Now, I was sure I wasn't dreaming. What was happening felt too good, too real, to ever be any kind of a dream.
A soft whimper escaped my mouth, and my voice came out in a whisper.
"Don't stop. Please."
Immediately, I heard Nick’s voice near my ear, low and husky. "I won't. But keep your eyes closed."
"Okay."
I really had no desire to open them. The experience of being touched while not having any sight of the man touching me was unexpectedly exciting, to the point that I could already feel myself becoming slick. At that moment, I didn't care about anything else in the world than what was currently happening in my bed.
Soon, after the blanket had been slowly pulled off me, I again heard Nick’s voice near my ear.
"I thought I heard you up and around, and I had the idea to give you a new kind of sensual experience...one that you're only going to be able to feel, and not see. You also won't be able to use your hands during this new sensual experience because they'll be tied to the bedposts with silk scarves. Sightless and powerless, you'll then be all mine, to tease and pleasure, and maybe even torture a little in whatever way I see fit. Does this sound like something you want?"
Stifling a gasp as one of the two hands on my body gently squeezed one of my nipples, I nodded. "Yes. Yes, I want that."
With a current of something electric racing through it, my whole body seemed to be saying that's what I wanted. My whole body seemed to be practically screaming it, loudly and repeatedly.
Again, Nick spoke near my ear. "Good. Now just keep your eyes shut until I’m finished with the scarves. You just relax and enjoy."
Not a moment after he'd finished speaking, I felt one of the hands on my thighs move up a little higher, just high enough to caress my feminine mound through my sheer, lacy underwear. I sighed, hardly even noticing that something silky had been draped across my eyes. Then, after the silky fabric was tied behind my head, a hand slid down the front of my underwear and began toying with my slick lips, making me moan and arch my back.
"Yes. Touch me there. But even...even a little more toward the center."
I knew my command wasn’t extremely specific. All I knew was that "more toward the center," there was a certain spot of my anatomy that was now aching and throbbing with need, begging to be touched. I felt warm breath near my ear, and then heard Nick's voice again, barely loud enough to even be considered a whisper.
"Not...quite...yet."
I whimpered, partially out of frustration but partially out of pleasure because Nick was stroking my slick lips with the perfect amount of pressure.
The next thing I knew, I felt the heavy blanket being pulled back, and me being pulled up to sit. My arms were lifted and my camisole was pulled off before I was lowered back down to the bed. Then, to my increasing excitement, I felt my underwear being pulled down and off, even as a set of hands I couldn’t see began fastening my wrists to the bedposts with the same feather-light, silky fabric that was covering my eyes.
Nick spoke near my ear again, in a voice that made me think he was wearing at least the hint of a grin. "Now your new sensual experience really starts."